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diff --git a/2613.txt b/2613.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0f025af..0000000 --- a/2613.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,26409 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of England from the Accession -of James II., by Thomas Babington Macaulay - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 4 (of 5) - -Author: Thomas Babington Macaulay - -Posting Date: June 23, 2008 [EBook #2613] -Release Date: May, 2001 - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF ENGLAND *** - - - - -Produced by Martin Adamson - - - - - -THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND FROM THE ACCESSION OF JAMES THE SECOND - -VOLUME IV - -(Chapters XVIII-XXII) - - -by Thomas Babington Macaulay - - - - - -CONTENTS: - - -CHAPTER XVII - - -William's Voyage to Holland -William's Entrance into the Hague -Congress at the Hague -William his own Minister for Foreign Affairs -William obtains a Toleration for the Waldenses; Vices inherent in the Nature of Coalitions -Siege and Fall of Mons -William returns to England; Trials of Preston and Ashton -Execution of Ashton -Preston's Irresolution and Confessions -Lenity shown to the Conspirators -Dartmouth -Turner; Penn -Death of George Fox; his Character -Interview between Penn and Sidney -Preston pardoned -Joy of the Jacobites at the Fall of Mons -The vacant Sees filled -Tillotson Archbishop of Canterbury -Conduct of Sancroft -Difference between Sancroft and Ken -Hatred of Sancroft to the Established Church; he provides for the episcopal Succession among the Nonjurors -The new Bishops -Sherlock Dean of Saint Paul's -Treachery of some of William's Servants -Russell -Godolphin -Marlborough -William returns to the Continent -The Campaign of 1691 in Flanders -The War in Ireland; State of the English Part of Ireland -State of the Part of Ireland which was subject to James -Dissensions among the Irish at Limerick -Return of Tyrconnel to Ireland -Arrival of a French Fleet at Limerick; Saint Ruth -The English take the Field -Fall of Ballymore; Siege and Fall of Athlone -Retreat of the Irish Army -Saint Ruth determines to fight -Battle of Aghrim -Fall of Galway -Death of Tyrconnel -Second Siege of Limerick -The Irish desirous to capitulate -Negotiations between the Irish Chiefs and the Besiegers -The Capitulation of Limerick -The Irish Troops required to make their Election between their Country and France -Most of the Irish Troops volunteer for France -Many of the Irish who had volunteered for France desert -The last Division of the Irish Army sails from Cork for France -State of Ireland after the War - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - - -Opening of the Parliament -Debates on the Salaries and Fees of Official Men -Act excluding Papists from Public Trust in Ireland -Debates on the East India Trade -Debates on the Bill for regulating Trials in Cases of High Treason -Plot formed by Marlborough against the Government of William -Marlborough's Plot disclosed by the Jacobites -Disgrace of Marlborough; Various Reports touching the Cause of Marlborough's Disgrace. -Rupture between Mary and Anne -Fuller's Plot -Close of the Session; Bill for ascertaining the Salaries of the Judges rejected -Misterial Changes in England -Ministerial Changes in Scotland -State of the Highlands -Breadalbane employed to negotiate with the Rebel Clans -Glencoe -William goes to the Continent; Death of Louvois -The French Government determines to send an Expedition against England -James believes that the English Fleet is friendly to him -Conduct of Russell -A Daughter born to James -Preparations made in England to repel Invasion -James goes down to his Army at La Hogue -James's Declaration -Effect produced by James's Declaration -The English and Dutch Fleets join; Temper of the English Fleet -Battle of La Hogue -Rejoicings in England -Young's Plot - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - - -Foreign Policy of William -The Northern Powers -The Pope -Conduct of the Allies -The Emperor -Spain -William succeeds in preventing the Dissolution of the Coalition -New Arrangements for the Government of the Spanish Netherlands -Lewis takes the Field -Siege of Namur -Lewis returns to Versailles -Luxemburg -Battle of Steinkirk -Conspiracy of Grandval -Return of William to England -Naval Maladministration -Earthquake at Port Royal -Distress in England; Increase of Crime -Meeting of Parliament; State of Parties -The King's Speech; Question of Privilege raised by the Lords -Debates on the State of the Nation -Bill for the Regulation of Trials in Cases of Treason -Case of Lord Mohun -Debates on the India Trade -Supply -Ways and Means; Land Tax -Origin of the National Debt -Parliamentary Reform -The Place Bill -The Triennial Bill -The First Parliamentary Discussion on the Liberty of the Press -State of Ireland -The King refuses to pass the Triennial Bill -Ministerial Arrangements -The King goes to Holland; a Session of Parliament in Scotland - - - -CHAPTER XX - - -State of the Court of Saint Germains -Feeling of the Jacobites; Compounders and Noncompounders -Change of Ministry at Saint Germains; Middleton -New Declaration put forth by James -Effect of the new Declaration -French Preparations for the Campaign; Institution of the Order of Saint Lewis -Middleton's Account of Versailles -William's Preparations for the Campaign -Lewis takes the Field -Lewis returns to Versailles -Manoeuvres of Luxemburg -Battle of Landen -Miscarriage of the Smyrna Fleet -Excitement in London -Jacobite Libels; William Anderton -Writings and Artifices of the Jacobites -Conduct of Caermarthen -Now Charter granted to the East India Company -Return of William to England; Military Successes of France -Distress of France -A Ministry necessary to Parliamentary Government -The First Ministry gradually formed -Sunderland -Sunderland advises the King to give the Preference to the Whigs -Reasons for preferring the Whigs -Chiefs of the Whig Party; Russell -Somers -Montague -Wharton -Chiefs of the Tory Party; Harley -Foley -Howe -Meeting of Parliament -Debates about the Naval Miscarriages -Russell First Lord of the Admiralty; Retirement of Nottingham -Shrewsbury refuses Office -Debates about the Trade with India -Bill for the Regulation of Trials in Cases of Treason -Triennial Bill -Place Bill -Bill for the Naturalisation of Foreign Protestants -Supply -Ways and Means; Lottery Loan -The Bank of England -Prorogation of Parliament; Ministerial Arrangements; Shrewsbury Secretary of State -New Titles bestowed -French Plan of War; English Plan of War -Expedition against Brest -Naval Operations in the Mediterranean -War by Land -Complaints of Trenchard's Administration -The Lancashire Prosecutions -Meeting of the Parliament; Death of Tillotson -Tenison Archbishop of Canterbury; Debates on the Lancashire Prosecutions -Place Bill -Bill for the Regulation of Trials in Cases of Treason; the Triennial Bill passed -Death of Mary -Funeral of Mary -Greenwich Hospital founded - - - -CHAPTER XXI - - -Effect of Mary's Death on the Continent -Death of Luxemburg -Distress of William -Parliamentary Proceedings; Emancipation of the Press -Death of Halifax -Parliamentary Inquiries into the Corruption of the Public Offices -Vote of Censure on the Speaker -Foley elected Speaker; Inquiry into the Accounts of the East India Company -Suspicious Dealings of Seymour -Bill against Sir Thomas Cook -Inquiry by a joint Committee of Lords and Commons -Impeachment of Leeds -Disgrace of Leeds -Lords Justices appointed; Reconciliation between William and the Princess Anne -Jacobite Plots against William's Person -Charnock; Porter -Goodman; Parkyns -Fenwick -Session of the Scottish Parliament; Inquiry into the Slaughter of Glencoe -War in the Netherlands; Marshal Villeroy -The Duke of Maine -Jacobite Plots against the Government during William's Absence -Siege of Namur -Surrender of the Town of Namur -Surrender of the Castle of Namur -Arrest of Boufflers -Effect of the Emancipation of the English Press -Return of William to England; Dissolution of the Parliament -William makes a Progress through the Country -The Elections -Alarming State of the Currency -Meeting of the Parliament; Loyalty of the House of Commons -Controversy touching the Currency -Parliamentary Proceedings touching the Currency -Passing of the Act regulating Trials in Cases of High Treason -Parliamentary Proceedings touching the Grant of Crown Lands in Wales to Portland -Two Jacobite Plots formed -Berwick's Plot; the Assassination Plot; Sir George Barclay -Failure of Berwick's Plot -Detection of the Assassination Plot -Parliamentary Proceedings touching the Assassination Plot -State of Public Feeling -Trial of Charnock, King and Keyes -Execution of Charnock, King and Keyes -Trial of Friend -Trial of Parkyns -Execution of Friend and Parkyns -Trials of Rookwood, Cranburne and Lowick -The Association -Bill for the Regulation of Elections -Act establishing a Land Bank - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - - -Military Operations in the Netherlands -Commercial Crisis in England -Financial Crisis -Efforts to restore the Currency -Distress of the People; their Temper and Conduct -Negotiations with France; the Duke of Savoy deserts the Coalition -Search for Jacobite Conspirators in England; Sir John Fenwick -Capture of Fenwick -Fenwick's Confession -Return of William to England -Meeting of Parliament; State of the Country; Speech of William at the Commencement of the Session -Resolutions of the House of Commons -Return of Prosperity -Effect of the Proceedings of the House of Commons on Foreign Governments -Restoration of the Finances -Effects of Fenwick's Confession -Resignation of Godolphin -Feeling of the Whigs about Fenwick -William examines Fenwick -Disappearance of Goodman -Parliamentary Proceedings touching Fenwick's Confession -Bill for attainting Fenwick -Debates of the Commons on the Bill of Attainder -The Bill of Attainder carried up to the Lords -Artifices of Monmouth -Debates of the Lords on the Bill of Attainder -Proceedings against Monmouth -Position and Feelings of Shrewsbury -The Bill of Attainder passed; Attempts to save Fenwick -Fenwick's Execution; Bill for the Regulating of Elections -Bill for the Regulation of the Press -Bill abolishing the Privileges of Whitefriars and the Savoy -Close of the Session; Promotions and Appointments -State of Ireland -State of Scotland -A Session of Parliament at Edinburgh; Act for the Settling of Schools -Case of Thomas Aikenhead -Military Operations in the Netherlands -Terms of Peace offered by France -Conduct of Spain; Conduct of the Emperor -Congress of Ryswick -William opens a distinct Negotiation -Meetings of Portland and Boufflers -Terms of Peace between France and England settled -Difficulties caused by Spain and the Emperor -Attempts of James to prevent a general Pacification -The Treaty of Ryswick signed; Anxiety in England -News of the Peace arrives in England -Dismay of the Jacobites -General Rejoicing -The King's Entry into London -The Thanksgiving Day - - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - - William's Voyage to Holland--William's Entrance into the Hague--Congress - at the Hague--William his own Minister for Foreign Affairs--William - obtains a Toleration for the Waldenses; Vices inherent in the Nature of - Coalitions--Siege and Fall of Mons--William returns to England; Trials - of Preston and Ashton--Execution of Ashton--Preston's Irresolution - and Confessions--Lenity shown to the Conspirators--Dartmouth--Turner; - Penn--Death of George Fox; his Character--Interview between Penn and - Sidney--Preston pardoned--Joy of the Jacobites at the Fall of Mons--The - vacant Sees filled--Tillotson Archbishop of Canterbury--Conduct of - Sancroft--Difference between Sancroft and Ken--Hatred of Sancroft to the - Established Church; he provides for the episcopal Succession among the - Nonjurors--The new Bishops--Sherlock Dean of Saint Paul's--Treachery - of some of William's Servants--Russell--Godolphin--Marlborough--William - returns to the Continent--The Campaign of 1691 in Flanders--The War - in Ireland; State of the English Part of Ireland--State of the Part - of Ireland which was subject to James--Dissensions among the Irish at - Limerick--Return of Tyrconnel to Ireland--Arrival of a French Fleet at - Limerick; Saint Ruth--The English take the Field--Fall of Ballymore; - Siege and Fall of Athlone--Retreat of the Irish Army--Saint Ruth - determines to fight--Battle of Aghrim--Fall of Galway--Death - of Tyrconnel--Second Siege of Limerick--The Irish desirous to - capitulate--Negotiations between the Irish Chiefs and the Besiegers--The - Capitulation of Limerick--The Irish Troops required to make their - Election between their Country and France--Most of the Irish Troops - volunteer for France--Many of the Irish who had volunteered for - France desert--The last Division of the Irish Army sails from Cork for - France--State of Ireland after the War - -ON the eighteenth of January 1691, the King, having been detained some -days by adverse winds, went on board at Gravesend. Four yachts had -been fitted up for him and for his retinue. Among his attendants were -Norfolk, Ormond, Devonshire, Dorset, Portland, Monmouth, Zulestein, and -the Bishop of London. Two distinguished admirals, Cloudesley Shovel -and George Rooke, commanded the men of war which formed the convoy. The -passage was tedious and disagreeable. During many hours the fleet was -becalmed off the Godwin Sands; and it was not till the fifth day that -the soundings proved the coast of Holland to be near. The sea fog was -so thick that no land could be seen; and it was not thought safe for -the ships to proceed further in the darkness. William, tired out by the -voyage, and impatient to be once more in his beloved country, determined -to land in an open boat. The noblemen who were in his train tried to -dissuade him from risking so valuable a life; but, when they found that -his mind was made up, they insisted on sharing the danger. That danger -proved more serious than they had expected. It had been supposed that -in an hour the party would be on shore. But great masses of floating -ice impeded the progress of the skiff; the night came on; the fog grew -thicker; the waves broke over the King and the courtiers. Once the -keel struck on a sand bank, and was with great difficulty got off. The -hardiest mariners showed some signs of uneasiness. But William, through -the whole night, was as composed as if he had been in the drawingroom at -Kensington. "For shame," he said to one of the dismayed sailors "are -you afraid to die in my company?" A bold Dutch seaman ventured to spring -out, and, with great difficulty, swam and scrambled through breakers, -ice and mud, to firm ground. Here he discharged a musket and lighted -a fire as a signal that he was safe. None of his fellow passengers, -however, thought it prudent to follow his example. They lay tossing in -sight of the flame which he had kindled, till the first pale light of a -January morning showed them that they were close to the island of Goree. -The King and his Lords, stiff with cold and covered with icicles, gladly -landed to warm and rest themselves. [1] - -After reposing some hours in the hut of a peasant, William proceeded to -the Hague. He was impatiently expected there for, though the fleet which -brought him was not visible from the shore, the royal salutes had been -heard through the mist, and had apprised the whole coast of his arrival. -Thousands had assembled at Honslaerdyk to welcome him with applause -which came from their hearts and which went to his heart. That was one -of the few white days of a life, beneficent indeed and glorious, but -far from happy. After more than two years passed in a strange land, the -exile had again set foot on his native soil. He heard again the language -of his nursery. He saw again the scenery and the architecture which were -inseparably associated in his mind with the recollections of childhood -and the sacred feeling of home; the dreary mounds of sand, shells and -weeds, on which the waves of the German Ocean broke; the interminable -meadows intersected by trenches; the straight canals; the villas bright -with paint and adorned with quaint images and inscriptions. He had lived -during many weary months among a people who did not love him, who did -not understand him, who could never forget that he was a foreigner. -Those Englishmen who served him most faithfully served him without -enthusiasm, without personal attachment, and merely from a sense of -public duty. In their hearts they were sorry that they had no choice but -between an English tyrant and a Dutch deliverer. All was now changed. -William was among a population by which he was adored, as Elizabeth had -been adored when she rode through her army at Tilbury, as Charles the -Second had been adored when he landed at Dover. It is true that the old -enemies of the House of Orange had not been inactive during the absence -of the Stadtholder. There had been, not indeed clamours, but mutterings -against him. He had, it was said, neglected his native land for his -new kingdom. Whenever the dignity of the English flag, whenever the -prosperity of the English trade was concerned, he forgot that he was a -Hollander. But, as soon as his well remembered face was again seen, -all jealousy, all coldness, was at an end. There was not a boor, not -a fisherman, not an artisan, in the crowds which lined the road from -Honslaerdyk to the Hague, whose heart did not swell with pride at the -thought that the first minister of Holland had become a great King, -had freed the English, and had conquered the Irish. It would have been -madness in William to travel from Hampton Court to Westminster without -a guard; but in his own land he needed no swords or carbines to defend -him. "Do not keep the people off;" he cried: "let them come close to -me; they are all my good friends." He soon learned that sumptuous -preparations were making for his entrance into the Hague. At first he -murmured and objected. He detested, he said, noise and display. The -necessary cost of the war was quite heavy enough. He hoped that his kind -fellow townsmen would consider him as a neighbour, born and bred -among them, and would not pay him so bad a compliment as to treat him -ceremoniously. But all his expostulations were vain. The Hollanders, -simple and parsimonious as their ordinary habits were, had set their -hearts on giving their illustrious countryman a reception suited to his -dignity and to his merit; and he found it necessary to yield. On the day -of his triumph the concourse was immense. All the wheeled carriages -and horses of the province were too few for the multitude of those who -flocked to the show. Many thousands came sliding or skating along the -frozen canals from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Leyden, Haarlem, Delft. At ten -in the morning of the twenty-sixth of January, the great bell of the -Town House gave the signal. Sixteen hundred substantial burghers, well -armed, and clad in the finest dresses which were to be found in -the recesses of their wardrobes, kept order in the crowded streets. -Balconies and scaffolds, embowered in evergreens and hung with tapestry, -hid the windows. The royal coach, escorted by an army of halberdiers -and running footmen, and followed by a long train of splendid equipages, -passed under numerous arches rich with carving and painting, amidst -incessant shouts of "Long live the King our Stadtholder." The front of -the Town House and the whole circuit of the marketplace were in a blaze -with brilliant colours. Civic crowns, trophies, emblems of arts, of -sciences, of commerce and of agriculture, appeared every where. In one -place William saw portrayed the glorious actions of his ancestors. There -was the silent prince, the founder of the Batavian commonwealth, passing -the Meuse with his warriors. There was the more impetuous Maurice -leading the charge at Nieuport. A little further on, the hero might -retrace the eventful story of his own life. He was a child at his -widowed mother's knee. He was at the altar with Diary's hand in his. He -was landing at Torbay. He was swimming through the Boyne. There, too, -was a boat amidst the ice and the breakers; and above it was most -appropriately inscribed, in the majestic language of Rome, the saying of -the great Roman, "What dost thou fear? Thou hast Caesar on board." The -task of furnishing the Latin mottoes had been intrusted to two men, -who, till Bentley appeared, held the highest place among the classical -scholars of that age. Spanheim, whose knowledge of the Roman medals was -unrivalled, imitated, not unsuccessfully, the noble conciseness of those -ancient legends which he had assiduously studied; and he was assisted by -Graevius, who then filled a chair at Utrecht, and whose just reputation -had drawn to that University multitudes of students from every part of -Protestant Europe. [2] When the night came, fireworks were exhibited on -the great tank which washes the walls of the Palace of the Federation. -That tank was now as hard as marble; and the Dutch boasted that nothing -had ever been seen, even on the terrace of Versailles, more brilliant -than the effect produced by the innumerable cascades of flame which -were reflected in the smooth mirror of ice. [3] The English Lords -congratulated their master on his immense popularity. "Yes," said he; -"but I am not the favourite. The shouting was nothing to what it would -have been if Mary had been with me." - -A few hours after the triumphal entry, the King attended a sitting of -the States General. His last appearance among them had been on the day -on which he embarked for England. He had then, amidst the broken words -and loud weeping of those grave Senators, thanked them for the kindness -with which they had watched over his childhood, trained his young mind, -and supported his authority in his riper years; and he had solemnly -commended his beloved wife to their care. He now came back among them -the King of three kingdoms, the head of the greatest coalition that -Europe had seen during a hundred and eighty years; and nothing was heard -in the hall but applause and congratulations. [4] - -But this time the streets of the Hague were overflowing with the -equipages and retinues of princes and ambassadors who came flocking -to the great Congress. First appeared the ambitious and ostentatious -Frederic, Elector of Brandenburg, who, a few years later, took the -title of King of Prussia. Then arrived the young Elector of Bavaria, -the Regent of Wirtemberg, the Landgraves of Hesse Cassel and Hesse -Darmstadt, and a long train of sovereign princes, sprung from the -illustrious houses of Brunswick, of Saxony, of Holstein, and of Nassau. -The Marquess of Gastanaga, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, repaired -to the assembly from the viceregal Court of Brussels. Extraordinary -ministers had been sent by the Emperor, by the Kings of Spain, Poland, -Denmark, and Sweden, and by the Duke of Savoy. There was scarcely room -in the town and the neighbourhood for the English Lords and gentlemen -and the German Counts and Barons whom curiosity or official duty had -brought to the place of meeting. The grave capital of the most thrifty -and industrious of nations was as gay as Venice in the Carnival. The -walks cut among those noble limes and elms in which the villa of the -Princes of Orange is embosomed were gay with the plumes, the stars, -the flowing wigs, the embroidered coats and the gold hilted swords of -gallants from London, Berlin and Vienna. With the nobles were mingled -sharpers not less gorgeously attired than they. At night the hazard -tables were thronged; and the theatre was filled to the roof. Princely -banquets followed one another in rapid succession. The meats were -served in gold; and, according to that old Teutonic fashion with which -Shakspeare had made his countrymen familiar, as often as any of the -great princes proposed a health, the kettle drums and trumpets sounded. -Some English lords, particularly Devonshire, gave entertainments -which vied with those of Sovereigns. It was remarked that the German -potentates, though generally disposed to be litigious and punctilious -about etiquette, associated, on this occasion, in an unceremonious -manner, and seemed to have forgotten their passion for genealogical and -heraldic controversy. The taste for wine, which was then characteristic -of their nation, they had not forgotten. At the table of the Elector -of Brandenburg much mirth was caused by the gravity of the statesmen of -Holland, who, sober themselves, confuted out of Grotius and Puffendorf -the nonsense stuttered by the tipsy nobles of the Empire. One of those -nobles swallowed so many bumpers that he tumbled into the turf fire, and -was not pulled out till his fine velvet suit had been burned. [5] - -In the midst of all this revelry, business was not neglected. A formal -meeting of the Congress was held at which William presided. In a short -and dignified speech, which was speedily circulated throughout Europe, -he set forth the necessity of firm union and strenuous exertion. The -profound respect with which he was heard by that splendid assembly -caused bitter mortification to his enemies both in England and in -France. The German potentates were bitterly reviled for yielding -precedence to an upstart. Indeed the most illustrious among them paid to -him such marks of deference as they would scarcely have deigned to pay -to the Imperial Majesty, mingled with the crowd in his antechamber, and -at his table behaved as respectfully as any English lord in waiting. -In one caricature the allied princes were represented as muzzled bears, -some with crowns, some with caps of state. William had them all in -a chain, and was teaching them to dance. In another caricature, he -appeared taking his ease in an arm chair, with his feet on a cushion, -and his hat on his head, while the Electors of Brandenburg and Bavaria, -uncovered, occupied small stools on the right and left; the crowd of -Landgraves and Sovereign dukes stood at humble distance; and Gastanaga, -the unworthy successor of Alva, awaited the orders of the heretic tyrant -on bended knee. [6] - -It was soon announced by authority that, before the beginning of summer, -two hundred and twenty thousand men would be in the field against -France. [7] The contingent which each of the allied powers was -to furnish was made known. Matters about which it would have been -inexpedient to put forth any declaration were privately discussed by -the King of England with his allies. On this occasion, as on every other -important occasion during his reign, he was his own minister for -foreign affairs. It was necessary for the sake of form that he should be -attended by a Secretary of State; and Nottingham had therefore followed -him to Holland. But Nottingham, though, in matters concerning the -internal government of England, he enjoyed a large share of his master's -confidence, knew little more about the business of the Congress than -what he saw in the Gazettes. - -This mode of transacting business would now be thought most -unconstitutional; and many writers, applying the standard of their own -age to the transactions of a former age, have severely blamed William -for acting without the advice of his ministers, and his ministers -for submitting to be kept in ignorance of transactions which deeply -concerned the honour of the Crown and the welfare of the nation. Yet -surely the presumption is that what the most honest and honourable men -of both parties, Nottingham, for example, among the Tories, and Somers -among the Whigs, not only did, but avowed, cannot have been altogether -inexcusable; and a very sufficient excuse will without difficulty be -found. - -The doctrine that the Sovereign is not responsible is doubtless as old -as any part of our constitution. The doctrine that his ministers are -responsible is also of immemorial antiquity. That where there is -no responsibility there can be no trustworthy security against -maladministration, is a doctrine which, in our age and country, few -people will be inclined to dispute. From these three propositions it -plainly follows that the administration is likely to be best conducted -when the Sovereign performs no public act without the concurrence and -instrumentality of a minister. This argument is perfectly sound. But we -must remember that arguments are constructed in one way, and governments -in another. In logic, none but an idiot admits the premises and denies -the legitimate conclusion. But in practice, we see that great and -enlightened communities often persist, generation after generation, in -asserting principles, and refusing to act upon those principles. It -may be doubted whether any real polity that ever existed has exactly -corresponded to the pure idea of that polity. According to the pure idea -of constitutional royalty, the prince reigns and does not govern; and -constitutional royalty, as it now exists in England, comes nearer than -in any other country to the pure idea. Yet it would be a great error -to imagine that our princes merely reign and never govern. In the -seventeenth century, both Whigs and Tories thought it, not only the -right, but the duty, of the first magistrate to govern. All parties -agreed in blaming Charles the Second for not being his own Prime -Minister; all parties agreed in praising James for being his own Lord -High Admiral; and all parties thought it natural and reasonable that -William should be his own Foreign Secretary. - -It may be observed that the ablest and best informed of those who -have censured the manner in which the negotiations of that time were -conducted are scarcely consistent with themselves. For, while they blame -William for being his own Ambassador Plenipotentiary at the Hague, they -praise him for being his own Commander in Chief in Ireland. Yet where is -the distinction in principle between the two cases? Surely every reason -which can be brought to prove that he violated the constitution, when, -by his own sole authority, he made compacts with the Emperor and -the Elector of Brandenburg, will equally prove that he violated the -constitution, when, by his own sole authority, he ordered one column to -plunge into the water at Oldbridge and another to cross the bridge of -Slane. If the constitution gave him the command of the forces of the -State, the constitution gave him also the direction of the foreign -relations of the State. On what principle then can it be maintained that -he was at liberty to exercise the former power without consulting any -body, but that he was bound to exercise the latter power in conformity -with the advice of a minister? Will it be said that an error in -diplomacy is likely to be more injurious to the country than an error -in strategy? Surely not. It is hardly conceivable that any blunder which -William might have made at the Hague could have been more injurious to -the public interests than a defeat at the Boyne. Or will it be said that -there was greater reason for placing confidence in his military than in -his diplomatic skill? Surely not. In war he showed some great moral and -intellectual qualities; but, as a tactician, he did not rank high; and -of his many campaigns only two were decidedly successful. In the talents -of a negotiator, on the other hand, he has never been surpassed. Of the -interests and the tempers of the continental courts he knew more than -all his Privy Council together. Some of his ministers were doubtless men -of great ability, excellent orators in the House of Lords, and versed -in our insular politics. But, in the deliberations of the Congress, -Caermarthen and Nottingham would have been found as far inferior to him -as he would have been found inferior to them in a parliamentary debate -on a question purely English. The coalition against France was his work. -He alone had joined together the parts of that great whole; and he alone -could keep them together. If he had trusted that vast and complicated -machine in the hands of any of his subjects, it would instantly have -fallen to pieces. - -Some things indeed were to be done which none of his subjects would have -ventured to do. Pope Alexander was really, though not in name, one of -the allies; it was of the highest importance to have him for a friend; -and yet such was the temper of the English nation that an English -minister might well shrink from having any dealings, direct or indirect, -with the Vatican. The Secretaries of State were glad to leave a matter -so delicate and so full of risk to their master, and to be able -to protest with truth that not a line to which the most intolerant -Protestant could object had ever gone out of their offices. - -It must not be supposed however that William ever forgot that his -especial, his hereditary, mission was to protect the Reformed Faith. -His influence with Roman Catholic princes was constantly and strenuously -exerted for the benefit of their Protestant subjects. In the spring of -1691, the Waldensian shepherds, long and cruelly persecuted, and weary -of their lives, were surprised by glad tidings. Those who had been in -prison for heresy returned to their homes. Children, who had been -taken from their parents to be educated by priests, were sent back. -Congregations, which had hitherto met only by stealth and with extreme -peril, now worshipped God without molestation in the face of day. Those -simple mountaineers probably never knew that their fate had been a -subject of discussion at the Hague, and that they owed the happiness -of their firesides, and the security of their humble temples to the -ascendency which William exercised over the Duke of Savoy. [8] - -No coalition of which history has preserved the memory has had an abler -chief than William. But even William often contended in vain against -those vices which are inherent in the nature of all coalitions. No -undertaking which requires the hearty and long continued cooperation -of many independent states is likely to prosper. Jealousies inevitably -spring up. Disputes engender disputes. Every confederate is tempted to -throw on others some part of the burden which he ought himself to bear. -Scarcely one honestly furnishes the promised contingent. Scarcely one -exactly observes the appointed day. But perhaps no coalition that ever -existed was in such constant danger of dissolution as the coalition -which William had with infinite difficulty formed. The long list of -potentates, who met in person or by their representatives at the Hague, -looked well in the Gazettes. The crowd of princely equipages, attended -by manycoloured guards and lacqueys, looked well among the lime trees -of the Voorhout. But the very circumstances which made the Congress -more splendid than other congresses made the league weaker than other -leagues. The more numerous the allies, the more numerous were the -dangers which threatened the alliance. It was impossible that twenty -governments, divided by quarrels about precedence, quarrels about -territory, quarrels about trade, quarrels about religion, could long -act together in perfect harmony. That they acted together during several -years in imperfect harmony is to be ascribed to the wisdom, patience and -firmness of William. - -The situation of his great enemy was very different. The resources of -the French monarchy, though certainly not equal to those of England, -Holland, the House of Austria, and the Empire of Germany united, were -yet very formidable; they were all collected in a central position; they -were all under the absolute direction of a single mind. Lewis could do -with two words what William could hardly bring about by two months of -negotiation at Berlin, Munich, Brussels, Turin and Vienna. Thus France -was found equal in effective strength to all the states which were -combined against her. For in the political, as in the natural world, -there may be an equality of momentum between unequal bodies, when the -body which is inferior in weight is superior in velocity. - -This was soon signally proved. In March the princes and ambassadors -who had been assembled at the Hague separated and scarcely had they -separated when all their plans were disconcerted by a bold and skilful -move of the enemy. - -Lewis was sensible that the meeting of the Congress was likely to -produce a great effect on the public mind of Europe. That effect he -determined to counteract by striking a sudden and terrible blow. While -his enemies were settling how many troops each of them should furnish, -he ordered numerous divisions of his army to march from widely distant -points towards Mons, one of the most important, if not the most -important, of the fortresses which protected the Spanish Netherlands. -His purpose was discovered only when it was all but accomplished. -William, who had retired for a few days to Loo, learned, with surprise -and extreme vexation, that cavalry, infantry, artillery, bridges of -boats, were fast approaching the fated city by many converging routes. -A hundred thousand men had been brought together. All the implements -of war had been largely provided by Louvois, the first of living -administrators. The command was entrusted to Luxemburg, the first of -living generals. The scientific operations were directed by Vauban, the -first of living engineers. That nothing might be wanting which could -kindle emulation through all the ranks of a gallant and loyal army, the -magnificent King himself had set out from Versailles for the camp. Yet -William had still some faint hope that it might be possible to raise the -siege. He flew to the Hague, put all the forces of the States General in -motion, and sent pressing messages to the German Princes. Within three -weeks after he had received the first hint of the danger, he was in the -neighbourhood of the besieged city, at the head of near fifty thousand -troops of different nations. To attack a superior force commanded by -such a captain as Luxemburg was a bold, almost a desperate, enterprise. -Yet William was so sensible that the loss of Mons would be an almost -irreparable disaster and disgrace that he made up his mind to run the -hazard. He was convinced that the event of the siege would determine -the policy of the Courts of Stockholm and Copenhagen. Those Courts had -lately seemed inclined to join the coalition. If Mons fell, they would -certainly remain neutral; they might possibly become hostile. "The -risk," he wrote to Heinsius, "is great; yet I am not without hope. I -will do what can be done. The issue is in the hands of God." On the -very day on which this letter was written Mons fell. The siege had been -vigorously pressed. Lewis himself, though suffering from the gout, had -set the example of strenuous exertion. His household troops, the finest -body of soldiers in Europe, had, under his eye, surpassed themselves. -The young nobles of his court had tried to attract his notice by -exposing themselves to the hottest fire with the same gay alacrity with -which they were wont to exhibit their graceful figures at his balls. His -wounded soldiers were charmed by the benignant courtesy with which he -walked among their pallets, assisted while wounds were dressed by the -hospital surgeons, and breakfasted on a porringer of the hospital broth. -While all was obedience and enthusiasm among the besiegers, all was -disunion and dismay among the besieged. The duty of the French lines was -so well performed that no messenger sent by William was able to cross -them. The garrison did not know that relief was close at hand. The -burghers were appalled by the prospect of those horrible calamities -which befall cities taken by storm. Showers of shells and redhot bullets -were falling in the streets. The town was on fire in ten places at once. -The peaceful inhabitants derived an unwonted courage from the excess -of their fear, and rose on the soldiers. Thenceforth resistance was -impossible; and a capitulation was concluded. The armies then retired -into quarters. Military operations were suspended during some weeks; -Lewis returned in triumph to Versailles; and William paid a short visit -to England, where his presence was much needed. [9] - -He found the ministers still employed in tracing out the ramifications -of the plot which had been discovered just before his departure. Early -in January, Preston, Ashton and Elliot had been arraigned at the Old -Bailey. They claimed the right of severing in their challenges. It was -therefore necessary to try them separately. The audience was numerous -and splendid. Many peers were present. The Lord President and the two -Secretaries of State attended in order to prove that the papers -produced in Court were the same which Billop had brought to Whitehall. A -considerable number of judges appeared on the bench; and Holt presided. -A full report of the proceedings has come down to us, and well deserves -to be attentively studied, and to be compared with the reports of other -trials which had not long before taken place under the same roof. The -whole spirit of the tribunal had undergone in a few months a change so -complete that it might seem to have been the work of ages. Twelve years -earlier, unhappy Roman Catholics, accused of wickedness which had never -entered into their thoughts, had stood in that dock. The witnesses for -the Crown had repeated their hideous fictions amidst the applauding hums -of the audience. The judges had shared, or had pretended to share, the -stupid credulity and the savage passions of the populace, had exchanged -smiles and compliments with the perjured informers, had roared down -the arguments feebly stammered forth by the prisoners, and had not -been ashamed, in passing the sentence of death, to make ribald jests on -purgatory and the mass. As soon as the butchery of Papists was over, the -butchery of Whigs had commenced; and the judges had applied themselves -to their new work with even more than their old barbarity. To these -scandals the Revolution had put an end. Whoever, after perusing the -trials of Ireland and Pickering, of Grove and Berry, of Sidney, Cornish -and Alice Lisle, turns to the trials of Preston and Ashton, will be -astonished by the contrast. The Solicitor General, Somers, conducted the -prosecutions with a moderation and humanity of which his predecessors -had left him no example. "I did never think," he said, "that it was the -part of any who were of counsel for the King in cases of this nature -to aggravate the crime of the prisoners, or to put false colours on the -evidence." [10] Holt's conduct was faultless. Pollexfen, an older man -than Holt or Somers, retained a little,--and a little was too much,--of -the tone of that bad school in which he had been bred. But, though he -once or twice forgot the austere decorum of his place, he cannot -be accused of any violation of substantial justice. The prisoners -themselves seem to have been surprised by the fairness and gentleness -with which they were treated. "I would not mislead the jury, I'll assure -you," said Holt to Preston, "nor do Your Lordship any manner of injury -in the world." "No, my Lord;" said Preston; "I see it well enough that -Your Lordship would not." "Whatever my fate may be," said Ashton, "I -cannot but own that I have had a fair trial for my life." - -The culprits gained nothing by the moderation of the Solicitor General -or by the impartiality of the Court; for the evidence was irresistible. -The meaning of the papers seized by Billop was so plain that the dullest -juryman could not misunderstand it. Of those papers part was fully -proved to be in Preston's handwriting. Part was in Ashton's handwriting -but this the counsel for the prosecution had not the means of proving. -They therefore rested the case against Ashton on the indisputable facts -that the treasonable packet had been found in his bosom, and that he had -used language which was quite unintelligible except on the supposition -that he had a guilty knowledge of the contents. [11] - -Both Preston and Ashton were convicted and sentenced to death. -Ashton was speedily executed. He might have saved his life by making -disclosures. But though he declared that, if he were spared, he would -always be a faithful subject of Their Majesties, he was fully resolved -not to give up the names of his accomplices. In this resolution he was -encouraged by the nonjuring divines who attended him in his cell. It -was probably by their influence that he was induced to deliver to the -Sheriffs on the scaffold a declaration which he had transcribed -and signed, but had not, it is to be hoped, composed or attentively -considered. In this paper he was made to complain of the unfairness of a -trial which he had himself in public acknowledged to have been eminently -fair. He was also made to aver, on the word of a dying man, that he knew -nothing of the papers which had been found upon him. Unfortunately his -declaration, when inspected, proved to be in the same handwriting with -one of the most important of those papers. He died with manly fortitude. -[12] - -Elliot was not brought to trial. The evidence against him was not quite -so clear as that on which his associates had been convicted; and he was -not worth the anger of the government. The fate of Preston was long in -suspense. The Jacobites affected to be confident that the government -would not dare to shed his blood. He was, they said, a favourite at -Versailles, and his death would be followed by a terrible retaliation. -They scattered about the streets of London papers in which it was -asserted that, if any harm befell him, Mountjoy, and all the other -Englishmen of quality who were prisoners in France, would be broken -on the wheel. [13] These absurd threats would not have deferred the -execution one day. But those who had Preston in their power were not -unwilling to spare him on certain conditions. He was privy to all the -counsels of the disaffected party, and could furnish information of the -highest value. He was informed that his fate depended on himself. The -struggle was long and severe. Pride, conscience, party spirit, were on -one side; the intense love of life on the other. He went during a time -irresolutely to and fro. He listened to his brother Jacobites; and his -courage rose. He listened to the agents of the government; and his heart -sank within him. In an evening when he had dined and drunk his claret, -he feared nothing. He would die like a man, rather than save his neck by -an act of baseness. But his temper was very different when he woke the -next morning, when the courage which he had drawn from wine and company -had evaporated, when he was alone with the iron grates and stone walls, -and when the thought of the block, the axe and the sawdust rose in his -mind. During some time he regularly wrote a confession every forenoon -when he was sober, and burned it every night when he was merry. [14] -His nonjuring friends formed a plan for bringing Sancroft to visit -the Tower, in the hope, doubtless, that the exhortations of so great a -prelate and so great a saint would confirm the wavering virtue of the -prisoner. [15] Whether this plan would have been successful may be -doubted; it was not carried into effect; the fatal hour drew near; and -the fortitude of Preston gave way. He confessed his guilt, and named -Clarendon, Dartmouth, the Bishop of Ely and William Penn, as his -accomplices. He added a long list of persons against whom he could not -himself give evidence, but who, if he could trust to Penn's assurances, -were friendly to King James. Among these persons were Devonshire and -Dorset. [16] There is not the slightest reason to believe that either -of these great noblemen ever had any dealings, direct or indirect, -with Saint Germains. It is not, however, necessary to accuse Penn of -deliberate falsehood. He was credulous and garrulous. The Lord Steward -and the Lord Chamberlain had shared in the vexation with which their -party had observed the leaning of William towards the Tories; and they -had probably expressed that vexation unguardedly. So weak a man as Penn, -wishing to find Jacobites every where, and prone to believe whatever he -wished, might easily put an erroneous construction on invectives such as -the haughty and irritable Devonshire was but too ready to utter, and on -sarcasms such as, in moments of spleen, dropped but too easily from the -lips of the keenwitted Dorset. Caermarthen, a Tory, and a Tory who had -been mercilessly persecuted by the Whigs, was disposed to make the most -of this idle hearsay. But he received no encouragement from his master, -who, of all the great politicians mentioned in history, was the least -prone to suspicion. When William returned to England, Preston was -brought before him, and was commanded to repeat the confession which -had already been made to the ministers. The King stood behind the Lord -President's chair and listened gravely while Clarendon, Dartmouth, -Turner and Penn were named. But as soon as the prisoner, passing from -what he could himself testify, began to repeat the stories which Penn -had told him, William touched Caermarthen on the shoulder and said, "My -Lord, we have had too much of this." [17] This judicious magnanimity -had its proper reward. Devonshire and Dorset became from that day more -zealous than ever in the cause of the master who, in spite of calumny -for which their own indiscretion had perhaps furnished some ground, had -continued to repose confidence in their loyalty. [18] - -Even those who were undoubtedly criminal were generally treated with -great lenity. Clarendon lay in the Tower about six months. His guilt -was fully established; and a party among the Whigs called loudly and -importunately for his head. But he was saved by the pathetic entreaties -of his brother Rochester, by the good offices of the humane and -generous Burnet, and by Mary's respect for the memory of her mother. The -prisoner's confinement was not strict. He was allowed to entertain -his friends at dinner. When at length his health began to suffer from -restraint, he was permitted to go into the country under the care of a -warder; the warder was soon removed; and Clarendon was informed that, -while he led a quiet rural life, he should not be molested. [19] - -The treason of Dartmouth was of no common dye. He was an English seaman; -and he had laid a plan for betraying Portsmouth to the French, and had -offered to take the command of a French squadron against his country. It -was a serious aggravation of his guilt that he had been one of the very -first persons who took the oaths to William and Mary. He was arrested -and brought to the Council Chamber. A narrative of what passed there, -written by himself, has been preserved. In that narrative he admits that -he was treated with great courtesy and delicacy. He vehemently asserted -his innocence. He declared that he had never corresponded with Saint -Germains, that he was no favourite there, and that Mary of Modena in -particular owed him a grudge. "My Lords," he said, "I am an Englishman. -I always, when the interest of the House of Bourbon was strongest here, -shunned the French, both men and women. I would lose the last drop of -my blood rather than see Portsmouth in the power of foreigners. I am not -such a fool as to think that King Lewis will conquer us merely for the -benefit of King James. I am certain that nothing can be truly imputed -to me beyond some foolish talk over a bottle." His protestations seem -to have produced some effect; for he was at first permitted to remain in -the gentle custody of the Black Rod. On further inquiry, however, it was -determined to send him to the Tower. After a confinement of a few weeks -he died of apoplexy; but he lived long enough to complete his disgrace -by offering his sword to the new government, and by expressing in -fervent language his hope that he might, by the goodness of God and of -Their Majesties, have an opportunity of showing how much he hated the -French. [20] - -Turner ran no serious risk; for the government was most unwilling to -send to the scaffold one of the Seven who had signed the memorable -petition. A warrant was however issued for his apprehension; and his -friends had little hope that he would escape; for his nose was such as -none who had seen it could forget; and it was to little purpose that he -put on a flowing wig and that he suffered his beard to grow. The pursuit -was probably not very hot; for, after skulking a few weeks in England, -he succeeded in crossing the Channel, and remained some time in France. -[21] - -A warrant was issued against Penn; and he narrowly escaped the -messengers. It chanced that, on the day on which they were sent in -search of him, he was attending a remarkable ceremony at some distance -from his home. An event had taken place which a historian, whose object -is to record the real life of a nation, ought not to pass unnoticed. -While London was agitated by the news that a plot had been discovered, -George Fox, the founder of the sect of Quakers, died. - -More than forty years had elapsed since Fox had begun to see visions and -to cast out devils. [22] He was then a youth of pure morals and grave -deportment, with a perverse temper, with the education of a labouring -man, and with an intellect in the most unhappy of all states, that is -to say, too much disordered for liberty, and not sufficiently disordered -for Bedlam. The circumstances in which he was placed were such as could -scarcely fail to bring out in the strongest form the constitutional -diseases of his mind. At the time when his faculties were ripening, -Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, were striving for -mastery, and were, in every corner of the realm, refuting and reviling -each other. He wandered from congregation to congregation; he heard -priests harangue against Puritans; he heard Puritans harangue against -priests; and he in vain applied for spiritual direction and consolation -to doctors of both parties. One jolly old clergyman of the Anglican -communion told him to smoke tobacco and sing psalms; another advised -him to go and lose some blood. [23] The young inquirer turned in disgust -from these advisers to the Dissenters, and found them also blind guides. -[24] After some time he came to the conclusion that no human being was -competent to instruct him in divine things, and that the truth had been -communicated to him by direct inspiration from heaven. He argued that, -as the division of languages began at Babel, and as the persecutors of -Christ put on the cross an inscription in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, the -knowledge of languages, and more especially of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, -must be useless to a Christian minister. [25] Indeed, he was so far -from knowing many languages, that he knew none; nor can the most corrupt -passage in Hebrew be more unintelligible to the unlearned than his -English often is to the most acute and attentive reader. [26] One of the -precious truths which were divinely revealed to this new apostle was, -that it was falsehood and adulation to use the second person plural -instead of the second person singular. Another was, that to talk of the -month of March was to worship the bloodthirsty god Mars, and that to -talk of Monday was to pay idolatrous homage to the moon. To say Good -morning or Good evening was highly reprehensible, for those phrases -evidently imported that God had made bad days and bad nights. [27] A -Christian was bound to face death itself rather than touch his hat -to the greatest of mankind. When Fox was challenged to produce any -Scriptural authority for this dogma, he cited the passage in which it is -written that Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego were thrown into the fiery -furnace with their hats on; and, if his own narrative may be trusted, -the Chief Justice of England was altogether unable to answer this -argument except by crying out, "Take him away, gaoler." [28] Fox -insisted much on the not less weighty argument that the Turks never show -their bare heads to their superiors; and he asked, with great animation, -whether those who bore the noble name of Christians ought not to surpass -Turks in virtue. [29] Bowing he strictly prohibited, and, indeed, -seemed to consider it as the effect of Satanical influence; for, as he -observed, the woman in the Gospel, while she had a spirit of infirmity, -was bowed together, and ceased to bow as soon as Divine power had -liberated her from the tyranny of the Evil One. [30] His expositions of -the sacred writings were of a very peculiar kind. Passages, which had -been, in the apprehension of all the readers of the Gospels during -sixteen centuries, figurative, he construed literally. Passages, which -no human being before him had ever understood in any other than a -literal sense, he construed figuratively. Thus, from those rhetorical -expressions in which the duty of patience under injuries is enjoined he -deduced the doctrine that selfdefence against pirates and assassins is -unlawful. On the other hand, the plain commands to baptize with water, -and to partake of bread and wine in commemoration of the redemption of -mankind, he pronounced to be allegorical. He long wandered from place to -place, teaching this strange theology, shaking like an aspen leaf in his -paroxysms of fanatical excitement, forcing his way into churches, -which he nicknamed steeple houses interrupting prayers and sermons with -clamour and scurrility, [31] and pestering rectors and justices with -epistles much resembling burlesques of those sublime odes in which the -Hebrew prophets foretold the calamities of Babylon and Tyre. [32] He -soon acquired great notoriety by these feats. His strange face, his -strange chant, his immovable hat and his leather breeches were known all -over the country; and he boasts that, as soon as the rumour was heard, -"The Man in Leather Breeches is coming," terror seized hypocritical -professors, and hireling priests made haste to get out of his way. [33] -He was repeatedly imprisoned and set in the stocks, sometimes justly, -for disturbing the public worship of congregations, and sometimes -unjustly, for merely talking nonsense. He soon gathered round him a body -of disciples, some of whom went beyond himself in absurdity. He has told -us that one of his friends walked naked through Skipton declaring the -truth. [34] and that another was divinely moved to go naked during -several years to marketplaces, and to the houses of gentlemen and -clergymen. [35] Fox complains bitterly that these pious acts, prompted -by the Holy Spirit, were requited by an untoward generation with -hooting, pelting, coachwhipping and horsewhipping. But, though he -applauded the zeal of the sufferers, he did not go quite to their -lengths. He sometimes, indeed, was impelled to strip himself partially. -Thus he pulled off his shoes and walked barefoot through Lichfield, -crying, "Woe to the bloody city." [36] But it does not appear that he -ever thought it his duty to appear before the public without that decent -garment from which his popular appellation was derived. - -If we form our judgment of George Fox simply by looking at his own -actions and writings, we shall see no reason for placing him, morally -or intellectually, above Ludowick Muggleton or Joanna Southcote. But it -would be most unjust to rank the sect which regards him as its founder -with the Muggletonians or the Southcotians. It chanced that among -the thousands whom his enthusiasm infected were a few persons whose -abilities and attainments were of a very different order from his own. -Robert Barclay was a man of considerable parts and learning. William -Penn, though inferior to Barclay in both natural and acquired abilities, -was a gentleman and a scholar. That such men should have become the -followers of George Fox ought not to astonish any person who remembers -what quick, vigorous and highly cultivated intellects were in our own -times duped by the unknown tongues. The truth is that no powers of mind -constitute a security against errors of this description. Touching God -and His ways with man, the highest human faculties can discover little -more than the meanest. In theology the interval is small indeed between -Aristotle and a child, between Archimedes and a naked savage. It is not -strange, therefore, that wise men, weary of investigation, tormented by -uncertainty, longing to believe something, and yet seeing objections to -every thing, should submit themselves absolutely to teachers who, with -firm and undoubting faith, lay claim to a supernatural commission. Thus -we frequently see inquisitive and restless spirits take refuge from -their own scepticism in the bosom of a church which pretends to -infallibility, and, after questioning the existence of a Deity, bring -themselves to worship a wafer. And thus it was that Fox made some -converts to whom he was immeasurably inferior in every thing except the -energy of his convictions. By these converts his rude doctrines were -polished into a form somewhat less shocking to good sense and good -taste. No proposition which he had laid down was retracted. No indecent -or ridiculous act which he had done or approved was condemned; but what -was most grossly absurd in his theories and practices was softened down, -or at least not obtruded on the public; whatever could be made to appear -specious was set in the fairest light; his gibberish was translated into -English; meanings which he would have been quite unable to comprehend -were put on his phrases; and his system, so much improved that he would -not have known it again, was defended by numerous citations from Pagan -philosophers and Christian fathers whose names he had never heard. -[37] Still, however, those who had remodelled his theology continued -to profess, and doubtless to feel, profound reverence for him; and his -crazy epistles were to the last received and read with respect in Quaker -meetings all over the country. His death produced a sensation which was -not confined to his own disciples. On the morning of the funeral a -great multitude assembled round the meeting house in Gracechurch Street. -Thence the corpse was borne to the burial ground of the sect near -Bunhill Fields. Several orators addressed the crowd which filled the -cemetery. Penn was conspicuous among those disciples who committed the -venerable corpse to the earth. The ceremony had scarcely been finished -when he learned that warrants were out against him. He instantly took -flight, and remained many months concealed from the public eye. [38] - -A short time after his disappearance, Sidney received from him a strange -communication. Penn begged for an interview, but insisted on a promise -that he should be suffered to return unmolested to his hiding place. -Sidney obtained the royal permission to make an appointment on these -terms. Penn came to the rendezvous, and spoke at length in his own -defence. He declared that he was a faithful subject of King William and -Queen Mary, and that, if he knew of any design against them, he would -discover it. Departing from his Yea and Nay, he protested, as in the -presence of God, that he knew of no plot, and that he did not believe -that there was any plot, unless the ambitious projects of the French -government might be called plots. Sidney, amazed probably by hearing -a person, who had such an abhorrence of lies that he would not use the -common forms of civility, and such an abhorrence of oaths that he would -not kiss the book in a court of justice, tell something very like a lie, -and confirm it by something very like an oath, asked how, if there were -really no plot, the letters and minutes which had been found on Ashton -were to be explained. This question Penn evaded. "If," he said, "I could -only see the King, I would confess every thing to him freely. I would -tell him much that it would be important for him to know. It is only -in that way that I can be of service to him. A witness for the Crown I -cannot be for my conscience will not suffer me to be sworn." He assured -Sidney that the most formidable enemies of the government were the -discontented Whigs. "The Jacobites are not dangerous. There is not a man -among them who has common understanding. Some persons who came over from -Holland with the King are much more to be dreaded." It does not appear -that Penn mentioned any names. He was suffered to depart in safety. No -active search was made for him. He lay hid in London during some months, -and then stole down to the coast of Sussex and made his escape to -France. After about three years of wandering and lurking he, by the -mediation of some eminent men, who overlooked his faults for the sake -of his good qualities, made his peace with the government, and again -ventured to resume his ministrations. The return which he made for the -lenity with which he had been treated does not much raise his character. -Scarcely had he again begun to harangue in public about the unlawfulness -of war, when he sent a message earnestly exhorting James to make an -immediate descent on England with thirty thousand men. [39] - -Some months passed before the fate of Preston was decided. After several -respites, the government, convinced that, though he had told much, he -could tell more, fixed a day for his execution, and ordered the sheriffs -to have the machinery of death in readiness. [40] But he was again -respited, and, after a delay of some weeks, obtained a pardon, which, -however, extended only to his life, and left his property subject to all -the consequences of his attainder. As soon as he was set at liberty -he gave new cause of offence and suspicion, and was again arrested, -examined and sent to prison. [41] At length he was permitted to retire, -pursued by the hisses and curses of both parties, to a lonely manor -house in the North Riding of Yorkshire. There, at least, he had not to -endure the scornful looks of old associates who had once thought him -a man of dauntless courage and spotless honour, but who now pronounced -that he was at best a meanspirited coward, and hinted their suspicions -that he had been from the beginning a spy and a trepan. [42] He employed -the short and sad remains of his life in turning the Consolation -of Boethius into English. The translation was published after the -translator's death. It is remarkable chiefly on account of some very -unsuccessful attempts to enrich our versification with new metres, and -on account of the allusions with which the preface is filled. Under -a thin veil of figurative language, Preston exhibited to the public -compassion or contempt his own blighted fame and broken heart. He -complained that the tribunal which had sentenced him to death had dealt -with him more leniently than his former friends, and that many, who -had never been tried by temptations like his, had very cheaply earned -a reputation for courage by sneering at his poltroonery, and by bidding -defiance at a distance to horrors which, when brought near, subdue even -a constant spirit. - -The spirit of the Jacobites, which had been quelled for a time by the -detection of Preston's plot, was revived by the fall of Mons. The joy of -the whole party was boundless. The nonjuring priests ran backwards and -forwards between Sam's Coffee House and Westminster Hall, spreading -the praises of Lewis, and laughing at the miserable issue of the -deliberations of the great Congress. In the Park the malecontents wore -their biggest looks, and talked sedition in their loudest tones. The -most conspicuous among these swaggerers was Sir John Fenwick, who had, -in the late reign, been high in favour and in military command, and -was now an indefatigable agitator and conspirator. In his exultation he -forgot the courtesy which man owes to woman. He had more than once -made himself conspicuous by his impertinence to the Queen. He now -ostentatiously put himself in her way when she took her airing; and, -while all around him uncovered and bowed low, gave her a rude stare -and cocked his hat in her face. The affront was not only brutal, but -cowardly. For the law had provided no punishment for mere impertinence, -however gross; and the King was the only gentleman and soldier in the -kingdom who could not protect his wife from contumely with his sword. -All that the Queen could do was to order the parkkeepers not to admit -Sir John again within the gates. But, long after her death, a day came -when he had reason to wish that he had restrained his insolence. He -found, by terrible proof, that of all the Jacobites, the most desperate -assassins not excepted, he was the only one for whom William felt an -intense personal aversion. [43] - -A few days after this event the rage of the malecontents began to -flame more fiercely than ever. The detection of the conspiracy of which -Preston was the chief had brought on a crisis in ecclesiastical -affairs. The nonjuring bishops had, during the year which followed their -deprivation, continued to reside in the official mansions which had -once been their own. Burnet had, at Mary's request, laboured to effect -a compromise. His direct interference would probably have done more harm -than good. He therefore judiciously employed the agency of Rochester, -who stood higher in the estimation of the nonjurors than any statesman -who was not a nonjuror, and of Trevor, who, worthless as he was, had -considerable influence with the High Church party. Sancroft and his -brethren were informed that, if they would consent to perform their -spiritual duty, to ordain, to institute, to confirm, and to watch over -the faith and the morality of the priesthood, a bill should be brought -into Parliament to excuse them from taking the oaths. [44] This offer -was imprudently liberal; but those to whom it was made could not -consistently accept it. For in the ordination service, and indeed in -almost every service of the Church, William and Mary were designated -as King and Queen. The only promise that could be obtained from the -deprived prelates was that they would live quietly; and even this -promise they had not all kept. One of them at least had been guilty of -treason aggravated by impiety. He had, under the strong fear of being -butchered by the populace, declared that he abhorred the thought -of calling in the aid of France, and had invoked God to attest the -sincerity of this declaration. Yet, a short time after, he had been -detected in plotting to bring a French army into England; and he had -written to assure the Court of Saint Germains that he was acting in -concert with his brethren, and especially with Sancroft. The Whigs -called loudly for severity. Even the Tory counsellors of William owned -that indulgence had been carried to the extreme point. They made, -however, a last attempt to mediate. "Will you and your brethren," said -Trevor to Lloyd, the nonjuring Bishop of Norwich, "disown all connection -with Doctor Turner, and declare that what he has in his letters imputed -to you is false?" Lloyd evaded the question. It was now evident that -William's forbearance had only emboldened the adversaries whom he had -hoped to conciliate. Even Caermarthen, even Nottingham, declared that it -was high time to fill the vacant sees. [45] - -Tillotson was nominated to the Archbishopric, and was consecrated -on Whitsunday, in the church of St. Mary Le Bow. Compton, cruelly -mortified, refused to bear any part in the ceremony. His place was -supplied by Mew, Bishop of Winchester, who was assisted by Burnet, -Stillingfleet and Hough. The congregation was the most splendid that -had been seen in any place of worship since the coronation. The Queen's -drawingroom was, on that day, deserted. Most of the peers who were in -town met in the morning at Bedford House, and went thence in procession -to Cheapside. Norfolk, Caermarthen and Dorset were conspicuous in the -throng. Devonshire, who was impatient to see his woods at Chatsworth -in their summer beauty, had deferred his departure in order to mark his -respect for Tillotson. The crowd which lined the streets greeted the new -Primate warmly. For he had, during many years, preached in the City; and -his eloquence, his probity and the singular gentleness of his temper -and manners, had made him the favourite of the Londoners. [46] But the -congratulations and applauses of his friends could not drown the roar of -execration which the Jacobites set up. According to them, he was a thief -who had not entered by the door, but had climbed over the fences. He was -a hireling whose own the sheep were not, who had usurped the crook of -the good shepherd, and who might well be expected to leave the flock -at the mercy of every wolf. He was an Arian, a Socinian, a Deist, an -Atheist. He had cozened the world by fine phrases, and by a show of -moral goodness: but he was in truth a far more dangerous enemy of the -Church than he could have been if he had openly proclaimed himself a -disciple of Hobbes, and had lived as loosely as Wilmot. He had taught -the fine gentlemen and ladies who admired his style, and who were -constantly seen round his pulpit, that they might be very good -Christians, and yet might believe the account of the Fall in the book -of Genesis to be allegorical. Indeed they might easily be as good -Christians as he; for he had never been christened; his parents were -Anabaptists; he had lost their religion when he was a boy; and he had -never found another. In ribald lampoons he was nicknamed Undipped John. -The parish register of his baptism was produced in vain. His enemies -still continued to complain that they had lived to see fathers of the -Church who never were her children. They made up a story that the Queen -had felt bitter remorse for the great crime by which she had obtained a -throne, that in her agony she had applied to Tillotson, and that he had -comforted her by assuring her that the punishment of the wicked in -a future state would not be eternal. [47] The Archbishop's mind was -naturally of almost feminine delicacy, and had been rather softened than -braced by the habits of a long life, during which contending sects and -factions had agreed in speaking of his abilities with admiration and of -his character with esteem. The storm of obloquy which he had to face for -the first time at more than sixty years of age was too much for him. His -spirits declined; his health gave way; yet he neither flinched from his -duty nor attempted to revenge himself on his persecutors. A few days -after his consecration, some persons were seized while dispersing libels -in which he was reviled. The law officers of the Crown proposed to -institute prosecutions; but he insisted that nobody should be punished -on his account. [48] Once, when he had company with him, a sealed packet -was put into his hands; he opened it; and out fell a mask. His friends -were shocked and incensed by this cowardly insult; but the Archbishop, -trying to conceal his anguish by a smile, pointed to the pamphlets which -covered his table, and said that the reproach which the emblem of the -mask was intended to convey might be called gentle when compared with -other reproaches which he daily had to endure. After his death a bundle -of the savage lampoons which the nonjurors had circulated against him -was found among his papers with this indorsement: "I pray God forgive -them; I do." [49] - -The temper of the deposed primate was very different. He seems to have -been under a complete delusion as to his own importance. The immense -popularity which he had enjoyed three years before, the prayers and -tears of the multitudes who had plunged into the Thames to implore his -blessing, the enthusiasm with which the sentinels of the Tower had drunk -his health under the windows of his prison, the mighty roar of joy -which had risen from Palace Yard on the morning of his acquittal, -the triumphant night when every window from Hyde Park to Mile End had -exhibited seven candles, the midmost and tallest emblematical of him, -were still fresh in his recollection; nor had he the wisdom to perceive -that all this homage had been paid, not to his person, but to that -religion and to those liberties of which he was, for a moment, the -representative. The extreme tenderness with which the new government had -long persisted in treating him seems to have confirmed him in his -error. That a succession of conciliatory messages was sent to him from -Kensington, that he was offered terms so liberal as to be scarcely -consistent with the dignity of the Crown and the welfare of the State, -that his cold and uncourteous answers could not tire out the royal -indulgence, that, in spite of the loud clamours of the Whigs, and of -the provocations daily given by the Jacobites, he was residing, fifteen -months after deprivation, in the metropolitan palace, these things -seemed to him to indicate not the lenity but the timidity of the ruling -powers. He appears to have flattered himself that they would not dare to -eject him. The news, therefore, that his see had been filled threw him -into a passion which lasted as long as his life, and which hurried him -into many foolish and unseemly actions. Tillotson, as soon as he -was appointed, went to Lambeth in the hope that he might be able, by -courtesy and kindness, to soothe the irritation of which he was the -innocent cause. He stayed long in the antechamber, and sent in his name -by several servants; but Sancroft would not even return an answer. -[50] Three weeks passed; and still the deprived Archbishop showed no -disposition to move. At length he received an order intimating to him -the royal pleasure that he should quit the dwelling which had long -ceased to be his own, and in which he was only a guest. He resented this -order bitterly, and declared that he would not obey it. He would stay -till he was pulled out by the Sheriff's officers. He would defend -himself at law as long as he could do so without putting in any plea -acknowledging the authority of the usurpers. [51] The case was so clear -that he could not, by any artifice of chicanery, obtain more than a -short delay. When judgment had been given against him, he left the -palace, but directed his steward to retain possession. The consequence -was that the steward was taken into custody and heavily fined. Tillotson -sent a kind message to assure his predecessor that the fine should not -be exacted. But Sancroft was determined to have a grievance, and would -pay the money. [52] - -From that time the great object of the narrowminded and peevish old -man was to tear in pieces the Church of which he had been the chief -minister. It was in vain that some of those nonjurors, whose virtue, -ability and learning were the glory of their party, remonstrated against -his design. "Our deprivation,"--such was the reasoning of Ken,--"is, -in the sight of God, a nullity. We are, and shall be, till we die or -resign, the true Bishops of our sees. Those who assume our titles and -functions will incur the guilt of schism. But with us, if we act as -becomes us, the schism will die; and in the next generation the unity of -the Church will be restored. On the other hand, if we consecrate Bishops -to succeed us, the breach may last through ages, and we shall be justly -held accountable, not indeed for its origin, but for its continuance." -These considerations ought, on Sancroft's own principles, to have had -decisive weight with him; but his angry passions prevailed. Ken quietly -retired from the venerable palace of Wells. He had done, he said, with -strife, and should henceforth vent his feelings not in disputes but in -hymns. His charities to the unhappy of all persuasions, especially to -the followers of Monmouth and to the persecuted Huguenots, had been so -large that his whole private fortune consisted of seven hundred pounds, -and of a library which he could not bear to sell. But Thomas Thynne, -Viscount Weymouth, though not a nonjuror, did himself honour by offering -to the most virtuous of the nonjurors a tranquil and dignified asylum in -the princely mansion of Longleat. There Ken passed a happy and honoured -old age, during which he never regretted the sacrifice which he had made -to what he thought his duty, and yet constantly became more and more -indulgent to those whose views of duty differed from his. [53] - -Sancroft was of a very different temper. He had, indeed, as little to -complain of as any man whom a revolution has ever hurled down from an -exalted station. He had at Fressingfield, in Suffolk, a patrimonial -estate, which, together with what he had saved during a primacy of -twelve years, enabled him to live, not indeed as he had lived when he -was the first peer of Parliament, but in the style of an opulent country -gentleman. He retired to his hereditary abode; and there he passed -the rest of his life in brooding over his wrongs. Aversion to the -Established Church became as strong a feeling in him as it had been in -Martin Marprelate. He considered all who remained in communion with her -as heathens and publicans. He nicknamed Tillotson the Mufti. In the room -which was used as a chapel at Fressingfield no person who had taken -the oaths, or who attended the ministry of any divine who had taken -the oaths, was suffered to partake of the sacred bread and wine. A -distinction, however, was made between two classes of offenders. A -layman who remained in communion with the Church was permitted to be -present while prayers were read, and was excluded only from the highest -of Christian mysteries. But with clergymen who had sworn allegiance to -the Sovereigns in possession Sancroft would not even pray. He took care -that the rule which he had laid down should be widely known, and, both -by precept and by example, taught his followers to look on the most -orthodox, the most devout, the most virtuous of those who acknowledged -William's authority with a feeling similar to that with which the -Jew regarded the Samaritan. [54] Such intolerance would have been -reprehensible, even in a man contending for a great principle. But -Sancroft was contending merely for a name. He was the author of the -scheme of Regency. He was perfectly willing to transfer the whole kingly -power from James to William. The question which, to this smallest and -sourest of minds, seemed important enough to justify the excommunicating -of ten thousand priests and of five millions of laymen was, whether the -magistrate to whom the whole kingly power was transferred should assume -the kingly title. Nor could Sancroft bear to think that the animosity -which he had excited would die with himself. Having done all that he -could to make the feud bitter, he determined to make it eternal. A list -of the divines who had been ejected from their benefices was sent by him -to Saint Germains with a request that James would nominate two who might -keep up the episcopal succession. James, well pleased, doubtless, to see -another sect added to that multitude of sects which he had been taught -to consider as the reproach of Protestantism, named two fierce and -uncompromising nonjurors, Hickes and Wagstaffe, the former recommended -by Sancroft, the latter recommended by Lloyd, the ejected Bishop of -Norwich. [55] Such was the origin of a schismatical hierarchy, which, -having, during a short time, excited alarm, soon sank into obscurity and -contempt, but which, in obscurity and contempt, continued to drag on a -languid existence during several generations. The little Church, without -temples, revenues or dignities, was even more distracted by internal -disputes than the great Church, which retained possession of cathedrals, -tithes and peerages. Some nonjurors leaned towards the ceremonial of -Rome; others would not tolerate the slightest departure from the Book -of Common Prayer. Altar was set up against altar. One phantom prelate -pronounced the consecration of another phantom prelate uncanonical. At -length the pastors were left absolutely without flocks. One of these -Lords spiritual very wisely turned surgeon; another left what he had -called his see, and settled in Ireland; and at length, in 1805, the last -Bishop of that society which had proudly claimed to be the only true -Church of England dropped unnoticed into the grave. [56] - -The places of the bishops who had been ejected with Sancroft were filled -in a manner creditable to the government. Patrick succeeded the traitor -Turner. Fowler went to Gloucester. Richard Cumberland, an aged divine, -who had no interest at Court, and whose only recommendations were his -piety and erudition, was astonished by learning from a newsletter which -he found on the table of a coffeehouse that he had been nominated to -the See of Peterborough. [57] Beveridge was selected to succeed Ken; -he consented; and the appointment was actually announced in the London -Gazette. But Beveridge, though an honest, was not a strongminded man. -Some Jacobites expostulated with him; some reviled him; his heart -failed him; and he retracted. While the nonjurors were rejoicing in -this victory, he changed his mind again; but too late. He had by his -irresolution forfeited the favour of William, and never obtained a mitre -till Anne was on the throne. [58] The bishopric of Bath and Wells -was bestowed on Richard Kidder, a man of considerable attainments and -blameless character, but suspected of a leaning towards Presbyterianism. -About the same time Sharp, the highest churchman that had been zealous -for the Comprehension, and the lowest churchman that felt a scruple -about succeeding a deprived prelate, accepted the Archbishopric of York, -vacant by the death of Lamplugh. [59] - -In consequence of the elevation of Tillotson to the See of Canterbury, -the Deanery of Saint Paul's became vacant. As soon as the name of -the new Dean was known, a clamour broke forth such as perhaps no -ecclesiastical appointment has ever produced, a clamour made up of yells -of hatred, of hisses of contempt, and of shouts of triumphant and half -insulting welcome; for the new Dean was William Sherlock. - -The story of his conversion deserves to be fully told; for it throws -great light on the character of the parties which then divided the -Church and the State. Sherlock was, in influence and reputation, though -not in rank, the foremost man among the nonjurors. His authority and -example had induced some of his brethren, who had at first wavered, -to resign their benefices. The day of suspension came; the day of -deprivation came; and still he was firm. He seemed to have found, in the -consciousness of rectitude, and in meditation on the invisible world, -ample compensation for all his losses. While excluded from the pulpit -where his eloquence had once delighted the learned and polite inmates -of the Temple, he wrote that celebrated Treatise on Death which, during -many years, stood next to the Whole Duty of Man in the bookcases of -serious Arminians. Soon, however, it began to be suspected that his -resolution was giving way. He declared that he would be no party to -a schism; he advised those who sought his counsel not to leave their -parish churches; nay, finding that the law which had ejected him from -his cure did not interdict him from performing divine service, he -officiated at Saint Dunstan's, and there prayed for King William and -Queen Mary. The apostolical injunction, he said, was that prayers should -be made for all in authority, and William and Mary were visibly in -authority. His Jacobite friends loudly blamed his inconsistency. How, -they asked, if you admit that the Apostle speaks in this passage of -actual authority, can you maintain that, in other passages of a similar -kind, he speaks only of legitimate authority? Or how can you, without -sin, designate as King, in a solemn address to God, one whom you -cannot, without sin, promise to obey as King? These reasonings were -unanswerable; and Sherlock soon began to think them so; but the -conclusion to which they led him was diametrically opposed to the -conclusion to which they were meant to lead him. He hesitated, however, -till a new light flashed on his mind from a quarter from which there was -little reason to expect any thing but tenfold darkness. In the reign of -James the First, Doctor John Overall, Bishop of Exeter, had written an -elaborate treatise on the rights of civil and ecclesiastical governors. -This treatise had been solemnly approved by the Convocations -of Canterbury and York, and might therefore be considered as an -authoritative exposition of the doctrine of the Church of England. A -copy of the manuscript was in Sancroft's possession; and he, soon after -the Revolution, sent it to the press. He hoped, doubtless, that the -publication would injure the new government; but he was lamentably -disappointed. The book indeed condemned all resistance in terms as -strong as he could himself have used; but one passage which had escaped -his notice was decisive against himself and his fellow schismatics. -Overall, and the two Convocations which had given their sanction to -Overall's teaching, pronounced that a government, which had originated -in rebellion, ought, when thoroughly settled, to be considered as -ordained by God and to be obeyed by Christian men. [60] Sherlock read, -and was convinced. His venerable mother the Church had spoken; and he, -with the docility of a child, accepted her decree. The government which -had sprung from the Revolution might, at least since the battle of the -Boyne and the flight of James from Ireland, be fairly called a settled -government, and ought therefore to be passively obeyed till it should -be subverted by another revolution and succeeded by another settled -government. - -Sherlock took the oaths, and speedily published, in justification of his -conduct, a pamphlet entitled The Case of Allegiance to Sovereign Powers -stated. The sensation produced by this work was immense. Dryden's Hind -and Panther had not raised so great an uproar. Halifax's Letter to -a Dissenter had not called forth so many answers. The replies to the -Doctor, the vindications of the Doctor, the pasquinades on the Doctor, -would fill a library. The clamour redoubled when it was known that the -convert had not only been reappointed Master of the Temple, but had -accepted the Deanery of Saint Paul's, which had become vacant in -consequence of the deprivation of Sancroft and the promotion of -Tillotson. The rage of the nonjurors amounted almost to frenzy. Was it -not enough, they asked, to desert the true and pure Church, in this her -hour of sorrow and peril, without also slandering her? It was easy to -understand why a greedy, cowardly hypocrite should refuse to take the -oaths to the usurper as long as it seemed probable that the rightful -King would be restored, and should make haste to swear after the battle -of the Boyne. Such tergiversation in times of civil discord was nothing -new. What was new was that the turncoat should try to throw his own -guilt and shame on the Church of England, and should proclaim that she -had taught him to turn against the weak who were in the right, and to -cringe to the powerful who were in the wrong. Had such indeed been -her doctrine or her practice in evil days? Had she abandoned her Royal -Martyr in the prison or on the scaffold? Had she enjoined her children -to pay obedience to the Rump or to the Protector? Yet was the government -of the Rump or of the Protector less entitled to be called a settled -government than the government of William and Mary? Had not the battle -of Worcester been as great a blow to the hopes of the House of Stuart as -the battle of the Boyne? Had not the chances of a Restoration seemed as -small in 1657 as they could seem to any judicious man in 1691? In spite -of invectives and sarcasms, however, there was Overall's treatise; there -were the approving votes of the two Convocations; and it was much easier -to rail at Sherlock than to explain away either the treatise or the -votes. One writer maintained that by a thoroughly settled government -must have been meant a government of which the title was uncontested. -Thus, he said, the government of the United Provinces became a -settled government when it was recognised by Spain, and, but for that -recognition, would never have been a settled government to the end -of time. Another casuist, somewhat less austere, pronounced that a -government, wrongful in its origin, might become a settled government -after the lapse of a century. On the thirteenth of February 1789, -therefore, and not a day earlier, Englishmen would be at liberty to -swear allegiance to a government sprung from the Revolution. The history -of the chosen people was ransacked for precedents. Was Eglon's a settled -government when Ehud stabbed him? Was Joram's a settled government when -Jehe shot him? But the leading case was that of Athaliah. It was indeed -a case which furnished the malecontents with many happy and pungent -allusions; a kingdom treacherously seized by an usurper near in blood -to the throne; the rightful prince long dispossessed; a part of the -sacerdotal order true, through many disastrous years, to the Royal -House; a counterrevolution at length effected by the High Priest at the -head of the Levites. Who, it was asked, would dare to blame the heroic -pontiff who had restored the heir of David? Yet was not the government -of Athaliah as firmly settled as that of the Prince of Orange? - -Hundreds of pages written at this time about the rights of Joash and the -bold enterprise of Jehoiada are mouldering in the ancient bookcases of -Oxford and Cambridge. While Sherlock was thus fiercely attacked by -his old friends, he was not left unmolested by his old enemies. Some -vehement Whigs, among whom Julian Johnson was conspicuous, declared that -Jacobitism itself was respectable when compared with the vile doctrine -which had been discovered in the Convocation Book. That passive -obedience was due to Kings was doubtless an absurd and pernicious -notion. Yet it was impossible not to respect the consistency and -fortitude of men who thought themselves bound to bear true allegiance, -at all hazards, to an unfortunate, a deposed, an exiled oppressor. But -the theory which Sherlock had learned from Overall was unmixed baseness -and wickedness. A cause was to be abandoned, not because it was unjust, -but because it was unprosperous. Whether James had been a tyrant or had -been the father of his people was quite immaterial. If he had won the -battle of the Boyne we should have been bound as Christians to be his -slaves. He had lost it; and we were bound as Christians to be his foes. -Other Whigs congratulated the proselyte on having come, by whatever -road, to a right practical conclusion, but could not refrain from -sneering at the history which he gave of his conversion. He was, they -said, a man of eminent learning and abilities. He had studied the -question of allegiance long and deeply. He had written much about it. -Several months had been allowed him for reading, prayer and reflection -before he incurred suspension, several months more before he incurred -deprivation. He had formed an opinion for which he had declared himself -ready to suffer martyrdom; he had taught that opinion to others; and he -had then changed that opinion solely because he had discovered that it -had been, not refuted, but dogmatically pronounced erroneous by the two -Convocations more than eighty years before. Surely, this was to renounce -all liberty of private judgment, and to ascribe to the Synods of -Canterbury and York an infallibility which the Church of England had -declared that even Oecumenical Councils could not justly claim. If, it -was sarcastically said, all our notions of right and wrong, in matters -of vital importance to the well being of society, are to be suddenly -altered by a few lines of manuscript found in a corner of the library at -Lambeth, it is surely much to be wished, for the peace of mind of humble -Christians, that all the documents to which this sort of authority -belongs should be rummaged out and sent to the press as soon as -possible; for, unless this be done, we may all, like the Doctor when he -refused the oaths last year, be committing sins in the full persuasion -that we are discharging duties. In truth, it is not easy to believe -that the Convocation Book furnished Sherlock with any thing more than a -pretext for doing what he had made up his mind to do. The united force -of reason and interest had doubtless convinced him that his passions and -prejudices had led him into a great error. That error he determined to -recant; and it cost him less to say that his opinion had been changed by -newly discovered evidence, than that he had formed a wrong judgment with -all the materials for the forming of a right judgment before him. The -popular belief was that his retractation was the effect of the tears, -expostulations and reproaches of his wife. The lady's spirit was high; -her authority in the family was great; and she cared much more about her -house and her carriage, the plenty of her table and the prospects of her -children, than about the patriarchal origin of government or the meaning -of the word Abdication. She had, it was asserted, given her husband no -peace by day or by night till he had got over his scruples. In letters, -fables, songs, dialogues without number, her powers of seduction and -intimidation were malignantly extolled. She was Xanthippe pouring water -on the head of Socrates. She was Dalilah shearing Samson. She was Eve -forcing the forbidden fruit into Adam's mouth. She was Job's wife, -imploring her ruined lord, who sate scraping himself among the ashes, -not to curse and die, but to swear and live. While the ballad makers -celebrated the victory of Mrs. Sherlock, another class of assailants -fell on the theological reputation of her spouse. Till he took the -oaths, he had always been considered as the most orthodox of divines. -But the captious and malignant criticism to which his writings were now -subjected would have found heresy in the Sermon on the Mount; and he, -unfortunately, was rash enough to publish, at the very moment when the -outcry against his political tergiversation was loudest, his thoughts -on the mystery of the Trinity. It is probable that, at another time, his -work would have been hailed by good Churchmen as a triumphant answer -to the Socinians and Sabellians. But, unhappily, in his zeal against -Socinians and Sabellians, he used expressions which might be construed -into Tritheism. Candid judges would have remembered that the true path -was closely pressed on the right and on the left by error, and that it -was scarcely possible to keep far enough from danger on one side without -going very close to danger on the other. But candid judges Sherlock was -not likely to find among the Jacobites. His old allies affirmed that he -had incurred all the fearful penalties denounced in the Athanasian Creed -against those who divide the substance. Bulky quartos were written to -prove that he held the existence of three distinct Deities; and some -facetious malecontents, who troubled themselves very little about the -Catholic verity, amused the town by lampoons in English and Latin on his -heterodoxy. "We," said one of these jesters, "plight our faith to one -King, and call one God to attest our promise. We cannot think it strange -that there should be more than one King to whom the Doctor has sworn -allegiance, when we consider that the Doctor has more Gods than one to -swear by." [61] - -Sherlock would, perhaps, have doubted whether the government to which he -had submitted was entitled to be called a settled government, if he had -known all the dangers by which it was threatened. Scarcely had Preston's -plot been detected; when a new plot of a very different kind was formed -in the camp, in the navy, in the treasury, in the very bedchamber of -the King. This mystery of iniquity has, through five generations, been -gradually unveiling, but is not yet entirely unveiled. Some parts which -are still obscure may possibly, by the discovery of letters or diaries -now reposing under the dust of a century and a half, be made clear to -our posterity. The materials, however, which are at present accessible, -are sufficient for the construction of a narrative not to be read -without shame and loathing. [62] - -We have seen that, in the spring of 1690, Shrewsbury, irritated by -finding his counsels rejected, and those of his Tory rivals followed, -suffered himself, in a fatal hour, to be drawn into a correspondence -with the banished family. We have seen also by what cruel sufferings of -body and mind he expiated his fault. Tortured by remorse, and by disease -the effect of remorse, he had quitted the Court; but he had left behind -him men whose principles were not less lax than his, and whose hearts -were far harder and colder. - -Early in 1691, some of these men began to hold secret communication with -Saint Germains. Wicked and base as their conduct was, there was in it -nothing surprising. They did after their kind. The times were troubled. -A thick cloud was upon the future. The most sagacious and experienced -politician could not see with any clearness three months before him. -To a man of virtue and honour, indeed, this mattered little. His -uncertainty as to what the morrow might bring forth might make him -anxious, but could not make him perfidious. Though left in utter -darkness as to what concerned his interests, he had the sure guidance -of his principles. But, unhappily, men of virtue and honour were not -numerous among the courtiers of that age. Whitehall had been, during -thirty years, a seminary of every public and private vice, and -swarmed with lowminded, doubledealing, selfseeking politicians. These -politicians now acted as it was natural that men profoundly immoral -should act at a crisis of which none could predict the issue. Some -of them might have a slight predilection for William; others a slight -predilection for James; but it was not by any such predilection that the -conduct of any of the breed was guided. If it had seemed certain that -William would stand, they would all have been for William. If it had -seemed certain that James would be restored, they would all have been -for James. But what was to be done when the chances appeared to be -almost exactly balanced? There were honest men of one party who would -have answered, To stand by the true King and the true Church, and, if -necessary, to die for them like Laud. There were honest men of the other -party who would have answered, To stand by the liberties of England and -the Protestant religion, and, if necessary, to die for them like Sidney. -But such consistency was unintelligible to many of the noble and the -powerful. Their object was to be safe in every event. They therefore -openly took the oath of allegiance to one King, and secretly plighted -their word to the other. They were indefatigable in obtaining -commissions, patents of peerage, pensions, grants of crown land, under -the great seal of William; and they had in their secret drawers promises -of pardon in the handwriting of James. - -Among those who were guilty of this wickedness three men stand -preeminent, Russell, Godolphin and Marlborough. No three men could -be, in head and heart, more unlike to one another; and the peculiar -qualities of each gave a peculiar character to his villany. The treason -of Russell is to be attributed partly to fractiousness; the treason of -Godolphin is to be attributed altogether to timidity; the treason of -Marlborough was the treason of a man of great genius and boundless -ambition. - -It may be thought strange that Russell should have been out of humour. -He had just accepted the command of the united naval forces of England -and Holland with the rank of Admiral of the Fleet. He was Treasurer -of the Navy. He had a pension of three thousand pounds a year. Crown -property near Charing Cross, to the value of eighteen thousand pounds, -had been bestowed on him. His indirect gains must have been immense. -But he was still dissatisfed. In truth, with undaunted courage, with -considerable talents both for war and for administration, and with a -certain public spirit, which showed itself by glimpses even in the -very worst parts of his life, he was emphatically a bad man, insolent, -malignant, greedy, faithless. He conceived that the great services which -he had performed at the time of the Revolution had not been adequately -rewarded. Every thing that was given to others seemed to him to be -pillaged from himself. A letter is still extant which he wrote to -William about this time. It is made up of boasts, reproaches and sneers. -The Admiral, with ironical professions of humility and loyalty, begins -by asking permission to put his wrongs on paper, because his bashfulness -would not suffer him to explain himself by word of mouth. His grievances -were intolerable. Other people got grants of royal domains; but he could -get scarcely any thing. Other people could provide for their dependants; -but his recommendations were uniformly disregarded. The income which -he derived from the royal favour might seem large; but he had poor -relations; and the government, instead of doing its duty by them, had -most unhandsomely left them to his care. He had a sister who ought to -have a pension; for, without one, she could not give portions to her -daughters. He had a brother who, for want of a place, had been reduced -to the melancholy necessity of marrying an old woman for her money. -Russell proceeded to complain bitterly that the Whigs were neglected, -that the Revolution had aggrandised and enriched men who had made the -greatest efforts to avert it. And there is reason to believe that this -complaint came from his heart. For, next to his own interests, those -of his party were dear to him; and, even when he was most inclined to -become a Jacobite, he never had the smallest disposition to become a -Tory. In the temper which this letter indicates, he readily listened -to the suggestions of David Lloyd, one of the ablest and most active -emissaries who at this time were constantly plying between France and -England. Lloyd conveyed to James assurances that Russell would, when a -favourable opportunity should present itself, try to effect by means of -the fleet what Monk had effected in the preceding generation by means -of the army. [63] To what extent these assurances were sincere was a -question about which men who knew Russell well, and who were minutely -informed as to his conduct, were in doubt. It seems probable that, -during many months, he did not know his own mind. His interest was to -stand well, as long as possible, with both Kings. His irritable and -imperious nature was constantly impelling him to quarrel with both. His -spleen was excited one week by a dry answer from William, and the -next week by an absurd proclamation from James. Fortunately the most -important day of his life, the day from which all his subsequent years -took their colour, found him out of temper with the banished King. - -Godolphin had not, and did not pretend to have, any cause of complaint -against the government which he served. He was First Commissioner of the -Treasury. He had been protected, trusted, caressed. Indeed the favour -shown to him had excited many murmurs. Was it fitting, the Whigs had -indignantly asked, that a man who had been high in office through the -whole of the late reign, who had promised to vote for the Indulgence, -who had sate in the Privy Council with a Jesuit, who had sate at the -Board of Treasury with two Papists, who had attended an idolatress to -her altar, should be among the chief ministers of a Prince whose title -to the throne was derived from the Declaration of Rights? But on William -this clamour had produced no effect; and none of his English servants -seems to have had at this time a larger share of his confidence than -Godolphin. - -Nevertheless, the Jacobites did not despair. One of the most zealous -among them, a gentleman named Bulkeley, who had formerly been on terms -of intimacy with Godolphin, undertook to see what could be done. He -called at the Treasury, and tried to draw the First Lord into political -talk. This was no easy matter; for Godolphin was not a man to put -himself lightly into the power of others. His reserve was proverbial; -and he was especially renowned for the dexterity with which he, through -life, turned conversation away from matters of state to a main of cocks -or the pedigree of a racehorse. The visit ended without his uttering a -word indicating that he remembered the existence of King James. - -Bulkeley, however, was not to be so repulsed. He came again, and -introduced the subject which was nearest his heart. Godolphin then asked -after his old master and mistress in the mournful tone of a man who -despaired of ever being reconciled to them. Bulkeley assured him that -King James was ready to forgive all the past. "May I tell His Majesty -that you will try to deserve his favour?" At this Godolphin rose, said -something about the trammels of office and his wish to be released from -them, and put an end to the interview. - -Bulkeley soon made a third attempt. By this time Godolphin had -learned some things which shook his confidence in the stability of the -government which he served. He began to think, as he would himself have -expressed it, that he had betted too deep on the Revolution, and that -it was time to hedge. Evasions would no longer serve his turn. It was -necessary to speak out. He spoke out, and declared himself a devoted -servant of King James. "I shall take an early opportunity of resigning -my place. But, till then, I am under a tie. I must not betray my trust." -To enhance the value of the sacrifice which he proposed to make, he -produced a most friendly and confidential letter which he had lately -received from William. "You see how entirely the Prince of Orange trusts -me. He tells me that he cannot do without me, and that there is no -Englishman for whom he has so great a kindness; but all this weighs -nothing with me in comparison of my duty to my lawful King." - -If the First Lord of the Treasury really had scruples about betraying -his trust, those scruples were soon so effectually removed that he -very complacently continued, during six years, to eat the bread of one -master, while secretly sending professions of attachment and promises of -service to another. - -The truth is that Godolphin was under the influence of a mind far more -powerful and far more depraved than his own. His perplexities had -been imparted to Marlborough, to whom he had long been bound by such -friendship as two very unprincipled men are capable of feeling for each -other, and to whom he was afterwards bound by close domestic ties. - -Marlborough was in a very different situation from that of William's -other servants. Lloyd might make overtures to Russell, and Bulkeley to -Godolphin. But all the agents of the banished Court stood aloof from -the traitor of Salisbury. That shameful night seemed to have for ever -separated the perjured deserter from the Prince whom he had ruined. -James had, even in the last extremity, when his army was in full -retreat, when his whole kingdom had risen against him, declared that -he would never pardon Churchill, never, never. By all the Jacobites the -name of Churchill was held in peculiar abhorrence; and, in the prose and -verse which came forth daily from their secret presses, a precedence in -infamy, among all the many traitors of the age, was assigned to him. In -the order of things which had sprung from the Revolution, he was one of -the great men of England, high in the state, high in the army. He -had been created an Earl. He had a large share in the military -administration. The emoluments, direct and indirect, of the places -and commands which he held under the Crown were believed at the Dutch -Embassy to amount to twelve thousand pounds a year. In the event of a -counterrevolution it seemed that he had nothing in prospect but a garret -in Holland, or a scaffold on Tower Hill. It might therefore have been -expected that he would serve his new master with fidelity, not -indeed with the fidelity of Nottingham, which was the fidelity of -conscientiousness, not with the fidelity of Portland, which was the -fidelity of affection, but with the not less stubborn fidelity of -despair. - -Those who thought thus knew but little of Marlborough. Confident in his -own powers of deception, he resolved, since the Jacobite agents would -not seek him, to seek them. He therefore sent to beg an interview with -Colonel Edward Sackville. - -Sackville was astonished and not much pleased by the message. He was a -sturdy Cavalier of the old school. He had been persecuted in the days of -the Popish plot for manfully saying what he thought, and what every body -now thinks, about Oates and Bedloe. [64] Since the Revolution he had -put his neck in peril for King James, had been chased by officers with -warrants, and had been designated as a traitor in a proclamation to -which Marlborough himself had been a party. [65] It was not without -reluctance that the stanch royalist crossed the hated threshold of the -deserter. He was repaid for his effort by the edifying spectacle of such -an agony of repentance as he had never before seen. "Will you," said -Marlborough, "be my intercessor with the King? Will you tell him what -I suffer? My crimes now appear to me in their true light; and I shrink -with horror from the contemplation. The thought of them is with me day -and night. I sit down to table; but I cannot eat. I throw myself on my -bed; but I cannot sleep. I am ready to sacrifice every thing, to brave -every thing, to bring utter ruin on my fortunes, if only I may be free -from the misery of a wounded spirit." If appearances could be trusted, -this great offender was as true a penitent as David or as Peter. -Sackville reported to his friends what had passed. They could not but -acknowledge that, if the arch traitor, who had hitherto opposed to -conscience and to public opinion the same cool and placid hardihood -which distinguished him on fields of battle, had really begun to feel -remorse, it would be absurd to reject, on account of his unworthiness, -the inestimable services which it was in his power to render to the -good cause. He sate in the interior council; he held high command in -the army; he had been recently entrusted, and would doubtless again be -entrusted, with the direction of important military operations. It was -true that no man had incurred equal guilt; but it was true also that no -man had it in his power to make equal reparation. If he was sincere, -he might doubtless earn the pardon which he so much desired. But was he -sincere? Had he not been just as loud in professions of loyalty on the -very eve of his crime? It was necessary to put him to the test. Several -tests were applied by Sackville and Lloyd. Marlborough was required to -furnish full information touching the strength and the distribution of -all the divisions of the English army; and he complied. He was required -to disclose the whole plan of the approaching campaign; and he did so. -The Jacobite leaders watched carefully for inaccuracies in his reports, -but could find none. It was thought a still stronger proof of his -fidelity that he gave valuable intelligence about what was doing in the -office of the Secretary of State. A deposition had been sworn against -one zealous royalist. A warrant was preparing against another. These -intimations saved several of the malecontents from imprisonment, if -not from the gallows; and it was impossible for them not to feel some -relenting towards the awakened sinner to whom they owed so much. - -He however, in his secret conversations with his new allies, laid no -claim to merit. He did not, he said, ask for confidence. How could he, -after the villanies which he had committed against the best of Kings, -hope ever to be trusted again? It was enough for a wretch like him to be -permitted to make, at the cost of his life, some poor atonement to the -gracious master, whom he had indeed basely injured, but whom he had -never ceased to love. It was not improbable that, in the summer, he -might command the English forces in Flanders. Was it wished that he -should bring them over in a body to the French camp? If such were the -royal pleasure, he would undertake that the thing should be done. But -on the whole he thought that it would be better to wait till the next -session of Parliament. And then he hinted at a plan which he afterwards -more fully matured, for expelling the usurper by means of the English -legislature and the English army. In the meantime he hoped that James -would command Godolphin not to quit the Treasury. A private man could -do little for the good cause. One who was the director of the national -finances, and the depository of the gravest secrets of state, might -render inestimable services. - -Marlborough's pretended repentance imposed so completely on those who -managed the affairs of James in London that they sent Lloyd to France, -with the cheering intelligence that the most depraved of all rebels had -been wonderfully transformed into a loyal subject. The tidings filled -James with delight and hope. Had he been wise, they would have excited -in him only aversion and distrust. It was absurd to imagine that a man -really heartbroken by remorse and shame for one act of perfidy would -determine to lighten his conscience by committing a second act of -perfidy as odious and as disgraceful as the first. The promised -atonement was so wicked and base that it never could be made by any man -sincerely desirous to atone for past wickedness and baseness. The truth -was that, when Marlborough told the Jacobites that his sense of guilt -prevented him from swallowing his food by day and taking his rest at -night, he was laughing at them. The loss of half a guinea would have -done more to spoil his appetite and to disturb his slumbers than all the -terrors of an evil conscience. What his offers really proved was that -his former crime had sprung, not from an ill regulated zeal for the -interests of his country and his religion, but from a deep and incurable -moral disease which had infected the whole man. James, however, partly -from dulness and partly from selfishness, could never see any immorality -in any action by which he was benefited. To conspire against him, to -betray him, to break an oath of allegiance sworn to him, were crimes for -which no punishment here or hereafter could be too severe. But to murder -his enemies, to break faith with his enemies was not only innocent but -laudable. The desertion at Salisbury had been the worst of crimes; -for it had ruined him. A similar desertion in Flanders would be an -honourable exploit; for it might restore him. - -The penitent was informed by his Jacobite friends that he was forgiven. -The news was most welcome; but something more was necessary to restore -his lost peace of mind. Might he hope to have, in the royal handwriting, -two lines containing a promise of pardon? It was not, of course, for -his own sake that he asked this. But he was confident that, with such -a document in his hands, he could bring back to the right path some -persons of great note who adhered to the usurper, only because they -imagined that they had no mercy to expect from the legitimate King. They -would return to their duty as soon as they saw that even the worst of -all criminals had, on his repentance, been generously forgiven. The -promise was written, sent, and carefully treasured up. Marlborough had -now attained one object, an object which was common to him with Russell -and Godolphin. But he had other objects which neither Russell nor -Godolphin had ever contemplated. There is, as we shall hereafter -see, strong reason to believe that this wise, brave, wicked man, was -meditating a plan worthy of his fertile intellect and daring spirit, and -not less worthy of his deeply corrupted heart, a plan which, if it had -not been frustrated by strange means, would have ruined William without -benefiting James, and would have made the successful traitor master of -England and arbiter of Europe. - -Thus things stood, when, in May 1691, William, after a short and busy -sojourn in England, set out again for the Continent, where the regular -campaign was about to open. He took with him Marlborough, whose -abilities he justly appreciated, and of whose recent negotiations with -Saint Germains he had not the faintest suspicion. At the Hague several -important military and political consultations were held; and, on every -occasion, the superiority of the accomplished Englishman was felt by -the most distinguished soldiers and statesmen of the United Provinces. -Heinsius, long after, used to relate a conversation which took place at -this time between William and the Prince of Vaudemont, one of the ablest -commanders in the Dutch service. Vaudemont spoke well of several -English officers, and among them of Talmash and Mackay, but pronounced -Marlborough superior beyond comparison to the rest. "He has every -quality of a general. His very look shows it. He cannot fail to achieve -something great." "I really believe, cousin," answered the King, "that -my Lord will make good every thing that you have said of him." - -There was still a short interval before the commencement of military -operations. William passed that interval in his beloved park at Loo. -Marlborough spent two or three days there, and was then despatched to -Flanders with orders to collect all the English forces, to form a camp -in the neighbourhood of Brussels, and to have every thing in readiness -for the King's arrival. - -And now Marlborough had an opportunity of proving the sincerity of those -professions by which he had obtained from a heart, well described by -himself as harder than a marble chimneypiece, the pardon of an offence -such as might have moved even a gentle nature to deadly resentment. He -received from Saint Germains a message claiming the instant performance -of his promise to desert at the head of his troops. He was told that -this was the greatest service which he could render to the Crown. His -word was pledged; and the gracious master who had forgiven all past -errors confidently expected that it would be redeemed. The hypocrite -evaded the demand with characteristic dexterity. In the most respectful -and affectionate language he excused himself for not immediately obeying -the royal commands. The promise which he was required to fulfil had not -been quite correctly understood. There had been some misapprehension -on the part of the messengers. To carry over a regiment or two would -do more harm than good. To carry over a whole army was a business which -would require much time and management. [66] While James was murmuring -over these apologies, and wishing that he had not been quite so -placable, William arrived at the head quarters of the allied forces, and -took the chief command. - -The military operations in Flanders recommenced early in June and -terminated at the close of September. No important action took place. -The two armies marched and countermarched, drew near and receded. During -some time they confronted each other with less than a league between -them. But neither William nor Luxemburg would fight except at an -advantage; and neither gave the other any advantage. Languid as the -campaign was, it is on one account remarkable. During more than a -century our country had sent no great force to make war by land out of -the British isles. Our aristocracy had therefore long ceased to be -a military class. The nobles of France, of Germany, of Holland, were -generally soldiers. It would probably have been difficult to find in the -brilliant circle which surrounded Lewis at Versailles a single Marquess -or Viscount of forty who had not been at some battle or siege. But the -immense majority of our peers, baronets and opulent esquires had never -served except in the trainbands, and had never borne a part in any -military exploit more serious than that of putting down a riot or of -keeping a street clear for a procession. The generation which had fought -at Edgehill and Lansdowne had nearly passed away. The wars of Charles -the Second had been almost entirely maritime. During his reign therefore -the sea service had been decidedly more the mode than the land service; -and, repeatedly, when our fleet sailed to encounter the Dutch, such -multitudes of men of fashion had gone on board that the parks and the -theatres had been left desolate. In 1691 at length, for the first time -since Henry the Eighth laid siege to Boulogne, an English army appeared -on the Continent under the command of an English king. A camp, which was -also a court, was irresistibly attractive to many young patricians -full of natural intrepidity, and ambitious of the favour which men -of distinguished bravery have always found in the eyes of women. To -volunteer for Flanders became the rage among the fine gentlemen who -combed their flowing wigs and exchanged their richly perfumed snuffs at -the Saint James's Coffeehouse. William's headquarters were enlivened -by a crowd of splendid equipages and by a rapid succession of sumptuous -banquets. For among the high born and high spirited youths who repaired -to his standard were some who, though quite willing to face a battery, -were not at all disposed to deny themselves the luxuries with which they -had been surrounded in Soho Square. In a few months Shadwell brought -these valiant fops and epicures on the stage. The town was made merry -with the character of a courageous but prodigal and effeminate coxcomb, -who is impatient to cross swords with the best men in the French -household troops, but who is much dejected by learning that he may find -it difficult to have his champagne iced daily during the summer. He -carries with him cooks, confectioners and laundresses, a waggonload of -plate, a wardrobe of laced and embroidered suits, and much rich tent -furniture, of which the patterns have been chosen by a committee of fine -ladies. [67] - -While the hostile armies watched each other in Flanders, hostilities -were carried on with somewhat more vigour in other parts of Europe. -The French gained some advantages in Catalonia and in Piedmont. Their -Turkish allies, who in the east menaced the dominions of the Emperor, -were defeated by Lewis of Baden in a great battle. But nowhere were the -events of the summer so important as in Ireland. - -From October 1690 till May 1691, no military operation on a large scale -was attempted in that kingdom. The area of the island was, during the -winter and spring, not unequally divided between the contending races. -The whole of Ulster, the greater part of Leinster and about one third -of Munster had submitted to the English. The whole of Connaught, the -greater part of Munster, and two or three counties of Leinster were held -by the Irish. The tortuous boundary formed by William's garrisons ran -in a north eastern direction from the bay of Castlehaven to Mallow, and -then, inclining still further eastward, proceeded to Cashel. From -Cashel the line went to Mullingar, from Mullingar to Longford, and from -Longford to Cavan, skirted Lough Erne on the west, and met the ocean -again at Ballyshannon. [68] - -On the English side of this pale there was a rude and imperfect order. -Two Lords Justices, Coningsby and Porter, assisted by a Privy Council, -represented King William at Dublin Castle. Judges, Sheriffs and -Justices of the Peace had been appointed; and assizes were, after a long -interval, held in several county towns. The colonists had meanwhile -been formed into a strong militia, under the command of officers who had -commissions from the Crown. The trainbands of the capital consisted of -two thousand five hundred foot, two troops of horse and two troops -of dragoons, all Protestants and all well armed and clad. [69] On the -fourth of November, the anniversary of William's birth, and on the -fifth, the anniversary of his landing at Torbay, the whole of this force -appeared in all the pomp of war. The vanquished and disarmed natives -assisted, with suppressed grief and anger, at the triumph of the -caste which they had, five months before, oppressed and plundered with -impunity. The Lords Justices went in state to Saint Patrick's Cathedral; -bells were rung; bonfires were lighted; hogsheads of ale and claret were -set abroach in the streets; fireworks were exhibited on College Green; a -great company of nobles and public functionaries feasted at the Castle; -and, as the second course came up, the trumpets sounded, and Ulster King -at Arms proclaimed, in Latin, French and English, William and Mary, by -the grace of God, King and Queen of Great Britain, France, and Ireland. -[70] - -Within the territory where the Saxon race was dominant, trade and -industry had already begun to revive. The brazen counters which bore the -image and superscription of James gave place to silver. The fugitives -who had taken refuge in England came back in multitudes; and, by their -intelligence, diligence and thrift, the devastation caused by two years -of confusion and robbery was soon in part repaired. Merchantmen heavily -laden were constantly passing and repassing Saint George's Channel. -The receipts of the custom houses on the eastern coast, from Cork to -Londonderry, amounted in six months to sixty-seven thousand five hundred -pounds, a sum such as would have been thought extraordinary even in the -most prosperous times. [71] - -The Irish who remained within the English pale were, one and all, -hostile to the English domination. They were therefore subjected to -a rigorous system of police, the natural though lamentable effect of -extreme danger and extreme provocation. A Papist was not permitted to -have a sword or a gun. He was not permitted to go more than three miles -out of his parish except to the market town on the market day. Lest he -should give information or assistance to his brethren who occupied the -western half of the island, he was forbidden to live within ten miles of -the frontier. Lest he should turn his house into a place of resort -for malecontents, he was forbidden to sell liquor by retail. One -proclamation announced that, if the property of any Protestant should be -injured by marauders, his loss should be made good at the expense of his -Popish neighbours. Another gave notice that, if any Papist who had not -been at least three months domiciled in Dublin should be found there, he -should be treated as a spy. Not more than five Papists were to assemble -in the capital or its neighbourhood on any pretext. Without a protection -from the government no member of the Church of Rome was safe; and the -government would not grant a protection to any member of the Church of -Rome who had a son in the Irish army. [72] - -In spite of all precautions and severities, however, the Celt found many -opportunities of taking a sly revenge. Houses and barns were frequently -burned; soldiers were frequently murdered; and it was scarcely possible -to obtain evidence against the malefactors, who had with them the -sympathies of the whole population. On such occasions the government -sometimes ventured on acts which seemed better suited to a Turkish than -to an English administration. One of these acts became a favourite theme -of Jacobite pamphleteers, and was the subject of a serious parliamentary -inquiry at Westminster. Six musketeers were found butchered only a few -miles from Dublin. The inhabitants of the village where the crime had -been committed, men, women, and children, were driven like sheep into -the Castle, where the Privy Council was sitting. The heart of one of the -assassins, named Gafney, failed him. He consented to be a witness, was -examined by the Board, acknowledged his guilt, and named some of his -accomplices. He was then removed in custody; but a priest obtained -access to him during a few minutes. What passed during those few minutes -appeared when he was a second time brought before the Council. He had -the effrontery to deny that he had owned any thing or accused any body. -His hearers, several of whom had taken down his confession in writing, -were enraged at his impudence. The Lords justices broke out; "You are -a rogue; You are a villain; You shall be hanged; Where is the Provost -Marshal?" The Provost Marshal came. "Take that man," said Coningsby, -pointing to Gafney; "take that man, and hang him." There was no gallows -ready; but the carriage of a gun served the purpose; and the prisoner -was instantly tied up without a trial, without even a written order for -the execution; and this though the courts of law were sitting at the -distance of only a few hundred yards. The English House of Commons, some -years later, after a long discussion, resolved, without a division, that -the order for the execution of Gafney was arbitrary and illegal, but -that Coningsby's fault was so much extenuated by the circumstances in -which he was placed that it was not a proper subject for impeachment. -[73] - -It was not only by the implacable hostility of the Irish that the Saxon -of the pale was at this time harassed. His allies caused him almost as -much annoyance as his helots. The help of troops from abroad was indeed -necessary to him; but it was dearly bought. Even William, in whom -the whole civil and military authority was concentrated, had found it -difficult to maintain discipline in an army collected from many lands, -and composed in great part of mercenaries accustomed to live at free -quarters. The powers which had been united in him were now divided and -subdivided. The two Lords justices considered the civil administration -as their province, and left the army to the management of Ginkell, who -was General in Chief. Ginkell kept excellent order among the auxiliaries -from Holland, who were under his more immediate command. But his -authority over the English and the Danes was less entire; and -unfortunately their pay was, during part of the winter, in arrear. They -indemnified themselves by excesses and exactions for the want of that -which was their due; and it was hardly possible to punish men with -severity for not choosing to starve with arms in their hands. At length -in the spring large supplies of money and stores arrived; arrears -were paid up; rations were plentiful; and a more rigid discipline was -enforced. But too many traces of the bad habits which the soldiers had -contracted were discernible till the close of the war. [74] - -In that part of Ireland, meanwhile, which still acknowledged James as -King, there could hardly be said to be any law, any property, or any -government. The Roman Catholics of Ulster and Leinster had fled westward -by tens of thousands, driving before them a large part of the cattle -which had escaped the havoc of two terrible years. The influx of food -into the Celtic region, however, was far from keeping pace with the -influx of consumers. The necessaries of life were scarce. Conveniences -to which every plain farmer and burgess in England was accustomed could -hardly be procured by nobles and generals. No coin was to be seen except -lumps of base metal which were called crowns and shillings. Nominal -prices were enormously high. A quart of ale cost two and sixpence, a -quart of brandy three pounds. The only towns of any note on the western -coast were Limerick and Galway; and the oppression which the shopkeepers -of those towns underwent was such that many of them stole away with the -remains of their stocks to the English territory, where a Papist, though -he had to endure much restraint and much humiliation, was allowed to -put his own price on his goods, and received that price in silver. -Those traders who remained within the unhappy region were ruined. -Every warehouse that contained any valuable property was broken open by -ruffians who pretended that they were commissioned to procure stores for -the public service; and the owner received, in return for bales of cloth -and hogsheads of sugar, some fragments of old kettles and saucepans, -which would not in London or Paris have been taken by a beggar. - -As soon as a merchant ship arrived in the bay of Galway or in the -Shannon, she was boarded by these robbers. The cargo was carried away; -and the proprietor was forced to content himself with such a quantity -of cowhides, of wool and of tallow as the gang which had plundered him -chose to give him. The consequence was that, while foreign commodities -were pouring fast into the harbours of Londonderry, Carrickfergus, -Dublin, Waterford and Cork, every mariner avoided Limerick and Galway as -nests of pirates. [75] - -The distinction between the Irish foot soldier and the Irish Rapparee -had never been very strongly marked. It now disappeared. Great part of -the army was turned loose to live by marauding. An incessant predatory -war raged along the line which separated the domain of William from -that of James. Every day companies of freebooters, sometimes wrapped in -twisted straw which served the purpose of armour, stole into the English -territory, burned, sacked, pillaged, and hastened back to their -own ground. To guard against these incursions was not easy; for the -peasantry of the plundered country had a strong fellow feeling with the -plunderers. To empty the granary, to set fire to the dwelling, to drive -away the cows, of a heretic was regarded by every squalid inhabitant -of a mud cabin as a good work. A troop engaged in such a work might -confidently expect to fall in, notwithstanding all the proclamations -of the Lords justices, with some friend who would indicate the richest -booty, the shortest road, and the safest hiding place. The English -complained that it was no easy matter to catch a Rapparee. Sometimes, -when he saw danger approaching, he lay down in the long grass of the -bog; and then it was as difficult to find him as to find a hare sitting. -Sometimes he sprang into a stream, and lay there, like an otter, with -only his mouth and nostrils above the water. Nay, a whole gang of -banditti would, in the twinkling of an eye, transform itself into a -crowd of harmless labourers. Every man took his gun to pieces, hid the -lock in his clothes, stuck a cork in the muzzle, stopped the touch hole -with a quill, and threw the weapon into the next pond. Nothing was to be -seen but a train of poor rustics who had not so much as a cudgel among -them, and whose humble look and crouching walk seemed to show that their -spirit was thoroughly broken to slavery. When the peril was over, when -the signal was given, every man flew to the place where he had hid his -arms; and soon the robbers were in full march towards some Protestant -mansion. One band penetrated to Clonmel, another to the vicinity of -Maryborough; a third made its den in a woody islet of firm ground, -surrounded by the vast bog of Allen, harried the county of Wicklow, and -alarmed even the suburbs of Dublin. Such expeditions indeed were not -always successful. Sometimes the plunderers fell in with parties of -militia or with detachments from the English garrisons, in situations in -which disguise, flight and resistance were alike impossible. When this -happened every kerne who was taken was hanged, without any ceremony, on -the nearest tree. [76] - -At the head quarters of the Irish army there was, during the winter, no -authority capable of exacting obedience even within a circle of a mile. -Tyrconnel was absent at the Court of France. He had left the supreme -government in the hands of a Council of Regency composed of twelve -persons. The nominal command of the army he had confided to Berwick; but -Berwick, though, as was afterwards proved, a man of no common courage -and capacity, was young and inexperienced. His powers were unsuspected -by the world and by himself; [77] and he submitted without reluctance -to the tutelage of a Council of War nominated by the Lord Lieutenant. -Neither the Council of Regency nor the Council of War was popular at -Limerick. The Irish complained that men who were not Irish had been -entrusted with a large share in the administration. The cry was loudest -against an officer named Thomas Maxwell. For it was certain that he was -a Scotchman; it was doubtful whether he was a Roman Catholic; and he had -not concealed the dislike which he felt for that Celtic Parliament which -had repealed the Act of Settlement and passed the Act of Attainder. -[78] The discontent, fomented by the arts of intriguers, among whom -the cunning and unprincipled Henry Luttrell seems to have been the most -active, soon broke forth into open rebellion. A great meeting was held. -Many officers of the army, some peers, some lawyers of high note and -some prelates of the Roman Catholic Church were present. It was resolved -that the government set up by the Lord Lieutenant was unknown to the -constitution. Ireland, it was said, could be legally governed, in the -absence of the King, only by a Lord Lieutenant, by a Lord Deputy or by -Lords Justices. The King was absent. The Lord Lieutenant was absent. -There was no Lord Deputy. There were no Lords Justices. The Act by -which Tyrconnel had delegated his authority to a junto composed of his -creatures was a mere nullity. The nation was therefore left without any -legitimate chief, and might, without violating the allegiance due to -the Crown, make temporary provision for its own safety. A deputation was -sent to inform Berwick that he had assumed a power to which he had -no right, but that nevertheless the army and people of Ireland would -willingly acknowledge him as their head if he would consent to govern by -the advice of a council truly Irish. Berwick indignantly expressed his -wonder that military men should presume to meet and deliberate without -the permission of their general. They answered that there was no -general, and that, if His Grace did not choose to undertake the -administration on the terms proposed, another leader would easily be -found. Berwick very reluctantly yielded, and continued to be a puppet in -a new set of hands. [79] - -Those who had effected this revolution thought it prudent to send a -deputation to France for the purpose of vindicating their proceedings. -Of the deputation the Roman Catholic Bishop of Cork and the two -Luttrells were members. In the ship which conveyed them from Limerick -to Brest they found a fellow passenger whose presence was by no means -agreeable to them, their enemy, Maxwell. They suspected, and not without -reason, that he was going, like them, to Saint Germains, but on a very -different errand. The truth was that Berwick had sent Maxwell to watch -their motions and to traverse their designs. Henry Luttrell, the least -scrupulous of men, proposed to settle the matter at once by tossing the -Scotchman into the sea. But the Bishop, who was a man of conscience, -and Simon Luttrell, who was a man of honour, objected to this expedient. -[80] - -Meanwhile at Limerick the supreme power was in abeyance. Berwick, -finding that he had no real authority, altogether neglected business, -and gave himself up to such pleasures as that dreary place of banishment -afforded. There was among the Irish chiefs no man of sufficient weight -and ability to control the rest. Sarsfield for a time took the lead. But -Sarsfield, though eminently brave and active in the field, was little -skilled in the administration of war, and still less skilled in civil -business. Those who were most desirous to support his authority were -forced to own that his nature was too unsuspicious and indulgent for -a post in which it was hardly possible to be too distrustful or too -severe. He believed whatever was told him. He signed whatever was set -before him. The commissaries, encouraged by his lenity, robbed and -embezzled more shamelessly than ever. They sallied forth daily, guarded -by pikes and firelocks, to seize, nominally for the public service, but -really for themselves, wool, linen, leather, tallow, domestic utensils, -instruments of husbandry, searched every pantry, every wardrobe, every -cellar, and even laid sacrilegious hands on the property of priests and -prelates. [81] - -Early in the spring the government, if it is to be so called, of -which Berwick was the ostensible head, was dissolved by the return of -Tyrconnel. The Luttrells had, in the name of their countrymen, implored -James not to subject so loyal a people to so odious and incapable a -viceroy. Tyrconnel, they said, was old; he was infirm; he needed much -sleep; he knew nothing of war; he was dilatory; he was partial; he was -rapacious; he was distrusted and hated by the whole nation. The Irish, -deserted by him, had made a gallant stand, and had compelled the -victorious army of the Prince of Orange to retreat. They hoped soon to -take the field again, thirty thousand strong; and they adjured their -King to send them some captain worthy to command such a force. Tyrconnel -and Maxwell, on the other hand, represented the delegates as mutineers, -demagogues, traitors, and pressed James to send Henry Luttrell to -keep Mountjoy company in the Bastille. James, bewildered by these -criminations and recriminations, hesitated long, and at last, with -characteristic wisdom, relieved himself from trouble by giving all the -quarrellers fair words and by sending them all back to have their fight -out in Ireland. Berwick was at the same time recalled to France. [82] - -Tyrconnel was received at Limerick, even by his enemies, with decent -respect. Much as they hated him, they could not question the validity -of his commission; and, though they still maintained that they had -been perfectly justified in annulling, during his absence, the -unconstitutional arrangements which he had made, they acknowledged that, -when he was present, he was their lawful governor. He was not altogether -unprovided with the means of conciliating them. He brought many gracious -messages and promises, a patent of peerage for Sarsfield, some -money which was not of brass, and some clothing, which was even more -acceptable than money. The new garments were not indeed very fine. But -even the generals had long been out at elbows; and there were few of the -common men whose habiliments would have been thought sufficient to dress -a scarecrow in a more prosperous country. Now, at length, for the first -time in many months, every private soldier could boast of a pair of -breeches and a pair of brogues. The Lord Lieutenant had also been -authorised to announce that he should soon be followed by several ships, -laden with provisions and military stores. This announcement was most -welcome to the troops, who had long been without bread, and who had -nothing stronger than water to drink. [83] - -During some weeks the supplies were impatiently expected. At last, -Tyrconnel was forced to shut himself up; for, whenever he appeared in -public, the soldiers ran after him clamouring for food. Even the beef -and mutton, which, half raw, half burned, without vegetables, without -salt, had hitherto supported the army, had become scarce; and the common -men were on rations of horseflesh when the promised sails were seen in -the mouth of the Shannon. [84] - -A distinguished French general, named Saint Ruth, was on board with his -staff. He brought a commission which appointed him commander in chief of -the Irish army. The commission did not expressly declare that he was to -be independent of the viceregal authority; but he had been assured by -James that Tyrconnel should have secret instructions not to intermeddle -in the conduct of the war. Saint Ruth was assisted by another general -officer named D'Usson. The French ships brought some arms, some -ammunition, and a plentiful supply of corn and flour. The spirits of the -Irish rose; and the Te Deum was chaunted with fervent devotion in the -cathedral of Limerick. [85] - -Tyrconnel had made no preparations for the approaching campaign. But -Saint Ruth, as soon as he had landed, exerted himself strenuously to -redeem the time which had been lost. He was a man of courage, activity -and resolution, but of a harsh and imperious nature. In his own country -he was celebrated as the most merciless persecutor that had ever -dragooned the Huguenots to mass. It was asserted by English Whigs that -he was known in France by the nickname of the Hangman; that, at Rome, -the very cardinals had shown their abhorrence of his cruelty; and -that even Queen Christina, who had little right to be squeamish about -bloodshed, had turned away from him with loathing. He had recently held -a command in Savoy. The Irish regiments in the French service had formed -part of his army, and had behaved extremely well. It was therefore -supposed that he had a peculiar talent for managing Irish troops. But -there was a wide difference between the well clad, well armed and well -drilled Irish, with whom he was familiar, and the ragged marauders whom -he found swarming in the alleys of Limerick. Accustomed to the splendour -and the discipline of French camps and garrisons, he was disgusted by -finding that, in the country to which he had been sent, a regiment of -infantry meant a mob of people as naked, as dirty and as disorderly -as the beggars, whom he had been accustomed to see on the Continent -besieging the door of a monastery or pursuing a diligence up him. With -ill concealed contempt, however, he addressed himself vigorously to the -task of disciplining these strange soldiers, and was day and night in -the saddle, galloping from post to post, from Limerick to Athlone, from -Athlone to the northern extremity of Lough Rea, and from Lough Rea back -to Limerick. [86] - -It was indeed necessary that he should bestir himself; for, a few days -after his arrival, he learned that, on the other side of the Pale, -all was ready for action. The greater part of the English force was -collected, before the close of May, in the neighbourhood of Mullingar. -Ginkell commanded in chief. He had under him the two best officers, -after Marlborough, of whom our island could then boast, Talmash and -Mackay. The Marquess of Ruvigny, the hereditary chief of the refugees, -and elder brother of the brave Caillemot, who had fallen at the Boyne, -had joined the army with the rank of major general. The Lord Justice -Coningsby, though not by profession a soldier, came down from Dublin, to -animate the zeal of the troops. The appearance of the camp showed that -the money voted by the English Parliament had not been spared. The -uniforms were new; the ranks were one blaze of scarlet; and the train of -artillery was such as had never before been seen in Ireland. [87] - -On the sixth of June Ginkell moved his head quarters from Mullingar. On -the seventh he reached Ballymore. At Ballymore, on a peninsula almost -surrounded by something between a swamp and a lake, stood an ancient -fortress, which had recently been fortified under Sarsfield's direction, -and which was defended by above a thousand men. The English guns were -instantly planted. In a few hours the besiegers had the satisfaction of -seeing the besieged running like rabbits from one shelter to another. -The governor, who had at first held high language, begged piteously for -quarter, and obtained it. The whole garrison were marched off to Dublin. -Only eight of the conquerors had fallen. [88] - -Ginkell passed some days in reconstructing the defences of Ballymore. -This work had scarcely been performed when he was joined by the Danish -auxiliaries under the command of the Duke of Wirtemberg. The whole army -then moved westward, and, on the nineteenth of June, appeared before the -walls of Athlone. [89] - -Athlone was perhaps, in a military point of view, the most important -place in the island. Rosen, who understood war well, had always -maintained that it was there that the Irishry would, with most -advantage, make a stand against the Englishry. [90] The town, which was -surrounded by ramparts of earth, lay partly in Leinster and partly -in Connaught. The English quarter, which was in Leinster, had once -consisted of new and handsome houses, but had been burned by the Irish -some months before, and now lay in heaps of ruin. The Celtic quarter, -which was in Connaught, was old and meanly built. [91] The Shannon, -which is the boundary of the two provinces, rushed through Athlone in -a deep and rapid stream, and turned two large mills which rose on the -arches of a stone bridge. Above the bridge, on the Connaught side, -a castle, built, it was said, by King John, towered to the height of -seventy feet, and extended two hundred feet along the river. Fifty or -sixty yards below the bridge was a narrow ford. [92] - -During the night of the nineteenth the English placed their cannon. On -the morning of the twentieth the firing began. At five in the afternoon -an assault was made. A brave French refugee with a grenade in his hand -was the first to climb the breach, and fell, cheering his countrymen to -the onset with his latest breath. Such were the gallant spirits which -the bigotry of Lewis had sent to recruit, in the time of his utmost -need, the armies of his deadliest enemies. The example was not lost. The -grenades fell thick. The assailants mounted by hundreds. The Irish gave -way and ran towards the bridge. There the press was so great that some -of the fugitives were crushed to death in the narrow passage, and others -were forced over the parapets into the waters which roared among the -mill wheels below. In a few hours Ginkell had made himself master of the -English quarter of Athlone; and this success had cost him only twenty -men killed and forty wounded. [93] - -But his work was only begun. Between him and the Irish town the Shannon -ran fiercely. The bridge was so narrow that a few resolute men might -keep it against an army. The mills which stood on it were strongly -guarded; and it was commanded by the guns of the castle. That part of -the Connaught shore where the river was fordable was defended by works, -which the Lord Lieutenant had, in spite of the murmurs of a powerful -party, forced Saint Ruth to entrust to the care of Maxwell. Maxwell had -come back from France a more unpopular man than he had been when he -went thither. It was rumoured that he had, at Versailles, spoken -opprobriously of the Irish nation; and he had, on this account, been, -only a few days before, publicly affronted by Sarsfield. [94] On the -twenty-first of June the English were busied in flinging up batteries -along the Leinster bank. On the twenty-second, soon after dawn, the -cannonade began. The firing continued all that day and all the following -night. When morning broke again, one whole side of the castle had been -beaten down; the thatched lanes of the Celtic town lay in ashes; and one -of the mills had been burned with sixty soldiers who defended it. [95] - -Still however the Irish defended the bridge resolutely. During several -days there was sharp fighting hand to hand in the strait passage. The -assailants gained ground, but gained it inch by inch. The courage of the -garrison was sustained by the hope of speedy succour. Saint Ruth had at -length completed his preparations; and the tidings that Athlone was -in danger had induced him to take the field in haste at the head of an -army, superior in number, though inferior in more important elements of -military strength, to the army of Ginkell. The French general seems to -have thought that the bridge and the ford might easily be defended, till -the autumnal rains and the pestilence which ordinarily accompanied them -should compel the enemy to retire. He therefore contented himself with -sending successive detachments to reinforce the garrison. The immediate -conduct of the defence he entrusted to his second in command, D'Usson, -and fixed his own head quarters two or three miles from the town. He -expressed his astonishment that so experienced a commander as Ginkell -should persist in a hopeless enterprise. "His master ought to hang him -for trying to take Athlone; and mine ought to hang me if I lose it." -[96] - -Saint Ruth, however, was by no means at ease. He had found, to his great -mortification, that he had not the full authority which the promises -made to him at Saint Germains had entitled him to expect. The Lord -Lieutenant was in the camp. His bodily and mental infirmities had -perceptibly increased within the last few weeks. The slow and uncertain -step with which he, who had once been renowned for vigour and agility, -now tottered from his easy chair to his couch, was no unapt type of the -sluggish and wavering movement of that mind which had once pursued its -objects with a vehemence restrained neither by fear nor by pity, neither -by conscience nor by shame. Yet, with impaired strength, both physical -and intellectual, the broken old man clung pertinaciously to power. If -he had received private orders not to meddle with the conduct of the -war, he disregarded them. He assumed all the authority of a sovereign, -showed himself ostentatiously to the troops as their supreme chief, and -affected to treat Saint Ruth as a lieutenant. Soon the interference of -the Viceroy excited the vehement indignation of that powerful party in -the army which had long hated him. Many officers signed an instrument by -which they declared that they did not consider him as entitled to their -obedience in the field. Some of them offered him gross personal insults. -He was told to his face that, if he persisted in remaining where he was -not wanted, the ropes of his pavilion should be cut. He, on the other -hand, sent his emissaries to all the camp fires, and tried to make a -party among the common soldiers against the French general. [97] - -The only thing in which Tyrconnel and Saint Ruth agreed was in dreading -and disliking Sarsfield. Not only was he popular with the great body -of his countrymen; he was also surrounded by a knot of retainers whose -devotion to him resembled the devotion of the Ismailite murderers to -the Old Man of the Mountain. It was known that one of these fanatics, a -colonel, had used language which, in the mouth of an officer so high in -rank, might well cause uneasiness. "The King," this man had said, "is -nothing to me. I obey Sarsfield. Let Sarsfield tell me to kill any -man in the whole army; and I will do it." Sarsfield was, indeed, too -honourable a gentleman to abuse his immense power over the minds of -his worshippers. But the Viceroy and the Commander in Chief might not -unnaturally be disturbed by the thought that Sarsfield's honour was -their only guarantee against mutiny and assassination. The consequence -was that, at the crisis of the fate of Ireland, the services of the -first of Irish soldiers were not used, or were used with jealous -caution, and that, if he ventured to offer a suggestion, it was received -with a sneer or a frown. [98] - -A great and unexpected disaster put an end to these disputes. On the -thirtieth of June Ginkell called a council of war. Forage began to be -scarce; and it was absolutely necessary that the besiegers should either -force their way across the river or retreat. The difficulty of effecting -a passage over the shattered remains of the bridge seemed almost -insuperable. It was proposed to try the ford. The Duke of Wirtemberg, -Talmash, and Ruvigny gave their voices in favour of this plan; and -Ginkell, with some misgivings, consented. [99] - -It was determined that the attempt should be made that very afternoon. -The Irish, fancying that the English were about to retreat, kept guard -carelessly. Part of the garrison was idling, part dosing. D'Usson was at -table. Saint Ruth was in his tent, writing a letter to his master filled -with charges against Tyrconnel. Meanwhile, fifteen hundred grenadiers; -each wearing in his hat a green bough, were mustered on the Leinster -bank of the Shannon. Many of them doubtless remembered that on that day -year they had, at the command of King William, put green boughs in their -hats on the banks of the Boyne. Guineas had been liberally scattered -among these picked men; but their alacrity was such as gold cannot -purchase. Six battalions were in readiness to support the attack. -Mackay commanded. He did not approve of the plan; but he executed it as -zealously and energetically as if he had himself been the author of it. -The Duke of Wirtemberg, Talmash, and several other gallant officers, to -whom no part in the enterprise had been assigned, insisted on serving -that day as private volunteers; and their appearance in the ranks -excited the fiercest enthusiasm among the soldiers. - -It was six o'clock. A peal from the steeple of the church gave the -signal. Prince George of Hesse Darmstadt, and Gustavus Hamilton, the -brave chief of the Enniskilleners, descended first into the Shannon. -Then the grenadiers lifted the Duke of Wirtemberg on their shoulders, -and, with a great shout, plunged twenty abreast up to their cravats in -water. The stream ran deep and strong; but in a few minutes the head of -the column reached dry land. Talmash was the fifth man that set foot -on the Connaught shore. The Irish, taken unprepared, fired one confused -volley and fled, leaving their commander, Maxwell, a prisoner. The -conquerors clambered up the bank over the remains of walls shattered by -a cannonade of ten days. Mackay heard his men cursing and swearing as -they stumbled among the rubbish. "My lads," cried the stout old Puritan -in the midst of the uproar, "you are brave fellows; but do not swear. -We have more reason to thank God for the goodness which He has shown -us this day than to take His name in vain." The victory was complete. -Planks were placed on the broken arches of the bridge and pontoons -laid on the river, without any opposition on the part of the terrified -garrison. With the loss of twelve men killed and about thirty wounded -the English had, in a few minutes, forced their way into Connaught. -[100] - -At the first alarm D'Usson hastened towards the river; but he was -met, swept away, trampled down, and almost killed by the torrent of -fugitives. He was carried to the camp in such a state that it was -necessary to bleed him. "Taken!" cried Saint Ruth, in dismay. "It cannot -be. A town taken, and I close by with an army to relieve it!" Cruelly -mortified, he struck his tents under cover of the night, and retreated -in the direction of Galway. At dawn the English saw far off, from the -top of King John's ruined castle, the Irish army moving through the -dreary region which separates the Shannon from the Suck. Before noon the -rearguard had disappeared. [101] - -Even before the loss of Athlone the Celtic camp had been distracted by -factions. It may easily be supposed, therefore, that, after so great a -disaster, nothing was to be heard but crimination and recrimination. The -enemies of the Lord Lieutenant were more clamorous than ever. He and his -creatures had brought the kingdom to the verge of perdition. He would -meddle with what he did not understand. He would overrule the plans of -men who were real soldiers. He would entrust the most important of all -posts to his tool, his spy, the wretched Maxwell, not a born Irishman, -not a sincere Catholic, at best a blunderer, and too probably a traitor. -Maxwell, it was affirmed, had left his men unprovided with ammunition. -When they had applied to him for powder and ball, he had asked whether -they wanted to shoot larks. Just before the attack he had told them to -go to their supper and to take their rest, for that nothing more would -be done that day. When he had delivered himself up a prisoner, he had -uttered some words which seemed to indicate a previous understanding -with the conquerors. The Lord Lieutenant's few friends told a very -different story. According to them, Tyrconnel and Maxwell had suggested -precautions which would have made a surprise impossible. The French -General, impatient of all interference, had omitted to take those -precautions. Maxwell had been rudely told that, if he was afraid, he had -better resign his command. He had done his duty bravely. He had stood -while his men fled. He had consequently fallen into the hands of the -enemy; and he was now, in his absence, slandered by those to whom his -captivity was justly imputable. [102] On which side the truth lay it -is not easy, at this distance of time, to pronounce. The cry against -Tyrconnel was, at the moment, so loud, that he gave way and sullenly -retired to Limerick. D'Usson, who had not yet recovered from the hurts -inflicted by his own runaway troops, repaired to Galway. [103] - -Saint Ruth, now left in undisputed possession of the supreme command, -was bent on trying the chances of a battle. Most of the Irish officers, -with Sarsfield at their head, were of a very different mind. It was, -they said, not to be dissembled that, in discipline, the army of Ginkell -was far superior to theirs. The wise course, therefore, evidently was -to carry on the war in such a manner that the difference between the -disciplined and the undisciplined soldier might be as small as possible. -It was well known that raw recruits often played their part well in a -foray, in a street fight or in the defence of a rampart; but that, on a -pitched field, they had little chance against veterans. "Let most of our -foot be collected behind the walls of Limerick and Galway. Let the rest, -together with our horse, get in the rear of the enemy, and cut off his -supplies. If he advances into Connaught, let us overrun Leinster. If he -sits down before Galway, which may well be defended, let us make a push -for Dublin, which is altogether defenceless." [104] Saint Ruth might, -perhaps, have thought this advice good, if his judgment had not -been biassed by his passions. But he was smarting from the pain of a -humiliating defeat. In sight of his tent, the English had passed a rapid -river, and had stormed a strong town. He could not but feel that, though -others might have been to blame, he was not himself blameless. He had, -to say the least, taken things too easily. Lewis, accustomed to be -served during many years by commanders who were not in the habit of -leaving to chance any thing which could be made secure by wisdom, would -hardly think it a sufficient excuse that his general had not expected -the enemy to make so bold and sudden an attack. The Lord Lieutenant -would, of course, represent what had passed in the most unfavourable -manner; and whatever the Lord Lieutenant said James would echo. A -sharp reprimand, a letter of recall, might be expected. To return -to Versailles a culprit; to approach the great King in an agony of -distress; to see him shrug his shoulders, knit his brow and turn his -back; to be sent, far from courts and camps, to languish at some dull -country seat; this was too much to be borne; and yet this might well -be apprehended. There was one escape; to fight, and to conquer or to -perish. - -In such a temper Saint Ruth pitched his camp about thirty miles from -Athlone on the road to Galway, near the ruined castle of Aghrim, and -determined to await the approach of the English army. - -His whole deportment was changed. He had hitherto treated the Irish -soldiers with contemptuous severity. But now that he had resolved -to stake life and fame on the valour of the despised race, he became -another man. During the few days which remained to him he exerted -himself to win by indulgence and caresses the hearts of all who were -under his command. [105] He, at the same time, administered to his -troops moral stimulants of the most potent kind. He was a zealous Roman -Catholic; and it is probable that the severity with which he had treated -the Protestants of his own country ought to be partly ascribed to the -hatred which he felt for their doctrines. He now tried to give to the -war the character of a crusade. The clergy were the agents whom he -employed to sustain the courage of his soldiers. The whole camp was in -a ferment with religious excitement. In every regiment priests were -praying, preaching, shriving, holding up the host and the cup. While the -soldiers swore on the sacramental bread not to abandon their colours, -the General addressed to the officers an appeal which might have moved -the most languid and effeminate natures to heroic exertion. They were -fighting, he said, for their religion, their liberty and their honour. -Unhappy events, too widely celebrated, had brought a reproach on the -national character. Irish soldiership was every where mentioned with a -sneer. If they wished to retrieve the fame of their country, this was -the time and this the place. [106] - -The spot on which he had determined to bring the fate of Ireland to -issue seems to have been chosen with great judgment. His army was drawn -up on the slope of a hill, which was almost surrounded by red bog. In -front, near the edge of the morass, were some fences out of which a -breastwork was without difficulty constructed. - -On the eleventh of July, Ginkell, having repaired the fortifications -of Athlone and left a garrison there, fixed his headquarters at -Ballinasloe, about four miles from Aghrim, and rode forward to take a -view of the Irish position. On his return he gave orders that ammunition -should be served out, that every musket and bayonet should be got ready -for action, and that early on the morrow every man should be under arms -without beat of drum. Two regiments were to remain in charge of the -camp; the rest, unincumbered by baggage, were to march against the -enemy. - -Soon after six, the next morning, the English were on the way to Aghrim. -But some delay was occasioned by a thick fog which hung till noon -over the moist valley of the Suck; a further delay was caused by the -necessity of dislodging the Irish from some outposts; and the afternoon -was far advanced when the two armies at length confronted each other -with nothing but the bog and the breastwork between them. The English -and their allies were under twenty thousand; the Irish above twenty-five -thousand. - -Ginkell held a short consultation with his principal officers. Should -he attack instantly, or wait till the next morning? Mackay was for -attacking instantly; and his opinion prevailed. At five the battle -began. The English foot, in such order as they could keep on treacherous -and uneven ground, made their way, sinking deep in mud at every step, to -the Irish works. But those works were defended with a resolution such as -extorted some words of ungracious eulogy even from men who entertained -the strongest prejudices against the Celtic race. [107] Again and again -the assailants were driven back. Again and again they returned to the -struggle. Once they were broken, and chased across the morass; but -Talmash rallied them, and forced the pursuers to retire. The fight had -lasted two hours; the evening was closing in; and still the advantage -was on the side of the Irish. Ginkell began to meditate a retreat. The -hopes of Saint Ruth rose high. "The day is ours, my boys," he cried, -waving his hat in the air. "We will drive them before us to the walls of -Dublin." But fortune was already on the turn. Mackay and Ruvigny, with -the English and Huguenot cavalry, had succeeded in passing the bog at -a place where two horsemen could scarcely ride abreast. Saint Ruth at -first laughed when he saw the Blues, in single file, struggling through -the morass under a fire which every moment laid some gallant hat and -feather on the earth. "What do they mean?" he asked; and then he -swore that it was pity to see such fine fellows rushing to certain -destruction. "Let them cross, however;" he said. "The more they are, -the more we shall kill." But soon he saw them laying hurdles on the -quagmire. A broader and safer path was formed; squadron after squadron -reached firm ground: the flank of the Irish army was speedily turned. -The French general was hastening to the rescue when a cannon ball -carried off his head. Those who were about him thought that it would -be dangerous to make his fate known. His corpse was wrapped in a cloak, -carried from the field, and laid, with all secresy, in the sacred ground -among the ruins of the ancient monastery of Loughrea. Till the fight was -over neither army was aware that he was no more. To conceal his death -from the private soldiers might perhaps have been prudent. To conceal it -from his lieutenants was madness. The crisis of the battle had arrived; -and there was none to give direction. Sarsfield was in command of the -reserve. But he had been strictly enjoined by Saint Ruth not to stir -without orders; and no orders came. Mackay and Ruvigny with their horse -charged the Irish in flank. Talmash and his foot returned to the attack -in front with dogged determination. The breastwork was carried. The -Irish, still fighting, retreated from inclosure to inclosure. But, as -inclosure after inclosure was forced, their efforts became fainter -and fainter. At length they broke and fled. Then followed a horrible -carnage. The conquerors were in a savage mood. For a report had been -spread among them that, during the early part of the battle, some -English captives who had been admitted to quarter had been put to the -sword. Only four hundred prisoners were taken. The number of the slain -was, in proportion to the number engaged, greater than in any other -battle of that age. But for the coming on of a moonless night, made -darker by a misty rain, scarcely a man would have escaped. The obscurity -enabled Sarsfield, with a few squadrons which still remained unbroken, -to cover the retreat. Of the conquerors six hundred were killed, and -about a thousand wounded. - -The English slept that night on the field of battle. On the following -day they buried their companions in arms, and then marched westward. -The vanquished were left unburied, a strange and ghastly spectacle. Four -thousand Irish corpses were counted on the field of battle. A hundred -and fifty lay in one small inclosure, a hundred and twenty in another. -But the slaughter had not been confined to the field of battle. One who -was there tells us that, from the top of the hill on which the Celtic -camp had been pitched, he saw the country, to the distance of near four -miles, white with the naked bodies of the slain. The plain looked, he -said, like an immense pasture covered by flocks of sheep. As usual, -different estimates were formed even by eyewitnesses. But it seems -probable that the number of the Irish who fell was not less than seven -thousand. Soon a multitude of dogs came to feast on the carnage. These -beasts became so fierce, and acquired such a taste for human flesh, -that it was long dangerous for men to travel this road otherwise than in -companies. [108] - -The beaten army had now lost all the appearance of an army, and -resembled a rabble crowding home from a fair after a faction fight. One -great stream of fugitives ran towards Galway, another towards Limerick. -The roads to both cities were covered with weapons which had been flung -away. Ginkell offered sixpence for every musket. In a short time so many -waggon loads were collected that he reduced the price to twopence; and -still great numbers of muskets came in. [109] - -The conquerors marched first against Galway. D'Usson was there, and -had under him seven regiments, thinned by the slaughter of Aghrim and -utterly disorganized and disheartened. The last hope of the garrison -and of the Roman Catholic inhabitants was that Baldearg O'Donnel, the -promised deliverer of their race, would come to the rescue. But Baldearg -O'Donnel was not duped by the superstitious veneration of which he -was the object. While there remained any doubt about the issue of the -conflict between the Englishry and the Irishry, he had stood aloof. -On the day of the battle he had remained at a safe distance with his -tumultuary army; and, as soon as he had learned that his countrymen had -been put to rout, he fled, plundering and burning all the way, to the -mountains of Mayo. Thence he sent to Ginkell offers of submission -and service. Ginkell gladly seized the opportunity of breaking up -a formidable band of marauders, and of turning to good account the -influence which the name of a Celtic dynasty still exercised over the -Celtic race. The negotiation however was not without difficulties. The -wandering adventurer at first demanded nothing less than an earldom. -After some haggling he consented to sell the love of a whole people, and -his pretensions to regal dignity, for a pension of five hundred pounds a -year. Yet the spell which bound his followers to hire was not altogether -broken. Some enthusiasts from Ulster were willing to fight under the -O'Donnel against their own language and their own religion. With a small -body of these devoted adherents, he joined a division of the English -army, and on several occasions did useful service to William. [110] - -When it was known that no succour was to be expected from the hero whose -advent had been foretold by so many seers, the Irish who were shut up in -Galway lost all heart. D'Usson had returned a stout answer to the -first summons of the besiegers; but he soon saw that resistance was -impossible, and made haste to capitulate. The garrison was suffered -to retire to Limerick with the honours of war. A full amnesty for past -offences was granted to the citizens; and it was stipulated that, within -the walls, the Roman Catholic priests should be allowed to perform -in private the rites of their religion. On these terms the gates were -thrown open. Ginkell was received with profound respect by the Mayor and -Aldermen, and was complimented in a set speech by the Recorder. D'Usson, -with about two thousand three hundred men, marched unmolested to -Limerick. [111] - -At Limerick, the last asylum of the vanquished race, the authority of -Tyrconnel was supreme. There was now no general who could pretend that -his commission made him independent of the Lord Lieutenant; nor was the -Lord Lieutenant now so unpopular as he had been a fortnight earlier. -Since the battle there had been a reflux of public feeling. No part of -that great disaster could be imputed to the Viceroy. His opinion indeed -had been against trying the chances of a pitched field, and he could -with some plausibility assert that the neglect of his counsels had -caused the ruin of Ireland. [112] - -He made some preparations for defending Limerick, repaired the -fortifications, and sent out parties to bring in provisions. The -country, many miles round, was swept bare by these detachments, and -a considerable quantity of cattle and fodder was collected within the -walls. There was also a large stock of biscuit imported from France. -The infantry assembled at Limerick were about fifteen thousand men. -The Irish horse and dragoons, three or four thousand in number, were -encamped on the Clare side of the Shannon. The communication between -their camp and the city was maintained by means of a bridge called the -Thomond Bridge, which was protected by a fort. These means of defence -were not contemptible. But the fall of Athlone and the slaughter of -Aghrim had broken the spirit of the army. A small party, at the head of -which were Sarsfield and a brave Scotch officer named Wauchop, cherished -a hope that the triumphant progress of Ginkell might be stopped by those -walls from which William had, in the preceding year, been forced to -retreat. But many of the Irish chiefs loudly declared that it was -time to think of capitulating. Henry Luttrell, always fond of dark and -crooked politics, opened a secret negotiation with the English. One of -his letters was intercepted; and he was put under arrest; but many -who blamed his perfidy agreed with him in thinking that it was idle to -prolong the contest. Tyrconnel himself was convinced that all was lost. -His only hope was that he might be able to prolong the struggle till -he could receive from Saint Germains permission to treat. He wrote to -request that permission, and prevailed, with some difficulty, on his -desponding countrymen to bind themselves by an oath not to capitulate -till an answer from James should arrive. [113] - -A few days after the oath had been administered, Tyrconnel was no more. -On the eleventh of August he dined with D'Usson. The party was gay. The -Lord Lieutenant seemed to have thrown off the load which had bowed down -his body and mind; he drank; he jested; he was again the Dick Talbot -who had diced and revelled with Grammont. Soon after he had risen from -table, an apoplectic stroke deprived him of speech and sensation. On the -fourteenth he breathed his last. The wasted remains of that form which -had once been a model for statuaries were laid under the pavement of the -Cathedral; but no inscription, no tradition, preserves the memory of the -spot. [114] - -As soon as the Lord Lieutenant was no more, Plowden, who had -superintended the Irish finances while there were any Irish finances to -superintend, produced a commission under the great seal of James. This -commission appointed Plowden himself, Fitton and Nagle, Lords justices -in the event of Tyrconnel's death. There was much murmuring when the -names were made known. For both Plowden and Fitton were Saxons. The -commission, however, proved to be a mere nullity. For it was accompanied -by instructions which forbade the Lords justices to interfere in the -conduct of the war; and, within the narrow space to which the dominions -of James were now reduced, war was the only business. The government -was, therefore, really in the hands of D'Usson and Sarsfield. [115] - -On the day on which Tyrconnel died, the advanced guard of the English -army came within sight of Limerick. Ginkell encamped on the same ground -which William had occupied twelve months before. The batteries, on which -were planted guns and bombs, very different from those which William had -been forced to use, played day and night; and soon roofs were blazing -and walls crashing in every corner of the city. Whole streets were -reduced to ashes. Meanwhile several English ships of war came up the -Shannon and anchored about a mile below the city. [116] - -Still the place held out; the garrison was, in numerical strength, -little inferior to the besieging army; and it seemed not impossible -that the defence might be prolonged till the equinoctial rains should a -second time compel the English to retire. Ginkell determined on striking -a bold stroke. No point in the whole circle of the fortifications was -more important, and no point seemed to be more secure, than the Thomond -Bridge, which joined the city to the camp of the Irish horse on the -Clare bank of the Shannon. The Dutch General's plan was to separate the -infantry within the ramparts from the cavalry without; and this plan he -executed with great skill, vigour and success. He laid a bridge of -tin boats on the river, crossed it with a strong body of troops, drove -before him in confusion fifteen hundred dragoons who made a faint show -of resistance, and marched towards the quarters of the Irish horse. The -Irish horse sustained but ill on this day the reputation which they had -gained at the Boyne. Indeed, that reputation had been purchased by -the almost entire destruction of the best regiments. Recruits had been -without much difficulty found. But the loss of fifteen hundred excellent -soldiers was not to be repaired. The camp was abandoned without a blow. -Some of the cavalry fled into the city. The rest, driving before them -as many cattle as could be collected in that moment of panic, retired to -the hills. Much beef, brandy and harness was found in the magazines; and -the marshy plain of the Shannon was covered with firelocks and grenades -which the fugitives had thrown away. [117] - -The conquerors returned in triumph to their camp. But Ginkell was not -content with the advantage which he had gained. He was bent on cutting -off all communication between Limerick and the county of Clare. In a -few days, therefore, he again crossed the river at the head of several -regiments, and attacked the fort which protected the Thomond Bridge. In -a short time the fort was stormed. The soldiers who had garrisoned it -fled in confusion to the city. The Town Major, a French officer, who -commanded at the Thomond Gate, afraid that the pursuers would enter with -the fugitives, ordered that part of the bridge which was nearest to the -city to be drawn up. Many of the Irish went headlong into the stream and -perished there. Others cried for quarter, and held up handkerchiefs -in token of submission. But the conquerors were mad with rage; their -cruelty could not be immediately restrained; and no prisoners were made -till the heaps of corpses rose above the parapets. The garrison of the -fort had consisted of about eight hundred men. Of these only a hundred -and twenty escaped into Limerick. [118] - -This disaster seemed likely to produce a general mutiny in the besieged -city. The Irish clamoured for the blood of the Town Major who -had ordered the bridge to be drawn up in the face of their flying -countrymen. His superiors were forced to promise that he should be -brought before a court martial. Happily for him, he had received a -mortal wound, in the act of closing the Thomond Gate, and was saved by -a soldier's death from the fury of the multitude. [119] The cry for -capitulation became so loud and importunate that the generals could not -resist it. D'Usson informed his government that the fight at the -bridge had so effectually cowed the spirit of the garrison that it was -impossible to continue the struggle. [120] Some exception may perhaps -be taken to the evidence of D'Usson; for undoubtedly he, like every -Frenchman who had held any command in the Irish army, was weary of his -banishment, and impatient to see Paris again. But it is certain that -even Sarsfield had lost heart. Up to this time his voice had been for -stubborn resistance. He was now not only willing, but impatient to -treat. [121] It seemed to him that the city was doomed. There was no -hope of succour, domestic or foreign. In every part of Ireland the -Saxons had set their feet on the necks of the natives. Sligo had fallen. -Even those wild islands which intercept the huge waves of the Atlantic -from the bay of Galway had acknowledged the authority of William. The -men of Kerry, reputed the fiercest and most ungovernable part of the -aboriginal population, had held out long, but had at length been routed, -and chased to their woods and mountains. [122] A French fleet, if a -French fleet were now to arrive on the coast of Munster, would find -the mouth of the Shannon guarded by English men of war. The stock of -provisions within Limerick was already running low. If the siege were -prolonged, the town would, in all human probability, be reduced either -by force or by blockade. And, if Ginkell should enter through the -breach, or should be implored by a multitude perishing with hunger -to dictate his own terms, what could be expected but a tyranny more -inexorably severe than that of Cromwell? Would it not then be wise -to try what conditions could be obtained while the victors had still -something to fear from the rage and despair of the vanquished; while -the last Irish army could still make some show of resistance behind the -walls of the last Irish fortress? - -On the evening of the day which followed the fight at the Thomond -Gate, the drums of Limerick beat a parley; and Wauchop, from one of the -towers, hailed the besiegers, and requested Ruvigny to grant Sarsfield -an interview. The brave Frenchman who was an exile on account of his -attachment to one religion, and the brave Irishman who was about -to become an exile on account of his attachment to another, met and -conferred, doubtless with mutual sympathy and respect. [123] Ginkell, -to whom Ruvigny reported what had passed, willingly consented to an -armistice. For, constant as his success had been, it had not made him -secure. The chances were greatly on his side. Yet it was possible that -an attempt to storm the city might fail, as a similar attempt had failed -twelve months before. If the siege should be turned into a blockade, -it was probable that the pestilence which had been fatal to the army of -Schomberg, which had compelled William to retreat, and which had all but -prevailed even against the genius and energy of Marlborough, might soon -avenge the carnage of Aghrim. The rains had lately been heavy. The whole -plain might shortly be an immense pool of stagnant water. It might be -necessary to move the troops to a healthier situation than the bank -of the Shannon, and to provide for them a warmer shelter than that of -tents. The enemy would be safe till the spring. In the spring a French -army might land in Ireland; the natives might again rise in arms from -Donegal to Kerry; and the war, which was now all but extinguished, might -blaze forth fiercer than ever. - -A negotiation was therefore opened with a sincere desire on both sides -to put an end to the contest. The chiefs of the Irish army held several -consultations at which some Roman Catholic prelates and some eminent -lawyers were invited to assist. A preliminary question, which perplexed -tender consciences, was submitted by the Bishops. The late Lord -Lieutenant had persuaded the officers of the garrison to swear that they -would not surrender Limerick till they should receive an answer to the -letter in which their situation had been explained to James. The Bishops -thought that the oath was no longer binding. It had been taken at a time -when the communications with France were open, and in the full belief -that the answer of James would arrive within three weeks. More than -twice that time had elapsed. Every avenue leading to the city was -strictly guarded by the enemy. His Majesty's faithful subjects, by -holding out till it had become impossible for him to signify his -pleasure to them, had acted up to the spirit of their promise. [124] - -The next question was what terms should be demanded. A paper, containing -propositions which statesmen of our age will think reasonable, but which -to the most humane and liberal English Protestants of the seventeenth -century appeared extravagant, was sent to the camp of the besiegers. -What was asked was that all offences should be covered with oblivion, -that perfect freedom of worship should be allowed to the native -population, that every parish should have its priest, and that Irish -Roman Catholics should be capable of holding all offices, civil and -military, and of enjoying all municipal privileges. [125] - -Ginkell knew little of the laws and feelings of the English; but he -had about him persons who were competent to direct him. They had a week -before prevented him from breaking a Rapparee on the wheel; and they now -suggested an answer to the propositions of the enemy. "I am a stranger -here," said Ginkell; "I am ignorant of the constitution of these -kingdoms; but I am assured that what you ask is inconsistent with -that constitution; and therefore I cannot with honour consent." He -immediately ordered a new battery to be thrown up, and guns and mortars -to be planted on it. But his preparations were speedily interrupted by -another message from the city. The Irish begged that, since he could not -grant what they had demanded, he would tell them what he was willing to -grant. He called his advisers round him, and, after some consultation, -sent back a paper containing the heads of a treaty, such as he had -reason to believe that the government which he served would approve. -What he offered was indeed much less than what the Irish desired, but -was quite as much as, when they considered their situation and the -temper of the English nation, they could expect. They speedily notified -their assent. It was agreed that there should be a cessation of arms, -not only by land, but in the ports and bays of Munster, and that a fleet -of French transports should be suffered to come up the Shannon in peace -and to depart in peace. The signing of the treaty was deferred till -the Lords justices, who represented William at Dublin, should arrive -at Ginkell's quarters. But there was during some days a relaxation of -military vigilance on both sides. Prisoners were set at liberty. The -outposts of the two armies chatted and messed together. The English -officers rambled into the town. The Irish officers dined in the camp. -Anecdotes of what passed at the friendly meetings of these men, who had -so lately been mortal enemies, were widely circulated. One story, in -particular, was repeated in every part of Europe. "Has not this last -campaign," said Sarsfield to some English officers, "raised your opinion -of Irish soldiers?" "To tell you the truth," answered an Englishman, "we -think of them much as we always did." "However meanly you may think of -us," replied Sarsfield, "change Kings with us, and we will willingly try -our luck with you again." He was doubtless thinking of the day on which -he had seen the two Sovereigns at the head of two great armies, William -foremost in the charge, and James foremost in the flight. [126] - -On the first of October, Coningsby and Porter arrived at the English -headquarters. On the second the articles of capitulation were discussed -at great length and definitely settled. On the third they were signed. -They were divided into two parts, a military treaty and a civil treaty. -The former was subscribed only by the generals on both sides. The Lords -justices set their names to the latter. [127] - -By the military treaty it was agreed that such Irish officers and -soldiers as should declare that they wished to go to France should be -conveyed thither, and should, in the meantime, remain under the command -of their own generals. Ginkell undertook to furnish a considerable -number of transports. French vessels were also to be permitted to pass -and repass freely between Britanny and Munster. Part of Limerick was to -be immediately delivered up to the English. But the island on which the -Cathedral and the Castle stand was to remain, for the present, in the -keeping of the Irish. - -The terms of the civil treaty were very different from those which -Ginkell had sternly refused to grant. It was not stipulated that the -Roman Catholics of Ireland should be competent to hold any political or -military office, or that they should be admitted into any corporation. -But they obtained a promise that they should enjoy such privileges in -the exercise of their religion as were consistent with the law, or as -they had enjoyed in the reign of Charles the Second. - -To all inhabitants of Limerick, and to all officers and soldiers in -the Jacobite army, who should submit to the government and notify their -submission by taking the oath of allegiance, an entire amnesty was -promised. They were to retain their property; they were to be allowed -to exercise any profession which they had exercised before the troubles; -they were not to be punished for any treason, felony, or misdemeanour -committed since the accession of the late King; nay, they were not to -be sued for damages on account of any act of spoliation or outrage which -they might have committed during the three years of confusion. This was -more than the Lords justices were constitutionally competent to -grant. It was therefore added that the government would use its utmost -endeavours to obtain a Parliamentary ratification of the treaty. [128] - -As soon as the two instruments had been signed, the English entered the -city, and occupied one quarter of it. A narrow, but deep branch of -the Shannon separated them from the quarter which was still in the -possession of the Irish. [129] - -In a few hours a dispute arose which seemed likely to produce a renewal -of hostilities. Sarsfield had resolved to seek his fortune in the -service of France, and was naturally desirous to carry with him to the -Continent such a body of troops as would be an important addition to the -army of Lewis. Ginkell was as naturally unwilling to send thousands -of men to swell the forces of the enemy. Both generals appealed to the -treaty. Each construed it as suited his purpose, and each complained -that the other had violated it. Sarsfield was accused of putting one of -his officers under arrest for refusing to go to the Continent. Ginkell, -greatly excited, declared that he would teach the Irish to play tricks -with him, and began to make preparations for a cannonade. Sarsfield -came to the English camp, and tried to justify what he had done. The -altercation was sharp. "I submit," said Sarsfield, at last: "I am in -your power." "Not at all in my power," said Ginkell, "go back and do -your worst." The imprisoned officer was liberated; a sanguinary contest -was averted; and the two commanders contented themselves with a war of -words. [130] Ginkell put forth proclamations assuring the Irish that, if -they would live quietly in their own land, they should be protected and -favoured, and that if they preferred a military life, they should be -admitted into the service of King William. It was added that no man, -who chose to reject this gracious invitation and to become a soldier of -Lewis, must expect ever again to set foot on the island. Sarsfield and -Wauchop exerted their eloquence on the other side. The present aspect -of affairs, they said, was doubtless gloomy; but there was bright sky -beyond the cloud. The banishment would be short. The return would be -triumphant. Within a year the French would invade England. In such -an invasion the Irish troops, if only they remained unbroken, would -assuredly bear a chief part. In the meantime it was far better for them -to live in a neighbouring and friendly country, under the parental care -of their own rightful King, than to trust the Prince of Orange, who -would probably send them to the other end of the world to fight for his -ally the Emperor against the Janissaries. - -The help of the Roman Catholic clergy was called in. On the day on -which those who had made up their minds to go to France were required -to announce their determination, the priests were indefatigable in -exhorting. At the head of every regiment a sermon was preached on the -duty of adhering to the cause of the Church, and on the sin and danger -of consorting with unbelievers. [131] Whoever, it was said, should enter -the service of the usurpers would do so at the peril of his soul. The -heretics affirmed that, after the peroration, a plentiful allowance of -brandy was served out to the audience, and that, when the brandy had -been swallowed, a Bishop pronounced a benediction. Thus duly prepared -by physical and moral stimulants, the garrison, consisting of about -fourteen thousand infantry, was drawn up in the vast meadow which lay -on the Clare bank of the Shannon. Here copies of Ginkell's proclamation -were profusely scattered about; and English officers went through the -ranks imploring the men not to ruin themselves, and explaining to them -the advantages which the soldiers of King William enjoyed. At length the -decisive moment came. The troops were ordered to pass in review. -Those who wished to remain in Ireland were directed to file off at -a particular spot. All who passed that spot were to be considered as -having made their choice for France. Sarsfield and Wauchop on one side, -Porter, Coningsby and Ginkell on the other, looked on with painful -anxiety. D'Usson and his countrymen, though not uninterested in the -spectacle, found it hard to preserve their gravity. The confusion, -the clamour, the grotesque appearance of an army in which there could -scarcely be seen a shirt or a pair of pantaloons, a shoe or a stocking, -presented so ludicrous a contrast to the orderly and brilliant -appearance of their master's troops, that they amused themselves by -wondering what the Parisians would say to see such a force mustered on -the plain of Grenelle. [132] - -First marched what was called the Royal regiment, fourteen hundred -strong. All but seven went beyond the fatal point. Ginkell's countenance -showed that he was deeply mortified. He was consoled, however, by seeing -the next regiment, which consisted of natives of Ulster, turn off to a -man. There had arisen, notwithstanding the community of blood, language -and religion, an antipathy between the Celts of Ulster and those of -the other three provinces; nor is it improbable that the example and -influence of Baldearg O'Donnel may have had some effect on the people of -the land which his forefathers had ruled. [133] In most of the regiments -there was a division of opinion; but a great majority declared for -France. Henry Luttrell was one of those who turned off. He was rewarded -for his desertion, and perhaps for other services, with a grant of the -large estate of his elder brother Simon, who firmly adhered to the cause -of James, with a pension of five hundred pounds a year from the Crown, -and with the abhorrence of the Roman Catholic population. After living -in wealth, luxury and infamy, during a quarter of a century, Henry -Luttrell was murdered while going through Dublin in his sedan chair; -and the Irish House of Commons declared that there was reason to suspect -that he had fallen by the revenge of the Papists. [134] Eighty years -after his death his grave near Luttrellstown was violated by the -descendants of those whom he had betrayed, and his skull was broken -to pieces with a pickaxe. [135] The deadly hatred of which he was the -object descended to his son and to his grandson; and, unhappily, nothing -in the character either of his son or of his grandson tended to mitigate -the feeling which the name of Luttrell excited. [136] - -When the long procession had closed, it was found that about a thousand -men had agreed to enter into William's service. About two thousand -accepted passes from Ginkell, and went quietly home. About eleven -thousand returned with Sarsfield to the city. A few hours after the -garrison had passed in review, the horse, who were encamped some miles -from the town, were required to make their choice; and most of them -volunteered for France. [137] - -Sarsfield considered the troops who remained with him as under an -irrevocable obligation to go abroad; and, lest they should be tempted to -retract their consent, he confined them within the ramparts, and ordered -the gates to be shut and strongly guarded. Ginkell, though in his -vexation he muttered some threats, seems to have felt that he could not -justifiably interfere. But the precautions of the Irish general were -far from being completely successful. It was by no means strange that a -superstitious and excitable kerne, with a sermon and a dram in his head, -should be ready to promise whatever his priests required; neither was it -strange that, when he had slept off his liquor, and when anathemas were -no longer ringing in his ears, he should feel painful misgivings. He -had bound himself to go into exile, perhaps for life, beyond that dreary -expanse of waters which impressed his rude mind with mysterious terror. -His thoughts ran on all that he was to leave, on the well known peat -stack and potatoe ground, and on the mud cabin, which, humble as it was, -was still his home. He was never again to see the familiar faces round -the turf fire, or to hear the familiar notes of the old Celtic songs. -The ocean was to roll between him and the dwelling of his greyheaded -parents and his blooming sweetheart. Here were some who, unable to bear -the misery of such a separation, and, finding it impossible to pass the -sentinels who watched the gates, sprang into the river and gained the -opposite bank. The number of these daring swimmers, however, was not -great; and the army would probably have been transported almost entire -if it had remained at Limerick till the day of embarkation. But many of -the vessels in which the voyage was to be performed lay at Cork; and -it was necessary that Sarsfield should proceed thither with some of his -best regiments. It was a march of not less than four days through a -wild country. To prevent agile youths, familiar with all the shifts of -a vagrant and predatory life, from stealing off to the bogs, and woods -under cover of the night, was impossible. - -Indeed, many soldiers had the audacity to run away by broad daylight -before they were out of sight of Limerick Cathedral. The Royal regiment, -which had, on the day of the review, set so striking an example of -fidelity to the cause of James, dwindled from fourteen hundred men to -five hundred. Before the last ships departed, news came that those who -had sailed by the first ships had been ungraciously received at Brest. -They had been scantily fed; they had been able to obtain neither pay nor -clothing; though winter was setting in, they slept in the fields with no -covering but the hedges. Many had been heard to say that it would have -been far better to die in old Ireland than to live in the inhospitable -country to which they had been banished. The effect of those reports was -that hundreds, who had long persisted in their intention of emigrating, -refused at the last moment to go on board, threw down their arms, and -returned to their native villages. [138] - -Sarsfield perceived that one chief cause of the desertion which was -thinning his army was the natural unwillingness of the men to leave -their families in a state of destitution. Cork and its neighbourhood -were filled with the kindred of those who were going abroad. Great -numbers of women, many of them leading, carrying, suckling their -infants, covered all the roads which led to the place of embarkation. -The Irish general, apprehensive of the effect which the entreaties and -lamentations of these poor creatures could not fail to produce, put -forth a proclamation, in which he assured his soldiers that they should -be permitted to carry their wives and families to France. It would be -injurious to the memory of so brave and loyal a gentleman to suppose -that when he made this promise he meant to break it. It is much more -probable that he had formed an erroneous estimate of the number of those -who would demand a passage, and that he found himself, when it was -too late to alter his arrangements, unable to keep his word. After the -soldiers had embarked, room was found for the families of many. But -still there remained on the water side a great multitude clamouring -piteously to be taken on board. As the last boats put off there was a -rush into the surf. Some women caught hold of the ropes, were dragged -out of their depth, clung till their fingers were cut through, and -perished in the waves. The ships began to move. A wild and terrible wail -rose from the shore, and excited unwonted compassion in hearts steeled -by hatred of the Irish race and of the Romish faith. Even the stern -Cromwellian, now at length, after a desperate struggle of three years, -left the undisputed lord of the bloodstained and devastated island, -could not hear unmoved that bitter cry, in which was poured forth all -the rage and all the sorrow of a conquered nation. [139] - -The sails disappeared. The emaciated and brokenhearted crowd of those -whom a stroke more cruel than that of death had made widows and orphans -dispersed, to beg their way home through a wasted land, or to lie down -and die by the roadside of grief and hunger. The exiles departed, to -learn in foreign camps that discipline without which natural courage is -of small avail, and to retrieve on distant fields of battle the honour -which had been lost by a long series of defeats at home. In Ireland -there was peace. The domination of the colonists was absolute. The -native population was tranquil with the ghastly tranquillity of -exhaustion and of despair. There were indeed outrages, robberies, -fireraisings, assassinations. But more than a century passed away -without one general insurrection. During that century, two rebellions -were raised in Great Britain by the adherents of the House of Stuart. -But neither when the elder Pretender was crowned at Scone, nor when the -younger held his court at Holyrood, was the standard of that House set -up in Connaught or Munster. In 1745, indeed, when the Highlanders were -marching towards London, the Roman Catholics of Ireland were so quiet -that the Lord Lieutenant could, without the smallest risk, send several -regiments across Saint George's Channel to recruit the army of the Duke -of Cumberland. Nor was this submission the effect of content, but of -mere stupefaction and brokenness of heart. The iron had entered into the -soul. The memory of past defeats, the habit of daily enduring insult -and oppression, had cowed the spirit of the unhappy nation. There were -indeed Irish Roman Catholics of great ability, energy and ambition; but -they were to be found every where except in Ireland, at Versailles and -at Saint Ildefonso, in the armies of Frederic and in the armies of Maria -Theresa. One exile became a Marshal of France. Another became Prime -Minister of Spain. If he had staid in his native land he would have been -regarded as an inferior by all the ignorant and worthless squireens who -drank the glorious and immortal memory. In his palace at Madrid he had -the pleasure of being assiduously courted by the ambassador of George -the Second, and of bidding defiance in high terms to the ambassador of -George the Third. [140] Scattered over all Europe were to be found -brave Irish generals, dexterous Irish diplomatists, Irish Counts, Irish -Barons, Irish Knights of Saint Lewis and of Saint Leopold, of the White -Eagle and of the Golden Fleece, who, if they had remained in the house -of bondage, could not have been ensigns of marching regiments or freemen -of petty corporations. These men, the natural chiefs of their race, -having been withdrawn, what remained was utterly helpless and passive. -A rising of the Irishry against the Englishry was no more to be -apprehended than a rising of the women and children against the men. -[141] - -There were indeed, in those days, fierce disputes between the mother -country and the colony; but in those disputes the aboriginal population -had no more interest than the Red Indians in the dispute between Old -England and New England about the Stamp Act. The ruling few, even when -in mutiny against the government, had no mercy for any thing that -looked like mutiny on the part of the subject many. None of those Roman -patriots, who poniarded Julius Caesar for aspiring to be a king, -would have had the smallest scruple about crucifying a whole school of -gladiators for attempting to escape from the most odious and degrading -of all kinds of servitude. None of those Virginian patriots, who -vindicated their separation from the British empire by proclaiming it to -be a selfevident truth that all men were endowed by the Creator with an -unalienable right to liberty, would have had the smallest scruple about -shooting any negro slave who had laid claim to that unalienable right. - -And, in the same manner, the Protestant masters of Ireland, while -ostentatiously professing the political doctrines of Locke and Sidney, -held that a people who spoke the Celtic tongue and heard mass could have -no concern in those doctrines. Molyneux questioned the supremacy of -the English legislature. Swift assailed, with the keenest ridicule and -invective, every part of the system of government. Lucas disquieted the -administration of Lord Harrington. Boyle overthrew the administration -of the Duke of Dorset. But neither Molyneux nor Swift, neither Lucas nor -Boyle, ever thought of appealing to the native population. They would -as soon have thought of appealing to the swine. [142] At a later period -Henry Flood excited the dominant class to demand a Parliamentary reform, -and to use even revolutionary means for the purpose of obtaining that -reform. But neither he, nor those who looked up to him as their chief, -and who went close to the verge of treason at his bidding, would consent -to admit the subject class to the smallest share of political power. The -virtuous and accomplished Charlemont, a Whig of the Whigs, passed a long -life in contending for what he called the freedom of his country. But -he voted against the law which gave the elective franchise to Roman -Catholic freeholders; and he died fixed in the opinion that the -Parliament House ought to be kept pure from Roman Catholic members. -Indeed, during the century which followed the Revolution, the -inclination of an English Protestant to trample on the Irishry was -generally proportioned to the zeal which he professed for political -liberty in the abstract. If he uttered any expression of compassion for -the majority oppressed by the minority, he might be safely set down as a -bigoted Tory and High Churchman. [143] - -All this time hatred, kept down by fear, festered in the hearts of the -children of the soil. They were still the same people that had sprung -to arms in 1641 at the call of O'Neill, and in 1689 at the call of -Tyrconnel. To them every festival instituted by the State was a day of -mourning, and every public trophy set up by the State was a memorial of -shame. We have never known, and can but faintly conceive, the feelings -of a nation doomed to see constantly in all its public places the -monuments of its subjugation. Such monuments every where met the eye -of the Irish Roman Catholics. In front of the Senate House of their -country, they saw the statue of their conqueror. If they entered, they -saw the walls tapestried with the defeats of their fathers. At length, -after a hundred years of servitude, endured without one vigorous or -combined struggle for emancipation, the French revolution awakened a -wild hope in the bosoms of the oppressed. Men who had inherited all the -pretensions and all the passions of the Parliament which James had held -at the Kings Inns could not hear unmoved of the downfall of a wealthy -established Church, of the flight of a splendid aristocracy, of the -confiscation of an immense territory. Old antipathies, which had never -slumbered, were excited to new and terrible energy by the combination -of stimulants which, in any other society, would have counteracted each -other. The spirit of Popery and the spirit of Jacobinism, irreconcilable -antagonists every where else, were for once mingled in an unnatural -and portentous union. Their joint influence produced the third and -last rising up of the aboriginal population against the colony. The -greatgrandsons of the soldiers of Galmoy and Sarsfield were opposed to -the greatgrandsons of the soldiers of Wolseley and Mitchelburn. The Celt -again looked impatiently for the sails which were to bring succour from -Brest; and the Saxon was again backed by the whole power of England. -Again the victory remained with the well educated and well organized -minority. But, happily, the vanquished people found protection in -a quarter from which they would once have had to expect nothing but -implacable severity. By this time the philosophy of the eighteenth -century had purifed English Whiggism from that deep taint of intolerance -which had been contracted during a long and close alliance with the -Puritanism of the seventeenth century. Enlightened men had begun to feel -that the arguments by which Milton and Locke, Tillotson and Burnet, had -vindicated the rights of conscience might be urged with not less force -in favour of the Roman Catholic than in favour of the Independent or -the Baptist. The great party which traces its descent through the -Exclusionists up to the Roundheads continued during thirty years, in -spite of royal frowns and popular clamours, to demand a share in all -the benefits of our free constitution for those Irish Papists whom the -Roundheads and the Exclusionists had considered merely as beasts of -chase or as beasts of burden. But it will be for some other historian to -relate the vicissitudes of that great conflict, and the late triumph of -reason and humanity. Unhappily such a historian will have to relate that -the triumph won by such exertions and by such sacrifices was immediately -followed by disappointment; that it proved far less easy to eradicate -evil passions than to repeal evil laws; and that, long after every -trace of national and religious animosity had been obliterated from the -Statute Book, national and religious animosities continued to rankle -in the bosoms of millions. May he be able also to relate that wisdom, -justice and time gradually did in Ireland what they had done in -Scotland, and that all the races which inhabit the British isles were at -length indissolubly blended into one people! - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - - Opening of the Parliament--Debates on the Salaries and Fees of Official - Men--Act excluding Papists from Public Trust in Ireland--Debates on the - East India Trade--Debates on the Bill for regulating Trials in Cases - of High Treason--Plot formed by Marlborough against the Government of - William--Marlborough's Plot disclosed by the Jacobites--Disgrace - of Marlborough; Various Reports touching the Cause of Marlborough's - Disgrace.--Rupture between Mary and Anne--Fuller's Plot--Close of - the Session; Bill for ascertaining the Salaries of the Judges - rejected--Misterial Changes in England--Ministerial Changes in - Scotland--State of the Highlands--Breadalbane employed to negotiate - with the Rebel Clans--Glencoe--William goes to the Continent; Death of - Louvois--The French Government determines to send an Expedition - against England--James believes that the English Fleet is friendly to - him--Conduct of Russell--A Daughter born to James--Preparations made - in England to repel Invasion--James goes down to his Army at La - Hogue--James's Declaration--Effect produced by James's Declaration--The - English and Dutch Fleets join; Temper of the English Fleet--Battle of La - Hogue--Rejoicings in England--Young's Plot - -ON the nineteenth of October 1691, William arrived at Kensington from -the Netherlands. [144] Three days later he opened the Parliament. The -aspect of affairs was, on the whole, cheering. By land there had been -gains and losses; but the balance was in favour of England. Against the -fall of Mons might well be set off the taking of Athlone, the victory -of Aghrim, the surrender of Limerick and the pacification of Ireland. At -sea there had been no great victory; but there had been a great display -of power and of activity; and, though many were dissatisfied because -more had not been done, none could deny that there had been a change for -the better. The ruin caused by the foibles and vices of Torrington had -been repaired; the fleet had been well equipped; the rations had been -abundant and wholesome; and the health of the crews had consequently -been, for that age, wonderfully good. Russell, who commanded the naval -forces of the allies, had in vain offered battle to the French. The -white flag, which, in the preceding year, had ranged the Channel -unresisted from the Land's End to the Straits of Dover, now, as soon as -our topmasts were descried twenty leagues off, abandoned the open sea, -and retired into the depths of the harbour of Brest. The appearance of -an English squadron in the estuary of the Shannon had decided the fate -of the last fortress which had held out for King James; and a fleet -of merchantmen from the Levant, valued at four millions sterling, -had, through dangers which had caused many sleepless nights to the -underwriters of Lombard Street, been convoyed safe into the Thames. -[145] The Lords and Commons listened with signs of satisfaction to a -speech in which the King congratulated them on the event of the war -in Ireland, and expressed his confidence that they would continue to -support him in the war with France. He told them that a great naval -armament would be necessary, and that, in his opinion, the conflict -by land could not be effectually maintained with less than sixty-five -thousand men. [146] - -He was thanked in affectionate terms; the force which he asked was -voted; and large supplies were granted with little difficulty. But when -the Ways and Means were taken into consideration, symptoms of discontent -began to appear. Eighteen months before, when the Commons had been -employed in settling the Civil List, many members had shown a very -natural disposition to complain of the amount of the salaries and fees -received by official men. Keen speeches had been made, and, what was -much less usual, had been printed; there had been much excitement out of -doors; but nothing had been done. The subject was now revived. A report -made by the Commissioners who had been appointed in the preceding -year to examine the public accounts disclosed some facts which excited -indignation, and others which raised grave suspicion. The House seemed -fully determined to make an extensive reform; and, in truth, nothing -could have averted such a reform except the folly and violence of the -reformers. That they should have been angry is indeed not strange. The -enormous gains, direct and indirect, of the servants of the public went -on increasing, while the gains of every body else were diminishing. -Rents were falling; trade was languishing; every man who lived either on -what his ancestors had left him or on the fruits of his own industry -was forced to retrench. The placeman alone throve amidst the general -distress. "Look," cried the incensed squires, "at the Comptroller of the -Customs. Ten years ago, he walked, and we rode. Our incomes have been -curtailed; his salary has been doubled; we have sold our horses; he has -bought them; and now we go on foot, and are splashed by his coach and -six." Lowther vainly endeavoured to stand up against the storm. He -was heard with little favour by the country gentlemen who had not long -before looked up to him as one of their leaders. He had left them; he -had become a courtier; he had two good places, one in the Treasury, the -other in the household. He had recently received from the King's own -hand a gratuity of two thousand guineas. [147] It seemed perfectly -natural that he should defend abuses by which he profited. The taunts -and reproaches with which he was assailed were insupportable to his -sensitive nature. He lost his head, almost fainted away on the floor -of the House, and talked about righting himself in another place. [148] -Unfortunately no member rose at this conjuncture to propose that the -civil establishment of the kingdom should be carefully revised, that -sinecures should be abolished, that exorbitant official incomes should -be reduced, and that no servant of the State should be allowed to exact, -under any pretence, any thing beyond his known and lawful remuneration. -In this way it would have been possible to diminish the public burdens, -and at the same time to increase the efficiency of every public -department. But unfortunately those who were loudest in clamouring -against the prevailing abuses were utterly destitute of the qualities -necessary for the work of reform. On the twelfth of December, some -foolish man, whose name has not come down to us, moved that no person -employed in any civil office, the Speaker, Judges and Ambassadors -excepted, should receive more than five hundred pounds a year; and this -motion was not only carried, but carried without one dissentient voice. -[149] - -Those who were most interested in opposing it doubtless saw that -opposition would, at that moment, only irritate the majority, and -reserved themselves for a more favourable time. The more favourable -time soon came. No man of common sense could, when his blood had cooled, -remember without shame that he had voted for a resolution which made no -distinction between sinecurists and laborious public servants, between -clerks employed in copying letters and ministers on whose wisdom -and integrity the fate of the nation might depend. The salary of the -Doorkeeper of the Excise Office had been, by a scandalous job, raised -to five hundred a year. It ought to have been reduced to fifty. On the -other hand, the services of a Secretary of State who was well qualified -for his post would have been cheap at five thousand. If the resolution -of the Commons bad been carried into effect, both the salary which ought -not to have exceeded fifty pounds, and the salary which might without -impropriety have amounted to five thousand, would have been fixed at -five hundred. Such absurdity must have shocked even the roughest and -plainest foxhunter in the House. A reaction took place; and when, after -an interval of a few weeks, it was proposed to insert in a bill of -supply a clause in conformity with the resolution of the twelfth of -December, the Noes were loud; the Speaker was of opinion that they had -it; the Ayes did not venture to dispute his opinion; the senseless -plan which had been approved without a division was rejected without a -division; and the subject was not again mentioned. Thus a grievance so -scandalous that none of those who profited by it dared to defend it -was perpetuated merely by the imbecility and intemperance of those who -attacked it. [150] - -Early in the Session the Treaty of Limerick became the subject of a -grave and earnest discussion. The Commons, in the exercise of that -supreme power which the English legislature possessed over all the -dependencies of England, sent up to the Lords a bill providing that no -person should sit in the Irish Parliament, should hold any Irish office, -civil, military or ecclesiastical, or should practise law or medicine -in Ireland, till he had taken the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, and -subscribed the Declaration against Transubstantiation. The Lords were -not more inclined than the Commons to favour the Irish. No peer was -disposed to entrust Roman Catholics with political power. Nay, it seems -that no peer objected to the principle of the absurd and cruel rule -which excluded Roman Catholics from the liberal professions. But it was -thought that this rule, though unobjectionable in principle, would, -if adopted without some exceptions, be a breach of a positive compact. -Their Lordships called for the Treaty of Limerick, ordered it to be read -at the table, and proceeded to consider whether the law framed by -the Lower House was consistent with the engagements into which the -government had entered. One discrepancy was noticed. It was stipulated -by the second civil article, that every person actually residing in any -fortress occupied by an Irish garrison, should be permitted, on taking -the Oath of Allegiance, to resume any calling which he had exercised -before the Revolution. It would, beyond all doubt, have been a violation -of this covenant to require that a lawyer or a physician, who had been -within the walls of Limerick during the siege, should take the Oath -of Supremacy and subscribe the Declaration against Transubstantiation, -before he could receive fees. Holt was consulted, and was directed to -prepare clauses in conformity with the terms of the capitulation. - -The bill, as amended by Holt, was sent back to the Commons. They at -first rejected the amendment, and demanded a conference. The conference -was granted. Rochester, in the Painted Chamber, delivered to the -managers of the Lower House a copy of the Treaty of Limerick, and -earnestly represented the importance of preserving the public faith -inviolate. This appeal was one which no honest man, though inflamed by -national and religious animosity, could resist. The Commons reconsidered -the subject, and, after hearing the Treaty read, agreed, with some -slight modifications, to what the Lords had proposed. [151] - -The bill became a law. It attracted, at the time, little notice, but -was, after the lapse of several generations, the subject of a very -acrimonious controversy. Many of us can well remember how strongly the -public mind was stirred, in the days of George the Third and George the -Fourth, by the question whether Roman Catholics should be permitted to -sit in Parliament. It may be doubted whether any dispute has produced -stranger perversions of history. The whole past was falsified for -the sake of the present. All the great events of three centuries long -appeared to us distorted and discoloured by a mist sprung from our own -theories and our own passions. Some friends of religious liberty, not -content with the advantage which they possessed in the fair conflict -of reason with reason, weakened their case by maintaining that the law -which excluded Irish Roman Catholics from Parliament was inconsistent -with the civil Treaty of Limerick. The First article of that Treaty, it -was said, guaranteed to the Irish Roman Catholic such privileges in the -exercise of his religion as he had enjoyed in the time of Charles -the Second. In the time of Charles the Second no test excluded Roman -Catholics from the Irish Parliament. Such a test could not therefore, -it was argued, be imposed without a breach of public faith. In the year -1828, especially, this argument was put forward in the House of Commons -as if it had been the main strength of a cause which stood in need of no -such support. The champions of Protestant ascendency were well pleased -to see the debate diverted from a political question about which they -were in the wrong, to a historical question about which they were in -the right. They had no difficulty in proving that the first article, -as understood by all the contracting parties, meant only that the Roman -Catholic worship should be tolerated as in time past. That article was -drawn up by Ginkell; and, just before he drew it up, he had declared -that he would rather try the chance of arms than consent that Irish -Papists should be capable of holding civil and military offices, of -exercising liberal professions, and of becoming members of municipal -corporations. How is it possible to believe that he would, of his own -accord, have promised that the House of Lords and the House of Commons -should be open to men to whom he would not open a guild of skinners or -a guild of cordwainers? How, again, is it possible to believe that the -English Peers would, while professing the most punctilious respect -for public faith, while lecturing the Commons on the duty of observing -public faith, while taking counsel with the most learned and upright -jurist of the age as to the best mode of maintaining public faith, have -committed a flagrant violation of public faith and that not a single -lord should have been so honest or so factious as to protest against -an act of monstrous perfidy aggravated by hypocrisy? Or, if we could -believe this, how can we believe that no voice would have been raised in -any part of the world against such wickedness; that the Court of Saint -Germains and the Court of Versailles would have remained profoundly -silent; that no Irish exile, no English malecontent, would have uttered -a murmur; that not a word of invective or sarcasm on so inviting a -subject would have been found in the whole compass of the Jacobite -literature; and that it would have been reserved for politicians of the -nineteenth century to discover that a treaty made in the seventeenth -century had, a few weeks after it had been signed, been outrageously -violated in the sight of all Europe? [152] - -On the same day on which the Commons read for the first time the bill -which subjected Ireland to the absolute dominion of the Protestant -minority, they took into consideration another matter of high -importance. Throughout the country, but especially in the capital, -in the seaports and in the manufacturing towns, the minds of men were -greatly excited on the subject of the trade with the East Indies; a -fierce paper war had during some time been raging; and several grave -questions, both constitutional and commercial, had been raised, which -the legislature only could decide. - -It has often been repeated, and ought never to be forgotten, that our -polity differs widely from those politics which have, during the last -eighty years, been methodically constructed, digested into articles, and -ratified by constituent assemblies. It grew up in a rude age. It is not -to be found entire in any formal instrument. All along the line which -separates the functions of the prince from those of the legislator there -was long a disputed territory. Encroachments were perpetually committed, -and, if not very outrageous, were often tolerated. Trespass, merely as -trespass, was commonly suffered to pass unresented. It was only when the -trespass produced some positive damage that the aggrieved party stood on -his right, and demanded that the frontier should be set out by metes -and bounds, and that the landmarks should thenceforward be punctiliously -respected. - -Many of those points which had occasioned the most violent disputes -between our Sovereigns and their Parliaments had been finally decided by -the Bill of Rights. But one question, scarcely less important than -any of the questions which had been set at rest for ever, was still -undetermined. Indeed, that question was never, as far as can now be -ascertained, even mentioned in the Convention. The King had undoubtedly, -by the ancient laws of the realm, large powers for the regulation of -trade; but the ablest judge would have found it difficult to say what -was the precise extent of those powers. It was universally acknowledged -that it belonged to the King to prescribe weights and measures, and to -coin money; that no fair or market could be held without authority from -him; that no ship could unload in any bay or estuary which he had not -declared to be a port. In addition to his undoubted right to grant -special commercial privileges to particular places, he long claimed a -right to grant special commercial privileges to particular societies and -to particular individuals; and our ancestors, as usual, did not think -it worth their while to dispute this claim, till it produced serious -inconvenience. At length, in the reign of Elizabeth, the power of -creating monopolies began to be grossly abused; and, as soon as it -began to be grossly abused, it began to be questioned. The Queen wisely -declined a conflict with a House of Commons backed by the whole nation. -She frankly acknowledged that there was reason for complaint; she -cancelled the patents which had excited the public clamours; and her -people, delighted by this concession, and by the gracious manner in -which it had been made, did not require from her an express renunciation -of the disputed prerogative. - -The discontents which her wisdom had appeased were revived by the -dishonest and pusillanimous policy which her successor called Kingcraft. -He readily granted oppressive patents of monopoly. When he needed the -help of his Parliament, he as readily annulled them. As soon as the -Parliament had ceased to sit, his Great Seal was put to instruments -more odious than those which he had recently cancelled. At length that -excellent House of Commons which met in 1623 determined to apply a -strong remedy to the evil. The King was forced to give his assent to a -law which declared monopolies established by royal authority to be null -and void. Some exceptions, however, were made, and, unfortunately, were -not very clearly defined. It was especially provided that every Society -of Merchants which had been instituted for the purpose of carrying on -any trade should retain all its legal privileges. [153] The question -whether a monopoly granted by the Crown to such a company were or were -not a legal privilege was left unsettled, and continued to exercise, -during many years, the ingenuity of lawyers. [154] The nation, however, -relieved at once from a multitude of impositions and vexations which -were painfully felt every day at every fireside, was in no humour to -dispute the validity of the charters under which a few companies to -London traded with distant parts of the world. - -Of these companies by far the most important was that which had been, on -the last day of the sixteenth century, incorporated by Queen Elizabeth -under the name of the Governor and Company of Merchants of London -trading to the East Indies. When this celebrated body began to exist, -the Mogul monarchy was at the zenith of power and glory. Akbar, the -ablest and best of the princes of the House of Tamerlane, had just -been borne, full of years and honours, to a mausoleum surpassing in -magnificence any that Europe could show. He had bequeathed to his -posterity an empire containing more than twenty times the population and -yielding more than twenty times the revenue of the England which, under -our great Queen, held a foremost place among European powers. It is -curious and interesting to consider how little the two countries, -destined to be one day so closely connected, were then known to each -other. The most enlightened Englishmen looked on India with ignorant -admiration. The most enlightened natives of India were scarcely aware -that England existed. Our ancestors had a dim notion of endless bazaars, -swarming with buyers and sellers, and blazing with cloth of gold, with -variegated silks and with precious stones; of treasuries where diamonds -were piled in heaps and sequins in mountains; of palaces, compared with -which Whitehall and Hampton Court were hovels; of armies ten times as -numerous as that which they had seen assembled at Tilbury to repel -the Armada. On the other hand, it was probably not known to one of the -statesmen in the Durbar of Agra that there was near the setting sun a -great city of infidels, called London, where a woman reigned, and -that she had given to an association of Frank merchants the exclusive -privilege of freighting ships from her dominions to the Indian seas. -That this association would one day rule all India, from the ocean to -the everlasting snow, would reduce to profound obedience great provinces -which had never submitted to Akbar's authority, would send Lieutenant -Governors to preside in his capital, and would dole out a monthly -pension to his heir, would have seemed to the wisest of European or -of Oriental politicians as impossible as that inhabitants of our globe -should found an empire in Venus or Jupiter. - -Three generations passed away; and still nothing indicated that the East -India Company would ever become a great Asiatic potentate. The Mogul -empire, though undermined by internal causes of decay, and tottering -to its fall, still presented to distant nations the appearance of -undiminished prosperity and vigour. Aurengzebe, who, in the same -month in which Oliver Cromwell died, assumed the magnificent title of -Conqueror of the World, continued to reign till Anne had been long on -the English throne. He was the sovereign of a larger territory than -had obeyed any of his predecessors. His name was great in the farthest -regions of the West. Here he had been made by Dryden the hero of a -tragedy which would alone suffice to show how little the English of that -age knew about the vast empire which their grandchildren were to conquer -and to govern. The poet's Mussulman princes make love in the style -of Amadis, preach about the death of Socrates, and embellish their -discourse with allusions to the mythological stories of Ovid. The -Brahminical metempyschosis is represented as an article of the Mussulman -creed; and the Mussulman Sultanas burn themselves with their husbands -after the Brahminical fashion. This drama, once rapturously applauded by -crowded theatres, and known by heart to fine gentlemen and fine ladies, -is now forgotten. But one noble passage still lives, and is repeated by -thousands who know not whence it comes. [155] - -Though nothing yet indicated the high political destiny of the East -India Company, that body had a great sway in the City of London. The -offices, which stood on a very small part of the ground which the -present offices cover, had escaped the ravages of the fire. The India -House of those days was a building of timber and plaster, rich with -the quaint carving and lattice-work of the Elizabethan age. Above the -windows was a painting which represented a fleet of merchantmen tossing -on the waves. The whole edifice was surmounted by a colossal wooden -seaman, who, from between two dolphins, looked down on the crowds of -Leadenhall Street. [156] In this abode, narrow and humble indeed when -compared with the vast labyrinth of passages and chambers which now -bears the same name, the Company enjoyed, during the greater part of the -reign of Charles the Second, a prosperity to which the history of trade -scarcely furnishes any parallel, and which excited the wonder, the -cupidity and the envious animosity of the whole capital. Wealth and -luxury were then rapidly increasing. The taste for the spices, the -tissues and the jewels of the East became stronger day by day. Tea, -which, at the time when Monk brought the army of Scotland to London, had -been handed round to be stared at and just touched with the lips, as a -great rarity from China, was, eight years later, a regular article of -import, and was soon consumed in such quantities that financiers began -to consider it as a fit subject for taxation. The progress which was -making in the art of war had created an unprecedented demand for the -ingredients of which gunpowder is compounded. It was calculated that all -Europe would hardly produce in a year saltpetre enough for the siege -of one town fortified on the principles of Vauban. [157] But for the -supplies from India, it was said, the English government would be unable -to equip a fleet without digging up the cellars of London in order -to collect the nitrous particles from the walls. [158] Before the -Restoration scarcely one ship from the Thames had ever visited the Delta -of the Ganges. But, during the twenty-three years which followed the -Restoration, the value of the annual imports from that rich and populous -district increased from eight thousand pounds to three hundred thousand. - -The gains of the body which had the exclusive possession of this -fast growing trade were almost incredible. The capital which had been -actually paid up did not exceed three hundred and seventy thousand -pounds; but the Company could, without difficulty, borrow money at six -per cent., and the borrowed money, thrown into the trade, produced, -it was rumoured, thirty per cent. The profits were such that, in 1676, -every proprietor received as a bonus a quantity of stock equal to that -which he held. On the capital, thus doubled, were paid, during five -years, dividends amounting on an average to twenty per cent. annually. -There had been a time when a hundred pounds of the stock could be -purchased for sixty. Even in 1664 the price in the market was only -seventy. But in 1677 the price had risen to two hundred and forty-five; -in 1681 it was three hundred; it subsequently rose to three hundred and -sixty; and it is said that some sales were effected at five hundred. -[159] - -The enormous gains of the Indian trade might perhaps have excited little -murmuring if they had been distributed among numerous proprietors. -But while the value of the stock went on increasing, the number of -stockholders went on diminishing. At the time when the prosperity of the -Company reached the highest point, the management was entirely in the -hands of a few merchants of enormous wealth. A proprietor then had a -vote for every five hundred pounds of stock that stood in his name. It -is asserted in the pamphlets of that age that five persons had a sixth -part, and fourteen persons a third part of the votes. [160] More than -one fortunate speculator was said to derive an annual income of ten -thousand pounds from the monopoly; and one great man was pointed out on -the Royal Exchange as having, by judicious or lucky purchases of stock, -created in no long time an estate of twenty thousand a year. This -commercial grandee, who in wealth and in the influence which attends -wealth vied with the greatest nobles of his time, was Sir Josiah Child. -There were those who still remembered him an apprentice, sweeping one -of the counting houses of the City. But from a humble position his -abilities had raised him rapidly to opulence, power and fame. At the -time of the Restoration he was highly considered in the mercantile -world. Soon after that event he published his thoughts on the philosophy -of trade. His speculations were not always sound; but they were the -speculations of an ingenious and reflecting man. Into whatever errors -he may occasionally have fallen as a theorist, it is certain that, as -a practical man of business, he had few equals. Almost as soon as he -became a member of the committee which directed the affairs of the -Company, his ascendency was felt. Soon many of the most important posts, -both in Leadenhall Street and in the factories of Bombay and Bengal, -were filled by his kinsmen and creatures. His riches, though expended -with ostentatious profusion, continued to increase and multiply. He -obtained a baronetcy; he purchased a stately seat at Wanstead; and there -he laid out immense sums in excavating fishponds, and in planting whole -square miles of barren land with walnut trees. He married his daughter -to the eldest son of the Duke of Beaufort, and paid down with her a -portion of fifty thousand pounds. [161] - -But this wonderful prosperity was not uninterrupted. Towards the close -of the reign of Charles the Second the Company began to be fiercely -attacked from without, and to be at the same time distracted by internal -dissensions. The profits of the Indian trade were so tempting, that -private adventurers had often, in defiance of the royal charter, fitted -out ships for the Eastern seas. But the competition of these interlopers -did not become really formidable till the year 1680. The nation was then -violently agitated by the dispute about the Exclusion Bill. Timid men -were anticipating another civil war. The two great parties, newly named -Whigs and Tories, were fiercely contending in every county and town of -England; and the feud soon spread to every corner of the civilised world -where Englishmen were to be found. - -The Company was popularly considered as a Whig body. Among the members -of the directing committee were some of the most vehement Exclusionists -in the City. Indeed two of them, Sir Samuel Barnardistone and Thomas -Papillon, drew on themselves a severe persecution by their zeal against -Popery and arbitrary power. [162] Child had been originally brought into -the direction by these men; he had long acted in concert with them; and -he was supposed to hold their political opinions. He had, during many -years, stood high in the esteem of the chiefs of the parliamentary -opposition, and had been especially obnoxious to the Duke of York. [163] -The interlopers therefore determined to affect the character of loyal -men, who were determined to stand by the throne against the insolent -tribunes of the City. They spread, at all the factories in the East, -reports that England was in confusion, that the sword had been drawn -or would immediately be drawn, and that the Company was forward in the -rebellion against the Crown. These rumours, which, in truth, were not -improbable, easily found credit among people separated from London by -what was then a voyage of twelve months. Some servants of the Company -who were in ill humour with their employers, and others who were zealous -royalists, joined the private traders. At Bombay, the garrison and the -great body of the English inhabitants declared that they would no longer -obey any body who did not obey the King; they imprisoned the Deputy -Governor; and they proclaimed that they held the island for the Crown. -At Saint Helena there was a rising. The insurgents took the name of -King's men, and displayed the royal standard. They were, not without -difficulty, put down; and some of them were executed by martial law. -[164] - -If the Company had still been a Whig Company when the news of these -commotions reached England, it is probable that the government would -have approved of the conduct of the mutineers, and that the charter on -which the monopoly depended would have had the fate which about the same -time befell so many other charters. But while the interlopers were, at -a distance of many thousands of miles, making war on the Company in the -name of the King, the Company and the King had been reconciled. When the -Oxford Parliament had been dissolved, when many signs indicated that -a strong reaction in favour of prerogative was at hand, when all the -corporations which had incurred the royal displeasure were beginning to -tremble for their franchises, a rapid and complete revolution took place -at the India House. Child, who was then Governor, or, in the modern -phrase, Chairman, separated himself from his old friends, excluded -them from the direction, and negotiated a treaty of peace and of close -alliance with the Court. [165] It is not improbable that the near -connection into which he had just entered with the great Tory house of -Beaufort may have had something to do with this change in his politics. -Papillon, Barnardistone, and their adherents, sold their stock; their -places in the committee were supplied by persons devoted to Child; and -he was thenceforth the autocrat of the Company. The treasures of the -Company were absolutely at his disposal. The most important papers -of the Company were kept, not in the muniment room of the office in -Leadenhall Street, but in his desk at Wanstead. The boundless power -which he exercised at the India House enabled him to become a favourite -at Whitehall; and the favour which he enjoyed at Whitehall confirmed -his power at the India House. A present of ten thousand guineas was -graciously received from him by Charles. Ten thousand more were accepted -by James, who readily consented to become a holder of stock. All who -could help or hurt at Court, ministers, mistresses, priests, were kept -in good humour by presents of shawls and silks, birds' nests and atar -of roses, bulses of diamonds and bags of guineas. [166] Of what the -Dictator expended no account was asked by his colleagues; and in truth -he seems to have deserved the confidence which they reposed in him. -His bribes, distributed with judicious prodigality, speedily produced a -large return. Just when the Court became all powerful in the State, -he became all powerful at the Court. Jeffreys pronounced a decision in -favour of the monopoly, and of the strongest acts which had been done -in defence of the monopoly. James ordered his seal to be put to a new -charter which confirmed and extended all the privileges bestowed on -the Company by his predecessors. All captains of Indiamen received -commissions from the Crown, and were permitted to hoist the royal -ensigns. [167] John Child, brother of Sir Josiah, and Governor of -Bombay, was created a baronet by the style of Sir John Child of Surat: -he was declared General of all the English forces in the East; and he -was authorised to assume the title of Excellency. The Company, on the -other hand, distinguished itself among many servile corporations by -obsequious homage to the throne, and set to all the merchants of the -kingdom the example of readily and even eagerly paying those customs -which James, at the commencement of his reign, exacted without the -authority of Parliament. [168] - -It seemed that the private trade would now be utterly crushed, and that -the monopoly, protected by the whole strength of the royal prerogative, -would be more profitable than ever. But unfortunately just at this -moment a quarrel arose between the agents of the Company in India -and the Mogul Government. Where the fault lay is a question which was -vehemently disputed at the time, and which it is now impossible to -decide. The interlopers threw all the blame on the Company. The Governor -of Bombay, they affirmed, had always been grasping and violent; but his -baronetcy and his military commission had completely turned his head. -The very natives who were employed about the factory had noticed the -change, and had muttered, in their broken English, that there must be -some strange curse attending the word Excellency; for that, ever since -the chief of the strangers was called Excellency, every thing had gone -to ruin. Meanwhile, it was said, the brother in England had sanctioned -all the unjust and impolitic acts of the brother in India, till at -length insolence and rapine, disgraceful to the English nation and to -the Christian religion, had roused the just resentment of the native -authorities. The Company warmly recriminated. The story told at -the India House was that the quarrel was entirely the work of the -interlopers, who were now designated not only as interlopers but as -traitors. They had, it was alleged, by flattery, by presents, and by -false accusations, induced the viceroys of the Mogul to oppress and -persecute the body which in Asia represented the English Crown. And -indeed this charge seems not to have been altogether without foundation. -It is certain that one of the most pertinacious enemies of the Childs -went up to the Court of Aurengzebe, took his station at the palace gate, -stopped the Great King who was in the act of mounting on horseback, and, -lifting a petition high in the air, demanded justice in the name of the -common God of Christians and Mussulmans. [169] Whether Aurengzebe paid -much attention to the charges brought by infidel Franks against each -other may be doubted. But it is certain that a complete rupture took -place between his deputies and the servants of the Company. On the -sea the ships of his subjects were seized by the English. On land the -English settlements were taken and plundered. The trade was suspended; -and, though great annual dividends were still paid in London, they were -no longer paid out of annual profits. - -Just at this conjuncture, while every Indiaman that arrived in the -Thames was bringing unwelcome news from the East, all the politics of -Sir Josiah were utterly confounded by the Revolution. He had flattered -himself that he had secured the body of which he was the chief against -the machinations of interlopers, by uniting it closely with the -strongest government that had existed within his memory. That government -had fallen; and whatever had leaned on the ruined fabric began to -totter. The bribes had been thrown away. The connections which had been -the strength and boast of the corporation were now its weakness and its -shame. The King who had been one of its members was an exile. The -judge by whom all its most exorbitant pretensions had been pronounced -legitimate was a prisoner. All the old enemies of the Company, -reinforced by those great Whig merchants whom Child had expelled from -the direction, demanded justice and vengeance from the Whig House of -Commons, which had just placed William and Mary on the throne. No voice -was louder in accusation than that of Papillon, who had, some years -before, been more zealous for the charter than any man in London. [170] -The Commons censured in severe terms the persons who had inflicted death -by martial law at Saint Helena, and even resolved that some of those -offenders should be excluded from the Act of Indemnity. [171] The great -question, how the trade with the East should for the future be carried -on, was referred to a Committee. The report was to have been made on -the twenty-seventh of January 1690; but on that very day the Parliament -ceased to exist. - -The first two sessions of the succeeding Parliament were so short and -so busy that little was said about India in either House. But, out -of Parliament, all the arts both of controversy and of intrigue were -employed on both sides. Almost as many pamphlets were published about -the India trade as about the oaths. The despot of Leadenhall Street was -libelled in prose and verse. Wretched puns were made on his name. He was -compared to Cromwell, to the King of France, to Goliath of Gath, to the -Devil. It was vehemently declared to be necessary that, in any Act which -might be passed for the regulation of our traffic with the Eastern seas, -Sir Josiah should be by name excluded from all trust. [172] - -There were, however, great differences of opinion among those who agreed -in hating Child and the body of which he was the head. The manufacturers -of Spitalfields, of Norwich, of Yorkshire, and of the Western counties, -considered the trade with the Eastern seas as rather injurious than -beneficial to the kingdom. The importation of Indian spices, indeed, was -admitted to be harmless, and the importation of Indian saltpetre to be -necessary. But the importation of silks and of Bengals, as shawls were -then called, was pronounced to be a curse to the country. The effect of -the growing taste for such frippery was that our gold and silver went -abroad, and that much excellent English drapery lay in our warehouses -till it was devoured by the moths. Those, it was said, were happy days -for the inhabitants both of our pasture lands and of our manufacturing -towns, when every gown, every hanging, every bed, was made of materials -which our own flocks had furnished to our own looms. Where were now -the brave old hangings of arras which had adorned the walls of lordly -mansions in the days of Elizabeth? And was it not a shame to see a -gentleman, whose ancestors had worn nothing but stuffs made by English -workmen out of English fleeces, flaunting in a calico shirt and a pair -of silk stockings? Clamours such as these had, a few years before, -extorted from Parliament the Act which required that the dead should -be wrapped in woollen; and some sanguine clothiers hoped that the -legislature would, by excluding all Indian textures from our ports, -impose the same necessity on the living. [173] - -But this feeling was confined to a minority. The public was, indeed, -inclined rather to overrate than to underrate the benefits which might -be derived by England from the Indian trade. What was the most effectual -mode of extending that trade was a question which excited general -interest, and which was answered in very different ways. - -A small party, consisting chiefly of merchants resident at Bristol and -other provincial seaports, maintained that the best way to extend trade -was to leave it free. They urged the well known arguments which prove -that monopoly is injurious to commerce; and, having fully established -the general law, they asked why the commerce between England and India -was to be considered as an exception to that law. Any trader ought, they -said, to be permitted to send from any port a cargo to Surat or Canton -as freely as he now sent a cargo to Hamburg or Lisbon. [174] In our time -these doctrines may probably be considered, not only as sound, but -as trite and obvious. In the seventeenth century, however, they were -thought paradoxical. It was then generally held to be a certain, and -indeed an almost selfevident truth, that our trade with the countries -lying beyond the Cape of Good Hope could be advantageously carried on -only by means of a great Joint Stock Company. There was no analogy, -it was said, between our European trade and our Indian trade. Our -government had diplomatic relations with the European States. If -necessary, a maritime force could easily be sent from hence to the mouth -of the Elbe or of the Tagus. But the English Kings had no envoy at the -Court of Agra or Pekin. There was seldom a single English man of war -within ten thousand miles of the Bay of Bengal or of the Gulf of Siam. -As our merchants could not, in those remote seas, be protected by -their Sovereign, they must protect themselves, and must, for that -end, exercise some of the rights of sovereignty. They must have forts, -garrisons and armed ships. They must have power to send and receive -embassies, to make a treaty of alliance with one Asiatic prince, to wage -war on another. It was evidently impossible that every merchant should -have this power independently of the rest. The merchants trading to -India must therefore be joined together in a corporation which could act -as one man. In support of these arguments the example of the Dutch was -cited, and was generally considered as decisive. For in that age the -immense prosperity of Holland was every where regarded with admiration, -not the less earnest because it was largely mingled with envy and -hatred. In all that related to trade, her statesmen were considered as -oracles, and her institutions as models. - -The great majority, therefore, of those who assailed the Company -assailed it, not because it traded on joint funds and possessed -exclusive privileges, but because it was ruled by one man, and because -his rule had been mischievous to the public, and beneficial only to -himself and his creatures. The obvious remedy, it was said, for the -evils which his maladministration had produced was to transfer the -monopoly to a new corporation so constituted as to be in no danger of -falling under the dominion either of a despot or of a narrow oligarchy. -Many persons who were desirous to be members of such a corporation, -formed themselves into a society, signed an engagement, and entrusted -the care of their interests to a committee which contained some of the -chief traders of the City. This society, though it had, in the eye of -the law, no personality, was early designated, in popular speech, as -the New Company; and the hostilities between the New Company and the Old -Company soon caused almost as much excitement and anxiety, at least -in that busy hive of which the Royal Exchange was the centre, as the -hostilities between the Allies and the French King. The headquarters of -the younger association were in Dowgate; the Skinners lent their stately -hall; and the meetings were held in a parlour renowned for the fragrance -which exhaled from a magnificent wainscot of cedar. [175] - -While the contention was hottest, important news arrived from India, -and was announced in the London Gazette as in the highest degree -satisfactory. Peace had been concluded between the great Mogul and the -English. That mighty potentate had not only withdrawn his troops from -the factories, but had bestowed on the Company privileges such as it had -never before enjoyed. Soon, however, appeared a very different version -of the story. The enemies of Child had, before this time, accused him -of systematically publishing false intelligence. He had now, they said, -outlied himself. They had obtained a true copy of the Firman which had -put an end to the war; and they printed a translation of it. It -appeared that Aurengzebe had contemptuously granted to the English, in -consideration of their penitence and of a large tribute, his forgiveness -for their past delinquency, had charged them to behave themselves better -for the future, and had, in the tone of a master, laid on them his -commands to remove the principal offender, Sir John Child, from power -and trust. The death of Sir John occurred so seasonably that these -commands could not be obeyed. But it was only too evident that the -pacification which the rulers of the India House had represented -as advantageous and honourable had really been effected on terms -disgraceful to the English name. [176] - -During the summer of 1691, the controversy which raged on this subject -between the Leadenhall Street Company and the Dowgate Company kept the -City in constant agitation. In the autumn, the Parliament had no sooner -met than both the contending parties presented petitions to the House -of Commons. [177] The petitions were immediately taken into serious -consideration, and resolutions of grave importance were passed. The -first resolution was that the trade with the East Indies was beneficial -to the kingdom; the second was that the trade with the East Indies -would be best carried on by a joint stock company possessed of -exclusive privileges. [178] It was plain, therefore, that neither those -manufacturers who wished to prohibit the trade, nor those merchants at -the outports who wished to throw it open, had the smallest chance of -attaining their objects. The only question left was the question -between the Old and the New Company. Seventeen years elapsed before that -question ceased to disturb both political and commercial circles. It was -fatal to the honour and power of one great minister, and to the peace -and prosperity of many private families. The tracts which the rival -bodies put forth against each other were innumerable. If the drama of -that age may be trusted, the feud between the India House and Skinners' -Hall was sometimes as serious an impediment to the course of true love -in London as the feud of the Capulets and Montagues had been at Verona. -[179] Which of the two contending parties was the stronger it is not -easy to say. The New Company was supported by the Whigs, the Old Company -by the Tories. The New Company was popular; for it promised largely, -and could not be accused of having broken its promises; it made no -dividends, and therefore was not envied; it had no power to oppress, -and had therefore been guilty of no oppression. The Old Company, though -generally regarded with little favour by the public, had the immense -advantage of being in possession, and of having only to stand on the -defensive. The burden of framing a plan for the regulation of the India -trade, and of proving that plan to be better than the plan hitherto -followed, lay on the New Company. The Old Company had merely to find -objections to every change that was proposed; and such objections there -was little difficulty in finding. The members of the New Company were -ill provided with the means of purchasing support at Court and in -Parliament. They had no corporate existence, no common treasury. If -any of them gave a bribe, he gave it out of his own pocket, with little -chance of being reimbursed. But the Old Company, though surrounded -by dangers, still held its exclusive privileges, and still made its -enormous profits. Its stock had indeed gone down greatly in value since -the golden days of Charles the Second; but a hundred pounds still sold -for a hundred and twenty-two. [180] After a large dividend had been paid -to the proprietors, a surplus remained amply sufficient, in those -days, to corrupt half a cabinet; and this surplus was absolutely at the -disposal of one able, determined and unscrupulous man, who maintained -the fight with wonderful art and pertinacity. - -The majority of the Commons wished to effect a compromise, to retain the -Old Company, but to remodel it, to impose on it new conditions, and to -incorporate with it the members of the New Company. With this view it -was, after long and vehement debates and close divisions, resolved that -the capital should be increased to a million and a half. In order to -prevent a single person or a small junto from domineering over the whole -society, it was determined that five thousand pounds of stock should -be the largest quantity that any single proprietor could hold, and that -those who held more should be required to sell the overplus at any price -not below par. In return for the exclusive privilege of trading to the -Eastern seas, the Company was to be required to furnish annually five -hundred tons of saltpetre to the Crown at a low price, and to export -annually English manufactures to the value of two hundred thousand -pounds. [181] - -A bill founded on these resolutions was brought in, read twice, and -committed, but was suffered to drop in consequence of the positive -refusal of Child and his associates to accept the offered terms. He -objected to every part of the plan; and his objections are highly -curious and amusing. The great monopolist took his stand on the -principles of free trade. In a luminous and powerfully written paper he -exposed the absurdity of the expedients which the House of Commons had -devised. To limit the amount of stock which might stand in a single name -would, he said, be most unreasonable. Surely a proprietor whose whole -fortune was staked on the success of the Indian trade was far more -likely to exert all his faculties vigorously for the promotion of that -trade than a proprietor who had risked only what it would be no great -disaster to lose. The demand that saltpetre should be furnished to the -Crown for a fixed sum Child met by those arguments, familiar to our -generation, which prove that prices should be left to settle themselves. -To the demand that the Company should bind itself to export annually two -hundred thousand pounds' worth of English manufactures he very properly -replied that the Company would most gladly export two millions' worth -if the market required such a supply, and that, if the market were -overstocked, it would be mere folly to send good cloth half round the -world to be eaten by white ants. It was never, he declared with much -spirit, found politic to put trade into straitlaced bodices, which, -instead of making it grow upright and thrive, must either kill it or -force it awry. - -The Commons, irritated by Child's obstinacy, presented an address -requesting the King to dissolve the Old Company, and to grant a charter -to a new Company on such terms as to His Majesty's wisdom might seem -fit. [182] It is plainly implied in the terms of this address that -the Commons thought the King constitutionally competent to grant an -exclusive privilege of trading to the East Indies. - -The King replied that the subject was most important, that he would -consider it maturely, and that he would, at a future time, give the -House a more precise answer. [183] In Parliament nothing more was said -on the subject during that session; but out of Parliament the war was -fiercer than ever; and the belligerents were by no means scrupulous -about the means which they employed. The chief weapons of the New -Company were libels; the chief weapons of the Old Company were bribes. - -In the same week in which the bill for the regulation of the Indian -trade was suffered to drop, another bill which had produced great -excitement and had called forth an almost unprecedented display of -parliamentary ability, underwent the same fate. - -During the eight years which preceded the Revolution, the Whigs had -complained bitterly, and not more bitterly than justly, of the hard -measure dealt out to persons accused of political offences. Was it not -monstrous, they asked, that a culprit should be denied a sight of his -indictment? Often an unhappy prisoner had not known of what he was -accused till he had held up his hand at the bar. The crime imputed to -him might be plotting to shoot the King; it might be plotting to poison -the King. The more innocent the defendant was, the less likely he was -to guess the nature of the charge on which he was to be tried; and how -could he have evidence ready to rebut a charge the nature of which -he could not guess? The Crown had power to compel the attendance of -witnesses. The prisoner had no such power. If witnesses voluntarily came -forward to speak in his favour, they could not be sworn. Their testimony -therefore made less impression on a jury than the testimony of the -witnesses for the prosecution, whose veracity was guaranteed by the most -solemn sanctions of law and of religion. The juries, carefully selected -by Sheriffs whom the Crown had named, were men animated by the fiercest -party spirit, men who had as little tenderness for an Exclusionist of a -Dissenter as for a mad dog. The government was served by a band of able, -experienced and unprincipled lawyers, who could, by merely glancing over -a brief, distinguish every weak and every strong point of a case, -whose presence of mind never failed them, whose flow of speech was -inexhaustible, and who had passed their lives in dressing up the worse -reason so as to make it appear the better. Was it not horrible to see -three or four of these shrewd, learned and callous orators arrayed -against one poor wretch who had never in his life uttered a word in -public, who was ignorant of the legal definition of treason and of the -first principles of the law of evidence, and whose intellect, unequal -at best to a fencing match with professional gladiators, was confused by -the near prospect of a cruel and ignominious death? Such however was the -rule; and even for a man so much stupefied by sickness that he could not -hold up his hand or make his voice heard, even for a poor old woman who -understood nothing of what was passing except that she was going to be -roasted alive for doing an act of charity, no advocate was suffered to -utter a word. That a state trial so conducted was little better than a -judicial murder had been, during the proscription of the Whig party, a -fundamental article of the Whig creed. The Tories, on the other -hand, though they could not deny that there had been some hard cases, -maintained that, on the whole, substantial justice had been done. -Perhaps a few seditious persons who had gone very near to the frontier -of treason, but had not actually passed that frontier, might have -suffered as traitors. But was that a sufficient reason for enabling the -chiefs of the Rye House Plot and of the Western Insurrection to elude, -by mere chicanery, the punishment of their guilt? On what principle -was the traitor to have chances of escape which were not allowed to the -felon? The culprit who was accused of larceny was subject to all the -same disadvantages which, in the case of regicides and rebels, were -thought so unjust; ye nobody pitied him. Nobody thought it monstrous -that he should not have time to study a copy of his indictment, that his -witnesses should be examined without being sworn, that he should be -left to defend himself, without the help of counsel against the best -abilities which the Inns of Court could furnish. The Whigs, it seemed, -reserved all their compassion for those crimes which subvert government -and dissolve the whole frame of human society. Guy Faux was to be -treated with an indulgence which was not to be extended to a shoplifter. -Bradshaw was to have privileges which were refused to a boy who had -robbed a henroost. - -The Revolution produced, as was natural, some change in the sentiments -of both the great parties. In the days when none but Roundheads and -Nonconformists were accused of treason, even the most humane and upright -Cavaliers were disposed to think that the laws which were the safeguard -of the throne could hardly be too severe. But, as soon as loyal Tory -gentlemen and venerable fathers of the Church were in danger of being -called in question for corresponding with Saint Germains, a new light -flashed on many understandings which had been unable to discover the -smallest injustice in the proceedings against Algernon Sidney and Alice -Lisle. It was no longer thought utterly absurd to maintain that some -advantages which were withheld from a man accused of felony might -reasonably be allowed to a man accused of treason. What probability -was there that any sheriff would pack a jury, that any barrister would -employ all the arts of sophistry and rhetoric, that any judge would -strain law and misrepresent evidence, in order to convict an innocent -person of burglary or sheep stealing? But on a trial for high treason -a verdict of acquittal must always be considered as a defeat of -the government; and there was but too much reason to fear that many -sheriffs, barristers and judges might be impelled by party spirit, or by -some baser motive, to do any thing which might save the government from -the inconvenience and shame of a defeat. The cry of the whole body -of Tories was that the lives of good Englishmen who happened to be -obnoxious to the ruling powers were not sufficiently protected; and -this cry was swelled by the voices of some lawyers who had distinguished -themselves by the malignant zeal and dishonest ingenuity with which they -had conducted State prosecutions in the days of Charles and James. - -The feeling of the Whigs, though it had not, like the feeling of the -Tories, undergone a complete change, was yet not quite what it had been. -Some, who had thought it most unjust that Russell should have no counsel -and that Cornish should have no copy of his indictment, now began to -mutter that the times had changed; that the dangers of the State were -extreme; that liberty, property, religion, national independence, were -all at stake; that many Englishmen were engaged in schemes of which the -object was to make England the slave of France and of Rome; and that -it would be most unwise to relax, at such a moment, the laws against -political offences. It was true that the injustice with which, in the -late reigns, State trials had been conducted, had given great scandal. -But this injustice was to be ascribed to the bad kings and bad judges -with whom the nation had been cursed. William was now on the throne; -Holt was seated for life on the bench; and William would never exact, -nor would Holt ever perform, services so shameful and wicked as those -for which the banished tyrant had rewarded Jeffreys with riches and -titles. This language however was at first held but by few. The Whigs, -as a party, seem to have felt that they could not honourably defend, in -the season of their prosperity, what, in the time of their adversity, -they had always designated as a crying grievance. A bill for regulating -trials in cases of high treason was brought into the House of Commons, -and was received with general applause. Treby had the courage to make -some objections; but no division took place. The chief enactments were -that no person should be convicted of high treason committed more than -three years before the indictment was found; that every person indicted -for high treason should be allowed to avail himself of the assistance of -counsel, and should be furnished, ten days before the trial, with a copy -of the indictment, and with a list of the freeholders from among whom -the jury was to be taken; that his witnesses should be sworn, and that -they should be cited by the same process by which the attendance of the -witnesses against him was secured. - -The Bill went to the Upper House, and came back with an important -amendment. The Lords had long complained of the anomalous and iniquitous -constitution of that tribunal which had jurisdiction over them in cases -of life and death. When a grand jury has found a bill of indictment -against a temporal peer for any offence higher than a misdemeanour, the -Crown appoints a Lord High Steward; and in the Lord High Steward's -Court the case is tried. This Court was anciently composed in two very -different ways. It consisted, if Parliament happened to be sitting, of -all the members of the Upper House. When Parliament was not sitting, the -Lord High Steward summoned any twelve or more peers at his discretion -to form a jury. The consequence was that a peer accused of high treason -during a recess was tried by a jury which his prosecutors had packed. -The Lords now demanded that, during a recess as well as during a -session, every peer accused of high treason should be tried by the whole -body of the peerage. - -The demand was resisted by the House of Commons with a vehemence and -obstinacy which men of the present generation may find it difficult to -understand. The truth is that some invidious privileges of peerage -which have since been abolished, and others which have since fallen -into entire desuetude, were then in full force, and were daily used. -No gentleman who had had a dispute with a nobleman could think, without -indignation, of the advantages enjoyed by the favoured caste. If His -Lordship were sued at law, his privilege enabled him to impede the -course of justice. If a rude word were spoken of him, such a word as -he might himself utter with perfect impunity, he might vindicate his -insulted dignity both by civil and criminal proceedings. If a barrister, -in the discharge of his duty to a client, spoke with severity of the -conduct of a noble seducer, if an honest squire on the racecourse -applied the proper epithets to the tricks of a noble swindler, the -affronted patrician had only to complain to the proud and powerful body -of which he was a member. His brethren made his cause their own. The -offender was taken into custody by Black Rod, brought to the bar, flung -into prison, and kept there till he was glad to obtain forgiveness by -the most degrading submissions. Nothing could therefore be more natural -than that an attempt of the Peers to obtain any new advantage for their -order should be regarded by the Commons with extreme jealousy. There is -strong reason to suspect that some able Whig politicians, who thought it -dangerous to relax, at that moment, the laws against political offences, -but who could not, without incurring the charge of inconsistency, -declare themselves adverse to any relaxation, had conceived a hope that -they might, by fomenting the dispute about the Court of the Lord High -Steward, defer for at least a year the passing of a bill which they -disliked, and yet could not decently oppose. If this really was their -plan, it succeeded perfectly. The Lower House rejected the amendment; -the Upper House persisted; a free conference was held; and the question -was argued with great force and ingenuity on both sides. - -The reasons in favour of the amendment are obvious, and indeed at first -sight seem unanswerable. It was surely difficult to defend a system -under which the Sovereign nominated a conclave of his own creatures to -decide the fate of men whom he regarded as his mortal enemies. And could -any thing be more absurd than that a nobleman accused of high treason -should be entitled to be tried by the whole body of his peers if his -indictment happened to be brought into the House of Lords the minute -before a prorogation, but that, if the indictment arrived a minute after -the prorogation, he should be at the mercy of a small junto named by the -very authority which prosecuted him? That any thing could have been said -on the other side seems strange; but those who managed the conference -for the Commons were not ordinary men, and seem on this occasion to have -put forth all their powers. Conspicuous among them was Charles Montague, -who was rapidly attaining a foremost rank among the orators of that age. -To him the lead seems on this occasion to have been left; and to his pen -we owe an account of the discussion, which gives a very high notion -of his talents for debate. "We have framed"--such was in substance his -reasoning,--"we have framed a law which has in it nothing exclusive, -a law which will be a blessing to every class, from the highest to -the lowest. The new securities, which we propose to give to innocence -oppressed by power, are common between the premier peer and the humblest -day labourer. The clause which establishes a time of limitation for -prosecutions protects us all alike. To every Englishman accused of -the highest crime against the state, whatever be his rank, we give the -privilege of seeing his indictment, the privilege of being defended -by counsel, the privilege of having his witnesses summoned by writ of -subpoena and sworn on the Holy Gospels. Such is the bill which we sent -up to your Lordships; and you return it to us with a clause of which the -effect is to give certain advantages to your noble order at the expense -of the ancient prerogatives of the Crown. Surely before we consent to -take away from the King any power which his predecessors have possessed -for ages, and to give it to your Lordships, we ought to be satisfied -that you are more likely to use it well than he. Something we must risk; -somebody we must trust; and; since we are forced, much against our will, -to institute what is necessarily an invidious comparison, we must own -ourselves unable to discover any reason for believing that a prince is -less to be trusted than an aristocracy. - -"Is it reasonable, you ask, that you should be tried for your lives -before a few members of your House, selected by the Crown? Is it -reasonable, we ask in our turn, that you should have the privilege of -being tried by all the members of your House, that is to say, by your -brothers, your uncles, your first cousins, your second cousins, your -fathers in law, your brothers in law, your most intimate friends? You -marry so much into each other's families, you live so much in each -other's society, that there is scarcely a nobleman who is not connected -by consanguinity or affinity with several others, and who is not on -terms of friendship with several more. There have been great men -whose death put a third or fourth part of the baronage of England into -mourning. Nor is there much danger that even those peers who may be -unconnected with an accused lord will be disposed to send him to the -block if they can with decency say 'Not Guilty, upon my honour.' For -the ignominious death of a single member of a small aristocratical body -necessarily leaves a stain on the reputation of his fellows. If, indeed, -your Lordships proposed that every one of your body should be compelled -to attend and vote, the Crown might have some chance of obtaining -justice against a guilty peer, however strongly connected. But you -propose that attendance shall be voluntary. Is it possible to doubt what -the consequence will be? All the prisoner's relations and friends will -be in their places to vote for him. Good nature and the fear of making -powerful enemies will keep away many who, if they voted at all, would -be forced by conscience and honour to vote against him. The new system -which you propose would therefore evidently be unfair to the Crown; and -you do not show any reason for believing that the old system has been -found in practice unfair to yourselves. We may confidently affirm that, -even under a government less just and merciful than that under which we -have the happiness to live, an innocent peer has little to fear from -any set of peers that can be brought together in Westminster Hall to -try him. How stands the fact? In what single case has a guiltless head -fallen by the verdict of this packed jury? It would be easy to make out -a long list of squires, merchants, lawyers, surgeons, yeomen, artisans, -ploughmen, whose blood, barbarously shed during the late evil times, -cries for vengeance to heaven. But what single member of your House, -in our days, or in the days of our fathers, or in the days of our -grandfathers, suffered death unjustly by sentence of the Court of -the Lord High Steward? Hundreds of the common people were sent to -the gallows by common juries for the Rye House Plot and the Western -Insurrection. One peer, and one alone, my Lord Delamere, was brought -at that time before the Court of the Lord High Steward; and he was -acquitted. But, it is said, the evidence against him was legally -insufficient. Be it so. So was the evidence against Sidney, against -Cornish, against Alice Lisle; yet it sufficed to destroy them. But, -it is said, the peers before whom my Lord Delamere was brought were -selected with shameless unfairness by King James and by Jeffreys. Be it -so. But this only proves that, under the worst possible King, and under -the worst possible High Steward, a lord tried by lords has a better -chance for life than a commoner who puts himself on his country. We -cannot, therefore, under the mild government which we now possess, feel -much apprehension for the safety of any innocent peer. Would that we -felt as little apprehension for the safety of that government! But it is -notorious that the settlement with which our liberties are inseparably -bound up is attacked at once by foreign and by domestic enemies. We -cannot consent at such a crisis to relax the restraints which have, it -may well be feared, already proved too feeble to prevent some men of -high rank from plotting the ruin of their country. To sum up the whole, -what is asked of us is that we will consent to transfer a certain power -from their Majesties to your Lordships. Our answer is that, at this -time, in our opinion, their Majesties have not too much power, and your -Lordships have quite power enough." - -These arguments, though eminently ingenious, and not without real force, -failed to convince the Upper House. The Lords insisted that every peer -should be entitled to be a Trier. The Commons were with difficulty -induced to consent that the number of Triers should never be less than -thirty-six, and positively refused to make any further concession. The -bill was therefore suffered to drop. [184] - -It is certain that those who in the conference on this bill represented -the Commons, did not exaggerate the dangers to which the government was -exposed. While the constitution of the Court which was to try peers for -treason was under discussion, a treason planned with rare skill by a -peer was all but carried into execution. - -Marlborough had never ceased to assure the Court of Saint Germains that -the great crime which he had committed was constantly present to his -thoughts, and that he lived only for the purpose of repentance and -reparation. Not only had he been himself converted; he had also -converted the Princess Anne. In 1688, the Churchills had, with little -difficulty, induced her to fly from her father's palace. In 1691, they, -with as little difficulty, induced her to copy out and sign a letter -expressing her deep concern for his misfortunes and her earnest wish to -atone for her breach of duty. [185] At the same time Marlborough held -out hopes that it might be in his power to effect the restoration of -his old master in the best possible way, without the help of a single -foreign soldier or sailor, by the votes of the English Lords and -Commons, and by the support of the English army. We are not fully -informed as to all the details of his plan. But the outline is known to -us from a most interesting paper written by James, of which one copy is -in the Bodleian Library, and another among the archives of the French -Foreign Office. - -The jealousy with which the English regarded the Dutch was at this time -intense. There had never been a hearty friendship between the nations. -They were indeed near of kin to each other. They spoke two dialects of -one widespread language. Both boasted of their political freedom. Both -were attached to the reformed faith. Both were threatened by the same -enemy, and would be safe only while they were united. Yet there was no -cordial feeling between them. They would probably have loved each other -more, if they had, in some respects, resembled each other less. They -were the two great commercial nations, the two great maritime nations. -In every sea their flags were found together, in the Baltic and in the -Mediterranean, in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Straits of Malacca. -Every where the merchant of London and the merchant of Amsterdam were -trying to forestall each other and to undersell each other. In Europe -the contest was not sanguinary. But too often, in barbarous countries, -where there was no law but force, the competitors had met, burning with -cupidity, burning with animosity, armed for battle, each suspecting -the other of hostile designs and each resolved to give the other no -advantage. In such circumstances it is not strange that many violent -and cruel acts should have been perpetrated. What had been done in those -distant regions could seldom be exactly known in Europe. Every thing -was exaggerated and distorted by vague report and by national prejudice. -Here it was the popular belief that the English were always blameless, -and that every quarrel was to be ascribed to the avarice and inhumanity -of the Dutch. Lamentable events which had taken place in the Spice -Islands were repeatedly brought on our stage. The Englishmen were -all saints and heroes; the Dutchmen all fiends in human shape, lying, -robbing, ravishing, murdering, torturing. The angry passions which these -pieces indicated had more than once found vent in war. Thrice in the -lifetime of one generation the two nations had contended, with equal -courage and with various fortune, for the sovereignty of the German -Ocean. The tyranny of James, as it had reconciled Tories to Whigs and -Churchmen to Nonconformists, had also reconciled the English to the -Dutch. While our ancestors were looking to the Hague for deliverance, -the massacre of Amboyna and the great humiliation of Chatham had seemed -to be forgotten. But since the Revolution the old feeling had revived. -Though England and Holland were now closely bound together by treaty, -they were as far as ever from being bound together by affection. Once, -just after the battle of Beachy Head, our countrymen had seemed disposed -to be just; but a violent reaction speedily followed. Torrington, who -deserved to be shot, became a popular favourite; and the allies whom -he had shamefully abandoned were accused of persecuting him without a -cause. The partiality shown by the King to the companions of his youth -was the favourite theme of the sewers of sedition. The most lucrative -posts in his household, it was said, were held by Dutchmen; the House -of Lords was fast filling with Dutchmen; the finest manors of the Crown -were given to Dutchmen; the army was commanded by Dutchmen. That it -would have been wise in William to exhibit somewhat less obtrusively his -laudable fondness for his native country, and to remunerate his early -friends somewhat more sparingly, is perfectly true. But it will not be -easy to prove that, on any important occasion during his whole reign, -he sacrificed the interests of our island to the interests of the United -Provinces. The English, however, were on this subject prone to fits of -jealousy which made them quite incapable of listening to reason. One of -the sharpest of those fits came on in the autumn of 1691. The antipathy -to the Dutch was at that time strong in all classes, and nowhere -stronger than in the Parliament and in the army. [186] - -Of that antipathy Marlborough determined to avail himself for the -purpose, as he assured James and James's adherents, of effecting a -restoration. The temper of both Houses was such that they might not -improbably be induced by skilful management to present a joint address -requesting that all foreigners might be dismissed from the service of -their Majesties. Marlborough undertook to move such an address in the -Lords; and there would have been no difficulty in finding some gentleman -of great weight to make a similar motion in the Commons. - -If the address should be carried, what could William do? Would he yield? -Would he discard all his dearest, his oldest, his most trusty friends? -It was hardly possible to believe that he would make so painful, so -humiliating a concession. If he did not yield, there would be a rupture -between him and the Parliament; and the Parliament would be backed by -the people. Even a King reigning by a hereditary title might well shrink -from such a contest with the Estates of the Realm. But to a King whose -title rested on a resolution of the Estates of the Realm such a contest -must almost necessarily be fatal. The last hope of William would be in -the army. The army Marlborough undertook to manage; and it is highly -probable that what he undertook he could have performed. His courage, -his abilities, his noble and winning manners, the splendid success which -had attended him on every occasion on which he had been in command, had -made him, in spite of his sordid vices, a favourite with his brethren -in arms. They were proud of having one countryman who had shown that he -wanted nothing but opportunity to vie with the ablest Marshal of France. -The Dutch were even more disliked by the English troops than by the -English nation generally. Had Marlborough therefore, after securing the -cooperation of some distinguished officers, presented himself at the -critical moment to those regiments which he had led to victory in -Flanders and in Ireland, had he called on them to rally round him, to -protect the Parliament, and to drive out the aliens, there is strong -reason to think that the call would have been obeyed. He would then have -had it in his power to fulfil the promises which he had so solemnly made -to his old master. - -Of all the schemes ever formed for the restoration of James or of his -descendants, this scheme promised the fairest. That national pride, that -hatred of arbitrary power, which had hitherto been on William's side, -would now be turned against him. Hundreds of thousands who would have -put their lives in jeopardy to prevent a French army from imposing a -government on the English, would have felt no disposition to prevent an -English army from driving out the Dutch. Even the Whigs could scarcely, -without renouncing their old doctrines, support a prince who obstinately -refused to comply with the general wish of his people signified to him -by his Parliament. The plot looked well. An active canvass was made. -Many members of the House of Commons, who did not at all suspect that -there was any ulterior design, promised to vote against the foreigners. -Marlborough was indefatigable in inflaming the discontents of the army. -His house was constantly filled with officers who heated each other into -fury by talking against the Dutch. But, before the preparations -were complete, a strange suspicion rose in the minds of some of the -Jacobites. That the author of this bold and artful scheme wished to pull -down the existing government there could be little doubt. But was it -quite certain what government he meant to set up? Might he not depose -William without restoring James? Was it not possible that a man so wise, -so aspiring, and so wicked, might be meditating a double treason, such -as would have been thought a masterpiece of statecraft by the great -Italian politicians of the fifteenth century, such as Borgia would have -envied, such as Machiavel would have extolled to the skies? - -What if this consummate dissembler should cheat both the rival kings? -What if, when he found himself commander of the army and protector of -the Parliament, he should proclaim Queen Anne? Was it not possible -that the weary and harassed nation might gladly acquiesce in such a -settlement? James was unpopular because he was a Papist, influenced -by Popish priests. William was unpopular because he was a foreigner, -attached to foreign favourites. Anne was at once a Protestant and an -Englishwoman. Under her government the country would be in no danger of -being overrun either by Jesuits or by Dutchmen. That Marlborough had the -strongest motives for placing her on the throne was evident. He could -never, in the court of her father, be more than a repentant criminal, -whose services were overpaid by a pardon. In her court the husband of -her adored friend would be what Pepin Heristal and Charles Martel had -been to the Chilperics and Childeberts. He would be the chief director -of the civil and military government. He would wield the whole power -of England. He would hold the balance of Europe. Great kings and -commonwealths would bid against each other for his favour, and exhaust -their treasuries in the vain hope of satiating his avarice. The -presumption was, therefore, that, if he had the English crown in his -hands, he would put in on the head of the Princess. What evidence there -was to confirm this presumption is not known; but it is certain that -something took place which convinced some of the most devoted friends -of the exiled family that he was meditating a second perfidy, surpassing -even the feat which he had performed at Salisbury. They were afraid -that if, at that moment, they succeeded in getting rid of William, the -situation of James would be more hopeless than ever. So fully were -they persuaded of the duplicity of their accomplice, that they not only -refused to proceed further in the execution of the plan which he had -formed, but disclosed his whole scheme to Portland. - -William seems to have been alarmed and provoked by this intelligence -to a degree very unusual with him. In general he was indulgent, -nay, wilfully blind to the baseness of the English statesmen whom he -employed. He suspected, indeed he knew, that some of his servants were -in correspondence with his competitor; and yet he did not punish them, -did not disgrace them, did not even frown on them. He thought meanly, -and he had but too good reason for thinking meanly, of the whole of that -breed of public men which the Restoration had formed and had bequeathed -to the Revolution. He knew them too well to complain because he did not -find in them veracity, fidelity, consistency, disinterestedness. The -very utmost that he expected from them was that they would serve him as -far as they could serve him without serious danger to themselves. If he -learned that, while sitting in his council and enriched by his bounty, -they were trying to make for themselves at Saint Germains an interest -which might be of use to them in the event of a counterrevolution he was -more inclined to bestow on them the contemptuous commendation which was -bestowed of old on the worldly wisdom of the unjust steward than to call -them to a severe account. But the crime of Marlborough was of a very -different kind. His treason was not that of a fainthearted man desirous -to keep a retreat open for himself in every event, but that of a man of -dauntless courage, profound policy and measureless ambition. William was -not prone to fear; but, if there was anything on earth that he feared, -it was Marlborough. To treat the criminal as he deserved was indeed -impossible; for those by whom his designs had been made known to the -government would never have consented to appear against him in the -witness box. But to permit him to retain high command in that army which -he was then engaged in seducing would have been madness. - -Late in the evening of the ninth of January the Queen had a painful -explanation with the Princess Anne. Early the next morning Marlborough -was informed that their Majesties had no further occasion for his -services, and that he must not presume to appear in the royal presence. -He had been loaded with honours, and with what he loved better, riches. -All was at once taken away. - -The real history of these events was known to very few. Evelyn, who -had in general excellent sources of information, believed that the -corruption and extortion of which Marlborough was notoriously guilty had -roused the royal indignation. The Dutch ministers could only tell -the States General that six different stories were spread abroad by -Marlborough's enemies. Some said that he had indiscreetly suffered -an important military secret to escape him; some that he had spoken -disrespectfully of their Majesties; some that he had done ill offices -between the Queen and the Princess; some that he had been forming cabals -in the army; some that he had carried on an unauthorised correspondence -with the Danish government about the general politics of Europe; and -some that he had been trafficking with the agents of the Court of Saint -Germains. [187] His friends contradicted every one of these stories, and -affirmed that his only crime was his dislike of the foreigners who were -lording it over his countrymen, and that he had fallen a victim to the -machinations of Portland, whom he was known to dislike, and whom he had -not very politely described as a wooden fellow. The mystery, which from -the first overhung the story of Marlborough's disgrace, was darkened, -after the lapse of fifty years, by the shameless mendacity of his widow. -The concise narrative of James dispels the mystery, and makes it clear, -not only why Marlborough was disgraced, but also how several of the -reports about the cause of his disgrace originated. [188] - -Though William assigned to the public no reason for exercising his -undoubted prerogative by dismissing his servant, Anne had been informed -of the truth; and it had been left to her to judge whether an officer -who had been guilty of a foul treason was a fit inmate of the palace. -Three weeks passed. Lady Marlborough still retained her post and her -apartments at Whitehall. Her husband still resided with her; and still -the King and Queen gave no sign of displeasure. At length the haughty -and vindictive Countess, emboldened by their patience, determined to -brave them face to face, and accompanied her mistress one evening to the -drawingroom at Kensington. This was too much even for the gentle Mary. -She would indeed have expressed her indignation before the crowd which -surrounded the card tables, had she not remembered that her sister was -in a state which entitles women to peculiar indulgence. Nothing was -said that night; but on the following day a letter from the Queen was -delivered to the Princess. Mary declared that she was unwilling to give -pain to a sister whom she loved, and in whom she could easily pass over -any ordinary fault; but this was a serious matter. Lady Marlborough must -be dismissed. While she lived at Whitehall her lord would live there. -Was it proper that a man in his situation should be suffered to make the -palace of his injured master his home? Yet so unwilling was His Majesty -to deal severely with the worst offenders, that even this had been -borne, and might have been borne longer, had not Anne brought the -Countess to defy the King and Queen in their own presence chamber. "It -was unkind," Mary wrote, "in a sister; it would have been uncivil in an -equal; and I need not say that I have more to claim." The Princess, -in her answer, did not attempt to exculpate or excuse Marlborough, but -expressed a firm conviction that his wife was innocent, and implored -the Queen not to insist on so heartrending a separation. "There is no -misery," Anne wrote, "that I cannot resolve to suffer rather than the -thoughts of parting from her." - -The Princess sent for her uncle Rochester, and implored him to carry her -letter to Kensington, and to be her advocate there. Rochester declined -the office of messenger, and, though he tried to restore harmony between -his kinswomen, was by no means disposed to plead the cause of the -Churchills. He had indeed long seen with extreme uneasiness the absolute -dominion exercised over his younger niece by that unprincipled pair. -Anne's expostulation was sent to the Queen by a servant. The only -reply was a message from the Lord Chamberlain, Dorset, commanding Lady -Marlborough to leave the palace. Mrs. Morley would not be separated from -Mrs. Freeman. As to Mr. Morley, all places where he could have his three -courses and his three bottles were alike to him. The Princess and her -whole family therefore retired to Sion House, a villa belonging to the -Duke of Somerset, and situated on the margin of the Thames. In London -she occupied Berkeley House, which stood in Piccadilly, on the site -now covered by Devonshire House. [189] Her income was secured by Act of -Parliament; but no punishment which it was in the power of the Crown -to inflict on her was spared. Her guard of honour was taken away. The -foreign ministers ceased to wait upon her. When she went to Bath the -Secretary of State wrote to request the Mayor of that city not to -receive her with the ceremonial with which royal visitors were usually -welcomed. When she attended divine service at Saint James's Church she -found that the rector had been forbidden to show her the customary marks -of respect, to bow to her from his pulpit, and to send a copy of his -text to be laid on her cushion. Even the bellman of Piccadilly, it was -said, perhaps falsely, was ordered not to chaunt her praises in his -doggrel verse under the windows of Berkeley House. [190] - -That Anne was in the wrong is clear; but it is not equally clear that -the King and Queen were in the right. They should have either dissembled -their displeasure, or openly declared the true reasons for it. -Unfortunately, they let every body see the punishment, and they let -scarcely any body know the provocation. They should have remembered -that, in the absence of information about the cause of a quarrel, the -public is naturally inclined to side with the weaker party, and that -this inclination is likely to be peculiarly strong when a sister is, -without any apparent reason, harshly treated by a sister. They should -have remembered, too, that they were exposing to attack what was -unfortunately the one vulnerable part of Mary's character. A cruel fate -had put enmity between her and her father. Her detractors pronounced -her utterly destitute of natural affection; and even her eulogists, -when they spoke of the way in which she had discharged the duties of the -filial relation, were forced to speak in a subdued and apologetic tone. -Nothing therefore could be more unfortunate than that she should a -second time appear unmindful of the ties of consanguinity. She was now -at open war with both the two persons who were nearest to her in blood. -Many who thought that her conduct towards her parent was justified by -the extreme danger which had threatened her country and her religion, -were unable to defend her conduct towards her sister. While Mary, who -was really guilty in this matter of nothing more than imprudence, was -regarded by the world as an oppressor, Anne, who was as culpable as her -small faculties enabled her to be, assumed the interesting character of -a meek, resigned sufferer. In those private letters, indeed, to which -the name of Morley was subscribed, the Princess expressed the sentiments -of a fury in the style of a fishwoman, railed savagely at the whole -Dutch nation, and called her brother in law sometimes the abortion, -sometimes the monster, sometimes Caliban. [191] But the nation heard -nothing of her language and saw nothing of her deportment but what was -decorous and submissive. The truth seems to have been that the rancorous -and coarseminded Countess gave the tone to Her Highness's confidential -correspondence, while the graceful, serene and politic Earl was suffered -to prescribe the course which was to be taken before the public eye. -During a short time the Queen was generally blamed. But the charm of her -temper and manners was irresistible; and in a few months she regained -the popularity which she had lost. [192] - -It was a most fortunate circumstance for Marlborough that, just at the -very time when all London was talking about his disgrace, and trying to -guess at the cause of the King's sudden anger against one who had -always seemed to be a favourite, an accusation of treason was brought by -William Fuller against many persons of high consideration, was strictly -investigated, and was proved to be false and malicious. The consequence -was that the public, which rarely discriminates nicely, could not, at -that moment, be easily brought to believe in the reality of any Jacobite -conspiracy. - -That Fuller's plot is less celebrated than the Popish plot is rather the -fault of the historians than of Fuller, who did all that man could do -to secure an eminent place among villains. Every person well read in -history must have observed that depravity has its temporary modes, which -come in and go out like modes of dress and upholstery. It may be doubted -whether, in our country, any man ever before the year 1678 invented and -related on oath a circumstantial history, altogether fictitious, of -a treasonable plot, for the purpose of making himself important by -destroying men who had given him no provocation. But in the year 1678 -this execrable crime became the fashion, and continued to be so during -the twenty years which followed. Preachers designated it as our peculiar -national sin, and prophesied that it would draw on us some awful -national judgment. Legislators proposed new punishments of terrible -severity for this new atrocity. [193] It was not however found necessary -to resort to those punishments. The fashion changed; and during the last -century and a half there has perhaps not been a single instance of this -particular kind of wickedness. - -The explanation is simple. Oates was the founder of a school. His -success proved that no romance is too wild to be received with faith by -understandings which fear and hatred have disordered. His slanders were -monstrous; but they were well timed; he spoke to a people made credulous -by their passions; and thus, by impudent and cruel lying, he raised -himself in a week from beggary and obscurity to luxury, renown and -power. He had once eked out the small tithes of a miserable vicarage by -stealing the pigs and fowls of his parishioners. [194] He was now lodged -in a palace; he was followed by admiring crowds; he had at his mercy -the estates and lives of Howards and Herberts. A crowd of imitators -instantly appeared. It seemed that much more might be got, and that -much less was risked, by testifying to an imaginary conspiracy than by -robbing on the highway or clipping the coin. Accordingly the Bedloes, -Dangerfields, Dugdales, Turberviles, made haste to transfer their -industry to an employment at once more profitable and less perilous than -any to which they were accustomed. Till the dissolution of the Oxford -Parliament Popish plots were the chief manufacture. Then, during seven -years, Whig plots were the only plots which paid. After the Revolution -Jacobite plots came in; but the public had become cautious; and though -the new false witnesses were in no respect less artful than their -predecessors, they found much less encouragement. The history of the -first great check given to the practices of this abandoned race of men -well deserves to be circumstantially related. - -In 1689, and in the beginning of 1690, William Fuller had rendered to -the government service such as the best governments sometimes require, -and such as none but the worst men ever perform. His useful treachery -had been rewarded by his employers, as was meet, with money and with -contempt. Their liberality enabled him to live during some months like -a fine gentleman. He called himself a Colonel, hired servants, clothed -them in gorgeous liveries, bought fine horses, lodged in Pall Mall, and -showed his brazen forehead, overtopped by a wig worth fifty guineas, in -the antechambers of the palace and in the stage box at the theatre. -He even gave himself the airs of a favourite of royalty, and, as if he -thought that William could not live without him, followed His Majesty -first to Ireland, and then to the Congress of Princes at the Hague. -Fuller afterwards boasted that, at the Hague, he appeared with a retinue -fit for an ambassador, that he gave ten guineas a week for an apartment, -and that the worst waistcoat which he condescended to wear was of silver -stuff at forty shillings a yard. Such profusion, of course, brought him -to poverty. Soon after his return to England he took refuge from the -bailiffs in Axe Yard, a place lying within the verge of Whitehall. His -fortunes were desperate; he owed great sums; on the government he had no -claim; his past services had been overpaid; no future service was to be -expected from him having appeared in the witness box as evidence for the -Crown, he could no longer be of any use as a spy on the Jacobites; and -by all men of virtue and honour, to whatever party they might belong, he -was abhorred and shunned. - -Just at this time, when he was in the frame of mind in which men are -open to the worst temptations, he fell in with the worst of tempters, -in truth, with the Devil in human shape. Oates had obtained his liberty, -his pardon, and a pension which made him a much richer man than nineteen -twentieths of the members of that profession of which he was the -disgrace. But he was still unsatisfied. He complained that he had now -less than three hundred a year. In the golden days of the Plot he had -been allowed three times as much, had been sumptuously lodged in the -palace, had dined on plate and had been clothed in silk. He clamoured -for an increase of his stipend. Nay, he was even impudent enough to -aspire to ecclesiastical preferment, and thought it hard that, while so -many mitres were distributed, he could not get a deanery, a prebend, or -even a living. He missed no opportunity of urging his pretensions. He -haunted the public offices and the lobbies of the Houses of Parliament. -He might be seen and heard every day, hurrying, as fast as his uneven -legs would carry him, between Charing Cross and Westminster Hall, -puffing with haste and self importance, chattering about what he had -done for the good cause, and reviling, in the style of the boatmen on -the river, all the statesmen and divines whom he suspected of doing him -ill offices at Court, and keeping him back from a bishopric. When he -found that there was no hope for him in the Established Church, he -turned to the Baptists. They, at first, received him very coldly; but -he gave such touching accounts of the wonderful work of grace which had -been wrought in his soul, and vowed so solemnly, before Jehovah and the -holy angels, to be thenceforth a burning and shining light, that it was -difficult for simple and well meaning people to think him altogether -insincere. He mourned, he said, like a turtle. On one Lord's day he -thought he should have died of grief at being shut out from fellowship -with the saints. He was at length admitted to communion; but before -he had been a year among his new friends they discovered his true -character, and solemnly cast him out as a hypocrite. Thenceforth he -became the mortal enemy of the leading Baptists, and persecuted them -with the same treachery, the same mendacity, the same effrontery, the -same black malice which had many years before wrought the destruction -of more celebrated victims. Those who had lately been edified by his -account of his blessed experiences stood aghast to hear him crying out -that he would be revenged, that revenge was God's own sweet morsel, -that the wretches who had excommunicated him should be ruined, that they -should be forced to fly their country, that they should be stripped to -the last shilling. His designs were at length frustrated by a righteous -decree of the Court of Chancery, a decree which would have left a -deep stain on the character of an ordinary man, but which makes no -perceptible addition to the infamy of Titus Oates. [195] Through all -changes, however, he was surrounded by a small knot of hotheaded and -foulmouthed agitators, who, abhorred and despised by every respectable -Whig, yet called themselves Whigs, and thought themselves injured -because they were not rewarded for scurrility and slander with the best -places under the Crown. - -In 1691, Titus, in order to be near the focal point of political -intrigue and faction, had taken a house within the precinct of -Whitehall. To this house Fuller, who lived hard by, found admission. The -evil work which had been begun in him, when he was still a child, by the -memoirs of Dangerfield, was now completed by the conversation of Oates. -The Salamanca Doctor was, as a witness, no longer formidable; but he was -impelled, partly by the savage malignity which he felt towards all whom -he considered as his enemies, and partly by mere monkeylike restlessness -and love of mischief, to do, through the instrumentality of others, -what he could no longer do in person. In Fuller he had found the corrupt -heart, the ready tongue and the unabashed front which are the first -qualifications for the office of a false accuser. A friendship, if that -word may be so used, sprang up between the pair. Oates opened his house -and even his purse to Fuller. The veteran sinner, both directly and -through the agency of his dependents, intimated to the novice that -nothing made a man so important as the discovering of a plot, and that -these were times when a young fellow who would stick at nothing and -fear nobody might do wonders. The Revolution,--such was the language -constantly held by Titus and his parasites,--had produced little good. -The brisk boys of Shaftesbury had not been recompensed according to -their merits. Even the Doctor, such was the ingratitude of men, was -looked on coldly at the new Court. Tory rogues sate at the council -board, and were admitted to the royal closet. It would be a noble feat -to bring their necks to the block. Above all, it would be delightful -to see Nottingham's long solemn face on Tower Hill. For the hatred with -which these bad men regarded Nottingham had no bounds, and was probably -excited less by his political opinions, in which there was doubtless -much to condemn, than by his moral character, in which the closest -scrutiny will detect little that is not deserving of approbation. Oates, -with the authority which experience and success entitle a preceptor to -assume, read his pupil a lecture on the art of bearing false witness. -"You ought," he said, with many oaths and curses, "to have made more, -much more, out of what you heard and saw at Saint Germains. Never was -there a finer foundation for a plot. But you are a fool; you are a -coxcomb; I could beat you; I would not have done so. I used to go to -Charles and tell him his own. I called Lauderdale rogue to his face. I -made King, Ministers, Lords, Commons, afraid of me. But you young men -have no spirit." Fuller was greatly edified by these exhortations. It -was, however, hinted to him by some of his associates that, if he meant -to take up the trade of swearing away lives, he would do well not to -show himself so often at coffeehouses in the company of Titus. "The -Doctor," said one of the gang, "is an excellent person, and has done -great things in his time; but many people are prejudiced against him; -and, if you are really going to discover a plot, the less you are seen -with him the better." Fuller accordingly ceased to frequent Oates's -house, but still continued to receive his great master's instructions in -private. - -To do Fuller justice, he seems not to have taken up the trade of a false -witness till he could no longer support himself by begging or swindling. -He lived for a time on the charity of the Queen. He then levied -contributions by pretending to be one of the noble family of Sidney. He -wheedled Tillotson out of some money, and requited the good Archbishop's -kindness by passing himself off as His Grace's favourite nephew. But -in the autumn of 1691 all these shifts were exhausted. After lying in -several spunging houses, Fuller was at length lodged in the King's Bench -prison, and he now thought it time to announce that he had discovered a -plot. [196] - -He addressed himself first to Tillotson and Portland; but both Tillotson -and Portland soon perceived that he was lying. What he said was, -however, reported to the King, who, as might have been expected, treated -the information and the informant with cold contempt. All that remained -was to try whether a flame could be raised in the Parliament. - -Soon after the Houses met, Fuller petitioned the Commons to hear what he -had to say, and promised to make wonderful disclosures. He was brought -from his prison to the bar of the House; and he there repeated a long -romance. James, he said, had delegated the regal authority to six -commissioners, of whom Halifax was first. More than fifty lords and -gentlemen had signed an address to the French King, imploring him to -make a great effort for the restoration of the House of Stuart. Fuller -declared that he had seen this address, and recounted many of the names -appended to it. Some members made severe remarks on the improbability of -the story and on the character of the witness. He was, they said, one of -the greatest rogues on the face of the earth; and he told such things -as could scarcely be credited if he were an angel from heaven. Fuller -audaciously pledged himself to bring proofs which would satisfy the most -incredulous. He was, he averred, in communication with some agents of -James. Those persons were ready to make reparation to their country. -Their testimony would be decisive; for they were in possession of -documentary evidence which would confound the guilty. They held back -only because they saw some of the traitors high in office and near the -royal person, and were afraid of incurring the enmity of men so powerful -and so wicked. Fuller ended by asking for a sum of money, and by -assuring the Commons that he would lay it out to good account. [197] -Had his impudent request been granted, he would probably have paid his -debts, obtained his liberty, and absconded; but the House very wisely -insisted on seeing his witnesses first. He then began to shuffle. -The gentlemen were on the Continent, and could not come over without -passports. Passports were delivered to him; but he complained that they -were insufficient. At length the Commons, fully determined to get at the -truth, presented an address requesting the King to send Fuller a blank -safe conduct in the largest terms. [198] The safe conduct was sent. Six -weeks passed, and nothing was heard of the witnesses. The friends of the -lords and gentlemen who had been accused represented strongly that -the House ought not to separate for the summer without coming to some -decision on charges so grave. Fuller was ordered to attend. He pleaded -sickness, and asserted, not for the first time, that the Jacobites -had poisoned him. But all his plans were confounded by the laudable -promptitude and vigour with which the Commons acted. A Committee was -sent to his bedside, with orders to ascertain whether he really had -any witnesses, and where those witnesses resided. The members who were -deputed for this purpose went to the King's Bench prison, and found him -suffering under a disorder, produced, in all probability, by some emetic -which he had swallowed for the purpose of deceiving them. In answer to -their questions he said that two of his witnesses, Delaval and Hayes, -were in England, and were lodged at the house of a Roman Catholic -apothecary in Holborn. The Commons, as soon as the Committee had -reported, sent some members to the house which he had indicated. That -house and all the neighbouring houses were searched. Delaval and Hayes -were not to be found, nor had any body in the vicinity ever seen such -men or heard of them. The House, therefore, on the last day of the -session, just before Black Rod knocked at the door, unanimously resolved -that William Fuller was a cheat and a false accuser; that he had -insulted the Government and the Parliament; that he had calumniated -honourable men, and that an address should be carried up to the throne, -requesting that he might be prosecuted for his villany. [199] He was -consequently tried, convicted, and sentenced to fine, imprisonment and -the pillory. The exposure, more terrible than death to a mind not lost -to all sense of shame, he underwent with a hardihood worthy of his -two favourite models, Dangerfield and Oates. He had the impudence to -persist, year after year, in affirming that he had fallen a victim to -the machinations of the late King, who had spent six thousand pounds -in order to ruin him. Delaval and Hayes--so this fable ran--had been -instructed by James in person. They had, in obedience to his orders, -induced Fuller to pledge his word for their appearance, and had then -absented themselves, and left him exposed to the resentment of the House -of Commons. [200] The story had the reception which it deserved, and -Fuller sank into an obscurity from which he twice or thrice, at long -intervals, again emerged for a moment into infamy. - -On the twenty-fourth of February 1692, about an hour after the Commons -had voted Fuller an impostor, they were summoned to the chamber of the -Lords. The King thanked the Houses for their loyalty and liberality, -informed them that he must soon set out for the Continent, and commanded -them to adjourn themselves. He gave his assent on that day to many -bills, public and private; but when the title of one bill, which had -passed the Lower House without a single division and the Upper House -without a single protest, had been read by the Clerk of the Crown, the -Clerk of the Parliaments declared, according to the ancient form, that -the King and the Queen would consider of the matter. Those words had -very rarely been pronounced before the accession of William. They have -been pronounced only once since his death. But by him the power of -putting a Veto on laws which had been passed by the Estates of the Realm -was used on several important occasions. His detractors truly asserted -that he rejected a greater number of important bills than all the Kings -of the House of Stuart put together, and most absurdly inferred that the -sense of the Estates of the Realm was much less respected by him than by -his uncles and his grandfather. A judicious student of history will -have no difficulty in discovering why William repeatedly exercised a -prerogative to which his predecessors very seldom had recourse, and -which his successors have suffered to fall into utter desuetude. - -His predecessors passed laws easily because they broke laws easily. -Charles the First gave his assent to the Petition of Right, and -immediately violated every clause of that great statute. Charles the -Second gave his assent to an Act which provided that a Parliament should -be held at least once in three years; but when he died the country had -been near four years without a Parliament. The laws which abolished -the Court of High Commission, the laws which instituted the Sacramental -Test, were passed without the smallest difficulty; but they did -not prevent James the Second from reestablishing the Court of High -Commission, and from filling the Privy Council, the public offices, the -courts of justice, and the municipal corporations with persons who had -never taken the Test. Nothing could be more natural than that a King -should not think it worth while to withhold his assent from a statute -with which he could dispense whenever he thought fit. - -The situation of William was very different. He could not, like those -who had ruled before him, pass an Act in the spring and violate it -in the summer. He had, by assenting to the Bill of Rights, solemnly -renounced the dispensing power; and he was restrained, by prudence as -well as by conscience and honour, from breaking the compact under which -he held his crown. A law might be personally offensive to him; it might -appear to him to be pernicious to his people; but, as soon as he had -passed it, it was, in his eyes, a sacred thing. He had therefore a -motive, which preceding Kings had not, for pausing before he passed such -a law. They gave their word readily, because they had no scruple about -breaking it. He gave his word slowly, because he never failed to keep -it. - -But his situation, though it differed widely from that of the princes of -the House of Stuart, was not precisely that of the princes of the House -of Brunswick. A prince of the House of Brunswick is guided, as to the -use of every royal prerogative, by the advice of a responsible ministry; -and this ministry must be taken from the party which predominates in the -two Houses, or, at least, in the Lower House. It is hardly possible to -conceive circumstances in which a Sovereign so situated can refuse -to assent to a bill which has been approved by both branches of the -legislature. Such a refusal would necessarily imply one of two things, -that the Sovereign acted in opposition to the advice of the ministry, or -that the ministry was at issue, on a question of vital importance, with -a majority both of the Commons and of the Lords. On either supposition -the country would be in a most critical state, in a state which, if -long continued, must end in a revolution. But in the earlier part of -the reign of William there was no ministry. The heads of the executive -departments had not been appointed exclusively from either party. -Some were zealous Whigs, others zealous Tories. The most enlightened -statesmen did not hold it to be unconstitutional that the King should -exercise his highest prerogatives on the most important occasions -without any other guidance than that of his own judgment. His refusal, -therefore, to assent to a bill which had passed both Houses indicated, -not, as a similar refusal would now indicate, that the whole machinery -of government was in a state of fearful disorder, but merely that there -was a difference of opinion between him and the two other branches -of the legislature as to the expediency of a particular law. Such a -difference of opinion might exist, and, as we shall hereafter see, -actually did exist, at a time when he was, not merely on friendly, but -on most affectionate terms with the Estates of the Realm. - -The circumstances under which he used his Veto for the first time have -never yet been correctly stated. A well meant but unskilful attempt -had been made to complete a reform which the Bill of Rights had left -imperfect. That great law had deprived the Crown of the power of -arbitrarily removing the judges, but had not made them entirely -independent. They were remunerated partly by fees and partly by -salaries. Over the fees the King had no control; but the salaries he had -full power to reduce or to withhold. That William had ever abused this -power was not pretended; but it was undoubtedly a power which no prince -ought to possess; and this was the sense of both Houses. A bill was -therefore brought in by which a salary of a thousand a year was strictly -secured to each of the twelve judges. Thus far all was well. But -unfortunately the salaries were made a charge on the hereditary revenue. -No such proposition would now be entertained by the House of Commons, -without the royal consent previously signified by a Privy Councillor. -But this wholesome rule had not then been established; and William could -defend the proprietary rights of the Crown only by putting his negative -on the bill. At the time there was, as far as can now be ascertained, no -outcry. Even the Jacobite libellers were almost silent. It was not till -the provisions of the bill had been forgotten, and till nothing but its -title was remembered, that William was accused of having been influenced -by a wish to keep the judges in a state of dependence. [201] - -The Houses broke up; and the King prepared to set out for the Continent. -Before his departure he made some changes in his household and in -several departments of the government; changes, however, which did not -indicate a very decided preference for either of the great political -parties. Rochester was sworn of the Council. It is probable that he -had earned this mark of royal favour by taking the Queen's side in the -unhappy dispute between her and her sister. Pembroke took charge of the -Privy Seal, and was succeeded at the Board of Admiralty by Charles Lord -Cornwallis, a moderate Tory; Lowther accepted a seat at the same board, -and was succeeded at the Treasury by Sir Edward Seymour. Many Tory -country gentlemen, who had looked on Seymour as their leader in the war -against placemen and Dutchmen, were moved to indignation by learning -that he had become a courtier. They remembered that he had voted for -a Regency, that he had taken the oaths with no good grace, that he had -spoken with little respect of the Sovereign whom he was now ready to -serve for the sake of emoluments hardly worthy of the acceptance of a -man of his wealth and parliamentary interest. It was strange that the -haughtiest of human beings should be the meanest, that one who seethed -to reverence nothing on earth but himself should abase himself for the -sake of quarter day. About such reflections he troubled himself very -little. He found, however, that there was one disagreeable circumstance -connected with his new office. At the Board of Treasury he must sit -below the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The First Lord, Godolphin, was a -peer of the realm; and his right to precedence, according to the rules -of the heralds, could not be questioned. But every body knew who was the -first of English commoners. What was Richard Hampden that he should -take the place of a Seymour, of the head of the Seymours? With much -difficulty, the dispute was compromised. Many concessions were made -to Sir Edward's punctilious pride. He was sworn of the Council. He -was appointed one of the Cabinet. The King took him by the hand and -presented him to the Queen. "I bring you," said William, "a gentleman -who will in my absence be a valuable friend." In this way Sir Edward was -so much soothed and flattered that he ceased to insist on his right -to thrust himself between the First Lord and the Chancellor of the -Exchequer. - -In the same Commission of Treasury in which the name of Seymour -appeared, appeared also the name of a much younger politician, who had -during the late session raised himself to high distinction in the House -of Commons, Charles Montague. This appointment gave great satisfaction -to the Whigs, in whose esteem Montague now stood higher than their -veteran chiefs Sacheverell and Littleton, and was indeed second to -Somers alone. - -Sidney delivered up the seals which he had held during more than a year, -and was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Some months elapsed before -the place which he had quitted was filled up; and during this interval -the whole business which had ordinarily been divided between two -Secretaries of State was transacted by Nottingham. [202] - -While these arrangements were in progress, events had taken place in a -distant part of the island which were not, till after the lapse of -many months, known in the best informed circles of London, but which -gradually obtained a fearful notoriety, and which, after the lapse of -more than a hundred and sixty years, are never mentioned without horror. - -Soon after the Estates of Scotland had separated in the autumn of 1690, -a change was made in the administration of that kingdom. William was -not satisfied with the way in which he had been represented in the -Parliament House. He thought that the rabbled curates had been hardly -treated. He had very reluctantly suffered the law which abolished -patronage to be touched with his sceptre. But what especially displeased -him was that the Acts which established a new ecclesiastical polity had -not been accompanied by an Act granting liberty of conscience to those -who were attached to the old ecclesiastical polity. He had directed his -Commissioner Melville to obtain for the Episcopalians of Scotland an -indulgence similar to that which Dissenters enjoyed in England. [203] -But the Presbyterian preachers were loud and vehement against lenity -to Amalekites. Melville, with useful talents, and perhaps with fair -intentions, had neither large views nor an intrepid spirit. He shrank -from uttering a word so hateful to the theological demagogues of his -country as Toleration. By obsequiously humouring their prejudices he -quelled the clamour which was rising at Edinburgh; but the effect of his -timid caution was that a far more formidable clamour soon rose in -the south of the island against the bigotry of the schismatics who -domineered in the north, and against the pusillanimity of the government -which had not dared to withstand that bigotry. On this subject the High -Churchman and the Low Churchman were of one mind, or rather the Low -Churchman was the more angry of the two. A man like South, who had -during many years been predicting that, if ever the Puritans ceased to -be oppressed, they would become oppressors, was at heart not ill pleased -to see his prophecy fulfilled. But in a man like Burnet, the great -object of whose life had been to mitigate the animosity which the -ministers of the Anglican Church felt towards the Presbyterians, the -intolerant conduct of the Presbyterians could awaken no feeling but -indignation, shame and grief. There was, therefore, at the English Court -nobody to speak a good word for Melville. It was impossible that in -such circumstances he should remain at the head of the Scottish -administration. He was, however, gently let down from his high position. -He continued during more than a year to be Secretary of State; but -another Secretary was appointed, who was to reside near the King, and to -have the chief direction of affairs. The new Prime Minister for Scotland -was the able, eloquent and accomplished Sir John Dalrymple. His father, -the Lord President of the Court of Session, had lately been raised to -the peerage by the title of Viscount Stair; and Sir John Dalrymple was -consequently, according to the ancient usage of Scotland, designated -as the Master of Stair. In a few months Melville resigned his -secretaryship, and accepted an office of some dignity and emolument, but -of no political importance. [204] - -The Lowlands of Scotland were, during the year which followed the -parliamentary session of 1690, as quiet as they had ever been within the -memory of man; but the state of the Highlands caused much anxiety to the -government. The civil war in that wild region, after it had ceased to -flame, had continued during some time to smoulder. At length, early in -the year 1691, the rebel chiefs informed the Court of Saint Germains -that, pressed as they were on every side, they could hold out no longer -without succour from France. James had sent them a small quantity of -meal, brandy and tobacco, and had frankly told them that he could do -nothing more. Money was so scarce among them that six hundred pounds -sterling would have been a most acceptable addition to their funds, -but even such a sum he was unable to spare. He could scarcely, in such -circumstances, expect them to defend his cause against a government -which had a regular army and a large revenue. He therefore informed them -that he should not take it ill of them if they made their peace with -the new dynasty, provided always that they were prepared to rise in -insurrection as soon as he should call on them to do so. [205] - -Meanwhile it had been determined at Kensington, in spite of the -opposition of the Master of Stair, to try the plan which Tarbet had -recommended two years before, and which, if it had been tried when -he recommended it, would probably have prevented much bloodshed and -confusion. It was resolved that twelve or fifteen thousand pounds should -be laid out in quieting the Highlands. This was a mass of treasure which -to an inhabitant of Appin or Lochaber seemed almost fabulous, and which -indeed bore a greater proportion to the income of Keppoch or Glengarry -than fifteen hundred thousand pounds bore to the income of Lord Bedford -or Lord Devonshire. The sum was ample; but the King was not fortunate in -the choice of an agent. [206] - -John Earl of Breadalbane, the head of a younger branch of the great -House of Campbell, ranked high among the petty princes of the mountains. -He could bring seventeen hundred claymores into the field; and, ten -years before the Revolution, he had actually marched into the Lowlands -with this great force for the purpose of supporting the prelatical -tyranny. [207] In those days he had affected zeal for monarchy and -episcopacy; but in truth he cared for no government and no religion. -He seems to have united two different sets of vices, the growth of -two different regions, and of two different stages in the progress of -society. In his castle among the hills he had learned the barbarian -pride and ferocity of a Highland chief. In the Council Chamber at -Edinburgh he had contracted the deep taint of treachery and corruption. -After the Revolution he had, like too many of his fellow nobles, joined -and betrayed every party in turn, had sworn fealty to William and Mary, -and had plotted against them. To trace all the turns and doublings of -his course, during the year 1689 and the earlier part of 1690, would -be wearisome. [208] That course became somewhat less tortuous when the -battle of the Boyne had cowed the spirit of the Jacobites. It now seemed -probable that the Earl would be a loyal subject of their Majesties, till -some great disaster should befall them. Nobody who knew him could trust -him; but few Scottish statesmen could then be trusted; and yet Scottish -statesmen must be employed. His position and connections marked him out -as a man who might, if he would, do much towards the work of quieting -the Highlands; and his interest seemed to be a guarantee for his zeal. -He had, as he declared with every appearance of truth, strong personal -reasons for wishing to see tranquillity restored. His domains were so -situated that, while the civil war lasted, his vassals could not tend -their herds or sow their oats in peace. His lands were daily ravaged; -his cattle were daily driven away; one of his houses had been burned -down. It was probable, therefore, that he would do his best to put an -end to hostilities. [209] - -He was accordingly commissioned to treat with the Jacobite chiefs, and -was entrusted with the money which was to be distributed among them. He -invited them to a conference at his residence in Glenorchy. They came; -but the treaty went on very slowly. Every head of a tribe asked for a -larger share of the English gold than was to be obtained. Breadalbane -was suspected of intending to cheat both the clans and the King. The -dispute between the rebels and the government was complicated with -another dispute still more embarrassing. The Camerons and Macdonalds -were really at war, not with William, but with Mac Callum More; and -no arrangement to which Mac Callum More was not a party could really -produce tranquillity. A grave question therefore arose, whether -the money entrusted to Breadalbane should be paid directly to the -discontented chiefs, or should be employed to satisfy the claims -which Argyle had upon them. The shrewdness of Lochiel and the arrogant -pretensions of Glengarry contributed to protract the discussions. But -no Celtic potentate was so impracticable as Macdonald of Glencoe, known -among the mountains by the hereditary appellation of Mac Ian. [210] - -Mac Ian dwelt in the mouth of a ravine situated not far from the -southern shore of Lochleven, an arm of the sea which deeply indents the -western coast of Scotland, and separates Argyleshire from Invernesshire. -Near his house were two or three small hamlets inhabited by his tribe. -The whole population which he governed was not supposed to exceed two -hundred souls. In the neighbourhood of the little cluster of villages -was some copsewood and some pasture land; but a little further up the -defile no sign of population or of fruitfulness was to be seen. In the -Gaelic tongue Glencoe signifies the Glen of Weeping; and in truth that -pass is the most dreary and melancholy of all the Scottish passes, -the very Valley of the Shadow of Death. Mists and storms brood over it -through the greater part of the finest summer; and even on those rare -days when the sun is bright, and when there is no cloud in the sky, the -impression made by the landscape is sad and awful. The path lies along -a stream which issues from the most sullen and gloomy of mountain pools. -Huge precipices of naked stone frown on both sides. Even in July the -streaks of snow may often be discerned in the rifts near the summits. -All down the sides of the crags heaps of ruin mark the headlong paths of -the torrents. Mile after mile the traveller looks in vain for the smoke -of one hut, for one human form wrapped in plaid, and listens in vain for -the bark of a shepherd's dog or the bleat of a lamb. Mile after mile the -only sound that indicates life is the faint cry of a bird of prey from -some stormbeaten pinnacle of rock. The progress of civilisation, which -has turned so many wastes into fields yellow with harvests or gay with -apple blossoms, has only made Glencoe more desolate. All the science -and industry of a peaceful age can extract nothing valuable from that -wilderness; but, in an age of violence and rapine, the wilderness itself -was valued on account of the shelter which it afforded to the plunderer -and his plunder. Nothing could be more natural than that the clan to -which this rugged desert belonged should have been noted for predatory -habits. For, among the Highlanders generally, to rob was thought at -least as honourable an employment as to cultivate the soil; and, of -all the Highlanders, The Macdonalds of Glencoe had the least productive -soil, and the most convenient and secure den of robbers. Successive -governments had tried to punish this wild race; but no large force -had ever been employed for that purpose; and a small force was easily -resisted or eluded by men familiar with every recess and every outlet of -the natural fortress in which they had been born and bred. The people of -Glencoe would probably have been less troublesome neighbours if they -had lived among their own kindred. But they were an outpost of the -Clan Donald, separated from every other branch of their own family, and -almost surrounded by the domains of the hostile race of Diarmid. [211] -They were impelled by hereditary enmity, as well as by want, to live -at the expense of the tribe of Campbell. Breadalbane's property had -suffered greatly from their depredations; and he was not of a temper to -forgive such injuries. When, therefore, the Chief of Glencoe made his -appearance at the congress in Glenorchy, he was ungraciously received. -The Earl, who ordinarily bore himself with the solemn dignity of a -Castilian grandee, forgot, in his resentment, his wonted gravity, forgot -his public character, forgot the laws of hospitality, and, with angry -reproaches and menaces, demanded reparation for the herds which had -been driven from his lands by Mac Ian's followers. Mac Ian was seriously -apprehensive of some personal outrage, and was glad to get safe back to -his own glen. [212] His pride had been wounded; and the promptings of -interest concurred with those of pride. As the head of a people who -lived by pillage, he had strong reasons for wishing that the country -might continue to be in a perturbed state. He had little chance of -receiving one guinea of the money which was to be distributed among -the malecontents. For his share of that money would scarcely meet -Breadalbane's demands for compensation; and there could be little -doubt that, whoever might be unpaid, Breadalbane would take care to -pay himself. Mac Ian therefore did his best to dissuade his allies from -accepting terms from which he could himself expect no benefit; and his -influence was not small. His own vassals, indeed, were few in number; -but he came of the best blood of the Highlands; he had kept up a close -connection with his more powerful kinsmen; nor did they like him -the less because he was a robber; for he never robbed them; and that -robbery, merely as robbery, was a wicked and disgraceful act, had never -entered into the mind of any Celtic chief. Mac Ian was therefore held in -high esteem by the confederates. His age was venerable; his aspect was -majestic; and he possessed in large measure those intellectual qualities -which, in rude societies, give men an ascendency over their fellows. -Breadalbane found himself, at every step of the negotiation, thwarted -by the arts of his old enemy, and abhorred the name of Glencoe more and -more every day. [213] - -But the government did not trust solely to Breadalbane's diplomatic -skill. The authorities at Edinburgh put forth a proclamation exhorting -the clans to submit to King William and Queen Mary, and offering pardon -to every rebel who, on or before the thirty-first of December 1691, -should swear to live peaceably under the government of their Majesties. -It was announced that those who should hold out after that day would be -treated as enemies and traitors. [214] Warlike preparations were made, -which showed that the threat was meant in earnest. The Highlanders were -alarmed, and, though the pecuniary terms had not been satisfactorily -settled, thought it prudent to give the pledge which was demanded of -them. No chief, indeed, was willing to set the example of submission. -Glengarry blustered, and pretended to fortify his house. [215] "I will -not," said Lochiel, "break the ice. That is a point of honour with me. -But my tacksmen and people may use their freedom." [216] His tacksmen -and people understood him, and repaired by hundreds to the Sheriff to -take the oaths. The Macdonalds of Sleat, Clanronald, Keppoch, and -even Glengarry, imitated the Camerons; and the chiefs, after trying to -outstay each other as long as they durst, imitated their vassals. - -The thirty-first of December arrived; and still the Macdonalds of -Glencoe had not come in. The punctilious pride of Mac Ian was doubtless -gratified by the thought that he had continued to defy the government -after the boastful Glengarry, the ferocious Keppoch, the magnanimous -Lochiel had yielded: but he bought his gratification dear. - -At length, on the thirty-first of December, he repaired to Fort William, -accompanied by his principal vassals, and offered to take the oaths. To -his dismay he found that there was in the fort no person competent to -administer them. Colonel Hill, the Governor, was not a magistrate; -nor was there any magistrate nearer than Inverary. Mac Ian, now fully -sensible of the folly of which he had been guilty in postponing to the -very last moment an act on which his life and his estate depended, set -off for Inverary in great distress. He carried with him a letter from -Hill to the Sheriff of Argyleshire, Sir Colin Campbell of Ardkinglass, a -respectable gentleman, who, in the late reign, had suffered severely for -his Whig principles. In this letter the Colonel expressed a goodnatured -hope that, even out of season, a lost sheep, and so fine a lost sheep, -would be gladly received. Mac Ian made all the haste in his power, and -did not stop even at his own house, though it lay nigh to the road. But -at that time a journey through Argyleshire in the depth of winter was -necessarily slow. The old man's progress up steep mountains and along -boggy valleys was obstructed by snow storms; and it was not till -the sixth of January that he presented himself before the Sheriff at -Inverary. The Sheriff hesitated. His power, he said, was limited by the -terms of the proclamation, and he did not see how he could swear a -rebel who had not submitted within the prescribed time. Mac Ian begged -earnestly and with tears that he might be sworn. His people, he said, -would follow his example. If any of them proved refractory, he would -himself send the recusant to prison, or ship him off for Islanders. His -entreaties and Hill's letter overcame Sir Colin's scruples. The oath -was administered; and a certificate was transmitted to the Council at -Edinburgh, setting forth the special circumstances which had induced the -Sheriff to do what he knew not to be strictly regular. [217] - -The news that Mac Ian had not submitted within the prescribed time was -received with cruel joy by three powerful Scotchmen who were then at the -English Court. Breadalbane had gone up to London at Christmas in order -to give an account of his stewardship. There he met his kinsman Argyle. -Argyle was, in personal qualities, one of the most insignificant of -the long line of nobles who have borne that great name. He was the -descendant of eminent men, and the parent of eminent men. He was the -grandson of one of the ablest of Scottish politicians; the son of one of -the bravest and most truehearted of Scottish patriots; the father of one -Mac Callum More renowned as a warrior and as an orator, as the model of -every courtly grace, and as the judicious patron of arts and letters, -and of another Mac Callum More distinguished by talents for business and -command, and by skill in the exact sciences. Both of such an ancestry -and of such a progeny Argyle was unworthy. He had even been guilty -of the crime, common enough among Scottish politicians, but in him -singularly disgraceful, of tampering with the agents of James while -professing loyalty to William. Still Argyle had the importance -inseparable from high rank, vast domains, extensive feudal rights, -and almost boundless patriarchal authority. To him, as to his cousin -Breadalbane, the intelligence that the tribe of Glencoe was out of the -protection of the law was most gratifying; and the Master of Stair more -than sympathized with them both. - -The feeling of Argyle and Breadalbane is perfectly intelligible. -They were the heads of a great clan; and they had an opportunity of -destroying a neighbouring clan with which they were at deadly feud. -Breadalbane had received peculiar provocation. His estate had been -repeatedly devastated; and he had just been thwarted in a negotiation -of high moment. Unhappily there was scarcely any excess of ferocity -for which a precedent could not be found in Celtic tradition. Among all -warlike barbarians revenge is esteemed the most sacred of duties and the -most exquisite of pleasures; and so it had long been esteemed among the -Highlanders. The history of the clans abounds with frightful tales, -some perhaps fabulous or exaggerated, some certainly true, of vindictive -massacres and assassinations. The Macdonalds of Glengarry, for example, -having been affronted by the people of Culloden, surrounded Culloden -church on a Sunday, shut the doors, and burned the whole congregation -alive. While the flames were raging, the hereditary musician of the -murderers mocked the shrieks of the perishing crowd with the notes of -his bagpipe. [218] A band of Macgregors, having cut off the head of an -enemy, laid it, the mouth filled with bread and cheese, on his sister's -table, and had the satisfaction of seeing her go mad with horror at the -sight. They then carried the ghastly trophy in triumph to their chief. -The whole clan met under the roof of an ancient church. Every one in -turn laid his hand on the dead man's scalp, and vowed to defend the -slayers. [219] The inhabitants of Eigg seized some Macleods, bound them -hand and foot, and turned them adrift in a boat to be swallowed up by -the waves or to perish of hunger. The Macleods retaliated by driving the -population of Eigg into a cavern, lighting a fire at the entrance, and -suffocating the whole race, men, women and children. [220] It is much -less strange that the two great Earls of the house of Campbell, animated -by the passions of Highland chieftains, should have planned a Highland -revenge, than that they should have found an accomplice, and something -more than an accomplice, in the Master of Stair. - -The Master of Stair was one of the first men of his time, a jurist, a -statesman, a fine scholar, an eloquent orator. His polished manners and -lively conversation were the delight of aristocratical societies; and -none who met him in such societies would have thought it possible that -he could bear the chief part in any atrocious crime. His political -principles were lax, yet not more lax than those of most Scotch -politicians of that age. Cruelty had never been imputed to him. Those -who most disliked him did him the justice to own that, where his schemes -of policy were not concerned, he was a very goodnatured man. [221] There -is not the slightest reason to believe that he gained a single pound -Scots by the act which has covered his name with infamy. He had no -personal reason to wish the Glencoe men ill. There had been no feud -between them and his family. His property lay in a district where their -tartan was never seen. Yet he hated them with a hatred as fierce and -implacable as if they had laid waste his fields, burned his mansion, -murdered his child in the cradle. - -To what cause are we to ascribe so strange an antipathy? This question -perplexed the Master's contemporaries; and any answer which may now be -offered ought to be offered with diffidence. [222] The most probable -conjecture is that he was actuated by an inordinate, an unscrupulous, a -remorseless zeal for what seemed to him to be the interest of the state. -This explanation may startle those who have not considered how large a -proportion of the blackest crimes recorded in history is to be ascribed -to ill regulated public spirit. We daily see men do for their party, for -their sect, for their country, for their favourite schemes of political -and social reform, what they would not do to enrich or to avenge -themselves. At a temptation directly addressed to our private cupidity -or to our private animosity, whatever virtue we have takes the alarm. -But, virtue itself may contribute to the fall of him who imagines that -it is in his power, by violating some general rule of morality, to -confer an important benefit on a church, on a commonwealth, on mankind. -He silences the remonstrances of conscience, and hardens his heart -against the most touching spectacles of misery, by repeating to himself -that his intentions are pure, that his objects are noble, that he is -doing a little evil for the sake of a great good. By degrees he comes -altogether to forget the turpitude of the means in the excellence of the -end, and at length perpetrates without one internal twinge acts which -would shock a buccaneer. There is no reason to believe that Dominic -would, for the best archbishopric in christendom, have incited -ferocious marauders to plunder and slaughter a peaceful and industrious -population, that Everard Digby would for a dukedom have blown a large -assembly of people into the air, or that Robespierre would have murdered -for hire one of the thousands whom he murdered from philanthropy. - -The Master of Stair seems to have proposed to himself a truly great and -good end, the pacification and civilisation of the Highlands. He was, by -the acknowledgment of those who most hated him, a man of large views. He -justly thought it monstrous that a third part of Scotland should be in -a state scarcely less savage than New Guinea, that letters of fire -and sword should, through a third part of Scotland, be, century after -century, a species of legal process, and that no attempt should be made -to apply a radical remedy to such evils. The independence affected by a -crowd of petty sovereigns, the contumacious resistance which they were -in the habit of offering to the authority of the Crown and of the Court -of Session, their wars, their robberies, their fireraisings, their -practice of exacting black mail from people more peaceable and more -useful than themselves, naturally excited the disgust and indignation of -an enlightened and politic gownsman, who was, both by the constitution -of his mind and by the habits of his profession, a lover of law -and order. His object was no less than a complete dissolution and -reconstruction of society in the Highlands, such a dissolution and -reconstruction as, two generations later, followed the battle of -Culloden. In his view the clans, as they existed, were the plagues of -the kingdom; and of all the clans, the worst was that which inhabited -Glencoe. He had, it is said, been particularly struck by a frightful -instance of the lawlessness and ferocity of those marauders. One of -them, who had been concerned in some act of violence or rapine, had -given information against his companions. He had been bound to a tree -and murdered. The old chief had given the first stab; and scores -of dirks had then been plunged into the wretch's body. [223] By the -mountaineers such an act was probably regarded as a legitimate exercise -of patriarchal jurisdiction. To the Master of Stair it seemed that -people among whom such things were done and were approved ought to be -treated like a pack of wolves, snared by any device, and slaughtered -without mercy. He was well read in history, and doubtless knew how great -rulers had, in his own and other countries, dealt with such banditti. -He doubtless knew with what energy and what severity James the Fifth had -put down the mosstroopers of the border, how the chief of Henderland had -been hung over the gate of the castle in which he had prepared a banquet -for the King; how John Armstrong and his thirty-six horsemen, when they -came forth to welcome their sovereign, had scarcely been allowed time -to say a single prayer before they were all tied up and turned off. Nor -probably was the Secretary ignorant of the means by which Sixtus the -Fifth had cleared the ecclesiastical state of outlaws. The eulogists -of that great pontiff tell us that there was one formidable gang which -could not be dislodged from a stronghold among the Apennines. Beasts of -burden were therefore loaded with poisoned food and wine, and sent by a -road which ran close to the fastness. The robbers sallied forth, seized -the prey, feasted and died; and the pious old Pope exulted greatly when -he heard that the corpses of thirty ruffians, who had been the terror -of many peaceful villages, had been found lying among the mules and -packages. The plans of the Master of Stair were conceived in the spirit -of James and of Sixtus; and the rebellion of the mountaineers furnished -what seemed to be an excellent opportunity for carrying those plans -into effect. Mere rebellion, indeed, he could have easily pardoned. On -Jacobites, as Jacobites, he never showed any inclination to bear hard. -He hated the Highlanders, not as enemies of this or that dynasty, but as -enemies of law, of industry and of trade. In his private correspondence -he applied to them the short and terrible form of words in which the -implacable Roman pronounced the doom of Carthage. His project was no -less than this, that the whole hill country from sea to sea, and the -neighbouring islands, should be wasted with fire and sword, that the -Camerons, the Macleans, and all the branches of the race of Macdonald, -should be rooted out. He therefore looked with no friendly eye on -schemes of reconciliation, and, while others were hoping that a little -money would set everything right, hinted very intelligibly his opinion -that whatever money was to be laid out on the clans would be best laid -out in the form of bullets and bayonets. To the last moment he continued -to flatter himself that the rebels would be obstinate, and would thus -furnish him with a plea for accomplishing that great social revolution -on which his heart was set. [224] The letter is still extant in which -he directed the commander of the forces in Scotland how to act if the -Jacobite chiefs should not come in before the end of December. There is -something strangely terrible in the calmness and conciseness with which -the instructions are given. "Your troops will destroy entirely the -country of Lochaber, Lochiel's lands, Keppoch's, Glengarry's and -Glencoe's. Your power shall be large enough. I hope the soldiers will -not trouble the government with prisoners." [225] - -This despatch had scarcely been sent off when news arrived in London -that the rebel chiefs, after holding out long, had at last appeared -before the Sheriffs and taken the oaths. Lochiel, the most eminent man -among them, had not only declared that he would live and die a true -subject to King William, but had announced his intention of visiting -England, in the hope of being permitted to kiss His Majesty's hand. In -London it was announced exultingly that every clan, without exception, -had submitted in time; and the announcement was generally thought most -satisfactory. [226] But the Master of Stair was bitterly disappointed. -The Highlands were then to continue to be what they had been, the shame -and curse of Scotland. A golden opportunity of subjecting them to the -law had been suffered to escape, and might never return. If only the -Macdonalds would have stood out, nay, if an example could but have been -made of the two worst Macdonalds, Keppoch and Glencoe, it would have -been something. But it seemed that even Keppoch and Glencoe, marauders -who in any well governed country would have been hanged thirty years -before, were safe. [227] While the Master was brooding over thoughts -like these, Argyle brought him some comfort. The report that Mac Ian had -taken the oaths within the prescribed time was erroneous. The Secretary -was consoled. One clan, then, was at the mercy of the government, and -that clan the most lawless of all. One great act of justice, nay of -charity, might be performed. One terrible and memorable example might be -given. [228] - -Yet there was a difficulty. Mac Ian had taken the oaths. He had taken -them, indeed, too late to be entitled to plead the letter of the royal -promise; but the fact that he had taken them was one which evidently -ought not to have been concealed from those who were to decide his fate. -By a dark intrigue, of which the history is but imperfectly known, but -which was, in all probability, directed by the Master of Stair, the -evidence of Mac Ian's tardy submission was suppressed. The certificate -which the Sheriff of Argyleshire had transmitted to the Council at -Edinburgh, was never laid before the board, but was privately submitted -to some persons high in office, and particularly to Lord President -Stair, the father of the Secretary. These persons pronounced the -certificate irregular, and, indeed, absolutely null; and it was -cancelled. - -Meanwhile the Master of Stair was forming, in concert with Breadalbane -and Argyle, a plan for the destruction of the people of Glencoe. It was -necessary to take the King's pleasure, not, indeed, as to the details -of what was to be done, but as to the question whether Mac Ian and his -people should or should not be treated as rebels out of the pale of -the ordinary law. The Master of Stair found no difficulty in the royal -closet. William had, in all probability, never heard the Glencoe men -mentioned except as banditti. He knew that they had not come in by the -prescribed day. That they had come in after that day he did not know. If -he paid any attention to the matter, he must have thought that so fair -an opportunity of putting an end to the devastations and depredations -from which a quiet and industrious population had suffered so much ought -not to be lost. - -An order was laid before him for signature. He signed it, but, if Burnet -may be trusted, did not read it. Whoever has seen anything of public -business knows that princes and ministers daily sign, and indeed -must sign, documents which they have not read; and of all documents -a document relating to a small tribe of mountaineers, living in a -wilderness not set down in any map, was least likely to interest a -Sovereign whose mind was full of schemes on which the fate of Europe -might depend. [229] But, even on the supposition that he read the order -to which he affixed his name, there seems to be no reason for blaming -him. That order, directed to the Commander of the Forces in Scotland, -runs thus: "As for Mac Ian of Glencoe and that tribe, if they can be -well distinguished from the other Highlanders, it will be proper, for -the vindication of public justice, to extirpate that set of thieves." -These words naturally bear a sense perfectly innocent, and would, but -for the horrible event which followed, have been universally understood -in that sense. It is undoubtedly one of the first duties of every -government to extirpate gangs of thieves. This does not mean that every -thief ought to be treacherously assassinated in his sleep, or even that -every thief ought to be publicly executed after a fair trial, but -that every gang, as a gang, ought to be completely broken up, and that -whatever severity is indispensably necessary for that end ought to be -used. If William had read and weighed the words which were submitted -to him by his Secretary, he would probably have understood them to -mean that Glencoe was to be occupied by troops, that resistance, if -resistance were attempted, was to be put down with a strong hand, that -severe punishment was to be inflicted on those leading members of the -clan who could be proved to have been guilty of great crimes, that some -active young freebooters, who were more used to handle the broad sword -than the plough, and who did not seem likely to settle down into quiet -labourers, were to be sent to the army in the Low Countries, that others -were to be transported to the American plantations, and that those -Macdonalds who were suffered to remain in their native valley were to be -disarmed and required to give hostages for good behaviour. A plan very -nearly resembling this had, we know, actually been the subject of much -discussion in the political circles of Edinburgh. [230] There can be -little doubt that William would have deserved well of his people if he -had, in this manner, extirpated not only the tribe of Mac Ian, but every -Highland tribe whose calling was to steal cattle and burn houses. - -The extirpation planned by the Master of Stair was of a different kind. -His design was to butcher the whole race of thieves, the whole damnable -race. Such was the language in which his hatred vented itself. He -studied the geography of the wild country which surrounded Glencoe, and -made his arrangements with infernal skill. If possible, the blow must -be quick, and crushing, and altogether unexpected. But if Mac Ian should -apprehend danger and should attempt to take refuge in the territories of -his neighbours, he must find every road barred. The pass of Rannoch must -be secured. The Laird of Weems, who was powerful in Strath Tay, must -be told that, if he harbours the outlaws, he does so at his peril. -Breadalbane promised to cut off the retreat of the fugitives on one -side, Mac Callum More on another. It was fortunate, the Secretary wrote, -that it was winter. This was the time to maul the wretches. The nights -were so long, the mountain tops so cold and stormy, that even the -hardiest men could not long bear exposure to the open air without a roof -or a spark of fire. That the women and the children could find shelter -in the desert was quite impossible. While he wrote thus, no thought that -he was committing a great wickedness crossed his mind. He was happy in -the approbation of his own conscience. Duty, justice, nay charity and -mercy, were the names under which he disguised his cruelty; nor is it by -any means improbable that the disguise imposed upon himself. [231] - -Hill, who commanded the forces assembled at Fort William, was not -entrusted with the execution of the design. He seems to have been a -humane man; he was much distressed when he learned that the government -was determined on severity; and it was probably thought that his heart -might fail him in the most critical moment. He was directed to put a -strong detachment under the orders of his second in command, Lieutenant -Colonel Hamilton. To Hamilton a significant hint was conveyed that he -had now an excellent opportunity of establishing his character in the -estimation of those who were at the head of affairs. Of the troops -entrusted to him a large proportion were Campbells, and belonged to a -regiment lately raised by Argyle, and called by Argyle's name, It was -probably thought that, on such an occasion, humanity might prove -too strong for the mere habit of military obedience, and that little -reliance could be placed on hearts which had not been ulcerated by a -feud such as had long raged between the people of Mac Ian and the people -of Mac Callum More. - -Had Hamilton marched openly against the Glencoe men and put them to the -edge of the sword, the act would probably not have wanted apologists, -and most certainly would not have wanted precedents. But the Master of -Stair had strongly recommended a different mode of proceeding. If the -least alarm were given, the nest of robbers would be found empty; and -to hunt them down in so wild a region would, even with all the help that -Breadalbane and Argyle could give, be a long and difficult business. -"Better," he wrote, "not meddle with them than meddle to no purpose. -When the thing is resolved, let it be secret and sudden." [232] He was -obeyed; and it was determined that the Glencoe men should perish, not -by military execution, but by the most dastardly and perfidious form of -assassination. - -On the first of February a hundred and twenty soldiers of Argyle's -regiment, commanded by a captain named Campbell and a lieutenant named -Lindsay, marched to Glencoe. Captain Campbell was commonly called in -Scotland Glenlyon, from the pass in which his property lay. He had every -qualification for the service on which he was employed, an unblushing -forehead, a smooth lying tongue, and a heart of adamant. He was also one -of the few Campbells who were likely to be trusted and welcomed by the -Macdonalds; for his niece was married to Alexander, the second son of -Mac Ian. - -The sight of the red coats approaching caused some anxiety among the -population of the valley. John, the eldest son of the Chief, came, -accompanied by twenty clansmen, to meet the strangers, and asked what -this visit meant. Lieutenant Lindsay answered that the soldiers came as -friends, and wanted nothing but quarters. They were kindly received, and -were lodged under the thatched roofs of the little community. Glenlyon -and several of his men were taken into the house of a tacksman who was -named, from the cluster of cabins over which he exercised authority, -Inverriggen. Lindsay was accommodated nearer to the abode of the old -chief. Auchintriater, one of the principal men of the clan, who governed -the small hamlet of Auchnaion, found room there for a party commanded by -a serjeant named Barbour. Provisions were liberally supplied. There was -no want of beef, which had probably fattened in distant pastures; nor -was any payment demanded; for in hospitality, as in thievery, the Gaelic -marauders rivalled the Bedouins. During twelve days the soldiers lived -familiarly with the people of the glen. Old Mac Ian, who had before felt -many misgivings as to the relation in which he stood to the government, -seems to have been pleased with the visit. The officers passed much of -their time with him and his family. The long evenings were cheerfully -spent by the peat fire with the help of some packs of cards which had -found their way to that remote corner of the world, and of some French -brandy which was probably part of James's farewell gift to his Highland -supporters. Glenlyon appeared to be warmly attached to his niece and her -husband Alexander. Every day he came to their house to take his morning -draught. Meanwhile he observed with minute attention all the avenues by -which, when the signal for the slaughter should be given, the Macdonalds -might attempt to escape to the hills; and he reported the result of his -observations to Hamilton. - -Hamilton fixed five o'clock in the morning of the thirteenth of February -for the deed. He hoped that, before that time, he should reach Glencoe -with four hundred men, and should have stopped all the earths in which -the old fox and his two cubs,-so Mac Ian and his sons were nicknamed -by the murderers,--could take refuge. But, at five precisely, whether -Hamilton had arrived or not, Glenlyon was to fall on, and to slay every -Macdonald under seventy. - -The night was rough. Hamilton and his troops made slow progress, and -were long after their time. While they were contending with the wind and -snow, Glenlyon was supping and playing at cards with those whom he -meant to butcher before daybreak. He and Lieutenant Lindsay had engaged -themselves to dine with the old Chief on the morrow. - -Late in the evening a vague suspicion that some evil was intended -crossed the mind of the Chief's eldest son. The soldiers were evidently -in a restless state; and some of them uttered strange cries. Two men, -it is said, were overheard whispering. "I do not like this job;" one of -them muttered, "I should be glad to fight the Macdonalds. But to kill -men in their beds--" "We must do as we are bid," answered another voice. -"If there is any thing wrong, our officers must answer for it." John -Macdonald was so uneasy that, soon after midnight, he went to Glenlyon's -quarters. Glenlyon and his men were all up, and seemed to be getting -their arms ready for action. John, much alarmed, asked what these -preparations meant. Glenlyon was profuse of friendly assurances. "Some -of Glengarry's people have been harrying the country. We are getting -ready to march against them. You are quite safe. Do you think that, if -you were in any danger, I should not have given a hint to your brother -Sandy and his wife?" John's suspicions were quieted. He returned to his -house, and lay down to rest. - -It was five in the morning. Hamilton and his men were still some miles -off; and the avenues which they were to have secured were open. But the -orders which Glenlyon had received were precise; and he began to execute -them at the little village where he was himself quartered. His host -Inverriggen and nine other Macdonalds were dragged out of their beds, -bound hand and foot, and murdered. A boy twelve years old clung round -the Captain's legs, and begged hard for life. He would do any thing; -he would go any where; he would follow Glenlyon round the world. Even -Glenlyon, it is said, showed signs of relenting; but a ruffian named -Drummond shot the child dead. - -At Auchnaion the tacksman Auchintriater was up early that morning, and -was sitting with eight of his family round the fire, when a volley -of musketry laid him and seven of his companions dead or dying on the -floor. His brother, who alone had escaped unhurt, called to Serjeant -Barbour, who commanded the slayers, and asked as a favour to be allowed -to die in the open air. "Well," said the Serjeant, "I will do you that -favour for the sake of your meat which I have eaten." The mountaineer, -bold, athletic, and favoured by the darkness, came forth, rushed on the -soldiers who were about to level their pieces at him, flung his plaid -over their faces, and was gone in a moment. - -Meanwhile Lindsay had knocked at the door of the old Chief and had asked -for admission in friendly language. The door was opened. Mac Ian, -while putting on his clothes and calling to his servants to bring some -refreshment for his visitors, was shot through the head. Two of his -attendants were slain with him. His wife was already up and dressed in -such finery as the princesses of the rude Highland glens were accustomed -to wear. The assassins pulled off her clothes and trinkets. The rings -were not easily taken from her fingers but a soldier tore them away with -his teeth. She died on the following day. - -The statesman, to whom chiefly this great crime is to be ascribed, had -planned it with consummate ability: but the execution was complete in -nothing but in guilt and infamy. A succession of blunders saved three -fourths of the Glencoe men from the fate of their chief. All the moral -qualities which fit men to bear a part in a massacre Hamilton and -Glenlyon possessed in perfection. But neither seems to have had much -professional skill; Hamilton had arranged his plan without making -allowance for bad weather, and this in a country and at a season when -the weather was very likely to be bad. The consequence was that the fox -earths, as he called them, were not stopped in time. Glenlyon and his -men committed the error of despatching their hosts with firearms instead -of using the cold steel. The peal and flash of gun after gun gave -notice, from three different parts of the valley at once; that murder -was doing. From fifty cottages the half naked peasantry fled under cover -of the night to the recesses of their pathless glen. Even the sons of -Mac Ian, who had been especially marked out for destruction, contrived -to escape. They were roused from sleep by faithful servants. John, -who, by the death of his father, had become the patriarch of the tribe, -quitted his dwelling just as twenty soldiers with fixed bayonets marched -up to it. It was broad day long before Hamilton arrived. He found the -work not even half performed. About thirty corpses lay wallowing in -blood on the dunghills before the doors. One or two women were seen -among the number, and, a yet more fearful and piteous sight, a little -hand, which had been lopped in the tumult of the butchery from some -infant. One aged Macdonald was found alive. He was probably too infirm -to fly, and, as he was above seventy, was not included in the orders -under which Glenlyon had acted. Hamilton murdered the old man in cold -blood. The deserted hamlets were then set on fire; and the troops -departed, driving away with them many sheep and goats, nine hundred -kine, and two hundred of the small shaggy ponies of the Highlands. - -It is said, and may but too easily be believed, that the sufferings of -the fugitives were terrible. How many old men, how many women with babes -in their arms, sank down and slept their last sleep in the snow; how -many, having crawled, spent with toil and hunger, into nooks among the -precipices, died in those dark holes, and were picked to the bone by the -mountain ravens, can never be known. But it is probable that those who -perished by cold, weariness and want were not less numerous than those -who were slain by the assassins. When the troops had retired, the -Macdonalds crept out of the caverns of Glencoe, ventured back to the -spot where the huts had formerly stood, collected the scorched -corpses from among the smoking ruins, and performed some rude rites of -sepulture. The tradition runs that the hereditary bard of the tribe took -his seat on a rock which overhung the place of slaughter, and poured -forth a long lament over his murdered brethren, and his desolate home. -Eighty years later that sad dirge was still repeated by the population -of the valley. [233] - -The survivors might well apprehend that they had escaped the shot -and the sword only to perish by famine. The whole domain was a waste. -Houses, barns, furniture, implements of husbandry, herds, flocks, -horses, were gone. Many months must elapse before the clan would be -able to raise on its own ground the means of supporting even the most -miserable existence. [234] - -It may be thought strange that these events should not have been -instantly followed by a burst of execration from every part of the -civilised world. The fact, however, is that years elapsed before the -public indignation was thoroughly awakened, and that months elapsed -before the blackest part of the story found credit even among the -enemies of the government. That the massacre should not have been -mentioned in the London Gazettes, in the Monthly Mercuries which were -scarcely less courtly than the Gazettes, or in pamphlets licensed by -official censors, is perfectly intelligible. But that no allusion to it -should be found in private journals and letters, written by persons free -from all restraint, may seem extraordinary. There is not a word on the -subject in Evelyn's Diary. In Narcissus Luttrell's Diary is a remarkable -entry made five weeks after the butchery. The letters from Scotland, he -says, described that kingdom as perfectly tranquil, except that there -was still some grumbling about ecclesiastical questions. The Dutch -ministers regularly reported all the Scotch news to their government. -They thought it worth while, about this time, to mention that a collier -had been taken by a privateer near Berwick, that the Edinburgh mail had -been robbed, that a whale, with a tongue seventeen feet long and seven -feet broad, had been stranded near Aberdeen. But it is not hinted in -any of their despatches that there was any rumour of any extraordinary -occurrence in the Highlands. Reports that some of the Macdonalds had -been slain did indeed, in about three weeks, travel through Edinburgh up -to London. But these reports were vague and contradictory; and the very -worst of them was far from coming up to the horrible truth. The Whig -version of the story was that the old robber Mac Ian had laid an -ambuscade for the soldiers, that he had been caught in his own snare, -and that he and some of his clan had fallen sword in hand. The Jacobite -version, written at Edinburgh on the twenty-third of March, appeared in -the Paris Gazette of the seventh of April. Glenlyon, it was said, had -been sent with a detachment from Argyle's regiment, under cover of -darkness, to surprise the inhabitants of Glencoe, and had killed -thirty-six men and boys and four women. [235] In this there was nothing -very strange or shocking. A night attack on a gang of freebooters -occupying a strong natural fortress may be a perfectly legitimate -military operation; and, in the obscurity and confusion of such an -attack, the most humane man may be so unfortunate as to shoot a woman -or a child. The circumstances which give a peculiar character to the -slaughter of Glencoe, the breach of faith, the breach of hospitality, -the twelve days of feigned friendship and conviviality, of morning -calls, of social meals, of healthdrinking, of cardplaying, were not -mentioned by the Edinburgh correspondent of the Paris Gazette; and we -may therefore confidently infer that those circumstances were as yet -unknown even to inquisitive and busy malecontents residing in the -Scottish capital within a hundred miles of the spot where the deed had -been done. In the south of the island the matter produced, as far as -can now be judged, scarcely any sensation. To the Londoner of those days -Appin was what Caffraria or Borneo is to us. He was not more moved by -hearing that some Highland thieves had been surprised and killed than we -are by hearing that a band of Amakosah cattle stealers has been cut -off, or that a bark full of Malay pirates has been sunk. He took it for -granted that nothing had been done in Glencoe beyond what was doing in -many other glens. There had been a night brawl, one of a hundred night -brawls, between the Macdonalds and the Campbells; and the Campbells had -knocked the Macdonalds on the head. - -By slow degrees the whole truth came out. From a letter written at -Edinburgh about two months after the crime had been committed, it -appears that the horrible story was already current among the Jacobites -of that city. In the summer Argyle's regiment was quartered in the south -of England, and some of the men made strange confessions, over their -ale, about what they had been forced to do in the preceding winter. The -nonjurors soon got hold of the clue, and followed it resolutely; their -secret presses went to work; and at length, near a year after the crime -had been committed, it was published to the world. [236] But the world -was long incredulous. The habitual mendacity of the Jacobite libellers -had brought on them an appropriate punishment. Now, when, for the first -time, they told the truth, they were supposed to be romancing. They -complained bitterly that the story, though perfectly authentic, was -regarded by the public as a factious lie. [237] So late as the year -1695, Hickes, in a tract in which he endeavoured to defend his darling -tale of the Theban legion against the unanswerable argument drawn -from the silence of historians, remarked that it might well be doubted -whether any historian would make mention of the massacre of Glencoe. -There were in England, he said, many thousands of well educated men who -had never heard of that massacre, or who regarded it as a mere fable. -[238] - -Nevertheless the punishment of some of the guilty began very early. -Hill, who indeed can hardly be called guilty, was much disturbed. -Breadalbane, hardened as he was, felt the stings of conscience or the -dread of retribution. A few days after the Macdonalds had returned to -their old dwellingplace, his steward visited the ruins of the house of -Glencoe, and endeavoured to persuade the sons of the murdered chief to -sign a paper declaring that they held the Earl guiltless of the blood -which had been shed. They were assured that, if they would do this, all -His Lordship's great influence should be employed to obtain for them -from the Crown a free pardon and a remission of all forfeitures. -[239] Glenlyon did his best to assume an air of unconcern. He made his -appearance in the most fashionable coffeehouse at Edinburgh, and talked -loudly and self-complacently about the important service in which he -had been engaged among the mountains. Some of his soldiers, however, who -observed him closely, whispered that all this bravery was put on. He -was not the man that he had been before that night. The form of his -countenance was changed. In all places, at all hours, whether he waked -or slept, Glencoe was for ever before him. [240] - -But, whatever apprehensions might disturb Breadalbane, whatever spectres -might haunt Glenlyon, the Master of Stair had neither fear nor remorse. -He was indeed mortified; but he was mortified only by the blunders of -Hamilton and by the escape of so many of the damnable breed. "Do right, -and fear nobody;" such is the language of his letters. "Can there be -a more sacred duty than to rid the country of thieving? The only thing -that I regret is that any got away." [241] - -On the sixth of March, William, entirely ignorant, in all probability, -of the details of the crime which has cast a dark shade over his glory, -had set out for the Continent, leaving the Queen his viceregent in -England. [242] - -He would perhaps have postponed his departure if he had been aware -that the French Government had, during some time, been making great -preparations for a descent on our island. [243] An event had taken place -which had changed the policy of the Court of Versailles. Louvois was -no more. He had been at the head of the military administration of his -country during a quarter of a century; he had borne a chief part in the -direction of two wars which had enlarged the French territory, and had -filled the world with the renown of the French arms; and he had lived -to see the beginning of a third war which tasked his great powers to the -utmost. Between him and the celebrated captains who carried his plans -into execution there was little harmony. His imperious temper and -his confidence in himself impelled him to interfere too much with the -conduct of troops in the field, even when those troops were commanded -by Conde, by Turenne or by Luxemburg. But he was the greatest Adjutant -General, the greatest Quartermaster General, the greatest Commissary -General, that Europe had seen. He may indeed be said to have made a -revolution in the art of disciplining, distributing, equipping and -provisioning armies. In spite, however, of his abilities and of his -services, he had become odious to Lewis and to her who governed Lewis. -On the last occasion on which the King and the minister transacted -business together, the ill humour on both sides broke violently forth. -The servant, in his vexation, dashed his portfolio on the ground. The -master, forgetting, what he seldom forgot, that a King should be a -gentleman, lifted his cane. Fortunately his wife was present. She, with -her usual prudence, caught his arm. She then got Louvois out of the -room, and exhorted him to come back the next day as if nothing had -happened. The next day he came; but with death in his face. The King, -though full of resentment, was touched with pity, and advised Louvois to -go home and take care of himself. That evening the great minister died. -[244] - -Louvois had constantly opposed all plans for the invasion of England. -His death was therefore regarded at Saint Germains as a fortunate event. -[245] It was however necessary to look sad, and to send a gentleman -to Versailles with some words of condolence. The messenger found the -gorgeous circle of courtiers assembled round their master on the terrace -above the orangery. "Sir," said Lewis, in a tone so easy and cheerful -that it filled all the bystanders with amazement, "present my -compliments and thanks to the King and Queen of England, and tell them -that neither my affairs nor theirs will go on the worse by what has -happened." These words were doubtless meant to intimate that the -influence of Louvois had not been exerted in favour of the House of -Stuart. [246] One compliment, however, a compliment which cost France -dear, Lewis thought it right to pay to the memory of his ablest -servant. The Marquess of Barbesieux, son of Louvois, was placed, in his -twenty-fifth year, at the head of the war department. The young man was -by no means deficient in abilities, and had been, during some years, -employed in business of grave importance. But his passions were strong; -his judgment was not ripe; and his sudden elevation turned his head. His -manners gave general disgust. Old officers complained that he kept them -long in his antechamber while he was amusing himself with his spaniels -and his flatterers. Those who were admitted to his presence went away -disgusted by his rudeness and arrogance. As was natural at his age, he -valued power chiefly as the means of procuring pleasure. Millions of -crowns were expended on the luxurious villa where he loved to forget -the cares of office in gay conversation, delicate cookery and foaming -champagne. He often pleaded an attack of fever as an excuse for not -making his appearance at the proper hour in the royal closet, when -in truth he had been playing truant among his boon companions and -mistresses. "The French King," said William, "has an odd taste. -He chooses an old woman for his mistress, and a young man for his -minister." [247] - -There can be little doubt that Louvois, by pursuing that course which -had made him odious to the inmates of Saint Germains, had deserved well -of his country. He was not maddened by Jacobite enthusiasm. He well knew -that exiles are the worst of all advisers. He had excellent information; -he had excellent judgment; he calculated the chances; and he saw that a -descent was likely to fail, and to fail disastrously and disgracefully. -James might well be impatient to try the experiment, though the odds -should be ten to one against him. He might gain; and he could not lose. -His folly and obstinacy had left him nothing to risk. His food, his -drink, his lodging, his clothes, he owed to charity. Nothing could be -more natural than that, for the very smallest chance of recovering the -three kingdoms which he had thrown away, he should be willing to stake -what was not his own, the honour of the French arms, the grandeur and -the safety of the French monarchy. To a French statesman such a wager -might well appear in a different light. But Louvois was gone. His -master yielded to the importunity of James, and determined to send an -expedition against England. [248] - -The scheme was, in some respects, well concerted. It was resolved that -a camp should be formed on the coast of Normandy, and that in this -camp all the Irish regiments which were in the French service should be -assembled under their countryman Sarsfield. With them were to be joined -about ten thousand French troops. The whole army was to be commanded by -Marshal Bellefonds. - -A noble fleet of about eighty ships of the line was to convoy this -force to the shores of England. In the dockyards both of Brittany and of -Provence immense preparations were made. Four and forty men of war, some -of which were among the finest that had ever been built, were assembled -in the harbour of Brest under Tourville. The Count of Estrees, with -thirty-five more, was to sail from Toulon. Ushant was fixed for the -place of rendezvous. The very day was named. In order that there might -be no want either of seamen or of vessels for the intended expedition, -all maritime trade, all privateering was, for a time, interdicted by a -royal mandate. [249] Three hundred transports were collected near the -spot where the troops were to embark. It was hoped that all would be -ready early in the spring, before the English ships were half rigged or -half manned, and before a single Dutch man of war was in the Channel. -[250] - -James had indeed persuaded himself that, even if the English fleet -should fall in with him, it would not oppose him. He imagined that -he was personally a favourite with the mariners of all ranks. His -emissaries had been busy among the naval officers, and had found some -who remembered him with kindness, and others who were out of humour -with the men now in power. All the wild talk of a class of people not -distinguished by taciturnity or discretion was reported to him with -exaggeration, till he was deluded into a belief that he had more friends -than enemies on board of the vessels which guarded our coasts. Yet he -should have known that a rough sailor, who thought himself ill used by -the Admiralty, might, after the third bottle, when drawn on by artful -companions, express his regret for the good old times, curse the new -government, and curse himself for being such a fool as to fight for -that government, and yet might be by no means prepared to go over to the -French on the day of battle. Of the malecontent officers, who, as James -believed, were impatient to desert, the great majority had probably -given no pledge of their attachment to him except an idle word -hiccoughed out when they were drunk, and forgotten when they were sober. -One those from whom he expected support, Rear Admiral Carter, had indeed -heard and perfectly understood what the Jacobite agents had to say, had -given them fair words, and had reported the whole to the Queen and her -ministers. [251] - -But the chief dependence of James was on Russell. That false, arrogant -and wayward politician was to command the Channel Fleet. He had never -ceased to assure the Jacobite emissaries that he was bent on effecting -a Restoration. Those emissaries fully reckoned, if not on his entire -cooperation, yet at least on his connivance; and there could be no doubt -that, with his connivance, a French fleet might easily convoy an army to -our shores. James flattered himself that, as soon as he had landed, he -should be master of the island. But in truth, when the voyage had ended, -the difficulties of his enterprise would have been only beginning. Two -years before he had received a lesson by which he should have profited. -He had then deceived himself and others into the belief that the English -were regretting him, were pining for him, were eager to rise in arms -by tens of thousands to welcome him. William was then, as now, at a -distance. Then, as now, the administration was entrusted to a woman. -Then, as now, there were few regular troops in England. Torrington had -then done as much to injure the government which he served as Russell -could now do. The French fleet had then, after riding, during several -weeks, victorious and dominant in the Channel, landed some troops on -the southern coast. The immediate effect had been that whole counties, -without distinction of Tory or Whig, Churchman or Dissenter, had risen -up, as one man, to repel the foreigners, and that the Jacobite party, -which had, a few days before, seemed to be half the nation, had crouched -down in silent terror, and had made itself so small that it had, during -some time, been invisible. What reason was there for believing that -the multitude who had, in 1690, at the first lighting of the beacons, -snatched up firelocks, pikes, scythes, to defend, their native soil -against the French, would now welcome the French as allies? And of the -army by which James was now to be accompanied the French formed the -least odious part. More than half of that army was to consist of Irish -Papists; and the feeling, compounded of hatred and scorn, with which the -Irish Papists had long been regarded by the English Protestants, had -by recent events been stimulated to a vehemence before unknown. The -hereditary slaves, it was said, had been for a moment free; and that -moment had sufficed to prove that they knew neither how to use nor how -to defend their freedom. During their short ascendency they had done -nothing but slay, and burn, and pillage, and demolish, and attaint, and -confiscate. In three years they had committed such waste on their native -land as thirty years of English intelligence and industry would scarcely -repair. They would have maintained their independence against the world, -if they had been as ready to fight as they were to steal. But they had -retreated ignominiously from the walls of Londonderry. They had fled -like deer before the yeomanry of Enniskillen. The Prince whom they -now presumed to think that they could place, by force of arms, on the -English throne, had himself, on the morning after the rout of the Boyne, -reproached them with their cowardice, and told them that he would never -again trust to their soldiership. On this subject Englishmen were of one -mind. Tories, Nonjurors, even Roman Catholics, were as loud as Whigs in -reviling the ill fated race. It is, therefore, not difficult to guess -what effect would have been produced by the appearance on our soil of -enemies whom, on their own soil, we had vanquished and trampled down. - -James, however, in spite of the recent and severe teaching of -experience, believed whatever his correspondents in England told him; -and they told him that the whole nation was impatiently expecting him, -that both the West and the North were ready to rise, that he would -proceed from the place of landing to Whitehall with as little -opposition as when, in old times, he returned from a progress. Ferguson -distinguished himself by the confidence with which he predicted a -complete and bloodless victory. He and his printer, he was absurd enough -to write, would be the two first men in the realm to take horse for His -Majesty. Many other agents were busy up and down the country, during the -winter and the early part of the spring. It does not appear that they -had much success in the counties south of Trent. But in the north, -particularly in Lancashire, where the Roman Catholics were more numerous -and more powerful than in any other part of the kingdom, and where there -seems to have been, even among the Protestant gentry, more than the -ordinary proportion of bigoted Jacobites, some preparations for an -insurrection were made. Arms were privately bought; officers were -appointed; yeomen, small farmers, grooms, huntsmen, were induced to -enlist. Those who gave in their names were distributed into eight -regiments of cavalry and dragoons, and were directed to hold themselves -in readiness to mount at the first signal. [252] - -One of the circumstances which filled James, at this time, with -vain hopes, was that his wife was pregnant and near her delivery. He -flattered himself that malice itself would be ashamed to repeat any -longer the story of the warming pan, and that multitudes whom that story -had deceived would instantly return to their allegiance. He took, on -this occasion, all those precautions which, four years before, he had -foolishly and perversely forborne to take. He contrived to transmit to -England letters summoning many Protestant women of quality to assist at -the expected birth; and he promised, in the name of his dear brother the -Most Christian King, that they should be free to come and go in safety. -Had some of these witnesses been invited to Saint James's on the morning -of the tenth of June 1688, the House of Stuart might, perhaps, now be -reigning in our island. But it is easier to keep a crown than to regain -one. It might be true that a calumnious fable had done much to bring -about the Revolution. But it by no means followed that the most complete -refutation of that fable would bring about a Restoration. Not a single -lady crossed the sea in obedience to James's call. His Queen was safely -delivered of a daughter; but this event produced no perceptible effect -on the state of public feeling in England. [253] - -Meanwhile the preparations for his expedition were going on fast. He -was on the point of setting out for the place of embarkation before the -English government was at all aware of the danger which was impending. -It had been long known indeed that many thousands of Irish were -assembled in Normandy; but it was supposed that they had been assembled -merely that they might be mustered and drilled before they were sent -to Flanders, Piedmont, and Catalonia. [254] Now, however, intelligence, -arriving from many quarters, left no doubt that an invasion would be -almost immediately attempted. Vigorous preparations for defence were -made. The equipping and manning of the ships was urged forward with -vigour. The regular troops were drawn together between London and the -sea. A great camp was formed on the down which overlooks Portsmouth. The -militia all over the kingdom was called out. Two Westminster regiments -and six City regiments, making up a force of thirteen thousand fighting -men, were arrayed in Hyde Park, and passed in review before the Queen. -The trainbands of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey marched down to the coast. -Watchmen were posted by the beacons. Some nonjurors were imprisoned, -some disarmed, some held to bail. The house of the Earl of Huntingdon, a -noted Jacobite, was searched. He had had time to burn his papers and to -hide his arms; but his stables presented a most suspicious appearance. -Horses enough to mount a whole troop of cavalry were at the mangers; -and this evidence, though not legally sufficient to support a charge of -treason, was thought sufficient, at such a conjuncture, to justify the -Privy Council in sending him to the Tower. [255] Meanwhile James had -gone down to his army, which was encamped round the basin of La -Hogue, on the northern coast of the peninsula known by the name of the -Cotentin. Before he quitted Saint Germains, he held a Chapter of the -Garter for the purpose of admitting his son into the order. Two noblemen -were honoured with the same distinction, Powis, who, among his brother -exiles, was now called a Duke, and Melfort, who had returned from Rome, -and was again James's Prime Minister. [256] Even at this moment, when it -was of the greatest importance to conciliate the members of the Church -of England, none but members of the Church of Rome were thought worthy -of any mark of royal favour. Powis indeed was an eminent member of the -English aristocracy; and his countrymen disliked him as little as they -disliked any conspicuous Papist. But Melfort was not even an Englishman; -he had never held office in England; he had never sate in the English -Parliament; and he had therefore no pretensions to a dignity peculiarly -English. He was moreover hated by all the contending factions of all the -three kingdoms. Royal letters countersigned by him had been sent both to -the Convention at Westminster and to the Convention at Edinburgh; and, -both at Westminster and at Edinburgh, the sight of his odious name and -handwriting had made the most zealous friends of hereditary right hang -down their heads in shame. It seems strange that even James should have -chosen, at such a conjuncture, to proclaim to the world that the men -whom his people most abhorred were the men whom he most delighted to -honour. - -Still more injurious to his interests was the Declaration in which he -announced his intentions to his subjects. Of all the State papers -which were put forth even by him it was the most elaborately and -ostentatiously injudicious. When it had disgusted and exasperated all -good Englishmen of all parties, the Papists at Saint Germains pretended -that it had been drawn up by a stanch Protestant, Edward Herbert, who -had been Chief Justice of the Common Pleas before the Revolution, and -who now bore the empty title of Chancellor. [257] But it is certain that -Herbert was never consulted about any matter of importance, and that -the Declaration was the work of Melfort and of Melfort alone. [258] -In truth, those qualities of head and heart which had made Melfort the -favourite of his master shone forth in every sentence. Not a word was -to be found indicating that three years of banishment had made the King -wiser, that he had repented of a single error, that he took to himself -even the smallest part of the blame of that revolution which had -dethroned him, or that he purposed to follow a course in any respect -differing from that which had already been fatal to him. All the -charges which had been brought against him he pronounced to be utterly -unfounded. Wicked men had put forth calumnies. Weak men had believed -those calumnies. He alone had been faultless. He held out no hope that -he would consent to any restriction of that vast dispensing power to -which he had formerly laid claim, that he would not again, in defiance -of the plainest statutes, fill the Privy Council, the bench of justice, -the public offices, the army, the navy, with Papists, that he would not -reestablish the High Commission, that he would not appoint a new set of -regulators to remodel all the constituent bodies of the kingdom. He did -indeed condescend to say that he would maintain the legal rights of the -Church of England; but he had said this before; and all men knew what -those words meant in his mouth. Instead of assuring his people of his -forgiveness, he menaced them with a proscription more terrible than any -which our island had ever seen. He published a list of persons who had -no mercy to expect. Among these were Ormond, Caermarthen, Nottingham, -Tillotson and Burnet. After the roll of those who were doomed to death -by name, came a series of categories. First stood all the crowd -of rustics who had been rude to His Majesty when he was stopped at -Sheerness in his flight. These poor ignorant wretches, some hundreds in -number, were reserved for another bloody circuit. Then came all persons -who had in any manner borne a part in the punishment of any Jacobite -conspirator; judges, counsel, witnesses, grand jurymen, petty jurymen, -sheriffs and undersheriffs, constables and turnkeys, in short, all -the ministers of justice from Holt down to Ketch. Then vengeance was -denounced against all spies and all informers who had divulged to the -usurpers the designs of the Court of Saint Germains. All justices of -the peace who should not declare for their rightful Sovereign the moment -that they heard of his landing, all gaolers who should not instantly set -political prisoners at liberty, were to be left to the extreme rigour of -the law. No exception was made in favour of a justice or of a gaoler -who might be within a hundred yards of one of William's regiments, and -a hundred miles from the nearest place where there was a single Jacobite -in arms. - -It might have been expected that James, after thus denouncing vengeance -against large classes of his subjects, would at least have offered a -general amnesty to the rest. But of general amnesty he said not a -word. He did indeed promise that any offender who was not in any of the -categories of proscription, and who should by any eminent service merit -indulgence, should receive a special pardon. But, with this exception, -all the offenders, hundreds of thousands in number, were merely informed -that their fate should be decided in Parliament. - -The agents of James speedily dispersed his Declaration over every part -of the kingdom, and by doing so rendered a great service to William. -The general cry was that the banished oppressor had at least given -Englishmen fair warning, and that, if, after such a warning, they -welcomed him home, they would have no pretence for complaining, though -every county town should be polluted by an assize resembling that -which Jeffreys had held at Taunton. That some hundreds of people,--the -Jacobites put the number so low as five hundred,--were to be hanged -without mercy was certain; and nobody who had concurred in the -Revolution, nobody who had fought for the new government by sea or -land, no soldier who had borne a part in the conquest of Ireland, no -Devonshire ploughman or Cornish miner who had taken arms to defend his -wife and children against Tourville, could be certain that he should -not be hanged. How abject too, how spiteful, must be the nature of a man -who, engaged in the most momentous of all undertakings, and aspiring to -the noblest of all prizes, could not refrain from proclaiming that he -thirsted for the blood of a multitude of poor fishermen, because, -more than three years before, they had pulled him about and called him -Hatchetface. If, at the very moment when he had the strongest motives -for trying to conciliate his people by the show of clemency, he could -not bring himself to hold towards them any language but that of an -implacable enemy, what was to be expected from him when he should be -again their master? So savage was his nature that, in a situation -in which all other tyrants have resorted to blandishments and fair -promises, he could utter nothing but reproaches and threats. The only -words in his Declaration which had any show of graciousness were those -in which he promised to send away the foreign troops as soon as his -authority was reestablished; and many said that those words, when -examined, would be found full of sinister meaning. He held out no hope -that he would send away Popish troops who were his own subjects. His -intentions were manifest. The French might go; but the Irish would -remain. The people of England were to be kept down by these thrice -subjugated barbarians. No doubt a Rapparee who had run away at Newton -Butler and the Boyne might find courage enough to guard the scaffolds on -which his conquerors were to die, and to lay waste our country as he had -laid waste his own. - -The Queen and her ministers, instead of attempting to suppress James's -manifesto, very wisely reprinted it, and sent it forth licensed by the -Secretary of State, and interspersed with remarks by a shrewd and severe -commentator. It was refuted in many keen pamphlets; it was turned into -doggrel rhymes; and it was left undefended even by the boldest and most -acrimonious libellers among the nonjurors. [259] - -Indeed, some of the nonjurors were so much alarmed by observing the -effect which this manifesto produced, that they affected to treat it as -spurious, and published as their master's genuine Declaration a paper -full of gracious professions and promises. They made him offer a free -pardon to all his people with the exception of four great criminals. -They made him hold out hopes of great remissions of taxation. They -made him pledge his word that he would entrust the whole ecclesiastical -administration to the nonjuring bishops. But this forgery imposed on -nobody, and was important only as showing that even the Jacobites were -ashamed of the prince whom they were labouring to restore. [260] - -No man read the Declaration with more surprise and anger than Russell. -Bad as he was, he was much under the influence of two feelings, which, -though they cannot be called virtuous, have some affinity to virtue, and -are respectable when compared with mere selfish cupidity. Professional -spirit and party spirit were strong in him. He might be false to his -country, but not to his flag; and, even in becoming a Jacobite, he had -not ceased to be a Whig. In truth, he was a Jacobite only because he was -the most intolerant and acrimonious of Whigs. He thought himself and his -faction ungratefully neglected by William, and was for a time too much -blinded by resentment to perceive that it would be mere madness in the -old Roundheads, the old Exclusionists, to punish William by recalling -James. The near prospect of an invasion, and the Declaration in which -Englishmen were plainly told what they had to expect if that invasion -should be successful, produced, it should seem, a sudden and entire -change in Russell's feelings; and that change he distinctly avowed. "I -wish," he said to Lloyd, "to serve King James. The thing might be done, -if it were not his own fault. But he takes the wrong way with us. Let -him forget all the past; let him grant a general pardon; and then I will -see what I can do for him." Lloyd hinted something about the honours -and rewards designed for Russell himself. But the Admiral, with a spirit -worthy of a better man, cut him short. "I do not wish to hear anything -on that subject. My solicitude is for the public. And do not think that -I will let the French triumph over us in our own sea. Understand this, -that if I meet them I fight them, ay, though His Majesty himself should -be on board." - -This conversation was truly reported to James; but it does not appear to -have alarmed him. He was, indeed, possessed with a belief that Russell, -even if willing, would not be able to induce the officers and sailors of -the English navy to fight against their old King, who was also their old -Admiral. - -The hopes which James felt, he and his favourite Melfort succeeded in -imparting to Lewis and to Lewis's ministers. [261] But for those hopes, -indeed, it is probable that all thoughts of invading England in the -course of that year would have been laid aside. For the extensive plan -which had been formed in the winter had, in the course of the spring, -been disconcerted by a succession of accidents such as are beyond the -control of human wisdom. The time fixed for the assembling of all the -maritime forces of France at Ushant had long elapsed; and not a single -sail had appeared at the place of rendezvous. The Atlantic squadron was -still detained by bad weather in the port of Brest. The Mediterranean -squadron, opposed by a strong west wind, was vainly struggling to pass -the pillars of Hercules. Two fine vessels had gone to pieces on the -rocks of Ceuta. [262] Meanwhile the admiralties of the allied powers -had been active. Before the end of April the English fleet was ready to -sail. Three noble ships, just launched from our dockyards, appeared -for the first time on the water. [263] William had been hastening the -maritime preparations of the United Provinces; and his exertions had -been successful. On the twenty-ninth of April a fine squadron from the -Texel appeared in the Downs. Soon came the North Holland squadron, -the Maes squadron, the Zealand squadron. [264] The whole force of the -confederate powers was assembled at Saint Helen's in the second week -of May, more than ninety sail of the line, manned by between thirty and -forty thousand of the finest seamen of the two great maritime nations. -Russell had the chief command. He was assisted by Sir Ralph Delaval, -Sir John Ashley, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, Rear Admiral Carter, and Rear -Admiral Rooke. Of the Dutch officers Van Almonde was highest in rank. - -No mightier armament had ever appeared in the British Channel. There was -little reason for apprehending that such a force could be defeated in a -fair conflict. Nevertheless there was great uneasiness in London. It was -known that there was a Jacobite party in the navy. Alarming rumours had -worked their way round from France. It was said that the enemy reckoned -on the cooperation of some of those officers on whose fidelity, in this -crisis, the safety of the State might depend. Russell, as far as can now -be discovered, was still unsuspected. But others, who were probably less -criminal, had been more indiscreet. At all the coffee houses admirals -and captains were mentioned by name as traitors who ought to be -instantly cashiered, if not shot. It was even confidently affirmed that -some of the guilty had been put under arrest, and others turned out of -the service. The Queen and her counsellors were in a great strait. It -was not easy to say whether the danger of trusting the suspected persons -or the danger of removing them were the greater. Mary, with many painful -misgivings, resolved, and the event proved that she resolved wisely, -to treat the evil reports as calumnious, to make a solemn appeal to the -honour of the accused gentlemen, and then to trust the safety of her -kingdom to their national and professional spirit. - -On the fifteenth of May a great assembly of officers was convoked at -Saint Helen's on board the Britannia, a fine three decker, from which -Russell's flag was flying. The Admiral told them that he had received a -despatch which he was charged to read to them. It was from Nottingham. -The Queen, the Secretary wrote, had been informed that stories deeply -affecting the character of the navy were in circulation. It had -even been affirmed that she had found herself under the necessity of -dismissing many officers. But Her Majesty was determined to believe -nothing against those brave servants of the State. The gentlemen who -had been so foully slandered might be assured that she placed entire -reliance on them. This letter was admirably calculated to work on those -to whom it was addressed. Very few of them probably had been guilty of -any worse offence than rash and angry talk over their wine. They were as -yet only grumblers. If they had fancied that they were marked men, they -might in selfdefence have become traitors. They became enthusiastically -loyal as soon as they were assured that the Queen reposed entire -confidence in their loyalty. They eagerly signed an address in -which they entreated her to believe that they would, with the utmost -resolution and alacrity, venture their lives in defence of her rights, -of English freedom and of the Protestant religion, against all foreign -and Popish invaders. "God," they added, "preserve your person, direct -your counsels, and prosper your arms; and let all your people say Amen." -[265] - -The sincerity of these professions was soon brought to the test. A -few hours after the meeting on board of the Britannia the masts -of Tourville's squadron were seen from the cliffs of Portland. One -messenger galloped with the news from Weymouth to London, and roused -Whitehall at three in the morning. Another took the coast road, and -carried the intelligence to Russell. All was ready; and on the morning -of the seventeenth of May the allied fleet stood out to sea. [266] - -Tourville had with him only his own squadron, consisting of forty-four -ships of the line. But he had received positive orders to protect the -descent on England, and not to decline a battle. Though these orders had -been given before it was known at Versailles that the Dutch and -English fleets had joined, he was not disposed to take on himself the -responsibility of disobedience. He still remembered with bitterness the -reprimand which his extreme caution had drawn upon him after the fight -of Beachy Head. He would not again be told that he was a timid and -unenterprising commander, that he had no courage but the vulgar courage -of a common sailor. He was also persuaded that the odds against him were -rather apparent than real. He believed, on the authority of James and -Melfort, that the English seamen, from the flag officers down to the -cabin boys, were Jacobites. Those who fought would fight with half -a heart; and there would probably be numerous desertions at the most -critical moment. Animated by such hopes he sailed from Brest, steered -first towards the north east, came in sight of the coast of Dorsetshire, -and then struck across the Channel towards La Hogue, where the army -which he was to convoy to England had already begun to embark on board -of the transports. He was within a few leagues of Barfleur when, before -daybreak, on the morning of the nineteenth of May, he saw the great -armament of the allies stretching along the eastern horizon. He -determined to bear down on them. By eight the two lines of battle were -formed; but it was eleven before the firing began. It soon became plain -that the English, from the Admiral downward, were resolved to do their -duty. Russell had visited all his ships, and exhorted all his crews. -"If your commanders play false," he said, "overboard with them, and -with myself the first." There was no defection. There was no slackness. -Carter was the first who broke the French line. He was struck by a -splinter of one of his own yard arms, and fell dying on the deck. He -would not be carried below. He would not let go his sword. "Fight the -ship," were his last words: "fight the ship as long as she can swim." -The battle lasted till four in the afternoon. The roar of the guns -was distinctly heard more than twenty miles off by the army which was -encamped on the coast of Normandy. During the earlier part of the day -the wind was favourable to the French; they were opposed to half of the -allied fleet; and against that half they maintained the conflict with -their usual courage and with more than their usual seamanship. After a -hard and doubtful fight of five hours, Tourville thought that enough had -been done to maintain the honour of the white flag, and began to draw -off. But by this time the wind had veered, and was with the allies. They -were now able to avail themselves of their great superiority of force. -They came on fast. The retreat of the French became a flight. Tourville -fought his own ship desperately. She was named, in allusion to Lewis's -favourite emblem, the Royal Sun, and was widely renowned as the finest -vessel in the world. It was reported among the English sailors that she -was adorned with an image of the Great King, and that he appeared there, -as he appeared in the Place of Victories, with vanquished nations in -chains beneath his feet. The gallant ship, surrounded by enemies, lay -like a great fortress on the sea, scattering death on every side from -her hundred and four portholes. She was so formidably manned that all -attempts to board her failed. Long after sunset, she got clear of her -assailants, and, with all her scuppers spouting blood, made for the -coast of Normandy. She had suffered so much that Tourville hastily -removed his flag to a ship of ninety guns which was named the Ambitious. -By this time his fleet was scattered far over the sea. About twenty of -his smallest ships made their escape by a road which was too perilous -for any courage but the courage of despair. In the double darkness of -night and of a thick sea fog, they ran, with all their sails spread, -through the boiling waves and treacherous rocks of the Race of Alderney, -and, by a strange good fortune, arrived without a single disaster at -Saint Maloes. The pursuers did not venture to follow the fugitives into -that terrible strait, the place of innumerable shipwrecks. [267] - -Those French vessels which were too bulky to venture into the Race of -Alderney fled to the havens of the Cotentin. The Royal Sun and two other -three deckers reached Cherburg in safety. The Ambitious, with twelve -other ships, all first rates or second rates, took refuge in the Bay of -La Hogue, close to the headquarters of the army of James. - -The three ships which had fled to Cherburg were closely chased by an -English squadron under the command of Delaval. He found them hauled -up into shoal water where no large man of war could get at them. He -therefore determined to attack them with his fireships and boats. The -service was gallantly and successfully performed. In a short time the -Royal Sun and her two consorts were burned to ashes. Part of the crews -escaped to the shore; and part fell into the hands of the English. [268] - -Meanwhile Russell with the greater part of his victorious fleet had -blockaded the Bay of La Hogue. Here, as at Cherburg, the French men of -war had been drawn up into shallow water. They lay close to the camp -of the army which was destined for the invasion of England. Six of them -were moored under a fort named Lisset. The rest lay under the guns of -another fort named Saint Vaast, where James had fixed his headquarters, -and where the Union flag, variegated by the crosses of Saint George -and Saint Andrew, hung by the side of the white flag of France. Marshal -Bellefonds had planted several batteries which, it was thought, would -deter the boldest enemy from approaching either Fort Lisset or Fort -Saint Vaast. James, however, who knew something of English seamen, was -not perfectly at ease, and proposed to send strong bodies of soldiers on -board of the ships. But Tourville would not consent to put such a slur -on his profession. - -Russell meanwhile was preparing for an attack. On the afternoon of the -twenty-third of May all was ready. A flotilla consisting of sloops, of -fireships, and of two hundred boats, was entrusted to the command -of Rooke. The whole armament was in the highest spirits. The rowers, -flushed by success, and animated by the thought that they were going -to fight under the eyes of the French and Irish troops who had been -assembled for the purpose of subjugating England, pulled manfully and -with loud huzzas towards the six huge wooden castles which lay close to -Fort Lisset. The French, though an eminently brave people, have always -been more liable to sudden panics than their phlegmatic neighbours the -English and Germans. On this day there was a panic both in the fleet and -in the army. Tourville ordered his sailors to man their boats, and would -have led them to encounter the enemy in the bay. But his example and his -exhortations were vain. His boats turned round and fled in confusion. -The ships were abandoned. The cannonade from Fort Lisset was so feeble -and ill directed that it did no execution. The regiments on the beach, -after wasting a few musket shots, drew off. The English boarded the -men of war, set them on fire, and having performed this great service -without the loss of a single life, retreated at a late hour with the -retreating tide. The bay was in a blaze during the night; and now and -then a loud explosion announced that the flames had reached a powder -room or a tier of loaded guns. At eight the next morning the tide came -back strong; and with the tide came back Rooke and his two hundred -boats. The enemy made a faint attempt to defend the vessels which were -near Fort Saint Vaast. During a few minutes the batteries did some -execution among the crews of our skiffs; but the struggle was soon -over. The French poured fast out of their ships on one side; the English -poured in as fast on the other, and, with loud shouts, turned the -captured guns against the shore. The batteries were speedily silenced. -James and Melfort, Bellefonds and Tourville, looked on in helpless -despondency while the second conflagration proceeded. The conquerors, -leaving the ships of war in flames, made their way into an inner basin -where many transports lay. Eight of these vessels were set on fire. -Several were taken in tow. The rest would have been either destroyed or -carried off, had not the sea again begun to ebb. It was impossible to do -more, and the victorious flotilla slowly retired, insulting the hostile -camp with a thundering chant of "God save the King." - -Thus ended, at noon on the twenty-fourth of May, the great conflict -which had raged during five days over a wide extent of sea and shore. -One English fireship had perished in its calling. Sixteen French men of -war, all noble vessels, and eight of them three-deckers, had been sunk -or burned down to the keel. The battle is called, from the place where -it terminated, the battle of La Hogue. [269] - -The news was received in London with boundless exultation. In the fight -on the open sea, indeed, the numerical superiority of the allies had -been so great that they had little reason to boast of their success. But -the courage and skill with which the crews of the English boats had, -in a French harbour, in sight of a French army, and under the fire of -French batteries, destroyed a fine French fleet, amply justified the -pride with which our fathers pronounced the name of La Hogue. That we -may fully enter into their feelings, we must remember that this was -the first great check that had ever been given to the arms of Lewis the -Fourteenth, and the first great victory that the English had gained over -the French since the day of Agincourt. The stain left on our fame by the -shameful defeat of Beachy Head was effaced. This time the glory was all -our own. The Dutch had indeed done their duty, as they have always done -it in maritime war, whether fighting on our side or against us, whether -victorious or vanquished. But the English had borne the brunt of the -fight. Russell who commanded in chief was an Englishman. Delaval who -directed the attack on Cherburg was an Englishman. Rooke who led the -flotilla into the Bay of La Hogue was an Englishman. The only two -officers of note who had fallen, Admiral Carter and Captain Hastings of -the Sandwich, were Englishmen. Yet the pleasure with which the good news -was received here must not be ascribed solely or chiefly to national -pride. The island was safe. The pleasant pastures, cornfields and -commons of Hampshire and Surrey would not be the seat of war. The houses -and gardens, the kitchens and dairies, the cellars and plate chests, the -wives and daughters of our gentry and clergy would not be at the mercy -of Irish Rapparees, who had sacked the dwellings and skinned the cattle -of the Englishry of Leinster, or of French dragoons accustomed to live -at free quarters on the Protestants of Auvergne. Whigs and Tories joined -in thanking God for this great deliverance; and the most respectable -nonjurors could not but be glad at heart that the rightful King was not -to be brought back by an army of foreigners. - -The public joy was therefore all but universal. During several days the -bells of London pealed without ceasing. Flags were flying on all the -steeples. Rows of candles were in all the windows. Bonfires were at -all the corners of the streets. [270] The sense which the government -entertained of the services of the navy was promptly, judiciously and -gracefully manifested. Sidney and Portland were sent to meet the fleet -at Portsmouth, and were accompanied by Rochester, as the representative -of the Tories. The three Lords took down with them thirty-seven thousand -pounds in coin, which they were to distribute as a donative among the -sailors. [271] Gold medals were given to the officers. [272] The remains -of Hastings and Carter were brought on shore with every mark of honour. -Carter was buried at Portsmouth, with a great display of military pomp. -[273] The corpse of Hastings was brought up to London, and laid, with -unusual solemnity, under the pavement of Saint James's Church. The -footguards with reversed arms escorted the hearse. Four royal state -carriages, each drawn by six horses, were in the procession; a crowd -of men of quality in mourning cloaks filled the pews; and the Bishop of -Lincoln preached the funeral sermon. [274] While such marks of respect -were paid to the slain, the wounded were not neglected. Fifty surgeons, -plentifully supplied with instruments, bandages, and drugs, were sent -down in all haste from London to Portsmouth. [275] It is not easy for us -to form a notion of the difficulty which there then was in providing at -short notice commodious shelter and skilful attendance for hundreds of -maimed and lacerated men. At present every county, every large town, -can boast of some spacious palace in which the poorest labourer who has -fractured a limb may find an excellent bed, an able medical attendant, a -careful nurse, medicines of the best quality, and nourishment such as an -invalid requires. But there was not then, in the whole realm, a single -infirmary supported by voluntary contribution. Even in the capital the -only edifices open to the wounded were the two ancient hospitals of -Saint Thomas and Saint Bartholomew. The Queen gave orders that in both -these hospitals arrangements should be made at the public charge for -the reception of patients from the fleet. [276] At the same time it -was announced that a noble and lasting memorial of the gratitude which -England felt for the courage and patriotism of her sailors would soon -rise on a site eminently appropriate. Among the suburban residences of -our kings, that which stood at Greenwich had long held a distinguished -place. Charles the Second liked the situation, and determined to rebuild -the house and to improve the gardens. Soon after his Restoration, he -began to erect, on a spot almost washed by the Thames at high tide, a -mansion of vast extent and cost. Behind the palace were planted long -avenues of trees which, when William reigned, were scarcely more than -saplings, but which have now covered with their massy shade the summer -rambles of several generations. On the slope which has long been the -scene of the holiday sports of the Londoners, were constructed flights -of terraces, of which the vestiges may still be discerned. The Queen now -publicly declared, in her husband's name, that the building commenced by -Charles should be completed, and should be a retreat for seamen disabled -in the service of their country. [277] - -One of the happiest effects produced by the good news was the calming -of the public mind. During about a month the nation had been hourly -expecting an invasion and a rising, and had consequently been in an -irritable and suspicious mood. In many parts of England a nonjuror could -not show himself without great risk of being insulted. A report that -arms were hidden in a house sufficed to bring a furious mob to the door. -The mansion of one Jacobite gentleman in Kent had been attacked, and, -after a fight in which several shots were fired, had been stormed and -pulled down. [278] Yet such riots were by no means the worst symptoms of -the fever which had inflamed the whole society. The exposure of Fuller, -in February, had, as it seemed, put an end to the practices of that vile -tribe of which Oates was the patriarch. During some weeks, indeed, the -world was disposed to be unreasonably incredulous about plots. But in -April there was a reaction. The French and Irish were coming. There was -but too much reason to believe that there were traitors in the island. -Whoever pretended that he could point out those traitors was sure to be -heard with attention; and there was not wanting a false witness to avail -himself of the golden opportunity. - -This false witness was named Robert Young. His history was in his own -lifetime so fully investigated, and so much of his correspondence has -been preserved, that the whole man is before us. His character is indeed -a curious study. His birthplace was a subject of dispute among three -nations. The English pronounced him Irish. The Irish, not being -ambitious of the honour of having him for a countryman, affirmed that he -was born in Scotland. Wherever he may have been born, it is impossible -to doubt where he was bred; for his phraseology is precisely that of -the Teagues who were, in his time, favourite characters on our stage. He -called himself a priest of the Established Church; but he was in truth -only a deacon; and his deacon's orders he had obtained by producing -forged certificates of his learning and moral character. Long before the -Revolution he held curacies in various parts of Ireland; but he did -not remain many days in any spot. He was driven from one place by the -scandal which was the effect of his lawless amours. He rode away from -another place on a borrowed horse, which he never returned. He settled -in a third parish, and was taken up for bigamy. Some letters which he -wrote on this occasion from the gaol of Cavan have been preserved. He -assured each of his wives, with the most frightful imprecations, that -she alone was the object of his love; and he thus succeeded in inducing -one of them to support him in prison, and the other to save his life by -forswearing herself at the assizes. The only specimens which remain to -us of his method of imparting religious instruction are to be found in -these epistles. He compares himself to David, the man after God's own -heart, who had been guilty both of adultery and murder. He declares -that he repents; he prays for the forgiveness of the Almighty, and then -intreats his dear honey, for Christ's sake, to perjure herself. Having -narrowly escaped the gallows, he wandered during several years about -Ireland and England, begging, stealing, cheating, personating, forging, -and lay in many prisons under many names. In 1684 he was convicted at -Bury of having fraudulently counterfeited Sancroft's signature, and was -sentenced to the pillory and to imprisonment. From his dungeon he wrote -to implore the Primate's mercy. The letter may still be read with all -the original bad grammar and bad spelling. [279] The writer acknowledged -his guilt, wished that his eyes were a fountain of water, declared that -he should never know peace till he had received episcopal absolution, -and professed a mortal hatred of Dissenters. As all this contrition -and all this orthodoxy produced no effect, the penitent, after swearing -bitterly to be revenged on Sancroft, betook himself to another device. -The Western Insurrection had just broken out. The magistrates all over -the country were but too ready to listen to any accusation that might be -brought against Whigs and Nonconformists. Young declared on oath that, -to his knowledge, a design had been formed in Suffolk against the life -of King James, and named a peer, several gentlemen, and ten Presbyterian -ministers, as parties to the plot. Some of the accused were brought to -trial; and Young appeared in the witness box; but the story which he -told was proved by overwhelming evidence to be false. Soon after the -Revolution he was again convicted of forgery, pilloried for the fourth -or fifth time, and sent to Newgate. While he lay there, he determined to -try whether he should be more fortunate as an accuser of Jacobites than -he had been as an accuser of Puritans. He first addressed himself to -Tillotson. There was a horrible plot against their Majesties, a plot as -deep as hell; and some of the first men in England were concerned in it. -Tillotson, though he placed little confidence in information coming -from such a source, thought that the oath which he had taken as a Privy -Councillor made it his duty to mention the subject to William. William, -after his fashion, treated the matter very lightly. "I am confident," he -said, "that this is a villany; and I will have nobody disturbed on such -grounds." After this rebuff, Young remained some time quiet. But when -William was on the Continent, and when the nation was agitated by the -apprehension of a French invasion and of a Jacobite insurrection, a -false accuser might hope to obtain a favourable audience. The mere oath -of a man who was well known to the turnkeys of twenty gaols was not -likely to injure any body. But Young was master of a weapon which is, of -all weapons, the most formidable to innocence. He had lived during -some years by counterfeiting hands, and had at length attained such -consummate skill in that bad art that even experienced clerks who -were conversant with manuscript could scarcely, after the most minute -comparison, discover any difference between his imitations and the -originals. He had succeeded in making a collection of papers written by -men of note who were suspected of disaffection. Some autographs he had -stolen; and some he had obtained by writing in feigned names to ask -after the characters of servants or curates. He now drew up a paper -purporting to be an Association for the Restoration of the banished -King. This document set forth that the subscribers bound themselves in -the presence of God to take arms for His Majesty, and to seize on the -Prince of Orange, dead or alive. To the Association Young appended the -names of Marlborough, of Cornbury, of Salisbury, of Sancroft, and of -Sprat, Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster. - -The next thing to be done was to put the paper into some hiding place in -the house of one of the persons whose signatures had been counterfeited. -As Young could not quit Newgate, he was forced to employ a subordinate -agent for this purpose. He selected a wretch named Blackhead, who -had formerly been convicted of perjury and sentenced to have his ears -clipped. The selection was not happy; for Blackhead had none of the -qualities which the trade of a false witness requires except wickedness. -There was nothing plausible about him. His voice was harsh. Treachery -was written in all the lines of his yellow face. He had no invention, no -presence of mind, and could do little more than repeat by rote the lies -taught him by others. - -This man, instructed by his accomplice, repaired to Sprat's palace at -Bromley, introduced himself there as the confidential servant of an -imaginary Doctor of Divinity, delivered to the Bishop, on bended knee, -a letter ingeniously manufactured by Young, and received, with the -semblance of profound reverence, the episcopal benediction. The servants -made the stranger welcome. He was taken to the cellar, drank their -master's health, and entreated them to let him see the house. They could -not venture to show any of the private apartments. Blackhead, therefore, -after begging importunately, but in vain, to be suffered to have one -look at the study, was forced to content himself with dropping the -Association into a flowerpot which stood in a parlour near the kitchen. - -Every thing having been thus prepared, Young informed the ministers that -he could tell them something of the highest importance to the welfare of -the State, and earnestly begged to be heard. His request reached them -on perhaps the most anxious day of an anxious month. Tourville had just -stood out to sea. The army of James was embarking. London was agitated -by reports about the disaffection of the naval officers. The Queen was -deliberating whether she should cashier those who were suspected, or try -the effect of an appeal to their honour and patriotism. At such a moment -the ministers could not refuse to listen to any person who professed -himself able to give them valuable information. Young and his accomplice -were brought before the Privy Council. They there accused Marlborough, -Cornbury, Salisbury, Sancroft and Sprat of high treason. These great -men, Young said, had invited James to invade England, and had promised -to join him. The eloquent and ingenious Bishop of Rochester had -undertaken to draw up a Declaration which would inflame the nation -against the government of King William. The conspirators were bound -together by a written instrument. That instrument, signed by their -own hands, would be found at Bromley if careful search was made. Young -particularly requested that the messengers might be ordered to examine -the Bishop's flowerpots. - -The ministers were seriously alarmed. The story was circumstantial; and -part of it was probable. Marlborough's dealings with Saint Germains were -well known to Caermarthen, to Nottingham, and to Sidney. Cornbury was -a tool of Marlborough, and was the son of a nonjuror and of a notorious -plotter. Salisbury was a Papist. Sancroft had, not many months before, -been, with too much show of reason, suspected of inviting the French to -invade England. Of all the accused persons Sprat was the most unlikely -to be concerned in any hazardous design. He had neither enthusiasm -nor constancy. Both his ambition and his party spirit had always been -effectually kept in order by his love of ease and his anxiety for his -own safety. He had been guilty of some criminal compliances in the hope -of gaining the favour of James, had sate in the High Commission, had -concurred in several iniquitous decrees pronounced by that court, and -had, with trembling hands and faltering voice, read the Declaration of -Indulgence in the choir of the Abbey. But there he had stopped. As soon -as it began to be whispered that the civil and religious constitution -of England would speedily be vindicated by extraordinary means, he had -resigned the powers which he had during two years exercised in defiance -of law, and had hastened to make his peace with his clerical brethren. -He had in the Convention voted for a Regency; but he had taken the oaths -without hesitation; he had borne a conspicuous part in the coronation of -the new Sovereigns; and by his skilful hand had been added to the Form -of Prayer used on the fifth of November those sentences in which the -Church expresses her gratitude for the second great deliverance wrought -on that day. [280] Such a man, possessed of a plentiful income, of a -seat in the House of Lords, of one agreeable house among the elms -of Bromley, and of another in the cloisters of Westminster, was very -unlikely to run the risk of martyrdom. He was not, indeed, on perfectly -good terms with the government. For the feeling which, next to -solicitude for his own comfort and repose, seems to have had the -greatest influence on his public conduct, was his dislike of -the Puritans; a dislike which sprang, not from bigotry, but from -Epicureanism. Their austerity was a reproach to his slothful and -luxurious life; their phraseology shocked his fastidious taste; and, -where they were concerned, his ordinary good nature forsook him. -Loathing the nonconformists as he did, he was not likely to be -very zealous for a prince whom the nonconformists regarded as their -protector. But Sprat's faults afforded ample security that he would -never, from spleen against William, engage in any plot to bring back -James. Why Young should have assigned the most perilous part in an -enterprise full of peril to a man singularly pliant, cautious and -selfindulgent, it is difficult to say. - -The first step which the ministers took was to send Marlborough to the -Tower. He was by far the most formidable of all the accused persons; and -that he had held a traitorous correspondence with Saint Germains was a -fact which, whether Young were perjured or not, the Queen and her chief -advisers knew to be true. One of the Clerks of the Council and several -messengers were sent down to Bromley with a warrant from Nottingham. -Sprat was taken into custody. All the apartments in which it could -reasonably be supposed that he would have hidden an important document -were searched, the library, the diningroom, the drawingroom, the -bedchamber, and the adjacent closets. His papers were strictly examined. -Much food prose was found, and probably some bad verse, but no treason. -The messengers pried into every flowerpot that they could find, but to -no purpose. It never occurred to them to look into the room in which -Blackhead had hidden the Association: for that room was near the offices -occupied by the servants, and was little used by the Bishop and his -family. The officers returned to London with their prisoner, but without -the document which, if it had been found, might have been fatal to him. - -Late at night he was brought to Westminster, and was suffered to -sleep at his deanery. All his bookcases and drawers were examined; and -sentinels were posted at the door of his bedchamber, but with strict -orders to behave civilly and not to disturb the family. - -On the following day he was brought before the Council. The examination -was conducted by Nottingham with great humanity and courtesy. The -Bishop, conscious of entire innocence, behaved with temper and firmness. -He made no complaints. "I submit," he said, "to the necessities of State -in such a time of jealousy and danger as this." He was asked whether -he had drawn up a Declaration for King James, whether he had held -any correspondence with France, whether he had signed any treasonable -association, and whether he knew of any such association. To all these -questions he, with perfect truth, answered in the negative, on the -word of a Christian and a Bishop. He was taken back to his deanery. He -remained there in easy confinement during ten days, and then, as nothing -tending to criminate him had been discovered, was suffered to return to -Bromley. - -Meanwhile the false accusers had been devising a new scheme. Blackhead -paid another visit to Bromley, and contrived to take the forged -Association out of the place in which he had hid it, and to bring -it back to Young. One of Young's two wives then carried it to the -Secretary's Office, and told a lie, invented by her husband, to explain -how a paper of such importance had come into her hands. But it was not -now so easy to frighten the ministers as it had been a few days before. -The battle of La Hogue had put an end to all apprehensions of invasion. -Nottingham, therefore, instead of sending down a warrant to Bromley, -merely wrote to beg that Sprat would call on him at Whitehall. The -summons was promptly obeyed, and the accused prelate was brought face -to face with Blackhead before the Council. Then the truth came out fast. -The Bishop remembered the villanous look and voice of the man who had -knelt to ask the episcopal blessing. The Bishop's secretary confirmed -his master's assertions. The false witness soon lost his presence of -mind. His cheeks, always sallow, grew frightfully livid. His voice, -generally loud and coarse, sank into a whisper. The Privy Councillors -saw his confusion, and crossexamined him sharply. For a time he answered -their questions by repeatedly stammering out his original lie in the -original words. At last he found that he had no way of extricating -himself but by owning his guilt. He acknowledged that he had given an -untrue account of his visit to Bromley; and, after much prevarication, -he related how he had hidden the Association, and how he had removed it -from its hiding place, and confessed that he had been set on by Young. - -The two accomplices were then confronted. Young, with unabashed -forehead, denied every thing. He knew nothing about the flowerpots. -"If so," cried Nottingham and Sidney together, "why did you give -such particular directions that the flowerpots at Bromley should be -searched?" "I never gave any directions about the flowerpots," said -Young. Then the whole board broke forth. "How dare you say so? We all -remember it." Still the knave stood up erect, and exclaimed, with an -impudence which Oates might have envied, "This hiding is all a trick got -up between the Bishop and Blackhead. The Bishop has taken Blackhead off; -and they are both trying to stifle the plot." This was too much. There -was a smile and a lifting up of hands all round the board. "Man," cried -Caermarthen, "wouldst thou have us believe that the Bishop contrived -to have this paper put where it was ten to one that our messengers had -found it, and where, if they had found it, it might have hanged him?" - -The false accusers were removed in custody. The Bishop, after warmly -thanking the ministers for their fair and honourable conduct, took his -leave of them. In the antechamber he found a crowd of people staring at -Young, while Young sate, enduring the stare with the serene fortitude -of a man who had looked down on far greater multitudes from half the -pillories in England. "Young," said Sprat, "your conscience must tell -you that you have cruelly wronged me. For your own sake I am sorry that -you persist in denying what your associate has confessed." "Confessed!" -cried Young; "no, all is not confessed yet; and that you shall find -to your sorrow. There is such a thing as impeachment, my Lord. When -Parliament sits you shall hear more of me." "God give you repentance," -answered the Bishop. "For, depend upon it, you are in much more danger -of being damned than I of being impeached." [281] - -Forty-eight hours after the detection of this execrable fraud, -Marlborough was admitted to bail. Young and Blackhead had done him an -inestimable service. That he was concerned in a plot quite as criminal -as that which they had falsely imputed to him, and that the government -was to possession of moral proofs of his guilt, is now certain. But his -contemporaries had not, as we have, the evidence of his perfidy before -them. They knew that he had been accused of an offence of which he was -innocent, that perjury and forgery had been employed to ruin him, and -that, in consequence of these machinations, he had passed some weeks in -the Tower. There was in the public mind a very natural confusion between -his disgrace and his imprisonment. He had been imprisoned without -sufficient cause. Might it not, in the absence of all information, be -reasonably presumed that he had been disgraced without sufficient cause? -It was certain that a vile calumny, destitute of all foundation, had -caused him to be treated as a criminal in May. Was it not probable, -then, that calumny might have deprived him of his master's favour in -January? - -Young's resources were not yet exhausted. As soon as he had been carried -back from Whitehall to Newgate, he set himself to construct a new -plot, and to find a new accomplice. He addressed himself to a man named -Holland, who was in the lowest state of poverty. Never, said Young, was -there such a golden opportunity. A bold, shrewd, fellow might easily -earn five hundred pounds. To Holland five hundred pounds seemed fabulous -wealth. What, he asked, was he to do for it? Nothing, he was told, -but to speak the truth, that was to say, substantial truth, a little -disguised and coloured. There really was a plot; and this would have -been proved if Blackhead had not been bought off. His desertion had made -it necessary to call in the help of fiction. "You must swear that you -and I were in a back room upstairs at the Lobster in Southwark. Some men -came to meet us there. They gave a password before they were admitted. -They were all in white camlet cloaks. They signed the Association in our -presence. Then they paid each his shilling and went away. And you must -be ready to identify my Lord Marlborough and the Bishop of Rochester as -two of these men." "How can I identify them?" said Holland, "I never saw -them." "You must contrive to see them," answered the tempter, "as soon -as you can. The Bishop will be at the Abbey. Anybody about the Court -will point out my Lord Marlborough." Holland immediately went to -Whitehall, and repeated this conversation to Nottingham. The unlucky -imitator of Oates was prosecuted, by order of the government, for -perjury, subornation of perjury, and forgery. He was convicted and -imprisoned, was again set in the pillory, and underwent, in addition to -the exposure, about which he cared little, such a pelting as had seldom -been known. [282] After his punishment, he was, during some years, lost -in the crowd of pilferers, ringdroppers and sharpers who infested the -capital. At length, in the year 1700, he emerged from his obscurity, -and excited a momentary interest. The newspapers announced that Robert -Young, Clerk, once so famous, had been taken up for coining, then that -he had been found guilty, then that the dead warrant had come down, and -finally that the reverend gentleman had been hanged at Tyburn, and had -greatly edified a large assembly of spectators by his penitence. [283] - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - - Foreign Policy of William--The Northern Powers--The Pope--Conduct of - the Allies--The Emperor--Spain--William succeeds in preventing the - Dissolution of the Coalition--New Arrangements for the Government of - the Spanish Netherlands--Lewis takes the Field--Siege of Namur--Lewis - returns to Versailles--Luxemburg--Battle of Steinkirk--Conspiracy - of Grandval--Return of William to England--Naval - Maladministration--Earthquake at Port Royal--Distress in England; - Increase of Crime--Meeting of Parliament; State of Parties--The King's - Speech; Question of Privilege raised by the Lords--Debates on the - State of the Nation--Bill for the Regulation of Trials in Cases of - Treason--Case of Lord Mohun--Debates on the India Trade--Supply--Ways - and Means; Land Tax--Origin of the National Debt--Parliamentary - Reform--The Place Bill--The Triennial Bill--The First Parliamentary - Discussion on the Liberty of the Press--State of Ireland--The King - refuses to pass the Triennial Bill--Ministerial Arrangements--The King - goes to Holland; a Session of Parliament in Scotland - -WHILE England was agitated, first by the dread of an invasion, and then -by joy at the deliverance wrought for her by the valour of her seamen, -important events were taking place on the Continent. On the sixth of -March the King had arrived at the Hague, and had proceeded to make his -arrangements for the approaching campaign. [284] - -The prospect which lay before him was gloomy. The coalition of which he -was the author and the chief had, during some months, been in constant -danger of dissolution. By what strenuous exertions, by what ingenious -expedients, by what blandishments, by what bribes, he succeeded in -preventing his allies from throwing themselves, one by one, at the feet -of France, can be but imperfectly known. The fullest and most authentic -record of the labours and sacrifices by which he kept together, during -eight years, a crowd of fainthearted and treacherous potentates, -negligent of the common interest and jealous of each other, is to -be found in his correspondence with Heinsius. In that correspondence -William is all himself. He had, in the course of his eventful life, to -sustain some high parts for which he was not eminently qualified; and, -in those parts, his success was imperfect. As Sovereign of England, he -showed abilities and virtues which entitle him to honourable mention in -history; but his deficiencies were great. He was to the last a stranger -amongst us, cold, reserved, never in good spirits, never at his ease. -His kingdom was a place of exile. His finest palaces were prisons. He -was always counting the days which must elapse before he should -again see the land of his birth, the clipped trees, the wings of the -innumerable windmills, the nests of the storks on the tall gables, and -the long lines of painted villas reflected in the sleeping canals. He -took no pains to hide the preference which he felt for his native soil -and for his early friends; and therefore, though he rendered great -services to our country, he did not reign in our hearts. As a general -in the field, again, he showed rare courage and capacity; but, from -whatever cause, he was, as a tactician, inferior to some of his -contemporaries, who, in general powers of mind, were far inferior to -him. The business for which he was preeminently fitted was diplomacy, in -the highest sense of the word. It may be doubted whether he has ever had -a superior in the art of conducting those great negotiations on which -the welfare of the commonwealth of nations depends. His skill in this -department of politics was never more severely tasked or more signally -proved than during the latter part of 1691 and the earlier part of 1692. - -One of his chief difficulties was caused by the sullen and menacing -demeanour of the Northern powers. Denmark and Sweden had at one time -seemed disposed to join the coalition; but they had early become cold, -and were fast becoming hostile. From France they flattered themselves -that they had little to fear. It was not very probable that her armies -would cross the Elbe, or that her fleets would force a passage through -the Sound. But the naval strength of England and Holland united might -well excite apprehension at Stockholm and Copenhagen. Soon arose -vexatious questions of maritime right, questions such as, in almost -every extensive war of modern times, have arisen between belligerents -and neutrals. The Scandinavian princes complained that the legitimate -trade between the Baltic and France was tyrannically interrupted. Though -they had not in general been on very friendly terms with each other, -they began to draw close together, intrigued at every petty German -court, and tried to form what William called a Third Party in Europe. -The King of Sweden, who, as Duke of Pomerania, was bound to send three -thousand men for the defence of the Empire, sent, instead of them, his -advice that the allies would make peace on the best terms which they -could get. [285] The King of Denmark seized a great number of Dutch -merchantships, and collected in Holstein an army which caused no small -uneasiness to his neighbours. "I fear," William wrote, in an hour of -deep dejection, to Heinsius, "I fear that the object of this Third Party -is a peace which will bring in its train the slavery of Europe. The day -will come when Sweden and her confederates will know too late how great -an error they have committed. They are farther, no doubt, than we from -the danger; and therefore it is that they are thus bent on working our -ruin and their own. That France will now consent to reasonable terms -is not to be expected; and it were better to fall sword in hand than to -submit to whatever she may dictate." [286] - -While the King was thus disquieted by the conduct of the Northern -powers, ominous signs began to appear in a very different quarter. It -had, from the first, been no easy matter to induce sovereigns who hated, -and who, in their own dominions, persecuted, the Protestant religion, -to countenance the revolution which had saved that religion from a great -peril. But happily the example and the authority of the Vatican had -overcome their scruples. Innocent the Eleventh and Alexander the Eighth -had regarded William with ill concealed partiality. He was not indeed -their friend; but he was their enemy's enemy; and James had been, and, -if restored, must again be, their enemy's vassal. To the heretic nephew -therefore they gave their effective support, to the orthodox uncle only -compliments and benedictions. But Alexander the Eighth had occupied the -papal throne little more than fifteen months. His successor, Antonio -Pignatelli, who took the name of Innocent the Twelfth, was impatient to -be reconciled to Lewis. Lewis was now sensible that he had committed -a great error when he had roused against himself at once the spirit of -Protestantism and the spirit of Popery. He permitted the French Bishops -to submit themselves to the Holy See. The dispute, which had, at one -time, seemed likely to end in a great Gallican schism, was accommodated; -and there was reason to believe that the influence of the head of the -Church would be exerted for the purpose of severing the ties which bound -so many Catholic princes to the Calvinist who had usurped the British -throne. - -Meanwhile the coalition, which the Third Party on one side and the Pope -on the other were trying to dissolve, was in no small danger of falling -to pieces from mere rottenness. Two of the allied powers, and two only, -were hearty in the common cause; England, drawing after her the other -British kingdoms; and Holland, drawing after her the other Batavian -commonwealths. England and Holland were indeed torn by internal -factions, and were separated from each other by mutual jealousies -and antipathies; but both were fully resolved not to submit to French -domination; and both were ready to bear their share, and more than -their share, of the charges of the contest. Most of the members of the -confederacy were not nations, but men, an Emperor, a King, Electors, -Dukes; and of these men there was scarcely one whose whole soul was in -the struggle, scarcely one who did not hang back, who did not find some -excuse for omitting to fulfil his engagements, who did not expect to be -hired to defend his own rights and interests against the common enemy. -But the war was the war of the people of England and of the people of -Holland. Had it not been so, the burdens which it made necessary would -not have been borne by either England or Holland during a single year. -When William said that he would rather die sword in hand than humble -himself before France, he expressed what was felt, not by himself alone, -but by two great communities of which he was the first magistrate. With -those two communities, unhappily, other states had little sympathy. -Indeed those two communities were regarded by other states as rich, -plaindealing, generous dupes are regarded by needy sharpers. England and -Holland were wealthy; and they were zealous. Their wealth excited the -cupidity of the whole alliance; and to that wealth their zeal was -the key. They were persecuted with sordid importunity by all their -confederates, from Caesar, who, in the pride of his solitary dignity, -would not honour King William with the title of Majesty, down to the -smallest Margrave who could see his whole principality from the cracked -windows of the mean and ruinous old house which he called his palace. It -was not enough that England and Holland furnished much more than their -contingents to the war by land, and bore unassisted the whole charge of -the war by sea. They were beset by a crowd of illustrious mendicants, -some rude, some obsequious, but all indefatigable and insatiable. One -prince came mumping to them annually with a lamentable story about his -distresses. A more sturdy beggar threatened to join the Third Party, and -to make a separate peace with France, if his demands were not granted. -Every Sovereign too had his ministers and favourites; and these -ministers and favourites were perpetually hinting that France was -willing to pay them for detaching their masters from the coalition, and -that it would be prudent in England and Holland to outbid France. - -Yet the embarrassment caused by the rapacity of the allied courts was -scarcely greater than the embarrassment caused by their ambition and -their pride. This prince had set his heart on some childish distinction, -a title or a cross, and would do nothing for the common cause till his -wishes were accomplished. That prince chose to fancy that he had been -slighted, and would not stir till reparation had been made to him. -The Duke of Brunswick Lunenburg would not furnish a battalion for the -defence of Germany unless he was made an Elector. [287] The Elector -of Brandenburg declared that he was as hostile as he had ever been -to France; but he had been ill used by the Spanish government; and he -therefore would not suffer his soldiers to be employed in the defence -of the Spanish Netherlands. He was willing to bear his share of the war; -but it must be in his own way; he must have the command of a distinct -army; and he must be stationed between the Rhine and the Meuse. [288] -The Elector of Saxony complained that bad winter quarters had been -assigned to his troops; he therefore recalled them just when they should -have been preparing to take the field, but very coolly offered to send -them back if England and Holland would give him four hundred thousand -rixdollars. [289] - -It might have been expected that at least the two chiefs of the House -of Austria would have put forth, at this conjuncture, all their strength -against the rival House of Bourbon. Unfortunately they could not be -induced to exert themselves vigorously even for their own preservation. -They were deeply interested in keeping the French out of Italy. Yet they -could with difficulty be prevailed upon to lend the smallest assistance -to the Duke of Savoy. They seemed to think it the business of England -and Holland to defend the passes of the Alps, and to prevent the armies -of Lewis from overflowing Lombardy. To the Emperor indeed the war -against France was a secondary object. His first object was the war -against Turkey. He was dull and bigoted. His mind misgave him that -the war against France was, in some sense, a war against the Catholic -religion; and the war against Turkey was a crusade. His recent campaign -on the Danube had been successful. He might easily have concluded an -honourable peace with the Porte, and have turned his arms westward. But -he had conceived the hope that he might extend his hereditary dominions -at the expense of the Infidels. Visions of a triumphant entry into -Constantinople and of a Te Deum in Saint Sophia's had risen in his -brain. He not only employed in the East a force more than sufficient to -have defended Piedmont and reconquered Loraine; but he seemed to think -that England and Holland were bound to reward him largely for neglecting -their interests and pursuing his own. [290] - -Spain already was what she continued to be down to our own time. Of the -Spain which had domineered over the land and the ocean, over the Old -and the New World, of the Spain which had, in the short space of twelve -years, led captive a Pope and a King of France, a Sovereign of Mexico -and a Sovereign of Peru, of the Spain which had sent an army to the -walls of Paris and had equipped a mighty fleet to invade England, -nothing remained but an arrogance which had once excited terror and -hatred, but which could now excite only derision. In extent, indeed, the -dominions of the Catholic King exceeded those of Rome when Rome was -at the zenith of power. But the huge mass lay torpid and helpless, and -could be insulted or despoiled with impunity. The whole administration, -military and naval, financial and colonial, was utterly disorganized. -Charles was a fit representative of his kingdom, impotent physically, -intellectually and morally, sunk in ignorance, listlessness and -superstition, yet swollen with a notion of his own dignity, and quick to -imagine and to resent affronts. So wretched had his education been that, -when he was told of the fall of Mons, the most important fortress in -his vast empire, he asked whether Mons was in England. [291] Among the -ministers who were raised up and pulled down by his sickly caprice, was -none capable of applying a remedy to the distempers of the State. In -truth to brace anew the nerves of that paralysed body would have been a -hard task even for Ximenes. No servant of the Spanish Crown occupied a -more important post, and none was more unfit for an important post, than -the Marquess of Gastanaga. He was Governor of the Netherlands; and in -the Netherlands it seemed probable that the fate of Christendom would -be decided. He had discharged his trust as every public trust was -then discharged in every part of that vast monarchy on which it was -boastfully said that the sun never set. Fertile and rich as was the -country which he ruled, he threw on England and Holland the whole charge -of defending it. He expected that arms, ammunition, waggons, provisions, -every thing, would be furnished by the heretics. It had never occurred -to him that it was his business, and not theirs, to put Mons in a -condition to stand a siege. The public voice loudly accused him of -having sold that celebrated stronghold to France. But it is probable -that he was guilty of nothing worse than the haughty apathy and -sluggishness characteristic of his nation. - -Such was the state of the coalition of which William was the head. There -were moments when he felt himself overwhelmed, when his spirits -sank, when his patience was wearied out, and when his constitutional -irritability broke forth. "I cannot," he wrote, "offer a suggestion -without being met by a demand for a subsidy." [292] "I have refused -point blank," he wrote on another occasion, when he had been importuned -for money, "it is impossible that the States General and England can -bear the charge of the army on the Rhine, of the army in Piedmont, and -of the whole defence of Flanders, to say nothing of the immense cost of -the naval war. If our allies can do nothing for themselves, the sooner -the alliance goes to pieces the better." [293] But, after every short -fit of despondency and ill humour, he called up all the force of his -mind, and put a strong curb on his temper. Weak, mean, false, selfish, -as too many of the confederates were, it was only by their help that -he could accomplish what he had from his youth up considered as his -mission. If they abandoned him, France would be dominant without a rival -in Europe. Well as they deserved to be punished, he would not, to punish -them, acquiesce in the subjugation of the whole civilised world. He set -himself therefore to surmount some difficulties and to evade others. The -Scandinavian powers he conciliated by waiving, reluctantly indeed, and -not without a hard internal struggle, some of his maritime rights. [294] -At Rome his influence, though indirectly exercised, balanced that of the -Pope himself. Lewis and James found that they had not a friend at the -Vatican except Innocent; and Innocent, whose nature was gentle and -irresolute, shrank from taking a course directly opposed to the -sentiments of all who surrounded him. In private conversations with -Jacobite agents he declared himself devoted to the interests of the -House of Stuart; but in his public acts he observed a strict neutrality. -He sent twenty thousand crowns to Saint Germains; but he excused himself -to the enemies of France by protesting that this was not a subsidy for -any political purpose, but merely an alms to be distributed among poor -British Catholics. He permitted prayers for the good cause to be read in -the English College at Rome; but he insisted that those prayers should -be drawn up in general terms, and that no name should be mentioned. -It was in vain that the ministers of the Houses of Stuart and Bourbon -adjured him to take a more decided course. "God knows," he exclaimed on -one occasion, "that I would gladly shed my blood to restore the King of -England. But what can I do? If I stir, I am told that I am favouring the -French, and helping them to set up an universal monarchy. I am not -like the old Popes. Kings will not listen to me as they listened to -my predecessors. There is no religion now, nothing but wicked, worldly -policy. The Prince of Orange is master. He governs us all. He has got -such a hold on the Emperor and on the King of Spain that neither of them -dares to displease him. God help us! He alone can help us." And, as the -old man spoke, he beat the table with his hand in an agony of impotent -grief and indignation. [295] - -To keep the German princes steady was no easy task; but it was -accomplished. Money was distributed among them, much less indeed than -they asked, but much more than they had any decent pretence for asking. -With the Elector of Saxony a composition was made. He had, together with -a strong appetite for subsidies, a great desire to be a member of the -most select and illustrious orders of knighthood. It seems that, instead -of the four hundred thousand rixdollars which he had demanded, he -consented to accept one hundred thousand and the Garter. [296] His prime -minister Schoening, the most covetous and perfidious of mankind, -was secured by a pension. [297] For the Duke of Brunswick Lunenburg, -William, not without difficulty, procured the long desired title of -Elector of Hanover. By such means as these the breaches which had -divided the coalition were so skilfully repaired that it appeared still -to present a firm front to the enemy. William had complained bitterly to -the Spanish government of the incapacity and inertness of Gastanaga. -The Spanish government, helpless and drowsy as it was, could not be -altogether insensible to the dangers which threatened Flanders and -Brabant. Gastanaga was recalled; and William was invited to take upon -himself the government of the Low Countries, with powers not less than -regal. Philip the Second would not easily have believed that, within -a century after his death, his greatgrandson would implore the -greatgrandson of William the Silent to exercise the authority of a -sovereign at Brussels. [298] - -The offer was in one sense tempting; but William was too wise to accept -it. He knew that the population of the Spanish Netherlands was firmly -attached to the Church of Rome. Every act of a Protestant ruler was -certain to be regarded with suspicion by the clergy and people of those -countries. Already Gastanaga, mortified by his disgrace, had written to -inform the Court of Rome that changes were in contemplation which would -make Ghent and Antwerp as heretical as Amsterdam and London. [299] It -had doubtless also occurred to William that if, by governing mildly -and justly, and by showing a decent respect for the ceremonies and the -ministers of the Roman Catholic religion, he should succeed in obtaining -the confidence of the Belgians, he would inevitably raise against -himself a storm of obloquy in our island. He knew by experience what it -was to govern two nations strongly attached to two different Churches. A -large party among the Episcopalians of England could not forgive him -for having consented to the establishment of the presbyterian polity in -Scotland. A large party among the Presbyterians of Scotland blamed him -for maintaining the episcopal polity in England. If he now took under -his protection masses, processions, graven images, friaries, nunneries, -and, worst of all, Jesuit pulpits, Jesuit confessionals and Jesuit -colleges, what could he expect but that England and Scotland would join -in one cry of reprobation? He therefore refused to accept the government -of the Low Countries, and proposed that it should be entrusted to the -Elector of Bavaria. The Elector of Bavaria was, after the Emperor, the -most powerful of the Roman Catholic potentates of Germany. He was young, -brave, and ambitious of military distinction. The Spanish Court was -willing to appoint him, and he was desirous to be appointed; but much -delay was caused by an absurd difficulty. The Elector thought it beneath -him to ask for what he wished to have. The formalists of the Cabinet of -Madrid thought it beneath the dignity of the Catholic King to give what -had not been asked. Mediation was necessary, and was at last successful. -But much time was lost; and the spring was far advanced before the new -Governor of the Netherlands entered on his functions. [300] - -William had saved the coalition from the danger of perishing by -disunion. But by no remonstrance, by no entreaty, by no bribe, could -he prevail on his allies to be early in the field. They ought to have -profited by the severe lesson which had been given them in the preceding -year. But again every one of them lingered, and wondered why the rest -were lingering; and again he who singly wielded the whole power of -France was found, as his haughty motto had long boasted, a match for -a multitude of adversaries. [301] His enemies, while still unready, -learned with dismay that he had taken the field in person at the head of -his nobility. On no occasion had that gallant aristocracy appeared with -more splendour in his train. A single circumstance may suffice to give -a notion of the pomp and luxury of his camp. Among the musketeers of his -household rode, for the first time, a stripling of seventeen, who soon -afterwards succeeded to the title of Duke of Saint Simon, and to whom we -owe those inestimable memoirs which have preserved, for the delight and -instruction of many lands and of many generations, the vivid picture of -a France which has long passed away. Though the boy's family was at that -time very hard pressed for money, he travelled with thirty-five horses -and sumpter mules. The princesses of the blood, each surrounded by a -group of highborn and graceful ladies, accompanied the King; and -the smiles of so many charming women inspired the throng of vain and -voluptuous but highspirited gentlemen with more than common courage. In -the brilliant crowd which surrounded the French Augustus appeared the -French Virgil, the graceful, the tender, the melodious Racine. He had, -in conformity with the prevailing fashion, become devout, had given -up writing for the theatre; and, having determined to apply himself -vigorously to the discharge of the duties which belonged to him as -historiographer of France, he now came to see the great events which -it was his office to record. [302] In the neighbourhood of Mons, Lewis -entertained the ladies with the most magnificent review that had ever -been seen in modern Europe. A hundred and twenty thousand of the finest -troops in the world were drawn up in a line eight miles long. It may be -doubted whether such an army had ever been brought together under the -Roman eagles. The show began early in the morning, and was not over -when the long summer day closed. Racine left the ground, astonished, -deafened, dazzled, and tired to death. In a private letter he ventured -to give utterance to an amiable wish which he probably took good care -not to whisper in the courtly circle: "Would to heaven that all these -poor fellows were in their cottages again with their wives and their -little ones!" [303] - -After this superb pageant Lewis announced his intention of attacking -Namur. In five days he was under the walls of that city, at the head -of more than thirty thousand men. Twenty thousand peasants, pressed in -those parts of the Netherlands which the French occupied, were compelled -to act as pioneers. Luxemburg, with eighty thousand men, occupied a -strong position on the road between Namur and Brussels, and was prepared -to give battle to any force which might attempt to raise the siege. -[304] This partition of duties excited no surprise. It had long been -known that the great Monarch loved sieges, and that he did not love -battles. He professed to think that the real test of military skill was -a siege. The event of an encounter between two armies on an open plain -was, in his opinion, often determined by chance; but only science could -prevail against ravelins and bastions which science had constructed. His -detractors sneeringly pronounced it fortunate that the department of -the military art which His Majesty considered as the noblest was one in -which it was seldom necessary for him to expose to serious risk a life -invaluable to his people. - -Namur, situated at the confluence of the Sambre and the Meuse, was one -of the great fortresses of Europe. The town lay in the plain, and had -no strength except what was derived from art. But art and nature had -combined to fortify that renowned citadel which, from the summit of a -lofty rock, looks down on a boundless expanse of cornfields, woods and -meadows, watered by two fine rivers. The people of the city and of the -surrounding region were proud of their impregnable castle. Their boast -was that never, in all the wars which had devastated the Netherlands, -had skill or valour been able to penetrate those walls. The neighbouring -fastnesses, famed throughout the world for their strength, Antwerp and -Ostend, Ypres, Lisle and Tournay, Mons and Valenciennes, Cambray and -Charleroi, Limburg and Luxemburg, had opened their gates to conquerors; -but never once had the flag been pulled down from the battlements of -Namur. That nothing might be wanting to the interest of the siege, -the two great masters of the art of fortification were opposed to -each other. Vauban had during many years been regarded as the first of -engineers; but a formidable rival had lately arisen, Menno, Baron of -Cohorn, the ablest officer in the service of the States General. The -defences of Namur had been recently strengthened and repaired under -Cohorn's superintendence; and he was now within the walls. Vauban was in -the camp of Lewis. It might therefore be expected that both the attack -and the defence would be conducted with consummate ability. - -By this time the allied armies had assembled; but it was too late. [305] -William hastened towards Namur. He menaced the French works, first from -the west, then from the north, then from the east. But between him and -the lines of circumvallation lay the army of Luxemburg, turning as he -turned, and always so strongly posted that to attack it would have been -the height of imprudence. Meanwhile the besiegers, directed by the skill -of Vauban and animated by the presence of Lewis, made rapid progress. -There were indeed many difficulties to be surmounted and many hardships -to be endured. The weather was stormy; and, on the eighth of June, -the feast of Saint Medard, who holds in the French Calendar the same -inauspicious place which in our Calendar belongs to Saint Swithin, the -rain fell in torrents. The Sambre rose and covered many square miles on -which the harvest was green. The Mehaigne whirled down its bridges to -the Meuse. All the roads became swamps. The trenches were so deep in -water and mire that it was the business of three days to move a gun from -one battery to another. The six thousand waggons which had accompanied -the French army were useless. It was necessary that gunpowder, bullets, -corn, hay, should be carried from place to place on the backs of the war -horses. Nothing but the authority of Lewis could, in such circumstances, -have maintained order and inspired cheerfulness. His soldiers, in truth, -showed much more reverence for him than for what their religion had made -sacred. They cursed Saint Medard heartily, and broke or burned every -image of him that could be found. But for their King there was nothing -that they were not ready to do and to bear. In spite of every obstacle -they constantly gained ground. Cohorn was severely wounded while -defending with desperate resolution a fort which he had himself -constructed, and of which he was proud. His place could not be supplied. -The governor was a feeble man whom Gastanaga had appointed, and whom -William had recently advised the Elector of Bavaria to remove. The -spirit of the garrison gave way. The town surrendered on the eighth day -of the siege, the citadel about three weeks later. [306] - -The history of the fall of Namur in 1692 bears a close resemblance -to the history of the fail of Mons in 1691. Both in 1691 and in 1692, -Lewis, the sole and absolute master of the resources of his kingdom, was -able to open the campaign, before William, the captain of a coalition, -had brought together his dispersed forces. In both years the advantage -of having the first move decided the event of the game. At Namur, as at -Mons, Lewis, assisted by Vauban conducted the siege; Luxemburg covered -it; William vainly tried to raise it, and, with deep mortification, -assisted as a spectator at the victory of his enemy. - -In one respect however the fate of the two fortresses was very -different. Mons was delivered up by its own inhabitants. Namur might -perhaps have been saved if the garrison had been as zealous and -determined as the population. Strange to say, in this place, so long -subject to a foreign rule, there was found a patriotism resembling that -of the little Greek commonwealths. There is no reason to believe that -the burghers cared about the balance of power, or had any preference -for James or for William, for the Most Christian King or for the Most -Catholic King. But every citizen considered his own honour as bound up -with the honour of the maiden fortress. It is true that the French did -not abuse their victory. No outrage was committed; the privileges of the -municipality were respected, the magistrates were not changed. Yet the -people could not see a conqueror enter their hitherto unconquered castle -without tears of rage and shame. Even the barefooted Carmelites, who -had renounced all pleasures, all property, all society, all domestic -affection, whose days were all fast days, who passed month after month -without uttering a word, were strangely moved. It was in vain that Lewis -attempted to soothe them by marks of respect and by munificent bounty. -Whenever they met a French uniform they turned their heads away with a -look which showed that a life of prayer, of abstinence and of silence -had left one earthly feeling still unsubdued. [307] - -This was perhaps the moment at which the arrogance of Lewis reached the -highest point. He had achieved the last and the most splendid military -exploit of his life. His confederated foes, English, Dutch and German, -had, in their own despite, swelled his triumph, and had been witnesses -of the glory which made their hearts sick. His exultation was boundless. -The inscriptions on the medals which he struck to commemorate his -success, the letters by which he enjoined the prelates of his kingdom -to sing the Te Deum, were boastful and sarcastic. His people, a people -among whose many fine qualities moderation in prosperity cannot be -reckoned, seemed for a time to be drunk with pride. Even Boileau, -hurried along by the prevailing enthusiasm, forgot the good sense and -good taste to which he owed his reputation. He fancied himself a lyric -poet, and gave vent to his feelings in a hundred and sixty lines of -frigid bombast about Alcides, Mars, Bacchus, Ceres, the lyre of Orpheus, -the Thracian oaks and the Permessian nymphs. He wondered whether Namur, -had, like Troy, been built by Apollo and Neptune. He asked what power -could subdue a city stronger than that before which the Greeks lay ten -years; and he returned answer to himself that such a miracle could be -wrought only by Jupiter or by Lewis. The feather in the hat of Lewis -was the loadstar of victory. To Lewis all things must yield, princes, -nations, winds, waters. In conclusion the poet addressed himself to the -banded enemies of France, and tauntingly bade them carry back to their -homes the tidings that Namur had been taken in their sight. Before many -months had elapsed both the boastful king and the boastful poet were -taught that it is prudent as well as graceful to be modest in the hour -of victory. - -One mortification Lewis had suffered even in the midst of his -prosperity. While he lay before Namur, he heard the sounds of rejoicing -from the distant camp of the allies. Three peals of thunder from a -hundred and forty pieces of cannon were answered by three volleys from -sixty thousand muskets. It was soon known that these salutes were fired -on account of the battle of La Hogue. The French King exerted himself to -appear serene. "They make a strange noise," he said, "about the burning -of a few ships." In truth he was much disturbed, and the more so because -a report had reached the Low Countries that there had been a sea fight, -and that his fleet had been victorious. His good humour however was soon -restored by the brilliant success of those operations which were under -his own immediate direction. When the siege was over, he left Luxemburg -in command of the army, and returned to Versailles. At Versailles -the unfortunate Tourville soon presented himself, and was graciously -received. As soon as he appeared in the circle, the King welcomed him in -a loud voice. "I am perfectly satisfied with you and with my sailors. We -have been beaten, it is true; but your honour and that of the nation are -unsullied." [308] - -Though Lewis had quitted the Netherlands, the eyes of all Europe were -still fixed on that region. The armies there had been strengthened by -reinforcements drawn from many quarters. Every where else the military -operations of the year were languid and without interest. The Grand -Vizier and Lewis of Baden did little more than watch each other on the -Danube. Marshal Noailles and the Duke of Medina Sidonia did little more -than watch each other under the Pyrenees. On the Upper Rhine, and -along the frontier which separates France from Piedmont, an indecisive -predatory war was carried on, by which the soldiers suffered little -and the cultivators of the soil much. But all men looked, with anxious -expectation of some great event, to the frontier of Brabant, where -William was opposed to Luxemburg. - -Luxemburg, now in his sixty-sixth year, had risen, by slow degrees, -and by the deaths of several great men, to the first place among the -generals of his time. He was of that noble house of Montmorency which -united many mythical and many historical titles to glory, which boasted -that it sprang from the first Frank who was baptized into the name of -Christ in the fifth century, and which had, since the eleventh century, -given to France a long and splendid succession of Constables and -Marshals. In valour and abilities Luxemburg was not inferior to any of -his illustrious race. But, highly descended and highly gifted as he was, -he had with difficulty surmounted the obstacles which impeded him in the -road to fame. If he owed much to the bounty of nature and fortune, he -had suffered still more from their spite. His features were frightfully -harsh, his stature was diminutive; a huge and pointed hump rose on his -back. His constitution was feeble and sickly. Cruel imputations had been -thrown on his morals. He had been accused of trafficking with sorcerers -and with vendors of poison, had languished long in a dungeon, and had at -length regained his liberty without entirely regaining his honour. [309] -He had always been disliked both by Louvois and by Lewis. Yet the war -against the European coalition had lasted but a very short time when -both the minister and the King felt that the general who was personally -odious to them was necessary to the state. Conde and Turenne were no -more; and Luxemburg was without dispute the first soldier that France -still possessed. In vigilance, diligence and perseverance he was -deficient. He seemed to reserve his great qualities for great -emergencies. It was on a pitched field of battle that he was all -himself. His glance was rapid and unerring. His judgment was clearest -and surest when responsibility pressed heaviest on him and when -difficulties gathered thickest around him. To his skill, energy and -presence of mind his country owed some glorious days. But, though -eminently successful in battles, he was not eminently successful in -campaigns. He gained immense renown at William's expense; and yet there -was, as respected the objects of the war, little to choose between the -two commanders. Luxemburg was repeatedly victorious; but he had not the -art of improving a victory. William was repeatedly defeated; but of all -generals he was the best qualified to repair a defeat. - -In the month of July William's headquarters were at Lambeque. About six -miles off, at Steinkirk, Luxemburg had encamped with the main body -of his army; and about six miles further off lay a considerable force -commanded by the Marquess of Boufflers, one of the best officers in the -service of Lewis. - -The country between Lambeque and Steinkirk was intersected by -innumerable hedges and ditches; and neither army could approach the -other without passing through several long and narrow defiles. Luxemburg -had therefore little reason to apprehend that he should be attacked in -his entrenchments; and he felt assured that he should have ample notice -before any attack was made; for he had succeeded in corrupting an -adventurer named Millevoix, who was chief musician and private secretary -of the Elector of Bavaria. This man regularly sent to the French -headquarters authentic information touching the designs of the allies. - -The Marshal, confident in the strength of his position and in the -accuracy of his intelligence, lived in his tent as he was accustomed -to live in his hotel at Paris. He was at once a valetudinarian and a -voluptuary; and, in both characters, he loved his ease. He scarcely ever -mounted his horse. Light conversation and cards occupied most of his -hours. His table was luxurious; and, when he had sate down to supper, it -was a service of danger to disturb him. Some scoffers remarked that -in his military dispositions he was not guided exclusively by military -reasons, that he generally contrived to entrench himself in some place -where the veal and the poultry were remarkably good, and that he was -always solicitous to keep open such communications with the sea as -might ensure him, from September to April, a regular supply of Sandwich -oysters. - -If there were any agreeable women in the neighbourhood of his camp, they -were generally to be found at his banquets. It may easily be supposed -that, under such a commander, the young princes and nobles of France -vied with one another in splendour and gallantry. [310] - -While he was amusing himself after his wonted fashion, the confederate -princes discovered that their counsels were betrayed. A peasant picked -up a letter which had been dropped, and carried it to the Elector of -Bavaria. It contained full proofs of the guilt of Millevoix. William -conceived a hope that he might be able to take his enemies in the snare -which they had laid for him. The perfidious secretary was summoned to -the royal presence and taxed with his crime. A pen was put into his -hand; a pistol was held to his breast; and he was commanded to write on -pain of instant death. His letter, dictated by William, was conveyed to -the French camp. It apprised Luxemburg that the allies meant to send out -a strong foraging party on the next day. In order to protect this party -from molestation, some battalions of infantry, accompanied by artillery, -would march by night to occupy the defiles which lay between the armies. -The Marshal read, believed and went to rest, while William urged forward -the preparations for a general assault on the French lines. - -The whole allied army was under arms while it was still dark. In the -grey of the morning Luxemburg was awakened by scouts, who brought -tidings that the enemy was advancing in great force. He at first treated -the news very lightly. His correspondent, it seemed, had been, as usual, -diligent and exact. The Prince of Orange had sent out a detachment to -protect his foragers, and this detachment had been magnified by fear -into a great host. But one alarming report followed another fast. All -the passes, it was said, were choked with multitudes of foot, horse -and artillery, under the banners of England and of Spain, of the -United Provinces and of the Empire; and every column was moving towards -Steinkirk. At length the Marshal rose, got on horseback, and rode out to -see what was doing. - -By this time the vanguard of the allies was close to his outposts. About -half a mile in advance of his army was encamped a brigade named from the -province of Bourbonnais. These troops had to bear the first brunt of the -onset. Amazed and panicstricken, they were swept away in a moment, and -ran for their lives, leaving their tents and seven pieces of cannon to -the assailants. - -Thus far William's plans had been completely successful but now fortune -began to turn against him. He had been misinformed as to the nature of -the ground which lay between the station of the brigade of Bourbonnais -and the main encampment of the enemy. He had expected that he should be -able to push forward without a moment's pause, that he should find the -French army in a state of wild disorder, and that his victory would be -easy and complete. But his progress was obstructed by several fences -and ditches; there was a short delay; and a short delay sufficed to -frustrate his design. Luxemburg was the very man for such a conjuncture. -He had committed great faults; he had kept careless guard; he had -trusted implicitly to information which had proved false; he had -neglected information which had proved true; one of his divisions was -flying in confusion; the other divisions were unprepared for action. -That crisis would have paralysed the faculties of an ordinary captain; -it only braced and stimulated those of Luxemburg. His mind, nay his -sickly and distorted body, seemed to derive health and vigour from -disaster and dismay. In a short time he had disposed every thing. The -French army was in battle order. Conspicuous in that great array were -the household troops of Lewis, the most renowned body of fighting men -in Europe; and at their head appeared, glittering in lace and embroidery -hastily thrown on and half fastened, a crowd of young princes and lords -who had just been roused by the trumpet from their couches or their -revels, and who had hastened to look death in the face with the gay and -festive intrepidity characteristic of French gentlemen. Highest in -rank among these highborn warriors was a lad of sixteen, Philip Duke of -Chartres, son of the Duke of Orleans, and nephew of the King of France. -It was with difficulty and by importunate solicitation that the gallant -boy had extorted Luxemburg's permission to be where the fire was -hottest. Two other youths of royal blood, Lewis Duke of Bourbon, and -Armand Prince of Conti, showed a spirit worthy of their descent. With -them was a descendant of one of the bastards of Henry the Fourth, Lewis -Duke of Vendome, a man sunk in indolence and in the foulest vice, yet -capable of exhibiting on a great occasion the qualities of a great -soldier. Berwick, who was beginning to earn for himself an honourable -name in arms, was there; and at his side rode Sarsfield, whose courage -and ability earned, on that day, the esteem of the whole French army. -Meanwhile Luxemburg had sent off a pressing message to summon Boufflers. -But the message was needless. Boufflers had heard the firing, and, like -a brave and intelligent captain, was already hastening towards the point -from which the sound came. - -Though the assailants had lost all the advantage which belongs to a -surprise, they came on manfully. In the front of the battle were the -British commanded by Count Solmes. The division which was to lead the -way was Mackay's. He was to have been supported, according to William's -plan, by a strong body of foot and horse. Though most of Mackay's -men had never before been under fire, their behaviour gave promise of -Blenheim and Ramilies. They first encountered the Swiss, who held a -distinguished place in the French army. The fight was so close and -desperate that the muzzles of the muskets crossed. The Swiss were driven -back with fearful slaughter. More than eighteen hundred of them appear -from the French returns to have been killed or wounded. Luxemburg -afterwards said that he had never in his life seen so furious a -struggle. He collected in haste the opinion of the generals who -surrounded him. All thought that the emergency was one which could be -met by no common means. The King's household must charge the English. -The Marshal gave the word; and the household, headed by the princes -of the blood, came on, flinging their muskets back on their shoulders. -"Sword in hand," was the cry through all the ranks of that terrible -brigade: "sword in hand. No firing. Do it with the cold steel." After -a long and desperate resistance the English were borne down. They never -ceased to repeat that, if Solmes had done his duty by them, they would -have beaten even the household. But Solmes gave them no effective -support. He pushed forward some cavalry which, from the nature of the -ground, could do little or nothing. His infantry he would not suffer to -stir. They could do no good, he said, and he would not send them to -be slaughtered. Ormond was eager to hasten to the assistance of his -countrymen, but was not permitted. Mackay sent a pressing message to -represent that he and his men were left to certain destruction; but all -was vain. "God's will be done," said the brave veteran. He died as -he had lived, like a good Christian and a good soldier. With him fell -Douglas and Lanier, two generals distinguished among the conquerors of -Ireland. Mountjoy too was among the slain. After languishing three years -in the Bastile, he had just been exchanged for Richard Hamilton, and, -having been converted to Whiggism by wrongs more powerful than all the -arguments of Locke and Sidney, had instantly hastened to join William's -camp as a volunteer. [311] Five fine regiments were entirely cut to -pieces. No part of this devoted band would have escaped but for the -courage and conduct of Auverquerque, who came to the rescue in the -moment of extremity with two fresh battalions. The gallant manner -in which he brought off the remains of Mackay's division was long -remembered with grateful admiration by the British camp fires. The -ground where the conflict had raged was piled with corpses; and those -who buried the slain remarked that almost all the wounds had been given -in close fighting by the sword or the bayonet. - -It was said that William so far forgot his wonted stoicism as to utter -a passionate exclamation at the way in which the English regiments -had been sacrificed. Soon, however, he recovered his equanimity, and -determined to fall back. It was high time; for the French army was every -moment becoming stronger, as the regiments commanded by Boufflers came -up in rapid succession. The allied army returned to Lambeque unpursued -and in unbroken order. [312] - -The French owned that they had about seven thousand men killed and -wounded. The loss of the allies had been little, if at all, greater. The -relative strength of the armies was what it had been on the preceding -day; and they continued to occupy their old positions. But the moral -effect of the battle was great. The splendour of William's fame grew -pale. Even his admirers were forced to own that, in the field, he -was not a match for Luxemburg. In France the news was received with -transports of joy and pride. The Court, the Capital, even the peasantry -of the remotest provinces, gloried in the impetuous valour which had -been displayed by so many youths, the heirs of illustrious names. It was -exultingly and fondly repeated all over the kingdom that the young Duke -of Chartres could not by any remonstrances be kept out of danger, that -a ball had passed through his coat that he had been wounded in the -shoulder. The people lined the roads to see the princes and nobles who -returned from Steinkirk. The jewellers devised Steinkirk buckles; the -perfumers sold Steinkirk powder. But the name of the field of battle was -peculiarly given to a new species of collar. Lace neckcloths were then -worn by men of fashion; and it had been usual to arrange them with great -care. But at the terrible moment when the brigade of Bourbonnais was -flying before the onset of the allies, there was no time for foppery; -and the finest gentlemen of the Court came spurring to the front of the -line of battle with their rich cravats in disorder. It therefore -became a fashion among the beauties of Paris to wear round their necks -kerchiefs of the finest lace studiously disarranged; and these kerchiefs -were called Steinkirks. [313] - -In the camp of the allies all was disunion and discontent. National -jealousies and animosities raged without restraint or disguise. The -resentment of the English was loudly expressed. Solmes, though he was -said by those who knew him well to have some valuable qualities, was not -a man likely to conciliate soldiers who were prejudiced against him as -a foreigner. His demeanour was arrogant, his temper ungovernable. Even -before the unfortunate day of Steinkirk the English officers did not -willingly communicate with him, and the private men murmured at his -harshness. But after the battle the outcry against him became furious. -He was accused, perhaps unjustly, of having said with unfeeling levity, -while the English regiments were contending desperately against great -odds, that he was curious to see how the bulldogs would come off. -Would any body, it was asked, now pretend that it was on account of his -superior skill and experience that he had been put over the heads of so -many English officers? It was the fashion to say that those officers -had never seen war on a large scale. But surely the merest novice was -competent to do all that Solmes had done, to misunderstand orders, to -send cavalry on duty which none but infantry could perform, and to look -on at safe distance while brave men were cut to pieces. It was too much -to be at once insulted and sacrificed, excluded from the honours of war, -yet pushed on all its extreme dangers, sneered at as raw recruits, and -then left to cope unsupported with the finest body of veterans in the -world. Such were the complains of the English army; and they were echoed -by the English nation. - -Fortunately about this time a discovery was made which furnished both -the camp at Lambeque and the coffeehouses of London with a subject of -conversation much less agreeable to the Jacobites than the disaster of -Steinkirk. - -A plot against the life of William had been, during some months, -maturing in the French War Office. It should seem that Louvois had -originally sketched the design, and had bequeathed it, still rude, to -his son and successor Barbesieux. By Barbesieux the plan was perfected. -The execution was entrusted to an officer named Grandval. Grandval was -undoubtedly brave, and full of zeal for his country and his religion. -He was indeed flighty and half witted, but not on that account the less -dangerous. Indeed a flighty and half witted man is the very instrument -generally preferred by cunning politicians when very hazardous work is -to be done. No shrewd calculator would, for any bribe, however enormous, -have exposed himself to the fate of Chatel, of Ravaillac, or of Gerarts. -[314] - -Grandval secured, as he conceived, the assistance of two adventurers, -Dumont, a Walloon, and Leefdale, a Dutchman. In April, soon after -William had arrived in the Low Countries, the murderers were directed -to repair to their post. Dumont was then in Westphalia. Grandval and -Leefdale were at Paris. Uden in North Brabant was fixed as the place -where the three were to meet and whence they were to proceed together -to the headquarters of the allies. Before Grandval left Paris he paid -a visit to Saint Germains, and was presented to James and to Mary of -Modena. "I have been informed," said James, "of the business. If you and -your companions do me this service, you shall never want." - -After this audience Grandval set out on his journey. He had not the -faintest suspicion that he had been betrayed both by the accomplice who -accompanied him and by the accomplice whom he was going to meet. -Dumont and Leefdale were not enthusiasts. They cared nothing for the -restoration of James, the grandeur of Lewis, or the ascendency of the -Church of Rome. It was plain to every man of common sense that, whether -the design succeeded or failed, the reward of the assassins would -probably be to be disowned, with affected abhorrence, by the Courts -of Versailles and Saint Germains, and to be torn with redhot pincers, -smeared with melted lead, and dismembered by four horses. To vulgar -natures the prospect of such a martyrdom was not alluring. Both these -men, therefore, had, almost at the same time, though, as far as appears, -without any concert, conveyed to William, through different channels, -warnings that his life was in danger. Dumont had acknowledged every -thing to the Duke of Zell, one of the confederate princes. Leefdale -had transmitted full intelligence through his relations who resided in -Holland. Meanwhile Morel, a Swiss Protestant of great learning who -was then in France, wrote to inform Burnet that the weak and hotheaded -Grandval had been heard to talk boastfully of the event which would soon -astonish the world, and had confidently predicted that the Prince of -Orange would not live to the end of the next month. - -These cautions were not neglected. From the moment at which Grandval -entered the Netherlands, his steps were among snares. His movements were -watched; his words were noted; he was arrested, examined, confronted -with his accomplices, and sent to the camp of the allies. About a week -after the battle of Steinkirk he was brought before a Court Martial. -Ginkell, who had been rewarded for his great services in Ireland with -the title of Earl of Athlone, presided; and Talmash was among the -judges. Mackay and Lanier had been named members of the board; but they -were no more; and their places were filled by younger officers. - -The duty of the Court Martial was very simple; for the prisoner -attempted no defence. His conscience had, it should seem, been suddenly -awakened. He admitted, with expressions of remorse, the truth of all -the charges, made a minute, and apparently an ingenuous, confession, and -owned that he had deserved death. He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn -and quartered, and underwent his punishment with great fortitude and -with a show of piety. He left behind him a few lines, in which he -declared that he was about to lose his life for having too faithfully -obeyed the injunctions of Barbesieux. - -His confession was immediately published in several languages, and was -read with very various and very strong emotions. That it was genuine -could not be doubted; for it was warranted by the signatures of some of -the most distinguished military men living. That it was prompted by the -hope of pardon could hardly be supposed; for William had taken pains to -discourage that hope. Still less could it be supposed that the prisoner -had uttered untruths in order to avoid the torture. For, though it was -the universal practice in the Netherlands to put convicted assassins to -the rack in order to wring out from them the names of their employers -and associates, William had given orders that, on this occasion, the -rack should not be used or even named. It should be added, that the -Court did not interrogate the prisoner closely, but suffered him to tell -his story in his own way. It is therefore reasonable to believe that his -narrative is substantially true; and no part of it has a stronger air of -truth than his account of the audience with which James had honoured him -at Saint Germains. - -In our island the sensation produced by the news was great. The Whigs -loudly called both James and Lewis assassins. How, it was asked, was it -possible, without outraging common sense, to put an innocent meaning on -the words which Grandval declared that he had heard from the lips of -the banished King of England? And who that knew the Court of Versailles -would believe that Barbesieux, a youth, a mere novice in politics, and -rather a clerk than a minister, would have dared to do what he had done -without taking his master's pleasure? Very charitable and very ignorant -persons might perhaps indulge a hope that Lewis had not been an -accessory before the fact. But that he was an accessory after the fact -no human being could doubt. He must have seen the proceedings of the -Court Martial, the evidence, the confession. If he really abhorred -assassination as honest men abhor it, would not Barbesieux have been -driven with ignominy from the royal presence, and flung into the -Bastile? Yet Barbesieux was still at the War Office; and it was not -pretended that he had been punished even by a word or a frown. It was -plain, then, that both Kings were partakers in the guilt of Grandval. -And if it were asked how two princes who made a high profession of -religion could have fallen into such wickedness, the answer was that -they had learned their religion from the Jesuits. In reply to these -reproaches the English Jacobites said very little; and the French -government said nothing at all. [315] - -The campaign in the Netherlands ended without any other event deserving -to be recorded. On the eighteenth of October William arrived in England. -Late in the evening of the twentieth he reached Kensington, having -traversed the whole length of the capital. His reception was cordial. -The crowd was great; the acclamations were loud; and all the windows -along his route, from Aldgate to Piccadilly, were lighted up. [316] - -But, notwithstanding these favourable symptoms, the nation was -disappointed and discontented. The war had been unsuccessful by land. -By sea a great advantage had been gained, but had not been improved. The -general expectation had been that the victory of May would be followed -by a descent on the coast of France, that Saint Maloes would he -bombarded, that the last remains of Tourville's squadron would be -destroyed, and that the arsenals of Brest and Rochefort would be laid in -ruins. This expectation was, no doubt, unreasonable. It did not follow, -because Rooke and his seamen had silenced the batteries hastily thrown -up by Bellefonds, that it would be safe to expose ships to the fire of -regular fortresses. The government, however, was not less sanguine than -the nation. Great preparations were made. The allied fleet, having been -speedily refitted at Portsmouth, stood out again to sea. Rooke was sent -to examine the soundings and the currents along the shore of Brittany. -[317] Transports were collected at Saint Helens. Fourteen thousand -troops were assembled on Portsdown under the command of Meinhart -Schomberg, who had been rewarded for his father's services and his -own with the highest rank in the Irish peerage, and was now Duke of -Leinster. Under him were Ruvigny, who, for his good service at Aghrim, -had been created Earl of Galway, La Melloniere and Cambon with their -gallant bands of refugees, and Argyle with the regiment which bore -his name, and which, as it began to be rumoured, had last winter done -something strange and horrible in a wild country of rocks and snow, -never yet explored by any Englishman. - -On the twenty-sixth of July the troops were all on board. The -transports sailed, and in a few hours joined the naval armament in the -neighbourhood of Portland. On the twenty-eighth a general council of war -was held. All the naval commanders, with Russell at their head, declared -that it would be madness to carry their ships within the range of the -guns of Saint Maloes, and that the town must be reduced to straits by -land before the men of war in the harbour could, with any chance of -success, be attacked from the sea. The military men declared with equal -unanimity that the land forces could effect nothing against the town -without the cooperation of the fleet. It was then considered whether it -would be advisable to make an attempt on Brest or Rochefort. Russell -and the other flag officers, among whom were Rooke, Shovel, Almonde -and Evertsen, pronounced that the summer was too far spent for either -enterprise. [318] We must suppose that an opinion in which so many -distinguished admirals, both English and Dutch, concurred, however -strange it may seem to us, was in conformity with what were then the -established principles of the art of maritime war. But why all these -questions could not have been fully discussed a week earlier, why -fourteen thousand troops should have been shipped and sent to sea, -before it had been considered what they were to do, or whether it would -be possible for them to do any thing, we may reasonably wonder. The -armament returned to Saint Helens, to the astonishment and disgust -of the whole nation. [319] The ministers blamed the commanders; the -commanders blamed the ministers. The recriminations exchanged between -Nottingham and Russell were loud and angry. Nottingham, honest, -industrious, versed in civil business, and eloquent in parliamentary -debate, was deficient in the qualities of a war minister, and was not -at all aware of his deficiencies. Between him and the whole body of -professional sailors there was a feud of long standing. He had, some -time before the Revolution, been a Lord of the Admiralty; and his own -opinion was that he had then acquired a profound knowledge of maritime -affairs. This opinion however he had very much to himself. Men who -had passed half their lives on the waves, and who had been in battles, -storms and shipwrecks, were impatient of his somewhat pompous lectures -and reprimands, and pronounced him a mere pedant, who, with all his book -learning, was ignorant of what every cabin boy knew. Russell had always -been froward, arrogant and mutinous; and now prosperity and glory -brought out his vices in full strength. With the government which he -had saved he took all the liberties of an insolent servant who believes -himself to be necessary, treated the orders of his superiors with -contemptuous levity, resented reproof, however gentle, as an outrage, -furnished no plan of his own, and showed a sullen determination to -execute no plan furnished by any body else. To Nottingham he had a -strong and a very natural antipathy. They were indeed an ill matched -pair. Nottingham was a Tory; Russell was a Whig. Nottingham was a -speculative seaman, confident in his theories. Russell was a practical -seaman, proud of his achievements. The strength of Nottingham lay in -speech; the strength of Russell lay in action. Nottingham's demeanour -was decorous even to formality; Russell was passionate and rude. Lastly -Nottingham was an honest man; and Russell was a villain. They now became -mortal enemies. The Admiral sneered at the Secretary's ignorance of -naval affairs; the Secretary accused the Admiral of sacrificing the -public interests to mere wayward humour; and both were in the right. -[320] - -While they were wrangling, the merchants of all the ports in the kingdom -raised a cry against the naval administration. The victory of which the -nation was so proud was, in the City, pronounced to have been a positive -disaster. During some months before the battle all the maritime -strength of the enemy had been collected in two great masses, one in -the Mediterranean and one in the Atlantic. There had consequently been -little privateering; and the voyage to New England or Jamaica had been -almost as safe as in time of peace. Since the battle, the remains of -the force which had lately been collected under Tourville were dispersed -over the ocean. Even the passage from England to Ireland was insecure. -Every week it was announced that twenty, thirty, fifty vessels belonging -to London or Bristol had been taken by the French. More than a hundred -prices were carried during that autumn into Saint Maloes alone. It -would have been far better, in the opinion of the shipowners and of the -underwriters, that the Royal Sun had still been afloat with her thousand -fighting men on board than that she should be lying a heap of ashes -on the beach at Cherburg, while her crew, distributed among twenty -brigantines, prowled for booty over the sea between Cape Finisterre and -Cape Clear. [321] - -The privateers of Dunkirk had long been celebrated; and among them, John -Bart, humbly born, and scarcely able to sign his name, but eminently -brave and active, had attained an undisputed preeminence. In the country -of Anson and Hawke, of Howe and Rodney, of Duncan, Saint Vincent and -Nelson, the name of the most daring and skilful corsair would have -little chance of being remembered. But France, among whose many -unquestioned titles to glory very few are derived from naval war, still -ranks Bart among her great men. In the autumn of 1692 this enterprising -freebooter was the terror of all the English and Dutch merchants who -traded with the Baltic. He took and destroyed vessels close to the -eastern coast of our island. He even ventured to land in Northumberland, -and burned many houses before the trainbands could be collected to -oppose him. The prizes which he carried back into his native port were -estimated at about a hundred thousand pounds sterling. [322] About the -same time a younger adventurer, destined to equal or surpass Bart, Du -Guay Trouin, was entrusted with the command of a small armed vessel. The -intrepid boy,--for he was not yet twenty years old,--entered the estuary -of the Shannon, sacked a mansion in the county of Clare, and did not -reimbark till a detachment from the garrison of Limerick marched against -him. [323] - -While our trade was interrupted and our shores menaced by these rovers, -some calamities which no human prudence could have averted increased the -public ill humour. An earthquake of terrible violence laid waste in less -than three minutes the flourishing colony of Jamaica. Whole plantations -changed their place. Whole villages were swallowed up. Port Royal, the -fairest and wealthiest city which the English had yet built in the New -World, renowned for its quays, for its warehouses, and for its stately -streets, which were said to rival Cheapside, was turned into a mass of -ruins. Fifteen hundred of the inhabitants were buried under their own -dwellings. The effect of this disaster was severely felt by many of the -great mercantile houses of London and Bristol. [324] - -A still heavier calamity was the failure of the harvest. The summer had -been wet all over Western Europe. Those heavy rains which had impeded -the exertions of the French pioneers in the trenches of Namur had been -fatal to the crops. Old men remembered no such year since 1648. No -fruit ripened. The price of the quarter of wheat doubled. The evil was -aggravated by the state of the silver coin, which had been clipped to -such an extent that the words pound and shilling had ceased to have -a fixed meaning. Compared with France indeed England might well be -esteemed prosperous. Here the public burdens were heavy; there they were -crushing. Here the labouring man was forced to husband his coarse barley -loaf; but there it not seldom happened that the wretched peasant -was found dead on the earth with halfchewed grass in his mouth. Our -ancestors found some consolation in thinking that they were gradually -wearing out the strength of their formidable enemy, and that his -resources were likely to be drained sooner than theirs. Still there was -much suffering and much repining. In some counties mobs attacked the -granaries. The necessity of retrenchment was felt by families of every -rank. An idle man of wit and pleasure, who little thought that his -buffoonery would ever be cited to illustrate the history of his times, -complained that, in this year, wine ceased to be put on many hospitable -tables where he had been accustomed to see it, and that its place was -supplied by punch. [325] - -A symptom of public distress much more alarming than the substitution -of brandy and lemons for claret was the increase of crime. During -the autumn of 1692 and the following winter, the capital was kept in -constant terror by housebreakers. One gang, thirteen strong, entered -the mansion of the Duke of Ormond in Saint James's Square, and all but -succeeded in carrying off his magnificent plate and jewels. Another gang -made an attempt on Lambeth Palace. [326] When stately abodes, guarded by -numerous servants, were in such danger, it may easily be believed that -no shopkeeper's till or stock could be safe. From Bow to Hyde Park, from -Thames Street to Bloomsbury, there was no parish in which some quiet -dwelling had not been sacked by burglars. [327] Meanwhile the great -roads were made almost impassable by freebooters who formed themselves -into troops larger than had before been known. There was a sworn -fraternity of twenty footpads which met at an alehouse in Southwark. -[328] But the most formidable band of plunderers consisted of two and -twenty horsemen. [329] It should seem that, at this time, a journey of -fifty miles through the wealthiest and most populous shires of England -was as dangerous as a pilgrimage across the deserts of Arabia. The -Oxford stage coach was pillaged in broad day after a bloody fight. [330] -A waggon laden with fifteen thousand pounds of public money was stopped -and ransacked. As this operation took some time, all the travellers who -came to the spot while the thieves were busy were seized and guarded. -When the booty had been secured the prisoners were suffered to depart -on foot; but their horses, sixteen or eighteen in number, were shot or -hamstringed, to prevent pursuit. [331] The Portsmouth mail was robbed -twice in one week by men well armed and mounted. [332] Some jovial Essex -squires, while riding after a hare, were themselves chased and run down -by nine hunters of a different sort, and were heartily glad to find -themselves at home again, though with empty pockets. [333] - -The friends of the government asserted that the marauders were all -Jacobites; and indeed there were some appearances which gave colour to -the assertion. For example, fifteen butchers, going on a market day to -buy beasts at Thame, were stopped by a large gang, and compelled first -to deliver their moneybags, and then to drink King James's health in -brandy. [334] The thieves, however, to do them justice, showed, in -the exercise of their calling, no decided preference for any political -party. Some of them fell in with Marlborough near Saint Albans, -and, notwithstanding his known hostility to the Court and his recent -imprisonment, compelled him to deliver up five hundred guineas, which he -doubtless never ceased to regret to the last moment of his long career -of prosperity and glory. [335] - -When William, on his return from the Continent, learned to what an -extent these outrages were carried, he expressed great indignation, and -announced his resolution to put down the malefactors with a strong hand. -A veteran robber was induced to turn informer, and to lay before the -King a list of the chief highwaymen, and a full account of their habits -and of their favourite haunts. It was said that this list contained not -less than eighty names. [336] Strong parties of cavalry were sent out -to protect the roads; and this precaution, which would, in ordinary -circumstances, have excited much murmuring, seems to have been generally -approved. A fine regiment, now called the Second Dragoon Guards, which -had distinguished itself in Ireland by activity and success in the -irregular war against the Rapparees, was selected to guard several of -the great avenues of the capital. Blackheath, Barnet, Hounslow, became -places of arms. [337] In a few weeks the roads were as safe as usual. -The executions were numerous for, till the evil had been suppressed, the -King resolutely refused to listen to any solicitations for mercy. [338] -Among those who suffered was James Whitney, the most celebrated captain -of banditti in the kingdom. He had been, during some months, the terror -of all who travelled from London either northward or westward, and was -at length with difficulty secured after a desperate conflict in which -one soldier was killed and several wounded. [339] The London Gazette -announced that the famous highwayman had been taken, and invited all -persons who had been robbed by him to repair to Newgate and to see -whether they could identify him. To identify him should have been easy; -for he had a wound in the face, and had lost a thumb. [340] He, however, -in the hope of perplexing the witnesses for the Crown, expended a -hundred pounds in procuring a sumptuous embroidered suit against the -day of trial. This ingenious device was frustrated by his hardhearted -keepers. He was put to the bar in his ordinary clothes, convicted and -sentenced to death. [341] He had previously tried to ransom himself by -offering to raise a fine troop of cavalry, all highwaymen, for service -in Flanders; but his offer had been rejected. [342] He had one resource -still left. He declared that he was privy to a treasonable plot. Some -Jacobite lords had promised him immense rewards if he would, at the head -of his gang, fall upon the King at a stag hunt in Windsor Forest. There -was nothing intrinsically improbable in Whitney's story. Indeed a design -very similar to that which he imputed to the malecontents was, only -three years later, actually formed by some of them, and was all but -carried into execution. But it was far better that a few bad men should -go unpunished than that all honest men should live in fear of being -falsely accused by felons sentenced to the gallows. Chief Justice Holt -advised the King to let the law take its course. William, never much -inclined to give credit to stories about conspiracies, assented. The -Captain, as he was called, was hanged in Smithfield, and made a most -penitent end. [343] - -Meanwhile, in the midst of discontent, distress and disorder, had begun -a session of Parliament singularly eventful, a session from which dates -a new era in the history of English finance, a session in which some -grave constitutional questions, not yet entirely set at rest, were for -the first time debated. - -It is much to be lamented that any account of this session which can -be framed out of the scanty and dispersed materials now accessible must -leave many things obscure. The relations of the parliamentary factions -were, during this year, in a singularly complicated state. Each of the -two Houses was divided and subdivided by several lines. To omit minor -distinctions, there was the great line which separated the Whig party -from the Tory party; and there was the great line which separated the -official men and their friends and dependents, who were sometimes -called the Court party, from those who were sometimes nicknamed the -Grumbletonians and sometimes honoured with the appellation of the -Country party. And these two great lines were intersecting lines. For -of the servants of the Crown and of their adherents about one half were -Whigs and one half Tories. It is also to be remembered that there was, -quite distinct from the feud between Whigs and Tories, quite distinct -also from the feud between those who were in and those who were out, a -feud between the Lords as Lords and the Commons as Commons. The spirit -both of the hereditary and of the elective chamber had been thoroughly -roused in the preceding session by the dispute about the Court of the -Lord High Steward; and they met in a pugnacious mood. - -The speech which the King made at the opening of the session was -skilfully framed for the purpose of conciliating the Houses. He came, he -told them, to ask for their advice and assistance. He congratulated them -on the victory of La Hogue. He acknowledged with much concern that the -operations of the allies had been less successful by land than by sea; -but he warmly declared that, both by land and by sea, the valour of his -English subjects had been preeminently conspicuous. The distress of his -people, he said, was his own; his interest was inseparable from theirs; -it was painful to him to call on them to make sacrifices; but from -sacrifices which were necessary to the safety of the English nation and -of the Protestant religion no good Englishman and no good Protestant -would shrink. [344] - -The Commons thanked the King in cordial terms for his gracious speech. -[345] But the Lords were in a bad humour. Two of their body, Marlborough -and Huntingdon, had, during the recess, when an invasion and an -insurrection were hourly expected, been sent to the Tower, and were -still under recognisances. Had a country gentleman or a merchant been -taken up and held to bail on even slighter grounds at so alarming a -crisis, the Lords would assuredly not have interfered. But they were -easily moved to anger by any thing that looked like an indignity offered -to their own order. They not only crossexamined with great severity -Aaron Smith, the Solicitor of the Treasury, whose character, to say the -truth, entitled him to little indulgence, but passed; by thirty-five -votes to twenty-eight, a resolution implying a censure on the judges of -the King's Bench, men certainly not inferior in probity, and very far -superior in legal learning, to any peer of the realm. The King thought -it prudent to soothe the wounded pride of the nobility by ordering the -recognisances to be cancelled; and with this concession the House was -satisfied, to the great vexation of the Jacobites, who had hoped that -the quarrel would be prosecuted to some fatal issue, and who, finding -themselves disappointed, vented their spleen by railing at the tameness -of the degenerate barons of England. [346] - -Both Houses held long and earnest deliberations on the state of the -nation. The King, when he requested their advice, had, perhaps, not -foreseen that his words would be construed into an invitation to -scrutinise every part of the administration, and to offer suggestions -touching matters which parliaments have generally thought it expedient -to leave entirely to the Crown. Some of the discontented peers proposed -that a Committee, chosen partly by the Lords and partly by the Commons, -should be authorised to inquire into the whole management of public -affairs. But it was generally apprehended that such a Committee would -become a second and more powerful Privy Council, independent of the -Crown, and unknown to the Constitution. The motion was therefore -rejected by forty-eight votes to thirty-six. On this occasion the -ministers, with scarcely an exception, voted in the majority. A protest -was signed by eighteen of the minority, among whom were the bitterest -Whigs and the bitterest Tories in the whole peerage. [347] - -The Houses inquired, each for itself, into the causes of the public -calamities. The Commons resolved themselves into a Grand Committee -to consider of the advice to be given to the King. From the concise -abstracts and fragments which have come down to us it seems that, in -this Committee, which continued to sit many days, the debates wandered -over a vast space. One member spoke of the prevalence of highway -robbery; another deplored the quarrel between the Queen and the -Princess, and proposed that two or three gentlemen should be deputed to -wait on Her Majesty and try to make matters up. A third described the -machinations of the Jacobites in the preceding spring. It was notorious, -he said, that preparations had been made for a rising, and that arms and -horses had been collected; yet not a single traitor had been brought to -justice. [348] - -The events of the war by land and sea furnished matter for several -earnest debates. Many members complained of the preference given to -aliens over Englishmen. The whole battle of Steinkirk was fought over -again; and severe reflections were thrown on Solmes. "Let English -soldiers be commanded by none but English generals," was the almost -universal cry. Seymour, who had once been distinguished by his hatred of -the foreigners, but who, since he had been at the Board of Treasury, -had reconsidered his opinions, asked where English generals were to -be found. "I have no love for foreigners as foreigners; but we have no -choice. Men are not born generals; nay, a man may be a very valuable -captain or major, and not be equal to the conduct of an army. Nothing -but experience will form great commanders. Very few of our countrymen -have that experience; and therefore we must for the present employ -strangers." Lowther followed on the same side. "We have had a long -peace; and the consequence is that we have not a sufficient supply of -officers fit for high commands. The parks and the camp at Hounslow were -very poor military schools, when compared with the fields of battle -and the lines of contravallation in which the great commanders of the -continental nations have learned their art." In reply to these arguments -an orator on the other side was so absurd as to declare that he could -point out ten Englishmen who, if they were in the French service, would -be made Marshals. Four or five colonels who had been at Steinkirk took -part in the debate. It was said of them that they showed as much modesty -in speech as they had shown courage in action; and, from the very -imperfect report which has come down to us, the compliment seems to have -been not undeserved. They did not join in the vulgar cry against the -Dutch. They spoke well of the foreign officers generally, and did full -justice to the valour and conduct with which Auverquerque had rescued -the shattered remains of Mackay's division from what seemed certain -destruction. But in defence of Solmes not a word was said. His severity, -his haughty manners, and, above all, the indifference with which he had -looked on while the English, borne down by overwhelming numbers, were -fighting hand to hand with the French household troops, had made him so -odious that many members were prepared to vote for an address requesting -that he might be removed, and that his place might be filled by Talmash, -who, since the disgrace of Marlborough, was universally allowed to -be the best officer in the army. But Talmash's friends judiciously -interfered. "I have," said one of them, "a true regard for that -gentleman; and I implore you not to do him an injury under the notion of -doing him a kindness. Consider that you are usurping what is peculiarly -the King's prerogative. You are turning officers out and putting -officers in." The debate ended without any vote of censure on Solmes. -But a hope was expressed, in language not very parliamentary, that what -had been said in the Committee would be reported to the King, and that -His Majesty would not disregard the general wish of the representatives -of his people. [349] - -The Commons next proceeded to inquire into the naval administration, and -very soon came to a quarrel with the Lords on that subject. That there -had been mismanagement somewhere was but too evident. It was hardly -possible to acquit both Russell and Nottingham; and each House stood -by its own member. The Commons had, at the opening of the session, -unanimously passed a vote of thanks to Russell for his conduct at -La Hogue. They now, in the Grand Committee of Advice, took into -consideration the miscarriages which had followed the battle. A motion -was made so vaguely worded that it could hardly be said to mean any -thing. It was understood however to imply a censure on Nottingham, and -was therefore strongly opposed by his friends. On the division the Ayes -were a hundred and sixty-five, the Noes a hundred and sixty-four. [350] - -On the very next day Nottingham appealed to the Lords. He told his story -with all the skill of a practised orator, and with all the authority -which belongs to unblemished integrity. He then laid on the table a -great mass of papers, which he requested the House to read and consider. -The Peers seem to have examined the papers seriously and diligently. The -result of the examination was by no means favourable to Russell. Yet -it was thought unjust to condemn him unheard; and it was difficult to -devise any way in which their Lordships could hear him. At last it was -resolved to send the papers down to the Commons with a message which -imported that, in the opinion of the Upper House, there was a case -against the Admiral which he ought to be called upon to answer. With the -papers was sent an abstract of the contents. [351] - -The message was not very respectfully received. Russell had, at that -moment, a popularity which he little deserved, but which will not -surprise us when we remember that the public knew nothing of his -treasons, and knew that he was the only living Englishman who had won a -great battle. The abstract of the papers was read by the clerk. Russell -then spoke with great applause; and his friends pressed for an immediate -decision. Sir Christopher Musgrave very justly observed that it was -impossible to pronounce judgment on such a pile of despatches without -perusing them; but this objection was overruled. The Whigs regarded the -accused member as one of themselves; many of the Tories were dazzled by -the splendour of his recent victory; and neither Whigs nor Tories were -disposed to show any deference for the authority of the Peers. The -House, without reading the papers, passed an unanimous resolution -expressing warm approbation of Russell's whole conduct. The temper of -the assembly was such that some ardent Whigs thought that they might -now venture to propose a vote of censure on Nottingham by name. But the -attempt failed. "I am ready," said Lowther,--and he doubtless expressed -what many felt,--"I am ready to support any motion that may do honour to -the Admiral; but I cannot join in an attack on the Secretary of State. -For, to my knowledge, their Majesties have no more zealous, laborious -or faithful servant than my Lord Nottingham." Finch exerted all his -mellifluous eloquence in defence of his brother, and contrived, without -directly opposing himself to the prevailing sentiment, to insinuate -that Russell's conduct had not been faultless. The vote of censure on -Nottingham was not pressed. The vote which pronounced Russell's conduct -to have been deserving of all praise was communicated to the Lords; and -the papers which they had sent down were very unceremoniously returned. -[352] The Lords, much offended, demanded a free conference. It was -granted; and the managers of the two Houses met in the Painted Chamber. -Rochester, in the name of his brethren, expressed a wish to be informed -of the grounds on which the Admiral had been declared faultless. To this -appeal the gentlemen who stood on the other side of the table answered -only that they had not been authorised to give any explanation, but that -they would report to those who had sent them what had been said. [353] - -By this time the Commons were thoroughly tired of the inquiry into the -conduct of the war. The members had got rid of much of the ill humour -which they had brought up with them from their country seats by the -simple process of talking it away. Burnet hints that those arts of which -Caermarthen and Trevor were the great masters were employed for the -purpose of averting votes which would have seriously embarrassed the -government. But, though it is not improbable that a few noisy pretenders -to patriotism may have been quieted with bags of guineas, it would -be absurd to suppose that the House generally was influenced in this -manner. Whoever has seen anything of such assemblies knows that the -spirit with which they enter on long inquiries very soon flags, and that -their resentment, if not kept alive by injudicious opposition, cools -fast. In a short time every body was sick of the Grand Committee of -Advice. The debates had been tedious and desultory. The resolutions -which had been carried were for the most part merely childish. The King -was to be humbly advised to employ men of ability and integrity. He was -to be humbly advised to employ men who would stand by him against James. -The patience of the House was wearied out by long discussions ending in -the pompous promulgation of truisms like these. At last the explosion -came. One of the grumblers called the attention of the Grand Committee -to the alarming fact that two Dutchmen were employed in the Ordnance -department, and moved that the King should be humbly advised to dismiss -them. The motion was received with disdainful mockery. It was remarked -that the military men especially were loud in the expression of -contempt. "Do we seriously think of going to the King and telling him -that, as he has condescended to ask our advice at this momentous crisis, -we humbly advise him to turn a Dutch storekeeper out of the Tower? -Really, if we have no more important suggestion to carry up to the -throne, we may as well go to our dinners." The members generally were -of the same mind. The chairman was voted out of the chair, and was not -directed to ask leave to sit again. The Grand Committee ceased to exist. -The resolutions which it had passed were formally reported to the House. -One of them was rejected; the others were suffered to drop; and the -Commons, after considering during several weeks what advice they should -give to the King, ended by giving him no advice at all. [354] - -The temper of the Lords was different. From many circumstances it -appears that there was no place where the Dutch were, at this time, so -much hated as in the Upper House. The dislike with which an Englishman -of the middle class regarded the King's foreign friends was merely -national. But the dislike with which an English nobleman regarded them -was personal. They stood between him and Majesty. They intercepted from -him the rays of royal favour. The preference given to them wounded him -both in his interests and in his pride. His chance of the Garter was -much smaller since they had become his competitors. He might have been -Master of the Horse but for Auverquerque, Master of the Robes but for -Zulestein, Groom of the Stole but for Bentinck. [355] The ill humour of -the aristocracy was inflamed by Marlborough, who, at this time, affected -the character of a patriot persecuted for standing up against the Dutch -in defence of the interests of his native land, and who did not foresee -that a day would come when he would be accused of sacrificing the -interests of his native land to gratify the Dutch. The Peers determined -to present an address, requesting William not to place his English -troops under the command of a foreign general. They took up very -seriously that question which had moved the House of Commons to -laughter, and solemnly counselled their Sovereign not to employ -foreigners in his magazines. At Marlborough's suggestion they urged the -King to insist that the youngest English general should take precedence -of the oldest general in the service of the States General. It was, they -said, derogatory to the dignity of the Crown, that an officer who held -a commission from His Majesty should ever be commanded by an officer -who held a similar commission from a republic. To this advice, evidently -dictated by an ignoble malevolence to Holland, William, who troubled -himself little about votes of the Upper House which were not backed by -the Lower, returned, as might have been expected, a very short and dry -answer. [356] - -While the inquiry into the conduct of the war was pending, the Commons -resumed the consideration of an important subject which had occupied -much of their attention in the preceding year. The Bill for the -Regulation of Trials in cases of High Treason was again brought in, but -was strongly opposed by the official men, both Whigs and Tories. Somers, -now Attorney General, strongly recommended delay. That the law, as -it stood, was open to grave objections, was not denied; but it was -contended that the proposed reform would, at that moment, produce more -harm than good. Nobody would assert that, under the existing government, -the lives of innocent subjects were in any danger. Nobody would deny -that the government itself was in great danger. Was it the part of wise -men to increase the perils of that which was already in serious peril -for the purpose of giving new security to that which was already -perfectly secure? Those who held this language were twitted with their -inconsistency, and asked why they had not ventured to oppose the bill -in the preceding session. They answered very plausibly that the events -which had taken place during the recess had taught an important lesson -to all who were capable of learning. The country had been threatened at -once with invasion and insurrection. No rational man doubted that many -traitors had made preparations for joining the French, and had collected -arms, ammunition and horses for that purpose. Yet, though there was -abundant moral evidence against these enemies of their country, it had -not been possible to find legal evidence against a single one of them. -The law of treason might, in theory, be harsh, and had undoubtedly, in -times past, been grossly abused. But a statesman who troubled himself -less about theory than about practice, and less about times past than -about the time present, would pronounce that law not too stringent but -too lax, and would, while the commonwealth remained in extreme jeopardy, -refuse to consent to any further relaxation. In spite of all opposition, -however, the principle of the bill was approved by one hundred and -seventy-one votes to one hundred and fifty-two. But in the committee it -was moved and carried that the new rules of procedure should not come -into operation till after the end of the war with France. When the -report was brought up the House divided on this amendment, and ratified -it by a hundred and forty-five votes to a hundred and twenty-five. The -bill was consequently suffered to drop. [357] Had it gone up to the -Peers it would in all probability have been lost after causing another -quarrel between the Houses. For the Peers were fully determined that -no such bill should pass, unless it contained a clause altering the -constitution of the Lord High Steward's Court; and a clause altering -the constitution of the Lord High Steward's Court would have been less -likely than ever to find favour with the Commons. For in the course of -this session an event took place which proved that the great were only -too well protected by the law as it stood, and which well deserves to be -recorded as a striking illustration of the state of manners and morals -in that age. - -Of all the actors who were then on the English stage the most graceful -was William Mountford. He had every physical qualification for his -calling, a noble figure, a handsome face, a melodious voice. It was not -easy to say whether he succeeded better in heroic or in ludicrous parts. -He was allowed to be both the best Alexander and the best Sir Courtly -Nice that ever trod the boards. Queen Mary, whose knowledge was very -superficial, but who had naturally a quick perception of what was -excellent in art, admired him greatly. He was a dramatist as well as a -player, and has left us one comedy which is not contemptible. [358] - -The most popular actress of the time was Anne Bracegirdle. There were on -the stage many women of more faultless beauty, but none whose features -and deportment had such power to fascinate the senses and the hearts -of men. The sight of her bright black eyes and of her rich brown cheek -sufficed to put the most turbulent audience into good humour. It was -said of her that in the crowded theatre she had as many lovers as she -had male spectators. Yet no lover, however rich, however high in rank, -had prevailed on her to be his mistress. Those who are acquainted with -the parts which she was in the habit of playing, and with the epilogues -which it was her especial business to recite, will not easily give her -credit for any extraordinary measure of virtue or of delicacy. She -seems to have been a cold, vain and interested coquette, who perfectly -understood how much the influence of her charms was increased by the -fame of a severity which cost her nothing, and who could venture to -flirt with a succession of admirers in the just confidence that no flame -which she might kindle in them would thaw her own ice. [359] Among those -who pursued her with an insane desire was a profligate captain in the -army named Hill. With Hill was closely bound in a league of debauchery -and violence Charles Lord Mohun, a young nobleman whose life was one -long revel and brawl. Hill, finding that the beautiful brunette was -invincible, took it into his head that he was rejected for a more -favoured rival, and that this rival was the brilliant Mountford. The -jealous lover swore over his wine at a tavern that he would stab the -villain. "And I," said Mohun, "will stand by my friend." From the tavern -the pair went, with some soldiers whose services Hill had secured, to -Drury Lane where the lady resided. They lay some time in wait for her. -As soon as she appeared in the street she was seized and hurried to -a coach. She screamed for help; her mother clung round her; the whole -neighbourhood rose; and she was rescued. Hill and Mohun went away vowing -vengeance. They swaggered sword in hand during two hours about the -streets near Mountford's dwelling. The watch requested them to put up -their weapons. But when the young lord announced that he was a peer, -and bade the constables touch him if they durst, they let him pass. So -strong was privilege then; and so weak was law. Messengers were sent to -warn Mountford of his danger; but unhappily they missed him. He came. A -short altercation took place between him and Mohun; and, while they were -wrangling, Hill ran the unfortunate actor through the body, and fled. - -The grand jury of Middlesex, consisting of gentlemen of note, found a -bill of murder against Hill and Mohun. Hill escaped. Mohun was taken. -His mother threw herself at William's feet, but in vain. "It was a cruel -act," said the King; "I shall leave it to the law." The trial came on -in the Court of the Lord High Steward; and, as Parliament happened to be -sitting, the culprit had the advantage of being judged by the whole -body of the peerage. There was then no lawyer in the Upper House. It -therefore became necessary, for the first time since Buckhurst had -pronounced sentence on Essex and Southampton, that a peer who had never -made jurisprudence his special study should preside over that grave -tribunal. Caermarthen, who, as Lord President, took precedence of all -the nobility, was appointed Lord High Steward. A full report of the -proceedings has come down to us. No person, who carefully examines that -report, and attends to the opinion unanimously given by the judges in -answer to a question which Nottingham drew up, and in which the facts -brought out by the evidence are stated with perfect fairness, can doubt -that the crime of murder was fully brought home to the prisoner. Such -was the opinion of the King who was present during the trial; and such -was the almost unanimous opinion of the public. Had the issue been tried -by Holt and twelve plain men at the Old Bailey, there can be no doubt -that a verdict of Guilty would have been returned. The Peers, however, -by sixty-nine votes to fourteen, acquitted their accused brother. One -great nobleman was so brutal and stupid as to say, "After all the fellow -was but a player; and players are rogues." All the newsletters, all the -coffeehouse orators, complained that the blood of the poor was shed with -impunity by the great. Wits remarked that the only fair thing about the -trial was the show of ladies in the galleries. Letters and journals -are still extant in which men of all shades of opinion, Whigs, Tories, -Nonjurors, condemn the partiality of the tribunal. It was not to be -expected that, while the memory of this scandal was fresh in the public -mind, the Commons would be induced to give any new advantage to accused -peers. [360] - -The Commons had, in the meantime, resumed the consideration of another -highly important matter, the state of the trade with India. They had, -towards the close of the preceding session, requested the King to -dissolve the old Company and to constitute a new Company on such terms -as he should think fit; and he had promised to take their request into -his serious consideration. He now sent a message to inform them that -it was out of his power to do what they had asked. He had referred the -charter of the old Company to the Judges, and the judges had pronounced -that, under the provisions of that charter, the old Company could not -be dissolved without three years' notice, and must retain during those -three years the exclusive privilege of trading to the East Indies. He -added that, being sincerely desirous to gratify the Commons, and finding -himself unable to do so in the way which they had pointed out, he had -tried to prevail on the old Company to agree to a compromise; but that -body stood obstinately on its extreme rights; and his endeavours had -been frustrated. [361] - -This message reopened the whole question. The two factions which divided -the City were instantly on the alert. The debates in the House were -long and warm. Petitions against the old Company were laid on the table. -Satirical handbills against the new Company were distributed in the -lobby. At length, after much discussion, it was resolved to present -an address requesting the King to give the notice which the judges had -pronounced necessary. He promised to bear the subject in mind, and to -do his best to promote the welfare of the kingdom. With this answer the -House was satisfied, and the subject was not again mentioned till the -next session. [362] - -The debates of the Commons on the conduct of the war, on the law of -treason and on the trade with India, occupied much time, and produced no -important result. But meanwhile real business was doing in the Committee -of Supply and the Committee of Ways and Means. In the Committee of -Supply the estimates passed rapidly. A few members declared it to -be their opinion that England ought to withdraw her troops from the -Continent, to carry on the war with vigour by sea, and to keep up only -such an army as might be sufficient to repel any invader who might elude -the vigilance of her fleets. But this doctrine, which speedily became -and long continued to be the badge of one of the great parties in the -state, was as yet professed only by a small minority which did not -venture to call for a division. [363] - -In the Committee of Ways and Means, it was determined that a great part -of the charge of the year should be defrayed by means of an impost, -which, though old in substance, was new in form. From a very early -period to the middle of the seventeenth century, our Parliaments had -provided for the extraordinary necessities of the government chiefly by -granting subsidies. A subsidy was raised by an impost on the people of -the realm in respect of their reputed estates. Landed property was the -chief subject of taxation, and was assessed nominally at four shillings -in the pound. But the assessment was made in such a way that it not only -did not rise in proportion to the rise in the value of land or to -the fall in the value of the precious metals, but went on constantly -sinking, till at length the rate was in truth less than twopence in the -pound. In the time of Charles the First a real tax of four shillings in -the pound on land would probably have yielded near a million and a half; -but a subsidy amounted to little more than fifty thousand pounds. [364] - -The financiers of the Long Parliament devised a more efficient mode of -taxing estates. The sum which was to be raised was fixed. It was then -distributed among the counties in proportion to their supposed wealth, -and was levied within each county by a rate. The revenue derived -from these assessments in the time of the Commonwealth varied from -thirty-five thousand pounds to a hundred and twenty thousand pounds a -month. - -After the Restoration the legislature seemed for a time inclined -to revert, in finance as in other things, to the ancient practice. -Subsidies were once or twice granted to Charles the Second. But it -soon appeared that the old system was much less convenient than the -new system. The Cavaliers condescended to take a lesson in the art -of taxation from the Roundheads; and, during the interval between the -Restoration and the Revolution, extraordinary calls were occasionally -met by assessments resembling the assessments of the Commonwealth. After -the Revolution, the war with France made it necessary to have recourse -annually to this abundant source of revenue. In 1689, in 1690 and in -1691, great sums had been raised on the land. At length in 1692 it was -determined to draw supplies from real property more largely than ever. -The Commons resolved that a new and more accurate valuation of estates -should be made over the whole realm, and that on the rental thus -ascertained a pound rate should be paid to the government. - -Such was the origin of the existing land tax. The valuation made in -1692 has remained unaltered down to our own time. According to that -valuation, one shilling in the pound on the rental of the kingdom -amounted, in round numbers, to half a million. During a hundred and six -years, a land tax bill was annually presented to Parliament, and was -annually passed, though not always without murmurs from the country -gentlemen. The rate was, in time of war, four shillings in the pound. In -time of peace, before the reign of George the Third, only two or three -shillings were usually granted; and, during a short part of the prudent -and gentle administration of Walpole, the government asked for only one -shilling. But, after the disastrous year in which England drew the -sword against her American colonies, the rate was never less than four -shillings. At length, in the year 1798, the Parliament relieved itself -from the trouble of passing a new Act every spring. The land tax, at -four shillings in the pound, was made permanent; and those who were -subject to it were permitted to redeem it. A great part has been -redeemed; and at present little more than a fiftieth of the ordinary -revenue required in time of peace is raised by that impost which was -once regarded as the most productive of all the resources of the State. -[365] - -The land tax was fixed, for the year 1693, at four shillings in the -pound, and consequently brought about two millions into the Treasury. -That sum, small as it may seem to a generation which has expended a -hundred and twenty millions in twelve months, was such as had never -before been raised here in one year by direct taxation. It seemed -immense both to Englishmen and to foreigners. Lewis, who found it almost -impossible to wring by cruel exactions from the beggared peasantry of -France the means of supporting the greatest army and the most gorgeous -court that had existed in Europe since the downfall of the Roman empire, -broke out, it is said, into an exclamation of angry surprise when he -learned that the Commons of England had, from dread and hatred of -his power, unanimously determined to lay on themselves, in a year of -scarcity and of commercial embarrassment, a burden such as neither they -nor their fathers had ever before borne. "My little cousin of Orange," -he said, "seems to be firm in the saddle." He afterwards added: -"No matter, the last piece of gold will win." This however was a -consideration from which, if he had been well informed touching the -resources of England, he would not have derived much comfort. Kensington -was certainly a mere hovel when compared to his superb Versailles. The -display of jewels, plumes and lace, led horses and gilded coaches, which -daily surrounded him, far outshone the splendour which, even on great -public occasions, our princes were in the habit of displaying. But -the condition of the majority of the people of England was, beyond all -doubt, such as the majority of the people of France might well have -envied. In truth what was called severe distress here would have been -called unexampled prosperity there. - -The land tax was not imposed without a quarrel between the Houses. -The Commons appointed commissioners to make the assessment. These -commissioners were the principal gentlemen of every county, and were -named in the bill. The Lords thought this arrangement inconsistent with -the dignity of the peerage. They therefore inserted a clause providing -that their estates should be valued by twenty of their own order. The -Lower House indignantly rejected this amendment, and demanded an instant -conference. After some delay, which increased the ill humour of the -Commons, the conference took place. The bill was returned to the Peers -with a very concise and haughty intimation that they must not presume -to alter laws relating to money. A strong party among the Lords was -obstinate. Mulgrave spoke at great length against the pretensions of -the plebeians. He told his brethren that, if they gave way, they would -abdicate that authority which had belonged to the baronage of England -ever since the foundation of the monarchy, and that they would have -nothing left of their old greatness except their coronets and ermines. -Burnet says that this speech was the finest that he ever heard in -Parliament; and Burnet was undoubtedly a good judge of speaking, and -was neither partial to Mulgrave nor zealous for the privileges of the -aristocracy. The orator, however, though he charmed his hearers, did not -succeed in convincing them. Most of them shrank from a conflict in which -they would have had against them the Commons united as one man, and the -King, who, in case of necessity, would undoubtedly have created fifty -peers rather than have suffered the land tax bill to be lost. Two strong -protests, however, signed, the first by twenty-seven, the second by -twenty-one dissentients, show how obstinately many nobles were prepared -to contend at all hazards for the dignity of their caste. Another -conference was held; and Rochester announced that the Lords, for the -sake of the public interest, waived what they must nevertheless assert -to be their clear right, and would not insist on their amendment. [366] -The bill passed, and was followed by bills for laying additional duties -on imports, and for taxing the dividends of joint stock companies. - -Still, however, the estimated revenue was not equal to the estimated -expenditure. The year 1692 had bequeathed a large deficit to the year -1693; and it seemed probable that the charge for 1693 would exceed by -about five hundred thousand pounds the charge for 1692. More than two -millions had been voted for the army and ordnance, near two millions for -the navy. [367] Only eight years before fourteen hundred thousand pounds -had defrayed the whole annual charge of government. More than four times -that sum was now required. Taxation, both direct and indirect, had been -carried to an unprecedented point; yet the income of the state still -fell short of the outlay by about a million. It was necessary to devise -something. Something was devised, something of which the effects are -felt to this day in every part of the globe. - -There was indeed nothing strange or mysterious in the expedient to which -the government had recourse. It was an expedient familiar, during two -centuries, to the financiers of the Continent, and could hardly fail to -occur to any English statesman who compared the void in the Exchequer -with the overflow in the money market. - -During the interval between the Restoration and the Revolution the -riches of the nation had been rapidly increasing. Thousands of busy -men found every Christmas that, after the expenses of the year's -housekeeping had been defrayed out of the year's income, a surplus -remained; and how that surplus was to be employed was a question of some -difficulty. In our time, to invest such a surplus, at something more -than three per cent., on the best security that has ever been known in -the world, is the work of a few minutes. But in the seventeenth century -a lawyer, a physician, a retired merchant, who had saved some thousands -and who wished to place them safely and profitably, was often greatly -embarrassed. Three generations earlier, a man who had accumulated wealth -in a profession generally purchased real property or lent his savings on -mortgage. But the number of acres in the kingdom had remained the same; -and the value of those acres, though it had greatly increased, had by no -means increased so fast as the quantity of capital which was seeking for -employment. Many too wished to put their money where they could find it -at an hour's notice, and looked about for some species of property which -could be more readily transferred than a house or a field. A capitalist -might lend on bottomry or on personal security; but, if he did so, he -ran a great risk of losing interest and principal. There were a few -joint stock companies, among which the East India Company held the -foremost place; but the demand for the stock of such companies was far -greater than the supply. Indeed the cry for a new East India Company -was chiefly raised by persons who had found difficulty in placing their -savings at interest on good security. So great was that difficulty that -the practice of hoarding was common. We are told that the father of Pope -the poet, who retired from business in the City about the time of the -Revolution, carried to a retreat in the country a strong box containing -near twenty thousand pounds, and took out from time to time what was -required for household expenses; and it is highly probable that this was -not a solitary case. At present the quantity of coin which is hoarded -by private persons is so small that it would, if brought forth, make no -perceptible addition to the circulation. But, in the earlier part of the -reign of William the Third, all the greatest writers on currency were of -opinion that a very considerable mass of gold and silver was hidden in -secret drawers and behind wainscots. - -The natural effect of this state of things was that a crowd of -projectors, ingenious and absurd, honest and knavish, employed -themselves in devising new schemes for the employment of redundant -capital. It was about the year 1688 that the word stockjobber was first -heard in London. In the short space of four years a crowd of companies, -every one of which confidently held out to subscribers the hope of -immense gains, sprang into existence; the Insurance Company, the Paper -Company, the Lutestring Company, the Pearl Fishery Company, the -Glass Bottle Company, the Alum Company, the Blythe Coal Company, the -Swordblade Company. There was a Tapestry Company which would soon -furnish pretty hangings for all the parlours of the middle class and -for all the bedchambers of the higher. There was a Copper Company which -proposed to explore the mines of England, and held out a hope that they -would prove not less valuable than those of Potosi. There was a Diving -Company which undertook to bring up precious effects from shipwrecked -vessels, and which announced that it had laid in a stock of wonderful -machines resembling complete suits of armour. In front of the helmet was -a huge glass eye like that of a cyclop; and out of the crest went a -pipe through which the air was to be admitted. The whole process was -exhibited on the Thames. Fine gentlemen and fine ladies were invited -to the show, were hospitably regaled, and were delighted by seeing the -divers in their panoply descend into the river and return laden with -old iron, and ship's tackle. There was a Greenland Fishing Company which -could not fail to drive the Dutch whalers and herring busses out of the -Northern Ocean. There was a Tanning Company which promised to furnish -leather superior to the best that was brought from Turkey or Russia. -There was a society which undertook the office of giving gentlemen a -liberal education on low terms, and which assumed the sounding name of -the Royal Academies Company. In a pompous advertisement it was announced -that the directors of the Royal Academies Company had engaged the best -masters in every branch of knowledge, and were about to issue twenty -thousand tickets at twenty shillings each. There was to be a lottery; -two thousand prizes were to be drawn; and the fortunate holders of the -prizes were to be taught, at the charge of the Company, Latin, Greek, -Hebrew, French, Spanish, conic sections, trigonometry, heraldry, -japanning, fortification, bookkeeping and the art of playing the -theorbo. Some of these companies took large mansions and printed their -advertisements in gilded letters. Others, less ostentatious, were -content with ink, and met at coffeehouses in the neighbourhood of the -Royal Exchange. Jonathan's and Garraway's were in a constant ferment -with brokers, buyers, sellers, meetings of directors, meetings -of proprietors. Time bargains soon came into fashion. Extensive -combinations were formed, and monstrous fables were circulated, for -the purpose of raising or depressing the price of shares. Our country -witnessed for the first time those phenomena with which a long -experience has made us familiar. A mania of which the symptoms were -essentially the same with those of the mania of 1720, of the mania of -1825, of the mania of 1845, seized the public mind. An impatience to -be rich, a contempt for those slow but sure gains which are the proper -reward of industry, patience and thrift, spread through society. The -spirit of the cogging dicers of Whitefriars took possession of the grave -Senators of the City, Wardens of Trades, Deputies, Aldermen. It was -much easier and much more lucrative to put forth a lying prospectus -announcing a new stock, to persuade ignorant people that the dividends -could not fall short of twenty per cent., and to part with five thousand -pounds of this imaginary wealth for ten thousand solid guineas, than to -load a ship with a well chosen cargo for Virginia or the Levant. Every -day some new bubble was puffed into existence, rose buoyant, shone -bright, burst, and was forgotten. [368] - -The new form which covetousness had taken furnished the comic poets -and satirists with an excellent subject; nor was that subject the -less welcome to them because some of the most unscrupulous and most -successful of the new race of gamesters were men in sad coloured clothes -and lank hair, men who called cards the Devil's books, men who thought -it a sin and a scandal to win or lose twopence over a backgammon board. -It was in the last drama of Shadwell that the hypocrisy and knavery of -these speculators was, for the first time, exposed to public ridicule. -He died in November 1692, just before his Stockjobbers came on the -stage; and the epilogue was spoken by an actor dressed in deep mourning. -The best scene is that in which four or five stern Nonconformists, -clad in the full Puritan costume, after discussing the prospects of -the Mousetrap Company and the Fleakilling Company, examine the question -whether the godly may lawfully hold stock in a Company for bringing over -Chinese ropedancers. "Considerable men have shares," says one austere -person in cropped hair and bands; "but verily I question whether it -be lawful or not." These doubts are removed by a stout old Roundhead -colonel who had fought at Marston Moor, and who reminds his weaker -brother that the saints need not themselves see the ropedancing, and -that, in all probability, there will be no ropedancing to see. "The -thing," he says, "is like to take; the shares will sell well; and then -we shall not care whether the dancers come over or no." It is important -to observe that this scene was exhibited and applauded before one -farthing of the national debt had been contracted. So ill informed were -the numerous writers who, at a later period, ascribed to the national -debt the existence of stockjobbing and of all the immoralities connected -with stockjobbing. The truth is that society had, in the natural course -of its growth, reached a point at which it was inevitable that there -should be stockjobbing whether there were a national debt or not, and -inevitable also that, if there were a long and costly war, there should -be a national debt. - -How indeed was it possible that a debt should not have been contracted, -when one party was impelled by the strongest motives to borrow, and -another was impelled by equally strong motives to lend? A moment had -arrived at which the government found it impossible, without exciting -the most formidable discontents, to raise by taxation the supplies -necessary to defend the liberty and independence of the nation; and, at -that very moment, numerous capitalists were looking round them in vain -for some good mode of investing their savings, and, for want of such -a mode, were keeping their wealth locked up, or were lavishing it on -absurd projects. Riches sufficient to equip a navy which would sweep the -German Ocean and the Atlantic of French privateers, riches sufficient -to maintain an army which might retake Namur and avenge the disaster of -Steinkirk, were lying idle, or were passing away from the owners into -the hands of sharpers. A statesman might well think that some part of -the wealth which was daily buried or squandered might, with advantage to -the proprietor, to the taxpayer and to the State, be attracted into the -Treasury. Why meet the extraordinary charge of a year of war by seizing -the chairs, the tables, the beds of hardworking families, by compelling -one country gentleman to cut down his trees before they were ready for -the axe, another to let the cottages on his land fall to ruin, a third -to take away his hopeful son from the University, when Change Alley was -swarming with people who did not know what to do with their money and -who were pressing every body to borrow it? - -It was often asserted at a later period by Tories, who hated the -national debt most of all things, and who hated Burnet most of all men, -that Burnet was the person who first advised the government to contract -a national debt. But this assertion is proved by no trustworthy -evidence, and seems to be disproved by the Bishop's silence. Of all men -he was the least likely to conceal the fact that an important fiscal -revolution had been his work. Nor was the Board of Treasury at that time -one which much needed, or was likely much to regard, the counsels of a -divine. At that Board sate Godolphin the most prudent and experienced, -and Montague the most daring and inventive of financiers. Neither of -these eminent men could be ignorant that it had long been the practice -of the neighbouring states to spread over many years of peace the -excessive taxation which was made necessary by one year of war. In Italy -this practice had existed through many generations. France had, during -the war which began in 1672 and ended in 1679, borrowed not less than -thirty millions of our money. Sir William Temple, in his interesting -work on the Batavian federation, had told his countrymen that, when he -was ambassador at the Hague, the single province of Holland, then ruled -by the frugal and prudent De Witt, owed about five millions sterling, -for which interest at four per cent. was always ready to the day, and -that when any part of the principal was paid off the public creditor -received his money with tears, well knowing that he could find no other -investment equally secure. The wonder is not that England should have at -length imitated the example both of her enemies and of her allies, but -that the fourth year of her arduous and exhausting struggle against -Lewis should have been drawing to a close before she resorted to an -expedient so obvious. - -On the fifteenth of December 1692 the House of Commons resolved itself -into a Committee of Ways and Means. Somers took the chair. Montague -proposed to raise a million by way of loan; the proposition was -approved; and it was ordered that a bill should be brought in. The -details of the scheme were much discussed and modified; but the -principle appears to have been popular with all parties. The moneyed men -were glad to have a good opportunity of investing what they had hoarded. -The landed men, hard pressed by the load of taxation, were ready to -consent to any thing for the sake of present ease. No member ventured to -divide the House. On the twentieth of January the bill was read a third -time, carried up to the Lords by Somers, and passed by them without any -amendment. [369] - -By this memorable law new duties were imposed on beer and other liquors. -These duties were to be kept in the Exchequer separate from all other -receipts, and were to form a fund on the credit of which a million was -to be raised by life annuities. As the annuitants dropped off, their -annuities were to be divided among the survivors, till the number of -survivors was reduced to seven. After that time, whatever fell in was to -go to the public. It was therefore certain that the eighteenth century -would be far advanced before the debt would be finally extinguished. The -rate of interest was to be ten per cent. till the year 1700, and after -that year seven per cent. The advantages offered to the public creditor -by this scheme may seem great, but were not more than sufficient to -compensate him for the risk which he ran. It was not impossible that -there might be a counterrevolution; and it was certain that, if there -were a counterrevolution, those who had lent money to William would lose -both interest and principal. - -Such was the origin of that debt which has since become the greatest -prodigy that ever perplexed the sagacity and confounded the pride of -statesmen and philosophers. At every stage in the growth of that debt -the nation has set up the same cry of anguish and despair. At every -stage in the growth of that debt it has been seriously asserted by wise -men that bankruptcy and ruin were at hand. Yet still the debt went on -growing; and still bankruptcy and ruin were as remote as ever. When the -great contest with Lewis the Fourteenth was finally terminated by the -Peace of Utrecht, the nation owed about fifty millions; and that -debt was considered, not merely by the rude multitude, not merely by -foxhunting squires and coffeehouse orators, but by acute and profound -thinkers, as an incumbrance which would permanently cripple the body -politic; Nevertheless trade flourished; wealth increased; the nation -became richer and richer. Then came the war of the Austrian Succession; -and the debt rose to eighty millions. Pamphleteers, historians and -orators pronounced that now, at all events, our case was desperate. -Yet the signs of increasing prosperity, signs which could neither be -counterfeited nor concealed, ought to have satisfied observant and -reflecting men that a debt of eighty millions was less to the England -which was governed by Pelham than a debt of fifty millions had been to -the England which was governed by Oxford. Soon war again broke forth; -and, under the energetic and prodigal administration of the first -William Pitt, the debt rapidly swelled to a hundred and forty millions. -As soon as the first intoxication of victory was over, men of theory and -men of business almost unanimously pronounced that the fatal day had now -really arrived. The only statesman, indeed, active or speculative, who -did not share in the general delusion was Edmund Burke. David Hume, -undoubtedly one of the most profound political economists of his time, -declared that our madness had exceeded the madness of the Crusaders. -Richard Coeur de Lion and Saint Lewis had not gone in the face of -arithmetical demonstration. It was impossible to prove by figures that -the road to Paradise did not lie through the Holy Land; but it was -possible to prove by figures that the road to national ruin was through -the national debt. It was idle, however, now to talk about the road; we -had done with the road; we had reached the goal; all was over; all -the revenues of the island north of Trent and west of Reading were -mortgaged. Better for us to have been conquered by Prussia or Austria -than to be saddled with the interest of a hundred and forty millions. -[370] And yet this great philosopher--for such he was--had only to open -his eyes, and to see improvement all around him, cities increasing, -cultivation extending, marts too small for the crowd of buyers and -sellers, harbours insufficient to contain the shipping, artificial -rivers joining the chief inland seats of industry to the chief seaports, -streets better lighted, houses better furnished, richer wares exposed to -sale in statelier shops, swifter carriages rolling along smoother roads. -He had, indeed, only to compare the Edinburgh of his boyhood with -the Edinburgh of his old age. His prediction remains to posterity, a -memorable instance of the weakness from which the strongest minds -are not exempt. Adam Smith saw a little and but a little further. -He admitted that, immense as the burden was, the nation did actually -sustain it and thrive under it in a way which nobody could have -foreseen. But he warned his countrymen not to repeat so hazardous an -experiment. The limit had been reached. Even a small increase might -be fatal. [371] Not less gloomy was the view which George Grenville, -a minister eminently diligent and practical, took of our financial -situation. The nation must, he conceived, sink under a debt of a hundred -and forty millions, unless a portion of the load were borne by the -American colonies. The attempt to lay a portion of the load on the -American colonies produced another war. That war left us with an -additional hundred millions of debt, and without the colonies whose help -had been represented as indispensable. Again England was given over; -and again the strange patient persisted in becoming stronger and more -blooming in spite of all the diagnostics and prognostics of State -physicians. As she had been visibly more prosperous with a debt of a -hundred and forty millions than with a debt of fifty millions, so she, -as visibly more prosperous with a debt of two hundred and forty millions -than with a debt of a hundred and forty millions. Soon however the wars -which sprang from the French Revolution, and which far exceeded in cost -any that the world had ever seen, tasked the powers of public credit to -the utmost. When the world was again at rest the funded debt of England -amounted to eight hundred millions. If the most enlightened man had been -told, in 1792, that, in 1815, the interest on eight hundred millions -would be duly paid to the day at the Bank, he would have been as hard of -belief as if he had been told that the government would be in possession -of the lamp of Aladdin or of the purse of Fortunatus. It was in truth -a gigantic, a fabulous debt; and we can hardly wonder that the cry of -despair should have been louder than ever. But again that cry was found -to have been as unreasonable as ever. After a few years of exhaustion, -England recovered herself. Yet, like Addison's valetudinarian, who -continued to whimper that he was dying of consumption till he became so -fat that he was shamed into silence, she went on complaining that she -was sunk in poverty till her wealth showed itself by tokens which made -her complaints ridiculous. The beggared, the bankrupt society not -only proved able to meet all its obligations, but, while meeting those -obligations, grew richer and richer so fast that the growth could almost -be discerned by the eye. In every county, we saw wastes recently turned -into gardens; in every city, we saw new streets, and squares, and -markets, more brilliant lamps, more abundant supplies of water; in the -suburbs of every great seat of industry, we saw villas multiplying fast, -each embosomed in its gay little paradise of lilacs and roses. While -shallow politicians were repeating that the energies of the people were -borne down by the weight of the public burdens, the first journey was -performed by steam on a railway. Soon the island was intersected by -railways. A sum exceeding the whole amount of the national debt at the -end of the American war was, in a few years, voluntarily expended by -this ruined people in viaducts, tunnels, embankments, bridges, stations, -engines. Meanwhile taxation was almost constantly becoming lighter -and lighter; yet still the Exchequer was full. It may be now affirmed -without fear of contradiction that we find it as easy to pay the -interest of eight hundred millions as our ancestors found it, a century -ago, to pay the interest of eighty millions. - -It can hardly be doubted that there must have been some great fallacy -in the notions of those who uttered and of those who believed that long -succession of confident predictions, so signally falsified by a long -succession of indisputable facts. To point out that fallacy is the -office rather of the political economist than of the historian. Here -it is sufficient to say that the prophets of evil were under a double -delusion. They erroneously imagined that there was an exact analogy -between the case of an individual who is in debt to another individual -and the case of a society which is in debt to a part of itself; and this -analogy led them into endless mistakes about the effect of the system -of funding. They were under an error not less serious touching the -resources of the country. They made no allowance for the effect produced -by the incessant progress of every experimental science, and by the -incessant efforts of every man to get on in life. They saw that the debt -grew; and they forgot that other things grew as well as the debt. - -A long experience justifies us in believing that England may, in the -twentieth century, be better able to bear a debt of sixteen hundred -millions than she is at the present time to bear her present load. But -be this as it may, those who so confidently predicted that she must -sink, first under a debt of fifty millions, then under a debt of eighty -millions then under a debt of a hundred and forty millions, then under a -debt of two hundred and forty millions, and lastly under a debt of eight -hundred millions, were beyond all doubt under a twofold mistake. They -greatly overrated the pressure of the burden; they greatly underrated -the strength by which the burden was to be borne. - -It may be desirable to add a few words touching the way in which the -system of funding has affected the interests of the great commonwealth -of nations. If it be true that whatever gives to intelligence an -advantage over brute force and to honesty an advantage over dishonesty -has a tendency to promote the happiness and virtue of our race, it can -scarcely be denied that, in the largest view, the effect of this system -has been salutary. For it is manifest that all credit depends on two -things, on the power of a debtor to pay debts, and on his inclination -to pay them. The power of a society to pay debts is proportioned to the -progress which that society has made in industry, in commerce, and in -all the arts and sciences which flourish under the benignant influence -of freedom and of equal law. The inclination of a society to pay -debts is proportioned to the degree in which that society respects the -obligations of plighted faith. Of the strength which consists in extent -of territory and in number of fighting men, a rude despot who knows -no law but his own childish fancies and headstrong passions, or a -convention of socialists which proclaims all property to be robbery, may -have more than falls to the lot of the best and wisest government. But -the strength which is derived from the confidence of capitalists such a -despot, such a convention, never can possess. That strength,--and it -is a strength which has decided the event of more than one great -conflict,--flies, by the law of its nature, from barbarism and fraud, -from tyranny and anarchy, to follow civilisation and virtue, liberty and -order. - -While the bill which first created the funded debt of England was -passing, with general approbation, through the regular stages, the -two Houses discussed, for the first time, the great question of -Parliamentary Reform. - -It is to be observed that the object of the reformers of that generation -was merely to make the representative body a more faithful interpreter -of the sense of the constituent body. It seems scarcely to have -occurred to any of them that the constituent body might be an -unfaithful interpreter of the sense of the nation. It is true that those -deformities in the structure of the constituent body, which, at length, -in our own days, raised an irresistible storm of public indignation, -were far less numerous and far less offensive in the seventeenth century -than they had become in the nineteenth. Most of the boroughs which were -disfranchised in 1832 were, if not positively, yet relatively, much more -important places in the reign of William the Third than in the reign -of William the Fourth. Of the populous and wealthy manufacturing towns, -seaports and watering places, to which the franchise was given in the -reign of William the Fourth, some were, in the reign of William the -Third, small hamlets, where a few ploughmen or fishermen lived under -thatched roofs; some were fields covered with harvests, or moors -abandoned to grouse; With the exception of Leeds and Manchester, there -was not, at the time of the Revolution, a single town of five thousand -inhabitants which did not send two representatives to the House of -Commons. Even then, however, there was no want of startling anomalies. -Looe, East and West, which contained not half the population or half the -wealth of the smallest of the hundred parishes of London, returned -as many members as London. [372] Old Sarum, a deserted ruin which the -traveller feared to enter at night lest he should find robbers lurking -there, had as much weight in the legislature as Devonshire or Yorkshire. -[373] Some eminent individuals of both parties, Clarendon, for example, -among the Tories, and Pollexfen among the Whigs, condemned this system. -Yet both parties were, for very different reasons, unwilling to alter -it. It was protected by the prejudices of one faction and by the -interests of the other. Nothing could be more repugnant to the genius of -Toryism than the thought of destroying at a blow institutions which -had stood through ages, for the purpose of building something more -symmetrical out of the ruins. The Whigs, on the other hand, could not -but know that they were much more likely to lose than to gain by a -change in this part of our polity. It would indeed be a great mistake -to imagine that a law transferring political power from small to large -constituent bodies would have operated in 1692 as it operated in 1832. - -In 1832 the effect of the transfer was to increase the power of the town -population. In 1692 the effect would have been to make the power of the -rural population irresistible. Of the one hundred and forty-two members -taken away in 1832 from small boroughs more than half were given to -large and flourishing towns. But in 1692 there was hardly one large and -flourishing town which had not already as many members as it could, with -any show of reason, claim. Almost all therefore that was taken from the -small boroughs must have been given to the counties; and there can be -no doubt that whatever tended to raise the counties and to depress the -towns must on the whole have tended to raise the Tories and to depress -the Whigs. From the commencement of our civil troubles the towns had -been on the side of freedom and progress, the country gentlemen and -the country clergymen on the side of authority and prescription. If -therefore a reform bill, disfranchising small constituent bodies and -giving additional members to large constituent bodies, had become law -soon after the Revolution, there can be little doubt that a decided -majority of the House of Commons would have consisted of rustic baronets -and squires, high Churchmen, high Tories, and half Jacobites. With such -a House of Commons it is almost certain that there would have been a -persecution of the Dissenters; it is not easy to understand how there -could have been an union with Scotland; and it is not improbable that -there would have been a restoration of the Stuarts. Those parts of -our constitution therefore which, in recent times, politicians of -the liberal school have generally considered as blemishes, were, five -generations ago, regarded with complacency by the men who were most -zealous for civil and religious freedom. - -But, while Whigs and Tories agreed in wishing to maintain the existing -rights of election, both Whigs and Tories were forced to admit that -the relation between the elector and the representative was not what it -ought to be. Before the civil wars the House of Commons had enjoyed -the fullest confidence of the nation. A House of Commons, distrusted, -despised, hated by the Commons, was a thing unknown. The very words -would, to Sir Peter Wentworth or Sir Edward Coke, have sounded like -a contradiction in terms. But by degrees a change took place. The -Parliament elected in 1661, during that fit of joy and fondness which -followed the return of the royal family, represented, not the deliberate -sense, but the momentary caprice of the nation. Many of the members were -men who, a few months earlier or a few months later, would have had -no chance of obtaining seats, men of broken fortunes and of dissolute -habits, men whose only claim to public confidence was the ferocious -hatred which they bore to rebels and Puritans. The people, as soon as -they had become sober, saw with dismay to what an assembly they had, -during their intoxication, confided the care of their property, their -liberty and their religion. And the choice, made in a moment of frantic -enthusiasm, might prove to be a choice for life. As the law then stood, -it depended entirely on the King's pleasure whether, during his reign, -the electors should have an opportunity of repairing their error. -Eighteen years passed away. A new generation grew up. To the fervid -loyalty with which Charles had been welcomed back to Dover succeeded -discontent and disaffection. The general cry was that the kingdom was -misgoverned, degraded, given up as a prey to worthless men and more -worthless women, that our navy had been found unequal to a contest with -Holland, that our independence had been bartered for the gold of France, -that our consciences were in danger of being again subjected to the yoke -of Rome. The people had become Roundheads; but the body which alone -was authorised to speak in the name of the people was still a body of -Cavaliers. It is true that the King occasionally found even that House -of Commons unmanageable. From the first it had contained not a few true -Englishmen; others had been introduced into it as vacancies were made by -death; and even the majority, courtly as it was, could not but feel some -sympathy with the nation. A country party grew up and became formidable. -But that party constantly found its exertions frustrated by systematic -corruption. That some members of the legislature received direct bribes -was with good reason suspected, but could not be proved. That the -patronage of the Crown was employed on an extensive scale for the -purpose of influencing votes was matter of notoriety. A large proportion -of those who gave away the public money in supplies received part of -that money back in salaries; and thus was formed a mercenary band on -which the Court might, in almost any extremity, confidently rely. - -The servility of this Parliament had left a deep impression on the -public mind. It was the general opinion that England ought to be -protected against all risk of being ever again represented, during a -long course of years, by men who had forfeited her confidence, and who -were retained by a fee to vote against her wishes and interests. The -subject was mentioned in the Convention; and some members wished to deal -with it while the throne was still vacant. The cry for reform had ever -since been becoming more and more importunate. The people, heavily -pressed by taxes, were naturally disposed to regard those who lived on -the taxes with little favour. The war, it was generally acknowledged, -was just and necessary; and war could not be carried on without large -expenditure. But the larger the expenditure which was required for the -defence of the nation, the more important it was that nothing should -be squandered. The immense gains of official men moved envy and -indignation. Here a gentleman was paid to do nothing. There many -gentlemen were paid to do what would be better done by one. The coach, -the liveries, the lace cravat and diamond buckles of the placeman were -naturally seen with an evil eye by those who rose up early and lay down -late in order to furnish him with the means of indulging in splendour -and luxury. Such abuses it was the especial business of a House of -Commons to correct. What then had the existing House of Commons done in -the way of correction? Absolutely nothing. In 1690, indeed, while the -Civil List was settling, some sharp speeches had been made. In 1691, -when the Ways and Means were under consideration, a resolution had -been passed so absurdly framed that it had proved utterly abortive. The -nuisance continued, and would continue while it was a source of profit -to those whose duty was to abate it. Who could expect faithful and -vigilant stewardship from stewards who had a direct interest in -encouraging the waste which they were employed to check? The House -swarmed with placemen of all kinds, Lords of the Treasury, Lords of -the Admiralty, Commissioners of Customs, Commissioners of Excise, -Commissioners of Prizes, Tellers, Auditors, Receivers, Paymasters, -Officers of the Mint, Officers of the household, Colonels of regiments, -Captains of men of war, Governors of forts. We send up to Westminster, -it was said, one of our neighbours, an independent gentleman, in -the full confidence that his feelings and interests are in perfect -accordance with ours. We look to him to relieve us from every burden -except those burdens without which the public service cannot be -carried on, and which therefore, galling as they are, we patiently and -resolutely bear. But before he has been a session in Parliament we -learn that he is a Clerk of the Green Cloth or a Yeoman of the Removing -Wardrobe, with a comfortable salary. Nay, we sometimes learn that he has -obtained one of those places in the Exchequer of which the emoluments -rise and fall with the taxes which we pay. It would be strange indeed if -our interests were safe in the keeping of a man whose gains consist in a -percentage on our losses. The evil would be greatly diminished if we had -frequent opportunities of considering whether the powers of our agent -ought to be renewed or revoked. But, as the law stands, it is not -impossible that he may hold those powers twenty or thirty years. While -he lives, and while either the King or the Queen lives, it is not likely -that we shall ever again exercise our elective franchise, unless there -should be a dispute between the Court and the Parliament. The more -profuse and obsequious a Parliament is, the less likely it is to give -offence to the Court. The worse our representatives, therefore, the -longer we are likely to be cursed with them. - -The outcry was loud. Odious nicknames were given to the Parliament. -Sometimes it was the Officers' Parliament; sometimes it was the Standing -Parliament, and was pronounced to be a greater nuisance than even a -standing army. - -Two specifics for the distempers of the State were strongly recommended, -and divided the public favour. One was a law excluding placemen from -the House of Commons. The other was a law limiting the duration of -Parliaments to three years. In general the Tory reformers preferred -a Place Bill, and the Whig reformers a Triennial Bill; but not a few -zealous men of both parties were for trying both remedies. - -Before Christmas a Place Bill was laid on the table of the Commons. That -bill has been vehemently praised by writers who never saw it, and who -merely guessed at what it contained. But no person who takes the trouble -to study the original parchment, which, embrowned with the dust of a -hundred and sixty years, reposes among the archives of the House of -Lords, will find much matter for eulogy. - -About the manner in which such a bill should have been framed there -will, in our time, be little difference of opinion among enlightened -Englishmen. They will agree in thinking that it would be most pernicious -to open the House of Commons to all placemen, and not less pernicious to -close that House against all placemen. To draw with precision the -line between those who ought to be admitted and those who ought to be -excluded would be a task requiring much time, thought and knowledge of -details. But the general principles which ought to guide us are obvious. -The multitude of subordinate functionaries ought to be excluded. A -few functionaries who are at the head or near the head of the great -departments of the administration ought to be admitted. - -The subordinate functionaries ought to be excluded, because their -admission would at once lower the character of Parliament and destroy -the efficiency of every public office. They are now excluded, and the -consequence is that the State possesses a valuable body of servants who -remain unchanged while cabinet after cabinet is formed and dissolved, -who instruct every successive minister in his duties, and with whom it -is the most sacred point of honour to give true information, sincere -advise, and strenuous assistance to their superior for the time being. -To the experience, the ability and the fidelity of this class of men is -to be attributed the ease and safety with which the direction of affairs -has been many times, within our own memory, transferred from Tories to -Whigs and from Whigs to Tories. But no such class would have existed if -persons who received salaries from the Crown had been suffered to sit -without restriction in the House of Commons. Those commissionerships, -assistant secretaryships, chief clerkships, which are now held for life -by persons who stand aloof from the strife of parties, would have been -bestowed on members of Parliament who were serviceable to the government -as voluble speakers or steady voters. As often as the ministry was -changed, all this crowd of retainers would have been ejected from -office, and would have been succeeded by another set of members of -Parliament who would probably have been ejected in their turn before -they had half learned their business. Servility and corruption in the -legislature, ignorance and incapacity in all the departments of the -executive administration, would have been the inevitable effects of such -a system. - -Still more noxious, if possible, would be the effects of a system -under which all the servants of the Crown, without exception, should be -excluded from the House of Commons. Aristotle has, in that treatise on -government which is perhaps the most judicious and instructive of all -his writings, left us a warning against a class of laws artfully framed -to delude the vulgar, democratic in seeming, but oligarchic in effect. -[374] Had he had an opportunity of studying the history of the English -constitution, he might easily have enlarged his list of such laws. That -men who are in the service and pay of the Crown ought not to sit in -an assembly specially charged with the duty of guarding the rights and -interests of the community against all aggression on the part of the -Crown is a plausible and a popular doctrine. Yet it is certain that if -those who, five generations ago, held that doctrine, had been able to -mould the constitution according to their wishes, the effect would have -been the depression of that branch of the legislature which springs from -the people and is accountable to the people, and the ascendency of the -monarchical and aristocratical elements of our polity. The government -would have been entirely in patrician hands. The House of Lords, -constantly drawing to itself the first abilities in the realm, would -have become the most august of senates, while the House of Commons would -have sunk almost to the rank of a vestry. From time to time undoubtedly -men of commanding genius and of aspiring temper would have made their -appearance among the representatives of the counties and boroughs. But -every such man would have considered the elective chamber merely as a -lobby through which he must pass to the hereditary chamber. The first -object of his ambition would have been that coronet without which he -could not be powerful in the state. As soon as he had shown that he -could be a formidable enemy and a valuable friend to the government, he -would have made haste to quit what would then have been in every sense -the Lower House for what would then have been in every sense the Upper. -The conflict between Walpole and Pulteney, the conflict between Pitt and -Fox, would have been transferred from the popular to the aristocratic -part of the legislature. On every great question, foreign, domestic or -colonial, the debates of the nobles would have been impatiently expected -and eagerly devoured. The report of the proceedings of an assembly -containing no person empowered to speak in the name of the government, -no person who had ever been in high political trust, would have been -thrown aside with contempt. Even the control of the purse of the nation -must have passed, not perhaps in form, but in substance, to that body in -which would have been found every man who was qualified to bring forward -a budget or explain an estimate. The country would have been governed by -Peers; and the chief business of the Commons would have been to wrangle -about bills for the inclosing of moors and the lighting of towns. - -These considerations were altogether overlooked in 1692. Nobody thought -of drawing a line between the few functionaries who ought to be allowed -to sit in the House of Commons and the crowd of functionaries who ought -to be shut out. The only line which the legislators of that day took -pains to draw was between themselves and their successors. Their own -interest they guarded with a care of which it seems strange that they -should not have been ashamed. Every one of them was allowed to keep -the places which he had got, and to get as many more places as he could -before the next dissolution of Parliament, an event which might not -happen for many years. But a member who should be chosen after the first -of February 1693 was not to be permitted to accept any place whatever. -[375] - -In the House of Commons the bill passed through all its stages rapidly -and without a single division. But in the Lords the contest was sharp -and obstinate. Several amendments were proposed in committee; but all -were rejected. The motion that the bill should pass was supported by -Mulgrave in a lively and poignant speech, which has been preserved, and -which proves that his reputation for eloquence was not unmerited. The -Lords who took the other side did not, it should seem, venture to deny -that there was an evil which required a remedy; but they maintained -that the proposed remedy would only aggravate the evil. The patriotic -representatives of the people had devised a reform which might perhaps -benefit the next generation; but they had carefully reserved to -themselves the privilege of plundering the present generation. If this -bill passed, it was clear that, while the existing Parliament lasted, -the number of placemen in the House of Commons would be little, if at -all, diminished; and, if this bill passed, it was highly probable that -the existing Parliament would last till both King William and Queen Mary -were dead. For as, under this bill, Their Majesties would be able to -exercise a much greater influence over the existing Parliament than -over any future Parliament, they would naturally wish to put off a -dissolution as long as possible. The complaint of the electors of -England was that now, in 1692, they were unfairly represented. It was -not redress, but mockery, to tell them that their children should be -fairly represented in 1710 or 1720. The relief ought to be immediate; -and the way to give immediate relief was to limit the duration of -Parliaments, and to begin with that Parliament which, in the opinion of -the country, had already held power too long. - -The forces were so evenly balanced that a very slight accident might -have turned the scale. When the question was put that the bill do pass, -eighty-two peers were present. Of these forty-two were for the bill, and -forty against it. Proxies were then called. There were only two proxies -for the bill; there were seven against it; but of the seven three were -questioned, and were with difficulty admitted. The result was that the -bill was lost by three votes. - -The majority appears to have been composed of moderate Whigs and -moderate Tories. Twenty of the minority protested, and among them -were the most violent and intolerant members of both parties, such as -Warrington, who had narrowly escaped the block for conspiring against -James, and Aylesbury, who afterwards narrowly escaped the block for -conspiring against William. Marlborough, who, since his imprisonment, -had gone all lengths in opposition to the government, not only put his -own name to the protest, but made the Prince of Denmark sign what it -was altogether beyond the faculties of His Royal Highness to comprehend. -[376] - -It is a remarkable circumstance that neither Caermarthen, the first in -power as well as in abilities of the Tory ministers, nor Shrewsbury, the -most distinguished of those Whigs who were then on bad terms with the -Court, was present on this important occasion. Their absence was in all -probability the effect of design; for both of them were in the House no -long time before and no long time after the division. - -A few days later Shrewsbury laid on the table of the Lord a bill for -limiting the duration of Parliaments. By this bill it was provided -that the Parliament then sitting should cease to exist on the first -of January 1694, and that no future Parliament should last longer than -three years. - -Among the Lords there seems to have been almost perfect unanimity on -this subject. William in vain endeavoured to induce those peers in whom -he placed the greatest confidence to support his prerogative. Some of -them thought the proposed change salutary; others hoped to quiet the -public mind by a liberal concession; and others had held such language -when they were opposing the Place Bill that they could not, without -gross inconsistency, oppose the Triennial Bill. The whole House too bore -a grudge to the other House, and had a pleasure in putting the other -House in a most disagreeable dilemma. Burnet, Pembroke, nay, even -Caermarthen, who was very little in the habit of siding with the people -against the throne, supported Shrewsbury. "My Lord," said the King to -Caermarthen, with bitter displeasure, "you will live to repent the part -which you are taking in this matter." [377] The warning was disregarded; -and the bill, having passed the Lords smoothly and rapidly, was carried -with great solemnity by two judges to the Commons. - -Of what took place in the Commons we have but very meagre accounts; but -from those accounts it is clear that the Whigs, as a body, supported the -bill, and that the opposition came chiefly from Tories. Old Titus, who -had been a politician in the days of the Commonwealth, entertained the -House with a speech in the style which had been fashionable in those -days. Parliaments, he said, resembled the manna which God bestowed on -the chosen people. They were excellent while they were fresh; but if -kept too long they became noisome; and foul worms were engendered by -the corruption of that which had been sweeter than honey. Littleton -and other leading Whigs spoke on the same side. Seymour, Finch, and -Tredenham, all stanch Tories, were vehement against the bill; and even -Sir John Lowther on this point dissented from his friend and patron -Caermarthen. Several Tory orators appealed to a feeling which was strong -in the House, and which had, since the Revolution, prevented many -laws from passing. Whatever, they said, comes from the Peers is to be -received with suspicion; and the present bill is of such a nature that, -even if it were in itself good, it ought to be at once rejected merely -because it has been brought down from them. If their Lordships were to -send us the most judicious of all money bills, should we not kick it to -the door? Yet to send us a money bill would hardly be a grosser affront -than to send us such a bill as this. They have taken an initiative -which, by every rule of parliamentary courtesy, ought to have been left -to us. They have sate in judgment on us, convicted us, condemned us to -dissolution, and fixed the first of January for the execution. Are we -to submit patiently to so degrading a sentence, a sentence too passed by -men who have not so conducted themselves as to have acquired any right -to censure others? Have they ever made any sacrifice of their own -interest, of their own dignity, to the general welfare? Have not -excellent bills been lost because we would not consent to insert in them -clauses conferring new privileges on the nobility? And now that their -Lordships are bent on obtaining popularity, do they propose to -purchase it by relinquishing even the smallest of their own oppressive -privileges? No; they offer to their country that which will cost them -nothing, but which will cost us and will cost the Crown dear. In such -circumstances it is our duty to repel the insult which has been offered -to us, and, by doing so, to vindicate the lawful prerogative of the -King. - -Such topics as these were doubtless well qualified to inflame the -passions of the House of Commons. The near prospect of a dissolution -could not be very agreeable to a member whose election was likely to be -contested. He must go through all the miseries of a canvass, must shake -hands with crowds of freeholders or freemen, must ask after their wives -and children, must hire conveyances for outvoters, must open alehouses, -must provide mountains of beef, must set rivers of ale running, and -might perhaps, after all the drudgery and all the expense, after being -lampooned, hustled, pelted, find himself at the bottom of the poll, see -his antagonists chaired, and sink half ruined into obscurity. All this -evil he was now invited to bring on himself, and invited by men whose -own seats in the legislature were permanent, who gave up neither dignity -nor quiet, neither power nor money, but gained the praise of patriotism -by forcing him to abdicate a high station, to undergo harassing labour -and anxiety, to mortgage his cornfields and to hew down his woods. There -was naturally much irritation, more probably than is indicated by the -divisions. For the constituent bodies were generally delighted with the -bill; and many members who disliked it were afraid to oppose it. The -House yielded to the pressure of public opinion, but not without a -pang and a struggle. The discussions in the committee seem to have been -acrimonious. Such sharp words passed between Seymour and one of the Whig -members that it was necessary to put the Speaker in the chair and the -mace on the table for the purpose of restoring order. One amendment was -made. The respite which the Lords had granted to the existing Parliament -was extended from the first of January to Lady Day, in order that there -might be full time for another session. The third reading was carried -by two hundred votes to a hundred and sixty-one. The Lords agreed to the -bill as amended; and nothing was wanting but the royal assent. Whether -that assent would or would not be given was a question which remained in -suspense till the last day of the session. [378] - -One strange inconsistency in the conduct of the reformers of that -generation deserves notice. It never occurred to any one of those who -were zealous for the Triennial Bill that every argument which could be -urged in favour of that bill was an argument against the rules which -had been framed in old times for the purpose of keeping parliamentary -deliberations and divisions strictly secret. It is quite natural that -a government which withholds political privileges from the commonalty -should withhold also political information. But nothing can be more -irrational than to give power, and not to give the knowledge without -which there is the greatest risk that power will be abused. What could -be more absurd than to call constituent bodies frequently together that -they might decide whether their representative had done his duty by -them, and yet strictly to interdict them from learning, on trustworthy -authority, what he had said or how he had voted? The absurdity however -appears to have passed altogether unchallenged. It is highly probable -that among the two hundred members of the House of Commons who voted for -the third reading of the Triennial Bill there was not one who would have -hesitated about sending to Newgate any person who had dared to publish -a report of the debate on that bill, or a list of the Ayes and the Noes. -The truth is that the secrecy of parliamentary debates, a secrecy which -would now be thought a grievance more intolerable than the Shipmoney -or the Star Chamber, was then inseparably associated, even in the most -honest and intelligent minds, with constitutional freedom. A few old -men still living could remember times when a gentleman who was known at -Whitehall to have let fall a sharp word against a court favourite would -have been brought before the Privy Council and sent to the Tower. Those -times were gone, never to return. There was no longer any danger that -the King would oppress the members of the legislature; and there was -much danger that the members of the legislature might oppress the -people. Nevertheless the words Privilege of Parliament, those words -which the stern senators of the preceding generation had murmured when a -tyrant filled their chamber with his guards, those words which a hundred -thousand Londoners had shouted in his ears when he ventured for the last -time within the walls of their city; still retained a magical influence -over all who loved liberty. It was long before even the most enlightened -men became sensible that the precautions which had been originally -devised for the purpose of protecting patriots against the displeasure -of the Court now served only to protect sycophants against the -displeasure of the nation. - -It is also to be observed that few of those who showed at this time the -greatest desire to increase the political power of the people were as -yet prepared to emancipate the press from the control of the government. -The Licensing Act, which had passed, as a matter of course, in 1685, -expired in 1693, and was renewed, not however without an opposition, -which, though feeble when compared with the magnitude of the object in -dispute, proved that the public mind was beginning dimly to perceive -how closely civil freedom and freedom of conscience are connected with -freedom of discussion. - -On the history of the Licensing Act no preceding writer has thought it -worth while to expend any care or labour. Yet surely the events which -led to the establishment of the liberty of the press in England, and in -all the countries peopled by the English race, may be thought to have -as much interest for the present generation as any of those battles and -sieges of which the most minute details have been carefully recorded. - -During the first three years of William's reign scarcely a voice seems -to have been raised against the restrictions which the law imposed on -literature. Those restrictions were in perfect harmony with the theory -of government held by the Tories, and were not, in practice, galling -to the Whigs. Roger Lestrange, who had been licenser under the last two -Kings of the House of Stuart, and who had shown as little tenderness -to Exclusionists and Presbyterians in that character as in his other -character of Observator, was turned out of office at the Revolution, and -was succeeded by a Scotch gentleman, who, on account of his passion for -rare books, and his habit of attending all sales of libraries, was known -in the shops and coffeehouses near Saint Paul's by the name of Catalogue -Fraser. Fraser was a zealous Whig. By Whig authors and publishers he -was extolled as a most impartial and humane man. But the conduct which -obtained their applause drew on him the abuse of the Tories, and was -not altogether pleasing to his official superior Nottingham. [379] No -serious difference however seems to have arisen till the year 1692. In -that year an honest old clergyman named Walker, who had, in the time of -the Commonwealth, been Gauden's curate, wrote a book which convinced -all sensible and dispassionate readers that Gauden, and not Charles the -First, was the author of the Icon Basilike. This book Fraser suffered to -be printed. If he had authorised the publication of a work in which the -Gospel of Saint John or the Epistle to the Romans had been represented -as spurious, the indignation of the High Church party could hardly have -been greater. The question was not literary, but religious. Doubt was -impiety. In truth the Icon was to many fervent Royalists a supplementary -revelation. One of them indeed had gone so far as to propose that -lessons taken out of the inestimable little volume should be read in -the churches. [380] Fraser found it necessary to resign his place; and -Nottingham appointed a gentleman of good blood and scanty fortune named -Edmund Bohun. This change of men produced an immediate and total change -of system; for Bohun was as strong a Tory as a conscientious man who -had taken the oaths could possibly be. He had been conspicuous as a -persecutor of nonconformists and a champion of the doctrine of passive -obedience. He had edited Filmer's absurd treatise on the origin of -government, and had written an answer to the paper which Algernon Sidney -had delivered to the Sheriffs on Tower Hill. Nor did Bohun admit that, -in swearing allegiance to William and Mary, he had done any thing -inconsistent with his old creed. For he had succeeded in convincing -himself that they reigned by right of conquest, and that it was the duty -of an Englishman to serve them as faithfully as Daniel had served Darius -or as Nehemiah had served Artaxerxes. This doctrine, whatever peace it -might bring to his own conscience, found little favour with any -party. The Whigs loathed it as servile; the Jacobites loathed it as -revolutionary. Great numbers of Tories had doubtless submitted to -William on the ground that he was, rightfully or wrongfully, King -in possession; but very few of them were disposed to allow that his -possession had originated in conquest. Indeed the plea which had -satisfied the weak and narrow mind of Bohun was a mere fiction, and, had -it been a truth, would have been a truth not to be uttered by Englishmen -without agonies of shame and mortification. [381] He however clung to -his favourite whimsy with a tenacity which the general disapprobation -only made more intense. His old friends, the stedfast adherents -of indefeasible hereditary right, grew cold and reserved. He asked -Sancroft's blessing, and got only a sharp word, and a black look. -He asked Ken's blessing; and Ken, though not much in the habit of -transgressing the rules of Christian charity and courtesy, murmured -something about a little scribbler. Thus cast out by one faction, Bohun -was not received by any other. He formed indeed a class apart; for he -was at once a zealous Filmerite and a zealous Williamite. He held that -pure monarchy, not limited by any law or contract, was the form of -government which had been divinely ordained. But he held that William -was now the absolute monarch, who might annul the Great Charter, abolish -trial by jury, or impose taxes by royal proclamation, without forfeiting -the right to be implicitly obeyed by Christian men. As to the rest, -Bohun was a man of some learning, mean understanding and unpopular -manners. He had no sooner entered on his functions than all Paternoster -Row and Little Britain were in a ferment. The Whigs had, under Fraser's -administration, enjoyed almost as entire a liberty as if there had been -no censorship. But they were now as severely treated as in the days of -Lestrange. A History of the Bloody Assizes was about to be published, -and was expected to have as great a run as the Pilgrim's Progress. But -the new licenser refused his Imprimatur. The book, he said, represented -rebels and schismatics as heroes and martyrs; and he would not sanction -it for its weight in gold. A charge delivered by Lord Warrington to the -grand jury of Cheshire was not permitted to appear, because His Lordship -had spoken contemptuously of divine right and passive obedience. -Julian Johnson found that, if he wished to promulgate his notions of -government, he must again have recourse, as in the evil times of King -James, to a secret press. [382] Such restraint as this, coming -after several years of unbounded freedom, naturally produced violent -exasperation. Some Whigs began to think that the censorship itself was a -grievance; all Whigs agreed in pronouncing the new censor unfit for his -post, and were prepared to join in an effort to get rid of him. - -Of the transactions which terminated in Bohun's dismission, and which -produced the first parliamentary struggle for the liberty of unlicensed -printing, we have accounts written by Bohun himself and by others; but -there are strong reasons for believing that in none of those accounts is -the whole truth to be found. It may perhaps not be impossible, even at -this distance of time, to put together dispersed fragments of evidence -in such a manner as to produce an authentic narrative which would have -astonished the unfortunate licenser himself. - -There was then about town a man of good family, of some reading, and of -some small literary talent, named Charles Blount. [383] In politics he -belonged to the extreme section of the Whig party. In the days of the -Exclusion Bill he had been one of Shaftesbury's brisk boys, and had, -under the signature of Junius Brutus, magnified the virtues and public -services of Titus Oates, and exhorted the Protestants to take signal -vengeance on the Papists for the fire of London and for the murder -of Godfrey. [384] As to the theological questions which were in issue -between Protestants and Papists, Blount was perfectly impartial. He was -an infidel, and the head of a small school of infidels who were troubled -with a morbid desire to make converts. He translated from the Latin -translation part of the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, and appended to it -notes of which the flippant profaneness called forth the severe censure -of an unbeliever of a very different order, the illustrious Bayle. [385] -Blount also attacked Christianity in several original treatises, or -rather in several treatises purporting to be original; for he was -the most audacious of literary thieves, and transcribed, without -acknowledgment, whole pages from authors who had preceded him. His -delight was to worry the priests by asking them how light existed -before the sun was made, how Paradise could be bounded by Pison, Gihon, -Hiddekel and Euphrates, how serpents moved before they were condemned -to crawl, and where Eve found thread to stitch her figleaves. To his -speculations on these subjects he gave the lofty name of the Oracles of -Reason; and indeed whatever he said or wrote was considered as oracular -by his disciples. Of those disciples the most noted was a bad writer -named Gildon, who lived to pester another generation with doggrel and -slander, and whose memory is still preserved, not by his own voluminous -works, but by two or three lines in which his stupidity and venality -have been contemptuously mentioned by Pope. [386] - -Little as either the intellectual or the moral character of Blount may -seem to deserve respect, it is in a great measure to him that we must -attribute the emancipation of the English press. Between him and the -licensers there was a feud of long standing. Before the Revolution one -of his heterodox treatises had been grievously mutilated by Lestrange, -and at last suppressed by orders from Lestrange's superior the Bishop -of London. [387] Bohun was a scarcely less severe critic than Lestrange. -Blount therefore began to make war on the censorship and the censor. -The hostilities were commenced by a tract which came forth without any -license, and which is entitled A Just Vindication of Learning and of the -Liberty of the Press, by Philopatris. [388] Whoever reads this piece, -and is not aware that Blount was one of the most unscrupulous plagiaries -that ever lived, will be surprised to find, mingled with the poor -thoughts and poor words of a thirdrate pamphleteer, passages so elevated -in sentiment and style that they would be worthy of the greatest name -in letters. The truth is that the just Vindication consists chiefly of -garbled extracts from the Areopagitica of Milton. That noble discourse -had been neglected by the generation to which it was addressed, had -sunk into oblivion, and was at the mercy of every pilferer. The literary -workmanship of Blount resembled the architectural workmanship of those -barbarians who used the Coliseum and the Theatre of Pompey as quarries, -who built hovels out of Ionian friezes and propped cowhouses on pillars -of lazulite. Blount concluded, as Milton had done, by recommending that -any book might be printed without a license, provided that the name of -the author or publisher were registered. [389] The Just Vindication was -well received. The blow was speedily followed up. There still remained -in the Areopagitica many fine passages which Blount had not used in his -first pamphlet. Out of these passages he constructed a second pamphlet -entitled Reasons for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing. [390] To these -Reasons he appended a postscript entitled A Just and True Character -of Edmund Bohun. This character was written with extreme bitterness. -Passages were quoted from the licenser's writings to prove that he held -the doctrines of passive obedience and nonresistance. He was accused of -using his power systematically for the purpose of favouring the enemies -and silencing the friends of the Sovereigns whose bread he ate; and it -was asserted that he was the friend and the pupil of his predecessor Sir -Roger. - -Blount's Character of Bohun could not be publicly sold; but it was -widely circulated. While it was passing from hand to hand, and while -the Whigs were every where exclaiming against the new censor as a second -Lestrange, he was requested to authorise the publication of an anonymous -work entitled King William and Queen Mary Conquerors. [391] He readily -and indeed eagerly complied. For in truth there was between the -doctrines which he had long professed and the doctrines which were -propounded in this treatise a coincidence so exact that many suspected -him of being the author; nor was this suspicion weakened by a passage -to which a compliment was paid to his political writings. But the real -author was that very Blount who was, at that very time, labouring to -inflame the public both against the Licensing Act and the licenser. -Blount's motives may easily be divined. His own opinions were -diametrically opposed to those which, on this occasion, he put forward -in the most offensive manner. It is therefore impossible to doubt that -his object was to ensnare and to ruin Bohun. It was a base and wicked -scheme. But it cannot be denied that the trap was laid and baited with -much skill. The republican succeeded in personating a high Tory. -The atheist succeeded in personating a high Churchman. The pamphlet -concluded with a devout prayer that the God of light and love would open -the understanding and govern the will of Englishmen, so that they -might see the things which belonged to their peace. The censor was in -raptures. In every page he found his own thoughts expressed more plainly -than he had ever expressed them. Never before, in his opinion, had the -true claim of their Majesties to obedience been so clearly stated. Every -Jacobite who read this admirable tract must inevitably be converted. The -nonjurors would flock to take the oaths. The nation, so long divided, -would at length be united. From these pleasing dreams Bohun was awakened -by learning, a few hours after the appearance of the discourse which had -charmed him, that the titlepage had set all London in a flame, and that -the odious words, King William and Queen Mary Conquerors, had moved the -indignation of multitudes who had never read further. Only four days -after the publication he heard that the House of Commons had taken the -matter up, that the book had been called by some members a rascally -book, and that, as the author was unknown, the Serjeant at Arms was in -search of the licenser. [392] Bohun's mind had never been strong; and he -was entirely unnerved and bewildered by the fury and suddenness of -the storm which had burst upon him. He went to the House. Most of the -members whom he met in the passages and lobbies frowned on him. When he -was put to the bar, and, after three profound obeisances, ventured to -lift his head and look round him, he could read his doom in the angry -and contemptuous looks which were cast on him from every side. He -hesitated, blundered, contradicted himself, called the Speaker My Lord, -and, by his confused way of speaking, raised a tempest of rude laughter -which confused him still more. As soon as he had withdrawn, it was -unanimously resolved that the obnoxious treatise should be burned in -Palace Yard by the common hangman. It was also resolved, without a -division, that the King should be requested to remove Bohun from the -office of licenser. The poor man, ready to faint with grief and fear, -was conducted by the officers of the House to a place of confinement. -[393] - -But scarcely was he in his prison when a large body of members -clamorously demanded a more important victim. Burnet had, shortly after -he became Bishop of Salisbury, addressed to the clergy of his diocese a -Pastoral Letter, exhorting them to take the oaths. In one paragraph of -this letter he had held language bearing some resemblance to that of the -pamphlet which had just been sentenced to the flames. There were indeed -distinctions which a judicious and impartial tribunal would not have -failed to notice. But the tribunal before which Burnet was arraigned was -neither judicious nor impartial. His faults had made him many enemies, -and his virtues many more. The discontented Whigs complained that he -leaned towards the Court, the High Churchmen that he leaned towards the -Dissenters; nor can it be supposed that a man of so much boldness and so -little tact, a man so indiscreetly frank and so restlessly active, -had passed through life without crossing the schemes and wounding the -feelings of some whose opinions agreed with his. He was regarded with -peculiar malevolence by Howe. Howe had never, even while he was in -office, been in the habit of restraining his bitter and petulant tongue; -and he had recently been turned out of office in a way which had -made him ungovernably ferocious. The history of his dismission is not -accurately known, but it was certainly accompanied by some circumstances -which had cruelly galled his temper. If rumour could be trusted, he had -fancied that Mary was in love with him, and had availed himself of an -opportunity which offered itself while he was in attendance on her -as Vice Chamberlain to make some advances which had justly moved her -indignation. Soon after he was discarded, he was prosecuted for having, -in a fit of passion, beaten one of his servants savagely within the -verge of the palace. He had pleaded guilty, and had been pardoned; but -from this time he showed, on every occasion, the most rancorous personal -hatred of his royal mistress, of her husband, and of all who were -favoured by either. It was known that the Queen frequently consulted -Burnet; and Howe was possessed with the belief that her severity was to -be imputed to Burnet's influence. [394] Now was the time to be revenged. -In a long and elaborate speech the spiteful Whig--for such he still -affected to be--represented Burnet as a Tory of the worst class. "There -should be a law," he said, "making it penal for the clergy to introduce -politics into their discourses. Formerly they sought to enslave us by -crying up the divine and indefeasible right of the hereditary prince. -Now they try to arrive at the same result by telling us that we are a -conquered people." It was moved that the Bishop should be impeached. -To this motion there was an unanswerable objection, which the Speaker -pointed out. The Pastoral Letter had been written in 1689, and was -therefore covered by the Act of Grace which had been passed in 1690. Yet -a member was not ashamed to say, "No matter: impeach him; and force -him to plead the Act." Few, however, were disposed to take a course so -unworthy of a House of Commons. Some wag cried out, "Burn it; burn it;" -and this bad pun ran along the benches, and was received with shouts of -laughter. It was moved that the Pastoral Letter should be burned by the -common hangman. A long and vehement debate followed. For Burnet was -a man warmly loved as well as warmly hated. The great majority of the -Whigs stood firmly by him; and his goodnature and generosity had made -him friends even among the Tories. The contest lasted two days. Montague -and Finch, men of widely different opinions, appear to have been -foremost among the Bishop's champions. An attempt to get rid of the -subject by moving the previous question failed. At length the main -question was put; and the Pastoral Letter was condemned to the flames by -a small majority in a full house. The Ayes were a hundred and sixty-two; -the Noes a hundred and fifty-five. [395] The general opinion, at least -of the capital, seems to have been that Burnet was cruelly treated. -[396] - -He was not naturally a man of fine feelings; and the life which he had -led had not tended to make them finer. He had been during many years -a mark for theological and political animosity. Grave doctors had -anathematized him; ribald poets had lampooned him; princes and ministers -had laid snares for his life; he had been long a wanderer and an exile, -in constant peril of being kidnapped, struck in the boots, hanged and -quartered. Yet none of these things had ever seemed to move him. His -selfconceit had been proof against ridicule, and his dauntless temper -against danger. But on this occasion his fortitude seems to have failed -him. To be stigmatized by the popular branch of the legislature as a -teacher of doctrines so servile that they disgusted even Tories, to be -joined in one sentence of condemnation with the editor of Filmer, was -too much. How deeply Burnet was wounded appeared many years later, when, -after his death, his History of his Life and Times was given to the -world. In that work he is ordinarily garrulous even to minuteness -about all that concerns himself, and sometimes relates with amusing -ingenuousness his own mistakes and the censures which those mistakes -brought upon him. But about the ignominious judgment passed by the House -of Commons on his Pastoral Letter he has preserved a most significant -silence. [397] - -The plot which ruined Bohun, though it did no honour to those who -contrived it, produced important and salutary effects. Before the -conduct of the unlucky licenser had been brought under the consideration -of Parliament, the Commons had resolved, without any division, and, as -far as appears, without any discussion, that the Act which subjected -literature to a censorship should be continued. But the question had -now assumed a new aspect; and the continuation of the Act was no longer -regarded as a matter of course. A feeling in favour of the liberty of -the press, a feeling not yet, it is true, of wide extent or formidable -intensity, began to show itself. The existing system, it was said, was -prejudicial both to commerce and to learning. Could it be expected that -any capitalist would advance the funds necessary for a great literary -undertaking, or that any scholar would expend years of toil and research -on such an undertaking, while it was possible that, at the last moment, -the caprice, the malice, the folly of one man might frustrate the whole -design? And was it certain that the law which so grievously restricted -both the freedom of trade and the freedom of thought had really added -to the security of the State? Had not recent experience proved that the -licenser might himself be an enemy of their Majesties, or, worse still, -an absurd and perverse friend; that he might suppress a book of which it -would be for their interest that every house in the country should have -a copy, and that he might readily give his sanction to a libel which -tended to make them hateful to their people, and which deserved to be -torn and burned by the hand of Ketch? Had the government gained much by -establishing a literary police which prevented Englishmen from -having the History of the Bloody Circuit, and allowed them, by way of -compensation, to read tracts which represented King William and Queen -Mary as conquerors? - -In that age persons who were not specially interested in a public -bill very seldom petitioned Parliament against it or for it. The only -petitions therefore which were at this conjuncture presented to the two -Houses against the censorship came from booksellers, bookbinders and -printers. [398] But the opinion which these classes expressed was -certainly not confined to them. - -The law which was about to expire had lasted eight years. It was renewed -for only two years. It appears, from an entry in the journals of the -Commons which unfortunately is defective, that a division took place on -an amendment about the nature of which we are left entirely in the dark. -The votes were ninety-nine to eighty. In the Lords it was proposed, -according to the suggestion offered fifty years before by Milton and -stolen from him by Blount, to exempt from the authority of the licenser -every book which bore the name of an author or publisher. This amendment -was rejected; and the bill passed, but not without a protest signed by -eleven peers who declared that they could not think it for the public -interest to subject all learning and true information to the arbitrary -will and pleasure of a mercenary and perhaps ignorant licenser. Among -those who protested were Halifax, Shrewsbury and Mulgrave, three -noblemen belonging to different political parties, but all distinguished -by their literary attainments. It is to be lamented that the signatures -of Tillotson and Burnet, who were both present on that day, should be -wanting. Dorset was absent. [399] - -Blount, by whose exertions and machinations the opposition to the -censorship had been raised, did not live to see that opposition -successful. Though not a very young man, he was possessed by an insane -passion for the sister of his deceased wife. Having long laboured in -vain to convince the object of his love that she might lawfully marry -him, he at last, whether from weariness of life, or in the hope of -touching her heart, inflicted on himself a wound of which, after -languishing long, he died. He has often been mentioned as a blasphemer -and selfmurderer. But the important service which, by means doubtless -most immoral and dishonourable, he rendered to his country, has passed -almost unnoticed. [400] - -Late in this busy and eventful session the attention of the Houses was -called to the state of Ireland. The government of that kingdom had, -during the six months which followed the surrender of Limerick, been -in an unsettled state. It was not till the Irish troops who adhered to -Sarsfield had sailed for France, and till the Irish troops who had made -their election to remain at home had been disbanded, that William at -length put forth a proclamation solemnly announcing the termination -of the civil war. From the hostility of the aboriginal inhabitants, -destitute as they now were of chiefs, of arms and of organization, -nothing was to be apprehended beyond occasional robberies and murders. -But the war cry of the Irishry had scarcely died away when the first -faint murmurs of the Englishry began to be heard. Coningsby was during -some months at the head of the administration. He soon made himself in -the highest degree odious to the dominant caste. He was an unprincipled -man; he was insatiable of riches; and he was in a situation in which -riches were easily to be obtained by an unprincipled man. Immense sums -of money, immense quantities of military stores had been sent over -from England. Immense confiscations were taking place in Ireland. The -rapacious governor had daily opportunities of embezzling and extorting; -and of those opportunities he availed himself without scruple or shame. -This however was not, in the estimation of the colonists, his greatest -offence. They might have pardoned his covetousness; but they could not -pardon the clemency which he showed to their vanquished and enslaved -enemies. His clemency indeed amounted merely to this, that he loved -money more than he hated Papists, and that he was not unwilling to sell -for a high price a scanty measure of justice to some of the oppressed -class. Unhappily, to the ruling minority, sore from recent conflict and -drunk with recent victory, the subjugated majority was as a drove of -cattle, or rather as a pack of wolves. Man acknowledges in the inferior -animals no rights inconsistent with his own convenience; and as man -deals with the inferior animals the Cromwellian thought himself at -liberty to deal with the Roman Catholic. Coningsby therefore drew on -himself a greater storm of obloquy by his few good acts than by his many -bad acts. The clamour against him was so violent that he was removed; -and Sidney went over, with the full power and dignity of Lord -Lieutenant, to hold a Parliament at Dublin. [401] - -But the easy temper and graceful manners of Sidney failed to produce a -conciliatory effect. He does not indeed appear to have been greedy of -unlawful gain. But he did not restrain with a sufficiently firm hand -the crowd of subordinate functionaries whom Coningsby's example and -protection had encouraged to plunder the public and to sell their good -offices to suitors. Nor was the new Viceroy of a temper to bear hard -on the feeble remains of the native aristocracy. He therefore speedily -became an object of suspicion and aversion to the Anglosaxon settlers. -His first act was to send out the writs for a general election. The -Roman Catholics had been excluded from every municipal corporation; but -no law had yet deprived them of the county franchise. It is probable -however that not a single Roman Catholic freeholder ventured to approach -the hustings. The members chosen were, with few exceptions, men animated -by the spirit of Enniskillen and Londonderry, a spirit eminently heroic -in times of distress and peril, but too often cruel and imperious in -the season of prosperity and power. They detested the civil treaty of -Limerick, and were indignant when they learned that the Lord Lieutenant -fully expected from them a parliamentary ratification of that odious -contract, a contract which gave a licence to the idolatry of the -mass, and which prevented good Protestants from ruining their Popish -neighbours by bringing civil actions for injuries done during the war. -[402] - -On the fifth of October 1692 the Parliament met at Dublin in Chichester -House. It was very differently composed from the assembly which had -borne the same title in 1689. Scarcely one peer, not one member of the -House of Commons, who had sate at the King's Inns, was to be seen. To -the crowd of O's and Macs, descendants of the old princes of the island, -had succeeded men whose names indicated a Saxon origin. A single O, -an apostate from the faith of his fathers, and three Macs, evidently -emigrants from Scotland, and probably Presbyterians, had seats in the -assembly. - -The Parliament, thus composed, had then less than the powers of the -Assembly of Jamaica or of the Assembly of Virginia. Not merely was the -Legislature which sate at Dublin subject to the absolute control of the -Legislature which sate at Westminster: but a law passed in the fifteenth -century, during the administration of the Lord Deputy Poynings, and -called by his name, had provided that no bill which had not been -considered and approved by the Privy Council of England should be -brought into either House in Ireland, and that every bill so considered -and approved should be either passed without amendment or rejected. -[403] - -The session opened with a solemn recognition of the paramount authority -of the mother country. The Commons ordered their clerk to read to them -the English Act which required them to take the Oath of Supremacy and to -subscribe the Declaration against Transubstantiation. Having heard the -Act read, they immediately proceeded to obey it. Addresses were then -voted which expressed the warmest gratitude and attachment to the King. -Two members, who had been untrue to the Protestant and English interest -during the troubles, were expelled. Supplies, liberal when compared with -the resources of a country devastated by years of predatory war, were -voted with eagerness. But the bill for confirming the Act of Settlement -was thought to be too favourable to the native gentry, and, as it could -not be amended, was with little ceremony rejected. A committee of the -whole House resolved that the unjustifiable indulgence with which the -Irish had been treated since the battle of the Boyne was one of the -chief causes of the misery of the kingdom. A Committee of Grievances -sate daily till eleven in the evening; and the proceedings of this -inquest greatly alarmed the Castle. Many instances of gross venality -and knavery on the part of men high in office were brought to light, and -many instances also of what was then thought a criminal lenity towards -the subject nation. This Papist had been allowed to enlist in the army; -that Papist had been allowed to keep a gun; a third had too good a -horse; a fourth had been protected against Protestants who wished to -bring actions against him for wrongs committed during the years of -confusion. The Lord Lieutenant, having obtained nearly as much money as -he could expect, determined to put an end to these unpleasant inquiries. -He knew, however, that if he quarrelled with the Parliament for treating -either peculators or Papists with severity, he should have little -support in England. He therefore looked out for a pretext, and was -fortunate enough to find one. The Commons had passed a vote which might -with some plausibility be represented as inconsistent with the -Poynings statute. Any thing which looked like a violation of that great -fundamental law was likely to excite strong disapprobation on the other -side of Saint George's Channel. The Viceroy saw his advantage, and -availed himself of it. He went to the chamber of the Lords at Chichester -House, sent for the Commons, reprimanded them in strong language, -charged them with undutifully and ungratefully encroaching on the rights -of the mother country, and put an end to the session. [404] - -Those whom he had lectured withdrew full of resentment. The imputation -which he had thrown on them was unjust. They had a strong feeling of -love and reverence for the land from which they sprang, and looked with -confidence for redress to the supreme Parliament. Several of them went -to London for the purpose of vindicating themselves and of accusing the -Lord Lieutenant. They were favoured with a long and attentive audience, -both by the Lords and by the Commons, and were requested to put the -substance of what had been said into writing. The humble language of -the petitioners, and their protestations that they had never intended to -violate the Poynings statute, or to dispute the paramount authority of -England, effaced the impression which Sidney's accusations had made. -Both Houses addressed the King on the state of Ireland. They censured -no delinquent by name; but they expressed an opinion that there had been -gross maladministration, that the public had been plundered, and that -Roman Catholics had been treated with unjustifiable tenderness. William -in reply promised that what was amiss should be corrected. His friend -Sidney was soon recalled, and consoled for the loss of the viceregal -dignity with the lucrative place of Master of the Ordnance. The -government of Ireland was for a time entrusted to Lords justices, among -whom Sir Henry Capel, a zealous Whig, very little disposed to show -indulgence to Papists, had the foremost place. - -The prorogation drew nigh; and still the fate of the Triennial Bill was -uncertain. Some of the ablest ministers thought the bill a good one; -and, even had they thought it a bad one, they would probably have tried -to dissuade their master from rejecting it. It was impossible, however, -to remove from his mind the impression that a concession on this point -would seriously impair his authority. Not relying on the judgment of his -ordinary advisers, he sent Portland to ask the opinion of Sir William -Temple. Temple had made a retreat for himself at a place called Moor -Park, in the neighbourhood of Farnham. The country round his dwelling -was almost a wilderness. His amusement during some years had been to -create in the waste what those Dutch burgomasters among whom he had -passed some of the best years of his life, would have considered as a -paradise. His hermitage had been occasionally honoured by the presence -of the King, who had from a boy known and esteemed the author of the -Triple Alliance, and who was well pleased to find, among the heath and -furze of the wilds of Surrey, a spot which seemed to be part of Holland, -a straight canal, a terrace, rows of clipped trees, and rectangular beds -of flowers and potherbs. - -Portland now repaired to this secluded abode and consulted the oracle. -Temple was decidedly of opinion that the bill ought to pass. He was -apprehensive that the reasons which led him to form this opinion might -not be fully and correctly reported to the King by Portland, who was -indeed as brave a soldier and as trusty a friend as ever lived, whose -natural abilities were not inconsiderable, and who, in some departments -of business, had great experience, but who was very imperfectly -acquainted with the history and constitution of England. As the state -of Sir William's health made it impossible for him to go himself to -Kensington, he determined to send his secretary thither. The secretary -was a poor scholar of four or five and twenty, under whose plain garb -and ungainly deportment were concealed some of the choicest gifts that -have ever been bestowed on any of the children of men; rare powers of -observation, brilliant wit, grotesque invention, humour of the most -austere flavour, yet exquisitely delicious, eloquence singularly pure, -manly and perspicuous. This young man was named Jonathan Swift. He was -born in Ireland, but would have thought himself insulted if he had been -called an Irishman. He was of unmixed English blood, and, through life, -regarded the aboriginal population of the island in which he first drew -breath as an alien and a servile caste. He had in the late reign kept -terms at the University of Dublin, but had been distinguished there only -by his irregularities, and had with difficulty obtained his degree. At -the time of the Revolution, he had, with many thousands of his fellow -colonists, taken refuge in the mother country from the violence of -Tyrconnel, and had thought himself fortunate in being able to obtain -shelter at Moor Park. [405] For that shelter, however, he had to pay -a heavy price. He was thought to be sufficiently remunerated for his -services with twenty pounds a year and his board. He dined at the second -table. Sometimes, indeed, when better company was not to be had, he was -honoured by being invited to play at cards with his patron; and on such -occasions Sir William was so generous as to give his antagonist a little -silver to begin with. [406] The humble student would not have dared to -raise his eyes to a lady of family; but, when he had become a clergyman, -he began, after the fashion of the clergymen of that generation, to make -love to a pretty waitingmaid who was the chief ornament of the servants' -hall, and whose name is inseparably associated with his in a sad and -mysterious history. - -Swift many years later confessed some part of what he felt when he found -himself on his way to Court. His spirit had been bowed down, and might -seem to have been broken, by calamities and humiliations. The language -which he was in the habit of holding to his patron, as far as we can -judge from the specimens which still remain, was that of a lacquey, -or rather of a beggar. [407] A sharp word or a cold look of the master -sufficed to make the servant miserable during several days. [408] But -this tameness was merely the tameness with which a tiger, caught, caged -and starved, submits to the keeper who brings him food. The humble -menial was at heart the haughtiest, the most aspiring, the most -vindictive, the most despotic of men. And now at length a great, a -boundless prospect was opening before him. To William he was already -slightly known. At Moor Park the King had sometimes, when his host was -confined by gout to an easy chair, been attended by the secretary about -the grounds. His Majesty had condescended to teach his companion the -Dutch way of cutting and eating asparagus, and had graciously asked -whether Mr. Swift would like to have a captain's commission in a cavalry -regiment. But now for the first time the young man was to stand in -the royal presence as a counsellor. He was admitted into the closet, -delivered a letter from Temple, and explained and enforced the arguments -which that letter contained, concisely, but doubtless with clearness and -ability. There was, he said, no reason to think that short Parliaments -would be more disposed than long Parliaments to encroach on the just -prerogatives of the Crown. In fact the Parliament which had, in the -preceding generation, waged war against a king, led him captive, sent -him to the prison, to the bar, to the scaffold, was known in our annals -as emphatically the Long Parliament. Never would such disasters have -befallen the monarchy but for the fatal law which secured that assembly -from dissolution. [409] There was, it must be owned, a flaw in this -reasoning which a man less shrewd than William might easily detect. That -one restriction of the royal prerogative had been mischievous did -not prove that another restriction would be salutary. It by no means -followed because one sovereign had been ruined by being unable to get -rid of a hostile Parliament that another sovereign might not be ruined -by being forced to part with a friendly Parliament. To the great -mortification of the ambassador, his arguments failed to shake the -King's resolution. On the fourteenth of March the Commons were summoned -to the Upper House; the title of the Triennial Bill was read; and it was -announced, after the ancient form, that the King and Queen would take -the matter into their consideration. The Parliament was then prorogued. - -Soon after the prorogation William set out for the Continent. It was -necessary that, before his departure, he should make some important -changes. He was resolved not to discard Nottingham, on whose integrity, -a virtue rare among English statesmen, he placed a well founded -reliance. Yet, if Nottingham remained Secretary of State, it was -impossible to employ Russell at sea. Russell, though much mortified, -was induced to accept a lucrative post in the household; and two naval -officers of great note in their profession, Killegrew and Delaval, were -placed at the Board of Admiralty and entrusted with the command of the -Channel Fleet. [410] These arrangements caused much murmuring among the -Whigs; for Killegrew and Delaval were certainly Tories, and were by many -suspected of being Jacobites. But other promotions which took place at -the same time proved that the King wished to bear himself evenly between -the hostile factions. Nottingham had, during a year, been the sole -Secretary of State. He was now joined with a colleague in whose society -he must have felt himself very ill at ease, John Trenchard. Trenchard -belonged to the extreme section of the Whig party. He was a Taunton man, -animated by that spirit which had, during two generations, peculiarly -distinguished Taunton. He had, in the days of Popeburnings and of -Protestant flails, been one of the renowned Green Riband Club; he had -been an active member of several stormy Parliaments; he had brought -in the first Exclusion Bill; he had been deeply concerned in the plots -formed by the chiefs of the opposition; he had fled to the Continent; -he had been long an exile; and he had been excepted by name from the -general pardon of 1686. Though his life had been passed in turmoil, his -temper was naturally calm; but he was closely connected with a set of -men whose passions were far fiercer than his own. He had married the -sister of Hugh Speke, one of the falsest and most malignant of the -libellers who brought disgrace on the cause of constitutional freedom. -Aaron Smith, the solicitor of the Treasury, a man in whom the fanatic -and the pettifogger were strangely united, possessed too much influence -over the new Secretary, with whom he had, ten years before, discussed -plans of rebellion at the Rose. Why Trenchard was selected in preference -to many men of higher rank and greater ability for a post of the first -dignity and importance, it is difficult to say. It seems however that, -though he bore the title and drew the salary of Secretary of State, he -was not trusted with any of the graver secrets of State, and that he was -little more than a superintendent of police, charged to look after the -printers of unlicensed books, the pastors of nonjuring congregations, -and the haunters of treason taverns. [411] - -Another Whig of far higher character was called at the same time to a -far higher place in the administration. The Great Seal had now been four -years in commission. Since Maynard's retirement, the constitution of -the Court of Chancery had commanded little respect. Trevor, who was the -First Commissioner, wanted neither parts nor learning; but his integrity -was with good reason suspected; and the duties which, as Speaker of the -House of Commons, he had to perform during four or five months in -the busiest part of every year, made it impossible for him to be an -efficient judge in equity. Every suitor complained that he had to wait -a most unreasonable time for a judgment, and that, when at length a -judgment had been pronounced, it was very likely to be reversed on -appeal. Meanwhile there was no efficient minister of justice, no great -functionary to whom it especially belonged to advise the King touching -the appointment of judges, of Counsel for the Crown, of Justices of the -Peace. [412] It was known that William was sensible of the inconvenience -of this state of things; and, during several months, there had been -flying rumours that a Lord Keeper or a Lord Chancellor would soon -be appointed. [413] The name most frequently mentioned was that of -Nottingham. But the same reasons which had prevented him from accepting -the Great Seal in 1689 had, since that year, rather gained than lost -strength. William at length fixed his choice on Somers. - -Somers was only in his forty-second year; and five years had not elapsed -since, on the great day of the trial of the Bishops, his powers had -first been made known to the world. From that time his fame had been -steadily and rapidly rising. Neither in forensic nor in parliamentary -eloquence had he any superior. The consistency of his public conduct had -gained for him the entire confidence of the Whigs; and the urbanity -of his manners had conciliated the Tories. It was not without great -reluctance that he consented to quit an assembly over which he exercised -an immense influence for an assembly where it would be necessary for him -to sit in silence. He had been but a short time in great practice. His -savings were small. Not having the means of supporting a hereditary -title, he must, if he accepted the high dignity which was offered to -him, preside during some years in the Upper House without taking part in -the debates. The opinion of others, however, was that he would be more -useful as head of the law than as head of the Whig party in the Commons. -He was sent for to Kensington, and called into the Council Chamber. -Caermarthen spoke in the name of the King. "Sir John," he said, "it is -necessary for the public service that you should take this charge upon -you; and I have it in command from His Majesty to say that he can admit -of no excuse." Somers submitted. The seal was delivered to him, with a -patent which entitled him to a pension of two thousand a year from the -day on which he should quit his office; and he was immediately sworn in -a Privy Councillor and Lord Keeper. [414] - -The Gazette which announced these changes in the administration, -announced also the King's departure. He set out for Holland on the -twenty-fourth of March. - -He left orders that the Estates of Scotland should, after a recess of -more than two years and a half, be again called together. Hamilton, who -had lived many months in retirement, had, since the fall of Melville, -been reconciled to the Court, and now consented to quit his retreat, -and to occupy Holyrood House as Lord High Commissioner. It was -necessary that one of the Secretaries of State for Scotland should be -in attendance on the King. The Master of Stair had therefore gone to the -Continent. His colleague, Johnstone, was chief manager for the Crown at -Edinburgh, and was charged to correspond regularly with Carstairs, who -never quitted William. [415] - -It might naturally have been expected that the session would be -turbulent. The Parliament was that very Parliament which had in 1689 -passed, by overwhelming majorities, all the most violent resolutions -which Montgomery and his club could frame, which had refused supplies, -which had proscribed the ministers of the Crown, which had closed the -Courts of justice, which had seemed bent on turning Scotland into an -oligarchical republic. In 1690 the Estates had been in a better temper. -Yet, even in 1690, they had, when the ecclesiastical polity of the realm -was under consideration, paid little deference to what was well known to -be the royal wish. They had abolished patronage; they had sanctioned the -rabbling of the episcopal clergy; they had refused to pass a Toleration -Act. It seemed likely that they would still be found unmanageable when -questions touching religion came before them; and such questions it -was unfortunately necessary to bring forward. William had, during the -recess, attempted to persuade the General Assembly of the Church to -receive into communion such of the old curates as should subscribe the -Confession of Faith and should submit to the government of Synods. But -the attempt had failed; and the Assembly had consequently been dissolved -by the Lord Commissioner. Unhappily, the Act which established the -Presbyterian polity had not defined the extent of the power which was -to be exercised by the Sovereign over the Spiritual Courts. No sooner -therefore had the dissolution been announced than the Moderator -requested permission to speak. He was told that he was now merely -a private person. As a private person he requested a hearing, and -protested, in the name of his brethren, against the royal mandate. -The right, he said, of the office bearers of the Church to meet and -deliberate touching her interests was derived from her Divine Head, -and was not dependent on the pleasure of the temporal magistrate. -His brethren stood up, and by an approving murmur signified their -concurrence in what their President had said. Before they retired they -fixed a day for their next meeting. [416] It was indeed a very distant -day; and when it came neither minister nor elder attended; for even the -boldest members shrank from a complete rupture with the civil -power. But, though there was not open war between the Church and the -Government, they were estranged from each other, jealous of each -other, and afraid of each other. No progress had been made towards a -reconciliation when the Estates met; and which side the Estates would -take might well be doubted. - -But the proceedings of this strange Parliament, in almost every one of -its sessions, falsified all the predictions of politicians. It had once -been the most unmanageable of senates. It was now the most obsequious. -Yet the old men had again met in the old hall. There were all the most -noisy agitators of the club, with the exception of Montgomery, who was -dying of want and of a broken heart in a garret far from his native -land. There was the canting Ross and the perfidious Annandale. There -was Sir Patrick Hume, lately created a peer, and henceforth to be -called Lord Polwarth, but still as eloquent as when his interminable -declamations and dissertations ruined the expedition of Argyle. But -the whole spirit of the assembly had undergone a change. The members -listened with profound respect to the royal letter, and returned an -answer in reverential and affectionate language. An extraordinary aid -of a hundred and fourteen thousand pounds sterling was granted to the -Crown. Severe laws were enacted against the Jacobites. The legislation -on ecclesiastical matters was as Erastian as William himself could have -desired. An Act was passed requiring all ministers of the Established -Church to swear fealty to their Majesties, and directing the General -Assembly to receive into communion those Episcopalian ministers, not -yet deprived, who should declare that they conformed to the Presbyterian -doctrine and discipline. [417] Nay, the Estates carried adulation so far -as to make it their humble request to the King that he would be pleased -to confer a Scotch peerage on his favourite Portland. This was -indeed their chief petition. They did not ask for redress of a single -grievance. They contented themselves with hinting in general terms that -there were abuses which required correction, and with referring the King -for fuller information to his own Ministers, the Lord High Commissioner -and the Secretary of State. [418] - -There was one subject on which it may seem strange that even the most -servile of Scottish Parliaments should have kept silence. More than a -year had elapsed since the massacre of Glencoe; and it might have -been expected that the whole assembly, peers, commissioners of shires, -commissioners of burghs, would with one voice have demanded a strict -investigation into that great crime. It is certain, however, that no -motion for investigation was made. The state of the Gaelic clans was -indeed taken into consideration. A law was passed for the more effectual -suppressing of depredations and outrages beyond the Highland line; and -in that law was inserted a special proviso reserving to Mac Callum More -his hereditary jurisdiction. But it does not appear, either from the -public records of the proceedings of the Estates, or from those private -letters in which Johnstone regularly gave Carstairs an account of what -had passed, that any speaker made any allusion to the fate of Mac -Ian and his kinsmen. [419] The only explanation of this extraordinary -silence seems to be that the public men who were assembled in the -capital of Scotland knew little and cared little about the fate of a -thieving tribe of Celts. The injured clan, bowed down by fear of -the allpowerful Campbells, and little accustomed to resort to the -constituted authorities of the kingdom for protection or redress, -presented no petition to the Estates. The story of the butchery had -been told at coffeehouses, but had been told in different ways. Very -recently, one or two books, in which the facts were but too truly -related, had come forth from the secret presses of London. But those -books were not publicly exposed to sale. They bore the name of no -responsible author. The Jacobite writers were, as a class, savagely -malignant and utterly regardless of truth. Since the Macdonalds did -not complain, a prudent man might naturally be unwilling to incur the -displeasure of the King, of the ministers, and of the most powerful -family in Scotland, by bringing forward an accusation grounded on -nothing but reports wandering from mouth to mouth, or pamphlets which no -licenser had approved, to which no author had put his name, and which no -bookseller ventured to place in his shop-window. But whether this be -or be not the true solution, it is certain that the Estates separated -quietly after a session of two months, during which, as far as can -now be discovered, the name of Glencoe was not once uttered in the -Parliament House. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - - State of the Court of Saint Germains--Feeling of the Jacobites; - Compounders and Noncompounders--Change of Ministry at Saint Germains; - Middleton--New Declaration put forth by James--Effect of the new - Declaration--French Preparations for the Campaign; Institution of the - Order of Saint Lewis--Middleton's Account of Versailles--William's - Preparations for the Campaign--Lewis takes the Field--Lewis returns to - Versailles--Manoeuvres of Luxemburg--Battle of Landen--Miscarriage - of the Smyrna Fleet--Excitement in London--Jacobite Libels; William - Anderton--Writings and Artifices of the Jacobites--Conduct of - Caermarthen--Now Charter granted to the East India Company--Return of - William to England; Military Successes of France--Distress of France--A - Ministry necessary to Parliamentary Government--The First Ministry - gradually formed--Sunderland--Sunderland advises the King to give the - Preference to the Whigs--Reasons for preferring the Whigs--Chiefs of - the Whig Party; Russell--Somers--Montague--Wharton--Chiefs of the Tory - Party; Harley--Foley--Howe--Meeting of Parliament--Debates about the - Naval Miscarriages--Russell First Lord of the Admiralty; Retirement - of Nottingham--Shrewsbury refuses Office--Debates about the Trade with - India--Bill for the Regulation of Trials in Cases of Treason--Triennial - Bill--Place Bill--Bill for the Naturalisation of Foreign - Protestants--Supply--Ways and Means; Lottery Loan--The Bank of - England--Prorogation of Parliament; Ministerial Arrangements; Shrewsbury - Secretary of State--New Titles bestowed--French Plan of War; English - Plan of War--Expedition against Brest--Naval Operations in - the Mediterranean--War by Land--Complaints of Trenchard's - Administration--The Lancashire Prosecutions--Meeting of the Parliament; - Death of Tillotson--Tenison Archbishop of Canterbury; Debates on the - Lancashire Prosecutions--Place Bill--Bill for the Regulation of Trials - in Cases of Treason; the Triennial Bill passed--Death of Mary--Funeral - of Mary--Greenwich Hospital founded - -IT is now time to relate the events which, since the battle of La Hogue, -had taken place at Saint Germains. - -James, after seeing the fleet which was to have convoyed him back to his -kingdom burned down to the water edge, had returned in no good humour to -his abode near Paris. Misfortune generally made him devout after his -own fashion; and he now starved himself and flogged himself till his -spiritual guides were forced to interfere. [420] - -It is difficult to conceive a duller place than Saint Germains was when -he held his Court there; and yet there was scarcely in all Europe a -residence more enviably situated than that which the generous Lewis had -assigned to his suppliants. The woods were magnificent, the air clear -and salubrious, the prospects extensive and cheerful. No charm of -rural life was wanting; and the towers of the most superb city of the -Continent were visible in the distance. The royal apartments were richly -adorned with tapestry and marquetry, vases of silver and mirrors in -gilded frames. A pension of more than forty thousand pounds sterling -was annually paid to James from the French Treasury. He had a guard of -honour composed of some of the finest soldiers in Europe. If he -wished to amuse himself with field sports, he had at his command an -establishment far more sumptuous than that which had belonged to him -when he was at the head of a great kingdom, an army of huntsmen and -fowlers, a vast arsenal of guns, spears, buglehorns and tents, miles of -network, staghounds, foxhounds, harriers, packs for the boar and packs -for the wolf, gerfalcons for the heron and haggards for the wild -duck. His presence chamber and his antechamber were in outward show as -splendid as when he was at Whitehall. He was still surrounded by blue -ribands and white staves. But over the mansion and the domain brooded -a constant gloom, the effect, partly of bitter regrets and of deferred -hopes, but chiefly of the abject superstition which had taken complete -possession of his own mind, and which was affected by almost all those -who aspired to his favour. His palace wore the aspect of a monastery. -There were three places of worship within the spacious pile. Thirty or -forty ecclesiastics were lodged in the building; and their apartments -were eyed with envy by noblemen and gentlemen who had followed the -fortunes of their Sovereign, and who thought it hard that, when there -was so much room under his roof, they should be forced to sleep in the -garrets of the neighbouring town. Among the murmurers was the brilliant -Anthony Hamilton. He has left us a sketch of the life of Saint Germains, -a slight sketch indeed, but not unworthy of the artist to whom we owe -the most highly finished and vividly coloured picture of the English -Court in the days when the English Court was gayest. He complains that -existence was one round of religious exercises; that, in order to live -in peace, it was necessary to pass half the day in devotion or in the -outward show of devotion; that, if he tried to dissipate his melancholy -by breathing the fresh air of that noble terrace which looks down on the -valley of the Seine, he was driven away by the clamour of a Jesuit who -had got hold of some unfortunate Protestant royalists from England, -and was proving to them that no heretic could go to heaven. In general, -Hamilton said, men suffering under a common calamity have a strong -fellow feeling and are disposed to render good offices to each other. -But it was not so at Saint Germains. There all was discord, jealousy, -bitterness of spirit. Malignity was concealed under the show of -friendship and of piety. All the saints of the royal household were -praying for each other and backbiting each other from morning, to night. -Here and there in the throng of hypocrites might be remarked a man too -highspirited to dissemble. But such a man, however advantageously he -might have made himself known elsewhere, was certain to be treated with -disdain by the inmates of that sullen abode. [421] - -Such was the Court of James, as described by a Roman Catholic. Yet, -however disagreeable that Court may have been to a Roman Catholic, it -was infinitely more disagreeable to a Protestant. For the Protestant had -to endure, in addition to all the dulness of which the Roman Catholic -complained, a crowd of vexations from which the Roman Catholic was free. -In every competition between a Protestant and a Roman Catholic the Roman -Catholic was preferred. In every quarrel between a Protestant and a -Roman Catholic the Roman Catholic was supposed to be in the right. -While the ambitious Protestant looked in vain for promotion, while -the dissipated Protestant looked in vain for amusement, the serious -Protestant looked in vain for spiritual instruction and consolation. -James might, no doubt, easily have obtained permission for those members -of the Church of England who had sacrificed every thing in his cause to -meet privately in some modest oratory, and to receive the eucharistic -bread and wine from the hands of one of their own clergy; but he did not -wish his residence to be defiled by such impious rites. Doctor Dennis -Granville, who had quitted the richest deanery, the richest archdeaconry -and one of the richest livings in England, rather than take the oaths, -gave mortal offence by asking leave to read prayers to the exiles of his -own communion. His request was refused; and he was so grossly insulted -by his master's chaplains and their retainers that he was forced to -quit Saint Germains. Lest some other Anglican doctor should be equally -importunate, James wrote to inform his agents in England that he wished -no Protestant divine to come out to him. [422] Indeed the nonjuring -clergy were at least as much sneered at and as much railed at in his -palace as in his nephew's. If any man had a claim to be mentioned with -respect at Saint Germains, it was surely Sancroft. Yet it was reported -that the bigots who were assembled there never spoke of him but with -aversion and disgust. The sacrifice of the first place in the Church, -of the first place in the peerage, of the mansion at Lambeth and the -mansion at Croydon, of immense patronage and of a revenue of more than -five thousand a year was thought but a poor atonement for the great -crime of having modestly remonstrated against the unconstitutional -Declaration of Indulgence. Sancroft was pronounced to be just such a -traitor and just such a penitent as Judas Iscariot. The old hypocrite -had, it was said, while affecting reverence and love for his master, -given the fatal signal to his master's enemies. When the mischief had -been done and could not be repaired, the conscience of the sinner had -begun to torture him. He had, like his prototype, blamed himself and -bemoaned himself. He had, like his prototype, flung down his wealth at -the feet of those whose instrument he had been. The best thing that he -could now do was to make the parallel complete by hanging himself. [423] - -James seems to have thought that the strongest proof of kindness which -he could give to heretics who had resigned wealth, country, family, for -his sake, was to suffer them to be beset, on their dying beds, by his -priests. If some sick man, helpless in body and in mind, and deafened -by the din of bad logic and bad rhetoric, suffered a wafer to be thrust -into his mouth, a great work of grace was triumphantly announced to the -Court; and the neophyte was buried with all the pomp of religion. But -if a royalist, of the highest rank and most stainless character, died -professing firm attachment to the Church of England, a hole was dug in -the fields; and, at dead of night, he was flung into it and covered -up like a mass of carrion. Such were the obsequies of the Earl of -Dunfermline, who had served the House of Stuart with the hazard of -his life and to the utter ruin of his fortunes, who had fought at -Killiecrankie, and who had, after the victory, lifted from the earth the -still breathing remains of Dundee. While living he had been treated with -contumely. The Scottish officers who had long served under him had in -vain entreated that, when they were formed into a company, he might -still be their commander. His religion had been thought a fatal -disqualification. A worthless adventurer, whose only recommendation was -that he was a Papist, was preferred. Dunfermline continued, during a -short time, to make his appearance in the circle which surrounded the -Prince whom he had served too well; but it was to no purpose. The bigots -who ruled the Court refused to the ruined and expatriated Protestant -Lord the means of subsistence; he died of a broken heart; and they -refused him even a grave. [424] - -The insults daily offered at Saint Germains to the Protestant religion -produced a great effect in England. The Whigs triumphantly asked whether -it were not clear that the old tyrant was utterly incorrigible; and many -even of the nonjurors observed his proceedings with shame, disgust and -alarm. [425] The Jacobite party had, from the first, been divided into -two sections, which, three or four years after the Revolution, began to -be known as the Compounders and the Noncompounders. The Compounders were -those who wished for a restoration, but for a restoration accompanied by -a general amnesty, and by guarantees for the security of the civil and -ecclesiastical constitution of the realm. The Noncompounders thought -it downright Whiggery, downright rebellion; to take advantage of His -Majesty's unfortunate situation for the purpose of imposing on him any -condition. The plain duty of his subjects was to bring him back. What -traitors he would punish and what traitors he would spare, what laws he -would observe and with what laws he would dispense, were questions to be -decided by himself alone. If he decided them wrongly, he must answer for -his fault to heaven and not to his people. - -The great body of the English Jacobites were more or less Compounders. -The pure Noncompounders were chiefly to be found among the Roman -Catholics, who, very naturally, were not solicitous to obtain any -security for a religion which they thought heretical, or for a polity -from the benefits of which they were excluded. There were also some -Protestant nonjurors, such as Kettlewell and Hickes, who resolutely -followed the theory of Filmer to all the extreme consequences to which -it led. But, though Kettlewell tried to convince his countrymen that -monarchical government had been ordained by God, not as a means of -making them happy here, but as a cross which it was their duty to -take up and bear in the hope of being recompensed for their sufferings -hereafter, and though Hickes assured them that there was not a single -Compounder in the whole Theban legion, very few churchmen were inclined -to run the risk of the gallows merely for the purpose of reestablishing -the High Commission and the Dispensing Power. - -The Compounders formed the main strength of the Jacobite party in -England; but the Noncompounders had hitherto had undivided sway at Saint -Germains. No Protestant, no moderate Roman Catholic, no man who dared to -hint that any law could bind the royal prerogative, could hope for the -smallest mark of favour from the banished King. The priests and the -apostate Melfort, the avowed enemy of the Protestant religion and of -civil liberty, of Parliaments, of trial by jury and of the Habeas Corpus -Act, were in exclusive possession of the royal ear. Herbert was called -Chancellor, walked before the other officers of state, wore a black robe -embroidered with gold, and carried a seal; but he was a member of the -Church of England; and therefore he was not suffered to sit at the -Council Board. [426] - -The truth is that the faults of James's head and heart were incurable. -In his view there could be between him and his subjects no reciprocity -of obligation. Their duty was to risk property, liberty, life, in order -to replace him on the throne, and then to bear patiently whatever he -chose to inflict upon them. They could no more pretend to merit -before him than before God. When they had done all, they were still -unprofitable servants. The highest praise due to the royalist who shed -his blood on the field of battle or on the scaffold for hereditary -monarchy was simply that he was not a traitor. After all the severe -discipline which the deposed King had undergone, he was still as much -bent on plundering and abasing the Church of England as on the day when -he told the kneeling fellows of Magdalene to get out of his sight, or -on the day when he sent the Bishops to the Tower. He was in the habit -of declaring that he would rather die without seeing England again than -stoop to capitulate with those whom he ought to command. [427] In the -Declaration of April 1692 the whole man appears without disguise, full -of his own imaginary rights, unable to understand how any body but -himself can have any rights, dull, obstinate and cruel. Another paper -which he drew up about the same time shows, if possible, still more -clearly, how little he had profited by a sharp experience. In that paper -he set forth the plan according to which he intended to govern when he -should be restored. He laid it down as a rule that one Commissioner of -the Treasury, one of the two Secretaries of State, the Secretary at War, -the majority of the Great Officers of the Household, the majority of -the Lords of the Bedchamber, the majority of the officers of the army, -should always be Roman Catholics. [428] - -It was to no purpose that the most eminent Compounders sent from -London letter after letter filled with judicious counsel and earnest -supplication. It was to no purpose that they demonstrated in the -plainest manner the impossibility of establishing Popish ascendancy in -a country where at least forty-nine fiftieths of the population and much -more than forty-nine fiftieths of the wealth and the intelligence were -Protestant. It was to no purpose that they informed their master that -the Declaration of April 1692 had been read with exultation by his -enemies and with deep affliction by his friends, that it had been -printed and circulated by the usurpers, that it had done more than all -the libels of the Whigs to inflame the nation against him, and that it -had furnished those naval officers who had promised him support with a -plausible pretext for breaking faith with him, and for destroying the -fleet which was to have convoyed him back to his kingdom. He continued -to be deaf to the remonstrances of his best friends in England -till those remonstrances began to be echoed at Versailles. All the -information which Lewis and his ministers were able to obtain touching -the state of our island satisfied them that James would never be -restored unless he could bring himself to make large concessions to his -subjects. It was therefore intimated to him, kindly and courteously, -but seriously, that he would do well to change his counsels and his -counsellors. France could not continue the war for the purpose of -forcing a Sovereign on an unwilling nation. She was crushed by public -burdens. Her trade and industry languished. Her harvest and her vintage -had failed. The peasantry were starving. The faint murmurs of the -provincial Estates began to be heard. There was a limit to the amount -of the sacrifices which the most absolute prince could demand from those -whom he ruled. However desirous the Most Christian King might be to -uphold the cause of hereditary monarchy and of pure religion all -over the world, his first duty was to his own kingdom; and, unless a -counterrevolution speedily took place in England, his duty to his own -kingdom might impose on him the painful necessity of treating with the -Prince of Orange. It would therefore be wise in James to do without -delay whatever he could honourably and conscientiously do to win back -the hearts of his people. - -Thus pressed, James unwillingly yielded. He consented to give a share -in the management of his affairs to one of the most distinguished of the -Compounders, Charles Earl of Middleton. - -Middleton's family and his peerage were Scotch. But he was closely -connected with some of the noblest houses of England; he had resided -long in England; he had been appointed by Charles the Second one of the -English Secretaries of State, and had been entrusted by James with the -lead of the English House of Commons. His abilities and acquirements -were considerable; his temper was easy and generous; his manners were -popular; and his conduct had generally been consistent and honourable. -He had, when Popery was in the ascendant, resolutely refused to purchase -the royal favour by apostasy. Roman Catholic ecclesiastics had been sent -to convert him; and the town had been much amused by the dexterity with -which the layman baffled the divines. A priest undertook to demonstrate -the doctrine of transubstantiation, and made the approaches in the usual -form. "Your Lordship believes in the Trinity." "Who told you so?" said -Middleton. "Not believe in the Trinity!" cried the priest in amazement. -"Nay," said Middleton; "prove your religion to be true if you can; but -do not catechize me about mine." As it was plain that the Secretary -was not a disputant whom it was easy to take at an advantage, the -controversy ended almost as soon as it began. [429] When fortune -changed, Middleton adhered to the cause of hereditary monarchy with a -stedfastness which was the more respectable because he would have had no -difficulty in making his peace with the new government. His sentiments -were so well known that, when the kingdom was agitated by apprehensions -of an invasion and an insurrection, he was arrested and sent to the -Tower; but no evidence on which he could be convicted of treason was -discovered; and, when the dangerous crisis was past, he was set at -liberty. It should seem indeed that, during the three years which -followed the Revolution, he was by no means an active plotter. He saw -that a Restoration could be effected only with the general assent of the -nation, and that the nation would never assent to a Restoration without -securities against Popery and arbitrary power. He therefore conceived -that, while his banished master obstinately refused to give such -securities, it would be worse than idle to conspire against the existing -government. - -Such was the man whom James, in consequence of strong representations -from Versailles, now invited to join him in France. The great body -of Compounders learned with delight that they were at length to be -represented in the Council at Saint Germains by one of their favourite -leaders. Some noblemen and gentlemen, who, though they had not approved -of the deposition of James, had been so much disgusted by his perverse -and absurd conduct that they had long avoided all connection with him, -now began to hope that he had seen his error. They had refused to -have any thing to do with Melfort; but they communicated freely with -Middleton. The new minister conferred also with the four traitors whose -infamy has been made preeminently conspicuous by their station, their -abilities, and their great public services; with Godolphin, the great -object of whose life was to be in favour with both the rival Kings at -once, and to keep, through all revolutions and counterrevolutions, his -head, his estate and a place at the Board of Treasury; with Shrewsbury, -who, having once in a fatal moment entangled himself in criminal and -dishonourable engagements, had not had the resolution to break through -them; with Marlborough, who continued to profess the deepest repentance -for the past and the best intentions for the future; and with Russell, -who declared that he was still what he had been before the day of La -Hogue, and renewed his promise to do what Monk had done, on condition -that a general pardon should be granted to all political offenders, -and that the royal power should be placed under strong constitutional -restraints. - -Before Middleton left England he had collected the sense of all the -leading Compounders. They were of opinion that there was one expedient -which would reconcile contending factions at home, and lead to the -speedy pacification of Europe. This expedient was that James should -resign the Crown in favour of the Prince of Wales, and that the Prince -of Wales should be bred a Protestant. If, as was but too probable, His -Majesty should refuse to listen to this suggestion, he must at least -consent to put forth a Declaration which might do away the unfavourable -impression made by his Declaration of the preceding spring. A paper such -as it was thought expedient that he should publish was carefully drawn -up, and, after much discussion, approved. - -Early in the year 1693, Middleton, having been put in full possession of -the views of the principal English Jacobites, stole across the Channel, -and made his appearance at the Court of James. There was at that Court -no want of slanderers and sneerers whose malignity was only the more -dangerous because it wore a meek and sanctimonious air. Middleton found, -on his arrival, that numerous lies, fabricated by the priests who feared -and hated him, were already in circulation. Some Noncompounders too -had written from London that he was at heart a Presbyterian and a -republican. He was however very graciously received, and was appointed -Secretary of State conjointly with Melfort. [430] - -It very soon appeared that James was fully resolved never to resign the -Crown, or to suffer the Prince of Wales to be bred a heretic; and it -long seemed doubtful whether any arguments or entreaties would induce -him to sign the Declaration which his friends in England had prepared. -It was indeed a document very different from any that had yet appeared -under his Great Seal. He was made to promise that he would grant a free -pardon to all his subjects who should not oppose him after he should -land in the island; that, as soon as he was restored, he would call -a Parliament; that he would confirm all such laws, passed during the -usurpation, as the Houses should tender to him for confirmation; that -he would waive his right to the chimney money; that he would protect and -defend the Established Church in the enjoyment of all her possessions -and privileges; that he would not again violate the Test Act; that he -would leave it to the legislature to define the extent of his dispensing -power; and that he would maintain the Act of Settlement in Ireland. - -He struggled long and hard. He pleaded his conscience. Could a son of -the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church bind himself to protect and -defend heresy, and to enforce a law which excluded true believers from -office? Some of the ecclesiastics who swarmed in his household told -him that he could not without sin give any such pledge as his undutiful -subjects demanded. On this point the opinion of Middleton, who was a -Protestant, could be of no weight. But Middleton found an ally in -one whom he regarded as a rival and an enemy. Melfort, scared by the -universal hatred of which he knew himself to be the object, and afraid -that he should be held accountable, both in England and in France, for -his master's wrongheadedness, submitted the case to several eminent -Doctors of the Sorbonne. These learned casuists pronounced the -Declaration unobjectionable in a religious point of view. The great -Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, who was regarded by the Gallican Church as a -father scarcely inferior in authority to Cyprian or Augustin, showed, -by powerful arguments, both theological and political, that the scruple -which tormented James was precisely of that sort against which a -much wiser King had given a caution in the words, "Be not righteous -overmuch." [431] The authority of the French divines was supported by -the authority of the French government. The language held at Versailles -was so strong that James began to be alarmed. What if Lewis should take -serious offence, should think his hospitality ungratefully requited, -should conclude a peace with the usurpers, and should request his -unfortunate guests to seek another asylum? It was necessary to submit. -On the seventeenth of April 1693 the Declaration was signed and sealed. -The concluding sentence was a prayer. "We come to vindicate our own -right and to establish the liberties of our people; and may God give -us success in the prosecution of the one as we sincerely intend the -confirmation of the other!" [432] The prayer was heard. The success of -James was strictly proportioned to his sincerity. What his sincerity -was we know on the best evidence. Scarcely had he called on heaven to -witness the truth of his professions, when he directed Melfort to send a -copy of the Declaration to Rome with such explanations as might satisfy -the Pope. Melfort's letter ends thus: "After all, the object of this -Declaration is only to get us back to England. We shall fight the battle -of the Catholics with much greater advantage at Whitehall than at Saint -Germains." [433] - -Meanwhile the document from which so much was expected had been -despatched to London. There it was printed at a secret press in the -house of a Quaker; for there was among the Quakers a party, small -in number, but zealous and active, which had imbibed the politics of -William Penn. [434] To circulate such a work was a service of some -danger; but agents were found. Several persons were taken up while -distributing copies in the streets of the city. A hundred packets were -stopped in one day at the Post Office on their way to the fleet. But, -after a short time, the government wisely gave up the endeavour to -suppress what could not be suppressed, and published the Declaration at -full length, accompanied by a severe commentary. [435] - -The commentary, however, was hardly needed. The Declaration altogether -failed to produce the effect which Middleton had anticipated. The truth -is that his advice had not been asked till it mattered not what advice -he gave. If James had put forth such a manifesto in January 1689, the -throne would probably not have been declared vacant. If he had put forth -such a manifesto when he was on the coast of Normandy at the head of an -army, he would have conciliated a large part of the nation, and he might -possibly have been joined by a large part of the fleet. But both in 1689 -and in 1692 he had held the language of an implacable tyrant; and it -was now too late to affect tenderness of heart and reverence for the -constitution of the realm. The contrast between the new Declaration and -the preceding Declaration excited, not without reason, general suspicion -and contempt. What confidence could be placed in the word of a Prince -so unstable, of a Prince who veered from extreme to extreme? In 1692 -nothing would satisfy him but the heads and quarters of hundreds of poor -ploughmen and boatmen who had, several years before, taken some rustic -liberties with him at which his grandfather Henry the Fourth would have -had a hearty laugh. In 1693 the foulest and most ungrateful treasons -were to be covered with oblivion. Caermarthen expressed the general -sentiment. "I do not," he said, "understand all this. Last April I was -to be hanged. This April I am to have a free pardon. I cannot imagine -what I have done during the past year to deserve such goodness." -The general opinion was that a snare was hidden under this unwonted -clemency, this unwonted respect for law. The Declaration, it was said, -was excellent; and so was the Coronation oath. Every body knew how King -James had observed his Coronation oath; and every body might guess how -he would observe his Declaration. While grave men reasoned thus, -the Whig jesters were not sparing of their pasquinades. Some of the -Noncompounders, meantime, uttered indignant murmurs. The King was in bad -hands, in the hands of men who hated monarchy. His mercy was cruelty of -the worst sort. The general pardon which he had granted to his enemies -was in truth a general proscription of his friends. Hitherto the judges -appointed by the usurper had been under a restraint, imperfect indeed, -yet not absolutely nugatory. They had known that a day of reckoning -might come, and had therefore in general dealt tenderly with the -persecuted adherents of the rightful King. That restraint His Majesty -had now taken away. He had told Holt and Treby that, till he should land -in England, they might hang royalists without the smallest fear of being -called to account. [436] - -But by no class of people was the Declaration read with so much disgust -and indignation as by the native aristocracy of Ireland. This then was -the reward of their loyalty. This was the faith of kings. When England -had cast James out, when Scotland had rejected him, the Irish had still -been true to him; and he had, in return, solemnly given his sanction to -a law which restored to them an immense domain of which they had been -despoiled. Nothing that had happened since that time had diminished -their claim to his favour. They had defended his cause to the last; they -had fought for him long after he had deserted them; many of them, when -unable to contend longer against superior force, had followed him into -banishment; and now it appeared that he was desirous to make peace with -his deadliest enemies at the expense of his most faithful friends. There -was much discontent in the Irish regiments which were dispersed through -the Netherlands and along the frontiers of Germany and Italy. Even the -Whigs allowed that, for once, the O's and Macs were in the right, and -asked triumphantly whether a prince who had broken his word to his -devoted servants could be expected to keep it to his foes? [437] - -While the Declaration was the subject of general conversation in -England, military operations recommenced on the Continent. The -preparations of France had been such as amazed even those who estimated -most highly her resources and the abilities of her rulers. Both her -agriculture and her commerce were suffering. The vineyards of Burgundy, -the interminable cornfields of the Beauce, had failed to yield their -increase; the looms of Lyons were silent; and the merchant ships were -rotting in the harbour of Marseilles. Yet the monarchy presented to its -numerous enemies a front more haughty and more menacing than ever. Lewis -had determined not to make any advance towards a reconciliation with the -new government of England till the whole strength of his realm had been -put forth in one more effort. A mighty effort in truth it was, but too -exhausting to be repeated. He made an immense display of force at once -on the Pyrenees and on the Alps, on the Rhine and on the Meuse, in the -Atlantic and in the Mediterranean. That nothing might be wanting which -could excite the martial ardour of a nation eminently highspirited, he -instituted, a few days before he left his palace for the camp, a new -military order of knighthood, and placed it under the protection of his -own sainted ancestor and patron. The new cross of Saint Lewis shone on -the breasts of the gentlemen who had been conspicuous in the trenches -before Mons and Namur, and on the fields of Fleurus and Steinkirk; and -the sight raised a generous emulation among those who had still to win -an honourable fame in arms. [438] - -In the week in which this celebrated order began to exist Middleton -visited Versailles. A letter in which he gave his friends in England -an account of his visit has come down to us. [439] He was presented to -Lewis, was most kindly received, and was overpowered by gratitude and -admiration. Of all the wonders of the Court,--so Middleton wrote,--its -master was the greatest. The splendour of the great King's personal -merit threw even the splendour of his fortunes into the shade. The -language which His Most Christian Majesty held about English politics -was, on the whole, highly satisfactory. Yet in one thing this -accomplished prince and his able and experienced ministers were -strangely mistaken. They were all possessed with the absurd notion -that the Prince of Orange was a great man. No pains had been spared -to undeceive them; but they were under an incurable delusion. They saw -through a magnifying glass of such power that the leech appeared to them -a leviathan. It ought to have occurred to Middleton that possibly the -delusion might be in his own vision and not in theirs. Lewis and the -counsellors who surrounded him were far indeed from loving William. But -they did not hate him with that mad hatred which raged in the breasts of -his English enemies. Middleton was one of the wisest and most moderate -of the Jacobites. Yet even Middleton's judgment was so much darkened -by malice that, on this subject, he talked nonsense unworthy of his -capacity. He, like the rest of his party, could see in the usurper -nothing but what was odious and contemptible, the heart of a fiend, the -understanding and manners of a stupid, brutal, Dutch boor, who generally -observed a sulky silence, and, when forced to speak, gave short testy -answers in bad English. The French statesmen, on the other hand, judged -of William's faculties from an intimate knowledge of the way in which he -had, during twenty years, conducted affairs of the greatest moment -and of the greatest difficulty. He had, ever since 1673, been playing -against themselves a most complicated game of mixed chance and skill -for an immense stake; they were proud, and with reason, of their own -dexterity at that game; yet they were conscious that in him they had -found more than their match. At the commencement of the long contest -every advantage had been on their side. They had at their absolute -command all the resources of the greatest kingdom in Europe; and he was -merely the servant of a commonwealth, of which the whole territory was -inferior in extent to Normandy or Guienne. A succession of generals -and diplomatists of eminent ability had been opposed to him. A powerful -faction in his native country had pertinaciously crossed his designs. -He had undergone defeats in the field and defeats in the senate; but his -wisdom and firmness had turned defeats into victories. Notwithstanding -all that could be done to keep him down, his influence and fame had been -almost constantly rising and spreading. The most important and arduous -enterprise in the history of modern Europe had been planned and -conducted to a prosperous termination by him alone. The most extensive -coalition that the world had seen for ages had been formed by him, and -would be instantly dissolved if his superintending care were withdrawn. -He had gained two kingdoms by statecraft, and a third by conquest; and -he was still maintaining himself in the possession of all three in spite -of both foreign and domestic foes. That these things had been effected -by a poor creature, a man of the most ordinary capacity, was an -assertion which might easily find credence among the nonjuring parsons -who congregated at Sam's Coffee-house, but which moved the laughter of -the veteran politicians of Versailles. - -While Middleton was in vain trying to convince the French that -William was a greatly overrated man, William, who did full justice to -Middleton's merit, felt much uneasiness at learning that the Court of -Saint Germains had called in the help of so able a counsellor. [440] -But this was only one of a thousand causes of anxiety which during that -spring pressed on the King's mind. He was preparing for the opening of -the campaign, imploring his allies to be early in the field, rousing the -sluggish, haggling with the greedy, making up quarrels, adjusting points -of precedence. He had to prevail on the Cabinet of Vienna to send timely -succours into Piedmont. He had to keep a vigilant eye on those Northern -potentates who were trying to form a third party in Europe. He had to -act as tutor to the Elector of Bavaria in the Netherlands. He had to -provide for the defence of Liege, a matter which the authorities of -Liege coolly declared to be not at all their business, but the business -of England and Holland. He had to prevent the House of Brunswick -Wolfenbuttel from going to blows with the House of Brunswick Lunenburg; -he had to accommodate a dispute between the Prince of Baden and the -Elector of Saxony, each of whom wished to be at the head of an army on -the Rhine; and he had to manage the Landgrave of Hesse, who omitted to -furnish his own contingent, and yet wanted to command the contingents -furnished by other princes. [441] - -And now the time for action had arrived. On the eighteenth of May Lewis -left Versailles; early in June he was under the walls of Namur. The -Princesses, who had accompanied him, held their court within the -fortress. He took under his immediate command the army of Boufflers, -which was encamped at Gembloux. Little more than a mile off lay the army -of Luxemburg. The force collected in that neighbourhood under the French -lilies did not amount to less than a hundred and twenty thousand men. -Lewis had flattered himself that he should be able to repeat in 1693 the -stratagem by which Mons had been taken in 1691 and Namur in 1692; and -he had determined that either Liege or Brussels should be his prey. -But William had this year been able to assemble in good time a force, -inferior indeed to that which was opposed to him, but still formidable. -With this force he took his post near Louvain, on the road between the -two threatened cities, and watched every movement of the enemy. - -Lewis was disappointed. He found that it would not be possible for him -to gratify his vanity so safely and so easily as in the two preceding -years, to sit down before a great town, to enter the gates in triumph, -and to receive the keys, without exposing himself to any risk greater -than that of a staghunt at Fontainebleau. Before he could lay siege -either to Liege or to Brussels he must fight and win a battle. The -chances were indeed greatly in his favour; for his army was more -numerous, better officered and better disciplined than that of the -allies. Luxemburg strongly advised him to march against William. The -aristocracy of France anticipated with intrepid gaiety a bloody but a -glorious day, followed by a large distribution of the crosses of the new -order. William himself was perfectly aware of his danger, and prepared -to meet it with calm but mournful fortitude. [442] Just at this -conjuncture Lewis announced his intention to return instantly to -Versailles, and to send the Dauphin and Boufflers, with part of the army -which was assembled near Namur, to join Marshal Lorges who commanded in -the Palatinate. Luxemburg was thunderstruck. He expostulated boldly and -earnestly. Never, he said, was such an opportunity thrown away. If His -Majesty would march against the Prince of Orange, victory was almost -certain. Could any advantage which it was possible to obtain on the -Rhine be set against the advantage of a victory gained in the heart -of Brabant over the principal army and the principal captain of the -coalition? The Marshal reasoned; he implored; he went on his knees; but -in vain; and he quitted the royal presence in the deepest dejection. -Lewis left the camp a week after he had joined it, and never afterwards -made war in person. - -The astonishment was great throughout his army. All the awe which he -inspired could not prevent his old generals from grumbling and looking -sullen, his young nobles from venting their spleen, sometimes in curses -and sometimes in sarcasms, and even his common soldiers from holding -irreverent language round their watchfires. His enemies rejoiced with -vindictive and insulting joy. Was it not strange, they asked, that this -great prince should have gone in state to the theatre of war, and then -in a week have gone in the same state back again? Was it necessary -that all that vast retinue, princesses, dames of honour and tirewomen, -equerries and gentlemen of the bedchamber, cooks, confectioners and -musicians, long trains of waggons, droves of led horses and sumpter -mules, piles of plate, bales of tapestry, should travel four hundred -miles merely in order that the Most Christian King might look at his -soldiers and then return? The ignominious truth was too evident to be -concealed. He had gone to the Netherlands in the hope that he might -again be able to snatch some military glory without any hazard to his -person, and had hastened back rather than expose himself to the chances -of a pitched field. [443] This was not the first time that His Most -Christian Majesty had shown the same kind of prudence. Seventeen years -before he had been opposed under the wails of Bouchain to the same -antagonist. William, with the ardour of a very young commander, had most -imprudently offered battle. The opinion of the ablest generals was that, -if Lewis had seized the opportunity, the war might have been ended in a -day. The French army had eagerly asked to be led to the onset. The King -had called his lieutenants round him and had collected their opinions. -Some courtly officers to whom a hint of his wishes had been dexterously -conveyed had, blushing and stammering with shame, voted against -fighting. It was to no purpose that bold and honest men, who prized his -honour more than his life, had proved to him that, on all principles of -the military art, he ought to accept the challenge rashly given by the -enemy. His Majesty had gravely expressed his sorrow that he could not, -consistently with his public duty, obey the impetuous movement of his -blood, had turned his rein, and had galloped back to his quarters. [444] -Was it not frightful to think what rivers of the best blood of France, -of Spain, of Germany and of England, had flowed, and were destined still -to flow, for the gratification of a man who wanted the vulgar courage -which was found in the meanest of the hundreds of thousands whom he had -sacrificed to his vainglorious ambition? - -Though the French army in the Netherlands had been weakened by the -departure of the forces commanded by the Dauphin and Boufflers, and -though the allied army was daily strengthened by the arrival of fresh -troops, Luxemburg still had a superiority of force; and that superiority -he increased by an adroit stratagem. He marched towards Liege, and made -as if he were about to form the siege of that city. William was uneasy, -and the more uneasy because he knew that there was a French party among -the inhabitants. He quitted his position near Louvain, advanced to -Nether Hespen, and encamped there with the river Gette in his rear. On -his march he learned that Huy had opened its gates to the French. The -news increased his anxiety about Liege, and determined him to send -thither a force sufficient to overawe malecontents within the city, and -to repel any attack from without. [445] This was exactly what Luxemburg -had expected and desired. His feint had served its purpose. He turned -his back on the fortress which had hitherto seemed to be his object, and -hastened towards the Gette. William, who had detached more than twenty -thousand men, and who had but fifty thousand left in his camp, was -alarmed by learning from his scouts, on the eighteenth of July, that the -French General, with near eighty thousand, was close at hand. - -It was still in the King's power, by a hasty retreat, to put the narrow, -but deep, waters of the Gette, which had lately been swollen by rains, -between his army and the enemy. But the site which he occupied was -strong; and it could easily be made still stronger. He set all his -troops to work. Ditches were dug, mounds thrown up, palisades fixed in -the earth. In a few hours the ground wore a new aspect; and the King -trusted that he should be able to repel the attack even of a force -greatly outnumbering his own. Nor was it without much appearance of -reason that he felt this confidence. When the morning of the nineteenth -of July broke, the bravest men of Lewis's army looked gravely and -anxiously on the fortress which had suddenly sprung up to arrest their -progress. The allies were protected by a breastwork. Here and there -along the entrenchments were formed little redoubts and half moons. A -hundred pieces of cannon were disposed along the ramparts. On the left -flank, the village of Romsdorff rose close to the little stream of -Landen, from which the English have named the disastrous day. On the -right was the village of Neerwinden. Both villages were, after the -fashion of the Low Countries, surrounded by moats and fences; and, -within these enclosures, the little plots of ground occupied by -different families were separated by mud walls five feet in height and -a foot in thickness. All these barricades William had repaired and -strengthened. Saint Simon, who, after the battle, surveyed the ground, -could hardly, he tells us, believe that defences so extensive and so -formidable could have been created with such rapidity. - -Luxemburg, however, was determined to try whether even this position -could be maintained against the superior numbers and the impetuous -valour of his soldiers. Soon after sunrise the roar of cannon began -to be heard. William's batteries did much execution before the French -artillery could be so placed as to return the fire. It was eight o'clock -before the close fighting began. The village of Neerwinden was regarded -by both commanders as the point on which every thing depended. There an -attack was made by the French left wing commanded by Montchevreuil, a -veteran officer of high reputation, and by Berwick, who, though young, -was fast rising to a high place among the captains of his time. Berwick -led the onset, and forced his way into the village, but was soon driven -out again with a terrible carnage. His followers fled or perished; he, -while trying to rally them, and cursing them for not doing their duty -better, was surrounded by foes. He concealed his white cockade, and -hoped to be able, by the help of his native tongue, to pass himself off -as an officer of the English army. But his face was recognised by one -of his mother's brothers, George Churchill, who held on that day the -command of a brigade. A hurried embrace was exchanged between the -kinsmen; and the uncle conducted the nephew to William, who, as long as -every thing seemed to be going well, remained in the rear. The meeting -of the King and the captive, united by such close domestic ties, and -divided by such inexpiable injuries, was a strange sight. Both behaved -as became them. William uncovered, and addressed to his prisoner a few -words of courteous greeting. Berwick's only reply was a solemn bow. The -King put on his hat; the Duke put on his hat; and the cousins parted for -ever. - -By this time the French, who had been driven in confusion out of -Neerwinden, had been reinforced by a division under the command of the -Duke of Bourbon, and came gallantly back to the attack. William, well -aware of the importance of this post, gave orders that troops should -move thither from other parts of his line. This second conflict was long -and bloody. The assailants again forced an entrance into the village. -They were again driven out with immense slaughter, and showed little -inclination to return to the charge. - -Meanwhile the battle had been raging all along the entrenchments of -the allied army. Again and again Luxemburg brought up his troops within -pistolshot of the breastwork; but he could bring them no nearer. Again -and again they recoiled from the heavy fire which was poured on their -front and on their flanks. It seemed that all was over. Luxemburg -retired to a spot which was out of gunshot, and summoned a few of his -chief officers to a consultation. They talked together during some time; -and their animated gestures were observed with deep interest by all who -were within sight. - -At length Luxemburg formed his decision. A last attempt must be made to -carry Neerwinden; and the invincible household troops, the conquerors of -Steinkirk, must lead the way. - -The household troops came on in a manner worthy of their long and -terrible renown. A third time Neerwinden was taken. A third time William -tried to retake it. At the head of some English regiments he charged the -guards of Lewis with such fury that, for the first time in the memory of -the oldest warrior, that far famed band gave way. [446] It was only by -the strenuous exertions of Luxemburg, of the Duke of Chartres, and of -the Duke of Bourbon, that the broken ranks were rallied. But by this -time the centre and left of the allied army had been so much thinned -for the purpose of supporting the conflict at Neerwinden that the -entrenchments could no longer be defended on other points. A little -after four in the afternoon the whole line gave way. All was havoc and -confusion. Solmes had received a mortal wound, and fell, still alive, -into the hands of the enemy. The English soldiers, to whom his name was -hateful, accused him of having in his sufferings shown pusillanimity -unworthy of a soldier. The Duke of Ormond was struck down in the press; -and in another moment he would have been a corpse, had not a rich -diamond on his finger caught the eye of one of the French guards, -who justly thought that the owner of such a jewel would be a valuable -prisoner. The Duke's life was saved; and he was speedily exchanged for -Berwick. Ruvigny, animated by the true refugee hatred of the country -which had cast him out, was taken fighting in the thickest of the -battle. Those into whose hands he had fallen knew him well, and knew -that, if they carried him to their camp, his head would pay for that -treason to which persecution had driven him. With admirable generosity -they pretended not to recognise him, and suffered him to make his escape -in the tumult. - -It was only on such occasions as this that the whole greatness of -William's character appeared. Amidst the rout and uproar, while arms and -standards were flung away, while multitudes of fugitives were choking up -the bridges and fords of the Gette or perishing in its waters, the King, -having directed Talmash to superintend the retreat, put himself at the -head of a few brave regiments, and by desperate efforts arrested the -progress of the enemy. His risk was greater than that which others ran. -For he could not be persuaded either to encumber his feeble frame with -a cuirass, or to hide the ensigns of the garter. He thought his star a -good rallying point for his own troops, and only smiled when he was told -that it was a good mark for the enemy. Many fell on his right hand and -on his left. Two led horses, which in the field always closely followed -his person, were struck dead by cannon shots. One musket ball passed -through the curls of his wig, another through his coat; a third -bruised his side and tore his blue riband to tatters. Many years later -greyhaired old pensioners who crept about the arcades and alleys of -Chelsea Hospital used to relate how he charged at the head of Galway's -horse, how he dismounted four times to put heart into the infantry, how -he rallied one corps which seemed to be shrinking; "That is not the way -to fight, gentlemen. You must stand close up to them. Thus, gentlemen, -thus." "You might have seen him," an eyewitness wrote, only four days -after the battle, "with his sword in his hand, throwing himself upon the -enemy. It is certain that one time, among the rest, he was seen at the -head of two English regiments, and that he fought seven with these two -in sight of the whole army, driving them before him above a quarter of -an hour. Thanks be to God that preserved him." The enemy pressed on him -so close that it was with difficulty that he at length made his way over -the Gette. A small body of brave men, who shared his peril to the last, -could hardly keep off the pursuers as he crossed the bridge. [447] - -Never, perhaps, was the change which the progress of civilisation has -produced in the art of war more strikingly illustrated than on that day. -Ajax beating down the Trojan leader with a rock which two ordinary men -could scarcely lift, Horatius defending the bridge against an army, -Richard the Lionhearted spurring along the whole Saracen line without -finding an enemy to stand his assault, Robert Bruce crushing with one -blow the helmet and head of Sir Henry Bohun in sight of the whole array -of England and Scotland, such are the heroes of a dark age. In such an -age bodily vigour is the most indispensable qualification of a warrior. -At Landen two poor sickly beings, who, in a rude state of society, would -have been regarded as too puny to bear any part in combats, were the -souls of two great armies. In some heathen countries they would have -been exposed while infants. In Christendom they would, six hundred years -earlier, have been sent to some quiet cloister. But their lot had fallen -on a time when men had discovered that the strength of the muscles is -far inferior in value to the strength of the mind. It is probable that, -among the hundred and twenty thousand soldiers who were marshalled round -Neerwinden under all the standards of Western Europe, the two feeblest -in body were the hunchbacked dwarf who urged forward the fiery onset -of France, and the asthmatic skeleton who covered the slow retreat of -England. - -The French were victorious; but they had bought their victory dear. More -than ten thousand of the best troops of Lewis had fallen. Neerwinden was -a spectacle at which the oldest soldiers stood aghast. The streets were -piled breast high with corpses. Among the slain were some great lords -and some renowned warriors. Montchevreuil was there, and the mutilated -trunk of the Duke of Uzes, first in order of precedence among the -whole aristocracy of France. Thence too Sarsfield was borne desperately -wounded to a pallet from which he never rose again. The Court of Saint -Germains had conferred on him the empty title of Earl of Lucan; -but history knows him by the name which is still dear to the most -unfortunate of nations. The region, renowned in history as the battle -field, during many ages, of the most warlike nations of Europe, has -seen only two more terrible days, the day of Malplaquet and the day of -Waterloo. During many months the ground was strewn with skulls and bones -of men and horses, and with fragments of hats and shoes, saddles and -holsters. The next summer the soil, fertilised by twenty thousand -corpses, broke forth into millions of poppies. The traveller who, on the -road from Saint Tron to Tirlemont, saw that vast sheet of rich scarlet -spreading from Landen to Neerwinden, could hardly help fancying that the -figurative prediction of the Hebrew prophet was literally accomplished, -that the earth was disclosing her blood, and refusing to cover the -slain. [448] - -There was no pursuit, though the sun was still high in the heaven when -William crossed the Gette. The conquerors were so much exhausted by -marching and fighting that they could scarcely move; and the horses were -in even worse condition than the men. Their general thought it necessary -to allow some time for rest and refreshment. The French nobles unloaded -their sumpter horses, supped gaily, and pledged one another in champagne -amidst the heaps of dead; and, when night fell, whole brigades gladly -lay down to sleep in their ranks on the field of battle. The inactivity -of Luxemburg did not escape censure. None could deny that he had in the -action shown great skill and energy. But some complained that he wanted -patience and perseverance. Others whispered that he had no wish to bring -to an end a war which made him necessary to a Court where he had never, -in time of peace, found favour or even justice. [449] Lewis, who on this -occasion was perhaps not altogether free from some emotions of jealousy, -contrived, it was reported, to mingle with the praise which he bestowed -on his lieutenant blame which, though delicately expressed, was -perfectly intelligible. "In the battle," he said, "the Duke of Luxemburg -behaved like Conde; and since the battle the Prince of Orange has -behaved like Turenne." - -In truth the ability and vigour with which William repaired his terrible -defeat might well excite admiration. "In one respect," said the Admiral -Coligni, "I may claim superiority over Alexander, over Scipio, over -Caesar. They won great battles, it is true. I have lost four great -battles; and yet I show to the enemy a more formidable front than ever." -The blood of Coligni ran in the veins of William; and with the blood had -descended the unconquerable spirit which could derive from failure as -much glory as happier commanders owed to success. The defeat of Landen -was indeed a heavy blow. The King had a few days of cruel anxiety. -If Luxemburg pushed on, all was lost. Louvain must fall, and Mechlin, -Nieuport, and Ostend. The Batavian frontier would be in danger. The cry -for peace throughout Holland might be such as neither States General nor -Stadtholder would be able to resist. [450] But there was delay; and a -very short delay was enough for William. From the field of battle he -made his way through the multitude of fugitives to the neighbourhood of -Louvain, and there began to collect his scattered forces. His character -is not lowered by the anxiety which, at that moment, the most disastrous -of his life, he felt for the two persons who were dearest to him. As -soon as he was safe, he wrote to assure his wife of his safety. [451] In -the confusion of the flight he had lost sight of Portland, who was then -in very feeble health, and had therefore run more than the ordinary -risks of war. A short note which the King sent to his friend a few hours -later is still extant. [452] "Though I hope to see you this evening, I -cannot help writing to tell you how rejoiced I am that you got off so -well. God grant that your health may soon be quite restored. These are -great trials, which he has been pleased to send me in quick succession. -I must try to submit to his pleasure without murmuring, and to deserve -his anger less." - -His forces rallied fast. Large bodies of troops which he had, perhaps -imprudently, detached from his army while he supposed that Liege was the -object of the enemy, rejoined him by forced marches. Three weeks after -his defeat he held a review a few miles from Brussels. The number of men -under arms was greater than on the morning of the bloody day of Landen; -their appearance was soldierlike; and their spirit seemed unbroken. -William now wrote to Heinsius that the worst was over. "The crisis," he -said, "has been a terrible one. Thank God that it has ended thus." He -did not, however, think it prudent to try at that time the event of -another pitched field. He therefore suffered the French to besiege and -take Charleroy; and this was the only advantage which they derived -from the most sanguinary battle fought in Europe during the seventeenth -century. - -The melancholy tidings of the defeat of Landen found England agitated by -tidings not less melancholy from a different quarter. During many -months the trade with the Mediterranean Sea had been almost entirely -interrupted by the war. There was no chance that a merchantman from -London or from Amsterdam would, if unprotected, reach the Pillars of -Hercules without being boarded by a French privateer; and the protection -of armed vessels was not easily to be obtained. During the year 1691, -great fleets, richly laden for Spanish, Italian and Turkish markets, had -been gathering in the Thames and the Texel. In February 1693, near -four hundred ships were ready to start. The value of the cargoes was -estimated at several millions sterling. Those galleons which had long -been the wonder and envy of the world had never conveyed so precious -a freight from the West Indies to Seville. The English government -undertook, in concert with the Dutch government, to escort the vessels -which were laden with this great mass of wealth. The French government -was bent on intercepting them. - -The plan of the allies was that seventy ships of the line and about -thirty frigates and brigantines should assemble in the Channel under -the command of Killegrew and Delaval, the two new Lords of the English -Admiralty, and should convoy the Smyrna fleet, as it was popularly -called, beyond the limits within which any danger could be apprehended -from the Brest squadron. The greater part of the armament might then -return to guard the Channel, while Rooke, with twenty sail, might -accompany the trading vessels and might protect them against the -squadron which lay at Toulon. The plan of the French government was that -the Brest squadron under Tourville and the Toulon squadron under Estrees -should meet in the neighbourhood of the Straits of Gibraltar, and should -there lie in wait for the booty. - -Which plan was the better conceived may be doubted. Which was the better -executed is a question which admits of no doubt. The whole French navy, -whether in the Atlantic or in the Mediterranean, was moved by one will. -The navy of England and the navy of the United Provinces were subject to -different authorities; and, both in England and in the United Provinces, -the power was divided and subdivided to such an extent that no single -person was pressed by a heavy responsibility. The spring came. The -merchants loudly complained that they had already lost more by delay -than they could hope to gain by the most successful voyage; and still -the ships of war were not half manned or half provisioned. The Amsterdam -squadron did not arrive on our coast till late in April; the Zealand -squadron not till the middle of May. [453] It was June before the -immense fleet, near five hundred sail, lost sight of the cliffs of -England. - -Tourville was already on the sea, and was steering southward. But -Killegrew and Delaval were so negligent or so unfortunate that they had -no intelligence of his movements. They at first took it for granted that -he was still lying in the port of Brest. Then they heard a rumour that -some shipping had been seen to the northward; and they supposed that -he was taking advantage of their absence to threaten the coast of -Devonshire. It never seems to have occurred to them as possible that he -might have effected a junction with the Toulon squadron, and might be -impatiently waiting for his prey in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar. They -therefore, on the sixth of June, having convoyed the Smyrna fleet about -two hundred miles beyond Ushant, announced their intention to part -company with Rooke. Rooke expostulated, but to no purpose. It was -necessary for him to submit, and to proceed with his twenty men of -war to the Mediterranean, while his superiors, with the rest of the -armament, returned to the Channel. - -It was by this time known in England that Tourville had stolen out of -Brest, and was hastening to join Estrees. The return of Killegrew -and Delaval therefore excited great alarm. A swift sailing vessel was -instantly despatched to warn Rooke of his danger; but the warning never -reached him. He ran before a fair wind to Cape Saint Vincent; and there -he learned that some French ships were lying in the neighbouring Bay of -Lagos. The first information which he received led him to believe that -they were few in number; and so dexterously did they conceal their -strength that, till they were within half an hour's sail, he had no -suspicion that he was opposed to the whole maritime strength of a great -kingdom. To contend against fourfold odds would have been madness. It -was much that he was able to save his squadron from titter destruction. -He exerted all his skill. Two or three Dutch men of war, which were in -the rear, courageously sacrificed themselves to save the fleet. With -the rest of the armament, and with about sixty merchant ships, Rooke got -safe to Madeira and thence to Cork. But more than three hundred of -the vessels which he had convoyed were scattered over the ocean. Some -escaped to Ireland; some to Corunna; some to Lisbon; some to Cadiz; some -were captured, and more destroyed. A few, which had taken shelter under -the rock of Gibraltar, and were pursued thither by the enemy, were sunk -when it was found that they could not be defended. Others perished in -the same manner under the batteries of Malaga. The gain to the French -seems not to have been great; but the loss to England and Holland was -immense. [454] - -Never within the memory of man had there been in the City a day of more -gloom and agitation than that on which the news of the encounter in the -Bay of Lagos arrived. Many merchants, an eyewitness said, went away from -the Royal Exchange, as pale as if they had received sentence of death. -A deputation from the merchants who had been sufferers by this great -disaster went up to the Queen with an address representing their -grievances. They were admitted to the Council Chamber, where she was -seated at the head of the Board. She directed Somers to reply to them -in her name; and he addressed to them a speech well calculated to soothe -their irritation. Her Majesty, he said, felt for them from her heart; -and she had already appointed a Committee of the Privy Council to -inquire into the cause of the late misfortune, and to consider of the -best means of preventing similar misfortunes in time to come. [455] This -answer gave so much satisfaction that the Lord Mayor soon came to the -palace to thank the Queen for her goodness, to assure her that, through -all vicissitudes, London would be true to her and her consort, and to -inform her that, severely as the late calamity had been felt by many -great commercial houses, the Common Council had unanimously resolved to -advance whatever might be necessary for the support of the government. -[456] - -The ill humour which the public calamities naturally produced was -inflamed by every factious artifice. Never had the Jacobite pamphleteers -been so savagely scurrilous as during this unfortunate summer. The -police was consequently more active than ever in seeking for the dens -from which so much treason proceeded. With great difficulty and after -long search the most important of all the unlicensed presses was -discovered. This press belonged to a Jacobite named William Anderton, -whose intrepidity and fanaticism marked him out as fit to be employed -on services from which prudent men and scrupulous men shrink. During two -years he had been watched by the agents of the government; but where -he exercised his craft was an impenetrable mystery. At length he was -tracked to a house near Saint James's Street, where he was known by a -feigned name, and where he passed for a working jeweller. A messenger -of the press went thither with several assistants, and found Anderton's -wife and mother posted as sentinels at the door. The women knew the -messenger, rushed on him, tore his hair, and cried out "Thieves" -and "Murder." The alarm was thus given to Anderton. He concealed the -instruments of his calling, came forth with an assured air, and bade -defiance to the messenger, the Censor, the Secretary, and Little -Hooknose himself. After a struggle he was secured. His room was -searched; and at first sight no evidence of his guilt appeared. But -behind the bed was soon found a door which opened into a dark closet. -The closet contained a press, types and heaps of newly printed papers. -One of these papers, entitled Remarks on the Present Confederacy and the -Late Revolution, is perhaps the most frantic of all the Jacobite libels. -In this tract the Prince of Orange is gravely accused of having ordered -fifty of his wounded English soldiers to be burned alive. The governing -principle of his whole conduct, it is said, is not vainglory, or -ambition, or avarice, but a deadly hatred of Englishmen and a desire -to make them miserable. The nation is vehemently adjured, on peril of -incurring the severest judgments, to rise up and free itself from this -plague, this curse, this tyrant, whose depravity makes it difficult to -believe that he can have been procreated by a human pair. Many copies -were also found of another paper, somewhat less ferocious but perhaps -more dangerous, entitled A French Conquest neither desirable nor -practicable. In this tract also the people are exhorted to rise in -insurrection. They are assured that a great part of the army is with -them. The forces of the Prince of Orange will melt away; he will be glad -to make his escape; and a charitable hope is sneeringly expressed that -it may not be necessary to do him any harm beyond sending him back to -Loo, where he may live surrounded by luxuries for which the English have -paid dear. - -The government, provoked and alarmed by the virulence of the Jacobite -pamphleteers, determined to make Anderton an example. He was indicted -for high treason, and brought to the bar of the Old Bailey. Treby, -now Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and Powell, who had honourably -distinguished himself on the day of the trial of the bishops, were on -the Bench. It is unfortunate that no detailed report of the evidence has -come down to us, and that we are forced to content ourselves with such -fragments of information as can be collected from the contradictory -narratives of writers evidently partial, intemperate and dishonest. The -indictment, however, is extant; and the overt acts which it imputes to -the prisoner undoubtedly amount to high treason. [457] To exhort the -subjects of the realm to rise up and depose the King by force, and to -add to that exhortation the expression, evidently ironical, of a hope -that it may not be necessary to inflict on him any evil worse than -banishment, is surely an offence which the least courtly lawyer will -admit to be within the scope of the statute of Edward the Third. On this -point indeed there seems to have been no dispute, either at the trial or -subsequently. - -The prisoner denied that he had printed the libels. On this point it -seems reasonable that, since the evidence has not come down to us, -we should give credit to the judges and the jury who heard what the -witnesses had to say. - -One argument with which Anderton had been furnished by his advisers, -and which, in the Jacobite pasquinades of that time, is represented as -unanswerable, was that, as the art of printing had been unknown in the -reign of Edward the Third, printing could not be an overt act of treason -under a statute of that reign. The judges treated this argument very -lightly; and they were surely justified in so treating it. For it is -an argument which would lead to the conclusion that it could not be an -overt act of treason to behead a King with a guillotine or to shoot him -with a Minie rifle. - -It was also urged in Anderton's favour,--and this was undoubtedly an -argument well entitled to consideration,--that a distinction ought to -be made between the author of a treasonable paper and the man who merely -printed it. The former could not pretend that he had not understood the -meaning of the words which he had himself selected. But to the latter -those words might convey no idea whatever. The metaphors, the allusions, -the sarcasms, might be far beyond his comprehension; and, while his -hands were busy among the types, his thoughts might be wandering to -things altogether unconnected with the manuscript which was before him. -It is undoubtedly true that it may be no crime to print what it would be -a great crime to write. But this is evidently a matter concerning -which no general rule can be laid down. Whether Anderton had, as a mere -mechanic, contributed to spread a work the tendency of which he did -not suspect, or had knowingly lent his help to raise a rebellion, was -a question for the jury; and the jury might reasonably infer from his -change of his name, from the secret manner in which he worked, from the -strict watch kept by his wife and mother, and from the fury with which, -even in the grasp of the messengers, he railed at the government, -that he was not the unconscious tool, but the intelligent and zealous -accomplice of traitors. The twelve, after passing a considerable time -in deliberation, informed the Court that one of them entertained doubts. -Those doubts were removed by the arguments of Treby and Powell; and a -verdict of Guilty was found. - -The fate of the prisoner remained during sometime in suspense. The -Ministers hoped that he might be induced to save his own neck at the -expense of the necks of the pamphleteers who had employed him. But his -natural courage was kept up by spiritual stimulants which the nonjuring -divines well understood how to administer. He suffered death with -fortitude, and continued to revile the government to the last. The -Jacobites clamoured loudly against the cruelty of the judges who had -tried him and of the Queen who had left him for execution, and, not very -consistently, represented him at once as a poor ignorant artisan who was -not aware of the nature and tendency of the act for which he suffered, -and as a martyr who had heroically laid down his life for the banished -King and the persecuted Church. [458] - -The Ministers were much mistaken if they flattered themselves that the -fate of Anderton would deter others from imitating his example. His -execution produced several pamphlets scarcely less virulent than those -for which he had suffered. Collier, in what he called Remarks on the -London Gazette, exulted with cruel joy over the carnage of Landen, and -the vast destruction of English property on the coast of Spain. [459] -Other writers did their best to raise riots among the labouring people. -For the doctrine of the Jacobites was that disorder, in whatever place -or in whatever way it might begin, was likely to end in a Restoration. -A phrase which, without a commentary, may seem to be mere nonsense, -but which was really full of meaning, was often in their mouths at -this time, and was indeed a password by which the members of the party -recognised each other: "Box it about; it will come to my father." The -hidden sense of this gibberish was, "Throw the country into confusion; -it will be necessary at last to have recourse to King James." [460] -Trade was not prosperous; and many industrious men were out of work. -Accordingly songs addressed to the distressed classes were composed by -the malecontent street poets. Numerous copies of a ballad exhorting the -weavers to rise against the government were discovered in the house of -that Quaker who had printed James's Declaration. [461] Every art was -used for the purpose of exciting discontent in a much more formidable -body of men, the sailors; and unhappily the vices of the naval -administration furnished the enemies of the State with but too good a -choice of inflammatory topics. Some seamen deserted; some mutinied; then -came executions; and then came more ballads and broadsides representing -those executions as barbarous murders. Reports that the government -had determined to defraud its defenders of their hard earned pay were -circulated with so much effect that a great crowd of women from Wapping -and Rotherhithe besieged Whitehall, clamouring for what was due to their -husbands. Mary had the good sense and good nature to order four of -those importunate petitioners to be admitted into the room where she was -holding a Council. She heard their complaints, and herself assured them -that the rumour which had alarmed them was unfounded. [462] By this -time Saint Bartholomew's day drew near; and the great annual fair, the -delight of idle apprentices and the horror of Puritanical Aldermen, -was opened in Smithfield with the usual display of dwarfs, giants, and -dancing dogs, the man that ate fire, and the elephant that loaded and -fired a musket. But of all the shows none proved so attractive as a -dramatic performance which, in conception, though doubtless not in -execution, seems to have borne much resemblance to those immortal -masterpieces of humour in which Aristophanes held up Cleon and Lamachus -to derision. Two strollers personated Killegrew and Delaval. The -Admirals were represented as flying with their whole fleet before a few -French privateers, and taking shelter under the grins of the Tower. -The office of Chorus was performed by a Jackpudding who expressed very -freely his opinion of the naval administration. Immense crowds flocked -to see this strange farce. The applauses were loud; the receipts were -great; and the mountebanks, who had at first ventured to attack only the -unlucky and unpopular Board of Admiralty, now, emboldened by impunity -and success, and probably prompted and rewarded by persons of much -higher station than their own, began to cast reflections on other -departments of the government. This attempt to revive the license of the -Attic Stage was soon brought to a close by the appearance of a strong -body of constables who carried off the actors to prison. [463] Meanwhile -the streets of London were every night strewn with seditious handbills. -At all the taverns the zealots of hereditary right were limping about -with glasses of wine and punch at their lips. This fashion had just come -in; and the uninitiated wondered much that so great a number of jolly -gentlemen should have suddenly become lame. But, those who were in the -secret knew that the word Limp was a consecrated word, that every one -of the four letters which composed it was the initial of an august name, -and that the loyal subject who limped while he drank was taking off his -bumper to Lewis, James, Mary, and the Prince. [464] - -It was not only in the capital that the Jacobites, at this time, made a -great display of their wit. They mustered strong at Bath, where the Lord -President Caermarthen was trying to recruit his feeble health. Every -evening they met, as they phrased it, to serenade the Marquess. In other -words they assembled under the sick man's window, and there sang doggrel -lampoons on him. [465] - -It is remarkable that the Lord President, at the very time at which -he was insulted as a Williamite at Bath, was considered as a stanch -Jacobite at Saint Germains. How he came to be so considered is a -most perplexing question. Some writers are of opinion that he, like -Shrewsbury, Russell, Godolphin and Marlborough, entered into engagements -with one king while eating the bread of the other. But this opinion -does not rest on sufficient proofs. About the treasons of Shrewsbury, -of Russell, of Godolphin and of Marlborough, we have a great mass of -evidence, derived from various sources, and extending over several -years. But all the information which we possess about Caermarthen's -dealings with James is contained in a single short paper written by -Melfort on the sixteenth of October 1693. From that paper it is quite -clear that some intelligence had reached the banished King and his -Ministers which led them to regard Caermarthen as a friend. But there is -no proof that they ever so regarded him, either before that day or after -that day. [466] On the whole, the most probable explanation of this -mystery seems to be that Caermarthen had been sounded by some Jacobite -emissary much less artful than himself, and had, for the purpose of -getting at the bottom of the new scheme of policy devised by Middleton, -pretended to be well disposed to the cause of the banished King, that an -exaggerated account of what had passed had been sent to Saint Germains, -and that there had been much rejoicing there at a conversion which soon -proved to have been feigned. It seems strange that such a conversion -should even for a moment have been thought sincere. It was plainly -Caermarthen's interest to stand by the sovereigns in possession. He -was their chief minister. He could not hope to be the chief minister of -James. It can indeed hardly be supposed that the political conduct of a -cunning old man, insatiably ambitious and covetous, was much influenced -by personal partiality. But, if there were any person to whom -Caermarthen was partial, that person was undoubtedly Mary. That he had -seriously engaged in a plot to depose her, at the risk of his head if he -failed, and with the certainty of losing immense power and wealth if he -succeeded, was a story too absurd for any credulity but the credulity of -exiles. - -Caermarthen had indeed at that moment peculiarly strong reasons for -being satisfied with the place which he held in the counsels of William -and Mary. There is but too strong reason to believe that he was then -accumulating unlawful gain with a rapidity unexampled even in his -experience. - -The contest between the two East India Companies was, during the autumn -of 1693, fiercer than ever. The House of Commons, finding the Old -Company obstinately averse to all compromise, had, a little before the -close of the late session, requested the King to give the three years' -warning prescribed by the Charter. Child and his fellows now began to -be seriously alarmed. They expected every day to receive the dreaded -notice. Nay, they were not sure that their exclusive privilege might not -be taken away without any notice at all; for they found that they had, -by inadvertently omitting to pay the tax lately imposed on their stock -at the precise time fixed by law, forfeited their Charter; and, though -it would, in ordinary circumstances, have been thought cruel in the -government to take advantage of such a slip, the public was not inclined -to allow the Old Company any thing more than the strict letter of the -bond. Every thing was lost if the Charter were not renewed before the -meeting of Parliament. There can be little doubt that the proceedings -of the corporation were still really directed by Child. But he had, it -should seem, perceived that his unpopularity had injuriously affected -the interests which were under his care, and therefore did not obtrude -himself on the public notice. His place was ostensibly filled by his -near kinsman Sir Thomas Cook, one of the greatest merchants of London, -and Member of Parliament for the borough of Colchester. The Directors -placed at Cook's absolute disposal all the immense wealth which lay in -their treasury; and in a short time near a hundred thousand pounds were -expended in corruption on a gigantic scale. In what proportions this -enormous sum was distributed among the great men at Whitehall, and how -much of it was embezzled by intermediate agents, is still a mystery. We -know with certainty however that thousands went to Seymour and thousands -to Caermarthen. - -The effect of these bribes was that the Attorney General received orders -to draw up a charter regranting the old privileges to the old Company. -No minister, however, could, after what had passed in Parliament, -venture to advise the Crown to renew the monopoly without conditions. -The Directors were sensible that they had no choice, and reluctantly -consented to accept the new Charter on terms substantially the same with -those which the House of Commons had sanctioned. - -It is probable that, two years earlier, such a compromise would have -quieted the feud which distracted the City. But a long conflict, in -which satire and calumny had not been spared, had heated the minds of -men. The cry of Dowgate against Leadenhall Street was louder than ever. -Caveats were entered; petitions were signed; and in those petitions a -doctrine which had hitherto been studiously kept in the background -was boldly affirmed. While it was doubtful on which side the royal -prerogative would be used, that prerogative had not been questioned. -But as soon as it appeared that the Old Company was likely to obtain a -regrant of the monopoly under the Great Seal, the New Company began to -assert with vehemence that no monopoly could be created except by Act -of Parliament. The Privy Council, over which Caermarthen presided, after -hearing the matter fully argued by counsel on both sides, decided in -favour of the Old Company, and ordered the Charter to be sealed. [467] - -The autumn was by this time far advanced, and the armies in the -Netherlands had gone into quarters for the winter. On the last day of -October William landed in England. The Parliament was about to meet; and -he had every reason to expect a session even more stormy than the last. -The people were discontented, and not without cause. The year had been -every where disastrous to the allies, not only on the sea and in the Low -Countries, but also in Servia, in Spain, in Italy, and in Germany. The -Turks had compelled the generals of the Empire to raise the siege of -Belgrade. A newly created Marshal of France, the Duke of Noailles, had -invaded Catalonia and taken the fortress of Rosas. Another newly created -Marshal, the skilful and valiant Catinat, had descended from the Alps -on Piedmont, and had, at Marsiglia, gained a complete victory over the -forces of the Duke of Savoy. This battle is memorable as the first of -a long series of battles in which the Irish troops retrieved the honour -lost by misfortunes and misconduct in domestic war. Some of the exiles -of Limerick showed, on that day, under the standard of France, a valour -which distinguished them among many thousands of brave men. It is -remarkable that on the same day a battalion of the persecuted and -expatriated Huguenots stood firm amidst the general disorder round the -standard of Savoy, and fell fighting desperately to the last. - -The Duke of Lorges had marched into the Palatinate, already twice -devastated, and had found that Turenne and Duras had left him something -to destroy. Heidelberg, just beginning to rise again from its ruins, -was again sacked, the peaceable citizens butchered, their wives and -daughters foully outraged. The very choirs of the churches were stained -with blood; the pyxes and crucifixes were torn from the altars; the -tombs of the ancient Electors were broken open; the corpses, stripped -of their cerecloths and ornaments, were dragged about the streets. The -skull of the father of the Duchess of Orleans was beaten to fragments -by the soldiers of a prince among the ladies of whose splendid Court she -held the foremost place. - -And yet a discerning eye might have perceived that, unfortunate as the -confederates seemed to have been, the advantage had really been on their -side. The contest was quite as much a financial as a military contest. -The French King had, some months before, said that the last piece of -gold would carry the day; and he now began painfully to feel the truth -of the saying. England was undoubtedly hard pressed by public burdens; -but still she stood up erect. France meanwhile was fast sinking. Her -recent efforts had been too much for her strength, and had left her -spent and unnerved. Never had her rulers shown more ingenuity in -devising taxes or more severity in exacting them; but by no ingenuity, -by no severity, was it possible to raise the sums necessary for another -such campaign as that of 1693. In England the harvest had been abundant. -In France the corn and the wine had again failed. The people, as usual, -railed at the government. The government, with shameful ignorance or -more shameful dishonesty, tried to direct the public indignation -against the dealers in grain. Decrees appeared which seemed to have been -elaborately framed for the purpose of turning dearth into famine. The -nation was assured that there was no reason for uneasiness, that there -was more than a sufficient supply of food, and that the scarcity had -been produced by the villanous arts of misers, who locked up their -stores in the hope of making enormous gains. Commissioners were -appointed to inspect the granaries, and were empowered to send to -market all the corn that was not necessary for the consumption of the -proprietors. Such interference of course increased the suffering which -it was meant to relieve. But in the midst of the general distress there -was an artificial plenty in one favoured spot. The most arbitrary -prince must always stand in some awe of an immense mass of human beings -collected in the neighbourhood of his own palace. Apprehensions similar -to those which had induced the Caesars to extort from Africa and Egypt -the means of pampering the rabble of Rome induced Lewis to aggravate the -misery of twenty provinces for the purpose of keeping one huge city in -good humour. He ordered bread to be distributed in all the parishes of -the capital at less than half the market price. The English Jacobites -were stupid enough to extol the wisdom and humanity of this arrangement. -The harvest, they said, had been good in England and bad in France; and -yet the loaf was cheaper at Paris than in London; and the explanation -was simple. The French had a sovereign whose heart was French, and -who watched over his people with the solicitude of a father, while the -English were cursed with a Dutch tyrant, who sent their corn to Holland. -The truth was that a week of such fatherly government as that of Lewis -would have raised all England in arms from Northumberland to Cornwall. -That there might be abundance at Paris, the people of Normandy and Anjou -were stuffing themselves with nettles. That there might be tranquillity -at Paris, the peasantry were fighting with the bargemen and the troops -all along the Loire and the Seine. Multitudes fled from those rural -districts where bread cost five sous a pound to the happy place where -bread was to be had for two sous a pound. It was necessary to drive the -famished crowds back by force from the barriers, and to denounce the -most terrible punishments against all who should not go home and starve -quietly. [468] - -Lewis was sensible that the strength of France had been overstrained by -the exertions of the last campaign. Even if her harvest and her vintage -had been abundant, she would not have been able to do in 1694 what she -had done in 1693; and it was utterly impossible that, in a season of -extreme distress, she should again send into the field armies superior -in number on every point to the armies of the coalition. New conquests -were not to be expected. It would be much if the harassed and exhausted -land, beset on all sides by enemies, should be able to sustain a -defensive war without any disaster. So able a politician as the French -King could not but feel that it would be for his advantage to treat with -the allies while they were still awed by the remembrance of the gigantic -efforts which his kingdom had just made, and before the collapse which -had followed those efforts should become visible. - -He had long been communicating through various channels with some -members of the confederacy, and trying to induce them to separate -themselves from the rest. But he had as yet made no overture tending -to a general pacification. For he knew that there could be no general -pacification unless he was prepared to abandon the cause of James, and -to acknowledge the Prince and Princess of Orange as King and Queen of -England. This was in truth the point on which every thing turned. What -should be done with those great fortresses which Lewis had unjustly -seized and annexed to his empire in time of peace, Luxemburg which -overawed the Moselle, and Strasburg which domineered over the Upper -Rhine; what should be done with the places which he had recently won in -open war, Philipsburg, Mons and Namur, Huy and Charleroy; what barrier -should be given to the States General; on what terms Lorraine should be -restored to its hereditary Dukes; these were assuredly not unimportant -questions. But the all important question was whether England was to -be, as she had been under James, a dependency of France, or, as she -was under William and Mary, a power of the first rank. If Lewis really -wished for peace, he must bring himself to recognise the Sovereigns -whom he had so often designated as usurpers. Could he bring himself to -recognise them? His superstition, his pride, his regard for the unhappy -exiles who were pining at Saint Germains, his personal dislike of -the indefatigable and unconquerable adversary who had been constantly -crossing his path during twenty years, were on one side; his interests -and those of his people were on the other. He must have been sensible -that it was not in his power to subjugate the English, that he must at -last leave them to choose their government for themselves, and that what -he must do at last it would be best to do soon. Yet he could not at once -make up his mind to what was so disagreeable to him. He however opened -a negotiation with the States General through the intervention of Sweden -and Denmark, and sent a confidential emissary to confer in secret at -Brussels with Dykvelt, who possessed the entire confidence of William. -There was much discussion about matters of secondary importance; but -the great question remained unsettled. The French agent used, in private -conversation, expressions plainly implying that the government which he -represented was prepared to recognise William and Mary; but no formal -assurance could be obtained from him. Just at the same time the King -of Denmark informed the allies that he was endeavouring to prevail on -France not to insist on the restoration of James as an indispensable -condition of peace, but did not say that his endeavours had as yet -been successful. Meanwhile Avaux, who was now Ambassador at Stockholm, -informed the King of Sweden, that, as the dignity of all crowned heads -had been outraged in the person of James, the Most Christian King felt -assured that not only neutral powers, but even the Emperor, would try to -find some expedient which might remove so grave a cause of quarrel. The -expedient at which Avaux hinted doubtless was that James should waive -his rights, and that the Prince of Wales should be sent to England, bred -a Protestant, adopted by William and Mary, and declared their heir. -To such an arrangement William would probably have had no personal -objection. But we may be assured that he never would have consented to -make it a condition of peace with France. Who should reign in England -was a question to be decided by England alone. [469] - -It might well be suspected that a negotiation conducted in this manner -was merely meant to divide the confederates. William understood the -whole importance of the conjuncture. He had not, it may be, the eye of a -great captain for all the turns of a battle. But he had, in the highest -perfection, the eye of a great statesman for all the turns of a war. -That France had at length made overtures to him was a sufficient proof -that she felt herself spent and sinking. That those overtures were made -with extreme reluctance and hesitation proved that she had not yet come -to a temper in which it was possible to have peace with her on fair -terms. He saw that the enemy was beginning to give ground, and that this -was the time to assume the offensive, to push forward, to bring up every -reserve. But whether the opportunity should be seized or lost it did not -belong to him to decide. The King of France might levy troops and exact -taxes without any limit save that which the laws of nature impose on -despotism. But the King of England could do nothing without the support -of the House of Commons; and the House of Commons, though it had -hitherto supported him zealously and liberally, was not a body on -which he could rely. It had indeed got into a state which perplexed -and alarmed all the most sagacious politicians of that age. There -was something appalling in the union of such boundless power and such -boundless caprice. The fate of the whole civilised world depended on -the votes of the representatives of the English people; and there was -no public man who could venture to say with confidence what those -representatives might not be induced to vote within twenty-four hours. -[470] William painfully felt that it was scarcely possible for a prince -dependent on an assembly so violent at one time, so languid at another, -to effect any thing great. Indeed, though no sovereign did so much to -secure and to extend the power of the House of Commons, no sovereign -loved the House of Commons less. Nor is this strange; for he saw that -House at the very worst. He saw it when it had just acquired the power -and had not yet acquired the gravity of a senate. In his letters to -Heinsius he perpetually complains of the endless talking, the factious -squabbling, the inconstancy, the dilatoriness, of the body which -his situation made it necessary for him to treat with deference. His -complaints were by no means unfounded; but he had not discovered either -the cause or the cure of the evil. - -The truth was that the change which the Revolution had made in the -situation of the House of Commons had made another change necessary; -and that other change had not yet taken place. There was parliamentary -government; but there was no Ministry; and, without a Ministry, the -working of a parliamentary government, such as ours, must always be -unsteady and unsafe. - -It is essential to our liberties that the House of Commons should -exercise a control over all the departments of the executive -administration. And yet it is evident that a crowd of five or six -hundred people, even if they were intellectually much above the average -of the members of the best Parliament, even if every one of them were -a Burleigh, or a Sully, would be unfit for executive functions. It has -been truly said that every large collection of human beings, however -well educated, has a strong tendency to become a mob; and a country of -which the Supreme Executive Council is a mob is surely in a perilous -situation. - -Happily a way has been found out in which the House of Commons can -exercise a paramount influence over the executive government, without -assuming functions such as can never be well discharged by a body so -numerous and so variously composed. An institution which did not exist -in the times, of the Plantagenets, of the Tudors or of the Stuarts, an -institution not known to the law, an institution not mentioned in any -statute, an institution of which such writers as De Lolme and Blackstone -take no notice, began to exist a few years after the Revolution, grew -rapidly into importance, became firmly established, and is now almost -as essential a part of our polity as the Parliament itself. This -institution is the Ministry. - -The Ministry is, in fact, a committee of leading members of the two -Houses. It is nominated by the Crown; but it consists exclusively of -statesmen whose opinions on the pressing questions of the time agree, -in the main, with the opinions of the majority of the House of -Commons. Among the members of this committee are distributed the great -departments of the administration. Each Minister conducts the ordinary -business of his own office without reference to his colleagues. But the -most important business of every office, and especially such business -as is likely to be the subject of discussion in Parliament, is brought -under the consideration of the whole Ministry. In Parliament the -Ministers are bound to act as one man on all questions relating to -the executive government. If one of them dissents from the rest on a -question too important to admit of compromise, it is his duty to retire. -While the Ministers retain the confidence of the parliamentary majority, -that majority supports them against opposition, and rejects every motion -which reflects on them or is likely to embarrass them. If they forfeit -that confidence, if the parliamentary majority is dissatisfied with -the way in which patronage is distributed, with the way in which the -prerogative of mercy is used, with the conduct of foreign affairs, with -the conduct of a war, the remedy is simple. It is not necessary that the -Commons should take on themselves the business of administration, that -they should request the Crown to make this man a bishop and that man -a judge, to pardon one criminal and to execute another, to negotiate a -treaty on a particular basis or to send an expedition to a particular -place. They have merely to declare that they have ceased to trust the -Ministry, and to ask for a Ministry which they can trust. - -It is by means of Ministries thus constituted, and thus changed, that -the English government has long been conducted in general conformity -with the deliberate sense of the House of Commons, and yet has been -wonderfully free from the vices which are characteristic of governments -administered by large, tumultuous and divided assemblies. A few -distinguished persons, agreeing in their general opinions, are the -confidential advisers at once of the Sovereign and of the Estates of the -Realm. In the closet they speak with the authority of men who stand high -in the estimation of the representatives of the people. In Parliament -they speak with the authority of men versed in great affairs and -acquainted with all the secrets of the State. Thus the Cabinet has -something of the popular character of a representative body; and the -representative body has something of the gravity of a cabinet. - -Sometimes the state of parties is such that no set of men who can be -brought together possesses the full confidence and steady support of a -majority of the House of Commons. When this is the case, there must be -a weak Ministry; and there will probably be a rapid succession of weak -Ministries. At such times the House of Commons never fails to get into -a state which no person friendly to representative government can -contemplate without uneasiness, into a state which may enable us to form -some faint notion of the state of that House during the earlier years -of the reign of William. The notion is indeed but faint; for the weakest -Ministry has great power as a regulator of parliamentary proceedings; -and in the earlier years of the reign of William there was no Ministry -at all. - -No writer has yet attempted to trace the progress of this institution, -an institution indispensable to the harmonious working of our other -institutions. The first Ministry was the work, partly of mere chance, -and partly of wisdom, not however of that highest wisdom which is -conversant with great principles of political philosophy, but of that -lower wisdom which meets daily exigencies by daily expedients. Neither -William nor the most enlightened of his advisers fully understood the -nature and importance of that noiseless revolution,--for it was no -less,--which began about the close of 1693, and was completed about the -close of 1696. But every body could perceive that, at the close of -1693, the chief offices in the government were distributed not unequally -between the two great parties, that the men who held those offices were -perpetually caballing against each other, haranguing against each -other, moving votes of censure on each other, exhibiting articles of -impeachment against each other, and that the temper of the House of -Commons was wild, ungovernable and uncertain. Everybody could perceive -that at the close of 1696, all the principal servants of the Crown were -Whigs, closely bound together by public and private ties, and prompt to -defend one another against every attack, and that the majority of the -House of Commons was arrayed in good order under those leaders, and had -learned to move, like one man, at the word of command. The history -of the period of transition and of the steps by which the change was -effected is in a high degree curious and interesting. - -The statesman who had the chief share in forming the first English -Ministry had once been but too well known, but had long hidden himself -from the public gaze, and had but recently emerged from the obscurity -in which it had been expected that he would pass the remains of an -ignominious and disastrous life. During that period of general terror -and confusion which followed the flight of James, Sunderland had -disappeared. It was high time; for of all the agents of the fallen -government he was, with the single exception of Jeffreys, the most -odious to the nation. Few knew that Sunderland's voice had in secret -been given against the spoliation of Magdalene College and the -prosecution of the Bishops; but all knew that he had signed numerous -instruments dispensing with statutes, that he had sate in the High -Commission, that he had turned or pretended to turn Papist, that he had, -a few days after his apostasy, appeared in Westminster Hall as a witness -against the oppressed fathers of the Church. He had indeed atoned for -many crimes by one crime baser than all the rest. As soon as he had -reason to believe that the day of deliverance and retribution was at -hand, he had, by a most dexterous and seasonable treason, earned his -pardon. During the three months which preceded the arrival of the Dutch -armament in Torbay, he had rendered to the cause of liberty and of the -Protestant religion services of which it is difficult to overrate either -the wickedness or the utility. To him chiefly it was owing that, at the -most critical moment in our history, a French army was not menacing the -Batavian frontier and a French fleet hovering about the English coast. -William could not, without staining his own honour, refuse to protect -one whom he had not scrupled to employ. Yet it was no easy task even for -William to save that guilty head from the first outbreak of public fury. -For even those extreme politicians of both sides who agreed in nothing -else agreed in calling for vengeance on the renegade. The Whigs hated -him as the vilest of the slaves by whom the late government had been -served, and the Jacobites as the vilest of the traitors by whom it had -been overthrown. Had he remained in England, he would probably have died -by the hand of the executioner, if indeed the executioner had not -been anticipated by the populace. But in Holland a political refugee, -favoured by the Stadtholder, might hope to live unmolested. To Holland -Sunderland fled, disguised, it is said, as a woman; and his wife -accompanied him. At Rotterdam, a town devoted to the House of Orange, he -thought himself secure. But the magistrates were not in all the secrets -of the Prince, and were assured by some busy Englishmen that His -Highness would be delighted to hear of the arrest of the Popish dog, the -Judas, whose appearance on Tower Hill was impatiently expected by all -London. Sunderland was thrown into prison, and remained there till -an order for his release arrived from Whitehall. He then proceeded to -Amsterdam, and there changed his religion again. His second apostasy -edified his wife as much as his first apostasy had edified his master. -The Countess wrote to assure her pious friends in England that her poor -dear lord's heart had at last been really touched by divine grace, and -that, in spite of all her afflictions, she was comforted by seeing him -so true a convert. We may, however, without any violation of Christian -charity, suspect that he was still the same false, callous, Sunderland -who, a few months before, had made Bonrepaux shudder by denying the -existence of a God, and had, at the same time, won the heart of James -by pretending to believe in transubstantiation. In a short time the -banished man put forth an apology for his conduct. This apology, when -examined, will be found to amount merely to a confession that he had -committed one series of crimes in order to gain James's favour, and -another series in order to avoid being involved in James's ruin. The -writer concluded by announcing his intention to pass all the rest of his -life in penitence and prayer. He soon retired from Amsterdam to Utrecht, -and at Utrecht made himself conspicuous by his regular and devout -attendance on the ministrations of Huguenot preachers. If his letters -and those of his wife were to be trusted, he had done for ever with -ambition. He longed indeed to be permitted to return from exile, not -that he might again enjoy and dispense the favours of the Crown, not -that his antechambers might again be filled by the daily swarm of -suitors, but that he might see again the turf, the trees and the family -pictures of his country seat. His only wish was to be suffered to end -his troubled life at Althorpe; and he would be content to forfeit his -head if ever he went beyond the palings of his park. [471] - -While the House of Commons, which had been elected during the vacancy of -the throne, was busily engaged in the work of proscription, he could not -venture to show himself in England. But when that assembly had ceased to -exist, he thought himself safe. He returned a few days after the Act of -Grace had been laid on the table of the Lords. From the benefit of that -Act he was by name excluded; but he well knew that he had now nothing to -fear. He went privately to Kensington, was admitted into the closet, -had an audience which lasted two hours, and then retired to his country -house. [472] - -During many months be led a secluded life, and had no residence in -London. Once in the spring of 1692, to the great astonishment of the -public, he showed his face in the circle at Court, and was graciously -received. [473] He seems to have been afraid that he might, on his -reappearance in Parliament, receive some marked affront. He therefore, -very prudently, stole down to Westminster, in the dead time of the year, -on a day to which the Houses stood adjourned by the royal command, and -on which they met merely for the purpose of adjourning again. Sunderland -had just time to present himself, to take the oaths, to sign the -declaration against transubstantiation, and to resume his seat. None of -the few peers who were present had an opportunity of making any remark. -[474] It was not till the year 1692 that he began to attend regularly. -He was silent; but silent he had always been in large assemblies, even -when he was at the zenith of power. His talents were not those of a -public speaker. The art in which he surpassed all men was the art of -whispering. His tact, his quick eye for the foibles of individuals, -his caressing manners, his power of insinuation, and, above all, his -apparent frankness, made him irresistible in private conversation. -By means of these qualities he had governed James, and now aspired to -govern William. - -To govern William, indeed, was not easy. But Sunderland succeeded -in obtaining such a measure of favour and influence as excited much -surprise and some indignation. In truth, scarcely any mind was strong -enough to resist the witchery of his talk and of his manners. Every man -is prone to believe in the gratitude and attachment even of the most -worthless persons on whom he has conferred great benefits. It can -therefore hardly be thought strange that the most skilful of all -flatterers should have been heard with favour, when he, with every -outward sign of strong emotion, implored permission to dedicate all -his faculties to the service of the generous protector to whom he owed -property, liberty, life. It is not necessary, however, to suppose that -the King was deceived. He may have thought, with good reason, that, -though little confidence could be placed in Sunderland's professions, -much confidence might be placed in Sunderland's situation; and the truth -is that Sunderland proved, on the whole, a more faithful servant than a -much less depraved man might have been. He did indeed make, in profound -secresy, some timid overtures towards a reconciliation with James. -But it may be confidently affirmed that, even had those overtures -been graciously received,--and they appear to have been received very -ungraciously,--the twice turned renegade would never have rendered any -real service to the Jacobite cause. He well knew that he had done that -which at Saint Germains must be regarded as inexpiable. It was not -merely that he had been treacherous and ungrateful. Marlborough had been -as treacherous and ungrateful; and Marlborough had been pardoned. -But Marlborough had not been guilty of the impious hypocrisy of -counterfeiting the signs of conversion. Marlborough had not pretended -to be convinced by the arguments of the Jesuits, to be touched by divine -grace, to pine for union with the only true Church. Marlborough had not, -when Popery was in the ascendant, crossed himself, shrived himself, -done penance, taken the communion in one kind, and, as soon as a turn -of fortune came, apostatized back again, and proclaimed to all the world -that, when he knelt at the confessional and received the host, he was -merely laughing at the King and the priests. The crime of Sunderland -was one which could never be forgiven by James; and a crime which could -never be forgiven by James was, in some sense, a recommendation to -William. The Court, nay, the Council, was full of men who might hope -to prosper if the banished King were restored. But Sunderland had left -himself no retreat. He had broken down all the bridges behind him. He -had been so false to one side that he must of necessity be true to -the other. That he was in the main true to the government which now -protected him there is no reason to doubt; and, being true, he could not -but be useful. He was, in some respects, eminently qualified to be at -that time an adviser of the Crown. He had exactly the talents and the -knowledge which William wanted. The two together would have made up a -consummate statesman. The master was capable of forming and executing -large designs, but was negligent of those small arts in which the -servant excelled. The master saw farther off than other men; but what -was near no man saw so clearly as the servant. The master, though -profoundly versed in the politics of the great community of nations, -never thoroughly understood the politics of his own kingdom. The servant -was perfectly well informed as to the temper and the organization of the -English factions, and as to the strong and weak parts of the character -of every Englishman of note. - -Early in 1693, it was rumoured that Sunderland was consulted on all -important questions relating to the internal administration of the -realm; and the rumour became stronger when it was known that he had come -up to London in the autumn before the meeting of Parliament and that he -had taken a large mansion near Whitehall. The coffeehouse politicians -were confident that he was about to hold some high office. As yet, -however, he had the wisdom to be content with the reality of power, and -to leave the show to others. [475] - -His opinion was that, as long as the King tried to balance the two great -parties against each other, and to divide his favour equally between -them, both would think themselves ill used, and neither would lend to -the government that hearty and steady support which was now greatly -needed. His Majesty must make up his mind to give a marked preference -to one or the other; and there were three weighty reasons for giving the -preference to the Whigs. - -In the first place, the Whigs were on principle attached to the reigning -dynasty. In their view the Revolution had been, not merely necessary, -not merely justifiable, but happy and glorious. It had been the triumph -of their political theory. When they swore allegiance to William, they -swore without scruple or reservation; and they were so far from having -any doubt about his title that they thought it the best of all titles. -The Tories, on the other hand, very generally disapproved of that vote -of the Convention which had placed him on the throne. Some of them were -at heart Jacobites, and had taken the oath of allegiance to him only -that they might be able to injure him. Others, though they thought -it their duty to obey him as King in fact, denied that he was King by -right, and, if they were loyal to him, were loyal without enthusiasm. -There could, therefore, be little doubt on which of the two parties it -would be safer for him to rely. - -In the second place, as to the particular matter on which his heart -was at present set, the Whigs were, as a body, prepared to support him -strenuously, and the Tories were, as a body, inclined to thwart him. The -minds of men were at this time much occupied by the question, in what -way the war ought to be carried on. To that question the two parties -returned very different answers. An opinion had during many months been -growing among the Tories that the policy of England ought to be strictly -insular; that she ought to leave the defence of Flanders and the Rhine -to the States General, the House of Austria and the Princes of the -Empire; that she ought to carry on hostilities with vigour by sea, but -to keep up only such an army as might, with the help of the militia, be -sufficient to repel an invasion. It was plain that, if this system -were adopted, there might be an immediate reduction of the taxes which -pressed most heavily on the nation. But the Whigs maintained that -this relief would be dearly purchased. Many thousands of brave English -soldiers were now in Flanders. Yet the allies had not been able to -prevent the French from taking Mons in 1691, Namur in 1692, Charleroy in -1693. If the English troops were withdrawn, it was certain that Ostend, -Ghent, Liege, Brussels would fall. The German Princes would hasten to -make peace, each for himself. The Spanish Netherlands would probably be -annexed to the French monarchy. The United Provinces would be again in -as great peril as in 1672, and would accept whatever terms Lewis might -be pleased to dictate. In a few months, he would be at liberty to put -forth his whole strength against our island. Then would come a struggle -for life and death. It might well be hoped that we should be able to -defend our soil even against such a general and such an army as had -won the battle of Landen. But the fight must be long and hard. How many -fertile counties would be turned into deserts, how many flourishing -towns would be laid in ashes, before the invaders were destroyed or -driven out! One triumphant campaign in Kent and Middlesex would do more -to impoverish the nation than ten disastrous campaigns in Brabant. It is -remarkable that this dispute between the two great factions was, during -seventy years, regularly revived as often as our country was at war with -France. That England ought never to attempt great military operations on -the Continent continued to be a fundamental article of the creed of the -Tories till the French Revolution produced a complete change in their -feelings. [476] As the chief object of William was to open the -campaign of 1694 in Flanders with an immense display of force, it was -sufficiently clear to whom he must look for assistance. - -In the third place, the Whigs were the stronger party in Parliament. The -general election of 1690, indeed, had not been favourable to them. -They had been, for a time, a minority; but they had ever since been -constantly gaining ground; they were now in number a full half of the -Lower House; and their effective strength was more than proportioned -to their number; for in energy, alertness and discipline, they were -decidedly superior to their opponents. Their organization was not indeed -so perfect as it afterwards became; but they had already begun to -look for guidance to a small knot of distinguished men, which was long -afterwards widely known by the name of the junto. There is, perhaps, no -parallel in history, ancient or modern, to the authority exercised by -this council, during twenty troubled years, over the Whig body. The men -who acquired that authority in the days of William and Mary continued -to possess it, without interruption, in office and out of office, till -George the First was on the throne. - -One of these men was Russell. Of his shameful dealings with the Court of -Saint Germains we possess proofs which leave no room for doubt. But no -such proofs were laid before the world till he had been many years dead. -If rumours of his guilt got abroad, they were vague and improbable; they -rested on no evidence; they could be traced to no trustworthy author; -and they might well be regarded by his contemporaries as Jacobite -calumnies. What was quite certain was that he sprang from an illustrious -house, which had done and suffered great things for liberty and for the -Protestant religion, that he had signed the invitation of the thirtieth -of June, that he had landed with the Deliverer at Torbay, that he had in -Parliament, on all occasions, spoken and voted as a zealous Whig, -that he had won a great victory, that he had saved his country from an -invasion, and that, since he had left the Admiralty, every thing had -gone wrong. We cannot therefore wonder that his influence over his party -should have been considerable. - -But the greatest man among the members of the junto, and, in some -respects, the greatest man of that age, was the Lord Keeper Somers. He -was equally eminent as a jurist and as a politician, as an orator and as -a writer. His speeches have perished; but his State papers remain, and -are models of terse, luminous, and dignified eloquence. He had left -a great reputation in the House of Commons, where he had, during four -years, been always heard with delight; and the Whig members still looked -up to him as their leader, and still held their meetings under his roof. -In the great place to which he had recently been promoted, he had so -borne himself that, after a very few months, even faction and envy had -ceased to murmur at his elevation. In truth, he united all the -qualities of a great judge, an intellect comprehensive, quick and acute, -diligence, integrity, patience, suavity. In council, the calm wisdom -which he possessed in a measure rarely found among men of parts so quick -and of opinions so decided as his, acquired for him the authority of -an oracle. The superiority of his powers appeared not less clearly in -private circles. The charm of his conversation was heightened by the -frankness with which he poured out his thoughts. [477] His good temper -and his good breeding never failed. His gesture, his look, his tones -were expressive of benevolence. His humanity was the more remarkable, -because he had received from nature a body such as is generally found -united with a peevish and irritable mind. His life was one long malady; -his nerves were weak; his complexion was livid; his face was prematurely -wrinkled. Yet his enemies could not pretend that he had ever once, -during a long and troubled public life, been goaded, even by sudden -provocation, into vehemence inconsistent with the mild dignity of his -character. All that was left to them was to assert that his disposition -was very far from being so gentle as the world believed, that he was -really prone to the angry passions, and that sometimes, while his voice -was soft, and his words kind and courteous, his delicate frame was -almost convulsed by suppressed emotion. It will perhaps be thought that -this reproach is the highest of all eulogies. - -The most accomplished men of those times have told us that there was -scarcely any subject on which Somers was not competent to instruct and -to delight. He had never travelled; and, in that age, an Englishman who -had not travelled was generally thought incompetent to give an opinion -on works of art. But connoisseurs familiar with the masterpieces of the -Vatican and of the Florentine gallery allowed that the taste of Somers -in painting and sculpture was exquisite. Philology was one of his -favourite pursuits. He had traversed the whole vast range of polite -literature, ancient and modern. He was at once a munificent and severely -judicious patron of genius and learning. Locke owed opulence to Somers. -By Somers Addison was drawn forth from a cell in a college. In distant -countries the name of Somers was mentioned with respect and gratitude -by great scholars and poets who had never seen his face. He was the -benefactor of Leclerc. He was the friend of Filicaja. Neither political -nor religious differences prevented him from extending his powerful -protection to merit. Hickes, the fiercest and most intolerant of all -the nonjurors, obtained, by the influence of Somers, permission to -study Teutonic antiquities in freedom and safety. Vertue, a strict Roman -Catholic, was raised by the discriminating and liberal patronage of -Somers from poverty and obscurity to the first rank among the engravers -of the age. - -The generosity with which Somers treated his opponents was the more -honourable to him because he was no waverer in politics. From the -beginning to the end of his public life he was a steady Whig. His voice -was indeed always raised, when his party was dominant in the State, -against violent and vindictive counsels; but he never forsook his -friends, even when their perverse neglect of his advice had brought them -to the verge of ruin. - -His powers of mind and his acquirements were not denied, even by his -detractors. The most acrimonious Tories were forced to admit, with an -ungracious snarl, which increased the value of their praise, that he had -all the intellectual qualities of a great man, and that in him alone, -among his contemporaries, brilliant eloquence and wit were to be found -associated with the quiet and steady prudence which ensures success -in life. It is a remarkable fact, that, in the foulest of all the many -libels that were published against him, he was slandered under the name -of Cicero. As his abilities could not be questioned, he was charged with -irreligion and immorality. That he was heterodox all the country vicars -and foxhunting squires firmly believed; but as to the nature and extent -of his heterodoxy there were many different opinions. He seems to have -been a Low Churchman of the school of Tillotson, whom he always -loved and honoured; and he was, like Tillotson, called by bigots a -Presbyterian, an Arian, a Socinian, a Deist, and an Atheist. - -The private life of this great statesman and magistrate was malignantly -scrutinised; and tales were told about his libertinism which went on -growing till they became too absurd for the credulity even of party -spirit. At last, long after he had been condemned to flannel and chicken -broth, a wretched courtesan, who had probably never seen him except in -the stage box at the theatre, when she was following her vocation below -in a mask, published a lampoon in which she described him as the master -of a haram more costly than the Great Turk's. There is, however, reason -to believe that there was a small nucleus of truth round which this -great mass of fiction gathered, and that the wisdom and selfcommand -which Somers never wanted in the senate, on the judgment seat, at the -council board, or in the society of wits, scholars and philosophers, -were not always proof against female attractions. [478] - -Another director of the Whig party was Charles Montague. He was often, -when he had risen to power, honours and riches, called an upstart by -those who envied his success. That they should have called him so may -seem strange; for few of the statesmen of his time could show such a -pedigree as his. He sprang from a family as old as the Conquest; he was -in the succession to an earldom, and was, by the paternal side, cousin -of three earls. But he was the younger son of a younger brother; and -that phrase had, ever since the time of Shakspeare and Raleigh, and -perhaps before their time, been proverbially used to designate a person -so poor as to be broken to the most abject servitude or ready for the -most desperate adventure. - -Charles Montague was early destined for the Church, was entered on the -foundation of Westminster, and, after distinguishing himself there by -skill in Latin versification, was sent up to Trinity College, Cambridge. -At Cambridge the philosophy of Des Cartes was still dominant in the -schools. But a few select spirits had separated from the crowd, and -formed a fit audience round a far greater teacher. [479] Conspicuous -among the youths of high promise who were proud to sit at the feet of -Newton was the quick and versatile Montague. Under such guidance the -young student made considerable proficiency in the severe sciences; but -poetry was his favourite pursuit; and when the University invited her -sons to celebrate royal marriages and funerals, he was generally allowed -to have surpassed his competitors. His fame travelled to London; he -was thought a clever lad by the wits who met at Will's, and the lively -parody which he wrote, in concert with his friend and fellow student -Prior, on Dryden's Hind and Panther, was received with great applause. - -At this time all Montague's wishes pointed towards the Church. At a -later period, when he was a peer with twelve thousand a year, when his -villa on the Thames was regarded as the most delightful of all suburban -retreats, when he was said to revel in Tokay from the Imperial cellar, -and in soups made out of birds' nests brought from the Indian Ocean, and -costing three guineas a piece, his enemies were fond of reminding him -that there had been a time when he had eked out by his wits an income -of barely fifty pounds, when he had been happy with a trencher of mutton -chops and a flagon of ale from the College buttery, and when a tithe -pig was the rarest luxury for which he had dared to hope. The Revolution -came, and changed his whole scheme of life. He obtained, by the -influence of Dorset, who took a peculiar pleasure in befriending young -men of promise, a seat in the House of Commons. Still, during a few -months, the needy scholar hesitated between politics and divinity. But -it soon became clear that, in the new order of things, parliamentary -ability must fetch a higher price than any other kind of ability; and -he felt that in parliamentary ability he had no superior. He was in the -very situation for which he was peculiarly fitted by nature; and during -some years his life was a series of triumphs. - -Of him, as of several of his contemporaries, especially of Mulgrave and -of Sprat, it may be said that his fame has suffered from the folly of -those editors who, down to our own time, have persisted in reprinting -his rhymes among the works of the British poets. There is not a year in -which hundreds of verses as good as any that he ever wrote are not sent -in for the Newdigate prize at Oxford and for the Chancellor's medal at -Cambridge. His mind had indeed great quickness and vigour, but not that -kind of quickness and vigour which produces great dramas or odes; and -it is most unjust to him that his loan of Honour and his Epistle on -the Battle of the Boyne should be placed side by side with Comus -and Alexander's Feast. Other eminent statesmen and orators, Walpole, -Pulteney, Chatham, Fox, wrote poetry not better than his. But -fortunately for them, their metrical compositions were never thought -worthy to be admitted into any collection of our national classics. - -It has long been usual to represent the imagination under the figure of -a wing, and to call the successful exertions of the imagination flights. -One poet is the eagle; another is the swan; a third modestly compares -himself to the bee. But none of these types would have suited Montague. -His genius may be compared to that pinion which, though it is too weak -to lift the ostrich into the air, enables her, while she remains on the -earth, to outrun hound, horse and dromedary. If the man who possesses -this kind of genius attempts to ascend the heaven of invention, his -awkward and unsuccessful efforts expose him to derision. But if he will -be content to stay in the terrestrial region of business, he will find -that the faculties which would not enable him to soar into a higher -sphere will enable him to distance all his competitors in the lower. As -a poet Montague could never have risen above the crowd. But in the House -of Commons, now fast becoming supreme in the State, and extending -its control over one executive department after another, the young -adventurer soon obtained a place very different from the place which he -occupies among men of letters. At thirty, he would gladly have given all -his chances in life for a comfortable vicarage and a chaplain's scarf. -At thirty-seven, he was First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the -Exchequer and a Regent of the kingdom; and this elevation he owed not -at all to favour, but solely to the unquestionable superiority of his -talents for administration and debate. - -The extraordinary ability with which, at the beginning of the year 1692, -he managed the conference on the Bill for regulating Trials in cases of -Treason, placed him at once in the first rank of parliamentary orators. -On that occasion he was opposed to a crowd of veteran senators renowned -for their eloquence, Halifax, Rochester, Nottingham, Mulgrave, and -proved himself a match for them all. He was speedily seated at the Board -of Treasury; and there the clearheaded and experienced Godolphin soon -found that his young colleague was his master. When Somers had quitted -the House of Commons, Montague had no rival there. Sir Thomas Littleton, -once distinguished as the ablest debater and man of business among the -Whig members, was content to serve under his junior. To this day we may -discern in many parts of our financial and commercial system the marks -of the vigorous intellect and daring spirit of Montague. His bitterest -enemies were unable to deny that some of the expedients which he had -proposed had proved highly beneficial to the nation. But it was said -that these expedients were not devised by himself. He was represented, -in a hundred pamphlets, as the daw in borrowed plumes. He had taken, it -was affirmed, the hint of every one of his great plans from the writings -or the conversation of some ingenious speculator. This reproach was, -in truth, no reproach. We can scarcely expect to find in the same human -being the talents which are necessary for the making of new discoveries -in political science, and the talents which obtain the assent of divided -and tumultuous assemblies to great practical reforms. To be at once an -Adam Smith and a Pitt is scarcely possible. It is surely praise enough -for a busy politician that he knows how to use the theories of others, -that he discerns, among the schemes of innumerable projectors, the -precise scheme which is wanted and which is practicable, that he shapes -it to suit pressing circumstances and popular humours, that he proposes -it just when it is most likely to be favourably received, that he -triumphantly defends it against all objectors, and that he carries it -into execution with prudence and energy; and to this praise no English -statesman has a fairer claim than Montague. - -It is a remarkable proof of his selfknowledge that, from the moment at -which he began to distinguish himself in public life, he ceased to be -a versifier. It does not appear that, after he became a Lord of the -Treasury, he ever wrote a couplet, with the exception of a few well -turned lines inscribed on a set of toasting glasses which were sacred -to the most renowned Whig beauties of his time. He wisely determined -to derive from the poetry of others a glory which he never would have -derived from his own. As a patron of genius and learning he ranks with -his two illustrious friends, Dorset and Somers. His munificence fully -equalled theirs; and, though he was inferior to them in delicacy of -taste, he succeeded in associating his name inseparably with some names -which will last as long as our language. - -Yet it must be acknowledged that Montague, with admirable parts and -with many claims on the gratitude of his country, had great faults, and -unhappily faults not of the noblest kind. His head was not strong enough -to bear without giddiness the speed of his ascent and the height of his -position. He became offensively arrogant and vain. He was too often cold -to his old friends, and ostentatious in displaying his new riches. Above -all, he was insatiably greedy of praise, and liked it best when it was -of the coarsest and rankest quality. But, in 1693, these faults were -less offensive than they became a few years later. - -With Russell, Somers and Montague, was closely connected, during -a quarter of a century a fourth Whig, who in character bore little -resemblance to any of them. This was Thomas Wharton, eldest son of -Philip Lord Wharton. Thomas Wharton has been repeatedly mentioned in the -course of this narrative. But it is now time to describe him more -fully. He was in his forty-seventh year, but was still a young man in -constitution, in appearance and in manners. Those who hated him most -heartily,--and no man was hated more heartily,--admitted that his -natural parts were excellent, and that he was equally qualified for -debate and for action. The history of his mind deserves notice; for it -was the history of many thousands of minds. His rank and abilities -made him so conspicuous that in him we are able to trace distinctly -the origin and progress of a moral taint which was epidemic among his -contemporaries. - -He was born in the days of the Covenant, and was the heir of a -covenanted house. His father was renowned as a distributor of -Calvinistic tracts, and a patron of Calvinistic divines. The boy's first -years were past amidst Geneva bands, heads of lank hair, upturned eyes, -nasal psalmody, and sermons three hours long. Plays and poems, hunting -and dancing, were proscribed by the austere discipline of his saintly -family. The fruits of this education became visible, when, from the -sullen mansion of Puritan parents, the hotblooded, quickwitted young -patrician emerged into the gay and voluptuous London of the Restoration. -The most dissolute cavaliers stood aghast at the dissoluteness of the -emancipated precisian. He early acquired and retained to the last the -reputation of being the greatest rake in England. Of wine indeed he -never became the slave; and he used it chiefly for the purpose of making -himself the master of his associates. But to the end of his long life -the wives and daughters of his nearest friends were not safe from his -licentious plots. The ribaldry of his conversation moved astonishment -even in that age. To the religion of his country he offered, in the mere -wantonness of impiety, insults too foul to be described. His mendacity -and his effrontery passed into proverbs. Of all the liars of his time he -was the most deliberate, the most inventive and the most circumstantial. -What shame meant he did not seem to understand. No reproaches, even when -pointed and barbed with the sharpest wit, appeared to give him pain. -Great satirists, animated by a deadly personal aversion, exhausted -all their strength in attacks upon him. They assailed him with keen -invective; they assailed him with still keener irony; but they found -that neither invective nor irony could move him to any thing but an -unforced smile and a goodhumoured curse; and they at length threw down -the lash, acknowledging that it was impossible to make him feel. That, -with such vices, he should have played a great part in life, should have -carried numerous elections against the most formidable opposition by his -personal popularity, should have had a large following in Parliament, -should have risen to the highest offices of the State, seems -extraordinary. But he lived in times when faction was almost a madness; -and he possessed in an eminent degree the qualities of the leader of -a faction. There was a single tie which he respected. The falsest -of mankind in all relations but one, he was the truest of Whigs. The -religious tenets of his family he had early renounced with contempt; -but to the politics of his family he stedfastly adhered through all the -temptations and dangers of half a century. In small things and in great -his devotion to his party constantly appeared. He had the finest stud in -England; and his delight was to win plates from Tories. Sometimes when, -in a distant county, it was fully expected that the horse of a High -Church squire would be first on the course, down came, on the very eve -of the race, Wharton's Careless, who had ceased to run at Newmarket -merely for want of competitors, or Wharton's Gelding, for whom Lewis -the Fourteenth had in vain offered a thousand pistoles. A man whose mere -sport was of this description was not likely to be easily beaten in -any serious contest. Such a master of the whole art of electioneering -England had never seen. Buckinghamshire was his own especial province; -and there he ruled without a rival. But he extended his care over -the Whig interest in Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Wiltshire. -Sometimes twenty, sometimes thirty, members of Parliament were named by -him. As a canvasser he was irresistible. He never forgot a face that -he had once seen. Nay, in the towns in which he wished to establish an -interest, he remembered, not only the voters, but their families. -His opponents were confounded by the strength of his memory and the -affability of his deportment, and owned, that it was impossible to -contend against a great man who called the shoemaker by his Christian -name, who was sure that the butcher's daughter must be growing a fine -girl, and who was anxious to know whether the blacksmith's youngest boy -was breeched. By such arts as these he made himself so popular that -his journeys to the Buckinghamshire Quarter Sessions resembled royal -progresses. The bells of every parish through which he passed were rung, -and flowers were strewed along the road. It was commonly believed that, -in the course of his life, he expended on his parliamentary interest not -less than eighty thousand pounds, a sum which, when compared with the -value of estates, must be considered as equivalent to more than three -hundred thousand pounds in our time. - -But the chief service which Wharton rendered to the Whig party was that -of bringing in recruits from the young aristocracy. He was quite as -dexterous a canvasser among the embroidered coats at the Saint James's -Coffeehouse as among the leathern aprons at Wycombe and Aylesbury. He -had his eye on every boy of quality who came of age; and it was not -easy for such a boy to resist the arts of a noble, eloquent and wealthy -flatterer, who united juvenile vivacity to profound art and long -experience of the gay world. It mattered not what the novice preferred, -gallantry or field sports, the dicebox or the bottle. Wharton soon found -out the master passion, offered sympathy, advice and assistance, and, -while seeming to be only the minister of his disciple's pleasures, made -sure of his disciple's vote. - -The party to whose interests Wharton, with such spirit and constancy, -devoted his time, his fortune, his talents, his very vices, judged -him, as was natural, far too leniently. He was widely known by the -very undeserved appellation of Honest Tom. Some pious men, Burnet, for -example, and Addison, averted their eyes from the scandal which he gave, -and spoke of him, not indeed with esteem, yet with goodwill. A most -ingenious and accomplished Whig, the third Earl of Shaftesbury, author -of the Characteristics, described Wharton as the most mysterious of -human beings, as a strange compound of best and worst, of private -depravity and public virtue, and owned himself unable to understand how -a man utterly without principle in every thing but politics should in -politics be as true as steel. But that which, in the judgment of one -faction, more than half redeemed all Wharton's faults, seemed to the -other faction to aggravate them all. The opinion which the Tories -entertained of him is expressed in a single line written after his death -by the ablest man of that party; "He was the most universal villain that -ever I knew." [480] Wharton's political adversaries thirsted for -his blood, and repeatedly tried to shed it. Had he not been a man of -imperturbable temper, dauntless courage and consummate skill in fence, -his life would have been a short one. But neither anger nor danger ever -deprived him of his presence of mind; he was an incomparable swordsman; -and he had a peculiar way of disarming opponents which moved the envy of -all the duellists of his time. His friends said that he had never given -a challenge, that he had never refused one, that he had never taken a -life, and yet that he had never fought without having his antagonist's -life at his mercy. [481] - -The four men who have been described resembled each other so little that -it may be thought strange that they should ever have been able to act -in concert. They did, however, act in the closest concert during many -years. They more than once rose and more than once fell together. But -their union lasted till it was dissolved by death. Little as some of -them may have deserved esteem, none of them can be accused of having -been false to his brethren of the Junto. - -While the great body of the Whigs was, under these able chiefs, arraying -itself in order resembling that of a regular army, the Tories were in a -state of an ill drilled and ill officered militia. They were numerous; -and they were zealous; but they can hardly be said to have had, at this -time, any chief in the House of Commons. The name of Seymour had once -been great among them, and had not quite lost its influence. But, -since he had been at the Board of Treasury, he had disgusted them -by vehemently defending all that he had himself, when out of place, -vehemently attacked. They had once looked up to the Speaker, Trevor; but -his greediness, impudence and venality were now so notorious that all -respectable gentlemen, of all shades of opinion, were ashamed to see him -in the chair. Of the old Tory members Sir Christopher Musgrave alone had -much weight. Indeed the real leaders of the party were two or three men -bred in principles diametrically opposed to Toryism, men who had carried -Whiggism to the verge of republicanism, and who had been considered not -merely as Low Churchmen, but as more than half Presbyterians. Of these -men the most eminent were two great Herefordshire squires, Robert Harley -and Paul Foley. - -The space which Robert Harley fills in the history of three reigns, -his elevation, his fall, the influence which, at a great crisis, he -exercised on the politics of all Europe, the close intimacy in which -he lived with some of the greatest wits and poets of his time, and the -frequent recurrence of his name in the works of Swift, Pope, Arbuthnot, -and Prior, must always make him an object of interest. Yet the man -himself was of all men the least interesting. There is indeed a -whimsical contrast between the very ordinary qualities of his mind and -the very extraordinary vicissitudes of his fortune. - -He was the heir of a Puritan family. His father, Sir Edward Harley, -had been conspicuous among the patriots of the Long parliament, had -commanded a regiment under Essex, had, after the Restoration, been an -active opponent of the Court, had supported the Exclusion Bill, had -harboured dissenting preachers, had frequented meetinghouses, and had -made himself so obnoxious to the ruling powers that at the time of the -Western Insurrection, he had been placed under arrest, and his house -had been searched for arms. When the Dutch army was marching from Torbay -towards London, he and his eldest son Robert declared for the Prince -of Orange and a free Parliament, raised a large body of horse, took -possession of Worcester, and evinced their zeal against Popery by -publicly breaking to pieces, in the High Street of that city, a piece -of sculpture which to rigid precisians seemed idolatrous. Soon after the -Convention became a Parliament, Robert Harley was sent up to Westminster -as member for a Cornish borough. His conduct was such as might have -been expected from his birth and education. He was a Whig, and indeed an -intolerant and vindictive Whig. Nothing would satisfy him but a general -proscription of the Tories. His name appears in the list of those -members who voted for the Sacheverell clause; and, at the general -election which took place in the spring of 1690, the party which he had -persecuted made great exertions to keep him out of the House of Commons. -A cry was raised that the Harleys were mortal enemies of the Church; and -this cry produced so much effect that it was with difficulty that any of -them could obtain a seat. Such was the commencement of the public life -of a man whose name, a quarter of a century later, was inseparably -coupled with the High Church in the acclamations of Jacobite mobs. [482] - -Soon, however, it began to be observed that in every division Harley -was in the company of those gentlemen who held his political opinions -in abhorrence; nor was this strange; for he affected the character of -a Whig of the old pattern; and before the Revolution it had always -been supposed that a Whig was a person who watched with jealousy every -exertion of the prerogative, who was slow to loose the strings of the -public purse, and who was extreme to mark the faults of the ministers -of the Crown. Such a Whig Harley still professed to be. He did not admit -that the recent change of dynasty had made any change in the duties of a -representative of the people. The new government ought to be observed as -suspiciously, checked as severely, and supplied as sparingly as the old -one. Acting on these principles he necessarily found himself acting -with men whose principles were diametrically opposed to his. He liked to -thwart the King; they liked to thwart the usurper; the consequence -was that, whenever there was an opportunity of thwarting William, the -Roundhead stayed in the House or went into the lobby in company with the -whole crowd of Cavaliers. - -Soon Harley acquired the authority of a leader among those with whom, -notwithstanding wide differences of opinion, he ordinarily voted. His -influence in Parliament was indeed altogether out of proportion to his -abilities. His intellect was both small and slow. He was unable to take -a large view of any subject. He never acquired the art of expressing -himself in public with fluency and perspicuity. To the end of his life -he remained a tedious, hesitating and confused speaker. [483] - -He had none of the external graces of an orator. His countenance was -heavy, his figure mean and somewhat deformed, and his gestures uncouth. -Yet he was heard with respect. For, such as his mind was, it had been -assiduously cultivated. His youth had been studious; and to the last he -continued to love books and the society of men of genius and learning. -Indeed he aspired to the character of a wit and a poet, and occasionally -employed hours which should have been very differently spent in -composing verses more execrable than the bellman's. [484] His time -however was not always so absurdly wasted. He had that sort of industry -and that sort of exactness which would have made him a respectable -antiquary or King at Arms. His taste led him to plod among old records; -and in that age it was only by plodding among old records that any -man could obtain an accurate and extensive knowledge of the law of -Parliament. Having few rivals in this laborious and unattractive -pursuit, he soon began to be regarded as an oracle on questions of form -and privilege. His moral character added not a little to his influence. -He had indeed great vices; but they were not of a scandalous kind. -He was not to be corrupted by money. His private life was regular. No -illicit amour was imputed to him even by satirists. Gambling he held -in aversion; and it was said that he never passed White's, then the -favourite haunt of noble sharpers and dupes, without an exclamation of -anger. His practice of flustering himself daily with claret was hardly -considered as a fault by his contemporaries. His knowledge, his gravity -and his independent position gained for him the ear of the House; and -even his bad speaking was, in some sense, an advantage to him. For -people are very loth to admit that the same man can unite very different -kinds of excellence. It is soothing to envy to believe that what is -splendid cannot be solid, that what is clear cannot be profound. Very -slowly was the public brought to acknowledge that Mansfield was a great -jurist, and that Burke was a great master of political science. Montague -was a brilliant rhetorician, and, therefore, though he had ten times -Harley's capacity for the driest parts of business, was represented by -detractors as a superficial, prating pretender. But from the absence of -show in Harley's discourses many people inferred that there must be -much substance; and he was pronounced to be a deep read, deep thinking -gentleman, not a fine talker, but fitter to direct affairs of state than -all the fine talkers in the world. This character he long supported with -that cunning which is frequently found in company with ambitious and -unquiet mediocrity. He constantly had, even with his best friends, an -air of mystery and reserve which seemed to indicate that he knew some -momentous secret, and that his mind was labouring with some vast design. -In this way he got and long kept a high reputation for wisdom. It was -not till that reputation had made him an Earl, a Knight of the Garter, -Lord High Treasurer of England, and master of the fate of Europe, that -his admirers began to find out that he was really a dull puzzleheaded -man. [485] - -Soon after the general election of 1690, Harley, generally voting with -the Tories, began to turn Tory. The change was so gradual as to be -almost imperceptible; but was not the less real. He early began to hold -the Tory doctrine that England ought to confine herself to a maritime -war. He early felt the true Tory antipathy to Dutchmen and to -moneyed men. The antipathy to Dissenters, which was necessary to -the completeness of the character, came much later. At length the -transformation was complete; and the old haunter of conventicles became -an intolerant High Churchman. Yet to the last the traces of his early -breeding would now and then show themselves; and, while he acted after -the fashion of Laud, he sometimes wrote in the style of Praise God -Barebones. [486] - -Of Paul Foley we know comparatively little. His history, up to a certain -point, greatly resembles that of Harley: but he appears to have been -superior to Harley both in parts and in elevation of character. He was -the son of Thomas Foley, a new man, but a. man of great merit, who, -having begun life with nothing, had created a noble estate by ironworks, -and who was renowned for his spotless integrity and his munificent -charity. The Foleys were, like their neighbours the Harleys, Whigs and -Puritans. Thomas Foley lived on terms of close intimacy with Baxter, in -whose writings he is mentioned with warm eulogy. The opinions and the -attachments of Paul Foley were at first those of his family. But be, -like Harley, became, merely from the vehemence of his Whiggism, an ally -of the Tories, and might, perhaps, like Harley, have been completely -metamorphosed into a Tory, if the process of transmutation had not been -interrupted by death. Foley's abilities were highly respectable, and had -been improved by education. He was so wealthy that it was unnecessary -for him to follow the law as a profession; but he had studied it -carefully as a science. His morals were without stain; and the greatest -fault which could be imputed to him was that he paraded his independence -and disinterestedness too ostentatiously, and was so much afraid of -being thought to fawn that he was always growling. - -Another convert ought to be mentioned. Howe, lately the most virulent -of the Whigs, had been, by the loss of his place, turned into one of the -most virulent of the Tories. The deserter brought to the party which he -had joined no weight of character, no capacity or semblance of capacity -for great affairs, but much parliamentary ability of a low kind, much -spite and much impudence. No speaker of that time seems to have had, in -such large measure, both the power and the inclination to give pain. - -The assistance of these men was most welcome to the Tory party; but it -was impossible that they could, as yet, exercise over that party the -entire authority of leaders. For they still called themselves Whigs, -and generally vindicated their Tory votes by arguments grounded on Whig -principles. [487] - -From this view of the state of parties in the House of Commons, it -seems clear that Sunderland had good reason for recommending that the -administration should be entrusted to the Whigs. The King, however, -hesitated long before he could bring himself to quit that neutral -position which he had long occupied between the contending parties. If -one of those parties was disposed to question his title, the other -was on principle hostile to his prerogative. He still remembered with -bitterness the unreasonable and vindictive conduct of the Convention -Parliament at the close of 1689 and the beginning of 1690; and he shrank -from the thought of being entirely in the hands of the men who had -obstructed the Bill of Indemnity, who had voted for the Sacheverell -clause, who had tried to prevent him from taking the command of his army -in Ireland, and who had called him an ungrateful tyrant merely because -he would not be their slave and their hangman. He had once, by a bold -and unexpected effort, freed himself from their yoke; and he was not -inclined to put it on his neck again. He personally disliked Wharton -and Russell. He thought highly of the capacity of Caermarthen, of -the integrity of Nottingham, of the diligence and financial skill of -Godolphin. It was only by slow degrees that the arguments of Sunderland, -backed by the force of circumstances, overcame all objections. - -On the seventh of November 1693 the Parliament met; and the conflict of -parties instantly began. William from the throne pressed on the Houses -the necessity of making a great exertion to arrest the progress of -France on the Continent. During the last campaign, he said, she had, on -every point, had a superiority of force; and it had therefore been found -impossible to cope with her. His allies had promised to increase their -armies; and he trusted that the Commons would enable him to do the same. -[488] - -The Commons at their next sitting took the King's speech into -consideration. The miscarriage of the Smyrna fleet was the chief subject -of discussion. The cry for inquiry was universal: but it was evident -that the two parties raised that cry for very different reasons. -Montague spoke the sense of the Whigs. He declared that the disasters of -the summer could not, in his opinion, be explained by the ignorance and -imbecility of those who had charge of the naval administration. There -must have been treason. It was impossible to believe that Lewis, when he -sent his Brest squadron to the Straits of Gibraltar, and left the whole -coast of his kingdom from Dunkirk to Bayonne unprotected, had trusted -merely to chance. He must have been well assured that his fleet -would meet with a vast booty under a feeble convoy. As there had been -treachery in some quarters, there had been incapacity in others. The -State was ill served. And then the orator pronounced a warm panegyric on -his friend Somers. "Would that all men in power would follow the example -of my Lord Keeper! If all patronage were bestowed as judiciously and -disinterestedly as his, we should not see the public offices filled with -men who draw salaries and perform no duties." It was moved and carried -unanimously, that the Commons would support their Majesties, and would -forthwith proceed to investigate the cause of the disaster in the Bay of -Lagos. [489] The Lords of the Admiralty were directed to produce a -great mass of documentary evidence. The King sent down copies of the -examinations taken before the Committee of Council which Mary had -appointed to inquire into the grievances of the Turkey merchants. The -Turkey merchants themselves were called in and interrogated. Rooke, -though too ill to stand or speak, was brought in a chair to the bar, -and there delivered in a narrative of his proceedings. The Whigs soon -thought that sufficient ground had been laid for a vote condemning the -naval administration, and moved a resolution attributing the miscarriage -of the Smyrna fleet to notorious and treacherous mismanagement. That -there had been mismanagement could not be disputed; but that there had -been foul play had certainly not been proved. The Tories proposed that -the word "treacherous" should be omitted. A division took place; and the -Whigs carried their point by a hundred and forty votes to a hundred and -three. Wharton was a teller for the majority. [490] - -It was now decided that there had been treason, but not who was the -traitor. Several keen debates followed. The Whigs tried to throw the -blame on Killegrew and Delaval, who were Tories; the Tories did their -best to make out that the fault lay with the Victualling Department, -which was under the direction of Whigs. But the House of Commons has -always been much more ready to pass votes of censure drawn in general -terms than to brand individuals by name. A resolution clearing the -Victualling Office was proposed by Montague, and carried, after a -debate of two days, by a hundred and eighty-eight votes to a hundred and -fifty-two. [491] But when the victorious party brought forward a motion -inculpating the admirals, the Tories came up in great numbers from the -country, and, after a debate which lasted from nine in the morning till -near eleven at night, succeeded in saving their friends. The Noes were a -hundred and seventy, and the Ayes only a hundred and sixty-one. Another -attack was made a few days later with no better success. The Noes were -a hundred and eighty-five, the Ayes only a hundred and seventy-five. The -indefatigable and implacable Wharton was on both occasions tellers for -the minority. [492] - -In spite of this check the advantage was decidedly with the Whigs; -The Tories who were at the head of the naval administration had indeed -escaped impeachment; but the escape had been so narrow that it was -impossible for the King to employ them any longer. The advice of -Sunderland prevailed. A new Commission of Admiralty was prepared; and -Russell was named First Lord. He had already been appointed to the -command of the Channel fleet. - -His elevation made it necessary that Nottingham should retire. For, -though it was not then unusual to see men who were personally and -politically hostile to each other holding high offices at the same time, -the relation between the First Lord of the Admiralty and the Secretary -of State, who had charge of what would now be called the War Department, -was of so peculiar a nature that the public service could not be -well conducted without cordial cooperation between them; and between -Nottingham and Russell such cooperation was not to be expected. "I thank -you," William said to Nottingham, "for your services. I have nothing to -complain of in your conduct. It is only from necessity that I part with -you." Nottingham retired with dignity. Though a very honest man, he went -out of office much richer than he had come in five years before. What -were then considered as the legitimate emoluments of his place were -great; he had sold Kensington House to the Crown for a large sum; and he -had probably, after the fashion of that time, obtained for himself -some lucrative grants. He laid out all his gains in purchasing land. He -heard, he said, that his enemies meant to accuse him of having acquired -wealth by illicit means. He was perfectly ready to abide the issue of -an inquiry. He would not, as some ministers had done, place his fortune -beyond the reach of the justice of his country. He would have no secret -hoard. He would invest nothing in foreign funds. His property should all -be such as could be readily discovered and seized. [493] - -During some weeks the seals which Nottingham had delivered up remained -in the royal closet. To dispose of them proved no easy matter. They were -offered to Shrewsbury, who of all the Whig leaders stood highest in the -King's favour; but Shrewsbury excused himself, and, in order to avoid -further importunity, retired into the country. There he soon received -a pressing letter from Elizabeth Villiers. This lady had, when a girl, -inspired William with a passion which had caused much scandal and much -unhappiness in the little Court of the Hague. Her influence over him she -owed not to her personal charms,--for it tasked all the art of Kneller -to make her look tolerably on canvass,--not to those talents which -peculiarly belong to her sex,--for she did not excel in playful talk, -and her letters are remarkably deficient in feminine ease and grace--, -but to powers of mind which qualified her to partake the cares and guide -the counsels of statesmen. To the end of her life great politicians -sought her advice. Even Swift, the shrewdest and most cynical of her -contemporaries, pronounced her the wisest of women, and more than once -sate, fascinated by her conversation, from two in the afternoon till -near midnight. [494] By degrees the virtues and charms of Mary conquered -the first place in her husband's affection. But he still, in difficult -conjunctures, frequently applied to Elizabeth Villiers for advice and -assistance. She now implored Shrewsbury to reconsider his determination, -and not to throw away the opportunity of uniting the Whig party for -ever. Wharton and Russell wrote to the same effect. In reply came -flimsy and unmeaning excuses: "I am not qualified for a court life; I -am unequal to a place which requires much exertion; I do not quite agree -with any party in the State; in short, I am unfit for the world; I -want to travel; I want to see Spain." These were mere pretences. Had -Shrewsbury spoken the whole truth, he would have said that he had, in -an evil hour, been false to the cause of that Revolution in which he had -borne so great a part, that he had entered into engagements of which he -repented, but from which he knew not how to extricate himself, and that, -while he remained under those engagements, he was unwilling to enter -into the service of the existing government. Marlborough, Godolphin and -Russell, indeed, had no scruple about corresponding with one King while -holding office under the other. But Shrewsbury had, what was wanting -to Marlborough, Godolphin and Russell, a conscience, a conscience which -indeed too often failed to restrain him from doing wrong, but which -never failed to punish him. [495] - -In consequence of his refusal to accept the Seals, the ministerial -arrangements which the King had planned were not carried into entire -effect till the end of the session. Meanwhile the proceedings of the two -Houses had been highly interesting and important. - -Soon after the Parliament met, the attention of the Commons was again -called to the state of the trade with India; and the charter which had -just been granted to the Old Company was laid before them. They would -probably have been disposed to sanction the new arrangement, which, in -truth, differed little from that which they had themselves suggested not -many months before, if the Directors had acted with prudence. But the -Directors, from the day on which they had obtained their charter, had -persecuted the interlopers without mercy, and had quite forgotten that -it was one thing to persecute interlopers in the Eastern Seas, and -another to persecute them in the port of London. Hitherto the war of the -monopolists against the private trade had been generally carried on at -the distance of fifteen thousand miles from England. If harsh things -were done, the English did not see them done, and did not hear of them -till long after they had been done; nor was it by any means easy to -ascertain at Westminster who had been right and who had been wrong in a -dispute which had arisen three or four years before at Moorshedabad or -Canton. With incredible rashness the Directors determined, at the very -moment when the fate of their company was in the balance, to give the -people of this country a near view of the most odious features of the -monopoly. Some wealthy merchants of London had equipped a fine ship -named the Redbridge. Her crew was numerous, her cargo of immense value. -Her papers had been made out for Alicant: but there was some reason to -suspect that she was really bound for the countries lying beyond the -Cape of Good Hope. She was stopped by the Admiralty, in obedience to an -order which the Company obtained from the Privy Council, doubtless by -the help of the Lord President. Every day that she lay in the Thames -caused a heavy expense to the owners. The indignation in the City was -great and general. The Company maintained that from the legality of the -monopoly the legality of the detention necessarily followed. The -public turned the argument round, and, being firmly convinced that the -detention was illegal, drew the inference that the monopoly must be -illegal too. The dispute was at the height when the Parliament met. -Petitions on both sides were speedily laid on the table of the -Commons; and it was resolved that these petitions should be taken into -consideration by a Committee of the whole House. The first question on -which the conflicting parties tried their strength was the choice of -a chairman. The enemies of the Old Company proposed Papillon, once the -closest ally and subsequently the keenest opponent of Child, and carried -their point by a hundred and thirty-eight votes to a hundred and six. -The Committee proceeded to inquire by what authority the Redbridge had -been stopped. One of her owners, Gilbert Heathcote, a rich merchant and -a stanch Whig, appeared at the bar as a witness. He was asked whether he -would venture to deny that the ship had really been fitted out for the -Indian trade. "It is no sin that I know of," he answered, "to trade -with India; and I shall trade with India till I am restrained by Act of -Parliament." Papillon reported that in the opinion of the Committee, the -detention of the Redbridge was illegal. The question was then put, that -the House would agree with the Committee. The friends of the Old Company -ventured on a second division, and were defeated by a hundred and -seventy-one votes to a hundred and twenty-five. [496] - -The blow was quickly followed up. A few days later it was moved that all -subjects of England had equal right to trade to the East Indies unless -prohibited by Act of Parliament; and the supporters of the Old Company, -sensible that they were in a minority, suffered the motion to pass -without a division. [497] - -This memorable vote settled the most important of the constitutional -questions which had been left unsettled by the Bill of Rights. It has -ever since been held to be the sound doctrine that no power but that -of the whole legislature can give to any person or to any society an -exclusive privilege of trading to any part of the world. - -The opinion of the great majority of the House of Commons was that the -Indian trade could be advantageously carried on only by means of a joint -stock and a monopoly. It might therefore have been expected that the -resolution which destroyed the monopoly of the Old Company would have -been immediately followed by a law granting a monopoly to the New -Company. No such law, however, was passed. The Old Company, though not -strong enough to defend its own privileges, was able, with the help -of its Tory friends, to prevent the rival association from obtaining -similar privileges. The consequence was that, during some years, there -was nominally a free trade with India. In fact, the trade still lay -under severe restrictions. The private adventurer found indeed no -difficulty in sailing from England; but his situation was as perilous as -ever when he had turned the Cape of Good Hope. Whatever respect might -be paid to a vote of the House of Commons by public functionaries in -London, such a vote was, at Bombay or Calcutta, much less regarded than -a private letter from Child; and Child still continued to fight the -battle with unbroken spirit. He sent out to the factories of the Company -orders that no indulgence should be shown to the intruders. For the -House of Commons and for its resolutions he expressed the bitterest -contempt. "Be guided by my instructions," he wrote, "and not by the -nonsense of a few ignorant country gentlemen who have hardly wit enough -to manage their own private affairs, and who know nothing at all about -questions of trade." It appears that his directions were obeyed. - -Every where in the East, during this period of anarchy, servant of the -Company and the independent merchant waged war on each other, accused -each other of piracy, and tried by every artifice to exasperate the -Mogul government against each other. [498] - -The three great constitutional questions of the preceding year were, in -this year, again brought under the consideration of Parliament. In the -first week of the session, a Bill for the Regulation of Trials in cases -of High Treason, a Triennial Bill, and a Place Bill were laid on the -table of the House of Commons. - -None of these bills became a law. The first passed the Commons, but was -unfavourably received by the Peers. William took so much interest in the -question that he came down to the House of Lords, not in his crown and -robes, but in the ordinary dress of a gentleman, and sate through the -whole debate on the second reading. Caermarthen spoke of the dangers to -which the State was at that time exposed, and entreated his brethren -not to give, at such a moment, impunity to traitors. He was powerfully -supported by two eminent orators, who had, during some years, been on -the uncourtly side of every question, but who, in this session, showed -a disposition to strengthen the hands of the government, Halifax and -Mulgrave. Marlborough, Rochester and Nottingham spoke for the bill; -but the general feeling was so clearly against them that they did not -venture to divide. It is probable, however, that the reasons urged by -Caermarthen were not the reasons which chiefly swayed his hearers. The -Peers were fully determined that the bill should not pass without a -clause altering the constitution of the Court of the Lord High Steward: -they knew that the Lower House was as fully determined not to pass -such a clause; and they thought it better that what must happen at last -should happen speedily, and without a quarrel. [499] - -The fate of the Triennial Bill confounded all the calculations of the -best informed politicians of that time, and may therefore well seem -extraordinary to us. During the recess, that bill had been described in -numerous pamphlets, written for the most part by persons zealous for the -Revolution and for popular principles of government, as the one thing -needful, as the universal cure for the distempers of the State. On the -first, second and third readings in the House of Commons no division -took place. The Whigs were enthusiastic. The Tories seemed to be -acquiescent. It was understood that the King, though he had used -his Veto for the purpose of giving the Houses an opportunity of -reconsidering the subject, had no intention of offering a pertinacious -opposition to their wishes. But Seymour, with a cunning which long -experience had matured, after deferring the conflict to the last moment, -snatched the victory from his adversaries, when they were most secure. -When the Speaker held up the bill in his hands, and put the question -whether it should pass, the Noes were a hundred and forty-six, the -Ayes only a hundred and thirty-six. [500] Some eager Whigs flattered -themselves that their defeat was the effect of a surprise, and might be -retrieved. Within three days, therefore, Monmouth, the most ardent and -restless man in the whole party, brought into the Upper House a bill -substantially the same with that which had so strangely miscarried in -the Lower. The Peers passed this bill very expeditiously, and sent -it down to the Commons. But in the Commons it found no favour. Many -members, who professed to wish that the duration of parliaments should -be limited, resented the interference of the hereditary branch of the -legislature in a matter which peculiarly concerned the elective branch. -The subject, they said, is one which especially belongs to us; we -have considered it; we have come to a decision; and it is scarcely -parliamentary, it is certainly most indelicate, in their Lordships, to -call upon us to reverse that decision. The question now is, not whether -the duration of parliaments ought to be limited, but whether we ought -to submit our judgment to the authority of the Peers, and to rescind, -at their bidding, what we did only a fortnight ago. The animosity with -which the patrician order was regarded was inflamed by the arts and the -eloquence of Seymour. The bill contained a definition of the words, -"to hold a Parliament." This definition was scrutinised with extreme -jealousy, and was thought by many, with very little reason, to have been -framed for the purpose of extending the privileges, already invidiously -great, of the nobility. It appears, from the scanty and obscure -fragments of the debates which have come down to us, that bitter -reflections were thrown on the general conduct, both political and -judicial, of the Peers. Old Titus, though zealous for triennial -parliaments, owned that he was not surprised at the ill humour which -many gentlemen showed. "It is true," he said, "that we ought to be -dissolved; but it is rather hard, I must own, that the Lords are to -prescribe the time of our dissolution. The Apostle Paul wished to be -dissolved; but, I doubt, if his friends had set him a day, he would not -have taken it kindly of them." The bill was rejected by a hundred and -ninety-seven votes to a hundred and twenty-seven. [501] - -The Place Bill, differing very little from the Place Bill which had been -brought in twelve months before, passed easily through the Commons. -Most of the Tories supported it warmly; and the Whigs did not venture -to oppose it. It went up to the Lords, and soon came back completely -changed. As it had been originally drawn, it provided that no member of -the House of Commons, elected after the first of January, 1694, should -accept any place of profit under the Crown, on pain of forfeiting his -seat, and of being incapable of sitting again in the same Parliament. -The Lords had added the words, "unless he be afterwards again chosen to -serve in the same Parliament." These words, few as they were, sufficed -to deprive the bill of nine tenths of its efficacy, both for good and -for evil. It was most desirable that the crowd of subordinate public -functionaries should be kept out of the House of Commons. It was most -undesirable that the heads of the great executive departments should be -kept out of that House. The bill, as altered, left that House open both -to those who ought and to those who ought not to have been admitted. It -very properly let in the Secretaries of State and the Chancellor of the -Exchequer; but it let in with them Commissioners of Wine Licenses and -Commissioners of the Navy, Receivers, Surveyors, Storekeepers, Clerks of -the Acts and Clerks of the Cheque, Clerks of the Green Cloth and Clerks -of the Great Wardrobe. So little did the Commons understand what they -were about that, after framing a law, in one view most mischievous, and -in another view most beneficial, they were perfectly willing that it -should be transformed into a law quite harmless and almost useless. -They agreed to the amendment; and nothing was now wanting but the royal -sanction. - -That sanction certainly ought not to have been withheld, and probably -would not have been withheld, if William had known how unimportant the -bill now was. But he understood the question as little as the Commons -themselves. He knew that they imagined that they had devised a most -stringent limitation of the royal power; and he was determined not to -submit, without a struggle, to any such limitation. He was encouraged by -the success with which he had hitherto resisted the attempts of the two -Houses to encroach on his prerogative. He had refused to pass the bill -which quartered the judges on his hereditary revenue; and the Parliament -had silently acquiesced in the justice of the refusal. He had refused -to pass the Triennial Bill; and the Commons had since, by rejecting two -Triennial Bills, acknowledged that he had done well. He ought, however, -to have considered that, on both these occasions, the announcement -of his refusal was immediately followed by the announcement that the -Parliament was prorogued. On both these occasions, therefore, the -members had half a year to think and to grow cool before the next -sitting. The case was now very different. The principal business of -the session was hardly begun: estimates were still under consideration: -bills of supply were still depending; and, if the Houses should take a -fit of ill humour, the consequences might be serious indeed. - -He resolved, however, to run the risk. Whether he had any adviser is not -known. His determination seems to have taken both the leading Whigs and -the leading Tories by surprise. When the Clerk had proclaimed that the -King and Queen would consider of the bill touching free and impartial -proceedings in Parliament, the Commons retired from the bar of the Lords -in a resentful and ungovernable mood. As soon as the Speaker was again -in his chair there was a long and tempestuous debate. All other business -was postponed. All committees were adjourned. It was resolved that the -House would, early the next morning, take into consideration the state -of the nation. When the morning came, the excitement did not appear to -have abated. The mace was sent into Westminster Hall and into the Court -of Requests. All members who could be found were brought into the House. -That none might be able to steal away unnoticed, the back door was -locked, and the key laid on the table. All strangers were ordered to -retire. With these solemn preparations began a sitting which reminded a -few old men of some of the first sittings of the Kong Parliament. High -words were uttered by the enemies of the government. Its friends, afraid -of being accused of abandoning the cause of the Commons of England -for the sake of royal favour, hardly ventured to raise their voices. -Montague alone seems to have defended the King. Lowther, though high -in office and a member of the cabinet, owned that there were evil -influences at work, and expressed a wish to see the Sovereign surrounded -by counsellors in whom the representatives of the people could confide. -Harley, Foley and Howe carried every thing before them. A resolution, -affirming that those who had advised the Crown on this occasion were -public enemies, was carried with only two or three Noes. Harley, after -reminding his hearers that they had their negative voice as the King had -his, and that, if His Majesty refused then redress, they could refuse -him money, moved that they should go up to the Throne, not, as usual, -with a Humble Address, but with a Representation. Some members proposed -to substitute the more respectful word Address: but they were overruled; -and a committee was appointed to draw up the Representation. - -Another night passed; and, when the House met again, it appeared that -the storm had greatly subsided. The malignant joy and the wild hopes -which the Jacobites had, during the last forty-eight hours, expressed -with their usual imprudence, had incensed and alarmed the Whigs and -the moderate Tories. Many members too were frightened by hearing that -William was fully determined not to yield without an appeal to the -nation. Such an appeal might have been successful: for a dissolution, on -any ground whatever, would, at that moment, have been a highly popular -exercise of the prerogative. The constituent bodies, it was well known, -were generally zealous for the Triennial Bill, and cared comparatively -little about the Place Bill. Many Tory members, therefore, who had -recently voted against the Triennial Bill, were by no means desirous -to run the risks of a general election. When the Representation which -Harley and his friends had prepared was read, it was thought offensively -strong. After being recommitted, shortened and softened, it was -presented by the whole House. William's answer was kind and gentle; -but he conceded nothing. He assured the Commons that he remembered with -gratitude the support which he had on many occasions received from them, -that he should always consider their advice as most valuable, and that -he should look on counsellors who might attempt to raise dissension -between him and his Parliament as his enemies but he uttered not a word -which could be construed into an acknowledgment that he had used his -Veto ill, or into a promise that he would not use it again. - -The Commons on the morrow took his speech into consideration. Harley -and his allies complained that the King's answer was no answer at all, -threatened to tack the Place Bill to a money bill, and proposed to make -a second representation pressing His Majesty to explain himself more -distinctly. But by this time there was a strong reflux of feeling in the -assembly. The Whigs had not only recovered from their dismay, but were -in high spirits and eager for conflict. Wharton, Russell and Littleton -maintained that the House ought to be satisfied with what the King had -said. "Do you wish," said Littleton, "to make sport for your enemies? -There is no want of them. They besiege our very doors. We read, as we -come through the lobby, in the face and gestures of every nonjuror whom -we pass, delight at the momentary coolness which has arisen between us -and the King. That should be enough for us. We may be sure that we are -voting rightly when we give a vote which tends to confound the hopes of -traitors." The House divided. Harley was a teller on one side, Wharton -on the other. Only eighty-eight voted with Harley, two hundred and -twenty-nine with Wharton. The Whigs were so much elated by their victory -that some of them wished to move a vote of thanks to William for his -gracious answer; but they were restrained by wiser men. "We have lost -time enough already in these unhappy debates," said a leader of the -party. "Let us get to Ways and Means as fast as we can. The best form -which our thanks can take is that of a money bill." - -Thus ended, more happily than William had a right to expect, one of the -most dangerous contests in which he ever engaged with his Parliament. -At the Dutch Embassy the rising and going down of this tempest had been -watched with intense interest; and the opinion there seems to have been -that the King had on the whole lost neither power nor popularity by his -conduct. [502] - -Another question, which excited scarcely less angry feeling in -Parliament and in the country, was, about the same time, under -consideration. On the sixth of December, a Whig member of the House -of Commons obtained leave to bring in a bill for the Naturalisation of -Foreign Protestants. Plausible arguments in favour of such a bill -were not wanting. Great numbers of people, eminently industrious and -intelligent, firmly attached to our faith, and deadly enemies of our -deadly enemies, were at that time without a country. Among the Huguenots -who had fled from the tyranny of the French King were many persons of -great fame in war, in letters, in arts and in sciences; and even the -humblest refugees were intellectually and morally above the average of -the common people of any kingdom in Europe. With French Protestants -who had been driven into exile by the edicts of Lewis were now mingled -German Protestants who had been driven into exile by his arms. Vienna, -Berlin, Basle, Hamburg, Amsterdam, London, swarmed with honest laborious -men who had once been thriving burghers of Heidelberg or Mannheim, -or who had cultivated vineyards along the banks of the Neckar and the -Rhine. A statesman might well think that it would be at once generous -and politic to invite to the English shores and to incorporate with -the English people emigrants so unfortunate and so respectable. Their -ingenuity and their diligence could not fail to enrich any land which -should afford them an asylum; nor could it be doubted that they would -manfully defend the country of their adoption against him whose cruelty -had driven them from the country of their birth. - -The first two readings passed without a division. But, on the motion -that the bill should be committed, there was a debate in which the -right of free speech was most liberally used by the opponents of the -government. It was idle, they said, to talk about the poor Huguenots or -the poor Palatines. The bill was evidently meant for the benefit, not of -French Protestants or German Protestants, but of Dutchmen, who would be -Protestants, Papists or Pagans for a guilder a head, and who would, no -doubt, be as ready to sign the Declaration against Transubstantiation -in England as to trample on the Cross in Japan. They would come over in -multitudes. They would swarm in every public office. They would collect -the customs, and gauge the beer barrels. Our Navigation Laws would be -virtually repealed. Every merchant ship that cleared out from the -Thames or the Severn would be manned by Zealanders and Hollanders and -Frieslanders. To our own sailors would be left the hard and perilous -service of the royal navy. For Hans, after filling the pockets of his -huge trunk hose with our money by assuming the character of a native, -would, as soon as a pressgang appeared, lay claim to the privileges of -an alien. The intruders would soon rule every corporation. They would -elbow our own Aldermen off the Royal Exchange. They would buy the -hereditary woods and halls of our country gentlemen. Already one of the -most noisome of the plagues of Egypt was among us. Frogs had made their -appearance even in the royal chambers. Nobody could go to Saint James's -without being disgusted by hearing the reptiles of the Batavian marshes -croaking all round him; and if this bill should pass, the whole country -would be as much infested by the loathsome brood as the palace already -was. - -The orator who indulged himself most freely in this sort of rhetoric -was Sir John Knight, member for Bristol, a coarseminded and spiteful -Jacobite, who, if he had been an honest man, would have been a nonjuror. -Two years before, when Mayor of Bristol, he had acquired a discreditable -notoriety by treating with gross disrespect a commission sealed with the -great seal of the Sovereigns to whom he had repeatedly sworn allegiance, -and by setting on the rabble of his city to hoot and pelt the Judges. -[503] He now concluded a savage invective by desiring that the -Serjeant at Arms would open the doors, in order that the odious roll of -parchment, which was nothing less than a surrender of the birthright -of the English people, might be treated with proper contumely. "Let us -first," he said, "kick the bill out of the House; and then let us kick -the foreigners out of the kingdom." - -On a division the motion for committing the bill was carried by a -hundred and sixty-three votes to a hundred and twenty-eight. [504] But -the minority was zealous and pertinacious; and the majority speedily -began to waver. Knight's speech, retouched and made more offensive, soon -appeared in print without a license. Tens of thousands of copies were -circulated by the post, or dropped in the streets; and such was the -strength of national prejudice that too many persons read this ribaldry -with assent and admiration. But, when a copy was produced in the House, -there was such an outbreak of indignation and disgust, as cowed even the -impudent and savage nature of the orator. Finding himself in imminent -danger of being expelled and sent to prison, he apologized, and -disclaimed all knowledge of the paper which purported to be a report -of what he had said. He escaped with impunity; but his speech was voted -false, scandalous and seditious, and was burned by the hangman in Palace -Yard. The bill which had caused all this ferment was prudently suffered -to drop. [505] - -Meanwhile the Commons were busied with financial questions of grave -importance. The estimates for the year 1694 were enormous. The King -proposed to add to the regular army, already the greatest regular army -that England had ever supported, four regiments of dragoons, eight of -horse, and twenty-five of infantry. The whole number of men, officers -included, would thus be increased to about ninety-four thousand. [506] -Cromwell, while holding down three reluctant kingdoms, and making -vigorous war on Spain in Europe and America, had never had two thirds of -the military force which William now thought necessary. The great body -of the Tories, headed by three Whig chiefs, Harley, Foley and Howe, -opposed any augmentation. The great body of the Whigs, headed by -Montague and Wharton, would have granted all that was asked. After many -long discussions, and probably many close divisions, in the Committee -of Supply, the King obtained the greater part of what he demanded. The -House allowed him four new regiments of dragoons, six of horse, and -fifteen of infantry. The whole number of troops voted for the year -amounted to eighty-three thousand, the charge to more than two millions -and a half, including about two hundred thousand pounds for the -ordnance. [507] - -The naval estimates passed much more rapidly; for Whigs and Tories -agreed in thinking that the maritime ascendency of England ought to -be maintained at any cost. Five hundred thousand pounds were voted for -paying the arrears due to seamen, and two millions for the expenses of -the year 1694. [508] - -The Commons then proceeded to consider the Ways and Means. The land -tax was renewed at four shillings in the pound; and by this simple but -powerful machinery about two millions were raised with certainty and -despatch. [509] A poll tax was imposed. [510] Stamp duties had long been -among the fiscal resources of Holland and France, and had existed here -during part of the reign of Charles the Second, but had been suffered -to expire. They were now revived; and they have ever since formed an -important part of the revenue of the State. [511] The hackney coaches -of the capital were taxed, and were placed under the government of -commissioners, in spite of the resistance of the wives of the coachmen, -who assembled round Westminster Hall and mobbed the members. [512] -But, notwithstanding all these expedients, there was still a large -deficiency; and it was again necessary to borrow. A new duty on salt and -some other imposts of less importance were set apart to form a fund for -a loan. On the security of this fund a million was to be raised by a -lottery, but a lottery which had scarcely any thing but the name in -common with the lotteries of a later period. The sum to be contributed -was divided into a hundred thousand shares of ten pounds each. The -interest on each share was to be twenty shillings annually, or, in -other words, ten per cent., during sixteen years. But ten per cent. for -sixteen years was not a bait which was likely to attract lenders. An -additional lure was therefore held out to capitalists. On one fortieth -of the shares much higher interest was to be paid than on the other -thirty-nine fortieths. Which of the shares should be prizes was to be -determined by lot. The arrangements for the drawing of the tickets were -made by an adventurer of the name of Neale, who, after squandering away -two fortunes, had been glad to become groom porter at the palace. His -duties were to call the odds when the Court played at hazard, to provide -cards and dice, and to decide any dispute which might arise on the -bowling green or at the gaming table. He was eminently skilled in -the business of this not very exalted post, and had made such sums by -raffles that he was able to engage in very costly speculations, and was -then covering the ground round the Seven Dials with buildings. He was -probably the best adviser that could have been consulted about the -details of a lottery. Yet there were not wanting persons who thought -it hardly decent in the Treasury to call in the aid of a gambler by -profession. [513] - -By the lottery loan, as it was called, one million was obtained. But -another million was wanted to bring the estimated revenue for the year -1694 up to a level with the estimated expenditure. The ingenious and -enterprising Montague had a plan ready, a plan to which, except under -the pressure of extreme pecuniary difficulties, he might not easily -have induced the Commons to assent, but which, to his large and vigorous -mind, appeared to have advantages, both commercial and political, more -important than the immediate relief to the finances. He succeeded, -not only in supplying the wants of the State for twelve months, but -in creating a great institution, which, after the lapse of more than a -century and a half, continues to flourish, and which he lived to see -the stronghold, through all vicissitudes, of the Whig party, and the -bulwark, in dangerous times, of the Protestant succession. - -In the reign of William old men were still living who could remember the -days when there was not a single banking house in the city of London. So -late as the time of the Restoration every trader had his own strong box -in his own house, and, when an acceptance was presented to him, told -down the crowns and Caroluses on his own counter. But the increase -of wealth had produced its natural effect, the subdivision of labour. -Before the end of the reign of Charles the Second, a new mode of paying -and receiving money had come into fashion among the merchants of the -capital. A class of agents arose, whose office was to keep the cash of -the commercial houses. This new branch of business naturally fell into -the hands of the goldsmiths, who were accustomed to traffic largely in -the precious metals, and who had vaults in which great masses of bullion -could lie secure from fire and from robbers. It was at the shops of the -goldsmiths of Lombard Street that all the payments in coin were made. -Other traders gave and received nothing but paper. - -This great change did not take place without much opposition and -clamour. Oldfashioned merchants complained bitterly that a class of -men who, thirty years before, had confined themselves to their proper -functions, and had made a fair profit by embossing silver bowls and -chargers, by setting jewels for fine ladies, and by selling pistoles -and dollars to gentlemen setting out for the Continent, had become the -treasurers, and were fast becoming the masters, of the whole City. These -usurers, it was said, played at hazard with what had been earned by the -industry and hoarded by the thrift of other men. If the dice turned up -well, the knave who kept the cash became an alderman; if they turned -up ill, the dupe who furnished the cash became a bankrupt. On the other -side the conveniences of the modern practice were set forth in animated -language. The new system, it was said, saved both labour and money. Two -clerks, seated in one counting house, did what, under the old system, -must have been done by twenty clerks in twenty different establishments. -A goldsmith's note might be transferred ten times in a morning; and thus -a hundred guineas, locked in his safe close to the Exchange, did what -would formerly have required a thousand guineas, dispersed through many -tills, some on Ludgate Hill, some in Austin Friars, and some in Tower -Street. [514] - -Gradually even those who had been loudest in murmuring against the -innovation gave way and conformed to the prevailing usage. The last -person who held out, strange to say, was Sir Dudley North. When, in -1680, after residing many years abroad, he returned to London, nothing -astonished or displeased him more than the practice of making payments -by drawing bills on bankers. He found that he could not go on Change -without being followed round the piazza by goldsmiths, who, with low -bows, begged to have the honour of serving him. He lost his temper when -his friends asked where he kept his cash. "Where should I keep it," he -asked, "but in my own house?" With difficulty he was induced to put -his money into the hands of one of the Lombard Street men, as they -were called. Unhappily, the Lombard Street man broke, and some of his -customers suffered severely. Dudley North lost only fifty pounds; but -this loss confirmed him in his dislike of the whole mystery of banking. -It was in vain, however, that he exhorted his fellow citizens to return -to the good old practice, and not to expose themselves to utter ruin in -order to spare themselves a little trouble. He stood alone against the -whole community. The advantages of the modern system were felt every -hour of every day in every part of London; and people were no more -disposed to relinquish those advantages for fear of calamities which -occurred at long intervals than to refrain from building houses for fear -of fires, or from building ships for fear of hurricanes. It is a curious -circumstance that a man who, as a theorist, was distinguished from -all the merchants of his time by the largeness of his views and by -his superiority to vulgar prejudices, should, in practice, have been -distinguished from all the merchants of his time by the obstinacy with -which he adhered to an ancient mode of doing business, long after the -dullest and most ignorant plodders had abandoned that mode for one -better suited to a great commercial society. [515] - -No sooner had banking become a separate and important trade, than men -began to discuss with earnestness the question whether it would be -expedient to erect a national bank. The general opinion seems to have -been decidedly in favour of a national bank; nor can we wonder at this; -for few were then aware that trade is in general carried on to much more -advantage by individuals than by great societies; and banking really is -one of those few trades which can be carried on to as much advantage -by a great society as by an individual. Two public banks had long been -renowned throughout Europe, the Bank of Saint George at Genoa, and the -Bank of Amsterdam. The immense wealth which was in the keeping of those -establishments, the confidence which they inspired, the prosperity -which they had created, their stability, tried by panics, by wars, by -revolutions, and found proof against all, were favourite topics. The -bank of Saint George had nearly completed its third century. It had -begun to receive deposits and to make loans before Columbus had crossed -the Atlantic, before Gama had turned the Cape, when a Christian Emperor -was reigning at Constantinople, when a Mahomedan Sultan was reigning at -Granada, when Florence was a Republic, when Holland obeyed a hereditary -Prince. All these things had been changed. New continents and new oceans -had been discovered. The Turk was at Constantinople; the Castilian was -at Granada; Florence had its hereditary Prince; Holland was a Republic; -but the Bank of Saint George was still receiving deposits and making -loans. The Bank of Amsterdam was little more than eighty years old; -but its solvency had stood severe tests. Even in the terrible crisis -of 1672, when the whole Delta of the Rhine was overrun by the French -armies, when the white flags were seen from the top of the Stadthouse, -there was one place where, amidst the general consternation and -confusion, tranquillity and order were still to be found; and that -place was the Bank. Why should not the Bank of London be as great and -as durable as the Banks of Genoa and of Amsterdam? Before the end of -the reign of Charles the Second several plans were proposed, examined, -attacked and defended. Some pamphleteers maintained that a national bank -ought to be under the direction of the King. Others thought that the -management ought to be entrusted to the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Common -Council of the capital. [516] After the Revolution the subject was -discussed with an animation before unknown. For, under the influence -of liberty, the breed of political projectors multiplied exceedingly. -A crowd of plans, some of which resemble the fancies of a child or the -dreams of a man in a fever, were pressed on the government. Preeminently -conspicuous among the political mountebanks, whose busy faces were seen -every day in the lobby of the House of Commons, were John Briscoe and -Hugh Chamberlayne, two projectors worthy to have been members of that -Academy which Gulliver found at Lagado. These men affirmed that the one -cure for every distemper of the State was a Land Bank. A Land Bank would -work for England miracles such as had never been wrought for Israel, -miracles exceeding the heaps of quails and the daily shower of manna. -There would be no taxes; and yet the Exchequer would be full to -overflowing. There would be no poor rates; for there would be no poor. -The income of every landowner would be doubled. The profits of every -merchant would be increased. In short, the island would, to use -Briscoe's words, be the paradise of the world. The only losers would be -the moneyed men, those worst enemies of the nation, who had done more -injury to the gentry and yeomanry than an invading army from France -would have had the heart to do. [517] - -These blessed effects the Land Bank was to produce simply by issuing -enormous quantities of notes on landed security. The doctrine of the -projectors was that every person who had real property ought to have, -besides that property, paper money to the full value of that property. -Thus, if his estate was worth two thousand pounds, he ought to have his -estate and two thousand pounds in paper money. [518] Both Briscoe and -Chamberlayne treated with the greatest contempt the notion that there -could be an overissue of paper as long as there was, for every ten pound -note, a piece of land in the country worth ten pounds. Nobody, they -said, would accuse a goldsmith of overissuing as long as his vaults -contained guineas and crowns to the full value of all the notes which -bore his signature. Indeed no goldsmith had in his vaults guineas and -crowns to the full value of all his paper. And was not a square mile of -rich land in Taunton Dean at least as well entitled to be called wealth -as a bag of gold or silver? The projectors could not deny that many -people had a prejudice in favour of the precious metals, and that -therefore, if the Land Bank were bound to cash its notes, it would very -soon stop payment. This difficulty they got over by proposing that the -notes should be inconvertible, and that every body should be forced to -take them. - -The speculations of Chamberlayne on the subject of the currency may -possibly find admirers even in our own time. But to his other errors -he added an error which began and ended with him. He was fool enough to -take it for granted, in all his reasonings, that the value of an estate -varied directly as the duration. He maintained that if the annual income -derived from a manor were a thousand pounds, a grant of that manor for -twenty years must be worth twenty thousand pounds, and a grant for a -hundred years worth a hundred thousand pounds. If, therefore, the lord -of such a manor would pledge it for a hundred years to the Land Bank, -the Land Bank might, on that security, instantly issue notes for a -hundred thousand pounds. On this subject Chamberlayne was proof to -ridicule, to argument, even to arithmetical demonstration. He was -reminded that the fee simple of land would not sell for more than twenty -years' purchase. To say, therefore, that a term of a hundred years was -worth five times as much as a term of twenty years, was to say that a -term of a hundred years was worth five times the fee simple; in other -words, that a hundred was five times infinity. Those who reasoned thus -were refuted by being told that they were usurers; and it should -seem that a large number of country gentlemen thought the refutation -complete. [519] - -In December 1693 Chamberlayne laid his plan, in all its naked absurdity, -before the Commons, and petitioned to be heard. He confidently undertook -to raise eight thousand pounds on every freehold estate of a hundred and -fifty pounds a year which should be brought, as he expressed it, into -his Land Bank, and this without dispossessing the freeholder. [520] All -the squires in the House must have known that the fee simple of such an -estate would hardly fetch three thousand pounds in the market. That less -than the fee simple of such an estate could, by any device, be made to -produce eight thousand pounds, would, it might have been thought, have -seemed incredible to the most illiterate foxhunter that could be found -on the benches. Distress, however, and animosity had made the landed -gentlemen credulous. They insisted on referring Chamberlayne's plan to a -committee; and the committee reported that the plan was practicable, -and would tend to the benefit of the nation. [521] But by this time -the united force of demonstration and derision had begun to produce an -effect even on the most ignorant rustics in the House. The report -lay unnoticed on the table; and the country was saved from a calamity -compared with which the defeat of Landen and the loss of the Smyrna -fleet would have been blessings. - -All the projectors of this busy time, however, were not so absurd as -Chamberlayne. One among them, William Paterson, was an ingenious, though -not always a judicious, speculator. Of his early life little is known -except that he was a native of Scotland, and that he had been in the -West Indies. In what character he had visited the West Indies was a -matter about which his contemporaries differed. His friends said that -he had been a missionary; his enemies that he had been a buccaneer. He -seems to have been gifted by nature with fertile invention, an ardent -temperament and great powers of persuasion, and to have acquired -somewhere in the course of his vagrant life a perfect knowledge of -accounts. - -This man submitted to the government, in 1691, a plan of a national -bank; and his plan was favourably received both by statesmen and by -merchants. But years passed away; and nothing was done, till, in the -spring of 1694, it became absolutely necessary to find some new mode of -defraying the charges of the war. Then at length the scheme devised -by the poor and obscure Scottish adventurer was taken up in earnest by -Montague. With Montague was closely allied Michael Godfrey, the brother -of that Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey whose sad and mysterious death had, -fifteen years before, produced a terrible outbreak of popular feeling. -Michael was one of the ablest, most upright and most opulent of the -merchant princes of London. He was, as might have been expected from his -near connection with the martyr of the Protestant faith, a zealous -Whig. Some of his writings are still extant, and prove him to have had a -strong and clear mind. - -By these two distinguished men Paterson's scheme was fathered. Montague -undertook to manage the House of Commons, Godfrey to manage the City. An -approving vote was obtained from the Committee of Ways and Means; and a -bill, the title of which gave occasion to many sarcasms, was laid on the -table. It was indeed not easy to guess that a bill, which purported -only to impose a new duty on tonnage for the benefit of such persons -as should advance money towards carrying on the war, was really a bill -creating the greatest commercial institution that the world had ever -seen. - -The plan was that twelve hundred thousand pounds should be borrowed by -the government on what was then considered as the moderate interest -of eight per cent. In order to induce capitalists to advance the money -promptly on terms so favourable to the public, the subscribers were to -be incorporated by the name of the Governor and Company of the Bank of -England. The corporation was to have no exclusive privilege, and was to -be restricted from trading in any thing but bills of exchange, bullion -and forfeited pledges. - -As soon as the plan became generally known, a paper war broke out as -furious as that between the swearers and the nonswearers, or as that -between the Old East India Company and the New East India Company. The -projectors who had failed to gain the ear of the government fell -like madmen on their more fortunate brother. All the goldsmiths and -pawnbrokers set up a howl of rage. Some discontented Tories predicted -ruin to the monarchy. It was remarkable, they said, that Banks and Kings -had never existed together. Banks were republican institutions. There -were flourishing banks at Venice, at Genoa, at Amsterdam and at Hamburg. -But who had ever heard of a Bank of France or a Bank of Spain? [522] -Some discontented Whigs, on the other hand, predicted ruin to our -liberties. Here, they said, is an instrument of tyranny more formidable -than the High Commission, than the Star Chamber, than even the fifty -thousand soldiers of Oliver. The whole wealth of the nation will be in -the hands of the Tonnage Bank,--such was the nickname then in use;--and -the Tonnage Bank will be in the hands of the Sovereign. The power of the -purse, the one great security for all the rights of Englishmen, will be -transferred from the House of Commons to the Governor and Directors of -the new Company. This last consideration was really of some weight, and -was allowed to be so by the authors of the bill. A clause was therefore -most properly inserted which inhibited the Bank from advancing money to -the Crown without authority from Parliament. Every infraction of this -salutary rule was to be punished by forfeiture of three times the sum -advanced; and it was provided that the King should not have power to -remit any part of the penalty. - -The plan, thus amended, received the sanction of the Commons more easily -than might have been expected from the violence of the adverse clamour. -In truth, the Parliament was under duress. Money must be had, and could -in no other way be had so easily. What took place when the House had -resolved itself into a committee cannot be discovered; but, while the -Speaker was in the chair, no division took place. The bill, however, was -not safe when it had reached the Upper House. Some Lords suspected that -the plan of a national bank had been devised for the purpose of exalting -the moneyed interest at the expense of the landed interest. Others -thought that this plan, whether good or bad, ought not to have been -submitted to them in such a form. Whether it would be safe to call into -existence a body which might one day rule the whole commercial world, -and how such a body should be constituted, were questions which ought -not to be decided by one branch of the Legislature. The Peers ought to -be at perfect liberty to examine all the details of the proposed scheme, -to suggest amendments, to ask for conferences. It was therefore most -unfair that the law establishing the Bank should be sent up as part of a -law granting supplies to the Crown. The Jacobites entertained some hope -that the session would end with a quarrel between the Houses, that the -Tonnage Bill would be lost, and that William would enter on the campaign -without money. It was already May, according to the New Style. The -London season was over; and many noble families had left Covent Garden -and Soho Square for their woods and hayfields. But summonses were sent -out. There was a violent rush back to town. The benches which had lately -been deserted were crowded. The sittings began at an hour unusually -early, and were prolonged to an hour unusually late. On the day on which -the bill was committed the contest lasted without intermission from -nine in the morning till six in the evening. Godolphin was in the chair. -Nottingham and Rochester proposed to strike out all the clauses which -related to the Bank. Something was said about the danger of setting up a -gigantic corporation which might soon give law to the King and the -three Estates of the Realm. But the Peers seemed to be most moved by -the appeal which was made to them as landlords. The whole scheme, it was -asserted, was intended to enrich usurers at the expense of the nobility -and gentry. Persons who had laid by money would rather put it into the -Bank than lend it on mortgage at moderate interest. Caermarthen said -little or nothing in defence of what was, in truth, the work of his -rivals and enemies. He owned that there were grave objections to the -mode in which the Commons had provided for the public service of the -year. But would their Lordships amend a money bill? Would they engage in -a contest of which the end must be that they must either yield, or incur -the grave responsibility of leaving the Channel without a fleet during -the summer? This argument prevailed; and, on a division, the amendment -was rejected by forty-three votes to thirty-one. A few hours later the -bill received the royal assent, and the Parliament was prorogued. [523] -In the City the success of Montague's plan was complete. It was then at -least as difficult to raise a million at eight per cent. as it would now -be to raise thirty millions at four per cent. It had been supposed that -contributions would drop in very slowly; and a considerable time had -therefore been allowed by the Act. This indulgence was not needed. So -popular was the new investment that on the day on which the books were -opened three hundred thousand pounds were subscribed; three hundred -thousand more were subscribed during the next forty-eight hours; and, -in ten days, to the delight of all the friends of the government, it was -announced that the list was full. The whole sum which the Corporation -was bound to lend to the State was paid into the Exchequer before the -first instalment was due. [524] Somers gladly put the Great Seal to a -charter framed in conformity with the terms prescribed by Parliament; -and the Bank of England commenced its operations in the house of the -Company of Grocers. There, during many years, directors, secretaries and -clerks might be seen labouring in different parts of one spacious hall. -The persons employed by the bank were originally only fifty-four. They -are now nine hundred. The sum paid yearly in salaries amounted at first -to only four thousand three hundred and fifty pounds. It now exceeds two -hundred and ten thousand pounds. We may therefore fairly infer that the -incomes of commercial clerks are, on an average, about three times as -large in the reign of Victoria as they were in the reign of William the -Third. [525] - -It soon appeared that Montague had, by skilfully availing himself of the -financial difficulties of the country, rendered an inestimable service -to his party. During several generations the Bank of England -was emphatically a Whig body. It was Whig, not accidentally, but -necessarily. It must have instantly stopped payment if it had ceased to -receive the interest on the sum which it had advanced to the government; -and of that interest James would not have paid one farthing. Seventeen -years after the passing of the Tonnage Bill, Addison, in one of his most -ingenious and graceful little allegories, described the situation of the -great Company through which the immense wealth of London was constantly -circulating. He saw Public Credit on her throne in Grocers' Hall, the -Great Charter over her head, the Act of Settlement full in her view. Her -touch turned every thing to gold. Behind her seat, bags filled with coin -were piled up to the ceiling. On her right and on her left the floor -was hidden by pyramids of guineas. On a sudden the door flies open. The -Pretender rushes in, a sponge in one hand, in the other a sword which -he shakes at the Act of Settlement. The beautiful Queen sinks down -fainting. The spell by which she has turned all things around her into -treasure is broken. The money bags shrink like pricked bladders. The -piles of gold pieces are turned into bundles of rags or faggots of -wooden tallies. [526] The truth which this parable was meant to convey -was constantly present to the minds of the rulers of the Bank. So -closely was their interest bound up with the interest of the government -that the greater the public danger the more ready were they to come to -the rescue. In old times, when the Treasury was empty, when the taxes -came in slowly, and when the pay of the soldiers and sailors was in -arrear, it had been necessary for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to go, -hat in hand, up and down Cheapside and Cornhill, attended by the Lord -Mayor and by the Aldermen, and to make up a sum by borrowing a hundred -pounds from this hosier, and two hundred pounds from that ironmonger. -[527] Those times were over. The government, instead of laboriously -scooping up supplies from numerous petty sources, could now draw -whatever it required from an immense reservoir, which all those petty -sources kept constantly replenished. It is hardly too much to say that, -during many years, the weight of the Bank, which was constantly in the -scale of the Whigs, almost counterbalanced the weight of the Church, -which was as constantly in the scale of the Tories. - -A few minutes after the bill which established the Bank of England had -received the royal assent, the Parliament was prorogued by the King with -a speech in which he warmly thanked the Commons for their liberality. -Montague was immediately rewarded for his services with the place of -Chancellor of the Exchequer. [528] - -Shrewsbury had a few weeks before consented to accept the seals. He had -held out resolutely from November to March. While he was trying to find -excuses which might satisfy his political friends, Sir James Montgomery -visited him. Montgomery was now the most miserable of human beings. -Having borne a great part in a great Revolution, having been charged -with the august office of presenting the Crown of Scotland to the -Sovereigns whom the Estates had chosen, having domineered without a -rival, during several months, in the Parliament at Edinburgh, having -seen before him in near prospect the seals of Secretary, the coronet -of an Earl, ample wealth, supreme power, he had on a sudden sunk into -obscurity and abject penury. His fine parts still remained; and he was -therefore used by the Jacobites; but, though used, he was despised, -distrusted and starved. He passed his life in wandering from England to -France and from France back to England, without finding a resting place -in either country. Sometimes he waited in the antechamber at Saint -Germains, where the priests scowled at him as a Calvinist, and where -even the Protestant Jacobites cautioned one another in whispers against -the old Republican. Sometimes he lay hid in the garrets of London, -imagining that every footstep which he heard on the stairs was that of -a bailiff with a writ, or that of a King's messenger with a warrant. He -now obtained access to Shrewsbury, and ventured to talk as a Jacobite to -a brother Jacobite. Shrewsbury, who was not at all inclined to put his -estate and his neck in the power of a man whom he knew to be both rash -and perfidious, returned very guarded answers. Through some channel -which is not known to us, William obtained full intelligence of what -had passed on this occasion. He sent for Shrewsbury, and again spoke -earnestly about the secretaryship. Shrewsbury again excused himself. -His health, he said, was bad. "That," said William, "is not your only -reason." "No, Sir," said Shrewsbury, "it is not." And he began to speak -of public grievances, and alluded to the fate of the Triennial Bill, -which he had himself introduced. But William cut him short. "There is -another reason behind. When did you see Montgomery last?" Shrewsbury was -thunderstruck. The King proceeded to repeat some things which Montgomery -had said. By this time Shrewsbury had recovered from his dismay, and -had recollected that, in the conversation which had been so accurately -reported to the government, he had fortunately uttered no treason, -though he had heard much. "Sir," said he, "since Your Majesty has been -so correctly informed, you must be aware that I gave no encouragement -to that man's attempts to seduce me from my allegiance." William did not -deny this, but intimated that such secret dealings with noted Jacobites -raised suspicions which Shrewsbury could remove only by accepting the -seals. "That," he said, "will put me quite at ease. I know that you are -a man of honour, and that, if you undertake to serve me, you will serve -me faithfully." So pressed, Shrewsbury complied, to the great joy of -his whole party; and was immediately rewarded for his compliance with a -dukedom and a garter. [529] - -Thus a Whig ministry was gradually forming. There were now two Whig -Secretaries of State, a Whig Keeper of the Great Seal, a Whig First Lord -of the Admiralty, a Whig Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Lord Privy -Seal, Pembroke, might also be called a Whig; for his mind was one which -readily took the impress of any stronger mind with which it was brought -into contact. Seymour, having been long enough a Commissioner of the -Treasury to lose much of his influence with the Tory country gentlemen -who had once listened to him as to an oracle, was dismissed, and his -place was filled by John Smith, a zealous and able Whig, who had taken -an active part in the debates of the late session. [530] The only Tories -who still held great offices in the executive government were the Lord -President, Caermarthen, who, though he began to feel that power was -slipping from his grasp, still clutched it desperately, and the first -Lord of the Treasury, Godolphin, who meddled little out of his own -department, and performed the duties of that department with skill and -assiduity. - -William, however, still tried to divide his favours between the two -parties. Though the Whigs were fast drawing to themselves the substance -of power, the Tories obtained their share of honorary distinctions. -Mulgrave, who had, during the late session, exerted his great -parliamentary talents in favour of the King's policy, was created -Marquess of Normanby, and named a Cabinet Councillor, but was never -consulted. He obtained at the same time a pension of three thousand -pounds a year. Caermarthen, whom the late changes had deeply mortified, -was in some degree consoled by a signal mark of royal approbation. He -became Duke of Leeds. It had taken him little more than twenty years to -climb from the station of a Yorkshire country gentleman to the highest -rank in the peerage. Two great Whig Earls were at the same time created -Dukes, Bedford and Devonshire. It ought to be mentioned that Bedford -had repeatedly refused the dignity which he now somewhat reluctantly -accepted. He declared that he preferred his Earldom to a Dukedom, -and gave a very sensible reason for the preference. An Earl who had -a numerous family might send one son to the Temple and another to a -counting house in the city. But the sons of a Duke were all lords; and -a lord could not make his bread either at the bar or on Change. The old -man's objections, however, were overcome; and the two great houses -of Russell and Cavendish, which had long been closely connected by -friendship and by marriage, by common opinions, common sufferings and -common triumphs, received on the same day the greatest honour which it -is in the power of the Crown to confer. [531] - -The Gazette which announced these creations announced also that the King -had set out for the Continent. He had, before his departure, consulted -with his ministers about the means of counteracting a plan of naval -operations which had been formed by the French government. Hitherto -the maritime war had been carried on chiefly in the Channel and the -Atlantic. But Lewis had now determined to concentrate his maritime -forces in the Mediterranean. He hoped that, with their help, the army of -Marshal Noailles would be able to take Barcelona, to subdue the whole -of Catalonia, and to compel Spain to sue for peace. Accordingly, -Tourville's squadron, consisting of fifty three men of war, set sail -from Brest on the twenty-fifth of April and passed the Straits of -Gibraltar on the fourth of May. - -William, in order to cross the designs of the enemy, determined to send -Russell to the Mediterranean with the greater part of the combined fleet -of England and Holland. A squadron was to remain in the British seas -under the command of the Earl of Berkeley. Talmash was to embark on -board of this squadron with a large body of troops, and was to attack -Brest, which would, it was supposed, in the absence of Tourville and his -fifty-three vessels, be an easy conquest. - -That preparations were making at Portsmouth for an expedition, in which -the land forces were to bear a part, could not be kept a secret. -There was much speculation at the Rose and at Garraway's touching the -destination of the armament. Some talked of Rhe, some of Oleron, some of -Rochelle, some of Rochefort. Many, till the fleet actually began to -move westward, believed that it was bound for Dunkirk. Many guessed that -Brest would be the point of attack; but they only guessed this; for the -secret was much better kept than most of the secrets of that age. [532] -Russell, till he was ready to weigh anchor, persisted in assuring his -Jacobite friends that he knew nothing. His discretion was proof even -against all the arts of Marlborough. Marlborough, however, had other -sources of intelligence. To those sources he applied himself; and he -at length succeeded in discovering the whole plan of the government. He -instantly wrote to James. He had, he said, but that moment ascertained -that twelve regiments of infantry and two regiments of marines were -about to embark, under the command of Talmash, for the purpose of -destroying the harbour of Brest and the shipping which lay there. -"This," he added, "would be a great advantage to England. But no -consideration can, or ever shall, hinder me from letting you know what -I think may be for your service." He then proceeded to caution James -against Russell. "I endeavoured to learn this some time ago from him; -but he always denied it to me, though I am very sure that he knew the -design for more than six weeks. This gives me a bad sign of this man's -intentions." - -The intelligence sent by Marlborough to James was communicated by -James to the French government. That government took its measures with -characteristic promptitude. Promptitude was indeed necessary; for, when -Marlborough's letter was written, the preparations at Portsmouth were -all but complete; and, if the wind had been favourable to the English, -the objects of the expedition might have been attained without a -struggle. But adverse gales detained our fleet in the Channel during -another month. Meanwhile a large body of troops was collected at Brest. -Vauban was charged with the duty of putting the defences in order; and, -under his skilful direction, batteries were planted which commanded -every spot where it seemed likely that an invader would attempt to -land. Eight large rafts, each carrying many mortars, were moored in the -harbour, and, some days before the English arrived, all was ready for -their reception. - -On the sixth of June the whole allied fleet was on the Atlantic about -fifteen leagues west of Cape Finisterre. There Russell and Berkeley -parted company. Russell proceeded towards the Mediterranean. Berkeley's -squadron, with the troops on board, steered for the coast of Brittany, -and anchored just without Camaret Bay, close to the mouth of the harbour -of Brest. Talmash proposed to land in Camaret Bay. It was therefore -desirable to ascertain with accuracy the state of the coast. The eldest -son of the Duke of Leeds, now called Marquess of Caermarthen, undertook -to enter the basin and to obtain the necessary information. The passion -of this brave and eccentric young man for maritime adventure was -unconquerable. He had solicited and obtained the rank of Rear Admiral, -and had accompanied the expedition in his own yacht, the Peregrine, -renowned as the masterpiece of shipbuilding, and more than once already -mentioned in this history. Cutts, who had distinguished himself by -his intrepidity in the Irish war, and had been rewarded with an Irish -peerage, offered to accompany Caermarthen, Lord Mohun, who, desirous, -it may be hoped, to efface by honourable exploits the stain which a -shameful and disastrous brawl had left on his name, was serving with -the troops as a volunteer, insisted on being of the party. The Peregrine -went into the bay with its gallant crew, and came out safe, but not -without having run great risks. Caermarthen reported that the defences, -of which however he had seen only a small part, were formidable. But -Berkeley and Talmash suspected that he overrated the danger. They were -not aware that their design had long been known at Versailles, that an -army had been collected to oppose them, and that the greatest engineer -in the world had been employed to fortify the coast against them. They -therefore did not doubt that their troops might easily be put on shore -under the protection of a fire from the ships. On the following morning -Caermarthen was ordered to enter the bay with eight vessels and to -batter the French works. Talmash was to follow with about a hundred -boats full of soldiers. It soon appeared that the enterprise was even -more perilous than it had on the preceding day appeared to be. Batteries -which had then escaped notice opened on the ships a fire so murderous -that several decks were soon cleared. Great bodies of foot and horse -were discernible; and, by their uniforms, they appeared to be regular -troops. The young Rear Admiral sent an officer in all haste to warn -Talmash. But Talmash was so completely possessed by the notion that -the French were not prepared to repel an attack that he disregarded all -cautions and would not even trust his own eyes. He felt sure that the -force which he saw assembled on the shore was a mere rabble of peasants, -who had been brought together in haste from the surrounding country. -Confident that these mock soldiers would run like sheep before real -soldiers, he ordered his men to pull for the beach. He was soon -undeceived. A terrible fire mowed down his troops faster than they -could get on shore. He had himself scarcely sprung on dry ground when he -received a wound in the thigh from a cannon ball, and was carried back -to his skiff. His men reembarked in confusion. Ships and boats made -haste to get out of the bay, but did not succeed till four hundred -seamen and seven hundred soldiers had fallen. During many days the waves -continued to throw up pierced and shattered corpses on the beach of -Brittany. The battery from which Talmash received his wound is called, -to this day, the Englishman's Death. - -The unhappy general was laid on his couch; and a council of war was held -in his cabin. He was for going straight into the harbour of Brest -and bombarding the town. But this suggestion, which indicated but too -clearly that his judgment had been affected by the irritation of a -wounded body and a wounded mind, was wisely rejected by the naval -officers. The armament returned to Portsmouth. There Talmash died, -exclaiming with his last breath that he had been lured into a snare by -treachery. The public grief and indignation were loudly expressed. The -nation remembered the services of the unfortunate general, forgave his -rashness, pitied his sufferings, and execrated the unknown traitors -whose machinations had been fatal to him. There were many conjectures -and many rumours. Some sturdy Englishmen, misled by national prejudice, -swore that none of our plans would ever be kept a secret from the enemy -while French refugees were in high military command. Some zealous Whigs, -misled by party sprit, muttered that the Court of Saint Germains would -never want good intelligence while a single Tory remained in the Cabinet -Council. The real criminal was not named; nor, till the archives of the -House of Stuart were explored, was it known to the world that Talmash -had perished by the basest of all the hundred villanies of Marlborough. -[533] - -Yet never had Marlborough been less a Jacobite than at the moment when -he rendered this wicked and shameful service to the Jacobite cause. It -may be confidently affirmed that to serve the banished family was not -his object, and that to ingratiate himself with the banished family was -only his secondary object. His primary object was to force himself into -the service of the existing government, and to regain possession of -those important and lucrative places from which he had been dismissed -more than two years before. He knew that the country and the Parliament -would not patiently bear to see the English army commanded by foreign -generals. Two Englishmen only had shown themselves fit for high military -posts, himself and Talmash. If Talmash were defeated and disgraced, -William would scarcely have a choice. In fact, as soon as it was known -that the expedition had failed, and that Talmash was no more, the -general cry was that the King ought to receive into his favour the -accomplished Captain who had done such good service at Walcourt, at Cork -and at Kinsale. Nor can we blame the multitude for raising this cry. -For every body knew that Marlborough was an eminently brave, skilful -and successful officer; but very few persons knew that he had, while -commanding William's troops, while sitting in William's council, while -waiting in William's bedchamber, formed a most artful and dangerous plot -for the subversion of William's throne; and still fewer suspected the -real author of the recent calamity, of the slaughter in the Bay of -Camaret, of the melancholy fate of Talmash. The effect therefore of the -foulest of all treasons was to raise the traitor in public estimation. -Nor was he wanting to himself at this conjuncture. While the Royal -Exchange was in consternation at this disaster of which he was the -cause, while many families were clothing themselves in mourning for the -brave men of whom he was the murderer, he repaired to Whitehall; and -there, doubtless with all that grace, that nobleness, that suavity, -under which lay, hidden from all common observers, a seared conscience -and a remorseless heart, he professed himself the most devoted, the most -loyal, of all the subjects of William and Mary, and expressed a hope -that he might, in this emergency, be permitted to offer his sword to -their Majesties. Shrewsbury was very desirous that the offer should be -accepted; but a short and dry answer from William, who was then in -the Netherlands, put an end for the present to all negotiation. About -Talmash the King expressed himself with generous tenderness. "The poor -fellow's fate," he wrote, "has affected me much. I do not indeed think -that he managed well; but it was his ardent desire to distinguish -himself that impelled him to attempt impossibilities." [534] - -The armament which had returned to Portsmouth soon sailed again for the -coast of France, but achieved only exploits worse than inglorious. An -attempt was made to blow up the pier at Dunkirk. Some towns inhabited by -quiet tradesmen and fishermen were bombarded. In Dieppe scarcely a house -was left standing; a third part of Havre was laid in ashes; and shells -were thrown into Calais which destroyed thirty private dwellings. The -French and the Jacobites loudly exclaimed against the cowardice -and barbarity of making war on an unwarlike population. The English -government vindicated itself by reminding the world of the sufferings of -the thrice wasted Palatinate; and, as against Lewis and the flatterers -of Lewis, the vindication was complete. But whether it were consistent -with humanity and with sound policy to visit the crimes which an -absolute Prince and a ferocious soldiery had committed in the Palatinate -on shopkeepers and labourers, on women and children, who did not know -that the Palatinate existed, may perhaps be doubted. - -Meanwhile Russell's fleet was rendering good service to the common -cause. Adverse winds had impeded his progress through the Straits so -long that he did not reach Carthagena till the middle of July. By that -time the progress of the French arms had spread terror even to the -Escurial. Noailles had, on the banks of the Tar, routed an army -commanded by the Viceroy of Catalonia; and, on the day on which this -victory was won, the Brest squadron had joined the Toulon squadron in -the Bay of Rosas. Palamos, attacked at once by land and sea, was taken -by storm. Gerona capitulated after a faint show of resistance. Ostalric -surrendered at the first summons. Barcelona would in all probability -have fallen, had not the French Admirals learned that the conquerors of -La Hogue was approaching. They instantly quitted the coast of Catalonia, -and never thought themselves safe till they had taken shelter under the -batteries of Toulon. - -The Spanish government expressed warm gratitude for this seasonable -assistance, and presented to the English Admiral a jewel which was -popularly said to be worth near twenty thousand pounds sterling. There -was no difficulty in finding such a jewel among the hoards of gorgeous -trinkets which had been left by Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second -to a degenerate race. But, in all that constitutes the true wealth of -states, Spain was poor indeed. Her treasury was empty; her arsenals were -unfurnished; her ships were so rotten that they seemed likely to fly -asunder at the discharge of their own guns. Her ragged and starving -soldiers often mingled with the crowd of beggars at the doors of -convents, and battled there for a mess of pottage and a crust of bread. -Russell underwent those trials which no English commander whose hard -fate it has been to cooperate with Spaniards has escaped. The Viceroy -of Catalonia promised much, did nothing, and expected every thing. He -declared that three hundred and fifty thousand rations were ready to be -served out to the fleet at Carthagena. It turned out that there were not -in all the stores of that port provisions sufficient to victual a single -frigate for a single week. Yet His Excellency thought himself entitled -to complain because England had not sent an army as well as a fleet, and -because the heretic Admiral did not choose to expose the fleet to utter -destruction by attacking the French under the guns of Toulon. Russell -implored the Spanish authorities to look well to their dockyards, and to -try to have, by the next spring, a small squadron which might at least -be able to float; but he could not prevail on them to careen a single -ship. He could with difficulty obtain, on hard conditions, permission to -send a few of his sick men to marine hospitals on shore. Yet, in spite -of all the trouble given him by the imbecility and ingratitude of a -government which has generally caused more annoyance to its allies than -to its enemies, he acquitted himself well. It is but just to him to -say that, from the time at which he became First Lord of the Admiralty, -there was a decided improvement in the naval administration. Though -he lay with his fleet many months near an inhospitable shore, and at a -great distance from England, there were no complaints about the quality -or the quantity of provisions. The crews had better food and drink -than they had ever had before; comforts which Spain did not afford were -supplied from home; and yet the charge was not greater than when, in -Torrington's time, the sailor was poisoned with mouldy biscuit and -nauseous beer. - -As almost the whole maritime force of France was in the Mediterranean, -and as it seemed likely that an attempt would be made on Barcelona -in the following year, Russell received orders to winter at Cadiz. -In October he sailed to that port; and there he employed himself in -refitting his ships with an activity unintelligible to the Spanish -functionaries, who calmly suffered the miserable remains of what had -once been the greatest navy in the world to rot under their eyes. [535] - -Along the eastern frontier of France the war during this year seemed to -languish. In Piedmont and on the Rhine the most important events of the -campaign were petty skirmishes and predatory incursions. Lewis remained -at Versailles, and sent his son, the Dauphin, to represent him in the -Netherlands; but the Dauphin was placed under the tutelage of Luxemburg, -and proved a most submissive pupil. During several months the hostile -armies observed each other. The allies made one bold push with the -intention of carrying the war into the French territory; but Luxemburg, -by a forced march, which excited the admiration of persons versed in the -military art, frustrated the design. William on the other hand succeeded -in taking Huy, then a fortress of the third rank. No battle was fought; -no important town was besieged; but the confederates were satisfied with -their campaign. Of the four previous years every one had been marked by -some great disaster. In 1690 Waldeck had been defeated at Fleurus. -In 1691 Mons had fallen. In 1692 Namur had been taken in sight of the -allied army; and this calamity had been speedily followed by the defeat -of Steinkirk. In 1693 the battle of Landen had been lost; and Charleroy -had submitted to the conqueror. At length in 1694 the tide had begun to -turn. The French arms had made no progress. What had been gained by the -allies was indeed not much; but the smallest gain was welcome to those -whom a long run of evil fortune had discouraged. - -In England, the general opinion was that, notwithstanding the disaster -in Camaret Bay, the war was on the whole proceeding satisfactorily -both by land and by sea. But some parts of the internal administration -excited, during this autumn, much discontent. - -Since Trenchard had been appointed Secretary of State, the Jacobite -agitators had found their situation much more unpleasant than before. -Sidney had been too indulgent and too fond of pleasure to give them much -trouble. Nottingham was a diligent and honest minister; but he was as -high a Tory as a faithful subject of William and Mary could be; he loved -and esteemed many of the nonjurors; and, though he might force himself -to be severe when nothing but severity could save the State, he was -not extreme to mark the transgressions of his old friends; nor did he -encourage talebearers to come to Whitehall with reports of conspiracies. -But Trenchard was both an active public servant and an earnest Whig. -Even if he had himself been inclined to lenity, he would have been urged -to severity by those who surrounded him. He had constantly at his side -Hugh Speke and Aaron Smith, men to whom a hunt after a Jacobite was -the most exciting of all sports. The cry of the malecontents was that -Nottingham had kept his bloodhounds in the leash, but that Trenchard had -let them slip. Every honest gentleman who loved the Church and hated -the Dutch went in danger of his life. There was a constant bustle at -the Secretary's Office, a constant stream of informers coming in, and of -messengers with warrants going out. It was said too, that the warrants -were often irregularly drawn, that they did not specify the person, that -they did not specify the crime, and yet that, under the authority of -such instruments as these, houses were entered, desks and cabinets -searched, valuable papers carried away, and men of good birth and -breeding flung into gaol among felons. [536] The minister and his agents -answered that Westminster Hall was open; that, if any man had been -illegally imprisoned, he had only to bring his action; that juries were -quite sufficiently disposed to listen to any person who pretended to -have been oppressed by cruel and griping men in power, and that, as -none of the prisoners whose wrongs were so pathetically described had -ventured to resort to this obvious and easy mode of obtaining redress, -it might fairly be inferred that nothing had been done which could -not be justified. The clamour of the malecontents however made a -considerable impression on the public mind; and at length, a transaction -in which Trenchard was more unlucky than culpable, brought on him and on -the government with which he was connected much temporary obloquy. - -Among the informers who haunted his office was an Irish vagabond who had -borne more than one name and had professed more than one religion. He -now called himself Taaffe. He had been a priest of the Roman Catholic -Church, and secretary to Adda the Papal Nuncio, but had since the -Revolution turned Protestant, had taken a wife, and had distinguished -himself by his activity in discovering the concealed property of those -Jesuits and Benedictines who, during the late reign, had been quartered -in London. The ministers despised him; but they trusted him. They -thought that he had, by his apostasy, and by the part which he had borne -in the spoliation of the religious orders, cut himself off from all -retreat, and that, having nothing but a halter to expect from King -James, he must be true to King William. [537] - -This man fell in with a Jacobite agent named Lunt, who had, since the -Revolution, been repeatedly employed among the discontented gentry -of Cheshire and Lancashire, and who had been privy to those plans of -insurrection which had been disconcerted by the battle of the Boyne in -1690, and by the battle of La Hogue in 1692. Lunt had once been arrested -on suspicion of treason, but had been discharged for want of legal proof -of his guilt. He was a mere hireling, and was, without much difficulty, -induced by Taaffe to turn approver. The pair went to Trenchard. Lunt -told his story, mentioned the names of some Cheshire and Lancashire -squires to whom he had, as he affirmed, carried commissions from Saint -Germains, and of others, who had, to his knowledge, formed secret hoards -of arms and ammunition. His simple oath would not have been sufficient -to support a charge of high treason; but he produced another witness -whose evidence seemed to make the case complete. The narrative was -plausible and coherent; and indeed, though it may have been embellished -by fictions, there can be little doubt that it was in substance true. -[538] Messengers and search warrants were sent down to Lancashire. Aaron -Smith himself went thither; and Taaffe went with him. The alarm had been -given by some of the numerous traitors who ate the bread of William. -Some of the accused persons had fled; and others had buried their sabres -and muskets and burned their papers. Nevertheless, discoveries were -made which confirmed Lunt's depositions. Behind the wainscot of the old -mansion of one Roman Catholic family was discovered a commission signed -by James. Another house, of which the master had absconded, was strictly -searched, in spite of the solemn asseverations of his wife and his -servants that no arms were concealed there. While the lady, with her -hand on her heart, was protesting on her honour that her husband was -falsely accused, the messengers observed that the back of the chimney -did not seem to be firmly fixed. It was removed, and a heap of blades -such as were used by horse soldiers tumbled out. In one of the garrets -were found, carefully bricked up, thirty saddles for troopers, as -many breastplates, and sixty cavalry swords. Trenchard and Aaron Smith -thought the case complete; and it was determined that those culprits who -had been apprehended should be tried by a special commission. [539] - -Taaffe now confidently expected to be recompensed for his services; -but he found a cold reception at the Treasury. He had gone down to -Lancashire chiefly in order that he might, under the protection of a -search warrant, pilfer trinkets and broad pieces from secret drawers. -His sleight of hand however had not altogether escaped the observation -of his companions. They discovered that he had made free with the -communion plate of the Popish families, whose private hoards he had -assisted in ransacking. When therefore he applied for reward, he was -dismissed, not merely with a refusal, but with a stern reprimand. He -went away mad with greediness and spite. There was yet one way in which -he might obtain both money and revenge; and that way he took. He made -overtures to the friends of the prisoners. He and he alone could undo -what he had done, could save the accused from the gallows, could cover -the accusers with infamy, could drive from office the Secretary and the -Solicitor who were the dread of all the friends of King James. Loathsome -as Taaffe was to the Jacobites, his offer was not to be slighted. He -received a sum in hand; he was assured that a comfortable annuity for -life should be settled on him when the business was done; and he was -sent down into the country, and kept in strict seclusion against the day -of trial. [540] - -Meanwhile unlicensed pamphlets, in which the Lancashire plot was classed -with Oates's plot, with Dangerfield's plot, with Fuller's plot, with -Young's plot, with Whitney's plot, were circulated all over the kingdom, -and especially in the county which was to furnish the jury. Of these -pamphlets the longest, the ablest, and the bitterest, entitled a Letter -to Secretary Trenchard, was commonly ascribed to Ferguson. It is not -improbable that Ferguson may have furnished some of the materials, and -may have conveyed the manuscript to the press. But many passages are -written with an art and a vigour which assuredly did not belong to him. -Those who judge by internal evidence may perhaps think that, in some -parts of this remarkable tract, they can discern the last gleam of the -malignant genius of Montgomery. A few weeks after the appearance of the -Letter he sank, unhonoured and unlamented, into the grave. [541] - -There were then no printed newspapers except the London Gazette. -But since the Revolution the newsletter had become a more important -political engine than it had previously been. The newsletters of one -writer named Dyer were widely circulated in manuscript. He affected to -be a Tory and a High Churchman, and was consequently regarded by the -foxhunting lords of manors, all over the kingdom, as an oracle. He had -already been twice in prison; but his gains had more than compensated -for his sufferings, and he still persisted in seasoning his intelligence -to suit the taste of the country gentlemen. He now turned the Lancashire -plot into ridicule, declared that the guns which had been found were old -fowling pieces, that the saddles were meant only for hunting, and that -the swords were rusty reliques of Edge Hill and Marston Moor. [542] The -effect produced by all this invective and sarcasm on the public mind -seems to have been great. Even at the Dutch Embassy, where assuredly -there was no leaning towards Jacobitism, there was a strong impression -that it would be unwise to bring the prisoners to trial. In Lancashire -and Cheshire the prevailing sentiments were pity for the accused and -hatred of the prosecutors. The government however persevered. In October -four Judges went down to Manchester. At present the population of that -town is made up of persons born in every part of the British Isles, and -consequently has no especial sympathy with the landowners, the farmers -and the agricultural labourers of the neighbouring districts. But in -the seventeenth century the Manchester man was a Lancashire man. His -politics were those of his county. For the old Cavalier families of his -county he felt a great respect; and he was furious when he thought that -some of the best blood of his county was about to be shed by a knot -of Roundhead pettifoggers from London. Multitudes of people from the -neighbouring villages filled the streets of the town, and saw with grief -and indignation the array of drawn swords and loaded carbines which -surrounded the culprits. Aaron Smith's arrangements do not seem to have -been skilful. The chief counsel for the Crown was Sir William Williams, -who, though now well stricken in years and possessed of a great estate, -still continued to practise. One fault had thrown a dark shade over the -latter part of his life. The recollection of that day on which he had -stood up in Westminster Hall, amidst laughter and hooting, to defend the -dispensing power and to attack the right of petition, had, ever -since the Revolution, kept him back from honour. He was an angry and -disappointed man, and was by no means disposed to incur unpopularity in -the cause of a government to which he owed nothing, and from which he -hoped nothing. - -Of the trial no detailed report has come down to us; but we have both -a Whig narrative and a Jacobite narrative. [543] It seems that the -prisoners who were first arraigned did not sever in their challenges, -and were consequently tried together. Williams examined or rather -crossexamined his own witnesses with a severity which confused them. The -crowd which filled the court laughed and clamoured. Lunt in particular -became completely bewildered, mistook one person for another, and did -not recover himself till the judges took him out of the hands of the -counsel for the Crown. For some of the prisoners an alibi was set up. -Evidence was also produced to show, what was undoubtedly quite true, -that Lunt was a man of abandoned character. The result however seemed -doubtful till, to the dismay of the prosecutors, Taaffe entered the box. -He swore with unblushing forehead that the whole story of the plot was a -circumstantial lie devised by himself and Lunt. Williams threw down his -brief; and, in truth, a more honest advocate might well have done the -same. The prisoners who were at the bar were instantly acquitted; those -who had not yet been tried were set at liberty; the witnesses for -the prosecution were pelted out of Manchester; the Clerk of the Crown -narrowly escaped with life; and the judges took their departure amidst -hisses and execrations. - -A few days after the close of the trials at Manchester William returned -to England. On the twelfth of November, only forty-eight hours after -his arrival at Kensington, the Houses met. He congratulated them on the -improved aspect of affairs. Both by land and by sea the events of the -year which was about to close had been, on the whole, favourable to the -allies; the French armies had made no progress; the French fleets had -not ventured to show themselves; nevertheless, a safe and honourable -peace could be obtained only by a vigorous prosecution of the war; -and the war could not be vigorously prosecuted without large supplies. -William then reminded the Commons that the Act by which they had settled -the tonnage and poundage on the Crown for four years was about to -expire, and expressed his hope that it would be renewed. - -After the King had spoken, the Commons, for some reason which no writer -has explained, adjourned for a week. Before they met again, an event -took place which caused great sorrow at the palace, and through all the -ranks of the Low Church party. Tillotson was taken suddenly ill while -attending public worship in the chapel of Whitehall. Prompt remedies -might perhaps have saved him; but he would not interrupt the prayers; -and, before the service was over, his malady was beyond the reach of -medicine. He was almost speechless; but his friends long remembered with -pleasure a few broken ejaculations which showed that he enjoyed peace of -mind to the last. He was buried in the church of Saint Lawrence Jewry, -near Guildhall. It was there that he had won his immense oratorical -reputation. He had preached there during the thirty years which preceded -his elevation to the throne of Canterbury. His eloquence had attracted -to the heart of the City crowds of the learned and polite, from the -Inns of Court and from the lordly mansions of Saint James's and Soho. A -considerable part of his congregation had generally consisted of young -clergymen, who came to learn the art of preaching at the feet of him who -was universally considered as the first of preachers. To this church his -remains were now carried through a mourning population. The hearse was -followed by an endless train of splendid equipages from Lambeth through -Southwark and over London Bridge. Burnet preached the funeral sermon. -His kind and honest heart was overcome by so many tender recollections -that, in the midst of his discourse, he paused and burst into tears, -while a loud moan of sorrow rose from the whole auditory. The Queen -could not speak of her favourite instructor without weeping. Even -William was visibly moved. "I have lost," he said, "the best friend that -I ever had, and the best man that I ever knew." The only Englishman who -is mentioned with tenderness in any part of the great mass of letters -which the King wrote to Heinsius is Tillotson. The Archbishop had left a -widow. To her William granted a pension of four hundred a year, which he -afterwards increased to six hundred. His anxiety that she should receive -her income regularly and without stoppages was honourable to him. Every -quarterday he ordered the money, without any deduction, to be brought to -himself, and immediately sent it to her. Tillotson had bequeathed to her -no property, except a great number of manuscript sermons. Such was his -fame among his contemporaries that those sermons were purchased by the -booksellers for the almost incredible sum of two thousand five hundred -guineas, equivalent, in the wretched state in which the silver coin then -was, to at least three thousand six hundred pounds. Such a price had -never before been given in England for any copyright. About the same -time Dryden, whose reputation was then in the zenith, received thirteen -hundred pounds for his translation of all the works of Virgil, and was -thought to have been splendidly remunerated. [544] - -It was not easy to fill satisfactorily the high place which Tillotson -had left vacant. Mary gave her voice for Stillingfleet, and pressed -his claims as earnestly as she ever ventured to press any thing. In -abilities and attainments he had few superiors among the clergy. But, -though he would probably have been considered as a Low Churchman by -Jane and South, he was too high a Churchman for William; and Tenison was -appointed. The new primate was not eminently distinguished by eloquence -or learning: but he was honest, prudent, laborious and benevolent; he -had been a good rector of a large parish and a good bishop of a large -diocese; detraction had not yet been busy with his name; and it might -well be thought that a man of plain sense, moderation and integrity, was -more likely than a man of brilliant genius and lofty spirit to succeed -in the arduous task of quieting a discontented and distracted Church. - -Meanwhile the Commons had entered upon business. They cheerfully voted -about two million four hundred thousand pounds for the army, and as -much for the navy. The land tax for the year was again fixed at four -shillings in the pound; the Tonnage Act was renewed for a term of five -years; and a fund was established on which the government was authorised -to borrow two millions and a half. - -Some time was spent by both Houses in discussing the Manchester trials. -If the malecontents had been wise, they would have been satisfied with -the advantage which they had already gained. Their friends had been set -free. The prosecutors had with difficulty escaped from the hands of an -enraged multitude. The character of the government had been seriously -damaged. The ministers were accused, in prose and in verse, sometimes -in earnest and sometimes in jest, of having hired a gang of ruffians to -swear away the lives of honest gentlemen. Even moderate politicians, who -gave no credit to these foul imputations, owned that Trenchard ought to -have remembered the villanies of Fuller and Young, and to have been -on his guard against such wretches as Taaffe and Lunt. The unfortunate -Secretary's health and spirits had given way. It was said that he was -dying; and it was certain that he would not long continue to hold the -seals. The Tories had won a great victory; but, in their eagerness to -improve it, they turned it into a defeat. - -Early in the session Howe complained, with his usual vehemence and -asperity, of the indignities to which innocent and honourable men, -highly descended and highly esteemed, had been subjected by Aaron Smith -and the wretches who were in his pay. The leading Whigs, with great -judgment, demanded an inquiry. Then the Tories began to flinch. They -well knew that an inquiry could not strengthen their case, and might -weaken it. The issue, they said, had been tried; a jury had pronounced; -the verdict was definitive; and it would be monstrous to give the -false witnesses who had been stoned out of Manchester an opportunity -of repeating their lesson. To this argument the answer was obvious. The -verdict was definitive as respected the defendants, but not as respected -the prosecutors. The prosecutors were now in their turn defendants, and -were entitled to all the privileges of defendants. It did not follow, -because the Lancashire gentlemen had been found, and very properly -found, not guilty of treason, that the Secretary of State or the -Solicitor of the Treasury had been guilty of unfairness or even of -rashness. The House, by one hundred and nineteen votes to one hundred -and two resolved that Aaron Smith and the witnesses on both sides -should be ordered to attend. Several days were passed in examination -and crossexamination; and sometimes the sittings extended far into the -night. It soon became clear that the prosecution had not been lightly -instituted, and that some of the persons who had been acquitted had been -concerned in treasonable schemes. The Tories would now have been content -with a drawn battle; but the Whigs were not disposed to forego their -advantage. It was moved that there had been a sufficient ground for the -proceedings before the Special Commission; and this motion was carried -without a division. The opposition proposed to add some words implying -that the witnesses for the Crown had forsworn themselves; but these -words were rejected by one hundred and thirty-six votes to one hundred -and nine, and it was resolved by one hundred and thirty-three votes to -ninety-seven that there had been a dangerous conspiracy. The Lords had -meanwhile been deliberating on the same subject, and had come to the -same conclusion. They sent Taaffe to prison for prevarication; and they -passed resolutions acquitting both the government and the judges of all -blame. The public however continued to think that the gentlemen who -had been tried at Manchester had been unjustifiably persecuted, till -a Jacobite plot of singular atrocity, brought home to the plotters by -decisive evidence, produced a violent revulsion of feeling. [545] - -Meanwhile three bills, which had been repeatedly discussed in preceding -years, and two of which had been carried in vain to the foot of the -throne, had been again brought in; the Place Bill, the Bill for the -Regulation of Trials in cases of Treason, and the Triennial Bill. - -The Place Bill did not reach the Lords. It was thrice read in the Lower -House, but was not passed. At the very last moment it was rejected by -a hundred and seventy-five votes to a hundred and forty-two. Howe and -Barley were the tellers for the minority. [546] - -The Bill for the Regulation of Trials in cases of Treason went up again -to the Peers. Their Lordships again added to it the clause which had -formerly been fatal to it. The Commons again refused to grant any new -privilege to the hereditary aristocracy. Conferences were again held; -reasons were again exchanged; both Houses were again obstinate; and the -bill was again lost. [547] - -The Triennial Bill was more fortunate. It was brought in on the first -day of the session, and went easily and rapidly through both Houses. The -only question about which there was any serious contention was, how long -the existing Parliament should be suffered to continue. After several -sharp debates November in the year 1696 was fixed as the extreme term. -The Tonnage Bill and the Triennial Bill proceeded almost side by side. -Both were, on the twenty-second of December, ready for the royal assent. -William came in state on that day to Westminster. The attendance of -members of both Houses was large. When the Clerk of the Crown read the -words, "A Bill for the frequent Calling and Meeting of Parliaments," the -anxiety was great. When the Clerk of the Parliament made answer, "Le roy -et la royne le veulent," a loud and long hum of delight and exultation -rose from the benches and the bar. [548] William had resolved many -months before not to refuse his assent a second time to so popular a -law. [549] There was some however who thought that he would not have -made so great a concession if he had on that day been quite himself. -It was plain indeed that he was strangely agitated and unnerved. It -had been announced that he would dine in public at Whitehall. But he -disappointed the curiosity of the multitude which on such occasions -flocked to the Court, and hurried back to Kensington. [550] - -He had but too good reason to be uneasy. His wife had, during two or -three days, been poorly; and on the preceding evening grave symptoms had -appeared. Sir Thomas Millington, who was physician in ordinary to the -King, thought that she had the measles. But Radcliffe, who, with coarse -manners and little book learning, had raised himself to the first -practice in London chiefly by his rare skill in diagnostics, uttered -the more alarming words, small pox. That disease, over which science has -since achieved a succession of glorious and beneficient victories, was -then the most terrible of all the ministers of death. The havoc of the -plague had been far more rapid; but the plague had visited our shores -only once or twice within living memory; and the small pox was always -present, filling the churchyards with corpses, tormenting with constant -fears all whom it had not yet stricken, leaving on those whose lives -it spared the hideous traces of its power, turning the babe into a -changeling at which the mother shuddered, and making the eyes and cheeks -of the betrothed maiden objects of horror to the lover. Towards the -end of the year 1694, this pestilence was more than usually severe. At -length the infection spread to the palace, and reached the young and -blooming Queen. She received the intimation of her danger with true -greatness of soul. She gave orders that every lady of her bedchamber, -every maid of honour, nay, every menial servant, who had not had the -small pox, should instantly leave Kensington House. She locked herself -up during a short time in her closet, burned some papers, arranged -others, and then calmly awaited her fate. - -During two or three days there were many alternations of hope and fear. -The physicians contradicted each other and themselves in a way which -sufficiently indicates the state of medical science in that age. The -disease was measles; it was scarlet fever; it was spotted fever; it was -erysipelas. At one moment some symptoms, which in truth showed that -the case was almost hopeless, were hailed as indications of returning -health. At length all doubt was over. Radcliffe's opinion proved to be -right. It was plain that the Queen was sinking under small pox of the -most malignant type. - -All this time William remained night and day near her bedside. The -little couch on which he slept when he was in camp was spread for him -in the antechamber; but he scarcely lay down on it. The sight of his -misery, the Dutch Envoy wrote, was enough to melt the hardest heart. -Nothing seemed to be left of the man whose serene fortitude had been -the wonder of old soldiers on the disastrous day of Landen, and of old -sailors on that fearful night among the sheets of ice and banks of -sand on the coast of Goree. The very domestics saw the tears running -unchecked down that face, of which the stern composure had seldom been -disturbed by any triumph or by any defeat. Several of the prelates were -in attendance. The King drew Burnet aside, and gave way to an agony of -grief. "There is no hope," he cried. "I was the happiest man on earth; -and I am the most miserable. She had no fault; none; you knew her well; -but you could not know, nobody but myself could know, her goodness." -Tenison undertook to tell her that she was dying. He was afraid that -such a communication, abruptly made, might agitate her violently, and -began with much management. But she soon caught his meaning, and, with -that gentle womanly courage which so often puts our bravery to shame, -submitted herself to the will of God. She called for a small cabinet -in which her most important papers were locked up, gave orders that, as -soon as she was no more, it should be delivered to the King, and then -dismissed worldly cares from her mind. She received the Eucharist, and -repeated her part of the office with unimpaired memory and intelligence, -though in a feeble voice. She observed that Tenison had been long -standing at her bedside, and, with that sweet courtesy which was -habitual to her, faltered out her commands that he would sit down, and -repeated them till he obeyed. After she had received the sacrament she -sank rapidly, and uttered only a few broken words. Twice she tried to -take a last farewell of him whom she had loved so truly and entirely; -but she was unable to speak. He had a succession of fits so alarming -that his Privy Councillors, who were assembled in a neighbouring room, -were apprehensive for his reason and his life. The Duke of Leeds, at the -request of his colleagues, ventured to assume the friendly guardianship -of which minds deranged by sorrow stand in need. A few minutes before -the Queen expired, William was removed, almost insensible, from the sick -room. - -Mary died in peace with Anne. Before the physicians had pronounced the -case hopeless, the Princess, who was then in very delicate health, had -sent a kind message; and Mary had returned a kind answer. The Princess -had then proposed to come herself; but William had, in very gracious -terms, declined the offer. The excitement of an interview, he said, -would be too much for both sisters. If a favourable turn took place, Her -Royal Highness should be most welcome to Kensington. A few hours later -all was over. [551] - -The public sorrow was great and general. For Mary's blameless life, her -large charities and her winning manners had conquered the hearts of -her people. When the Commons next met they sate for a time in profound -silence. At length it was moved and resolved that an Address of -Condolence should be presented to the King; and then the House broke -up without proceeding to other business. The Dutch envoy informed the -States General that many of the members had handkerchiefs at their -eyes. The number of sad faces in the street struck every observer. The -mourning was more general than even the mourning for Charles the Second -had been. On the Sunday which followed the Queen's death her virtues -were celebrated in almost every parish church of the Capital, and in -almost every great meeting of nonconformists. [552] - -The most estimable Jacobites respected the sorrow of William and the -memory of Mary. But to the fiercer zealots of the party neither the -house of mourning nor the grave was sacred. At Bristol the adherents of -Sir John Knight rang the bells as if for a victory. [553] It has often -been repeated, and is not at all improbable, that a nonjuring divine, in -the midst of the general lamentation, preached on the text, "Go; see -now this cursed woman and bury her; for she is a King's daughter." It is -certain that some of the ejected priests pursued her to the grave with -invectives. Her death, they said, was evidently a judgment for her -crime. God had, from the top of Sinai, in thunder and lightning, -promised length of days to children who should honour their parents; and -in this promise was plainly implied a menace. What father had ever been -worse treated by his daughters than James by Mary and Anne? Mary was -gone, cut off in the prime of life, in the glow of beauty, in the -height of prosperity; and Anne would do well to profit by the warning. -Wagstaffe went further, and dwelt much on certain wonderful coincidences -of time. James had been driven from his palace and country in Christmas -week. Mary had died in Christmas week. There could be no doubt that, if -the secrets of Providence were disclosed to us, we should find that the -turns of the daughter's complaint in December 1694 bore an exact -analogy to the turns of the father's fortune in December 1688. It was -at midnight that the father ran away from Rochester; it was at midnight -that the daughter expired. Such was the profundity and such the -ingenuity of a writer whom the Jacobite schismatics justly regarded as -one of their ablest chiefs. [554] - -The Whigs soon had an opportunity of retaliating. They triumphantly -related that a scrivener in the Borough, a stanch friend of hereditary -right, while exulting in the judgment which had overtaken the Queen, had -himself fallen down dead in a fit. [555] - -The funeral was long remembered as the saddest and most august that -Westminster had ever seen. While the Queen's remains lay in state at -Whitehall, the neighbouring streets were filled every day, from sunrise -to sunset, by crowds which made all traffic impossible. The two Houses -with their maces followed the hearse, the Lords robed in scarlet and -ermine, the Commons in long black mantles. No preceding Sovereign had -ever been attended to the grave by a Parliament; for, till then, the -Parliament had always expired with the Sovereign. A paper had indeed -been circulated, in which the logic of a small sharp pettifogger was -employed to prove that writs, issued in the joint names of William and -Mary, ceased to be of force as soon as William reigned alone. But this -paltry cavil had completely failed. It had not even been mentioned -in the Lower House, and had been mentioned in the Upper only to be -contemptuously overruled. The whole Magistracy of the City swelled the -procession. The banners of England and France, Scotland and Ireland, -were carried by great nobles before the corpse. The pall was borne -by the chiefs of the illustrious houses of Howard, Seymour, Grey, and -Stanley. On the gorgeous coffin of purple and gold were laid the crown -and sceptre of the realm. The day was well suited to such a ceremony. -The sky was dark and troubled; and a few ghastly flakes of snow fell on -the black plumes of the funeral car. Within the Abbey, nave, choir -and transept were in a blaze with innumerable waxlights. The body was -deposited under a magnificent canopy in the centre of the church while -the Primate preached. The earlier part of his discourse was deformed by -pedantic divisions and subdivisions; but towards the close he told what -he had himself seen and heard with a simplicity and earnestness more -affecting than the most skilful rhetoric. Through the whole ceremony the -distant booming of cannon was heard every minute from the batteries of -the Tower. The gentle Queen sleeps among her illustrious kindred in the -southern aisle of the Chapel of Henry the Seventh. [556] - -The affection with which her husband cherished her memory was soon -attested by a monument the most superb that was ever erected to any -sovereign. No scheme had been so much her own, none had been so near her -heart, as that of converting the palace at Greenwich into a retreat -for seamen. It had occurred to her when she had found it difficult to -provide good shelter and good attendance for the thousands of brave men -who had come back to England wounded after the battle of La Hogue. While -she lived scarcely any step was taken towards the accomplishing of her -favourite design. But it should seem that, as soon as her husband had -lost her, he began to reproach himself for having neglected her wishes. -No time was lost. A plan was furnished by Wren; and soon an edifice, -surpassing that asylum which the magnificent Lewis had provided for -his soldiers, rose on the margin of the Thames. Whoever reads the -inscription which runs round the frieze of the hall will observe that -William claims no part of the merit of the design, and that the praise -is ascribed to Mary alone. Had the King's life been prolonged till the -works were completed, a statue of her who was the real foundress of -the institution would have had a conspicuous place in that court which -presents two lofty domes and two graceful colonnades to the multitudes -who are perpetually passing up and down the imperial river. But that -part of the plan was never carried into effect; and few of those who -now gaze on the noblest of European hospitals are aware that it is a -memorial of the virtues of the good Queen Mary, of the love and sorrow -of William, and of the great victory of La Hogue. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - - Effect of Mary's Death on the Continent--Death of Luxemburg--Distress of - William--Parliamentary Proceedings; Emancipation of the Press--Death - of Halifax--Parliamentary Inquiries into the Corruption of the Public - Offices--Vote of Censure on the Speaker--Foley elected Speaker; Inquiry - into the Accounts of the East India Company--Suspicious Dealings of - Seymour--Bill against Sir Thomas Cook--Inquiry by a joint Committee - of Lords and Commons--Impeachment of Leeds--Disgrace of Leeds--Lords - Justices appointed; Reconciliation between William and the - Princess Anne--Jacobite Plots against William's Person--Charnock; - Porter--Goodman; Parkyns--Fenwick--Session of the Scottish Parliament; - Inquiry into the Slaughter of Glencoe--War in the Netherlands; Marshal - Villeroy--The Duke of Maine--Jacobite Plots against the Government - during William's Absence--Siege of Namur--Surrender of the Town of - Namur--Surrender of the Castle of Namur--Arrest of Boufflers--Effect - of the Emancipation of the English Press--Return of William to England; - Dissolution of the Parliament--William makes a Progress through the - Country--The Elections--Alarming State of the Currency--Meeting of the - Parliament; Loyalty of the House of Commons--Controversy touching the - Currency--Parliamentary Proceedings touching the Currency--Passing - of the Act regulating Trials in Cases of High Treason--Parliamentary - Proceedings touching the Grant of Crown Lands in Wales to Portland--Two - Jacobite Plots formed--Berwick's Plot; the Assassination Plot; - Sir George Barclay--Failure of Berwick's Plot--Detection of the - Assassination Plot--Parliamentary Proceedings touching the - Assassination Plot--State of Public Feeling--Trial of Charnock, King and - Keyes--Execution of Charnock, King and Keyes--Trial of Friend--Trial of - Parkyns--Execution of Friend and Parkyns--Trials of Rookwood, Cranburne - and Lowick--The Association--Bill for the Regulation of Elections--Act - establishing a Land Bank - -ON the Continent the news of Mary's death excited various emotions. The -Huguenots, in every part of Europe to which they had wandered, bewailed -the Elect Lady, who had retrenched from her own royal state in order to -furnish bread and shelter to the persecuted people of God. [557] In the -United Provinces, where she was well known and had always been -popular, she was tenderly lamented. Matthew Prior, whose parts and -accomplishments had obtained for him the patronage of the magnificent -Dorset, and who was now attached to the Embassy at the Hague, wrote -that the coldest and most passionless of nations was touched. The very -marble, he said, wept. [558] The lamentations of Cambridge and Oxford -were echoed by Leyden and Utrecht. The States General put on mourning. -The bells of all the steeples of Holland tolled dolefully day after -day. [559] James, meanwhile, strictly prohibited all mourning at Saint -Germains, and prevailed on Lewis to issue a similar prohibition at -Versailles. Some of the most illustrious nobles of France, and among -them the Dukes of Bouillon and of Duras, were related to the House of -Nassau, and had always, when death visited that House, punctiliously -observed the decent ceremonial of sorrow. They were now forbidden to -wear black; and they submitted; but it was beyond the power of the great -King to prevent his highbred and sharpwitted courtiers from whispering -to each other that there was something pitiful in this revenge taken by -the living on the dead, by a parent on a child. [560] - -The hopes of James and of his companions in exile were now higher than -they had been since the day of La Hogue. Indeed the general opinion of -politicians, both here and on the Continent was that William would find -it impossible to sustain himself much longer on the throne. He would -not, it was said, have sustained himself so long but for the help of his -wife. Her affability had conciliated many who had been repelled by his -freezing looks and short answers. Her English tones, sentiments and -tastes had charmed many who were disgusted by his Dutch accent and Dutch -habits. Though she did not belong to the High Church party, she loved -that ritual to which she had been accustomed from infancy, and complied -willingly and reverently with some ceremonies which he considered, not -indeed as sinful, but as childish, and in which he could hardly bring -himself to take part. While the war lasted, it would be necessary that -he should pass nearly half the year out of England. Hitherto she had, -when he was absent, supplied his place, and had supplied it well. -Who was to supply it now? In what vicegerent could he place equal -confidence? To what vicegerent would the nation look up with equal -respect? All the statesmen of Europe therefore agreed in thinking that -his position, difficult and dangerous at best, had been made far more -difficult and more dangerous by the death of the Queen. But all the -statesmen of Europe were deceived; and, strange to say, his reign was -decidedly more prosperous and more tranquil after the decease of Mary -than during her life. - -A few hours after he had lost the most tender and beloved of all his -friends, he was delivered from the most formidable of all his enemies. -Death had been busy at Paris as well as in London. While Tenison was -praying by the bed of Mary, Bourdaloue was administering the last -unction to Luxemburg. The great French general had never been a -favourite at the French Court; but when it was known that his feeble -frame, exhausted by war and pleasure, was sinking under a dangerous -disease, the value of his services was, for the first time, fully -appreciated; the royal physicians were sent to prescribe for him; the -sisters of Saint Cyr were ordered to pray for him; but prayers and -prescriptions were vain. "How glad the Prince of Orange will be," said -Lewis, "when the news of our loss reaches him." He was mistaken. That -news found William unable to think of any loss but his own. [561] - -During the month which followed the death of Mary the King was incapable -of exertion. Even to the addresses of the two Houses of Parliament he -replied only by a few inarticulate sounds. The answers which appear in -the journals were not uttered by him, but were delivered in writing. -Such business as could not be deferred was transacted by the -intervention of Portland, who was himself oppressed with sorrow. During -some weeks the important and confidential correspondence between the -King and Heinsius was suspended. At length William forced himself to -resume that correspondence: but his first letter was the letter of a -heartbroken man. Even his martial ardour had been tamed by misery. "I -tell you in confidence," he wrote, "that I feel myself to be no longer -fit for military command. Yet I will try to do my duty; and I hope that -God will strengthen me." So despondingly did he look forward to the most -brilliant and successful of his many campaigns. [562] - -There was no interruption of parliamentary business. While the Abbey was -hanging with black for the funeral of the Queen, the Commons came to a -vote, which at the time attracted little attention, which produced no -excitement, which has been left unnoticed by voluminous annalists, and -of which the history can be but imperfectly traced in the archives of -Parliament, but which has done more for liberty and for civilisation -than the Great Charter or the Bill of Rights. Early in the session a -select committee had been appointed to ascertain what temporary statutes -were about to expire, and to consider which of those statutes it -might be expedient to continue. The report was made; and all the -recommendations contained in that report were adopted, with one -exception. Among the laws which the committee advised the House to renew -was the law which subjected the press to a censorship. The question was -put, "that the House do agree with the committee in the resolution that -the Act entitled an Act for preventing Abuses in printing seditious, -treasonable and unlicensed Pamphlets, and for regulating of Printing and -Printing Presses, be continued." The Speaker pronounced that the Noes -had it; and the Ayes did not think fit to divide. - -A bill for continuing all the other temporary Acts, which, in the -opinion of the Committee, could not properly be suffered to expire, was -brought in, passed and sent to the Lords. In a short time this bill came -back with an important amendment. The Lords had inserted in the list of -Acts to be continued the Act which placed the press under the control of -licensers. The Commons resolved not to agree to the amendment, demanded -a conference, and appointed a committee of managers. The leading -manager was Edward Clarke, a stanch Whig, who represented Taunton, the -stronghold, during fifty troubled years, of civil and religious freedom. - -Clarke delivered to the Lords in the Painted Chamber a paper containing -the reasons which had determined the Lower House not to renew the -Licensing Act. This paper completely vindicates the resolution to which -the Commons had come. But it proves at the same time that they knew not -what they were doing, what a revolution they were making, what a power -they were calling into existence. They pointed out concisely, clearly, -forcibly, and sometimes with a grave irony which is not unbecoming, the -absurdities and iniquities of the statute which was about to expire. But -all their objections will be found to relate to matters of detail. On -the great question of principle, on the question whether the liberty of -unlicensed printing be, on the whole, a blessing or a curse to society, -not a word is said. The Licensing Act is condemned, not as a thing -essentially evil, but on account of the petty grievances, the exactions, -the jobs, the commercial restrictions, the domiciliary visits which were -incidental to it. It is pronounced mischievous because it enables -the Company of Stationers to extort money from publishers, because -it empowers the agents of the government to search houses under the -authority of general warrants, because it confines the foreign book -trade to the port of London; because it detains valuable packages of -books at the Custom House till the pages are mildewed. The Commons -complain that the amount of the fee which the licenser may demand is not -fixed. They complain that it is made penal in an officer of the Customs -to open a box of books from abroad, except in the presence of one of the -censors of the press. How, it is very sensibly asked, is the officer to -know that there are books in the box till he has opened it? Such were -the arguments which did what Milton's Areopagitica had failed to do. - -The Lords yielded without a contest. They probably expected that some -less objectionable bill for the regulation of the press would soon be -sent up to them; and in fact such a bill was brought into the House of -Commons, read twice, and referred to a select committee. But the session -closed before the committee had reported; and English literature -was emancipated, and emancipated for ever, from the control of the -government. [563] This great event passed almost unnoticed. Evelyn and -Luttrell did not think it worth mentioning in their diaries. The -Dutch minister did not think it worth mentioning in his despatches. -No allusion to it is to be found in the Monthly Mercuries. The public -attention was occupied by other and far more exciting subjects. - -One of those subjects was the death of the most accomplished, the most -enlightened, and, in spite of great faults, the most estimable of the -statesmen who were formed in the corrupt and licentious Whitehall of -the Restoration. About a month after the splendid obsequies of Mary, a -funeral procession of almost ostentatious simplicity passed round the -shrine of Edward the Confessor to the Chapel of Henry the Seventh. -There, at the distance of a few feet from her coffin, lies the coffin of -George Savile, Marquess of Halifax. - -Halifax and Nottingham had long been friends; and Lord Eland, now -Halifax's only son, had been affianced to the Lady Mary Finch, -Nottingham's daughter. The day of the nuptials was fixed; a joyous -company assembled at Burley on the Hill, the mansion of the bride's -father, which, from one of the noblest terraces in the island, looks -down on magnificent woods of beech and oak, on the rich valley of -Catmos, and on the spire of Oakham. The father of the bridegroom was -detained to London by indisposition, which was not supposed to be -dangerous. On a sudden his malady took an alarming form. He was told -that he had but a few hours to live. He received the intimation with -tranquil fortitude. It was proposed to send off an express to summon his -son to town. But Halifax, good natured to the last, would not disturb -the felicity of the wedding day. He gave strict orders that his -interment should be private, prepared himself for the great change by -devotions which astonished those who had called him an atheist, and died -with the serenity of a philosopher and of a Christian, while his friends -and kindred, not suspecting his danger, were tasting the sack posset and -drawing the curtain. [564] His legitimate male posterity and his titles -soon became extinct. No small portion, however, of his wit and eloquence -descended to his daughter's son, Philip Stanhope, fourth Earl -of Chesterfield. But it is perhaps not generally known that some -adventurers, who, without advantages of fortune or position, made -themselves conspicuous by the mere force of ability, inherited the blood -of Halifax. He left a natural son, Henry Carey, whose dramas once drew -crowded audiences to the theatres, and some of whose gay and spirited -verses still live in the memory of hundreds of thousands. From Henry -Carey descended that Edmund Kean, who, in our time, transformed himself -so marvellously into Shylock, Iago and Othello. - -More than one historian has been charged with partiality to Halifax. The -truth is that the memory of Halifax is entitled in an especial manner -to the protection of history. For what distinguishes him from all other -English statesmen is this, that, through a long public life, and through -frequent and violent revolutions of public feeling, he almost invariably -took that view of the great questions of his time which history has -finally adopted. He was called inconstant, because the relative position -in which he stood to the contending factions was perpetually varying. As -well might the pole star be called inconstant because it is sometimes to -the east and sometimes to the west of the pointers. To have defended the -ancient and legal constitution of the realm against a seditious populace -at one conjuncture and against a tyrannical government at another; to -have been the foremost defender of order in the turbulent Parliament of -1680 and the foremost defender of liberty in the servile Parliament of -1685; to have been just and merciful to Roman Catholics in the days of -the Popish plot and to Exclusionists in the days of the Rye House Plot; -to have done all in his power to save both the head of Stafford and -the head of Russell; this was a course which contemporaries, heated -by passion and deluded by names and badges, might not unnaturally call -fickle, but which deserves a very different name from the late justice -of posterity. - -There is one and only one deep stain on the memory of this eminent man. -It is melancholy to think that he, who had acted so great a part in the -Convention, could have afterwards stooped to hold communication with -Saint Germains. The fact cannot be disputed; yet for him there are -excuses which cannot be pleaded for others who were guilty of the same -crime. He did not, like Marlborough, Russell, Godolphin and Shrewsbury, -betray a master by whom he was trusted, and with whose benefits he was -loaded. It was by the ingratitude and malice of the Whigs that he was -driven to take shelter for a moment among the Jacobites. It may be added -that he soon repented of the error into which he had been hurried by -passion, that, though never reconciled to the Court, he distinguished -himself by his zeal for the vigorous prosecution of the war, and -that his last work was a tract in which he exhorted his countrymen to -remember that the public burdens, heavy as they might seem, were light -when compared with the yoke of France and of Rome. [565] - -About a fortnight after the death of Halifax, a fate far more cruel than -death befell his old rival and enemy, the Lord President. That able, -ambitious and daring statesman was again hurled down from power. In his -first fall, terrible as it was, there had been something of dignity; and -he had, by availing himself with rare skill of an extraordinary crisis -in public affairs, risen once more to the most elevated position among -English subjects. The second ruin was indeed less violent than the -first; but it was ignominious and irretrievable. - -The peculation and venality by which the official men of that age were -in the habit of enriching themselves had excited in the public mind -a feeling such as could not but vent itself, sooner or later, in -some formidable explosion. But the gains were immediate; the day of -retribution was uncertain; and the plunderers of the public were as -greedy and as audacious as ever, when the vengeance, long threatened -and long delayed, suddenly overtook the proudest and most powerful among -them. - -The first mutterings of the coming storm did not at all indicate the -direction which it would take, or the fury with which it would burst. -An infantry regiment, which was quartered at Royston, had levied -contributions on the people of that town and of the neighbourhood. The -sum exacted was not large. In France or Brabant the moderation of the -demand would have been thought wonderful. But to English shopkeepers -and farmers military extortion was happily quite new and quite -insupportable. A petition was sent up to the Commons. The Commons -summoned the accusers and the accused to the bar. It soon appeared that -a grave offence had been committed, but that the offenders were not -altogether without excuse. The public money which had been issued -from the Exchequer for their pay and subsistence had been fraudulently -detained by their colonel and by his agent. It was not strange that -men who had arms and who had not necessaries should trouble themselves -little about the Petition of Right and the Declaration of Right. But it -was monstrous that, while the citizen was heavily taxed for the purpose -of paying to the soldier the largest military stipend known in Europe, -the soldier should be driven by absolute want to plunder the citizen. -This was strongly set forth in a representation which the Commons laid -before William. William, who had been long struggling against abuses -which grievously impaired the efficiency of his army, was glad to have -his hands thus strengthened. He promised ample redress, cashiered the -offending colonel, gave strict orders that the troops should receive -their due regularly, and established a military board for the purpose of -detecting and punishing such malpractices as had taken place at Royston. -[566] - -But the whole administration was in such a state that it was hardly -possible to track one offender without discovering ten others. In the -course of the inquiry into the conduct of the troops at Royston, it -was discovered that a bribe of two hundred guineas had been received -by Henry Guy, member of Parliament for Heydon and Secretary of the -Treasury. Guy was instantly sent to the Tower, not without much -exultation on the part of the Whigs; for he was one of those tools who -had passed, together with the buildings and furniture of the public -offices, from James to William; he affected the character of a High -Churchman; and he was known to be closely connected with some of the -heads of the Tory party, and especially with Trevor. [567] - -Another name, which was afterwards but too widely celebrated, first -became known to the public at this time. James Craggs had begun life as -a barber. He had then been a footman of the Duchess of Cleveland. His -abilities, eminently vigorous though not improved by education, had -raised him in the world; and he was now entering on a career which -was destined to end, after a quarter of a century of prosperity, in -unutterable misery and despair. He had become an army clothier. He was -examined as to his dealings with the colonels of regiments; and, as -he obstinately refused to produce his books, he was sent to keep Guy -company in the Tower. [568] - -A few hours after Craggs had been thrown into prison, a committee, which -had been appointed to inquire into the truth of a petition signed by -some of the hackney coachmen of London, laid on the table of the House a -report which excited universal disgust and indignation. It appeared that -these poor hardworking men had been cruelly wronged by the board under -the authority of which an Act of the preceding session had placed them. -They had been pillaged and insulted, not only by the commissioners, but -by one commissioner's lacquey and by another commissioner's harlot. The -Commons addressed the King; and the King turned the delinquents out of -their places. [569] - -But by this time delinquents far higher in power and rank were beginning -to be uneasy. At every new detection, the excitement, both within and -without the walls of Parliament, became more intense. The frightful -prevalence of bribery, corruption and extortion was every where the -subject of conversation. A contemporary pamphleteer compares the state -of the political world at this conjuncture to the state of a city in -which the plague has just been discovered, and in which the terrible -words, "Lord have mercy on us," are already seen on some doors. [570] -Whispers, which at another time would have speedily died away and been -forgotten, now swelled, first into murmurs, and then into clamours. A -rumour rose and spread that the funds of the two wealthiest corporations -in the kingdom, the City of London and the East India Company, had been -largely employed for the purpose of corrupting great men; and the names -of Trevor, Seymour and Leeds were mentioned. - -The mention of these names produced a stir in the Whig ranks. Trevor, -Seymour and Leeds were all three Tories, and had, in different ways, -greater influence than perhaps any other three Tories in the kingdom. -If they could all be driven at once from public life with blasted -characters, the Whigs would be completely predominant both in the -Parliament and in the Cabinet. - -Wharton was not the man to let such an opportunity escape him. At -White's, no doubt, among those lads of quality who were his pupils in -politics and in debauchery, he would have laughed heartily at the fury -with which the nation had on a sudden begun to persecute men for doing -what every body had always done and was always trying to do. But if -people would be fools, it was the business of a politician to make use -of their folly. The cant of political purity was not so familiar to the -lips of Wharton as blasphemy and ribaldry; but his abilities were so -versatile, and his impudence so consummate, that he ventured to appear -before the world as an austere patriot mourning over the venality and -perfidy of a degenerate age. While he, animated by that fierce party -spirit which in honest men would be thought a vice, but which in him -was almost a virtue, was eagerly stirring up his friends to demand an -inquiry into the truth of the evil reports which were in circulation, -the subject was suddenly and strangely forced forward. It chanced that, -while a bill of little interest was under discussion in the Commons, -the postman arrived with numerous letters directed to members; and the -distribution took place at the bar with a buzz of conversation which -drowned the voices of the orators. Seymour, whose imperious temper -always prompted him to dictate and to chide, lectured the talkers on the -scandalous irregularity of their conduct, and called on the Speaker to -reprimand them. An angry discussion followed; and one of the offenders -was provoked into making an allusion to the stories which were current -about both Seymour and the Speaker. "It is undoubtedly improper to talk -while a bill is under discussion; but it is much worse to take money -for getting a bill passed. If we are extreme to mark a slight breach of -form, how severely ought we to deal with that corruption which is eating -away the very substance of our institutions!" That was enough; the -spark had fallen; the train was ready; the explosion was immediate and -terrible. After a tumultuous debate in which the cry of "the Tower" was -repeatedly heard, Wharton managed to carry his point. Before the House -rose a committee was appointed to examine the books of the City of -London and of the East India Company. [571] - -Foley was placed in the chair of the committee. Within a week he -reported that the Speaker, Sir John Trevor, had in the preceding session -received from the City a thousand guineas for expediting a local bill. -This discovery gave great satisfaction to the Whigs, who had always -hated Trevor, and was not unpleasing to many of the Tories. During six -busy sessions his sordid rapacity had made him an object of general -aversion. The legitimate emoluments of his post amounted to about four -thousand a year; but it was believed that he had made at least ten -thousand a year. [572] His profligacy and insolence united had been -too much even for the angelic temper of Tillotson. It was said that the -gentle Archbishop had been heard to mutter something about a knave as -the Speaker passed by him. [573] Yet, great as were the offences of this -bad man, his punishment was fully proportioned to them. As soon as the -report of the committee had been read, it was moved that he had been -guilty of a high crime and misdemeanour. He had to stand up and to put -the question. There was a loud cry of Aye. He called on the Noes; and -scarcely a voice was heard. He was forced to declare that the Ayes -had it. A man of spirit would have given up the ghost with remorse and -shame; and the unutterable ignominy of that moment left its mark even on -the callous heart and brazen forehead of Trevor. Had he returned to the -House on the following day, he would have had to put the question on -a motion for his own expulsion. He therefore pleaded illness, and shut -himself up in his bedroom. Wharton soon brought down a royal message -authorising the Commons to elect another Speaker. - -The Whig chiefs wished to place Littleton in the chair; but they were -unable to accomplish their object. Foley was chosen, presented and -approved. Though he had of late generally voted with the Tories, he -still called himself a Whig, and was not unacceptable to many of the -Whigs. He had both the abilities and the knowledge which were necessary -to enable him to preside over the debates with dignity; but what, in the -peculiar circumstances in which the House then found itself placed, was -not unnaturally considered as his principal recommendation, was -that implacable hatred of jobbery and corruption which he somewhat -ostentatiously professed, and doubtless sincerely felt. On the day after -he entered on his functions, his predecessor was expelled. [574] - -The indiscretion of Trevor had been equal to his baseness; and his guilt -had been apparent on the first inspection of the accounts of the City. -The accounts of the East India Company were more obscure. The committee -reported that they had sate in Leadenhall Street, had examined -documents, had interrogated directors and clerks, but had been unable -to arrive at the bottom of the mystery of iniquity. Some most suspicious -entries had been discovered, under the head of special service. The -expenditure on this account had, in the year 1693, exceeded eighty -thousand pounds. It was proved that, as to the outlay of this money, -the directors had placed implicit confidence in the governor, Sir Thomas -Cook. He had merely told them in general terms that he had been at a -charge of twenty-three thousand, of twenty-five thousand, of thirty -thousand pounds, in the matter of the Charter; and the Court had, -without calling on him for any detailed explanation, thanked him for -his care, and ordered warrants for these great sums to be instantly -made out. It appeared that a few mutinous directors had murmured at this -immense outlay, and had called for a detailed statement. But the only -answer which they had been able to extract from Cook was that there were -some great persons whom it was necessary to gratify. - -The committee also reported that they had lighted on an agreement by -which the Company had covenanted to furnish a person named Colston with -two hundred tons of saltpetre. At the first glance, this transaction -seemed merchantlike and fair. But it was soon discovered that Colston -was merely an agent for Seymour. Suspicion was excited. The complicated -terms of the bargain were severely examined, and were found to be framed -in such a manner that, in every possible event, Seymour must be a gainer -and the Company a loser to the extent of ten or twelve thousand pounds. -The opinion of all who understood the matter was that the compact was -merely a disguise intended to cover a bribe. But the disguise was so -skilfully managed that the country gentlemen were perplexed, and that -the lawyers doubted whether there were such evidence of corruption as -would be held sufficient by a court of justice. Seymour escaped without -even a vote of censure, and still continued to take a leading part in -the debates of the Commons. [575] But the authority which he had long -exercised in the House and in the western counties of England, though -not destroyed, was visibly diminished; and, to the end of his life, -his traffic in saltpetre was a favourite theme of Whig pamphleteers and -poets. [576] - -The escape of Seymour only inflamed the ardour of Wharton and of -Wharton's confederates. They were determined to discover what had been -done with the eighty or ninety thousand pounds of secret service money -which had been entrusted to Cook by the East India Company. Cook, who -was member for Colchester, was questioned in his place; he refused to -answer; he was sent to the Tower; and a bill was brought in providing -that if, before a certain day, he should not acknowledge the whole -truth, he should be incapable of ever holding any office, should refund -to the Company the whole of the immense sum which had been confided to -him, and should pay a fine of twenty thousand pounds to the Crown. Rich -as he was, these penalties would have reduced him to penury. The -Commons were in such a temper that they passed the bill without a single -division. [577] Seymour, indeed, though his saltpetre contract was the -talk of the whole town, came forward with unabashed forehead to plead -for his accomplice; but his effrontery only injured the cause which -he defended. [578] In the Upper House the bill was condemned in the -strongest terms by the Duke of Leeds. Pressing his hand on his heart, he -declared, on his faith, on his honour, that he had no personal interest -in the question, and that he was actuated by no motive but a pure love -of justice. His eloquence was powerfully seconded by the tears and -lamentations of Cook, who, from the bar, implored the Peers not to -subject him to a species of torture unknown to the mild laws of England. -"Instead of this cruel bill," he said, "pass a bill of indemnity; and -I will tell you all." The Lords thought his request not altogether -unreasonable. After some communication with the Commons, it was -determined that a joint committee of the two Houses should be appointed -to inquire into the manner in which the secret service money of the East -India Company had been expended; and an Act was rapidly passed providing -that, if Cook would make to this committee a true and full discovery, he -should be indemnified for the crimes which he might confess; and that, -till he made such a discovery, he should remain in the Tower. To this -arrangement Leeds gave in public all the opposition that he could with -decency give. In private those who were conscious of guilt employed -numerous artifices for the purpose of averting inquiry. It was whispered -that things might come out which every good Englishman would wish to -hide, and that the greater part of the enormous sums which had passed -through Cook's hands had been paid to Portland for His Majesty's use. -But the Parliament and the nation were determined to know the truth, -whoever might suffer by the disclosure. [579] - -As soon as the Bill of Indemnity had received the royal assent, the -joint committee, consisting of twelve lords and twenty-four members of -the House of Commons, met in the Exchequer Chamber. Wharton was placed -in the chair; and in a few hours great discoveries were made. - -The King and Portland came out of the inquiry with unblemished honour. -Not only had not the King taken any part of the secret service money -dispensed by Cook; but he had not, during some years, received even the -ordinary present which the Company had, in former reigns, laid annually -at the foot of the throne. It appeared that not less than fifty thousand -pounds had been offered to Portland, and rejected. The money lay during -a whole year ready to be paid to him if he should change his mind. He -at length told those who pressed this immense bribe on him, that if -they persisted in insulting him by such an offer, they would make him -an enemy of their Company. Many people wondered at the probity which -he showed on this occasion, for he was generally thought interested and -grasping. The truth seems to be that he loved money, but that he was a -man of strict integrity and honour. He took, without scruple, whatever -he thought that he could honestly take, but was incapable of stooping -to an act of baseness. Indeed, he resented as affronts the compliments -which were paid him on this occasion. [580] The integrity of Nottingham -could excite no surprise. Ten thousand pounds had been offered to him, -and had been refused. The number of cases in which bribery was fully -made out was small. A large part of the sum which Cook had drawn from -the Company's treasury had probably been embezzled by the brokers whom -he had employed in the work of corruption; and what had become of the -rest it was not easy to learn from the reluctant witnesses who were -brought before the committee. One glimpse of light however was caught; -it was followed; and it led to a discovery of the highest moment. A -large sum was traced from Cook to an agent named Firebrace, and from -Firebrace to another agent named Bates, who was well known to be closely -connected with the High Church party and especially with Leeds. Bates -was summoned, but absconded; messengers were sent in pursuit of him; -he was caught, brought into the Exchequer Chamber and sworn. The story -which he told showed that he was distracted between the fear of losing -his ears and the fear of injuring his patron. He owned that he had -undertaken to bribe Leeds, had been for that purpose furnished with five -thousand five hundred guineas, had offered those guineas to His Grace, -and had, by His Grace's permission, left them at His Grace's house in -the care of a Swiss named Robart, who was His Grace's confidential -man of business. It should seem that these facts admitted of only one -interpretation. Bates however swore that the Duke had refused to -accept a farthing. "Why then," it was asked, "was the gold left, by -his consent, at his house and in the hands of his servant?" "Because," -answered Bates, "I am bad at telling coin. I therefore begged His Grace -to let me leave the pieces, in order that Robart might count them for -me; and His Grace was so good as to give leave." It was evident that, -if this strange story had been true, the guineas would, in a few hours, -have been taken-away. But Bates was forced to confess that they had -remained half a year where he had left them. The money had indeed at -last,--and this was one of the most suspicious circumstances in the -case,--been paid back by Robart on the very morning on which the -committee first met in the Exchequer Chamber. Who could believe that, if -the transaction had been free from all taint of corruption, the guineas -would have been detained as long as Cook was able to remain silent, and -would have been refunded on the very first day on which he was under the -necessity of speaking out? [581] - -A few hours after the examination of Bates, Wharton reported to the -Commons what had passed in the Exchequer Chamber. The indignation -was general and vehement. "You now understand," said Wharton, "why -obstructions have been thrown in our way at every step, why we have -had to wring out truth drop by drop, why His Majesty's name has been -artfully used to prevent us from going into an inquiry which has brought -nothing to light but what is to His Majesty's honour. Can we think it -strange that our difficulties should have been great, when we consider -the power, the dexterity, the experience of him who was secretly -thwarting us? It is time for us to prove signally to the world that it -is impossible for any criminal to double so cunningly that we cannot -track him, or to climb so high that we cannot reach him. Never was there -a more flagitious instance of corruption. Never was there an offender -who had less claim to indulgence. The obligations which the Duke of -Leeds has to his country are of no common kind. One great debt we -generously cancelled; but the manner in which our generosity has been -requited forces us to remember that he was long ago impeached for -receiving money from France. How can we be safe while a man proved to be -venal has access to the royal ear? Our best laid enterprises have been -defeated. Our inmost counsels have been betrayed. And what wonder is -it? Can we doubt that, together with this home trade in charters, a -profitable foreign trade in secrets is carried on? Can we doubt that he -who sells us to one another will, for a good price, sell us all to -the common enemy?" Wharton concluded by moving that Leeds should be -impeached of high crimes and misdemeanours. [582] - -Leeds had many friends and dependents in the House of Commons; but they -could say little. Wharton's motion was carried without a division; and -he was ordered to go to the bar of the Lords, and there, in the name -of the Commons of England, to impeach the Duke. But, before this order -could be obeyed, it was announced that His Grace was at the door and -requested an audience. - -While Wharton had been making his report to the Commons, Leeds had been -haranguing the Lords. He denied with the most solemn asseverations that -he had taken any money for himself. But he acknowledged, and indeed -almost boasted, that he had abetted Bates in getting money from the -Company, and seemed to think that this was a service which any man -in power might be reasonably expected to render to a friend. Too -many persons, indeed, in that age made a most absurd and pernicious -distinction between a minister who used his influence to obtain presents -for himself and a minister who used his influence to obtain presents -for his dependents. The former was corrupt; the latter was merely -goodnatured. Leeds proceeded to tell with great complacency a story -about himself, which would, in our days, drive a public man, not -only out of office, but out of the society of gentlemen. "When I was -Treasurer, in King Charles's time, my Lords, the excise was to be -farmed. There were several bidders. Harry Savile, for whom I had a great -value, informed me that they had asked for his interest with me, and -begged me to tell them that he had done his best for them. 'What!' said -I; 'tell them all so, when only one can have the farm?' 'No matter;' -said Harry: 'tell them all so; and the one who gets the farm will think -that he owes it to me.' The gentlemen came. I said to every one of them -separately, 'Sir, you are much obliged to Mr. Savile;' 'Sir, Mr. Savile -has been much your friend.' In the end Harry got a handsome present; and -I wished him good luck with it. I was his shadow then. I am Mr. Bates's -shadow now." - -The Duke had hardly related this anecdote, so strikingly illustrative -of the state of political morality in that generation, when it was -whispered to him that a motion to impeach him had been made in the House -of Commons. He hastened thither; but, before he arrived, the question -had been put and carried. Nevertheless he pressed for admittance; and -he was admitted. A chair, according to ancient usage, was placed for -him within the bar; and he was informed that the House was ready to hear -him. - -He spoke, but with less tact and judgment than usual. He magnified his -own public services. But for him, he said, there would have been -no House of Commons to impeach him; a boast so extravagant that it -naturally made his hearers unwilling to allow him the praise which his -conduct at the time of the Revolution really deserved. As to the charge -against him he said little more than that he was innocent, that there -had long been a malicious design to ruin him, that he would not go -into particulars, that the facts which had been proved would bear two -constructions, and that of the two constructions the most favourable -ought in candour to be adopted. He withdrew, after praying the House to -reconsider the vote which had just been passed, or, if that could not -be, to let him have speedy justice. - -His friends felt that his speech was no defence, and did not attempt to -rescind the resolution which had been carried just before he was heard. -Wharton, with a large following, went up to the Lords, and informed -them that the Commons had resolved to impeach the Duke. A committee -of managers was appointed to draw up the articles and to prepare the -evidence. [583] - -The articles were speedily drawn; but to the chain of evidence one -link appeared to be wanting. That link Robart, if he had been severely -examined and confronted with other witnesses, would in all probability -have been forced to supply. He was summoned to the bar of the Commons. -A messenger went with the summons to the house of the Duke of Leeds, and -was there informed that the Swiss was not within, that he had been three -days absent, and that where he was the porter could not tell. The Lords -immediately presented an address to the King, requesting him to give -orders that the ports might be stopped and the fugitive arrested. But -Robart was already in Holland on his way to his native mountains. - -The flight of this man made it impossible for the Commons to proceed. -They vehemently accused Leeds of having sent away the witness who alone -could furnish legal proof of that which was already established by -moral proof. Leeds, now at ease as to the event of the impeachment, gave -himself the airs of an injured man. "My Lords," he said, "the conduct of -the Commons is without precedent. They impeach me of a high crime; they -promise to prove it; then they find that they have not the means of -proving it; and they revile me for not supplying them with the means. -Surely they ought not to have brought a charge like this, without well -considering whether they had or had not evidence sufficient to support -it. If Robart's testimony be, as they now say, indispensable, why did -they not send for him and hear his story before they made up their -minds? They may thank their own intemperance, their own precipitancy, -for his disappearance. He is a foreigner; he is timid; he hears that a -transaction in which he has been concerned has been pronounced by the -House of Commons to be highly criminal, that his master is impeached, -that his friend Bates is in prison, that his own turn is coming. He -naturally takes fright; he escapes to his own country; and, from what -I know of him, I will venture to predict that it will be long before he -trusts himself again within reach of the Speaker's warrant. But what is -that to me? Am I to lie all my life under the stigma of an accusation -like this, merely because the violence of my accusers has scared their -own witness out of England? I demand an immediate trial. I move your -Lordships to resolve that, unless the Commons shall proceed before the -end of the session, the impeachment shall be dismissed." A few friendly -voices cried out "Well moved." But the Peers were generally unwilling to -take a step which would have been in the highest degree offensive to the -Lower House, and to the great body of those whom that House represented. -The Duke's motion fell to the ground; and a few hours later the -Parliament was prorogued. [584] - -The impeachment was never revived. The evidence which would warrant a -formal verdict of guilty was not forthcoming; and a formal verdict of -guilty would hardly have answered Wharton's purpose better than -the informal verdict of guilty which the whole nation had already -pronounced. The work was done. The Whigs were dominant. Leeds was no -longer chief minister, was indeed no longer a minister at all. William, -from respect probably for the memory of the beloved wife whom he had -lately lost, and to whom Leeds had shown peculiar attachment, avoided -every thing that could look like harshness. The fallen statesman -was suffered to retain during a considerable time the title of Lord -President, and to walk on public occasions between the Great Seal -and the Privy Seal. But he was told that he would do well not to -show himself at Council; the business and the patronage even of the -department of which he was the nominal head passed into other hands; and -the place which he ostensibly filled was considered in political circles -as really vacant. [585] - -He hastened into the country, and hid himself there, during some months, -from the public eye. When the Parliament met again, however, he emerged -from his retreat. Though he was well stricken in years and cruelly -tortured by disease, his ambition was still as ardent as ever. With -indefatigable energy he began a third time to climb, as he flattered -himself, towards that dizzy pinnacle which he had twice reached, and -from which he had twice fallen. He took a prominent part in debate; but, -though his eloquence and knowledge always secured to him the attention -of his hearers, he was never again, even when the Tory party was in -power, admitted to the smallest share in the direction of affairs. - -There was one great humiliation which he could not be spared. William -was about to take the command of the army in the Netherlands; and it -was necessary that, before he sailed, he should determine by whom the -government should be administered during his absence. Hitherto Mary had -acted as his vicegerent when he was out of England; but she was gone. -He therefore delegated his authority to seven Lords Justices, Tenison, -Archbishop of Canterbury, Somers, Keeper of the Great Seal, Pembroke, -Keeper of the Privy Seal, Devonshire, Lord Steward, Dorset, Lord -Chamberlain, Shrewsbury, Secretary of State, and Godolphin, First -Commissioner of the Treasury. It is easy to judge from this list of -names which way the balance of power was now leaning. Godolphin alone -of the seven was a Tory. The Lord President, still second in rank, and -a few days before first in power, of the great lay dignitaries of the -realm, was passed over; and the omission was universally regarded as an -official announcement of his disgrace. [586] - -There were some who wondered that the Princess of Denmark was not -appointed Regent. The reconciliation, which had been begun while -Mary was dying, had since her death been, in external show at least, -completed. This was one of those occasions on which Sunderland was -peculiarly qualified to be useful. He was admirably fitted to manage a -personal negotiation, to soften resentment, to soothe wounded pride, to -select, among all the objects of human desire, the very bait which -was most likely to allure the mind with which he was dealing. On this -occasion his task was not difficult. He had two excellent assistants, -Marlborough in the household of Anne, and Somers in the cabinet of -William. - -Marlborough was now as desirous to support the government as he had once -been to subvert it. The death of Mary had produced a complete change in -all his schemes. There was one event to which he looked forward with -the most intense longing, the accession of the Princess to the English -throne. It was certain that, on the day on which she began to reign, he -would be in her Court all that Buckingham had been in the Court of James -the First. Marlborough too must have been conscious of powers of a very -different order from those which Buckingham had possessed, of a genius -for politics not inferior to that of Richelieu, of a genius for war not -inferior to that of Turenne. Perhaps the disgraced General, in obscurity -and inaction, anticipated the day when his power to help and hurt in -Europe would be equal to that of her mightiest princes, when he would be -servilely flattered and courted by Caesar on one side and by Lewis -the Great on the other, and when every year would add another hundred -thousand pounds to the largest fortune that had ever been accumulated -by any English subject. All this might be if Mrs. Morley were Queen. But -that Mr. Freeman should ever see Mrs. Morley Queen had till lately been -not very probable. Mary's life was a much better life than his, and -quite as good a life as her sister's. That William would have issue -seemed unlikely. But it was generally expected that he would soon die. -His widow might marry again, and might leave children who would succeed -her. In these circumstances Marlborough might well think that he had -very little interest in maintaining that settlement of the Crown which -had been made by the Convention. Nothing was so likely to serve his -purpose as confusion, civil war, another revolution, another abdication, -another vacancy of the throne. Perhaps the nation, incensed against -William, yet not reconciled to James, and distracted between hatred of -foreigners and hatred of Jesuits, might prefer both to the Dutch King -and to the Popish King one who was at once a native of our country and -a member of our Church. That this was the real explanation of -Marlborough's dark and complicated plots was, as we have seen, firmly -believed by some of the most zealous Jacobites, and is in the highest -degree probable. It is certain that during several years he had spared -no efforts to inflame the army and the nation against the government. -But all was now changed. Mary was gone. By the Bill of Rights the Crown -was entailed on Anne after the death of William. The death of William -could not be far distant. Indeed all the physicians who attended him -wondered that he was still alive; and, when the risks of war were added -to the risks of disease, the probability seemed to be that in a few -months he would be in his grave. Marlborough saw that it would now be -madness to throw every thing into disorder and to put every thing -to hazard. He had done his best to shake the throne while it seemed -unlikely that Anne would ever mount it except by violent means. But he -did his best to fix it firmly, as soon as it became highly probably that -she would soon be called to fill it in the regular course of nature and -of law. - -The Princess was easily induced by the Churchills to write to the King -a submissive and affectionate letter of condolence. The King, who was -never much inclined to engage in a commerce of insincere compliments, -and who was still in the first agonies of his grief, showed little -disposition to meet her advances. But Somers, who felt that every -thing was at stake, went to Kensington, and made his way into the royal -closet. - -William was sitting there, so deeply sunk in melancholy that he did not -seem to perceive that any person had entered the room. The Lord Keeper, -after a respectful pause, broke silence, and, doubtless with all that -cautious delicacy which was characteristic of him, and which eminently -qualified him to touch the sore places of the mind without hurting them, -implored His Majesty to be reconciled to the Princess. "Do what you -will," said William; "I can think of no business." Thus authorised, the -mediators speedily concluded a treaty. [587] Anne came to Kensington, -and was graciously received; she was lodged in Saint James's Palace; a -guard of honour was again placed at her door; and the Gazettes again, -after a long interval, announced that foreign ministers had had the -honour of being presented to her. [588] The Churchills were again -permitted to dwell under the royal roof. But William did not at first -include them in the peace which he had made with their mistress. -Marlborough remained excluded from military and political employment; -and it was not without much difficulty that he was admitted into the -circle at Kensington, and permitted to kiss the royal hand. [589] The -feeling with which he was regarded by the King explains why Anne was -not appointed Regent. The Regency of Anne would have been the Regency -of Marlborough; and it is not strange that a man whom it was not thought -safe to entrust with any office in the State or the army should not have -been entrusted with the whole government of the kingdom. - -Had Marlborough been of a proud and vindictive nature he might have -been provoked into raising another quarrel in the royal family, and into -forming new cabals in the army. But all his passions, except ambition -and avarice, were under strict regulation. He was destitute alike of the -sentiment of gratitude and of the sentiment of revenge. He had conspired -against the government while it was loading him with favours. He -now supported it, though it requited his support with contumely. He -perfectly understood his own interest; he had perfect command of his -temper; he endured decorously the hardships of his present situation, -and contented himself by looking forward to a reversion which would -amply repay him for a few years of patience. He did not indeed cease -to correspond with the Court of Saint Germains; but the correspondence -gradually became more and more slack, and seems, on his part, to have -been made up of vague professions and trifling excuses. - -The event which had changed all Marlborough's views had filled the -minds of fiercer and more pertinacious politicians with wild hopes and -atrocious projects. - -During the two years and a half which followed the execution of -Grandval, no serious design had been formed against the life of William. -Some hotheaded malecontents had indeed laid schemes for kidnapping -or murdering him; but those schemes were not, while his wife lived, -countenanced by her father. James did not feel, and, to do him justice, -was not such a hypocrite as to pretend to feel, any scruple about -removing his enemies by those means which he had justly thought base and -wicked when employed by his enemies against himself. If any such scruple -had arisen in his mind, there was no want, under his roof, of casuists -willing and competent to soothe his conscience with sophisms such as had -corrupted the far nobler natures of Anthony Babington and Everard -Digby. To question the lawfulness of assassination, in cases where -assassination might promote the interests of the Church, was to question -the authority of the most illustrious Jesuits, of Bellarmine and Suarez, -of Molina and Mariana; nay, it was to rebel against the Chair of Saint -Peter. One Pope had walked in procession at the head of his cardinals, -had proclaimed a jubilee, had ordered the guns of Saint Angelo to -be fired, in honour of the perfidious butchery in which Coligni had -perished. Another Pope had in a solemn allocution hymned the murder of -Henry the Third of France in rapturous language borrowed from the ode of -the prophet Habakkuk, and had extolled the murderer above Phinehas -and Judith. [590] William was regarded at Saint Germains as a monster -compared with whom Coligni and Henry the Third were saints. Nevertheless -James, during some years, refused to sanction any attempt on his -nephew's person. The reasons which he assigned for his refusal have come -down to us, as he wrote them with his own hand. He did not affect to -think that assassination was a sin which ought to be held in horror by a -Christian, or a villany unworthy of a gentleman; he merely said that -the difficulties were great, and that he would not push his friends -on extreme danger when it would not be in his power to second them -effectually. [591] In truth, while Mary lived, it might well be doubted -whether the murder of her husband would really be a service to the -Jacobite cause. By his death the government would lose indeed the -strength derived from his eminent personal qualities, but would at the -same time be relieved from the load of his personal unpopularity. His -whole power would at once devolve on his widow; and the nation would -probably rally round her with enthusiasm. If her political abilities -were not equal to his, she had not his repulsive manners, his foreign -pronunciation, his partiality for every thing Dutch and for every thing -Calvinistic. Many, who had thought her culpably wanting in filial piety, -would be of opinion that now at least she was absolved from all duty to -a father stained with the blood of her husband. The whole machinery -of the administration would continue to work without that interruption -which ordinarily followed a demise of the Crown. There would be no -dissolution of the Parliament, no suspension of the customs and excise; -commissions would retain their force; and all that James would have -gained by the fall of his enemy would have been a barren revenge. - -The death of the Queen changed every thing. If a dagger or a bullet -should now reach the heart of William, it was probable that there would -instantly be general anarchy. The Parliament and the Privy Council would -cease to exist. The authority of ministers and judges would expire with -him from whom it was derived. It might seem not improbable that at such -a moment a restoration might be effected without a blow. - -Scarcely therefore had Mary been laid in the grave when restless and -unprincipled men began to plot in earnest against the life of William. -Foremost among these men in parts, in courage and in energy was Robert -Charnock. He had been liberally educated, and had, in the late reign, -been a fellow of Magdalene College, Oxford. Alone in that great society -he had betrayed the common cause, had consented to be the tool of the -High Commission, had publicly apostatized from the Church of England, -and, while his college was a Popish seminary, had held the office of -Vice President. The Revolution came, and altered at once the whole -course of his life. Driven from the quiet cloister and the old grove of -oaks on the bank of the Cherwell, he sought haunts of a very different -kind. During several years he led the perilous and agitated life of a -conspirator, passed and repassed on secret errands between England and -France, changed his lodgings in London often, and was known at different -coffeehouses by different names. His services had been requited with a -captain's commission signed by the banished King. - -With Charnock was closely connected George Porter, an adventurer who -called himself a Roman Catholic and a Royalist, but who was in truth -destitute of all religious and of all political principle. Porter's -friends could not deny that he was a rake and a coxcomb, that he drank, -that he swore, that he told extravagant lies about his amours, and that -he had been convicted of manslaughter for a stab given in a brawl at -the playhouse. His enemies affirmed that he was addicted to nauseous -and horrible kinds of debauchery, and that he procured the means of -indulging his infamous tastes by cheating and marauding; that he was one -of a gang of clippers; that he sometimes got on horseback late in the -evening and stole out in disguise, and that, when he returned from these -mysterious excursions, his appearance justified the suspicion that he -had been doing business on Hounslow Heath or Finchley Common. [592] - -Cardell Goodman, popularly called Scum Goodman, a knave more abandoned, -if possible, than Porter, was in the plot. Goodman had been on the -stage, had been kept, like some much greater men, by the Duchess of -Cleveland, had been taken into her house, had been loaded by her with -gifts, and had requited her by bribing an Italian quack to poison two of -her children. As the poison had not been administered, Goodman could -be prosecuted only for a misdemeanour. He was tried, convicted and -sentenced to a ruinous fine. He had since distinguished himself as one -of the first forgers of bank notes. [593] - -Sir William Parkyns, a wealthy knight bred to the law, who had been -conspicuous among the Tories in the days of the Exclusion Bill, was one -of the most important members of the confederacy. He bore a much fairer -character than most of his accomplices; but in one respect he was more -culpable than any of them. For he had, in order to retain a lucrative -office which he held in the Court of Chancery, sworn allegiance to the -Prince against whose life he now conspired. - -The design was imparted to Sir John Fenwick, celebrated on account of -the cowardly insult which he had offered to the deceased Queen. Fenwick, -if his own assertion is to be trusted, was willing to join in an -insurrection, but recoiled from the thought of assassination, and showed -so much of what was in his mind as sufficed to make him an object of -suspicion to his less scrupulous associates. He kept their secret, -however, as strictly as if he had wished them success. - -It should seem that, at first, a natural feeling restrained the -conspirators from calling their design by the proper name. Even in their -private consultations they did not as yet talk of killing the Prince of -Orange. They would try to seize him and to carry him alive into France. -If there were any resistance they might be forced to use their swords -and pistols, and nobody could be answerable for what a thrust or a -shot might do. In the spring of 1695, the scheme of assassination, thus -thinly veiled, was communicated to James, and his sanction was earnestly -requested. But week followed week; and no answer arrived from him. He -doubtless remained silent in the hope that his adherents would, after -a short delay, venture to act on their own responsibility, and that he -might thus have the advantage without the scandal of their crime. They -seem indeed to have so understood him. He had not, they said, authorised -the attempt; but he had not prohibited it; and, apprised as he was of -their plan, the absence of prohibition was a sufficient warrant. They -therefore determined to strike; but before they could make the necessary -arrangements William set out for Flanders; and the plot against his life -was necessarily suspended till his return. - -It was on the twelfth of May that the King left Kensington for -Gravesend, where he proposed to embark for the Continent. Three days -before his departure the Parliament of Scotland had, after a recess -of about two years, met again at Edinburgh. Hamilton, who had, in the -preceding session, sate on the throne and held the sceptre, was dead; -and it was necessary to find a new Lord High Commissioner. The person -selected was John Hay, Marquess of Tweedale, Chancellor of the Realm, a -man grown old in business, well informed, prudent, humane, blameless in -private life, and, on the whole, as respectable as any Scottish lord -who had been long and deeply concerned in the politics of those troubled -times. - -His task was not without difficulty. It was indeed well known that the -Estates were generally inclined to support the government. But it was -also well known that there was one subject which would require the most -dexterous and delicate management. The cry of the blood shed more than -three years before in Glencoe had at length made itself heard. Towards -the close of the year 1693, the reports, which had at first been -contemptuously derided as factious calumnies, began to be generally -thought deserving of serious attention. Many people little disposed to -place confidence in any thing that came forth from the secret presses of -the Jacobites owned that, for the honour of the government, some inquiry -ought to be instituted. The amiable Mary had been much shocked by what -she heard. William had, at her request, empowered the Duke of Hamilton -and several other Scotchmen of note to investigate the whole matter. -But the Duke died; his colleagues were slack in the performance of their -duty; and the King, who knew little and cared little about Scotland, -forgot to urge them. [594] - -It now appeared that the government would have done wisely as well as -rightly by anticipating the wishes of the country. The horrible story -repeated by the nonjurors pertinaciously, confidently, and with so -many circumstances as almost enforced belief, had at length roused all -Scotland. The sensibility of a people eminently patriotic was galled by -the taunts of southern pamphleteers, who asked whether there was on the -north of the Tweed, no law, no justice, no humanity, no spirit to demand -redress even for the foulest wrongs. Each of the two extreme parties, -which were diametrically opposed to each other in general politics, was -impelled by a peculiar feeling to call for inquiry. The Jacobites were -delighted by the prospect of being able to make out a case which would -bring discredit on the usurper, and which might be set off against the -many offences imputed by the Whigs to Claverhouse and Mackenzie. The -zealous Presbyterians were not less delighted at the prospect of being -able to ruin the Master of Stair. They had never forgotten or forgiven -the service which he had rendered to the House of Stuart in the time of -the persecution. They knew that, though he had cordially concurred in -the political revolution which had freed them from the hated dynasty, he -had seen with displeasure that ecclesiastical revolution which was, in -their view, even more important. They knew that church government was -with him merely an affair of State, and that, looking at it as an affair -of State, he preferred the episcopal to the synodical model. They could -not without uneasiness see so adroit and eloquent an enemy of pure -religion constantly attending the royal steps and constantly breathing -counsel in the royal ear. They were therefore impatient for an -investigation, which, if one half of what was rumoured were true, must -produce revelations fatal to the power and fame of the minister whom -they distrusted. Nor could that minister rely on the cordial support -of all who held office under the Crown. His genius and influence had -excited the jealousy of many less successful courtiers, and especially -of his fellow secretary, Johnstone. - -Thus, on the eve of the meeting of the Scottish Parliament, Glencoe -was in the mouths of all Scotchmen of all factions and of all sects. -William, who was just about to start for the Continent, learned that, on -this subject, the Estates must have their way, and that the best thing -that he could do would be to put himself at the head of a movement which -it was impossible for him to resist. A Commission authorising Tweedale -and several other privy councillors to examine fully into the matter -about which the public mind was so strongly excited was signed by the -King at Kensington, was sent down to Edinburgh, and was there sealed -with the Great Seal of the realm. This was accomplished just in time. -[595] The Parliament had scarcely entered on business when a member -rose to move for an inquiry into the circumstances of the slaughter -of Glencoe. Tweedale was able to inform the Estates that His Majesty's -goodness had prevented their desires, that a Commission of Precognition -had, a few hours before, passed in all the forms, and that the lords and -gentlemen named in that instrument would hold their first meeting before -night. [596] The Parliament unanimously voted thanks to the King for -this instance of his paternal care; but some of those who joined in the -vote of thanks expressed a very natural apprehension that the second -investigation might end as unsatisfactorily as the first investigation -had ended. The honour of the country, they said, was at stake; and the -Commissioners were bound to proceed with such diligence that the result -of the inquest might be known before the end of the session. Tweedale -gave assurances which, for a time, silenced the murmurers. [597] But, -when three weeks had passed away, many members became mutinous -and suspicious. On the fourteenth of June it was moved that the -Commissioners should be ordered to report. The motion was not carried; -but it was renewed day after day. In three successive sittings Tweedale -was able to restrain the eagerness of the assembly. But, when he at -length announced that the report had been completed; and added that it -would not be laid before the Estates till it had been submitted to the -King, there was a violent outcry. The public curiosity was intense; -for the examination had been conducted with closed doors; and both -Commissioners and clerks had been sworn to secrecy. The King was in the -Netherlands. Weeks must elapse before his pleasure could be taken; and -the session could not last much longer. In a fourth debate there were -signs which convinced the Lord High Commissioner that it was expedient -to yield; and the report was produced. [598] - -It is a paper highly creditable to those who framed it, an excellent -digest of evidence, clear, passionless, and austerely just. No source -from which valuable information was likely to be derived had been -neglected. Glengarry and Keppoch, though notoriously disaffected to the -government, had been permitted to conduct the case on behalf of their -unhappy kinsmen. Several of the Macdonalds who had escaped from the -havoc of that night had been examined, and among them the reigning Mac -Ian, the eldest son of the murdered Chief. The correspondence of the -Master of Stair with the military men who commanded in the Highlands had -been subjected to a strict but not unfair scrutiny. The conclusion to -which the Commissioners came, and in which every intelligent and candid -inquirer will concur, was that the slaughter of Glencoe was a barbarous -murder, and that of this barbarous murder the letters of the Master of -Stair were the sole warrant and cause. - -That Breadalbane was an accomplice in the crime was not proved; but he -did not come off quite clear. In the course of the investigation it was -incidentally discovered that he had, while distributing the money of -William among the Highland Chiefs, professed to them the warmest zeal -for the interest of James, and advised them to take what they could get -from the usurper, but to be constantly on the watch for a favourable -opportunity of bringing back the rightful King. Breadalbane's defence -was that he was a greater villain than his accusers imagined, and that -he had pretended to be a Jacobite only in order to get at the bottom -of the Jacobite plans. In truth the depths of this man's knavery were -unfathomable. It was impossible to say which of his treasons were, to -borrow the Italian classification, single treasons, and which double -treasons. On this occasion the Parliament supposed him to have -been guilty only of a single treason, and sent him to the Castle of -Edinburgh. The government, on full consideration, gave credit to his -assertion that he had been guilty of a double treason, and let him out -again. [599] - -The Report of the Commission was taken into immediate consideration -by the Estates. They resolved, without one dissentient voice, that the -order signed by William did not authorise the slaughter of Glencoe. They -next resolved, but, it should seem, not unanimously, that the slaughter -was a murder. [600] They proceeded to pass several votes, the sense of -which was finally summed up in an address to the King. How that part of -the address which related to the Master of Stair should be framed was a -question about which there was much debate. Several of his letters were -called for and read; and several amendments were put to the vote. It -should seem that the Jacobites and the extreme Presbyterians were, with -but too good cause, on the side of severity. The majority, under the -skilful management of the Lord High Commissioner, acquiesced in words -which made it impossible for the guilty minister to retain his office, -but which did not impute to him such criminality as would have affected -his life or his estate. They censured him, but censured him in terms far -too soft. They blamed his immoderate zeal against the unfortunate clan, -and his warm directions about performing the execution by surprise. His -excess in his letters they pronounced to have been the original cause -of the massacre; but, instead of demanding that he should be brought to -trial as a murderer, they declared that, in consideration of his absence -and of his great place, they left it to the royal wisdom to deal with -him in such a manner as might vindicate the honour of the government. - -The indulgence which was shown to the principal offender was not -extended to his subordinates. Hamilton, who had fled and had been vainly -cited by proclamation at the City Cross to appear before the Estates, -was pronounced not to be clear of the blood of the Glencoe men. -Glenlyon, Captain Drummond, Lieutenant Lindsey, Ensign Lundie, and -Serjeant Barbour, were still more distinctly designated as murderers; -and the King was requested to command the Lord Advocate to prosecute -them. - -The Parliament of Scotland was undoubtedly, on this occasion, severe in -the wrong place and lenient in the wrong place. The cruelty and baseness -of Glenlyon and his comrades excite, even after the lapse of a hundred -and sixty years, emotions which make it difficult to reason calmly. -Yet whoever can bring himself to look at the conduct of these men with -judicial impartiality will probably be of opinion that they could -not, without great detriment to the commonwealth, have been treated -as assassins. They had slain nobody whom they had not been positively -directed by their commanding officer to slay. That subordination without -which an army is the worst of all rabbles would be at an end, if every -soldier were to be held answerable for the justice of every order -in obedience to which he pulls his trigger. The case of Glencoe was, -doubtless, an extreme case; but it cannot easily be distinguished in -principle from cases which, in war, are of ordinary occurrence. Very -terrible military executions are sometimes indispensable. Humanity -itself may require them. Who then is to decide whether there be an -emergency such as makes severity the truest mercy? Who is to determine -whether it be or be not necessary to lay a thriving town in ashes, to -decimate a large body of mutineers, to shoot a whole gang of banditti? -Is the responsibility with the commanding officer, or with the rank and -file whom he orders to make ready, present and fire? And if the general -rule be that the responsibility is with the commanding officer, and -not with those who obey him, is it possible to find any reason for -pronouncing the case of Glencoe an exception to that rule? It is -remarkable that no member of the Scottish Parliament proposed that any -of the private men of Argyle's regiment should be prosecuted for murder. -Absolute impunity was granted to everybody below the rank of Serjeant. -Yet on what principle? Surely, if military obedience was not a valid -plea, every man who shot a Macdonald on that horrible night was a -murderer. And, if military obedience was a valid plea for the musketeer -who acted by order of Serjeant Barbour, why not for Barbour who acted -by order of Glenlyon? And why not for Glenlyon who acted by order of -Hamilton? It can scarcely be maintained that more deference is due -from a private to a noncommissioned officer than from a noncommissioned -officer to his captain, or from a captain to his colonel. - -It may be said that the orders given to Glenlyon were of so peculiar a -nature that, if he had been a man of virtue, he would have thrown up his -commission, would have braved the displeasure of colonel, general, and -Secretary of State, would have incurred the heaviest penalty which -a Court Martial could inflict, rather than have performed the part -assigned to him; and this is perfectly true; but the question is not -whether he acted like a virtuous man, but whether he did that for which -he could, without infringing a rule essential to the discipline of camps -and to the security of nations, be hanged as a murderer. In this case, -disobedience was assuredly a moral duty; but it does not follow that -obedience was a legal crime. - -It seems therefore that the guilt of Glenlyon and his fellows was not -within the scope of the penal law. The only punishment which could -properly be inflicted on them was that which made Cain cry out that -it was greater than he could bear; to be vagabonds on the face of the -earth, and to carry wherever they went a mark from which even bad men -should turn away sick with horror. - -It was not so with the Master of Stair. He had been solemnly pronounced, -both by the Commission of Precognition and by the Estates of the Realm -in full Parliament, to be the original author of the massacre. That it -was not advisable to make examples of his tools was the strongest reason -for making an example of him. Every argument which can be urged against -punishing the soldier who executes the unjust and inhuman orders of his -superior is an argument for punishing with the utmost rigour of the law -the superior who gives unjust and inhuman orders. Where there can be no -responsibility below, there should be double responsibility above. What -the Parliament of Scotland ought with one voice to have demanded was, -not that a poor illiterate serjeant, who was hardly more accountable -than his own halbert for the bloody work which he had done, should be -hanged in the Grassmarket, but that the real murderer, the most politic, -the most eloquent, the most powerful, of Scottish statesmen, should be -brought to a public trial, and should, if found guilty, die the death of -a felon. Nothing less than such a sacrifice could expiate such a crime. -Unhappily the Estates, by extenuating the guilt of the chief offender, -and, at the same time, demanding that his humble agents should be -treated with a severity beyond the law, made the stain which the -massacre had left on the honour of the nation broader and deeper than -before. - -Nor is it possible to acquit the King of a great breach of duty. It -is, indeed, highly probable that, till he received the report of -his Commissioners, he had been very imperfectly informed as to the -circumstances of the slaughter. We can hardly suppose that he was much -in the habit of reading Jacobite pamphlets; and, if he did read them, -he would have found in them such a quantity of absurd and rancorous -invective against himself that he would have been very little inclined -to credit any imputation which they might throw on his servants. He -would have seen himself accused, in one tract, of being a concealed -Papist, in another of having poisoned Jeffreys in the Tower, in a third -of having contrived to have Talmash taken off at Brest. He would have -seen it asserted that, in Ireland, he once ordered fifty of his wounded -English soldiers to be burned alive. He would have seen that the -unalterable affection which he felt from his boyhood to his death for -three or four of the bravest and most trusty friends that ever prince -had the happiness to possess was made a ground for imputing to him -abominations as foul as those which are buried under the waters of the -Dead Sea. He might therefore naturally be slow to believe frightful -imputations thrown by writers whom he knew to be habitual liars on a -statesman whose abilities he valued highly, and to whose exertions he -had, on some great occasions, owed much. But he could not, after he -had read the documents transmitted to him from Edinburgh by Tweedale, -entertain the slightest doubt of the guilt of the Master of Stair. To -visit that guilt with exemplary punishment was the sacred duty of a -Sovereign who had sworn, with his hand lifted up towards heaven, that he -would, in his kingdom of Scotland, repress, in all estates and degrees, -all oppression, and would do justice, without acceptance of persons, -as he hoped for mercy from the Father of all mercies. William contented -himself with dismissing the Master from office. For this great fault, a -fault amounting to a crime, Burnet tried to frame, not a defence, but an -excuse. He would have us believe that the King, alarmed by finding how -many persons had borne a part in the slaughter of Glencoe, thought -it better to grant a general amnesty than to punish one massacre by -another. But this representation is the very reverse of the truth. -Numerous instruments had doubtless been employed in the work of death; -but they had all received their impulse, directly or indirectly, from -a single mind. High above the crowd of offenders towered one offender, -preeminent in parts, knowledge, rank and power. In return for many -victims immolated by treachery, only one victim was demanded by justice; -and it must ever be considered as a blemish on the fame of William that -the demand was refused. - -On the seventeenth of July the session of the Parliament of Scotland -closed. The Estates had liberally voted such a supply as the poor -country which they represented could afford. They had indeed been put -into high good humour by the notion that they had found out a way of -speedily making that poor country rich. Their attention had been divided -between the inquiry into the slaughter of Glencoe and some specious -commercial projects of which the nature will be explained and the fate -related in a future chapter. - -Meanwhile all Europe was looking anxiously towards the Low Countries. -The great warrior who had been victorious at Fleurus, at Steinkirk and -at Landen had not left his equal behind him. But France still possessed -Marshals well qualified for high command. Already Catinat and Boufflers -had given proofs of skill, of resolution, and of zeal for the interests -of the state. Either of those distinguished officers would have been a -successor worthy of Luxemburg and an antagonist worthy of William; but -their master, unfortunately for himself, preferred to both the Duke of -Villeroy. The new general had been Lewis's playmate when they were both -children, had then become a favourite, and had never ceased to be so. -In those superficial graces for which the French aristocracy was then -renowned throughout Europe, Villeroy was preeminent among the French -aristocracy. His stature was tall, his countenance handsome, his manners -nobly and somewhat haughtily polite, his dress, his furniture, his -equipages, his table, magnificent. No man told a story with more -vivacity; no man sate his horse better in a hunting party; no man made -love with more success; no man staked and lost heaps of gold with more -agreeable unconcern; no man was more intimately acquainted with the -adventures, the attachments, the enmities of the lords and ladies -who daily filled the halls of Versailles. There were two characters -especially which this fine gentleman had studied during many years, and -of which he knew all the plaits and windings, the character of the King, -and the character of her who was Queen in every thing but name. But -there ended Villeroy's acquirements. He was profoundly ignorant both of -books and of business. At the Council Board he never opened his mouth -without exposing himself. For war he had not a single qualification -except that personal courage which was common to him with the whole -class of which he was a member. At every great crisis of his political -and of his military life he was alternately drunk with arrogance -and sunk in dejection. Just before he took a momentous step his -selfconfidence was boundless; he would listen to no suggestion; he would -not admit into his mind the thought that failure was possible. On -the first check he gave up every thing for lost, became incapable of -directing, and ran up and down in helpless despair. Lewis however loved -him; and he, to do him justice, loved Lewis. The kindness of the master -was proof against all the disasters which were brought on his kingdom -by the rashness and weakness of the servant; and the gratitude of the -servant was honourably, though not judiciously, manifested on more than -one occasion after the death of the master. [601] - -Such was the general to whom the direction of the campaign in the -Netherlands was confided. The Duke of Maine was sent to learn the art of -war under this preceptor. Maine, the natural son of Lewis by the Duchess -of Montespan, had been brought up from childhood by Madame de Maintenon, -and was loved by Lewis with the love of a father, by Madame de Maintenon -with the not less tender love of a foster mother. - -Grave men were scandalized by the ostentatious manner in which the King, -while making a high profession of piety, exhibited his partiality for -this offspring of a double adultery. Kindness, they said, was doubtless -due from a parent to a child; but decency was also due from a Sovereign -to his people. In spite of these murmurs the youth had been publicly -acknowledged, loaded with wealth and dignities, created a Duke and Peer, -placed, by an extraordinary act of royal power, above Dukes and Peers of -older creation, married to a Princess of the blood royal, and appointed -Grand Master of the Artillery of the Realm. With abilities and courage -he might have played a great part in the world. But his intellect was -small; his nerves were weak; and the women and priests who had educated -him had effectually assisted nature. He was orthodox in belief, correct -in morals, insinuating in address, a hypocrite, a mischiefmaker and a -coward. - -It was expected at Versailles that Flanders would, during this year, be -the chief theatre of war. Here, therefore, a great army was collected. -Strong lines were formed from the Lys to the Scheld, and Villeroy fixed -his headquarters near Tournay. Boufflers, with about twelve thousand -men, guarded the banks of the Sambre. - -On the other side the British and Dutch troops, who were under -`-William's immediate command, mustered in the neighbourhood of Ghent. -The Elector of Bavaria, at the head of a great force, lay near Brussels. -A smaller army, consisting chiefly of Brandenburghers was encamped not -far from Huy. - -Early in June military operations commenced. The first movements of -William were mere feints intended to prevent the French generals from -suspecting his real purpose. He had set his heart on retaking Namur. -The loss of Namur had been the most mortifying of all the disasters of a -disastrous war. The importance of Namur in a military point of view had -always been great, and had become greater than ever during the -three years which had elapsed since the last siege. New works, the -masterpieces of Vauban, had been added to the old defences which had -been constructed with the utmost skill of Cohorn. So ably had the two -illustrious engineers vied with each other and cooperated with nature -that the fortress was esteemed the strongest in Europe. Over one gate -had been placed a vaunting inscription which defied the allies to wrench -the prize from the grasp of France. - -William kept his own counsel so well that not a hint of his intention -got abroad. Some thought that Dunkirk, some that Ypres was his object. -The marches and skirmishes by which he disguised his design were -compared by Saint Simon to the moves of a skilful chess player. -Feuquieres, much more deeply versed in military science than Saint -Simon, informs us that some of these moves were hazardous, and that such -a game could not have been safely played against Luxemburg; and this is -probably true, but Luxemburg was gone; and what Luxemburg had been to -William, William now was to Villeroy. - -While the King was thus employed, the Jacobites at home, being unable, -in his absence, to prosecute their design against his person, contented -themselves with plotting against his government. They were somewhat less -closely watched than during the preceding year; for the event of -the trials at Manchester had discouraged Aaron Smith and his agents. -Trenchard, whose vigilance and severity had made him an object of terror -and hatred, was no more, and had been succeeded, in what may be called -the subordinate Secretaryship of State, by Sir William Trumball, a -learned civilian and an experienced diplomatist, of moderate opinions, -and of temper cautious to timidity. [602] The malecontents were -emboldened by the lenity of the administration. William had scarcely -sailed for the Continent when they held a great meeting at one of their -favourite haunts, the Old King's Head in Leadenhall Street. Charnock, -Porter, Goodman, Parkyns and Fenwick were present. The Earl of Aylesbury -was there, a man whose attachment to the exiled house was notorious, but -who always denied that he had ever thought of effecting a restoration -by immoral means. His denial would be entitled to more credit if he -had not, by taking the oaths to the government against which he was -constantly intriguing, forfeited the right to be considered as a man of -conscience and honour. In the assembly was Sir John Friend, a nonjuror -who had indeed a very slender wit, but who had made a very large fortune -by brewing, and who spent it freely in sedition. After dinner,--for the -plans of the Jacobites were generally laid over wine, and generally bore -some trace of the conviviality in which they had originated,--it -was resolved that the time was come for an insurrection and a French -invasion, and that a special messenger should carry the sense of the -meeting to Saint Germains. Charnock was selected. He undertook the -commission, crossed the Channel, saw James, and had interviews with the -ministers of Lewis, but could arrange nothing. The English malecontents -would not stir till ten thousand French troops were in the island; and -ten thousand French troops could not, without great risk, be withdrawn -from the army which was contending against William in the Low Countries. -When Charnock returned to report that his embassy had been unsuccessful, -he found some of his confederates in gaol. They had during his absence -amused themselves, after their fashion, by trying to raise a riot in -London on the tenth of June, the birthday of the unfortunate Prince -of Wales. They met at a tavern in Drury Lane, and, when hot with -wine, sallied forth sword in hand, headed by Porter and Goodman, beat -kettledrums, unfurled banners, and began to light bonfires. But the -watch, supported by the populace, was too strong for the revellers. They -were put to rout; the tavern where they had feasted was sacked by the -mob; the ringleaders were apprehended, tried, fined and imprisoned, but -regained their liberty in time to bear a part in a far more criminal -design. [603] - -By this time all was ready for the execution of the plan which William -had formed. That plan had been communicated to the other chiefs of -the allied forces, and had been warmly approved. Vaudemont was left in -Flanders with a considerable force to watch Villeroy. The King, with -the rest of his army, marched straight on Namur. At the same moment the -Elector of Bavaria advanced towards the same point on one side, and the -Brandenburghers on another. So well had these movements been concerted, -and so rapidly were they performed, that the skilful and energetic -Boufflers had but just time to throw himself into the fortress. He was -accompanied by seven regiments of dragoons, by a strong body of gunners, -sappers and miners, and by an officer named Megrigny, who was esteemed -the best engineer in the French service with the exception of Vauban. -A few hours after Boufflers had entered the place the besieging forces -closed round it on every side; and the lines of circumvallation were -rapidly formed. - -The news excited no alarm at the French Court. There it was not doubted -that William would soon be compelled to abandon his enterprise with -grievous loss and ignominy. The town was strong; the castle was believed -to be impregnable; the magazines were filled with provisions and -ammunition sufficient to last till the time at which the armies of that -age were expected to retire into winter quarters; the garrison consisted -of sixteen thousand of the best troops in the world; they were commanded -by an excellent general; he was assisted by an excellent engineer; nor -was it doubted that Villeroy would march with his great army to the -assistance of Boufflers, and that the besiegers would then be in much -more danger than the besieged. - -These hopes were kept up by the despatches of Villeroy. He proposed, -he said, first to annihilate the army of Vaudemont, and then to drive -William from Namur. Vaudemont might try to avoid an action; but he could -not escape. The Marshal went so far as to promise his master news of a -complete victory within twenty-four hours. Lewis passed a whole day -in impatient expectation. At last, instead of an officer of high rank -loaded with English and Dutch standards, arrived a courier bringing news -that Vaudemont had effected a retreat with scarcely any loss, and was -safe under the walls of Ghent. William extolled the generalship of his -lieutenant in the warmest terms. "My cousin," he wrote, "you have shown -yourself a greater master of your art than if you had won a pitched -battle." [604] In the French camp, however, and at the French Court it -was universally held that Vaudemont had been saved less by his own skill -than by the misconduct of those to whom he was opposed. Some threw -the whole blame on Villeroy; and Villeroy made no attempt to vindicate -himself. But it was generally believed that he might, at least to a -great extent, have vindicated himself, had he not preferred royal favour -to military renown. His plan, it was said, might have succeeded, had not -the execution been entrusted to the Duke of Maine. At the first glimpse -of danger the bastard's heart had died within him. He had not been able -to conceal his poltroonery. He had stood trembling, stuttering, calling -for his confessor, while the old officers round him, with tears in their -eyes, urged him to advance. During a short time the disgrace of the son -was concealed from the father. But the silence of Villeroy showed -that there was a secret; the pleasantries of the Dutch gazettes soon -elucidated the mystery; and Lewis learned, if not the whole truth, yet -enough to make him miserable. Never during his long reign had he been so -moved. During some hours his gloomy irritability kept his servants, his -courtiers, even his priests, in terror. He so far forgot the grace and -dignity for which he was renowned throughout the world that, in the -sight of all the splendid crowd of gentlemen and ladies who came to see -him dine at Marli, he broke a cane on the shoulders of a lacquey, and -pursued the poor man with the handle. [605] - -The siege of Namur meanwhile was vigorously pressed by the allies. The -scientific part of their operations was under the direction of Cohorn, -who was spurred by emulation to exert his utmost skill. He had suffered, -three years before, the mortification of seeing the town, as he had -fortified it, taken by his great master Vauban. To retake it, now that -the fortifications had received Vauban's last improvements, would be a -noble revenge. - -On the second of July the trenches were opened. On the eighth a gallant -sally of French dragoons was gallantly beaten back; and, late on the -same evening, a strong body of infantry, the English footguards leading -the way, stormed, after a bloody conflict, the outworks on the Brussels -side. The King in person directed the attack; and his subjects were -delighted to learn that, when the fight was hottest, he laid his hand on -the shoulder of the Elector of Bavaria, and exclaimed, "Look, look at -my brave English!" Conspicuous in bravery even among those brave English -was Cutts. In that bulldog courage which flinches from no danger, -however terrible, he was unrivalled. There was no difficulty in finding -hardy volunteers, German, Dutch and British, to go on a forlorn hope; -but Cutts was the only man who appeared to consider such an expedition -as a party of pleasure. He was so much at his ease in the hottest -fire of the French batteries that his soldiers gave him the honourable -nickname of the Salamander. [606] - -On the seventeenth the first counterscarp of the town was attacked. -The English and Dutch were thrice repulsed with great slaughter, and -returned thrice to the charge. At length, in spite of the exertions of -the French officers, who fought valiantly sword in hand on the glacis, -the assailants remained in possession of the disputed works. While the -conflict was raging, William, who was giving his orders under a shower -of bullets, saw with surprise and anger, among the officers of his -staff, Michael Godfrey the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. This -gentleman had come to the King's headquarters in order to make some -arrangements for the speedy and safe remittance of money from England -to the army in the Netherlands, and was curious to see real war. Such -curiosity William could not endure. "Mr. Godfrey," he said, "you ought -not to run these hazards; you are not a soldier; you can be of no use -to us here." "Sir," answered Godfrey, "I run no more hazard than Your -Majesty." "Not so," said William; "I am where it is my duty to be; and -I may without presumption commit my life to God's keeping; but you--" -While they were talking a cannon ball from the ramparts laid Godfrey -dead at the King's feet. It was not found however that the fear of being -Godfreyed,--such was during some time the cant phrase,--sufficed to -prevent idle gazers from coming to the trenches. [607] Though William -forbade his coachmen, footmen and cooks to expose themselves, he -repeatedly saw them skulking near the most dangerous spots and trying to -get a peep at the fighting. He was sometimes, it is said, provoked into -horsewhipping them out of the range of the French guns; and the story, -whether true or false, is very characteristic. - -On the twentieth of July the Bavarians and Brandenburghers, under the -direction of Cohorn, made themselves masters, after a hard fight, of a -line of works which Vauban had cut in the solid rock from the Sambre to -the Meuse. Three days later, the English and Dutch, Cutts, as usual, in -the front, lodged themselves on the second counterscarp. All was ready -for a general assault, when a white flag was hung out from the ramparts. -The effective strength of the garrison was now little more than one half -of what it had been when the trenches were opened. Boufflers apprehended -that it would be impossible for eight thousand men to defend the whole -circuit of the walls much longer; but he felt confident that such a -force would be sufficient to keep the stronghold on the summit of the -rock. Terms of capitulation were speedily adjusted. A gate was delivered -up to the allies. The French were allowed forty-eight hours to retire -into the castle, and were assured that the wounded men whom they left -below, about fifteen hundred in number, should be well treated. On the -sixth the allies marched in. The contest for the possession of the -town was over; and a second and more terrible contest began for the -possession of the citadel. [608] - -Villeroy had in the meantime made some petty conquests. Dixmuyde, which -might have offered some resistance, had opened its gates to him, not -without grave suspicion of treachery on the part of the governor. -Deynse, which was less able to make any defence, had followed the -example. The garrisons of both towns were, in violation of a convention -which had been made for the exchange of prisoners, sent into France. The -Marshal then advanced towards Brussels in the hope, as it should seem, -that, by menacing that beautiful capital, he might induce the allies -to raise the siege of the castle of Namur. During thirty-six hours he -rained shells and redhot bullets on the city. The Electress of Bavaria, -who was within the walls, miscarried from terror. Six convents perished. -Fifteen hundred houses were at once in flames. The whole lower town -would have been burned to the ground, had not the inhabitants stopped -the conflagration by blowing up numerous buildings. Immense quantities -of the finest lace and tapestry were destroyed; for the industry and -trade which made Brussels famous throughout the world had hitherto been -little affected by the war. Several of the stately piles which looked -down on the market place were laid in ruins. The Town Hall itself, the -noblest of the many noble senate houses reared by the burghers of the -Netherlands, was in imminent peril. All this devastation, however, -produced no effect except much private misery. William was not to be -intimidated or provoked into relaxing the firm grasp with which he held -Namur. The fire which his batteries kept up round the castle was such as -had never been known in war. The French gunners were fairly driven from -their pieces by the hail of balls, and forced to take refuge in vaulted -galleries under the ground. Cohorn exultingly betted the Elector -of Bavaria four hundred pistoles that the place would fall by the -thirty-first of August, New Style. The great engineer lost his wager -indeed, but lost it only by a few hours. [609] - -Boufflers now began to feel that his only hope was in Villeroy. Villeroy -had proceeded from Brussels to Enghien; he had there collected all the -French troops that could be spared from the remotest fortresses of the -Netherlands; and he now, at the head of more than eighty thousand men, -marched towards Namur. Vaudemont meanwhile joined the besiegers. William -therefore thought himself strong enough to offer battle to Villeroy, -without intermitting for a moment the operations against Boufflers. The -Elector of Bavaria was entrusted with the immediate direction of the -siege. The King of England took up, on the west of the town, a strong -position strongly intrenched, and there awaited the French, who were -advancing from Enghien. Every thing seemed to indicate that a great -day was at hand. Two of the most numerous and best ordered armies that -Europe had ever seen were brought face to face. On the fifteenth of -August the defenders of the castle saw from their watchtowers the mighty -host of their countrymen. But between that host and the citadel was -drawn up in battle order the not less mighty host of William. Villeroy, -by a salute of ninety guns, conveyed to Boufflers the promise of a -speedy rescue; and at night Boufflers, by fire signals which were seen -far over the vast plain of the Meuse and Sambre, urged Villeroy to -fulfil that promise without delay. In the capitals both of France and -England the anxiety was intense. Lewis shut himself up in his oratory, -confessed, received the Eucharist, and gave orders that the host should -be exposed in his chapel. His wife ordered all her nuns to their knees. -[610] London was kept in a state of distraction by a succession of -rumours fabricated some by Jacobites and some by stockjobbers. Early one -morning it was confidently averred that there had been a battle, that -the allies had been beaten, that the King had been killed, that the -siege had been raised. The Exchange, as soon as it was opened, was -filled to overflowing by people who came to learn whether the bad news -was true. The streets were stopped up all day by groups of talkers and -listeners. In the afternoon the Gazette, which had been impatiently -expected, and which was eagerly read by thousands, calmed the -excitement, but not completely; for it was known that the Jacobites -sometimes received, by the agency of privateers and smugglers who put to -sea in all weathers, intelligence earlier than that which came through -regular channels to the Secretary of State at Whitehall. Before night, -however, the agitation had altogether subsided; but it was suddenly -revived by a bold imposture. A horseman in the uniform of the Guards -spurred through the City, announcing that the King had been killed. He -would probably have raised a serious tumult, had not some apprentices, -zealous for the Revolution and the Protestant religion, knocked him down -and carried him to Newgate. The confidential correspondent of the -States General informed them that, in spite of all the stories which the -disaffected party invented and circulated, the general persuasion was -that the allies would be successful. The touchstone of sincerity in -England, he said, was the betting. The Jacobites were ready enough -to prove that William must be defeated, or to assert that he had been -defeated; but they would not give the odds, and could hardly be induced -to take any moderate odds. The Whigs, on the other hand, were ready to -stake thousands of guineas on the conduct and good fortune of the King. -[611] - -The event justified the confidence of the Whigs and the backwardness of -the Jacobites. On the sixteenth, the seventeenth, and the eighteenth -of August the army of Villeroy and the army of William confronted each -other. It was fully expected that the nineteenth would be the decisive -day. The allies were under arms before dawn. At four William mounted, -and continued till eight at night to ride from post to post, disposing -his own troops and watching the movements of the enemy. The enemy -approached his lines in several places, near enough to see that it would -not be easy to dislodge him; but there was no fighting. He lay down to -rest, expecting to be attacked when the sun rose. But when the sun rose -he found that the French had fallen back some miles. He immediately sent -to request that the Elector would storm the castle without delay. While -the preparations were making, Portland was sent to summon the garrison -for the last time. It was plain, he said to Boufflers, that Villeroy had -given up all hope of being able to raise the siege. It would therefore -be an useless waste of life to prolong the contest. Boufflers however -thought that another day of slaughter was necessary to the honour of the -French arms; and Portland returned unsuccessful. [612] - -Early in the afternoon the assault was made in four places at once by -four divisions of the confederate army. One point was assigned to the -Brandenburghers, another to the Dutch, a third to the Bavarians, and -a fourth to the English. The English were at first less fortunate than -they had hitherto been. The truth is that most of the regiments which -had seen service had marched with William to encounter Villeroy. As -soon as the signal was given by the blowing up of two barrels of powder, -Cutts, at the head of a small body of grenadiers, marched first out of -the trenches with drums beating and colours flying. This gallant band -was to be supported by four battalions which had never been in action, -and which, though full of spirit, wanted the steadiness which so -terrible a service required. The officers fell fast. Every Colonel, -every Lieutenant Colonel, was killed or severely wounded. Cutts received -a shot in the head which for a time disabled him. The raw recruits, left -almost without direction, rushed forward impetuously till they found -themselves in disorder and out of breath, with a precipice before them, -under a terrible fire, and under a shower, scarcely less terrible, -of fragments of rock and wall. They lost heart, and rolled back in -confusion, till Cutts, whose wound had by this time been dressed, -succeeded in rallying them. He then led them, not to the place from -which they had been driven back, but to another spot where a fearful -battle was raging. The Bavarians had made their onset gallantly but -unsuccessfully; their general had fallen; and they were beginning to -waver when the arrival of the Salamander and his men changed the fate -of the day. Two hundred English volunteers, bent on retrieving at all -hazards the disgrace of the recent repulse, were the first to force a -way, sword in hand, through the palisades, to storm a battery which had -made great havoc among the Bavarians, and to turn the guns against the -garrison. Meanwhile the Brandenburghers, excellently disciplined and -excellently commanded, had performed, with no great loss, the duty -assigned to them. The Dutch had been equally successful. When the -evening closed in the allies had made a lodgment of a mile in extent on -the outworks of the castle. The advantage had been purchased by the loss -of two thousand men. [613] - -And now Boufflers thought that he had done all that his duty required. -On the morrow he asked for a truce of forty-eight hours in order that -the hundreds of corpses which choked the ditches and which would soon -have spread pestilence among both the besiegers and the besieged might -be removed and interred. His request was granted; and, before the time -expired, he intimated that he was disposed to capitulate. He would, he -said, deliver up the castle in ten days, if he were not relieved sooner. -He was informed that the allies would not treat with him on such terms, -and that he must either consent to an immediate surrender, or prepare -for an immediate assault. He yielded, and it was agreed that he and his -men should be suffered to depart, leaving the citadel, the artillery, -and the stores to the conquerors. Three peals from all the guns of the -confederate army notified to Villeroy the fall of the stronghold which -he had vainly attempted to succour. He instantly retreated towards -Mons, leaving William to enjoy undisturbed a triumph which was made more -delightful by the recollection of many misfortunes. - -The twenty-sixth of August was fixed for an exhibition such as the -oldest soldier in Europe had never seen, and such as, a few weeks -before, the youngest had scarcely hoped to see. From the first battle of -Conde to the last battle of Luxemburg, the tide of military success had -run, without any serious interruption, in one direction. That tide -had turned. For the first time, men said, since France had Marshals, a -Marshal of France was to deliver up a fortress to a victorious enemy. - -The allied forces, foot and horse, drawn up in two lines, formed a -magnificent avenue from the breach which had lately been so desperately -contested to the bank of the Meuse. The Elector of Bavaria, the -Landgrave of Hesse, and many distinguished officers were on horseback -in the vicinity of the castle. William was near them in his coach. The -garrison, reduced to about five thousand men, came forth with drums -beating and ensigns flying. Boufflers and his staff closed the -procession. There had been some difficulty about the form of the -greeting which was to be exchanged between him and the allied -Sovereigns. An Elector of Bavaria was hardly entitled to be saluted by -the Marshal with the sword. A King of England was undoubtedly entitled -to such a mark of respect; but France did not recognise William as King -of England. At last Boufflers consented to perform the salute without -marking for which of the two princes it was intended. He lowered his -sword. William alone acknowledged the compliment. A short conversation -followed. The Marshal, in order to avoid the use of the words Sire and -Majesty, addressed himself only to the Elector. The Elector, with every -mark of deference, reported to William what had been said; and William -gravely touched his hat. The officers of the garrison carried back to -their country the news that the upstart who at Paris was designated -only as Prince of Orange, was treated by the proudest potentates of the -Germanic body with a respect as profound as that which Lewis exacted -from the gentlemen of his bedchamber. [614] - -The ceremonial was now over; and Boufflers passed on but he had -proceeded but a short way when he was stopped by Dykvelt who accompanied -the allied army as deputy from the States General. "You must return to -the town, Sir," said Dykvelt. "The King of England has ordered me to -inform you that you are his prisoner." Boufflers was in transports of -rage. His officers crowded round him and vowed to die in his defence. -But resistance was out of the question; a strong body of Dutch cavalry -came up; and the Brigadier who commanded them demanded the Marshal's -sword. The Marshal uttered indignant exclamations: "This is an infamous -breach of faith. Look at the terms of the capitulation. What have I done -to deserve such an affront? Have I not behaved like a man of honour? -Ought I not to be treated as such? But beware what you do, gentlemen. -I serve a master who can and will avenge me." "I am a soldier, Sir," -answered the Brigadier, "and my business is to obey orders without -troubling myself about consequences." Dykvelt calmly and courteously -replied to the Marshal's indignant exclamations. "The King of England -has reluctantly followed the example set by your master. The soldiers -who garrisoned Dixmuyde and Deynse have, in defiance of plighted faith, -been sent prisoners into France. The Prince whom they serve would be -wanting in his duty to them if he did not retaliate. His Majesty might -with perfect justice have detained all the French who were in Namur. But -he will not follow to such a length a precedent which he disapproves. -He has determined to arrest you and you alone; and, Sir, you must not -regard as an affront what is in truth a mark of his very particular -esteem. How can he pay you a higher compliment than by showing that he -considers you as fully equivalent to the five or six thousand men whom -your sovereign wrongfully holds in captivity? Nay, you shall even now be -permitted to proceed if you will give me your word of honour to return -hither unless the garrisons of Dixmuyde and Deynse are released within a -fortnight." "I do not at all know," answered Boufflers, "why the King my -master detains those men; and therefore I cannot hold out any hope that -he will liberate them. You have an army at your back; I am alone; and -you must do your pleasure." He gave up his sword, returned to Namur, and -was sent thence to Huy, where he passed a few days in luxurious repose, -was allowed to choose his own walks and rides, and was treated with -marked respect by those who guarded him. In the shortest time in which -it was possible to post from the place where he was confined to the -French Court and back again, he received full powers to promise that the -garrisons of Dixmuyde and Deynse should be sent back. He was instantly -liberated; and he set off for Fontainebleau, where an honourable -reception awaited him. He was created a Duke and a Peer. That he might -be able to support his new dignities a considerable sum of money was -bestowed on him; and, in the presence of the whole aristocracy of -France, he was welcomed home by Lewis with an affectionate embrace. -[615] - -In all the countries which were united against France the news of -the fall of Namur was received with joy; but here the exultation was -greatest. During several generations our ancestors had achieved nothing -considerable by land against foreign enemies. We had indeed occasionally -furnished to our allies small bands of auxiliaries who had well -maintained the honour of the nation. But from the day on which the -two brave Talbots, father and son, had perished in the vain attempt to -reconquer Guienne, till the Revolution, there had been on the Continent -no campaign in which Englishmen had borne a principal part. At length -our ancestors had again, after an interval of near two centuries and a -half, begun to dispute with the warriors of France the palm of military -prowess. The struggle had been hard. The genius of Luxemburg and the -consummate discipline of the household troops of Lewis had pervailed -in two great battles; but the event of those battles had been long -doubtful; the victory had been dearly purchased, and the victor had -gained little more than the honour of remaining master of the field -of slaughter. Meanwhile he was himself training his adversaries. The -recruits who survived his severe tuition speedily became veterans. -Steinkirk and Landen had formed the volunteers who followed Cutts -through the palisades of Namur. The judgment of all the great warriors -whom all the nations of Western Europe had sent to the confluence of the -Sambre and the Meuse was that the English subaltern was inferior to -no subaltern and the English private soldier to no private soldier in -Christendom. The English officers of higher rank were thought hardly -worthy to command such an army. Cutts, indeed, had distinguished himself -by his intrepidity. But those who most admired him acknowledged that he -had neither the capacity nor the science necessary to a general. - -The joy of the conquerors was heightened by the recollection of the -discomfiture which they had suffered, three years before, on the same -spot, and of the insolence with which their enemy had then triumphed -over them. They now triumphed in their turn. The Dutch struck medals. -The Spaniards sang Te Deums. Many poems, serious and sportive, appeared, -of which one only has lived. Prior burlesqued, with admirable spirit -and pleasantry, the bombastic verses in which Boileau had celebrated -the first taking of Namur. The two odes, printed side by side, were read -with delight in London; and the critics at Will's pronounced that, in -wit as in arms, England had been victorious. - -The fall of Namur was the great military event of this year. The Turkish -war still kept a large part of the forces of the Emperor employed in -indecisive operations on the Danube. Nothing deserving to be mentioned -took place either in Piedmont or on the Rhine. In Catalonia the -Spaniards obtained some slight advantages, advantages due to their -English and Dutch allies, who seem to have done all that could be -done to help a nation never much disposed to help itself. The maritime -superiority of England and Holland was now fully established. During -the whole year Russell was the undisputed master of the Mediterranean, -passed and repassed between Spain and Italy, bombarded Palamos, spread -terror along the whole shore of Provence, and kept the French fleet -imprisoned in the harbour of Toulon. Meanwhile Berkeley was the -undisputed master of the Channel, sailed to and fro in sight of the -coasts of Artois, Picardy, Normandy and Brittany, threw shells into -Saint Maloes, Calais and Dunkirk, and burned Granville to the ground. -The navy of Lewis, which, five years before, had been the most -formidable in Europe, which had ranged the British seas unopposed from -the Downs to the Land's End, which had anchored in Torbay and had laid -Teignmouth in ashes, now gave no sign of existence except by pillaging -merchantmen which were unprovided with convoy. In this lucrative war -the French privateers were, towards the close of the summer, very -successful. Several vessels laden with sugar from Barbadoes were -captured. The losses of the unfortunate East India Company, already -surrounded by difficulties and impoverished by boundless prodigality in -corruption, were enormous. Five large ships returning from the Eastern -seas, with cargoes of which the value was popularly estimated at a -million, fell into the hands of the enemy. These misfortunes produced -some murmuring on the Royal Exchange. But, on the whole, the temper of -the capital and of the nation was better than it had been during some -years. - -Meanwhile events which no preceding historian has condescended to -mention, but which were of far greater importance than the achievements -of William's army or of Russell's fleet, were taking place in London. -A great experiment was making. A great revolution was in progress. -Newspapers had made their appearance. - -While the Licensing Act was in force there was no newspaper in England -except the London Gazette, which was edited by a clerk in the office -of the Secretary of State, and which contained nothing but what the -Secretary of State wished the nation to know. There were indeed many -periodical papers; but none of those papers could be called a newspaper. -Welwood, a zealous Whig, published a journal called the Observator; but -his Observator, like the Observator which Lestrange had formerly edited, -contained, not the news, but merely dissertations on politics. A crazy -bookseller, named John Dunton, published the Athenian Mercury; but the -Athenian Mercury merely discussed questions of natural philosophy, of -casuistry and of gallantry. A fellow of the Royal Society, named John -Houghton, published what he called a Collection for the Improvement of -Industry and Trade. But his Collection contained little more than the -prices of stocks, explanations of the modes of doing business in -the City, puffs of new projects, and advertisements of books, quack -medicines, chocolate, spa water, civet cats, surgeons wanting ships, -valets wanting masters and ladies wanting husbands. If ever he printed -any political news, he transcribed it from the Gazette. The Gazette was -so partial and so meagre a chronicle of events that, though it had no -competitors, it had but a small circulation. Only eight thousand copies -were printed, much less than one to each parish in the kingdom. In truth -a person who had studied the history of his own time only in the Gazette -would have been ignorant of many events of the highest importance. -He would, for example, have known nothing about the Court Martial -on Torrington, the Lancashire Trials, the burning of the Bishop of -Salisbury's Pastoral Letter or the impeachment of the Duke of Leeds. -But the deficiencies of the Gazette were to a certain extent supplied in -London by the coffeehouses, and in the country by the newsletters. - -On the third of May 1695 the law which had subjected the press to a -censorship expired. Within a fortnight, a stanch old Whig, named Harris, -who had, in the days of the Exclusion Bill, attempted to set up a -newspaper entitled Intelligence Domestic and Foreign, and who had -been speedily forced to relinquish that design, announced that the -Intelligence Domestic and Foreign, suppressed fourteen years before -by tyranny, would again appear. Ten days after the first number of the -Intelligence Domestic and Foreign was printed the first number of the -English Courant. Then came the Packet Boat from Holland and Flanders, -the Pegasus, the London Newsletter, the London Post, the Flying Post, -the Old Postmaster, the Postboy and the Postman. The history of the -newspapers of England from that time to the present day is a most -interesting and instructive part of the history of the country. At first -they were small and meanlooking. Even the Postboy and the Postman, -which seem to have been the best conducted and the most prosperous, were -wretchedly printed on scraps of dingy paper such as would not now be -thought good enough for street ballads. Only two numbers came out in a -week, and a number contained little more matter than may be found in a -single column of a daily paper of our time. What is now called a -leading article seldom appeared, except when there was a scarcity of -intelligence, when the Dutch mails were detained by the west wind, when -the Rapparees were quiet in the Bog of Allen, when no stage coach had -been stopped by highwaymen, when no nonjuring congregation had been -dispersed by constables, when no ambassador had made his entry with a -long train of coaches and six, when no lord or poet had been buried in -the Abbey, and when consequently it was difficult to fill up four scanty -pages. Yet the leading articles, though inserted, as it should -seem, only in the absence of more attractive matter, are by no means -contemptibly written. - -It is a remarkable fact that the infant newspapers were all on the side -of King William and the Revolution. This fact may be partly explained -by the circumstance that the editors were, at first, on their good -behaviour. It was by no means clear that their trade was not in itself -illegal. The printing of newspapers was certainly not prohibited by any -statute. But, towards the close of the reign of Charles the Second, -the judges had pronounced that it was a misdemeanour at common law to -publish political intelligence without the King's license. It is true -that the judges who laid down this doctrine were removable at the royal -pleasure and were eager on all occasions to exalt the royal prerogative. -How the question, if it were again raised, would be decided by Holt -and Treby was doubtful; and the effect of the doubt was to make the -ministers of the Crown indulgent and to make the journalists cautious. -On neither side was there a wish to bring the question of right to -issue. The government therefore connived at the publication of the -newspapers; and the conductors of the newspapers carefully abstained -from publishing any thing that could provoke or alarm the government. It -is true that, in one of the earliest numbers of one of the new journals, -a paragraph appeared which seemed intended to convey an insinuation that -the Princess Anne did not sincerely rejoice at the fall of Namur. But -the printer made haste to atone for his fault by the most submissive -apologies. During a considerable time the unofficial gazettes, though -much more garrulous and amusing than the official gazette, were scarcely -less courtly. Whoever examines them will find that the King is always -mentioned with profound respect. About the debates and divisions of the -two Houses a reverential silence is preserved. There is much invective; -but it is almost all directed against the Jacobites and the French. It -seems certain that the government of William gained not a little by the -substitution of these printed newspapers, composed under constant dread -of the Attorney General, for the old newsletters, which were written -with unbounded license. [616] - -The pamphleteers were under less restraint than the journalists; yet -no person who has studied with attention the political controversies -of that time can have failed to perceive that the libels on William's -person and government were decidedly less coarse and rancorous during -the latter half of his reign than during the earlier half. And the -reason evidently is that the press, which had been fettered during the -earlier half of his reign, was free during the latter half. While the -censorship existed, no tract blaming, even in the most temperate and -decorous language, the conduct of any public department, was likely to -be printed with the approbation of the licenser. To print such a -tract without the approbation of the licenser was illegal. In general, -therefore, the respectable and moderate opponents of the Court, not -being able to publish in the manner prescribed by law, and not thinking -it right or safe to publish in a manner prohibited by law, held their -peace, and left the business of criticizing the administration to two -classes of men, fanatical nonjurors who sincerely thought that the -Prince of Orange was entitled to as little charity or courtesy as the -Prince of Darkness, and Grub Street hacks, coarseminded, badhearted and -foulmouthed. Thus there was scarcely a single man of judgment, temper -and integrity among the many who were in the habit of writing against -the government. Indeed the habit of writing against the government had, -of itself, an unfavourable effect on the character. For whoever was in -the habit of writing against the government was in the habit of breaking -the law; and the habit of breaking even an unreasonable law tends to -make men altogether lawless. However absurd a tariff may be, a smuggler -is but too likely to be a knave and a ruffian. How ever oppressive a -game law may be, the transition is but too easy from a poacher to a -murderer. And so, though little indeed can be said in favour of the -statutes which imposed restraints on literature, there was much risk -that a man who was constantly violating those statutes would not be a -man of high honour and rigid uprightness. An author who was determined -to print, and could not obtain the sanction of the licenser, must employ -the services of needy and desperate outcasts, who, hunted by the peace -officers, and forced to assume every week new aliases and new disguises, -hid their paper and their types in those dens of vice which are the pest -and the shame of great capitals. Such wretches as these he must bribe to -keep his secret and to run the chance of having their backs flayed and -their ears clipped in his stead. A man stooping to such companions and -to such expedients could hardly retain unimpaired the delicacy of his -sense of what was right and becoming. The emancipation of the press -produced a great and salutary change. The best and wisest men in the -ranks of the opposition now assumed an office which had hitherto been -abandoned to the unprincipled or the hotheaded. Tracts against the -government were written in a style not misbecoming statesmen and -gentlemen; and even the compositions of the lower and fiercer class of -malecontents became somewhat less brutal and less ribald than in the -days of the licensers. - -Some weak men had imagined that religion and morality stood in need of -the protection of the licenser. The event signally proved that they -were in error. In truth the censorship had scarcely put any restraint -on licentiousness or profaneness. The Paradise Lost had narrowly escaped -mutilation; for the Paradise Lost was the work of a man whose politics -were hateful to the ruling powers. But Etherege's She Would If She -Could, Wycherley's Country Wife, Dryden's Translations from the Fourth -Book of Lucretius, obtained the Imprimatur without difficulty; for -Dryden, Etherege and Wycherley were courtiers. From the day on which the -emancipation of our literature was accomplished, the purification of -our literature began. That purification was effected, not by the -intervention of senates or magistrates, but by the opinion of the great -body of educated Englishmen, before whom good and evil were set, and who -were left free to make their choice. During a hundred and sixty years -the liberty of our press has been constantly becoming more and more -entire; and during those hundred and sixty years the restraint imposed -on writers by the general feeling of readers has been constantly -becoming more and more strict. At length even that class of works -in which it was formerly thought that a voluptuous imagination was -privileged to disport itself, love songs, comedies, novels, have become -more decorous than the sermons of the seventeenth century. At this day -foreigners, who dare not print a word reflecting on the government under -which they live, are at a loss to understand how it happens that the -freest press in Europe is the most prudish. - -On the tenth of October, the King, leaving his army in winter quarters, -arrived in England, and was received with unwonted enthusiasm. During -his passage through the capital to his palace, the bells of every church -were ringing, and every street was lighted up. It was late before he -made his way through the shouting crowds to Kensington. But, late as it -was, a council was instantly held. An important point was to be decided. -Should the House of Commons be permitted to sit again, or should there -be an immediate dissolution? The King would probably have been willing -to keep that House to the end of his reign. But this was not in his -power. The Triennial Act had fixed the twenty-fifth of March as the -latest day of the existence of the Parliament. If therefore there were -not a general election in 1695, there must be a general election in -1696; and who could say what might be the state of the country in 1696? -There might be an unfortunate campaign. There might be, indeed there -was but too good reason to believe that there would be, a terrible -commercial crisis. In either case, it was probable that there would be -much ill humour. The campaign of 1695 had been brilliant; the nation -was in an excellent temper; and William wisely determined to seize the -fortunate moment. Two proclamations were immediately published. One of -them announced, in the ordinary form, that His Majesty had determined to -dissolve the old Parliament and had ordered writs to be issued for a new -Parliament. The other proclamation was unprecedented. It signified the -royal pleasure to be that every regiment quartered in a place where an -election was to be held should march out of that place the day before -the nomination, and should not return till the people had made their -choice. From this order, which was generally considered as indicating -a laudable respect for popular rights, the garrisons of fortified towns -and castles were necessarily excepted. - -But, though William carefully abstained from disgusting the constituent -bodies by any thing that could look like coercion or intimidation, he -did not disdain to influence their votes by milder means. He resolved -to spend the six weeks of the general election in showing himself to -the people of many districts which he had never yet visited. He hoped to -acquire in this way a popularity which might have a considerable -effect on the returns. He therefore forced himself to behave with a -graciousness and affability in which he was too often deficient; and the -consequence was that he received, at every stage of his progress, marks -of the good will of his subjects. Before he set out he paid a visit in -form to his sister in law, and was much pleased with his reception. -The Duke of Gloucester, only six years old, with a little musket on his -shoulder, came to meet his uncle, and presented arms. "I am learning my -drill," the child said, "that I may help you to beat the French." The -King laughed much, and, a few days later, rewarded the young soldier -with the Garter. [617] - -On the seventeenth of October William went to Newmarket, now a place -rather of business than of pleasure, but, in the autumns of the -seventeenth century, the gayest and most luxurious spot in the island. -It was not unusual for the whole Court and Cabinet to go down to the -meetings. Jewellers and milliners, players and fiddlers, venal wits and -venal beauties followed in crowds. The streets were made impassable by -coaches and six. In the places of public resort peers flirted with maids -of honour; and officers of the Life Guards, all plumes and gold -lace, jostled professors in trencher caps and black gowns. For -the neighbouring University of Cambridge always sent her highest -functionaries with loyal addresses, and selected her ablest theologians -to preach before the Sovereign and his splendid retinue. In the wild -days of the Restoration, indeed, the most learned and eloquent divine -might fail to draw a fashionable audience, particularly if Buckingham -announced his intention of holding forth; for sometimes His Grace would -enliven the dulness of a Sunday morning by addressing to the bevy of -fine gentlemen and fine ladies a ribald exhortation which he called -a sermon. But the Court of William was more decent; and the Academic -dignitaries were treated with marked respect. With lords and ladies from -Saint James's and Soho, and with doctors from Trinity College and King's -College, were mingled the provincial aristocracy, foxhunting squires and -their rosycheeked daughters, who had come in queerlooking family coaches -drawn by carthorses from the remotest parishes of three or four counties -to see their Sovereign. The heath was fringed by a wild gipsylike camp -of vast extent. For the hope of being able to feed on the leavings of -many sumptuous tables, and to pick up some of the guineas and crowns -which the spendthrifts of London were throwing about, attracted -thousands of peasants from a circle of many miles. [618] - -William, after holding his court a few days at this joyous place, and -receiving the homage of Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Suffolk, -proceeded to Althorpe. It seems strange that he should, in the course -of what was really a canvassing tour, have honoured with such a mark of -favour a man so generally distrusted and hated as Sunderland. But the -people were determined to be pleased. All Northamptonshire crowded to -kiss the royal hand in that fine gallery which had been embellished by -the pencil of Vandyke and made classical by the muse of Waller; and -the Earl tried to conciliate his neighbours by feasting them at eight -tables, all blazing with plate. From Althorpe the King proceeded to -Stamford. The Earl of Exeter, whose princely seat was, and still is, one -of the great sights of England, had never taken the oaths, and had, in -order to avoid an interview which must have been disagreeable, found -some pretext for going up to London, but had left directions that the -illustrious guest should be received with fitting hospitality. William -was fond of architecture and of gardening; and his nobles could not -flatter him more than by asking his opinion about the improvement of -their country seats. At a time when he had many cares pressing on his -mind he took a great interest in the building of Castle Howard; and a -wooden model of that edifice, the finest specimen of a vicious style, -was sent to Kensington for his inspection. We cannot therefore wonder -that he should have seen Burleigh with delight. He was indeed not -content with one view, but rose early on the following morning for the -purpose of examining the building a second time. From Stamford he went -on to Lincoln, where he was greeted by the clergy in full canonicals, -by the magistrates in scarlet robes, and by a multitude of baronets, -knights and esquires, from all parts of the immense plain which lies -between the Trent and the German Ocean. After attending divine service -in the magnificent cathedral, he took his departure, and journeyed -eastward. On the frontier of Nottinghamshire the Lord Lieutenant of the -county, John Holles, Duke of Newcastle, with a great following, met -the royal carriages and escorted them to his seat at Welbeck, a mansion -surrounded by gigantic oaks which scarcely seem older now than on the -day when that splendid procession passed under their shade. The house in -which William was then, during a few hours, a guest, passed long after -his death, by female descents, from the Holleses to the Harleys, and -from the Harleys to the Bentincks, and now contains the originals of -those singularly interesting letters which passed between him and his -trusty friend and servant Portland. At Welbeck the grandees of the north -were assembled. The Lord Mayor of York came thither with a train of -magistrates, and the Archbishop of York with a train of divines. William -hunted several times in that forest, the finest in the kingdom, which in -old times gave shelter to Robin Hood and Little John, and which is now -portioned out into the princely domains of Welbeck, Thoresby, Clumber -and Worksop. Four hundred gentlemen on horseback partook of his sport. -The Nottinghamshire squires were delighted to hear him say at table, -after a noble stag chase, that he hoped that this was not the last run -which he should have with them, and that he must hire a hunting -box among their delightful woods. He then turned southward. He was -entertained during one day by the Earl of Stamford at Bradgate, the -place where Lady Jane Grey sate alone reading the last words of Socrates -while the deer was flying through the park followed by the whirlwind of -hounds and hunters. On the morrow the Lord Brook welcomed his Sovereign -to Warwick Castle, the finest of those fortresses of the middle -ages which have been turned into peaceful dwellings. Guy's Tower was -illuminated. A hundred and twenty gallons of punch were drunk to His -Majesty's health; and a mighty pile of faggots blazed in the middle of -the spacious court overhung by ruins green with the ivy of centuries. -The next morning the King, accompanied by a multitude of -Warwickshire gentlemen on horseback, proceeded towards the borders of -Gloucestershire. He deviated from his route to dine with Shrewsbury at -a secluded mansion in the Wolds, and in the evening went on to Burford. -The whole population of Burford met him, and entreated him to accept a -small token of their love. Burford was then renowned for its saddles. -One inhabitant of the town, in particular, was said by the English to -be the best saddler in Europe. Two of his masterpieces were respectfully -offered to William, who received them with much grace, and ordered them -to be especially reserved for his own use. [619] - -At Oxford he was received with great pomp, complimented in a Latin -oration, presented with some of the most beautiful productions of the -Academic press, entertained with music, and invited to a sumptuous feast -in the Sheldonian theatre. He departed in a few hours, pleading as -an excuse for the shortness of his stay that he had seen the colleges -before, and that this was a visit, not of curiosity, but of kindness. As -it was well known that he did not love the Oxonians and was not loved -by them, his haste gave occasion to some idle rumours which found credit -with the vulgar. It was said that he hurried away without tasting the -costly banquet which had been provided for him, because he had been -warned by an anonymous letter, that, if he ate or drank in the theatre, -he was a dead man. But it is difficult to believe that a Prince who -could scarcely be induced, by the most earnest entreaties of his -friends, to take the most common precautions against assassins of whose -designs he had trustworthy evidence, would have been scared by so silly -a hoax; and it is quite certain that the stages of his progress had been -marked, and that he remained at Oxford as long as was compatible with -arrangements previously made. [620] - -He was welcomed back to his capital by a splendid show, which had been -prepared at great cost during his absence. Sidney, now Earl of Romney -and Master of the Ordnance, had determined to astonish London by an -exhibition which had never been seen in England on so large a scale. -The whole skill of the pyrotechnists of his department was employed to -produce a display of fireworks which might vie with any that had been -seen in the gardens of Versailles or on the great tank at the Hague. -Saint James's Square was selected as the place for the spectacle. All -the stately mansions on the northern, eastern and western sides were -crowded with people of fashion. The King appeared at a window of -Romney's drawing room. The Princess of Denmark, her husband and her -court occupied a neighbouring house. The whole diplomatic body assembled -at the dwelling of the minister of the United Provinces. A huge pyramid -of flame in the centre of the area threw out brilliant cascades which -were seen by hundreds of thousands who crowded the neighbouring streets -and parks. The States General were informed by their correspondent that, -great as the multitude was, the night had passed without the slightest -disturbance. [621] - -By this time the elections were almost completed. In every part of the -country it had been manifest that the constituent bodies were generally -zealous for the King and for the war. The City of London, which had -returned four Tories in 1690, returned four Whigs in 1695. Of the -proceedings at Westminster an account more than usually circumstantial -has come down to us. In 1690 the electors, disgusted by the Sacheverell -Clause, had returned two Tories. In 1695, as soon as it was known that a -new Parliament was likely to be called, a meeting was held, at which it -was resolved that a deputation should be sent with an invitation to two -Commissioners of the Treasury, Charles Montague and Sir Stephen Fox. Sir -Walter Clarges stood on the Tory interest. On the day of nomination -near five thousand electors paraded the streets on horseback. They were -divided into three bands; and at the head of each band rode one of the -candidates. It was easy to estimate at a glance the comparative strength -of the parties. For the cavalcade which followed Clarges was the least -numerous of the three; and it was well known that the followers of -Montague would vote for Fox, and the followers of Fox for Montague. The -business of the day was interrupted by loud clamours. The Whigs cried -shame on the Jacobite candidate who wished to make the English go -to mass, eat frogs and wear wooden shoes. The Tories hooted the two -placemen who were raising great estates out of the plunder of the poor -overburdened nation. From words the incensed factions proceeded to -blows; and there was a riot which was with some difficulty quelled. -The High Bailiff then walked round the three companies of horsemen, and -pronounced, on the view, that Montague and Fox were duly elected. A poll -was demanded. The Tories exerted themselves strenuously. Neither money -nor ink was spared. Clarges disbursed two thousand pounds in a few -hours, a great outlay in times when the average income of a member of -Parliament was not estimated at more than eight hundred a year. In the -course of the night which followed the nomination, broadsides filled -with invectives against the two courtly upstarts who had raised -themselves by knavery from poverty and obscurity to opulence and power -were scattered all over the capital. The Bishop of London canvassed -openly against the government; for the interference of peers in -elections had not yet been declared by the Commons to be a breach of -privilege. But all was vain. Clarges was at the bottom of the poll -without hope of rising. He withdrew; and Montague was carried on the -shoulders of an immense multitude from Westminster Abbey to his office -at Whitehall. [622] - -The same feeling exhibited itself in many other places. The freeholders -of Cumberland instructed their representatives to support the King, and -to vote whatever supplies might be necessary for the purpose of carrying -on the war with vigour; and this example was followed by several -counties and towns. [623] Russell did not arrive in England till after -the writs had gone out. But he had only to choose for what place he -would sit. His popularity was immense; for his villanies were secret, -and his public services were universally known. He had won the battle of -La Hogue. He had commanded two years in the Mediterranean. He had there -shut up the French fleets in the harbour of Toulon, and had stopped and -turned back the French armies in Catalonia. He had taken many vessels, -and among them two ships of the line; and he had not, during his long -absence in a remote sea, lost a single vessel either by war or by -weather. He had made the red cross of Saint George an object of terror -to all the princes and commonwealths of Italy. The effect of his -successes was that embassies were on their way from Florence, Genoa -and Venice, with tardy congratulations to William on his accession. -Russell's merits, artfully magnified by the Whigs, made such an -impression that he was returned to Parliament not only by Portsmouth -where his official situation gave him great influence, and by -Cambridgeshire where his private property was considerable, but also by -Middlesex. This last distinction, indeed, he owed chiefly to the name -which he bore. Before his arrival in England it had been generally -thought that two Tories would be returned for the metropolitan county. -Somers and Shrewsbury were of opinion that the only way to avert such a -misfortune was to conjure with the name of the most virtuous of all the -martyrs of English liberty. They entreated Lady Russell to suffer her -eldest son, a boy of fifteen, who was about to commence his studies at -Cambridge, to be put in nomination. He must, they said, drop, for one -day, his new title of Marquess of Tavistock, and call himself Lord -Russell. There will be no expense. There will be no contest. Thousands -of gentlemen on horseback will escort him to the hustings; nobody will -dare to stand against him; and he will not only come in himself, but -bring in another Whig. The widowed mother, in a letter written with -all the excellent sense and feeling which distinguished her, refused -to sacrifice her son to her party. His education, she said, would be -interrupted; his head would be turned; his triumph would be his undoing. -Just at this conjuncture the Admiral arrived. He made his appearance -before the freeholders of Middlesex assembled on the top of Hampstead -Hill, and was returned without opposition. [624] - -Meanwhile several noted malecontents received marks of public -disapprobation. John Knight, the most factious and insolent of those -Jacobites who had dishonestly sworn fealty to King William in order to -qualify themselves to sit in Parliament, ceased to represent the -great city of Bristol. Exeter, the capital of the west, was violently -agitated. It had been long supposed that the ability, the eloquence, the -experience, the ample fortune, the noble descent of Seymour would make -it impossible to unseat him. But his moral character, which had -never stood very high, had, during the last three or four years, been -constantly sinking. He had been virulent in opposition till he had got -a place. While he had a place he had defended the most unpopular acts -of the government. As soon as he was out of place, he had again been -virulent in opposition. - -His saltpetre contract had left a deep stain on his personal honour. Two -candidates were therefore brought forward against him; and a contest, -the longest and fiercest of that age, fixed the attention of the whole -kingdom, and was watched with interest even by foreign governments. The -poll was open five weeks. The expense on both sides was enormous. The -freemen of Exeter, who, while the election lasted, fared sumptuously -every day, were by no means impatient for the termination of their -luxurious carnival. They ate and drank heartily; they turned out -every evening with good cudgels to fight for Mother Church or for King -William; but the votes came in very slowly. It was not till the eve -of the meeting of Parliament that the return was made. Seymour was -defeated, to his bitter mortification, and was forced to take refuge in -the small borough of Totness. [625] - -It is remarkable that, at this election as at the preceding election, -John Hampden failed to obtain a seat. He had, since he ceased to be a -member of Parliament, been brooding over his evil fate and his indelible -shame, and occasionally venting his spleen in bitter pamphlets against -the government. When the Whigs had become predominant at the Court and -in the House of Commons, when Nottingham had retired, when Caermarthen -had been impeached, Hampden, it should seem, again conceived the hope -that he might play a great part in public life. But the leaders of -his party, apparently, did not wish for an ally of so acrimonious and -turbulent a spirit. He found himself still excluded from the House of -Commons. He led, during a few months, a miserable life, sometimes trying -to forget his cares among the wellbred gamblers and frail beauties who -filled the drawingroom of the Duchess of Mazarine, and sometimes sunk -in religious melancholy. The thought of suicide often rose in his mind. -Soon there was a vacancy in the representation of Buckinghamshire, -the county which had repeatedly sent himself and his progenitors to -Parliament; and he expected that he should, by the help of Wharton, -whose dominion over the Buckinghamshire Whigs was absolute, be returned -without difficulty. Wharton, however, gave his interest to another -candidate. This was a final blow. The town was agitated by the news that -John Hampden had cut his throat, that he had survived his wound a few -hours, that he had professed deep penitence for his sins, had requested -the prayers of Burnet, and had sent a solemn warning to the Duchess of -Mazarine. A coroner's jury found a verdict of insanity. The wretched man -had entered on life with the fairest prospects. He bore a name which was -more than noble. He was heir to an ample estate and to a patrimony much -more precious, the confidence and attachment of hundreds of thousands -of his countrymen. His own abilities were considerable, and had been -carefully cultivated. Unhappily ambition and party spirit impelled -him to place himself in a situation full of danger. To that danger his -fortitude proved unequal. He stooped to supplications which saved him -and dishonoured him. From that moment, he never knew peace of mind. -His temper became perverse; and his understanding was perverted by -his temper. He tried to find relief in devotion and in revenge, in -fashionable dissipation and in political turmoil. But the dark shade -never passed away from his mind, till, in the twelfth year of his -humiliation, his unhappy life was terminated by an unhappy death. [626] - -The result of the general election proved that William had chosen a -fortunate moment for dissolving. The number of new members was about a -hundred and sixty; and most of these were known to be thoroughly well -affected to the government. [627] - -It was of the highest importance that the House of Commons should, at -that moment, be disposed to cooperate cordially with the King. For it -was absolutely necessary to apply a remedy to an internal evil which had -by slow degrees grown to a fearful magnitude. The silver coin, which was -then the standard coin of the realm, was in a state at which the boldest -and most enlightened statesmen stood aghast. [628] - -Till the reign of Charles the Second our coin had been struck by a -process as old as the thirteenth century. Edward the First had invited -hither skilful artists from Florence, which, in his time, was to London -what London, in the time of William the Third, was to Moscow. During -many generations, the instruments which were then introduced into our -mint continued to be employed with little alteration. The metal was -divided with shears, and afterwards shaped and stamped by the hammer. -In these operations much was left to the hand and eye of the workman. It -necessarily happened that some pieces contained a little more and some -a little less than the just quantity of silver; few pieces were exactly -round; and the rims were not marked. It was therefore in the course of -years discovered that to clip the coin was one of the easiest and most -profitable kinds of fraud. In the reign of Elizabeth it had been thought -necessary to enact that the clipper should be, as the coiner had long -been, liable to the penalties of high treason. [629] The practice of -paring down money, however, was far too lucrative to be so checked; and, -about the time of the Restoration, people began to observe that a large -proportion of the crowns, halfcrowns and shillings which were passing -from hand to hand had undergone some slight mutilation. - -That was a time fruitful of experiments and inventions in all the -departments of science. A great improvement in the mode of shaping -and striking the coin was suggested. A mill, which to a great extent -superseded the human hand, was set up in the Tower of London. This -mill was worked by horses, and would doubtless be considered by modern -engineers as a rude and feeble machine. The pieces which it produced, -however, were among the best in Europe. It was not easy to counterfeit -them; and, as their shape was exactly circular, and their edges were -inscribed with a legend, clipping was not to be apprehended. [630] The -hammered coins and the milled coins were current together. They were -received without distinction in public, and consequently in private, -payments. The financiers of that age seem to have expected that the new -money, which was excellent, would soon displace the old money which was -much impaired. Yet any man of plain understanding might have known that, -when the State treats perfect coin and light coin as of equal value, the -perfect coin will not drive the light coin out of circulation, but will -itself be driven out. A clipped crown, on English ground, went as far in -the payment of a tax or a debt as a milled crown. But the milled crown, -as soon as it had been flung into the crucible or carried across the -Channel, became much more valuable than the clipped crown. It might -therefore have been predicted, as confidently as any thing can be -predicted which depends on the human will, that the inferior pieces -would remain in the only market in which they could fetch the same price -as the superior pieces, and that the superior pieces would take some -form or fly to some place in which some advantage could be derived from -their superiority. [631] - -The politicians of that age, however, generally overlooked these very -obvious considerations. They marvelled exceedingly that every body -should be so perverse as to use light money in preference to good money. -In other words, they marvelled that nobody chose to pay twelve ounces of -silver when ten would serve the turn. The horse in the Tower still paced -his rounds. Fresh waggon loads of choice money still came forth from -the mill; and still they vanished as fast as they appeared. Great masses -were melted down; great masses exported; great masses hoarded; but -scarcely one new piece was to be found in the till of a shop, or in the -leathern bag which the farmer carried home from the cattle fair. In the -receipts and payments of the Exchequer the milled money did not exceed -ten shillings in a hundred pounds. A writer of that age mentions the -case of a merchant who, in a sum of thirty-five pounds, received only a -single halfcrown in milled silver. Meanwhile the shears of the clippers -were constantly at work. The comers too multiplied and prospered; for -the worse the current money became the more easily it was imitated. -During more than thirty years this evil had gone on increasing. At first -it had been disregarded; but it had at length become an insupportable -curse to the country. It was to no purpose that the rigorous laws -against coining and clipping were rigorously executed. At every session -that was held at the Old Bailey terrible examples were made. Hurdles, -with four, five, six wretches convicted of counterfeiting or mutilating -the money of the realm, were dragged month after month up Holborn Hill. -On one morning seven men were hanged and a woman burned for clipping; -But all was vain. The gains were such as to lawless spirits seemed more -than proportioned to the risks. Some clippers were said to have made -great fortunes. One in particular offered six thousand pounds for a -pardon. His bribe was indeed rejected; but the fame of his riches did -much to counteract the effect which the spectacle of his death was -designed to produce. [632] Nay the severity of the punishment gave -encouragement to the crime. For the practice of clipping, pernicious as -it was, did not excite in the common mind a detestation resembling -that with which men regard murder, arson, robbery, nay, even theft. -The injury done by the whole body of clippers to the whole society was -indeed immense; but each particular act of clipping was a trifle. To -pass a halfcrown, after paring a pennyworth of silver from it, seemed a -minute, an almost imperceptible, fault. Even while the nation was crying -out most loudly under the distress which the state of the currency had -produced, every individual who was capitally punished for contributing -to bring the currency into that state had the general sympathy on his -side. Constables were unwilling to arrest the offenders. Justices were -unwilling to commit. Witnesses were unwilling to tell the whole truth. -Juries were unwilling to pronounce the word Guilty. It was vain to tell -the common people that the mutilators of the coin were causing far more -misery than all the highwaymen and housebreakers in the island. For, -great as the aggregate of the evil was, only an infinitesimal part of -that evil was brought home to the individual malefactor. There was, -therefore, a general conspiracy to prevent the law from taking its -course. The convictions, numerous as they might seem, were few indeed -when compared with the offences; and the offenders who were convicted -looked on themselves as murdered men, and were firm in the belief that -their sin, if sin it were, was as venial as that of a schoolboy who goes -nutting in the wood of a neighbour. All the eloquence of the ordinary -could seldom induce them to conform to the wholesome usage of -acknowledging in their dying speeches the enormity of their wickedness. -[633] - -The evil proceeded with constantly accelerating velocity. At length in -the autumn of 1695 it could hardly be said that the country possessed, -for practical purposes, any measure of the value of commodities. It was -a mere chance whether what was called a shilling was really tenpence, -sixpence or a groat. The results of some experiments which were tried at -that time deserve to be mentioned. The officers of the Exchequer weighed -fifty-seven thousand two hundred pounds of hammered money which had -recently been paid in. The weight ought to have been above two hundred -and twenty thousand ounces. It proved to be under one hundred and -fourteen thousand ounces. [634] Three eminent London goldsmiths were -invited to send a hundred pounds each in current silver to be tried by -the balance. Three hundred pounds ought to have weighed about twelve -hundred ounces. The actual weight proved to be six hundred and -twenty-four ounces. The same test was applied in various parts of the -kingdom. It was found that a hundred pounds, which should have weighed -about four hundred ounces, did actually weigh at Bristol two hundred and -forty ounces, at Cambridge two hundred and three, at Exeter one hundred -and eighty, and at Oxford only one hundred and sixteen. [635] There -were, indeed, some northern districts into which the clipped money had -only begun to find its way. An honest Quaker, who lived in one of these -districts, recorded, in some notes which are still extant, the amazement -with which, when he travelled southward, shopkeepers and innkeepers -stared at the broad and heavy halfcrowns with which he paid his way. -They asked whence he came, and where such money was to be found. The -guinea which he purchased for twenty-two shillings at Lancaster bore a -different value at every stage of his journey. When he reached London -it was worth thirty shillings, and would indeed have been worth more had -not the government fixed that rate as the highest at which gold should -be received in the payment of taxes. [636] - -The evils produced by this state of the currency were not such as have -generally been thought worthy to occupy a prominent place in history. -Yet it may well be doubted whether all the misery which had been -inflicted on the English nation in a quarter of a century by bad Kings, -bad Ministers, bad Parliaments and bad judges, was equal to the misery -caused in a single year by bad crowns and bad shillings. Those events -which furnish the best themes for pathetic or indignant eloquence are -not always those which most affect the happiness of the great body of -the people. The misgovernment of Charles and James, gross as it had -been, had not prevented the common business of life from going steadily -and prosperously on. While the honour and independence of the State -were sold to a foreign power, while chartered rights were invaded, while -fundamental laws were violated, hundreds of thousands of quiet, honest -and industrious families laboured and traded, ate their meals and -lay down to rest, in comfort and security. Whether Whigs or Tories, -Protestants or Jesuits were uppermost, the grazier drove his beasts to -market; the grocer weighed out his currants; the draper measured out -his broadcloth; the hum of buyers and sellers was as loud as ever in -the towns; the harvest home was celebrated as joyously as ever in the -hamlets; the cream overflowed the pails of Cheshire; the apple juice -foamed in the presses of Herefordshire; the piles of crockery glowed in -the furnaces of the Trent; and the barrows of coal rolled fast along the -timber railways of the Tyne. But when the great instrument of exchange -became thoroughly deranged, all trade, all industry, were smitten as -with a palsy. The evil was felt daily and hourly in almost every place -and by almost every class, in the dairy and on the threshing floor, by -the anvil and by the loom, on the billows of the ocean and in the depths -of the mine. Nothing could be purchased without a dispute. Over every -counter there was wrangling from morning to night. The workman and his -employer had a quarrel as regularly as the Saturday came round. On a -fair day or a market day the clamours, the reproaches, the taunts, the -curses, were incessant; and it was well if no booth was overturned -and no head broken. [637] No merchant would contract to deliver goods -without making some stipulation about the quality of the coin in which -he was to be paid. Even men of business were often bewildered by the -confusion into which all pecuniary transactions were thrown. The simple -and the careless were pillaged without mercy by extortioners whose -demands grew even more rapidly than the money shrank. The price of -the necessaries of life, of shoes, of ale, of oatmeal, rose fast. The -labourer found that the bit of metal which when he received it was -called a shilling would hardly, when he wanted to purchase a pot of beer -or a loaf of rye bread, go as far as sixpence. Where artisans of more -than usual intelligence were collected together in great numbers, as in -the dockyard at Chatham, they were able to make their complaints heard -and to obtain some redress. [638] But the ignorant and helpless peasant -was cruelly ground between one class which would give money only by -tale and another which would take it only by weight. Yet his sufferings -hardly exceeded those of the unfortunate race of authors. Of the way in -which obscure writers were treated we may easily form a judgment from -the letters, still extant, of Dryden to his bookseller Tonson. One day -Tonson sends forty brass shillings, to say nothing of clipped money. -Another day he pays a debt with pieces so bad that none of them will go. -The great poet sends them all back, and demands in their place guineas -at twenty-nine shillings each. "I expect," he says in one letter, "good -silver, not such as I have had formerly." "If you have any silver that -will go," he says in another letter, "my wife will be glad of it. I lost -thirty shillings or more by the last payment of fifty pounds." These -complaints and demands, which have been preserved from destruction only -by the eminence of the writer, are doubtless merely a fair sample of the -correspondence which filled all the mail bags of England during several -months. - -In the midst of the public distress one class prospered greatly, the -bankers; and among the bankers none could in skill or in luck bear a -comparison with Charles Duncombe. He had been, not many years before, a -goldsmith of very moderate wealth. He had probably, after the fashion of -his craft, plied for customers under the arcades of the Royal Exchange, -had saluted merchants with profound bows, and had begged to be allowed -the honour of keeping their cash. But so dexterously did he now avail -himself of the opportunities of profit which the general confusion of -prices gave to a moneychanger, that, at the moment when the trade of -the kingdom was depressed to the lowest point, he laid down near ninety -thousand pounds for the estate of Helmsley in the North Riding of -Yorkshire. That great property had, in a troubled time, been bestowed by -the Commons of England on their victorious general Fairfax, and had been -part of the dower which Fairfax's daughter had brought to the brilliant -and dissolute Buckingham. Thither Buckingham, having wasted in mad -intemperance, sensual and intellectual, all the choicest bounties of -nature and of fortune, had carried the feeble ruins of his fine person -and of his fine mind; and there he had closed his chequered life under -that humble roof and on that coarse pallet which the great satirist -of the succeeding generation described in immortal verse. The spacious -domain passed to a new race; and in a few years a palace more splendid -and costly than had ever been inhabited by the magnificent Villiers rose -amidst the beautiful woods and waters which had been his, and was called -by the once humble name of Duncombe. - -Since the Revolution the state of the currency had been repeatedly -discussed in Parliament. In 1689 a committee of the Commons had been -appointed to investigate the subject, but had made no report. In 1690 -another committee had reported that immense quantities of silver were -carried out of the country by Jews, who, it was said, would do any thing -for profit. Schemes were formed for encouraging the importation and -discouraging the exportation of the precious metals. One foolish bill -after another was brought in and dropped. At length, in the beginning of -the year 1695, the question assumed so serious an aspect that the Houses -applied themselves to it in earnest. The only practical result of their -deliberations, however, was a new penal law which, it was hoped, would -prevent the clipping of the hammered coin and the melting and exporting -of the milled coin. It was enacted that every person who informed -against a clipper should be entitled to a reward of forty pounds, that -every clipper who informed against two clippers should be entitled to a -pardon, and that whoever should be found in possession of silver filings -or parings should be burned in the cheek with a redhot iron. Certain -officers were empowered to search for bullion. If bullion were found in -a house or on board of a ship, the burden of proving that it had never -been part of the money of the realm was thrown on the owner. If he -failed in making out a satisfactory history of every ingot he was -liable to severe penalties. This Act was, as might have been expected, -altogether ineffective. During the following summer and autumn, the -coins went on dwindling, and the cry of distress from every county in -the realm became louder and more piercing. - -But happily for England there were among her rulers some who clearly -perceived that it was not by halters and branding irons that her -decaying industry and commerce could be restored to health. The state of -the currency had during some time occupied the serious attention of four -eminent men closely connected by public and private ties. Two of -them were politicians who had never, in the midst of official and -parliamentary business, ceased to love and honour philosophy; and -two were philosophers, in whom habits of abstruse meditation had not -impaired the homely good sense without which even genius is mischievous -in politics. Never had there been an occasion which more urgently -required both practical and speculative abilities; and never had the -world seen the highest practical and the highest speculative abilities -united in an alliance so close, so harmonious, and so honourable as that -which bound Somers and Montague to Locke and Newton. - -It is much to be lamented that we have not a minute history of the -conferences of the men to whom England owed the restoration of her -currency and the long series of prosperous years which dates from -that restoration. It would be interesting to see how the pure gold of -scientific truth found by the two philosophers was mingled by the two -statesmen with just that quantity of alloy which was necessary for -the working. It would be curious to study the many plans which were -propounded, discussed and rejected, some as inefficacious, some as -unjust, some as too costly, some as too hazardous, till at length a -plan was devised of which the wisdom was proved by the best evidence, -complete success. - -Newton has left to posterity no exposition of his opinions touching -the currency. But the tracts of Locke on this subject are happily still -extant; and it may be doubted whether in any of his writings, even in -those ingenious and deeply meditated chapters on language which form -perhaps the most valuable part of the Essay on the Human Understanding, -the force of his mind appears more conspicuously. Whether he had ever -been acquainted with Dudley North is not known. In moral character -the two men bore little resemblance to each other. They belonged to -different parties. Indeed, had not Locke taken shelter from tyranny in -Holland, it is by no means impossible that he might have been sent to -Tyburn by a jury which Dudley North had packed. Intellectually, however, -there was much in common between the Tory and the Whig. They had -laboriously thought out, each for himself, a theory of political -economy, substantially the same with that which Adam Smith afterwards -expounded. Nay, in some respects the theory of Locke and North was more -complete and symmetrical than that of their illustrious successor. Adam -Smith has often been justly blamed for maintaining, in direct opposition -to all his own principles, that the rate of interest ought to be -regulated by the State; and he is the more blamable because, long before -he was born, both Locke and North had taught that it was as absurd to -make laws fixing the price of money as to make laws fixing the price of -cutlery or of broadcloth. [639] - -Dudley North died in 1693. A short time before his death he published, -without his name, a small tract which contains a concise sketch of a -plan for the restoration of the currency. This plan appears to have been -substantially the same with that which was afterwards fully developed -and ably defended by Locke. - -One question, which was doubtless the subject of many anxious -deliberations, was whether any thing should be done while the war -lasted. In whatever way the restoration of the coin might be effected, -great sacrifices must be made, the whole community or by a part of the -community. And to call for such sacrifices at a time when the nation was -already paying taxes such as, ten years before, no financier would have -thought it possible to raise, was undoubtedly a course full of danger. -Timorous politicians were for delay; but the deliberate conviction of -the great Whig leaders was that something must be hazarded, or that -every thing was lost. Montague, in particular, is said to have expressed -in strong language his determination to kill or cure. If indeed there -had been any hope that the evil would merely continue to be what it was, -it might have been wise to defer till the return of peace an experiment -which must severely try the strength of the body politic. But the evil -was one which daily made progress almost visible to the eye. There might -have been a recoinage in 1691 with half the risk which must be run -in 1696; and, great as would be the risk in 1696, that risk would be -doubled if the coinage were postponed till 1698. - -Those politicians whose voice was for delay gave less trouble than -another set of politicians, who were for a general and immediate -recoinage, but who insisted that the new shilling should be worth only -ninepence or ninepence halfpenny. At the head of this party was William -Lowndes, Secretary of the Treasury, and member of Parliament for the -borough of Seaford, a most respectable and industrious public servant, -but much more versed in the details of his office than in the higher -parts of political philosophy. He was not in the least aware that a -piece of metal with the King's head on it was a commodity of which the -price was governed by the same laws which govern the price of a piece of -metal fashioned into a spoon or a buckle, and that it was no more in -the power of Parliament to make the kingdom richer by calling a crown -a pound than to make the kingdom larger by calling a furlong a mile. -He seriously believed, incredible as it may seem, that, if the ounce -of silver were divided into seven shillings instead of five, foreign -nations would sell us their wines and their silks for a smaller number -of ounces. He had a considerable following, composed partly of dull men -who really believed what he told them, and partly of shrewd men who were -perfectly willing to be authorised by law to pay a hundred pounds with -eighty. Had his arguments prevailed, the evils of a vast confiscation -would have been added to all the other evils which afflicted the nation; -public credit, still in its tender and sickly infancy, would have been -destroyed; and there would have been much risk of a general mutiny of -the fleet and army. Happily Lowndes was completely refuted by Locke in -a paper drawn up for the use of Somers. Somers was delighted with this -little treatise, and desired that it might be printed. It speedily -became the text book of all the most enlightened politicians in the -kingdom, and may still be read with pleasure and profit. The effect of -Locke's forcible and perspicuous reasoning is greatly heightened by his -evident anxiety to get at the truth, and by the singularly generous -and graceful courtesy with which he treats an antagonist of powers far -inferior to his own. Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal, described the -controversy well by saying that the point in dispute was whether five -was six or only five. [640] - -Thus far Somers and Montague entirely agreed with Locke; but as to the -manner in which the restoration of the currency ought to be effected -there was some difference of opinion. Locke recommended, as Dudley North -had recommended, that the King should by proclamation fix a near day -after which the hammered money should in all payments pass only by -weight. The advantages of this plan were doubtless great and obvious. It -was most simple, and, at the same time, most efficient. What searching, -fining, branding, hanging, burning, had failed to do would be done in an -instant. The clipping of the hammered pieces, the melting of the milled -pieces would cease. Great quantities of good coin would come forth from -secret drawers and from behind the panels of wainscots. The mutilated -silver would gradually flow into the mint, and would come forth again in -a form which would make mutilation impossible. In a short time the -whole currency of the realm would be in a sound state, and, during the -progress of this great change, there would never at any moment be any -scarcity of money. - -These were weighty considerations; and to the joint authority of North -and Locke on such a question great respect is due. Yet it must be owned -that their plan was open to one serious objection, which did not indeed -altogether escape their notice, but of which they seem to have thought -too lightly. The restoration of the currency was a benefit to the whole -community. On what principle then was the expense of restoring the -currency to be borne by a part of the community? It was most desirable -doubtless that the words pound and shilling should again have a fixed -signification, that every man should know what his contracts meant and -what his property was worth. But was it just to attain this excellent -end by means of which the effect would be that every farmer who had -put by a hundred pounds to pay his rent, every trader who had scraped -together a hundred pounds to meet his acceptances, would find his -hundred pounds reduced in a moment to fifty or sixty? It was not -the fault of such a farmer or of such a trader that his crowns and -halfcrowns were not of full weight. The government itself was to blame. -The evil which the State had caused the State was bound to repair, and -it would evidently have been wrong to throw the charge of the reparation -on a particular class, merely because that class was so situated that -it could conveniently be pillaged. It would have been as reasonable to -require the timber merchants to bear the whole cost of fitting out the -Channel fleet, or the gunsmiths to bear the whole cost of supplying arms -to the regiments in Flanders, as to restore the currency of the kingdom -at the expense of those individuals in whose hands the clipped sliver -happened at a particular moment to be. - -Locke declared that he regretted the loss which, if his advice were -taken, would fall on the holders of the short money. But it appeared to -him that the nation must make a choice between evils. And in truth it -was much easier to lay down the general proposition that the expenses -of restoring the currency ought to be borne by the public than to devise -any mode in which they could without extreme inconvenience and danger be -so borne. Was it to be announced that every person who should within a -term of a year or half a year carry to the mint a clipped crown should -receive in exchange for it a milled crown, and that the difference -between the value of the two pieces should be made good out of the -public purse? That would be to offer a premium for clipping. The shears -would be more busy than ever. The short money would every day become -shorter. The difference which the taxpayers would have to make good -would probably be greater by a million at the end of the term than -at the beginning; and the whole of this million would go to reward -malefactors. If the time allowed for the bringing in of the hammered -coin were much shortened, the danger of further clipping would be -proportionally diminished; but another danger would be incurred. The -silver would flow into the mint so much faster than it could possibly -flow out, that there must during some months be a grievous scarcity of -money. - -A singularly bold and ingenious expedient occurred to Somers and was -approved by William. It was that a proclamation should be prepared with -great secresy, and published at once in all parts of the kingdom. This -proclamation was to announce that hammered coins would thenceforth pass -only by weight. But every possessor of such coins was to be invited to -deliver them up within three days, in a sealed packet, to the public -authorities. The coins were to be examined, numbered, weighed, and -returned to the owner with a promissory note entitling him to receive -from the Treasury at a future time the difference between the actual -quantity of silver in his pieces and the quantity of silver which, -according to the standard, those pieces ought to have contained. [641] -Had this plan been adopted an immediate stop would have been put to -the clipping, the melting and the exporting; and the expense of the -restoration of the currency would have been borne, as was right, by the -public. The inconvenience arising from a scarcity of money would have -been of very short duration; for the mutilated pieces would have been -detained only till they could be told and weighed; they would then have -been sent back into circulation, and the recoinage would have taken -place gradually and without any perceptible suspension or disturbance -of trade. But against these great advantages were to be set off hazards, -which Somers was prepared to brave, but from which it is not strange -that politicians of less elevated character should have shrunk. The -course which he recommended to his colleagues was indeed the safest for -the country, but was by no means the safest for themselves. His plan -could not be successful unless the execution were sudden; the execution -could not be sudden if the previous sanction of Parliament were asked -and obtained; and to take a step of such fearful importance without -the previous sanction of Parliament was to run the risk of censure, -impeachment, imprisonment, ruin. The King and the Lord Keeper were -alone in the Council. Even Montague quailed; and it was determined to do -nothing without the authority of the legislature. Montague undertook to -submit to the Commons a scheme, which was not indeed without dangers and -inconveniences, but which was probably the best which he could hope to -carry. - -On the twenty-second of November the Houses met. Foley was on that -day again chosen Speaker. On the following day he was presented and -approved. The King opened the session with a speech very skilfully -framed. He congratulated his hearers on the success of the campaign on -the Continent. That success he attributed, in language which must have -gratified their feelings, to the bravery of the English army. He spoke -of the evils which had arisen from the deplorable state of the coin, and -of the necessity of applying a speedy remedy. He intimated very plainly -his opinion that the expense of restoring the currency ought to be borne -by the State; but he declared that he referred the whole matter to the -wisdom of his Great Council. Before he concluded he addressed himself -particularly to the newly elected House of Commons, and warmly expressed -his approbation of the excellent choice which his people had made. The -speech was received with a low but very significant hum of assent both -from above and from below the bar, and was as favourably received by the -public as by the Parliament. [642] In the Commons an address of thanks -was moved by Wharton, faintly opposed by Musgrave, adopted without a -division, and carried up by the whole House to Kensington. At the palace -the loyalty of the crowd of gentlemen showed itself in a way which -would now be thought hardly consistent with senatorial gravity. When -refreshments were handed round in the antechamber, the Speaker filled -his glass, and proposed two toasts, the health of King William, and -confusion to King Lewis; and both were drunk with loud acclamations. Yet -near observers could perceive that, though the representatives of the -nation were as a body zealous for civil liberty and for the Protestant -religion, and though they were prepared to endure every thing rather -than see their country again reduced to vassalage, they were anxious and -dispirited. All were thinking of the state of the coin; all were saying -that something must be done; and all acknowledged that they did not know -what could be done. "I am afraid," said a member who expressed what many -felt, "that the nation can bear neither the disease nor the cure." [643] - -There was indeed a minority by which the difficulties and dangers of -that crisis were seen with malignant delight; and of that minority the -keenest, boldest and most factious leader was Howe, whom poverty had -made more acrimonious than ever. He moved that the House should resolve -itself into a Committee on the State of the Nation; and the Ministry, -for that word may now with propriety be used, readily consented. Indeed -the great question touching the currency could not be brought forward -more conveniently than in such a Committee. When the Speaker had left -the chair, Howe harangued against the war as vehemently as he had in -former years harangued for it. He called for peace, peace on any terms. -The nation, he said, resembled a wounded man, fighting desperately on, -with blood flowing in torrents. During a short time the spirit might -bear up the frame; but faintness must soon come on. No moral energy -could long hold out against physical exhaustion. He found very little -support. The great majority of his hearers were fully determined to put -every thing to hazard rather than submit to France. It was sneeringly -remarked that the state of his own finances had suggested to him -the image of a man bleeding to death, and that, if a cordial were -administered to him in the form of a salary, he would trouble himself -little about the drained veins of the commonwealth. "We did not," said -the Whig orators, "degrade ourselves by suing for peace when our flag -was chased out of our own Channel, when Tourville's fleet lay at anchor -in Torbay, when the Irish nation was in arms against us, when every -post from the Netherlands brought news of some disaster, when we had to -contend against the genius of Louvois in the Cabinet and of Luxemburg in -the field. And are we to turn suppliants now, when no hostile squadron -dares to show itself even in the Mediterranean, when our arms are -victorious on the Continent, when God has removed the great statesman -and the great soldier whose abilities long frustrated our efforts, and -when the weakness of the French administration indicates, in a manner -not to be mistaken, the ascendency of a female favourite?" Howe's -suggestion was contemptuously rejected; and the Committee proceeded to -take into consideration the state of the currency. [644] - -Meanwhile the newly liberated presses of the capital never rested a -moment. Innumerable pamphlets and broadsides about the coin lay on the -counters of the booksellers, and were thrust into the hands of members -of Parliament in the lobby. In one of the most curious and amusing of -these pieces Lewis and his ministers are introduced, expressing the -greatest alarm lest England should make herself the richest country in -the world by the simple expedient of calling ninepence a shilling, and -confidently predicting that, if the old standard were maintained, there -would be another revolution. Some writers vehemently objected to the -proposition that the public should bear the expense of restoring -the currency; some urged the government to take this opportunity of -assimilating the money of England to the money of neighbouring nations; -one projector was for coining guilders; another for coining dollars. -[645] - -Within the walls of Parliament the debates continued during several -anxious days. At length Montague, after defeating, first those who were -for letting things remain unaltered till the peace, and then those who -were for the little shilling, carried eleven resolutions in which the -outlines of his own plan were set forth. It was resolved that the money -of the kingdom should be recoined according to the old standard both of -weight and of fineness; that all the new pieces should be milled; that -the loss on the clipped pieces should be borne by the public; that a -time should be fixed after which no clipped money should pass, except in -payments to the government; and that a later time should be fixed, after -which no clipped money should pass at all. What divisions took place in -the Committee cannot be ascertained. When the resolutions were reported -there was one division. It was on the question whether the old standard -of weight should be maintained. The Noes were a hundred and fourteen; -the Ayes two hundred and twenty-five. [646] - -It was ordered that a bill founded on the resolutions should be brought -in. A few days later the Chancellor of the Exchequer explained to the -Commons, in a Committee of Ways and Means, the plan by which he proposed -to meet the expense of the recoinage. It was impossible to estimate -with precision the charge of making good the deficiencies of the clipped -money. But it was certain that at least twelve hundred thousand pounds -would be required. Twelve hundred thousand pounds the Bank of England -undertook to advance on good security. It was a maxim received among -financiers that no security which the government could offer was so -good as the old hearth money had been. That tax, odious as it was to the -great majority of those who paid it, was remembered with regret at the -Treasury and in the City. It occurred to the Chancellor of the Exchequer -that it might be possible to devise an impost on houses, which might be -not less productive nor less certain than the hearth money, but which -might press less heavily on the poor, and might be collected by a -less vexatious process. The number of hearths in a house could not be -ascertained without domiciliary visits. The windows a collector -might count without passing the threshold. Montague proposed that the -inhabitants of cottages, who had been cruelly harassed by the chimney -men, should be altogether exempted from the new duty. His plan was -approved by the Committee of Ways and Means, and was sanctioned by the -House without a division. Such was the origin of the window tax, a tax -which, though doubtless a great evil, must be considered as a blessing -when compared with the curse from which it rescued the nation. [647] - -Thus far things had gone smoothly. But now came a crisis which required -the most skilful steering. The news that the Parliament and the -government were determined on a reform of the currency produced an -ignorant panic among the common people. Every man wished to get rid of -his clipped crowns and halfcrowns. No man liked to take them. There -were brawls approaching to riots in half the streets of London. The -Jacobites, always full of joy and hope in a day of adversity and public -danger, ran about with eager looks and noisy tongues. The health of King -James was publicly drunk in taverns and on ale benches. Many members of -Parliament, who had hitherto supported the government, began to -waver; and, that nothing might be wanting to the difficulties of the -conjuncture, a dispute on a point of privilege arose between the Houses. -The Recoinage Bill, framed in conformity with Montague's resolutions, -had gone up to the Peers and had come back with amendments, some of -which, in the opinion of the Commons, their Lordships had no right to -make. The emergency was too serious to admit of delay. Montague brought -in a new bill; which was in fact his former bill modified in some -points to meet the wishes of the Lords; the Lords, though not perfectly -contented with the new bill, passed it without any alteration; and -the royal assent was immediately given. The fourth of May, a date long -remembered over the whole kingdom and especially in the capital, was -fixed as the day on which the government would cease to receive the -clipped money in payment of taxes. [648] - -The principles of the Recoinage Act are excellent. But some of the -details, both of that Act and of a supplementary Act which was passed at -a later period of the session, seem to prove that Montague had not -fully considered what legislation can, and what it cannot, effect. For -example, he persuaded the Parliament to enact that it should be penal -to give or take more than twenty-two shillings for a guinea. It may be -confidently affirmed that this enactment was not suggested or approved -by Locke. He well knew that the high price of gold was not the evil -which afflicted the State, but merely a symptom of that evil, and that a -fall in the price of gold would inevitably follow, and could by no human -power or ingenuity be made to precede, the recoinage of the silver. In -fact, the penalty seems to have produced no effect whatever, good or -bad. Till the milled silver was in circulation, the guinea continued, in -spite of the law, to pass for thirty shillings. When the milled silver -became plentiful, the guinea fell, not to twenty-two shillings, which -was the highest price allowed by the law, but to twenty-one shillings -and sixpence. [649] - -Early in February the panic which had been caused by the first debates -on the currency subsided; and, from that time till the fourth of May, -the want of money was not very severely felt. The recoinage began. Ten -furnaces were erected, in the garden behind the Treasury; and every day -huge heaps of pared and defaced crowns and shillings were turned into -massy ingots which were instantly sent off to the mint in the Tower. -[650] - -With the fate of the law which restored the currency was closely -connected the fate of another law, which had been several years under -the consideration of Parliament, and had caused several warm disputes -between the hereditary and the elective branch of the legislature. The -session had scarcely commenced when the Bill for regulating Trials in -cases of High Treason was again laid on the table of the Commons. Of -the debates to which it gave occasion nothing is known except one -interesting circumstance which has been preserved by tradition. Among -those who supported the bill appeared conspicuous a young Whig of -high rank, of ample fortune, and of great abilities which had been -assiduously improved by study. This was Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord -Ashley, eldest son of the second Earl of Shaftesbury, and grandson of -that renowned politician who had, in the days of Charles the Second, -been at one time the most unprincipled of ministers, and at another -the most unprincipled of demagogues. Ashley had just been returned to -Parliament for the borough of Poole, and was in his twenty-fifth year. -In the course of his speech he faltered, stammered and seemed to lose -the thread of his reasoning. The House, then, as now, indulgent to -novices, and then, as now, well aware that, on a first appearance, the -hesitation which is the effect of modesty and sensibility is quite -as promising a sign as volubility of utterance and ease of manner, -encouraged him to proceed. "How can I, Sir," said the young orator, -recovering himself, "produce a stronger argument in favour of this -bill than my own failure? My fortune, my character, my life, are not at -stake. I am speaking to an audience whose kindness might well inspire me -with courage. And yet, from mere nervousness, from mere want of practice -in addressing large assemblies, I have lost my recollection; I am unable -to go on with my argument. How helpless, then, must be a poor man who, -never having opened his lips in public, is called upon to reply, without -a moment's preparation, to the ablest and most experienced advocates in -the kingdom, and whose faculties are paralysed by the thought that, -if he fails to convince his hearers, he will in a few hours die on a -gallows, and leave beggary and infamy to those who are dearest to him." -It may reasonably be suspected that Ashley's confusion and the ingenious -use which he made of it had been carefully premeditated. His speech, -however, made a great impression, and probably raised expectations which -were not fulfilled. His health was delicate; his taste was refined even -to fastidiousness; he soon left politics to men whose bodies and -minds were of coarser texture than his own, gave himself up to mere -intellectual luxury, lost himself in the mazes of the old Academic -philosophy, and aspired to the glory of reviving the old Academic -eloquence. His diction, affected and florid, but often singularly -beautiful and melodious, fascinated many young enthusiasts. He had not -merely disciples, but worshippers. His life was short; but he lived -long enough to become the founder of a new sect of English freethinkers, -diametrically opposed in opinions and feelings to that sect of -freethinkers of which Hobbes was the oracle. During many years the -Characteristics continued to be the Gospel of romantic and sentimental -unbelievers, while the Gospel of coldblooded and hardheaded unbelievers -was the Leviathan. - -The bill, so often brought in and so often lost, went through the -Commons without a division, and was carried up to the Lords. It soon -came back with the long disputed clause altering the constitution of the -Court of the Lord High Steward. A strong party among the representatives -of the people was still unwilling to grant any new privilege to the -nobility; but the moment was critical. The misunderstanding which -had arisen between the Houses touching the Recoinage Bill had produced -inconveniences which might well alarm even a bold politician. It was -necessary to purchase concession by concession. The Commons, by a -hundred and ninety-two votes to a hundred and fifty, agreed to the -amendment on which the Lords had, during four years, so obstinately -insisted; and the Lords in return immediately passed the Recoinage Bill -without any amendment. - -There had been much contention as to the time at which the new system of -procedure in cases of high treason should come into operation; and the -bill had once been lost in consequence of a dispute on this point. Many -persons were of opinion that the change ought not to take place till the -close of the war. It was notorious, they said, that the foreign enemy -was abetted by too many traitors at home; and, at such a time, the -severity of the laws which protected the commonwealth against the -machinations of bad citizens ought not to be relaxed. It was at -last determined that the new regulations should take effect on the -twenty-fifth of March, the first day, according to the old Calendar, of -the year 1696. - -On the twenty-first of January the Recoinage Bill and the Bill for -regulating Trials in cases of High Treason received the royal assent. On -the following day the Commons repaired to Kensington on an errand by -no means agreeable either to themselves or to the King. They were, as -a body, fully resolved to support him, at whatever cost and at whatever -hazard, against every foreign and domestic foe. But they were, as indeed -every assembly of five hundred and thirteen English gentlemen that could -by any process have been brought together must have been, jealous of the -favour which he showed to the friends of his youth. He had set his heart -on placing the house of Bentinck on a level in wealth and splendour with -the houses of Howard and Seymour, of Russell and Cavendish. - -Some of the fairest hereditary domains of the Crown had been granted to -Portland, not without murmuring on the part both of Whigs and Tories. -Nothing had been done, it is true, which was not in conformity with the -letter of the law and with a long series of precedents. Every English -sovereign had from time immemorial considered the lands to which he had -succeeded in virtue of his office as his private property. Every family -that had been great in England, from the De Veres down to the Hydes, -had been enriched by royal deeds of gift. Charles the Second had carved -ducal estates for his bastards out of his hereditary domain. Nor did the -Bill of Rights contain a word which could be construed to mean that the -King was not at perfect liberty to alienate any part of the estates of -the Crown. At first, therefore, William's liberality to his countrymen, -though it caused much discontent, called forth no remonstrance from the -Parliament. But he at length went too far. In 1695 he ordered the Lords -of the Treasury to make out a warrant granting to Portland a magnificent -estate in Denbighshire. This estate was said to be worth more than a -hundred thousand pounds. The annual income, therefore, can hardly -have been less than six thousand pounds; and the annual rent which was -reserved to the Crown was only six and eightpence. This, however, was -not the worst. With the property were inseparably connected extensive -royalties, which the people of North Wales could not patiently see -in the hands of any subject. More than a century before Elizabeth had -bestowed a part of the same territory on her favourite Leicester. On -that occasion the population of Denbighshire had risen in arms; and, -after much tumult and several executions, Leicester had thought it -advisable to resign his mistress's gift back to her. The opposition to -Portland was less violent, but not less effective. Some of the chief -gentlemen of the principality made strong representations to the -ministers through whose offices the warrant had to pass, and at length -brought the subject under the consideration of the Lower House. An -address was unanimously voted requesting the King to stop the grant; -Portland begged that he might not be the cause of a dispute between his -master and the Parliament; and the King, though much mortified, yielded -to the general wish of the nation. [651] - -This unfortunate affair, though it terminated without an open quarrel, -left much sore feeling. The King was angry with the Commons, and still -more angry with the Whig ministers who had not ventured to defend his -grant. The loyal affection which the Parliament had testified to him -during the first days of the session had perceptibly cooled; and he was -almost as unpopular as he had ever been, when an event took place which -suddenly brought back to him the hearts of millions, and made him for a -time as much the idol of the nation as he had been at the end of 1688. -[652] - -The plan of assassination which had been formed in the preceding -spring had been given up in consequence of William's departure for the -Continent. The plan of insurrection which had been formed in the summer -had been given up for want of help from France. But before the end of -the autumn both plans were resumed. William had returned to England; and -the possibility of getting rid of him by a lucky shot or stab was again -seriously discussed. The French troops had gone into winter quarters; -and the force, which Charnock had in vain demanded while war was raging -round Namur, might now be spared without inconvenience. Now, therefore, -a plot was laid, more formidable than any that had yet threatened -the throne and the life of William; or rather, as has more than once -happened in our history, two plots were laid, one within the other. The -object of the greater plot was an open insurrection, an insurrection -which was to be supported by a foreign army. In this plot almost all the -Jacobites of note were more or less concerned. Some laid in arms; some -bought horses; some made lists of the servants and tenants in whom they -could place firm reliance. The less warlike members of the party could -at least take off bumpers to the King over the water, and intimate by -significant shrugs and whispers that he would not be over the water -long. It was universally remarked that the malecontents looked wiser -than usual when they were sober, and bragged more loudly than usual when -they were drunk. [653] To the smaller plot, of which the object was the -murder of William, only a few select traitors were privy. - -Each of these plots was under the direction of a leader specially -sent from Saint Germains. The more honourable mission was entrusted to -Berwick. He was charged to communicate with the Jacobite nobility and -gentry, to ascertain what force they could bring into the field, and -to fix a time for the rising. He was authorised to assure them that the -French government was collecting troops and transports at Calais, and -that, as soon as it was known there that a rebellion had broken out in -England, his father would embark with twelve thousand veteran soldiers, -and would be among them in a few hours. - -A more hazardous part was assigned to an emissary of lower rank, but -of great address, activity and courage. This was Sir George Barclay, a -Scotch gentleman who had served with credit under Dundee, and who, -when the war in the Highlands had ended, had retired to Saint Germains. -Barclay was called into the royal closet, and received his orders from -the royal lips. He was directed to steal across the Channel and to -repair to London. He was told that a few select officers and soldiers -should speedily follow him by twos and threes. That they might have no -difficulty in finding him, he was to walk, on Mondays and Thursdays, in -the Piazza of Covent Garden after nightfall, with a white handkerchief -hanging from his coat pocket. He was furnished with a considerable sum -of money, and with a commission which was not only signed but written -from beginning to end by James himself. This commission authorised the -bearer to do from time to time such acts of hostility against the Prince -of Orange and that Prince's adherents as should most conduce to the -service of the King. What explanation of these very comprehensive words -was orally given by James we are not informed. - -Lest Barclay's absence from Saint Germains should cause any suspicion, -it was given out that his loose way of life had made it necessary for -him to put himself under the care of a surgeon at Paris. [654] He set -out with eight hundred pounds in his portmanteau, hastened to the coast, -and embarked on board of a privateer which was employed by the Jacobites -as a regular packet boat between France and England. This vessel -conveyed him to a desolate spot in Romney Marsh. About half a mile -from the landing place a smuggler named Hunt lived on a dreary and -unwholesome fen where he had no neighbours but a few rude shepherds. His -dwelling was singularly well situated for a contraband traffic in French -wares. Cargoes of Lyons silk and Valenciennes lace sufficient to load -thirty packhorses had repeatedly been landed in that dismal solitude -without attracting notice. But, since the Revolution, Hunt had -discovered that of all cargoes a cargo of traitors paid best. His lonely -abode became the resort of men of high consideration, Earls and Barons, -Knights and Doctors of Divinity. Some of them lodged many days under -his roof while waiting for a passage. A clandestine post was established -between his house and London. The couriers were constantly going and -returning; they performed their journeys up and down on foot; but they -appeared to be gentlemen, and it was whispered that one of them was the -son of a titled man. The letters from Saint Germains were few and small. -Those directed to Saint Germains were numerous and bulky; they were made -up like parcels of millinery, and were buried in the morass till they -were called for by the privateer. - -Here Barclay landed in January 1696; and hence he took the road -to London. He was followed, a few days later, by a tall youth, who -concealed his name, but who produced credentials of the highest -authority. This youth too proceeded to London. Hunt afterwards -discovered that his humble roof had had the honour of sheltering the -Duke of Berwick. [655] - -The part which Barclay had to perform was difficult and hazardous; and -he omitted no precaution. He had been little in London; and his face was -consequently unknown to the agents of the government. Nevertheless -he had several lodgings; he disguised himself so well that his oldest -friends would not have known him by broad daylight; and yet he seldom -ventured into the streets except in the dark. His chief agent was a monk -who, under several names, heard confessions and said masses at the risk -of his neck. This man intimated to some of the zealots with whom he -consorted a special agent of the royal family was to be spoken with in -Covent Garden, on certain nights, at a certain hour, and might be known -by certain signs. [656] In this way Barclay became acquainted with -several men fit for his purpose. The first persons to whom he fully -opened himself were Charnock and Parkyns. He talked with them about the -plot which they and some of their friends had formed in the preceding -spring against the life of William. Both Charnock and Parkyns declared -that the scheme might easily be executed, that there was no want of -resolute hearts among the Royalists, and that all that was wanting was -some sign of His Majesty's approbation. - -Then Barclay produced his commission. He showed his two accomplices that -James had expressly commanded all good Englishmen, not only to rise in -arms, not only to make war on the usurping government, not only to seize -forts and towns, but also to do from time to time such other acts -of hostility against the Prince of Orange as might be for the royal -service. These words, Barclay said, plainly authorised an attack on the -Prince's person. Charnock and Parkyns were satisfied. How in truth was -it possible for them to doubt that James's confidential agent correctly -construed James's expressions? Nay, how was it possible for them to -understand the large words of the commission in any sense but one, -even if Barclay had not been there to act as commentator? If indeed the -subject had never been brought under James's consideration, it might -well be thought that those words had dropped from his pen without any -definite meaning. But he had been repeatedly apprised that some of his -friends in England meditated a deed of blood, and that they were waiting -only for his approbation. They had importuned him to speak one word, -to give one sign. He had long kept silence; and, now that he had broken -silence, he merely told them to do what ever might be beneficial to -himself and prejudicial to the usurper. They had his authority as -plainly given as they could reasonably expect to have it given in such a -case. [657] - -All that remained was to find a sufficient number of courageous and -trustworthy assistants, to provide horses and weapons, and to fix the -hour and the place of the slaughter. Forty or fifty men, it was thought, -would be sufficient. Those troopers of James's guard who had already -followed Barclay across the Channel made up nearly half that number. -James had himself seen some of these men before their departure from -Saint Germains, had given them money for their journey, had told them by -what name each of them was to pass in England, had commanded them to -act as they should be directed by Barclay, and had informed them where -Barclay was to be found and by what tokens he was to be known. [658] -They were ordered to depart in small parties, and to assign different -reasons for going. Some were ill; some were weary of the service; -Cassels, one of the most noisy and profane among them, announced that, -since he could not get military promotion, he should enter at the Scotch -college and study for a learned profession. Under such pretexts about -twenty picked men left the palace of James, made their way by Romney -Marsh to London, and found their captain walking in the dim lamplight of -the Piazza with the handkerchief hanging from his pocket. One of these -men was Ambrose Rockwood, who held the rank of Brigadier, and who had a -high reputation for courage and honour; another was Major John Bernardi, -an adventurer of Genoese extraction, whose name has derived a melancholy -celebrity from a punishment so strangely prolonged that it at length -shocked a generation which could not remember his crime. [659] - -It was in these adventurers from France that Barclay placed his chief -trust. In a moment of elation he once called them his Janissaries, and -expressed a hope that they would get him the George and Garter. But -twenty more assassins at least were wanted. The conspirators probably -expected valuable help from Sir John Friend, who had received a -Colonel's commission signed by James, and had been most active in -enlisting men and providing arms against the day when the French should -appear on the coast of Kent. The design was imparted to him; but he -thought it so rash, and so likely to bring reproach and disaster on the -good cause, that he would lend no assistance to his friends, though he -kept their secret religiously. [660] Charnock undertook to find eight -brave and trusty fellows. He communicated the design to Porter, not with -Barclay's entire approbation; for Barclay appears to have thought that -a tavern brawler, who had recently been in prison for swaggering drunk -about the streets and huzzaing in honour of the Prince of Wales, was -hardly to be trusted with a secret of such fearful import. Porter -entered into the plot with enthusiasm, and promised to bring in others -who would be useful. Among those whose help he engaged was his servant -Thomas Keyes. Keyes was a far more formidable conspirator than might -have been expected from his station in life. The household troops -generally were devoted to William; but there was a taint of disaffection -among the Blues. The chief conspirators had already been tampering -with some Roman Catholics who were in that regiment; and Keyes was -excellently qualified to bear a part in this work; for he had formerly -been trumpeter of the corps, and, though he had quitted the service, he -still kept up an acquaintaince with some of the old soldiers in whose -company he had lived at free quarter on the Somersetshire farmers after -the battle of Sedgemoor. - -Parkyns, who was old and gouty, could not himself take a share in the -work of death. But he employed himself in providing horses, saddles and -weapons for his younger and more active accomplices. In this department -of business he was assisted by Charles Cranburne, a person who had long -acted as a broker between Jacobite plotters and people who dealt in -cutlery and firearms. Special orders were given by Barclay that the -swords should be made rather for stabbing than for slashing. Barclay -himself enlisted Edward Lowick, who had been a major in the Irish army, -and who had, since the capitulation of Limerick, been living obscurely -in London. The monk who had been Barclay's first confidant recommended -two busy Papists, Richard Fisher and Christopher Knightley; and this -recommendation was thought sufficient. Knightley drew in Edward King, a -Roman Catholic gentleman of hot and restless temper; and King procured -the assistance of a French gambler and bully named De la Rue. [661] - -Meanwhile the heads of the conspiracy held frequent meetings at treason -taverns, for the purpose of settling a plan of operations. Several -schemes were proposed, applauded, and, on full consideration, abandoned. -At one time it was thought that an attack on Kensington House at dead -of night might probably be successful. The outer wall might easily be -scaled. If once forty armed men were in the garden, the palace would -soon be stormed or set on fire. Some were of opinion that it would be -best to strike the blow on a Sunday as William went from Kensington -to attend divine service at the chapel of Saint James's Palace. The -murderers might assemble near the spot where Apsley House and Hamilton -Place now stand. Just as the royal coach passed out of Hyde Park, and -was about to enter what has since been called the Green Park, thirty -of the conspirators, well mounted, might fall on the guards. The guards -were ordinarily only five and twenty. They would be taken completely -by surprise; and probably half of them would be shot or cut down before -they could strike a blow. Meanwhile ten or twelve resolute men on foot -would stop the carriage by shooting the horses, and would then without -difficulty despatch the King. At last the preference was given to a plan -originally sketched by Fisher and put into shape by Porter. William was -in the habit of going every Saturday from Kensington to hunt in Richmond -Park. There was then no bridge over the Thames between London and -Kingston. The King therefore went, in a coach escorted by some of his -body guards, through Turnham Green to the river. There he took boat, -crossed the water and found another coach and another set of guards -ready to receive him on the Surrey side. The first coach and the first -set of guards awaited his return on the northern bank. The conspirators -ascertained with great precision the whole order of these journeys, and -carefully examined the ground on both sides of the Thames. They thought -that they should attack the King with more advantage on the Middlesex -than on the Surrey bank, and when he was returning than when he was -going. For, when he was going, he was often attended to the water side -by a great retinue of lords and gentlemen; but on his return he had only -his guards about him. The place and time were fixed. The place was to be -a narrow and winding lane leading from the landingplace on the north -of the rover to Turnham Green. The spot may still be easily found. -The ground has since been drained by trenches. But in the seventeenth -century it was a quagmire, through which the royal coach was with -difficulty tugged at a foot's pace. The time was to be the afternoon -of Saturday the fifteenth of February. On that day the Forty were to -assemble in small parties at public houses near the Green. When the -signal was given that the coach was approaching they were to take horse -and repair to their posts. As the cavalcade came up this lane Charnock -was to attack the guards in the rear, Rockwood on one flank, Porter on -the other. Meanwhile Barclay, with eight trusty men, was to stop the -coach and to do the deed. That no movement of the King might escape -notice, two orderlies were appointed to watch the palace. One of these -men, a bold and active Fleming, named Durant, was especially charged to -keep Barclay well informed. The other, whose business was to communicate -with Charnock, was a ruffian named Chambers, who had served in the Irish -army, had received a severe wound in the breast at the Boyne, and, on -account of that wound, bore a savage personal hatred to William. [662] - -While Barclay was making all his arrangements for the assassination, -Berwick was endeavouring to persuade the Jacobite aristocracy to rise -in arms. But this was no easy task. Several consultations were held; -and there was one great muster of the party under the pretence of a -masquerade, for which tickets were distributed among the initiated -at one guinea each. [663] All ended however in talking, singing and -drinking. Many men of rank and fortune indeed declared that they would -draw their swords for their rightful Sovereign as soon as their rightful -Sovereign was in the island with a French army; and Berwick had been -empowered to assure there that a French army should be sent as soon as -they had drawn the sword. But between what they asked and what he -was authorised to grant there was a difference which admitted of no -compromise. Lewis, situated as he was, would not risk ten or twelve -thousand excellent soldiers on the mere faith of promises. Similar -promises had been made in 1690; and yet, when the fleet of Tourville had -appeared on the coast of Devonshire, the western counties had risen as -one man in defence of the government, and not a single malecontent had -dared to utter a whisper in favour of the invaders. Similar promises had -been made in 1692; and to the confidence which had been placed in those -promises was to be attributed the great disaster of La Hogue. The -French King would not be deceived a third time. He would gladly help the -English royalists; but he must first see them help themselves. There -was much reason in this; and there was reason also in what the Jacobites -urged on the other side. If, they said, they were to rise, without a -single disciplined regiment to back them, against an usurper supported -by a regular army, they should all be cut to pieces before the news that -they were up could reach Versailles. As Berwick could hold out no hope -that there would be an invasion before there was an insurrection, and -as his English friends were immovable in their determination that there -should be no insurrection till there was an invasion, he had nothing -more to do here, and became impatient to depart. - -He was the more impatient to depart because the fifteenth of February -drew near. For he was in constant communication with Barclay, and was -perfectly apprised of all the details of the crime which was to be -perpetrated on that day. He was generally considered as a man of sturdy -and even ungracious integrity. But to such a degree had his sense of -right and wrong been perverted by his zeal for the interests of his -family, and by his respect for the lessons of his priests, that he did -not, as he has himself ingenuously confessed, think that he lay under -any obligation to dissuade the assassins from the execution of their -purpose. He had indeed only one objection to their design; and that -objection he kept to himself. It was simply this, that all who were -concerned were very likely to be hanged. That, however, was their -affair; and, if they chose to run such a risk in the good cause, it was -not his business to discourage them. His mission was quite distinct from -theirs; he was not to act with them; and he had no inclination to suffer -with then. He therefore hastened down to Romney Marsh, and crossed to -Calais. [664] - -At Calais he found preparations making for a descent on Kent. Troops -filled the town; transports filled the port. Boufflers had been ordered -to repair thither from Flanders, and to take the command. James himself -was daily expected. In fact he had already left Saint Germains. Berwick, -however, would not wait. He took the road to Paris, met his father at -Clermont, and made a full report of the state of things in England. His -embassy had failed; the Royalist nobility and gentry seemed resolved -not to rise till a French army was in the island; but there was still a -hope; news would probably come within a few days that the usurper was -no more; and such news would change the whole aspect of affairs. James -determined to go on to Calais, and there to await the event of -Barclay's plot. Berwick hastened to Versailles for the purpose of giving -explanations to Lewis. What the nature of the explanations was we know -from Berwick's own narrative. He plainly told the French King that a -small band of loyal men would in a short time make an attempt on the -life of the great enemy of France. The next courier might bring tidings -of an event which would probably subvert the English government and -dissolve the European coalition. It might have been thought that a -prince who ostentatiously affected the character of a devout Christian -and of a courteous knight would instantly have taken measures for -conveying to his rival a caution which perhaps might still arrive in -time, and would have severely reprimanded the guests who had so grossly -abused his hospitality. Such, however, was not the conduct of Lewis. Had -he been asked to give his sanction to a murder he would probably -have refused with indignation. But he was not moved to indignation by -learning that, without his sanction, a crime was likely to be committed -which would be far more beneficial to his interests than ten such -victories as that of Landen. He sent down orders to Calais that his -fleet should be in such readiness as might enable him to take advantage -of the great crisis which he anticipated. At Calais James waited with -still more impatience for the signal that his nephew was no more. That -signal was to be given by a fire, of which the fuel was already prepared -on the cliffs of Kent, and which would be visible across the straits. -[665] - -But a peculiar fate has, in our country, always attended such -conspiracies as that of Barclay and Charnock. The English regard -assassination, and have during some ages regarded it, with a loathing -peculiar to themselves. So English indeed is this sentiment that it -cannot even now be called Irish, and till a recent period, it was not -Scotch. In Ireland to this day the villain who shoots at his enemy from -behind a hedge is too often protected from justice by public sympathy. -In Scotland plans of assassination were often, during the sixteenth -and seventeenth centuries, successfully executed, though known to great -numbers of persons. The murders of Beaton, of Rizzio, of Darnley, of -Murray, of Sharpe, are conspicuous instances. The royalists who murdered -Lisle in Switzerland were Irishmen; the royalists who murdered Ascham at -Madrid were Irishmen; the royalists who murdered Dorislaus at the Hague -were Scotchmen. In England, as soon as such a design ceases to be a -secret hidden in the recesses of one gloomy and ulcerated heart, the -risk of detection and failure becomes extreme. Felton and Bellingham -reposed trust in no human being; and they were therefore able to -accomplish their evil purposes. But Babington's conspiracy against -Elizabeth, Fawkes's conspiracy against James, Gerard's conspiracy -against Cromwell, the Rye House conspiracy, the Cato Street conspiracy, -were all discovered, frustrated and punished. In truth such a conspiracy -is here exposed to equal danger from the good and from the bad qualities -of the conspirators. Scarcely any Englishman, not utterly destitute of -conscience and honour, will engage in a plot for slaying an unsuspecting -fellow creature; and a wretch who has neither conscience nor honour is -likely to think much on the danger which he incurs by being true to his -associates, and on the rewards which he may obtain by betraying them. -There are, it is true, persons in whom religious or political fanaticism -has destroyed all moral sensibility on one particular point, and yet has -left that sensibility generally unimpaired. Such a person was Digby. He -had no scruple about blowing King, Lords and Commons into the air. Yet -to his accomplices he was religiously and chivalrously faithful; nor -could even the fear of the rack extort from him one word to their -prejudice. But this union of depravity and heroism is very rare. The -vast majority of men are either not vicious enough or not virtuous -enough to be loyal and devoted members of treacherous and cruel -confederacies; and, if a single member should want either the necessary -vice or the necessary virtue, the whole confederacy is in danger. To -bring together in one body forty Englishmen, all hardened cutthroats, -and yet all so upright and generous that neither the hope of opulence -nor the dread of the gallows can tempt any one of them to be false to -the rest, has hitherto been found, and will, it is to be hoped, always -be found impossible. - -There were among Barclay's followers both men too bad and men too good -to be trusted with such a secret as his. The first whose heart failed -him was Fisher. Even before the time and place of the crime had been -fixed, he obtained an audience of Portland, and told that lord that a -design was forming against the King's life. Some days later Fisher came -again with more precise intelligence. But his character was not such -as entitled him to much credit; and the knavery of Fuller, of Young, of -Whitney and of Taffe, had made men of sense slow to believe stories of -plots. Portland, therefore, though in general very easily alarmed where -the safety of his master and friend was concerned, seems to have thought -little about the matter. But, on the evening of the fourteenth of -February, he received a visit from a person whose testimony he could not -treat lightly. This was a Roman Catholic gentleman of known courage and -honour, named Pendergrass. He had, on the preceding day, come up to town -from Hampshire, in consequence of a pressing summons from Porter, who, -dissolute and unprincipled as he was, had to Pendergrass been a -most kind friend, indeed almost a father. In a Jacobite insurrection -Pendergrass would probably have been one of the foremost. But he learned -with horror that he was expected to bear a part in a wicked and shameful -deed. He found himself in one of those situations which most cruelly -torture noble and sensitive natures. What was he to do? Was he to -commit a murder? Was he to suffer a murder which he could prevent to be -committed? Yet was he to betray one who, however culpable, had loaded -him with benefits? Perhaps it might be possible to save William without -harming Porter? Pendergrass determined to make the attempt. "My Lord," -he said to Portland, "as you value King William's life, do not let -him hunt tomorrow. He is the enemy of my religion; yet my religion -constrains me to give him this caution. But the names of the -conspirators I am resolved to conceal; some of them are my friends; one -of them especially is my benefactor; and I will not betray them." - -Portland went instantly to the King; but the King received the -intelligence very coolly, and seemed determined not to be frightened -out of a good day's sport by such an idle story. Portland argued and -implored in vain. He was at last forced to threaten that he would -immediately make the whole matter public, unless His Majesty would -consent to remain within doors during the next day; and this threat was -successful. [666] - -Saturday the fifteenth came. The Forty were all ready to mount, when -they received intelligence from the orderlies who watched Kensington -House that the King did not mean to hunt that morning. "The fox," said -Chambers, with vindictive bitterness, "keeps his earth." Then he opened -his shirt; showed the great scar in his breast, and vowed revenge on -William. - -The first thought of the conspirators was that their design had been -detected. But they were soon reassured. It was given out that the -weather had kept the King at home; and indeed the day was cold and -stormy. There was no sign of agitation at the palace. No extraordinary -precaution was taken. No arrest was made. No ominous whisper was -heard at the coffeehouses. The delay was vexatious; but Saturday the -twenty-second would do as well. - -But, before Saturday the twenty-second arrived, a third informer, De -la Rue, had presented himself at the palace. His way of life did not -entitle him to much respect; but his story agreed so exactly with what -had been said by Fisher and Pendergrass that even William began to -believe that there was real danger. - -Very late in the evening of Friday the twenty-first, Pendergrass, who -had as yet disclosed much less than either of the other informers, but -whose single word was worth much more than their joint oath, was sent -for to the royal closet. The faithful Portland and the gallant Cutts -were the only persons who witnessed the singular interview between the -King and his generous enemy. William, with courtesy and animation -which he rarely showed, but which he never showed without making a -deep impression, urged Pendergrass to speak out. "You are a man of true -probity and honour; I am deeply obliged to you; but you must feel that -the same considerations which have induced you to tell us so much ought -to induce you to tell us something more. The cautions which you have as -yet given can only make me suspect every body that comes near me. They -are sufficient to embitter my life, but not sufficient to preserve it. -You must let me know the names of these men." During more than half an -hour the King continued to entreat and Pendergrass to refuse. At last -Pendergrass said that he would give the information which was required, -if he could be assured that it would be used only for the prevention of -the crime, and not for the destruction of the criminals. "I give you -my word of honour," said William, "that your evidence shall not be used -against any person without your own free consent." It was long -past midnight when Pendergrass wrote down the names of the chief -conspirators. - -While these things were passing at Kensington, a large party of the -assassins were revelling at a Jacobite tavern in Maiden Lane. Here they -received their final orders for the morrow. "Tomorrow or never," said -King. "Tomorrow, boys," cried Cassels with a curse, "we shall have the -plunder of the field." The morrow came. All was ready; the horses -were saddled; the pistols were loaded; the swords were sharpened; the -orderlies were on the alert; they early sent intelligence from the -palace that the King was certainly going a hunting; all the usual -preparations had been made; a party of guards had been sent round by -Kingston Bridge to Richmond; the royal coaches, each with six horses, -had gone from the stables at Charing Cross to Kensington. The chief -murderers assembled in high glee at Porter's lodgings. Pendergrass, who, -by the King's command, appeared among them, was greeted with ferocious -mirth. "Pendergrass," said Porter, "you are named one of the eight who -are to do his business. I have a musquetoon for you that will carry -eight balls." "Mr. Pendergrass," said King, "pray do not be afraid of -smashing the glass windows." From Porter's lodgings the party adjourned -to the Blue Posts in Spring Gardens, where they meant to take some -refreshment before they started for Turnham Green. They were at table -when a message came from an orderly that the King had changed his mind -and would not hunt; and scarcely had they recovered from their first -surprise at this ominous news, when Keyes, who had been out scouting -among his old comrades, arrived with news more ominous still. "The -coaches have returned to Charing Cross. The guards that were sent round -to Richmond have just come back to Kensington at full gallop, the flanks -of the horses all white with foam. I have had a word with one of -the Blues. He told me that strange things are muttered." Then the -countenances of the assassins fell; and their hearts died within them. -Porter made a feeble attempt to disguise his uneasiness. He took up -an orange and squeezed it. "What cannot be done one day may be done -another. Come, gentlemen, before we part let us have one glass to the -squeezing of the rotten orange." The squeezing of the rotten orange was -drunk; and the company dispersed. [667] - -A few hours elapsed before all the conspirators abandoned all hope. Some -of them derived comfort from a report that the King had taken physic, -and that this was his only reason for not going to Richmond. If it were -so, the blow might still be struck. Two Saturdays had been unpropitious. -But Sunday was at hand. One of the plans which had formerly been -discussed and abandoned might be resumed. The usurper might be set upon -at Hyde Park Corner on his way to his chapel. Charnock was ready for any -enterprise however desperate. If the hunt was up, it was better to die -biting and scratching to the last than to be worried without resistance -or revenge. He assembled some of his accomplices at one of the numerous -houses at which he had lodgings, and plied there hard with healths to -the King, to the Queen, to the Prince, and to the Grand Monarch, as they -called Lewis. But the terror and dejection of the gang were beyond the -power of wine; and so many had stolen away that those who were left -could effect nothing. In the course of the afternoon it was known that -the guards had been doubled at the palace; and soon after nightfall -messengers from the Secretary of State's office were hurrying to and fro -with torches through the streets, accompanied by files and musketeers. -Before the dawn of Sunday Charnock was in custody. A little later, -Rockwood and Bernardi were found in bed at a Jacobite alehouse on Tower -Hill. Seventeen more traitors were seized before noon; and three of the -Blues were put under arrest. That morning a Council was held; and, as -soon as it rose, an express was sent off to call home some regiments -from Flanders; Dorset set out for Sussex, of which he was Lord -Lieutenant; Romney, who was Warden of the Cinque Ports, started for the -coast of Kent; and Russell hastened down the Thames to take the command -of the fleet. In the evening the Council sate again. Some of the -prisoners were examined and committed. The Lord Mayor was in attendance, -was informed of what had been discovered, and was specially charged to -look well to the peace of the capital. [668] - -On Monday morning all the trainbands of the City were under arms. The -King went in state to the House of Lords, sent for the Commons, and -from the throne told the Parliament that, but for the protection of a -gracious Providence, he should at that moment have been a corpse, and -the kingdom would have been invaded by a French army. The danger of -invasion, he added, was still great; but he had already given such -orders as would, he hoped, suffice for the protection of the realm. Some -traitors were in custody; warrants were out against others; he should -do his part in this emergency; and he relied on the Houses to do theirs. -[669] - -The Houses instantly voted a joint address in which they thankfully -acknowledged the divine goodness which had preserved him to his people, -and implored him to take more than ordinary care of his person. They -concluded by exhorting him to seize and secure all persons whom he -regarded as dangerous. - -On the same day two important bills were brought into the Commons. By -one the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended. The other provided that the -Parliament should not be dissolved by the death of William. Sir Rowland -Gwyn, an honest country gentleman, made a motion of which he did not -at all foresee the important consequences. He proposed that the members -should enter into an association for the defence of their Sovereign and -their country. Montague, who of all men was the quickest at taking and -improving a hint, saw how much such an association would strengthen the -government and the Whig party. [670] An instrument was immediately -drawn tip, by which the representatives of the people, each for himself, -solemnly recognised William as rightful and lawful King, and bound -themselves to stand by him and by each other against James and James's -adherents. Lastly they vowed that, if His Majesty's life should be -shortened by violence, they would avenge him signally on his murderers, -and would, with one heart, strenuously support the order of succession -settled by the Bill of Rights. It was ordered that the House should -be called over the next morning. [671] The attendance was consequently -great; the Association, engrossed on parchment, was on the table; and -the members went up, county by county, to sign their names. [672] - -The King's speech, the joint address of both Houses, the Association -framed by the Commons, and a proclamation, containing a list of -the conspirators and offering a reward of a thousand pounds for the -apprehension of any one of them, were soon cried in all the streets of -the capital and carried out by all the postbags. Wherever the news came -it raised the whole country. Those two hateful words, assassination and -invasion, acted like a spell. No impressment was necessary. The seamen -came forth from their hiding places by thousands to man the fleet. Only -three days after the King had appealed to the nation, Russell sailed out -of the Thames with one great squadron. Another was ready for action at -Spithead. The militia of all the maritime counties from the Wash to -the Land's End was under arms. For persons accused of offences merely -political there was generally much sympathy. But Barclay's assassins -were hunted like wolves by the whole population. The abhorrence which -the English have, through many generations, felt for domiciliary visits, -and for all those impediments which the police of continental states -throws in the way of travellers, was for a time suspended. The gates of -the City of London were kept many hours closed while a strict search was -made within. The magistrates of almost every walled town in the kingdom -followed the example of the capital. On every highway parties of armed -men were posted with orders to stop passengers of suspicious appearance. -During a few days it was hardly possible to perform a journey without a -passport, or to procure posthorses without the authority of a justice -of the peace. Nor was any voice raised against these precautions. The -common people indeed were, if possible, more eager than the public -functionaries to bring the traitors to justice. This eagerness may -perhaps be in part ascribed to the great rewards promised by the royal -proclamation. The hatred which every good Protestant felt for Popish -cutthroats was not a little strengthened by the songs in which the -street poets celebrated the lucky hackney coachman who had caught -his traitor, had received his thousand pounds, and had set up as a -gentleman. [673] The zeal of the populace could in some places hardly -be kept within the limits of the law. At the country seat of Parkyns -in Warwickshire, arms and accoutrements sufficient to equip a troop of -cavalry were found. As soon as this was known, a furious mob assembled, -pulled down the house and laid the gardens utterly waste. [674] Parkyns -himself was tracked to a garret in the Temple. Porter and Keyes, who -had fled into Surrey, were pursued by the hue and cry, stopped by the -country people near Leatherhead, and, after some show of resistance, -secured and sent to prison. Friend was found hidden in the house of a -Quaker. Knightley was caught in the dress of a fine lady, and recognised -in spite of his patches and paint. In a few days all the chief -conspirators were in custody except Barclay, who succeeded in making his -escape to France. - -At the same time some notorious malecontents were arrested, and were -detained for a time on suspicion. Old Roger Lestrange, now in his -eightieth year, was taken up. Ferguson was found hidden under a bed -in Gray's Inn Lane, and was, to the general joy, locked up in Newgate. -[675] Meanwhile a special commission was issued for the trial of the -traitors. There was no want of evidence. For, of the conspirators who -had been seized, ten or twelve were ready to save themselves by bearing -witness against their associates. None had been deeper in guilt, -and none shrank with more abject terror from death, than Porter. The -government consented to spare him, and thus obtained, not only his -evidence, but the much more respectable evidence of Pendergrass. -Pendergrass was in no danger; he had committed no offence; his character -was fair; and his testimony would have far greater weight with a jury -than the testimony of a crowd of approvers swearing for their necks. But -he had the royal word of honour that he should not be a witness without -his own consent; and he was fully determined not to be a witness unless -he were assured of Porter's safety. Porter was now safe; and Pendergrass -had no longer any scruple about relating the whole truth. - -Charnock, King and Keyes were set first to the bar. The Chiefs of the -three Courts of Common Law and several other judges were on the bench; -and among the audience were many members of both Houses of Parliament. - -It was the eleventh of March. The new Act which regulated the -procedure in cases of high treason was not to come into force till -the twenty-fifth. The culprits urged that, as the Legislature had, by -passing that Act, recognised the justice of allowing them to see their -indictment, and to avail themselves of the assistance of an advocate, -the tribunal ought either to grant them what the highest authority had -declared to be a reasonable indulgence, or to defer the trial for a -fortnight. The judges, however, would consent to no delay. They have -therefore been accused by later writers of using the mere letter of -the law in order to destroy men who, if that law had been construed -according to its spirit, might have had some chance of escape. This -accusation is unjust. The judges undoubtedly carried the real intention -of the Legislature into effect; and, for whatever injustice was -committed, the Legislature, and not the judges, ought to be held -accountable. The words, "twenty-fifth of March," had not slipped into -the Act by mere inadvertence. All parties in Parliament had long been -agreed as to the principle of the new regulations. The only matter about -which there was any dispute was the time at which those regulations -should take effect. After debates extending through several sessions, -after repeated divisions with various results, a compromise had been -made; and it was surely not for the Courts to alter the terms of that -compromise. It may indeed be confidently affirmed that, if the Houses -had foreseen the Assassination Plot, they would have fixed, not an -earlier, but a later day for the commencement of the new system. -Undoubtedly the Parliament, and especially the Whig party, deserved -serious blame. For, if the old rules of procedure gave no unfair -advantage to the Crown, there was no reason for altering them; and if, -as was generally admitted, they did give an unfair advantage to the -Crown, and that against a defendant on trial for his life, they ought -not to have been suffered to continue in force a single day. But no -blame is due to the tribunals for not acting in direct opposition both -to the letter and to the spirit of the law. - -The government might indeed have postponed the trials till the new Act -came into force; and it would have been wise, as well as right, to do -so; for the prisoners would have gained nothing by the delay. The case -against them was one on which all the ingenuity of the Inns of Court -could have made no impression. Porter, Pendergrass, De la Rue and others -gave evidence which admitted of no answer. Charnock said the very little -that he had to say with readiness and presence of mind. The jury found -all the defendants guilty. It is not much to the honour of that age that -the announcement of the verdict was received with loud huzzas by the -crowd which surrounded the Courthouse. Those huzzas were renewed when -the three unhappy men, having heard their doom, were brought forth under -a guard. [676] - -Charnock had hitherto shown no sign of flinching; but when he was again -in his cell his fortitude gave way. He begged hard for mercy. He -would be content, he said, to pass the rest of his days in an easy -confinement. He asked only for his life. In return for his life, he -promised to discover all that he knew of the schemes of the Jacobites -against the government. If it should appear that he prevaricated or that -he suppressed any thing, he was willing to undergo the utmost rigour -of the law. This offer produced much excitement, and some difference of -opinion, among the councillors of William. But the King decided, as in -such cases he seldom failed to decide, wisely and magnanimously. He -saw that the discovery of the Assassination Plot had changed the whole -posture of affairs. His throne, lately tottering, was fixed on an -immovable basis. His popularity had risen impetuously to as great a -height as when he was on his march from Torbay to London. Many who -had been out of humour with his administration, and who had, in their -spleen, held some communication with Saint Germains, were shocked to -find that they had been, in some sense, leagued with murderers. He would -not drive such persons to despair. He would not even put them to the -blush. Not only should they not be punished; they should not undergo the -humiliation of being pardoned. He would not know that they had offended. -Charnock was left to his fate. [677] When he found that he had no chance -of being received as a deserter, he assumed the dignity of a martyr, and -played his part resolutely to the close. That he might bid farewell to -the world with a better grace, he ordered a fine new coat to be hanged -in, and was very particular on his last day about the powdering and -curling of his wig. [678] Just before he was turned off, he delivered -to the Sheriffs a paper in which he avowed that he had conspired against -the life of the Prince of Orange, but solemnly denied that James had -given any commission authorising assassination. The denial was doubtless -literally correct; but Charnock did not deny, and assuredly could not -with truth have denied, that he had seen a commission written and signed -by James, and containing words which might without any violence be -construed, and which were, by all to whom they were shown, actually -construed, to authorise the murderous ambuscade of Turnham Green. - -Indeed Charnock, in another paper, which is still in existence, but has -never been printed, held very different language. He plainly said that, -for reasons too obvious to be mentioned, he could not tell the -whole truth in the paper which he had delivered to the Sheriffs. He -acknowledged that the plot in which he had been engaged seemed, even -to many loyal subjects, highly criminal. They called him assassin -and murderer. Yet what had he done more than had been done by Mucius -Scaevola? Nay, what had he done more than had been done by every body -who bore arms against the Prince of Orange? If an array of twenty -thousand men had suddenly landed in England and surprised the usurper, -this would have been called legitimate war. Did the difference between -war and assassination depend merely on the number of persons engaged? -What then was the smallest number which could lawfully surprise an -enemy? Was it five thousand, or a thousand, or a hundred? Jonathan and -his armourbearer were only two. Yet they made a great slaughter of the -Philistines. Was that assassination? It cannot, said Charnock, be the -mere act, it must be the cause, that makes killing assassination. It -followed that it was not assassination to kill one,--and here the -dying man gave a loose to all his hatred,--who had declared a war of -extermination against loyal subjects, who hung, drew and quartered every -man who stood up for the right, and who had laid waste England to -enrich the Dutch. Charnock admitted that his enterprise would have been -unjustifiable if it had not been authorised by James; but he maintained -that it had been authorised, not indeed expressly, but by implication. -His Majesty had indeed formerly prohibited similar attempts; but -had prohibited them, not as in themselves criminal, but merely as -inexpedient at this or that conjuncture of affairs. Circumstances had -changed. The prohibition might therefore reasonably be considered as -withdrawn. His Majesty's faithful subjects had then only to look to -the words of his commission; and those words, beyond all doubt, fully -warranted an attack on the person of the usurper. [679] - -King and Keyes suffered with Charnock. King behaved with firmness and -decency. He acknowledged his crime, and said that he repented of it. He -thought it due to the Church of which he was a member, and on which his -conduct had brought reproach, to declare that he had been misled, not by -any casuistry about tyrannicide, but merely by the violence of his -own evil passions. Poor Keyes was in an agony of terror. His tears and -lamentations moved the pity of some of the spectators. It was said at -the time, and it has often since been repeated, that a servant drawn -into crime by a master was a proper object of royal clemency. But -those who have blamed the severity with which Keyes was treated -have altogether omitted to notice the important circumstance which -distinguished his case from that of every other conspirator. He had been -one of the Blues. He had kept up to the last an intercourse with his -old comrades. On the very day fixed for the murder he had contrived to -mingle with them and to pick up intelligence from them. The regiment had -been so deeply infected with disloyalty that it had been found necessary -to confine some men and to dismiss many more. Surely, if any example -was to be made, it was proper to make an example of the agent by whose -instrumentality the men who meant to shoot the King communicated with -the men whose business was to guard him. - -Friend was tried next. His crime was not of so black a dye as that of -the three conspirators who had just suffered. He had indeed invited -foreign enemies to invade the realm, and had made preparations -for joining them. But, though he had been privy to the design of -assassination, he had not been a party to it. His large fortune however, -and the use which he was well known to have made of it, marked him out -as a fit object for punishment. He, like Charnock, asked for counsel, -and, like Charnock, asked in vain. The judges could not relax the law; -and the Attorney General would not postpone the trial. The proceedings -of that day furnish a strong argument in favour of the Act from the -benefit of which Friend was excluded. It is impossible to read them -over at this distance of time without feeling compassion for a silly ill -educated man, unnerved by extreme danger, and opposed to cool, astute -and experienced antagonists. Charnock had defended himself and those -who were tried with him as well as any professional advocate could have -done. But poor Friend was as helpless as a child. He could do little -more than exclaim that he was a Protestant, and that the witnesses -against him were Papists, who had dispensations from their priests for -perjury, and who believed that to swear away the lives of heretics was -a meritorious work. He was so grossly ignorant of law and history as to -imagine that the statute of treasons, passed in the reign of Edward the -Third, at a time when there was only one religion in Western Europe, -contained a clause providing that no Papist should be a witness, and -actually forced the Clerk of the Court to read the whole Act from -beginning to end. About his guilt it was impossible that there could be -a doubt in any rational mind. He was convicted; and he would have been -convicted if he had been allowed the privileges for which he asked. - -Parkyns came next. He had been deeply concerned in the worst part of -the plot, and was, in one respect, less excusable than any of his -accomplices; for they were all nonjurors; and he had taken the oaths -to the existing government. He too insisted that he ought to be tried -according to the provisions of the new Act. But the counsel for the -Crown stood on their extreme right; and his request was denied. As he -was a man of considerable abilities, and had been bred to the bar, he -probably said for himself all that counsel could have said for him; -and that all amounted to very little. He was found guilty, and received -sentence of death on the evening of the twenty-fourth of March, within -six hours of the time when the law of which he had vainly demanded the -benefit was to come into force. [680] - -The execution of the two knights was eagerly expected by the population -of London. The States General were informed by their correspondent that, -of all sights, that in which the English most delighted was a hanging, -and that, of all hangings within the memory of the oldest man, that of -Friend and Parkyns excited the greatest interest. The multitude had been -incensed against Friend by reports touching the exceeding badness of the -beer which he brewed. It was even rumoured that he had, in his zeal for -the Jacobite cause, poisoned all the casks which he had furnished to the -navy. An innumerable crowd accordingly assembled at Tyburn. Scaffolding -had been put up which formed an immense amphitheatre round the gallows. -On this scaffolding the wealthier spectators stood, row above row; and -expectation was at the height when it was announced that the show was -deferred. The mob broke up in bad humour, and not without many fights -between those who had given money for their places and those who refused -to return it. [681] - -The cause of this severe disappointment was a resolution suddenly passed -by the Commons. A member had proposed that a Committee should be sent -to the Tower with authority to examine the prisoners, and to hold out -to them the hope that they might, by a full and ingenuous confession, -obtain the intercession of the House. The debate appears, from the -scanty information which has come down to us, to have been a very -curious one. Parties seemed to have changed characters. It might have -been expected that the Whigs would have been inexorably severe, and -that, if there was any tenderness for the unhappy men, that tenderness -would have been found among the Tories. But in truth many of the Whigs -hoped that they might, by sparing two criminals who had no power to do -mischief, be able to detect and destroy numerous criminals high in rank -and office. On the other hand, every man who had ever had any dealings -direct or indirect with Saint Germains, or who took an interest in any -person likely to have had such dealings, looked forward with dread to -the disclosures which the captives might, under the strong terrors of -death, be induced to make. Seymour, simply because he had gone further -in treason than almost any other member of the House, was louder than -any other member of the House in exclaiming against all indulgence -to his brother traitors. Would the Commons usurp the most sacred -prerogative of the Crown? It was for His Majesty, and not for them, to -judge whether lives justly forfeited could be without danger spared. The -Whigs however carried their point. A Committee, consisting of all the -Privy Councillors in the House, set off instantly for Newgate. Friend -and Parkyns were interrogated, but to no purpose. They had, after -sentence had been passed on them, shown at first some symptoms of -weakness; but their courage had been fortified by the exhortations of -nonjuring divines who had been admitted to the prison. The rumour -was that Parkyns would have given way but for the entreaties of his -daughter, who adjured him to suffer like a man for the good cause. The -criminals acknowledged that they had done the acts of which they had -been convicted, but, with a resolution which is the more respectable -because it seems to have sprung, not from constitutional hardihood, but -from sentiments of honour and religion, refused to say any thing which -could compromise others. [682] - -In a few hours the crowd again assembled at Tyburn; and this time the -sightseers were not defrauded of their amusement. They saw indeed -one sight which they had not expected, and which produced a greater -sensation than the execution itself. Jeremy Collier and two other -nonjuring divines of less celebrity, named Cook and Snatt, had attended -the prisoners in Newgate, and were in the cart under the gallows. When -the prayers were over, and just before the hangman did his office, the -three schismatical priests stood up, and laid their hands on the heads -of the dying men who continued to kneel. Collier pronounced a form of -absolution taken from the service for the Visitation of the Sick, and -his brethren exclaimed "Amen!" - -This ceremony raised a great outcry; and the outcry became louder -when, a few hours after the execution, the papers delivered by the two -traitors to the Sheriffs were made public. It had been supposed that -Parkyns at least would express some repentance for the crime which had -brought him to the gallows. Indeed he had, before the Committee of the -Commons, owned that the Assassination Plot could not be justified. But, -in his last declaration, he avowed his share in that plot, not only -without a word indicating remorse, but with something which resembled -exultation. Was this a man to be absolved by Christian divines, absolved -before the eyes of tens of thousands, absolved with rites evidently -intended to attract public attention, with rites of which there was no -trace in the Book of Common Prayer or in the practice of the Church of -England? - -In journals, pamphlets and broadsides, the insolence of the three -Levites, as they were called, was sharply reprehended. Warrants were -soon out. Cook and Snatt were taken and imprisoned; but Collier was able -to conceal himself, and, by the help of one of the presses which were at -the service of his party, sent forth from his hiding place a defence of -his conduct. He declared that he abhorred assassination as much as any -of those who railed against him; and his general character warrants us -in believing that this declaration was perfectly sincere. But the -rash act into which he had been hurried by party spirit furnished his -adversaries with very plausible reasons for questioning his sincerity. -A crowd of answers to his defence appeared. Preeminent among them in -importance was a solemn manifesto signed by the two Archbishops and by -all the Bishops who were then in London, twelve in number. Even Crewe -of Durham and Sprat of Rochester set their names to this document. They -condemned the proceedings of the three nonjuring divines, as in form -irregular and in substance impious. To remit the sins of impenitent -sinners was a profane abuse of the power which Christ had delegated -to his ministers. It was not denied that Parkyns had planned an -assassination. It was not pretended that he had professed any repentance -for planning an assassination. The plain inference was that the divines -who absolved him did not think it sinful to assassinate King William. -Collier rejoined; but, though a pugnacious controversialist, he on this -occasion shrank from close conflict, and made his escape as well as he -could under a cloud of quotations from Tertullian, Cyprian and Jerome, -Albaspinaeus and Hammond, the Council of Carthage and the Council of -Toledo. The public feeling was strongly against the three absolvers. The -government however wisely determined not to confer on them the honour of -martyrdom. A bill was found against them by the grand jury of Middlesex; -but they were not brought to trial. Cook and Snatt were set at liberty -after a short detention; and Collier would have been treated with equal -lenity if he would have consented to put in bail. But he was determined -to do no act which could be construed into a recognition of the usurping -government. He was therefore outlawed; and when he died, more than -thirty years later, his outlawry had not been reversed. [683] - -Parkyns was the last Englishman who was tried for high treason under the -old system of procedure. The first who was tried under the new system -was Rockwood. He was defended by Sir Bartholomew Shower, who in the -preceding reign had made himself unenviably conspicuous as a servile and -cruel sycophant, who had obtained from James the Recordership of -London when Holt honourably resigned it, and who had, as Recorder, -sent soldiers to the gibbet for breaches of military discipline. By -his servile cruelty he had earned the nickname of the Manhunter. Shower -deserved, if any offender deserved, to be excepted from the Act of -Indemnity, and left to the utmost rigour of those laws which he had so -shamelessly perverted. But he had been saved by the clemency of William, -and had requited that clemency by pertinacious and malignant opposition. -[684] It was doubtless on account of Shower's known leaning towards -Jacobitism that he was employed on this occasion. He raised some -technical objections which the Court overruled. On the merits of the -case he could make no defence. The jury returned a verdict of guilty. -Cranburne and Lowick were then tried and convicted. They suffered with -Rookwood; and there the executions stopped. [685] - -The temper of the nation was such that the government might have shed -much more blood without incurring the reproach of cruelty. The feeling -which had been called forth by the discovery of the plot continued -during several weeks to increase day by day. Of that feeling the able -men who were at the head of the Whig party made a singularly skilful -use. They saw that the public enthusiasm, if left without guidance, -would exhaust itself in huzzas, healths and bonfires, but might, if -wisely guided, be the means of producing a great and lasting effect. The -Association, into which the Commons had entered while the King's speech -was still in their ears, furnished the means of combining four fifths of -the nation in one vast club for the defence of the order of succession -with which were inseparably combined the dearest liberties of the -English people, and of establishing a test which would distinguish those -who were zealous for that order of succession from those who sullenly -and reluctantly acquiesced in it. Of the five hundred and thirty members -of the Lower House about four hundred and twenty voluntarily subscribed -the instrument which recognised William as rightful and lawful King of -England. It was moved in the Upper House that the same form should be -adopted; but objections were raised by the Tories. Nottingham, ever -conscientious, honourable and narrow minded, declared that he could not -assent to the words "rightful and lawful." He still held, as he had -held from the first, that a prince who had taken the Crown, not by -birthright, but by the gift of the Convention, could not properly be so -described. William was doubtless King in fact, and, as King in fact, was -entitled to the obedience of Christians. "No man," said Nottingham, "has -served or will serve His Majesty more faithfully than I. But to this -document I cannot set my hand." Rochester and Normanby held similar -language. Monmouth, in a speech of two hours and a half, earnestly -exhorted the Lords to agree with the Commons. Burnet was vehement on the -same side. Wharton, whose father had lately died, and who was now Lord -Wharton, appeared in the foremost rank of the Whig peers. But no man -distinguished himself more in the debate than one whose life, both -public and private, had been one long series of faults and disasters, -the incestuous lover of Henrietta Berkeley, the unfortunate lieutenant -of Monmouth. He had recently ceased to be called by the tarnished name -of Grey of Wark, and was now Earl of Tankerville. He spoke on that day -with great force and eloquence for the words, "rightful and lawful." -Leeds, after expressing his regret that a question about a mere phrase -should have produced dissension among noble persons who were all equally -attached to the reigning Sovereign, undertook the office of mediator. -He proposed that their Lordships, instead of recognising William as -rightful and lawful King, should declare that William had the right -by law to the English Crown, and that no other person had any right -whatever to that Crown. Strange to say, almost all the Tory peers were -perfectly satisfied with what Leeds had suggested. Among the Whigs there -was some unwillingness to consent to a change which, slight as it was, -might be thought to indicate a difference of opinion between the two -Houses on a subject of grave importance. But Devonshire and Portland -declared themselves content; their authority prevailed; and the -alteration was made. How a rightful and lawful possessor is to be -distinguished from a possessor who has the exclusive right by law is -a question which a Whig may, without any painful sense of shame, -acknowledge to be beyond the reach of his faculties, and leave to be -discussed by High Churchmen. Eighty-three peers immediately affixed -their names to the amended form of association; and Rochester was among -them. Nottingham, not yet quite satisfied, asked time for consideration. -[686] - -Beyond the walls of Parliament there was none of this verbal quibbling. -The language of the House of Commons was adopted by the whole country. -The City of London led the way. Within thirty-six hours after the -Association had been published under the direction of the Speaker it -was subscribed by the Lord Mayor, by the Aldermen, and by almost all the -members of the Common Council. The municipal corporations all over the -kingdom followed the example. The spring assizes were just beginning; -and at every county town the grand jurors and the justices of the peace -put down their names. Soon shopkeepers, artisans, yeomen, farmers, -husbandmen, came by thousands to the tables where the parchments were -laid out. In Westminster there were thirty-seven thousand associators, -in the Tower Hamlets eight thousand, in Southwark eighteen thousand. The -rural parts of Surrey furnished seventeen thousand. At Ipswich all the -freemen signed except two. At Warwick all the male inhabitants who had -attained the age of sixteen signed, except two Papists and two Quakers. -At Taunton, where the memory of the Bloody Circuit was fresh, every man -who could write gave in his adhesion to the government. All the churches -and all the meeting houses in the town were crowded, as they had never -been crowded before, with people who came to thank God for having -preserved him whom they fondly called William the Deliverer. Of all the -counties of England Lancashire was the most Jacobitical. Yet Lancashire -furnished fifty thousand signatures. Of all the great towns of England -Norwich was the most Jacobitical. The magistrates of that city were -supposed to be in the interest of the exiled dynasty. The nonjurors were -numerous, and had, just before the discovery of the plot, seemed to be -in unusual spirits and ventured to take unusual liberties. One of the -chief divines of the schism had preached a sermon there which gave rise -to strange suspicions. He had taken for his text the verse in which the -Prophet Jeremiah announced that the day of vengeance was come, that -the sword would be drunk with blood, that the Lord God of Hosts had a -sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. Very soon it was -known that, at the time when this discourse was delivered, swords had -actually been sharpening, under the direction of Barclay and Parkyns, -for a bloody sacrifice on the north bank of the river Thames. The -indignation of the common people of Norwich was not to be restrained. -They came in multitudes, though discouraged by the municipal -authorities, to plight faith to William, rightful and lawful King. In -Norfolk the number of signatures amounted to forty-eight thousand, in -Suffolk to seventy thousand. Upwards of five hundred rolls went up -to London from every part of England. The number of names attached to -twenty-seven of those rolls appears from the London Gazette to have been -three hundred and fourteen thousand. After making the largest allowance -for fraud, it seems certain that the Association included the great -majority of the adult male inhabitants of England who were able to sign -their names. The tide of popular feeling was so strong that a man who -was known not to have signed ran considerable risk of being publicly -affronted. In many places nobody appeared without wearing in his hat a -red riband on which were embroidered the words, "General Association -for King William." Once a party of Jacobites had the courage to parade -a street in London with an emblematic device which seemed to indicate -their contempt for the new Solemn League and Covenant. They were -instantly put to rout by the mob, and their leader was well ducked. The -enthusiasm spread to secluded isles, to factories in foreign countries, -to remote colonies. The Association was signed by the rude fishermen -of the Scilly Rocks, by the English merchants of Malaga, by the English -merchants of Genoa, by the citizens of New York, by the tobacco planters -of Virginia and by the sugar planters of Barbadoes. [687] - -Emboldened by success, the Whig leaders ventured to proceed a step -further. They brought into the Lower House a bill for the securing of -the King's person and government. By this bill it was provided that -whoever, while the war lasted, should come from France into England -without the royal license should incur the penalties of treason, that -the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act should continue to the end of -the year 1696, and that all functionaries appointed by William should -retain their offices, notwithstanding his death, till his successor -should be pleased to dismiss them. The form of Association which the -House of Commons had adopted was solemnly ratified; and it was provided -that no person should sit in that House or should hold any office, civil -or military, without signing. The Lords were indulged in the use of -their own form; and nothing was said about the clergy. - -The Tories, headed by Finch and Seymour, complained bitterly of this -new test, and ventured once to divide, but were defeated. Finch seems to -have been heard patiently; but, notwithstanding all Seymour's eloquence, -the contemptuous manner in which he spoke of the Association raised a -storm against which he could not stand. Loud cries of "the Tower, the -Tower," were heard. Haughty and imperious as he was, he was forced to -explain away his words, and could scarcely, by apologizing in a manner -to which he was little accustomed, save himself from the humiliation of -being called to the bar and reprimanded on his knees. The bill went up -to the Lords, and passed with great speed in spite of the opposition of -Rochester and Nottingham. [688] - -The nature and extent of the change which the discovery of the -Assassination Plot had produced in the temper of the House of Commons -and of the nation is strikingly illustrated by the history of a bill -entitled a Bill for the further Regulation of Elections of Members -of Parliament. The moneyed interest was almost entirely Whig, and was -therefore an object of dislike to the Tories. The rapidly growing power -of that interest was generally regarded with jealousy by landowners -whether they were Whigs or Tories. It was something new and monstrous -to see a trader from Lombard Street, who had no tie to the soil of our -island, and whose wealth was entirely personal and movable, post down to -Devonshire or Sussex with a portmanteau full of guineas, offer himself -as candidate for a borough in opposition to a neighbouring gentleman -whose ancestors had been regularly returned ever since the Wars of the -Roses, and come in at the head of the poll. Yet even this was not the -worst. More than one seat in Parliament, it was said, had been bought -and sold over a dish of coffee at Garraway's. The purchaser had not been -required even to go through the form of showing himself to the electors. -Without leaving his counting house in Cheapside, he had been chosen to -represent a place which he had never seen. Such things were intolerable. -No man, it was said, ought to sit in the English legislature who was -not master of some hundreds of acres of English ground. [689] A bill was -accordingly brought in which provided that every member of the House of -Commons must have a certain estate in land. For a knight of a shire the -qualification was fixed at five hundred a year; for a burgess at two -hundred a year. Early in February this bill was read a second time and -referred to a Select Committee. A motion was made that the Committee -should be instructed to add a clause enacting that all elections should -be by ballot. Whether this motion proceeded from a Whig or a Tory, by -what arguments it was supported and on what grounds it was opposed, -we have now no means of discovering. We know only that it was rejected -without a division. - -Before the bill came back from the Committee, some of the most -respectable constituent bodies in the kingdom had raised their voices -against the new restriction to which it was proposed to subject them. -There had in general been little sympathy between the commercial towns -and the Universities. For the commercial towns were the chief seats of -Whiggism and Non conformity; and the Universities were zealous for the -Crown and the Church. Now, however, Oxford and Cambridge made common -cause with London and Bristol. It was hard, said the Academics, that a -grave and learned man, sent by a large body of grave and learned men to -the Great Council of the nation, should be thought less fit to sit in -that Council than a boozing clown who had scarcely literature enough -to entitle him to the benefit of clergy. It was hard, said the traders, -that a merchant prince, who had been the first magistrate of the first -city in the world, whose name on the back of a bill commanded entire -confidence at Smyrna and at Genoa, at Hamburg and at Amsterdam, who -had at sea ships every one of which was worth a manor, and who had -repeatedly, when the liberty and religion of the kingdom were in peril, -advanced to the government, at an hour's notice, five or ten thousand -pounds, should be supposed to have a less stake in the prosperity of the -commonwealth than a squire who sold his own bullocks and hops over a pot -of ale at the nearest market town. On the report, it was moved that the -Universities should be excepted; but the motion was lost by a hundred -and fifty-one votes to a hundred and forty-three. On the third reading -it was moved that the City of London should be excepted; but it was not -thought advisable to divide. The final question that the bill do pass, -was carried by a hundred and seventy-three votes to a hundred and fifty -on the day which preceded the discovery of the Assassination Plot. The -Lords agreed to the bill without any amendment. - -William had to consider whether he would give or withhold his assent. -The commercial towns of the kingdom, and among them the City of London, -which had always stood firmly by him, and which had extricated him -many times from great embarrassments, implored his protection. It was -represented to him that the Commons were far indeed from being unanimous -on this subject; that, in the last stage, the majority had been only -twenty-three in a full House; that the motion to except the Universities -had been lost by a majority of only eight. On full consideration he -resolved not to pass the bill. Nobody, he said, could accuse him of -acting selfishly on this occasion; his prerogative was not concerned in -the matter; and he could have no objection to the proposed law except -that it would be mischievous to his people. - -On the tenth of April 1696, therefore, the Clerk of the Parliament was -commanded to inform the Houses that the King would consider of the Bill -for the further Regulation of Elections. Some violent Tories in the -House of Commons flattered themselves that they might be able to carry -a resolution reflecting on the King. They moved that whoever had advised -His Majesty to refuse his assent to their bill was an enemy to him and -to the nation. Never was a greater blunder committed. The temper of -the House was very different from what it had been on the day when the -address against Portland's grant had been voted by acclamation. The -detection of a murderous conspiracy, the apprehension of a French -invasion, had changed every thing. The King was popular. Every day ten -or twelve bales of parchment covered with the signatures of associators -were laid at his feet. Nothing could be more imprudent than to propose, -at such a time, a thinly disguised vote of censure on him. The -moderate Tories accordingly separated themselves from their angry -and unreasonable brethren. The motion was rejected by two hundred and -nineteen votes to seventy; and the House ordered the question and the -numbers on both sides to be published, in order that the world might -know how completely the attempt to produce a quarrel between the King -and the Parliament had failed. [690] - -The country gentlemen might perhaps have been more inclined to resent -the loss of their bill, had they not been put into high goodhumour by -another bill which they considered as even more important. The project -of a Land Bank had been revived; not in the form in which it had, two -years before, been brought under the consideration of the House of -Commons, but in a form much less shocking to common sense and less -open to ridicule. Chamberlayne indeed protested loudly against all -modifications of his plan, and proclaimed, with undiminished confidence, -that he would make all his countrymen rich if they would only let -him. He was not, he said, the first great discoverer whom princes and -statesmen had regarded as a dreamer. Henry the Seventh had, in an evil -hour, refused to listen to Christopher Columbus; the consequence had -been that England had lost the mines of Mexico and Peru; yet what were -the mines of Mexico and Peru to the riches of a nation blessed with an -unlimited paper currency? But the united force of reason and ridicule -had reduced the once numerous sect which followed Chamberlayne to a -small and select company of incorrigible fools. Few even of the squires -now believed in his two great doctrines; the doctrine that the State -can, by merely calling a bundle of old rags ten millions sterling, add -ten millions sterling to the riches of the nation; and the doctrine -that a lease of land for a term of years may be worth many times the fee -simple. But it was still the general opinion of the country gentlemen -that a bank, of which it should be the special business to advance money -on the security of land, might be a great blessing to the nation. -Harley and the Speaker Foley now proposed that such a bank should be -established by Act of Parliament, and promised that, if their plan -was adopted, the King should be amply supplied with money for the next -campaign. - -The Whig leaders, and especially Montague, saw that the scheme was a -delusion, that it must speedily fail, and that, before it failed, it -might not improbably ruin their own favourite institution, the Bank of -England. But on this point they had against them, not only the whole -Tory party, but also their master and many of their followers. The -necessities of the State were pressing. The offers of the projectors -were tempting. The Bank of England had, in return for its charter, -advanced to the State only one million at eight per cent. The Land -Bank would advance more than two millions and a half at seven per cent. -William, whose chief object was to procure money for the service of the -year, was little inclined to find fault with any source from which two -millions and a half could be obtained. Sunderland, who generally -exerted his influence in favour of the Whig leaders, failed them on this -occasion. The Whig country gentlemen were delighted by the prospect of -being able to repair their stables, replenish their cellars, and give -portions to their daughters. It was impossible to contend against such a -combination of force. A bill was passed which authorised the government -to borrow two million five hundred and sixty-four thousand pounds at -seven per cent. A fund, arising chiefly from a new tax on salt, was set -apart for the payment of the interest. If, before the first of August, -the subscription for one half of this loan should have been filled, -and if one half of the sum subscribed should have been paid into the -Exchequer, the subscribers were to become a corporate body, under the -name of the National Land Bank. As this bank was expressly intended to -accommodate country gentlemen, it was strictly interdicted from lending -money on any private security other than a mortgage of land, and was -bound to lend on mortgage at least half a million annually. The interest -on this half million was not to exceed three and a half per cent., if -the payments were quarterly, or four per cent., if the payments were -half yearly. At that time the market rate of interest on the best -mortgages was full six per cent. The shrewd observers at the Dutch -Embassy therefore thought that capitalists would eschew all connection -with what must necessarily be a losing concern, and that the -subscription would never be half filled up; and it seems strange that -any sane person should have thought otherwise. [691] - -It was vain however to reason against the general infatuation. The -Tories exultingly predicted that the Bank of Robert Harley would -completely eclipse the Bank of Charles Montague. The bill passed both -Houses. On the twenty-seventh of April it received the royal assent; and -the Parliament was immediately afterwards prorogued. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - - Military Operations in the Netherlands--Commercial Crisis in - England--Financial Crisis--Efforts to restore the Currency--Distress of - the People; their Temper and Conduct--Negotiations with France; the - Duke of Savoy deserts the Coalition--Search for Jacobite Conspirators - in England; Sir John Fenwick--Capture of Fenwick--Fenwick's - Confession--Return of William to England--Meeting of Parliament; - State of the Country; Speech of William at the Commencement of - the Session--Resolutions of the House of Commons--Return of - Prosperity--Effect of the Proceedings of the House of Commons on - Foreign Governments--Restoration of the Finances--Effects of Fenwick's - Confession--Resignation of Godolphin--Feeling of the Whigs - about Fenwick--William examines Fenwick--Disappearance of - Goodman--Parliamentary Proceedings touching Fenwick's Confession--Bill - for attainting Fenwick--Debates of the Commons on the Bill of - Attainder--The Bill of Attainder carried up to the Lords--Artifices of - Monmouth--Debates of the Lords on the Bill of Attainder--Proceedings - against Monmouth--Position and Feelings of Shrewsbury--The Bill of - Attainder passed; Attempts to save Fenwick--Fenwick's Execution; - Bill for the Regulating of Elections--Bill for the Regulation of - the Press--Bill abolishing the Privileges of Whitefriars and the - Savoy--Close of the Session; Promotions and Appointments--State of - Ireland--State of Scotland--A Session of Parliament at Edinburgh; - Act for the Settling of Schools--Case of Thomas Aikenhead--Military - Operations in the Netherlands--Terms of Peace offered by France--Conduct - of Spain; Conduct of the Emperor--Congress of Ryswick--William opens a - distinct Negotiation--Meetings of Portland and Boufflers--Terms of Peace - between France and England settled--Difficulties caused by Spain and the - Emperor--Attempts of James to prevent a general Pacification--The Treaty - of Ryswick signed; Anxiety in England--News of the Peace arrives in - England--Dismay of the Jacobites--General Rejoicing--The King's Entry - into London--The Thanksgiving Day - -ON the seventh of May 1696, William landed in Holland. [692] Thence he -proceeded to Flanders, and took the command of the allied forces, which -were collected in the neighbourhood of Ghent. Villeroy and Boufflers -were already in the field. All Europe waited impatiently for great news -from the Netherlands, but waited in vain. No aggressive movement was -made. The object of the generals on both sides was to keep their troops -from dying of hunger; and it was an object by no means easily attained. -The treasuries both of France and England were empty. Lewis had, -during the winter, created with great difficulty and expense a gigantic -magazine at Givet on the frontier of his kingdom. The buildings were -commodious and of vast extent. The quantity of provender laid up in -them for horses was immense. The number of rations for men was commonly -estimated at from three to four millions. But early in the spring -Athlone and Cohorn had, by a bold and dexterous move, surprised Givet, -and had utterly destroyed both storehouses and stores. [693] France, -already fainting from exhaustion, was in no condition to repair such a -loss. Sieges such as those of Mons and Namur were operations too costly -for her means. The business of her army now was, not to conquer, but to -subsist. - -The army of William was reduced to straits not less painful. The -material wealth of England, indeed, had not been very seriously impaired -by the drain which the war had caused; but she was suffering severely -from the defective state of that instrument by which her material wealth -was distributed. - -Saturday, the second of May, had been fixed by Parliament as the last -day on which the clipped crowns, halfcrowns and shillings were to be -received by tale in payment of taxes. [694] The Exchequer was besieged -from dawn till midnight by an immense multitude. It was necessary to -call in the guards for the purpose of keeping order. On the following -Monday began a cruel agony of a few months, which was destined to be -succeeded by many years of almost unbroken prosperity. [695] - -Most of the old silver had vanished. The new silver had scarcely made -its appearance. About four millions sterling, in ingots and hammered -coin, were lying in the vaults of the Exchequer; and the milled money as -yet came forth very slowly from the Mint. [696] Alarmists predicted that -the wealthiest and most enlightened kingdom in Europe would be reduced -to the state of those barbarous societies in which a mat is bought with -a hatchet, and a pair of mocassins with a piece of venison. - -There were, indeed, some hammered pieces which had escaped mutilation; -and sixpences not clipped within the innermost ring were still current. -This old money and the new money together made up a scanty stock of -silver, which, with the help of gold, was to carry the nation through -the summer. [697] The manufacturers generally contrived, though with -extreme difficulty, to pay their workmen in coin. [698] The upper -classes seem to have lived to a great extent on credit. Even an opulent -man seldom had the means of discharging the weekly bills of his baker -and butcher. [699] A promissory note, however, subscribed by such a man, -was readily taken in the district where his means and character were -well known. The notes of the wealthy moneychangers of Lombard Street -circulated widely. [700] The paper of the Bank of England did much -service, and would have done more, but for the unhappy error into which -the Parliament had recently been led by Harley and Foley. The confidence -which the public had felt in that powerful and opulent Company had been -shaken by the Act which established the Land Bank. It might well be -doubted whether there would be room for the two rival institutions; and -of the two, the younger seemed to be the favourite of the government and -of the legislature. The stock of the Bank of England had gone rapidly -down from a hundred and ten to eighty-three. Meanwhile the goldsmiths, -who had from the first been hostile to that great corporation, were -plotting against it. They collected its paper from every quarter; and on -the fourth of May, when the Exchequer had just swallowed up most of the -old money, and when scarcely any of the new money had been issued, they -flocked to Grocers' Hall, and insisted on immediate payment. A single -goldsmith demanded thirty thousand pounds. The Directors, in this -extremity, acted wisely and firmly. They refused to cash the notes which -had been thus maliciously presented, and left the holders to seek a -remedy in Westminster Hall. Other creditors, who came in good faith to -ask for their due, were paid. The conspirators affected to triumph over -the powerful body, which they hated and dreaded. The bank which had -recently begun to exist under such splendid auspices, which had seemed -destined to make a revolution in commerce and in finance, which had been -the boast of London and the envy of Amsterdam, was already insolvent, -ruined, dishonoured. Wretched pasquinades were published, the Trial -of the Land Bank for murdering the Bank of England, the last Will and -Testament of the Bank of England, the Epitaph of the Bank of England, -the Inquest on the Bank of England. But, in spite of all this clamour -and all this wit, the correspondents of the States General reported, -that the Bank of England had not really suffered in the public esteem, -and that the conduct of the goldsmiths was generally condemned. [701] - -The Directors soon found it impossible to procure silver enough to meet -every claim which was made on them in good faith. They then bethought -them of a new expedient. They made a call of twenty per cent. on the -proprietors, and thus raised a sum which enabled them to give every -applicant fifteen per cent. in milled money on what was due to him. They -returned him his note, after making a minute upon it that part had -been paid. [702] A few notes thus marked are still preserved among the -archives of the Bank, as memorials of that terrible year. The paper -of the Corporation continued to circulate, but the value fluctuated -violently from day to day, and indeed from hour to hour; for the public -mind was in so excitable a state that the most absurd lie which a -stockjobber could invent sufficed to send the price up or down. At one -time the discount was only six per cent., at another time twenty-four -per cent. A tenpound note, which had been taken in the morning as worth -more than nine pounds, was often worth less than eight pounds before -night. [703] - -Another, and, at that conjuncture, a more effectual substitute for -a metallic currency, owed its existence to the ingenuity of Charles -Montague. He had succeeded in engrafting on Harley's Land Bank Bill a -clause which empowered the government to issue negotiable paper bearing -interest at the rate of threepence a day on a hundred pounds. In the -midst of the general distress and confusion appeared the first Exchequer -Bills, drawn for various amounts from a hundred pounds down to five -pounds. These instruments were rapidly distributed over the kingdom by -the post, and were every where welcome. The Jacobites talked violently -against them in every coffeehouse, and wrote much detestable verse -against them, but to little purpose. The success of the plan was such, -that the ministers at one time resolved to issue twentyshilling bills, -and even fifteenshilling bills, for the payment of the troops. But it -does not appear that this resolution was carried into effect. [704] - -It is difficult to imagine how, without the Exchequer Bills, the -government of the country could have been carried on during that year. -Every source of revenue had been affected by the state of the currency; -and one source, on which the Parliament had confidently reckoned for the -means of defraying more than half the charge of the war, had yielded not -a single farthing. - -The sum expected from the Land Bank was near two million six hundred -thousand pounds. Of this sum one half was to be subscribed, and one -quarter paid up by the first of August. The King, just before his -departure, had signed a warrant appointing certain commissioners, among -whom Harley and Foley were the most eminent, to receive the names of the -contributors. [705] A great meeting of persons interested in the scheme -was held in the Hall of the Middle Temple. One office was opened at -Exeter Change, another at Mercers' Hall. Forty agents went down into the -country, and announced to the landed gentry of every shire the approach -of the golden age of high rents and low interest. The Council of -Regency, in order to set an example to the nation, put down the King's -name for five thousand pounds; and the newspapers assured the world that -the subscription would speedily be filled. [706] But when three weeks -had passed away, it was found that only fifteen hundred pounds had been -added to the five thousand contributed by the King. Many wondered at -this; yet there was little cause for wonder. The sum which the friends -of the project had undertaken to raise was a sum which only the enemies -of the project could furnish. The country gentlemen wished well to -Harley's scheme; but they wished well to it because they wanted to -borrow money on easy terms; and, wanting to borrow money, they of course -were not able to lend it. The moneyed class alone could supply what -was necessary to the existence of the Land Bank; and the Land Bank was -avowedly intended to diminish the profits, to destroy the political -influence and to lower the social position of the moneyed class. As the -usurers did not choose to take on themselves the expense of putting down -usury, the whole plan failed in a manner which, if the aspect of public -affairs had been less alarming, would have been exquisitely ludicrous. -The day drew near. The neatly ruled pages of the subscription book at -Mercers' Hall were still blank. The Commissioners stood aghast. In -their distress they applied to the government for indulgence. Many great -capitalists, they said, were desirous to subscribe, but stood aloof -because the terms were too hard. There ought to be some relaxation. -Would the Council of Regency consent to an abatement of three hundred -thousand pounds? The finances were in such a state, and the letters in -which the King represented his wants were so urgent, that the Council -of Regency hesitated. The Commissioners were asked whether they would -engage to raise the whole sum, with this abatement. Their answer was -unsatisfactory. They did not venture to say that they could command -more than eight hundred thousand pounds. The negotiation was, therefore, -broken off. The first of August came; and the whole amount contributed -by the whole nation to the magnificent undertaking from which so much -had been expected was two thousand one hundred pounds. [707] - -Just at this conjuncture Portland arrived from the Continent. He had -been sent by William with charge to obtain money, at whatever cost -and from whatever quarter. The King had strained his private credit -in Holland to procure bread for his army. But all was insufficient. He -wrote to his Ministers that, unless they could send him a speedy supply, -his troops would either rise in mutiny or desert by thousands. He knew, -he said, that it would be hazardous to call Parliament together during -his absence. But, if no other resource could be devised, that hazard -must be run. [708] The Council of Regency, in extreme embarrassment, -began to wish that the terms, hard as they were, which had been offered -by the Commissioners at Mercers' Hall had been accepted. The negotiation -was renewed. Shrewsbury, Godolphin and Portland, as agents for the -King, had several conferences with Harley and Foley, who had recently -pretended that eight hundred thousand pounds were ready to be subscribed -to the Land Bank. The Ministers gave assurances, that, if, at this -conjuncture, even half that sum were advanced, those who had done this -service to the State should, in the next session, be incorporated as a -National Land Bank. Harley and Foley at first promised, with an air of -confidence, to raise what was required. But they soon went back from -their word; they showed a great inclination to be punctilious and -quarrelsome about trifles; at length the eight hundred thousand pounds -dwindled to forty thousand; and even the forty thousand could be had -only on hard conditions. [709] So ended the great delusion of the Land -Bank. The commission expired; and the offices were closed. - -And now the Council of Regency, almost in despair, had recourse to the -Bank of England. Two hundred thousand pounds was the very smallest sum -which would suffice to meet the King's most pressing wants. Would the -Bank of England advance that sum? The capitalists who lead the chief -sway in that corporation were in bad humour, and not without reason. But -fair words, earnest entreaties and large promises were not spared; all -the influence of Montague, which was justly great, was exerted; the -Directors promised to do their best; but they apprehended that it would -be impossible for them to raise the money without making a second call -of twenty per cent. on their constituents. It was necessary that the -question should be submitted to a General Court; in such a court more -than six hundred persons were entitled to vote; and the result might -well be doubted. The proprietors were summoned to meet on the fifteenth -of August at Grocers' Hall. During the painful interval of suspense, -Shrewsbury wrote to his master in language more tragic than is often -found in official letters. "If this should not succeed, God knows what -can be done. Any thing must be tried and ventured rather than lie down -and die." [710] On the fifteenth of August, a great epoch in the history -of the Bank, the General Court was held. In the chair sate Sir John -Houblon, the Governor, who was also Lord Mayor of London, and, what -would in our time be thought strange, a Commissioner of the Admiralty. -Sir John, in a speech, every word of which had been written and had been -carefully considered by the Directors, explained the case, and implored -the assembly to stand by King William. There was at first a little -murmuring. "If our notes would do," it was said, "we should be most -willing to assist His Majesty; but two hundred thousand pounds in hard -money at a time like this." The Governor announced explicitly that -nothing but gold or silver would supply the necessities of the army in -Flanders. At length the question was put to the vote; and every hand in -the Hall was held up for sending the money. The letters from the Dutch -Embassy informed the States General that the events of that day had -bound the Bank and the government together in close alliance, and that -several of the ministers had, immediately after the meeting, purchased -stock merely in order to give a pledge of their attachment to the body -which had rendered so great a service to the State. [711] - -Meanwhile strenuous exertions were making to hasten the recoinage. Since -the Restoration the Mint had, like every other public establishment in -the kingdom, been a nest of idlers and jobbers. The important office of -Warden, worth between six and seven hundred a year, had become a mere -sinecure, and had been filled by a succession of fine gentlemen, -who were well known at the hazard table of Whitehall, but who never -condescended to come near the Tower. This office had just become vacant, -and Montague had obtained it for Newton. [712] The ability, the industry -and the strict uprightness of the great philosopher speedily produced -a complete revolution throughout the department which was under his -direction. [713] He devoted himself to his task with an activity which -left him no time to spare for those pursuits in which he had surpassed -Archimedes and Galileo. Till the great work was completely done, he -resisted firmly, and almost angrily, every attempt that was made by men -of science, here or on the Continent, to draw him away from his official -duties. [714] The old officers of the Mint had thought it a great feat -to coin silver to the amount of fifteen thousand pounds in a week. -When Montague talked of thirty or forty thousand, these men of form -and precedent pronounced the thing impracticable. But the energy of -the young Chancellor of the Exchequer and of his friend the Warden -accomplished far greater wonders. Soon nineteen mills were going at once -in the Tower. As fast as men could be trained to the work in London, -bands of them were sent off to other parts of the kingdom. Mints -were established at Bristol, York, Exeter, Norwich and Chester. This -arrangement was in the highest degree popular. The machinery and the -workmen were welcomed to the new stations with the ringing of bells and -the firing of guns. The weekly issue increased to sixty thousand pounds, -to eighty thousand, to a hundred thousand, and at length to a hundred -and twenty thousand. [715] Yet even this issue, though great, not only -beyond precedent, but beyond hope, was scanty when compared with the -demands of the nation. Nor did all the newly stamped silver pass into -circulation; for during the summer and autumn those politicians who were -for raising the denomination of the coin were active and clamorous; -and it was generally expected that, as soon as the Parliament should -reassemble, the standard would be lowered. Of course no person who -thought it probable that he should, at a day not far distant, be able -to pay a debt of a pound with three crown pieces instead of four, was -willing to part with a crown piece, till that day arrived. Most of the -milled pieces were therefore hoarded. [716] May, June and July passed -away without any perceptible increase in the quantity of good money. It -was not till August that the keenest observer could discern the first -faint signs of returning prosperity. [717] - -The distress of the common people was severe, and was aggravated by the -follies of magistrates and by the arts of malecontents. A squire who was -one of the quorum would sometimes think it his duty to administer to his -neighbours, at this trying conjuncture, what seemed to him to be equity; -and as no two of these rural praetors had exactly the same notion of -what was equitable, their edicts added confusion to confusion. In one -parish people were, in outrageous violation of the law, threatened with -the stocks, if they refused to take clipped shillings by tale. In the -next parish it was dangerous to pay such shillings except by weight. -[718] The enemies of the government, at the same time, laboured -indefatigably in their vocation. They harangued in every place of public -resort, from the Chocolate House in Saint James's Street to the sanded -kitchen of the alehouse on the village green. In verse and prose they -incited the suffering multitude to rise up in arms. Of the tracts -which they published at this time, the most remarkable was written by -a deprived priest named Grascombe, of whose ferocity and scurrility the -most respectable nonjurors had long been ashamed. He now did his best -to persuade the rabble to tear in pieces those members of Parliament -who had voted for the restoration of the currency. [719] It would be too -much to say that the malignant industry of this man and of men like him -produced no effect on a population which was doubtless severely tried. -There were riots in several parts of the country, but riots which were -suppressed with little difficulty, and, as far as can be discovered, -without the shedding of a drop of blood. [720] In one place a crowd of -poor ignorant creatures, excited by some knavish agitator, besieged the -house of a Whig member of Parliament, and clamorously insisted on having -their short money changed. The gentleman consented, and desired to know -how much they had brought. After some delay they were able to produce a -single clipped halfcrown. [721] Such tumults as this were at a distance -exaggerated into rebellions and massacres. At Paris it was gravely -asserted in print that, in an English town which was not named, a -soldier and a butcher had quarrelled about a piece of money, that the -soldier had killed the butcher, that the butcher's man had snatched up -a cleaver and killed the soldier, that a great fight had followed, and -that fifty dead bodies had been left on the ground. [722] The truth -was, that the behaviour of the great body of the people was beyond -all praise. The judges when, in September, they returned from their -circuits, reported that the temper of the nation was excellent. [723] -There was a patience, a reasonableness, a good nature, a good faith, -which nobody had anticipated. Every body felt that nothing but mutual -help and mutual forbearance could prevent the dissolution of society. A -hard creditor, who sternly demanded payment to the day in milled money, -was pointed at in the streets, and was beset by his own creditors with -demands which soon brought him to reason. Much uneasiness had been felt -about the troops. It was scarcely possible to pay them regularly; if -they were not paid regularly, it might well be apprehended that they -would supply their wants by rapine; and such rapine it was certain that -the nation, altogether unaccustomed to military exaction and oppression, -would not tamely endure. But, strange to say, there was, through this -trying year, a better understanding than had ever been known between -the soldiers and the rest of the community. The gentry, the farmers, -the shopkeepers supplied the redcoats with necessaries in a manner -so friendly and liberal that there was no brawling and no marauding. -"Severely as these difficulties have been felt," L'Hermitage writes, -"they have produced one happy effect; they have shown how good the -spirit of the country is. No person, however favourable his opinion -of the English may have been, could have expected that a time of such -suffering would have been a time of such tranquillity." [724] - -Men who loved to trace, in the strangely complicated maze of human -affairs, the marks of more than human wisdom, were of opinion that, but -for the interference of a gracious Providence, the plan so elaborately -devised by great statesmen and great philosophers would have failed -completely and ignominiously. Often, since the Revolution, the English -had been sullen and querulous, unreasonably jealous of the Dutch, and -disposed to put the worst construction on every act of the King. Had -the fourth of May found our ancestors in such a mood, it can scarcely be -doubted that sharp distress, irritating minds already irritable, would -have caused an outbreak which must have shaken and might have subverted -the throne of William. Happily, at the moment at which the loyalty of -the nation was put to the most severe test, the King was more popular -than he had ever been since the day on which the Crown was tendered to -him in the Banqueting House. The plot which had been laid against his -life had excited general disgust and horror. His reserved manners, his -foreign attachments were forgotten. He had become an object of personal -interest and of personal affection to his people. They were every where -coming in crowds to sign the instrument which bound them to defend and -to avenge him. They were every where carrying about in their hats the -badges of their loyalty to him. They could hardly be restrained from -inflicting summary punishment on the few who still dared openly to -question his title. Jacobite was now a synonyme for cutthroat. Noted -Jacobite laymen had just planned a foul murder. Noted Jacobite priests -had, in the face of day, and in the administration of a solemn ordinance -of religion, indicated their approbation of that murder. Many honest and -pious men, who thought that their allegiance was still due to James, had -indignantly relinquished all connection with zealots who seemed to think -that a righteous end justified the most unrighteous means. Such was -the state of public feeling during the summer and autumn of 1696; and -therefore it was that hardships which, in any of the seven preceding -years, would certainly have produced a rebellion, and might perhaps -have produced a counterrevolution, did not produce a single tumult too -serious to be suppressed by the constable's staff. - -Nevertheless, the effect of the commercial and financial crisis in -England was felt through all the fleets and armies of the coalition. The -great source of subsidies was dry. No important military operation could -any where be attempted. Meanwhile overtures tending to peace had been -made, and a negotiation had been opened. Callieres, one of the ablest -of the many able envoys in the service of France, had been sent to -the Netherlands, and had held many conferences with Dykvelt. Those -conferences might perhaps have come to a speedy and satisfactory close, -had not France, at this time, won a great diplomatic victory in another -quarter. Lewis had, during seven years, been scheming and labouring in -vain to break the great array of potentates whom the dread of his might -and of his ambition had brought together and kept together. But, during -seven years, all his arts had been baffled by the skill of William; and, -when the eighth campaign opened, the confederacy had not been weakened -by a single desertion. Soon however it began to be suspected that the -Duke of Savoy was secretly treating with the enemy. He solemnly assured -Galway, who represented England at the Court of Turin, that there -was not the slightest ground for such suspicions, and sent to William -letters filled with professions of zeal for the common cause, and with -earnest entreaties for more money. This dissimulation continued till a -French army, commanded by Catinat, appeared in Piedmont. Then the Duke -threw off his disguise, concluded peace with France, joined his troops -to those of Catinat, marched into the Milanese, and informed the allies -whom he had just abandoned that, unless they wished to have him for an -enemy, they must declare Italy neutral ground. The Courts of Vienna -and Madrid, in great dismay, submitted to the terms which he dictated. -William expostulated and protested in vain. His influence was no longer -what it had been. The general opinion of Europe was, that the riches -and the credit of England were completely exhausted; and both her -confederates and her enemies imagined that they might safely treat her -with indignity. Spain, true to her invariable maxim that every thing -ought to be done for her and nothing by her, had the effrontery to -reproach the Prince to whom she owed it that she had not lost the -Netherlands and Catalonia, because he had not sent troops and ships -to defend her possessions in Italy. The Imperial ministers formed and -executed resolutions gravely affecting the interests of the coalition -without consulting him who had been the author and the soul of the -coalition. [725] Lewis had, after the failure of the Assassination Plot, -made up his mind to the disagreeable necessity of recognising William, -and had authorised Callieres to make a declaration to that effect. But -the defection of Savoy, the neutrality of Italy, the disunion among the -allies, and, above all, the distresses of England, exaggerated as they -were in all the letters which the Jacobites of Saint Germains received -from the Jacobites of London, produced a change. The tone of Callieres -became high and arrogant; he went back from his word, and refused to -give any pledge that his master would acknowledge the Prince of Orange -as King of Great Britain. The joy was great among the nonjurors. They -had always, they said, been certain that the Great Monarch would not be -so unmindful of his own glory and of the common interest of Sovereigns -as to abandon the cause of his unfortunate guests, and to call an -usurper his brother. They knew from the best authority that His Most -Christian Majesty had lately, at Fontainebleau, given satisfactory -assurances on this subject to King James. Indeed, there is reason -to believe that the project of an invasion of our island was again -seriously discussed at Versailles. [726] Catinat's army was now at -liberty. France, relieved from all apprehension on the side of Savoy, -might spare twenty thousand men for a descent on England; and, if the -misery and discontent here were such as was generally reported, the -nation might be disposed to receive foreign deliverers with open arms. - -So gloomy was the prospect which lay before William, when, in the -autumn of 1696, he quitted his camp in the Netherlands for England. His -servants here meanwhile were looking forward to his arrival with very -strong and very various emotions. The whole political world had -been thrown into confusion by a cause which did not at first appear -commensurate to such an effect. - -During his absence, the search for the Jacobites who had been concerned -in the plots of the preceding winter had not been intermitted; and of -these Jacobites none was in greater peril than Sir John Fenwick. His -birth, his connections, the high situations which he had filled, the -indefatigable activity with which he had, during several years, laboured -to subvert the government, and the personal insolence with which he had -treated the deceased Queen, marked him out as a man fit to be made an -example. He succeeded, however, in concealing himself from the officers -of justice till the first heat of pursuit was over. In his hiding place -he thought of an ingenious device which might, as he conceived, save him -from the fate of his friends Charnock and Parkyns. Two witnesses were -necessary to convict him. It appeared from what had passed on the trials -of his accomplices, that there were only two witnesses who could prove -his guilt, Porter and Goodman. His life was safe if either of these men -could be persuaded to abscond. - -Fenwick was not the only person who had strong reason to wish that -Porter or Goodman, or both, might be induced to leave England. Aylesbury -had been arrested, and committed to the Tower; and he well knew that, if -these men appeared against him, his head would be in serious danger. His -friends and Fenwick's raised what was thought a sufficient sum; and two -Irishmen, or, in the phrase of the newspapers of that day, bogtrotters, -a barber named Clancy, and a disbanded captain named Donelagh, undertook -the work of corruption. - -The first attempt was made on Porter. Clancy contrived to fall in with -him at a tavern, threw out significant hints, and, finding that those -hints were favourably received, opened a regular negotiation. The terms -offered were alluring; three hundred guineas down, three hundred more as -soon as the witness should be beyond sea, a handsome annuity for life, -a free pardon from King James, and a secure retreat in France. Porter -seemed inclined, and perhaps was really inclined, to consent. He said -that he still was what he had been, that he was at heart attached to -the good cause, but that he had been tried beyond his strength. Life was -sweet. It was easy for men who had never been in danger to say that none -but a villain would save himself by hanging his associates; but a few -hours in Newgate, with the near prospect of a journey on a sledge -to Tyburn, would teach such boasters to be more charitable. After -repeatedly conferring with Clancy, Porter was introduced to Fenwick's -wife, Lady Mary, a sister of the Earl of Carlisle. Every thing was soon -settled. Donelagh made the arrangements for the flight. A boat was in -waiting. The letters which were to secure to the fugitive the protection -of King James were prepared by Fenwick. The hour and place were fixed at -which Porter was to receive the first instalment of the promised reward. -But his heart misgave him. He had, in truth, gone such lengths that it -would have been madness in him to turn back. He had sent Charnock, King, -Keyes, Friend, Parkyns, Rookwood, Cranburne, to the gallows. It was -impossible that such a Judas could ever be really forgiven. In France, -among the friends and comrades of those whom he had destroyed, his life -would not be worth one day's purchase. No pardon under the Great Seal -would avert the stroke of the avenger of blood. Nay, who could say that -the bribe now offered was not a bait intended to lure the victim to the -place where a terrible doom awaited him? Porter resolved to be true -to that government under which alone he could be safe; he carried -to Whitehall information of the whole intrigue; and he received full -instructions from the ministers. On the eve of the day fixed for his -departure he had a farewell meeting with Clancy at a tavern. Three -hundred guineas were counted out on the table. Porter pocketed them, -and gave a signal. Instantly several messengers from the office of the -Secretary of State rushed into the room, and produced a warrant. -The unlucky barber was carried off to prison, tried for his offence, -convicted and pilloried. [727] - -This mishap made Fenwick's situation more perilous than ever. At the -next sessions for the City of London a bill of indictment against him, -for high treason, was laid before the grand jury. Porter and Goodman -appeared as witnesses for the Crown; and the bill was found. Fenwick -now thought that it was high time to steal away to the Continent. -Arrangements were made for his passage. He quitted his hiding place, and -repaired to Romney Marsh. There he hoped to find shelter till the vessel -which was to convey him across the Channel should arrive. For, though -Hunt's establishment had been broken up, there were still in that dreary -region smugglers who carried on more than one lawless trade. It chanced -that two of these men had just been arrested on a charge of harbouring -traitors. The messenger who had taken them into custody was returning to -London with them, when, on the high road, he met Fenwick face to face. -Unfortunately for Fenwick, no face in England was better known than his. -"It is Sir John," said the officer to the prisoners: "Stand by me, my -good fellows, and, I warrant you, you will have your pardons, and a -bag of guineas besides." The offer was too tempting to be refused; but -Fenwick was better mounted than his assailants; he dashed through them, -pistol in hand, and was soon out of sight. They pursued him; the hue and -cry was raised; the bells of all the parish churches of the Marsh rang -out the alarm; the whole country was up; every path was guarded; every -thicket was beaten; every hut was searched; and at length the fugitive -was found in bed. Just then a bark, of very suspicious appearance, came -in sight; she soon approached the shore, and showed English colours; but -to the practised eyes of the Kentish fishermen she looked much like -a French privateer. It was not difficult to guess her errand. After -waiting a short time in vain for her passenger, she stood out to sea. -[728] - -Fenwick, unluckily for himself, was able so far to elude the vigilance -of those who had charge of him as to scrawl with a lead pencil a short -letter to his wife. Every line contained evidence of his guilt. All, he -wrote, was over; he was a dead man, unless, indeed, his friends could, -by dint of solicitation, obtain a pardon for him. Perhaps the united -entreaties of all the Howards might succeed. He would go abroad; he -would solemnly promise never again to set foot on English ground, and -never to draw sword against the government. Or would it be possible -to bribe a juryman or two to starve out the rest? "That," he wrote, "or -nothing can save me." This billet was intercepted in its way to the -post, and sent up to Whitehall. Fenwick was soon carried to London and -brought before the Lords Justices. At first he held high language and -bade defiance to his accusers. He was told that he had not always been -so confident; and his letter to his wife was laid before him. He had not -till then been aware that it had fallen into hands for which it was not -intended. His distress and confusion became great. He felt that, if -he were instantly sent before a jury, a conviction was inevitable. -One chance remained. If he could delay his trial for a short time, the -judges would leave town for their circuits; a few weeks would be gained; -and in the course of a few weeks something might be done. - -He addressed himself particularly to the Lord Steward, Devonshire, with -whom he had formerly had some connection of a friendly kind. The unhappy -man declared that he threw himself entirely on the royal mercy, -and offered to disclose all that he knew touching the plots of the -Jacobites. That he knew much nobody could doubt. Devonshire advised his -colleagues to postpone the trial till the pleasure of William could be -known. This advice was taken. The King was informed of what had -passed; and he soon sent an answer directing Devonshire to receive the -prisoner's confession in writing, and to send it over to the Netherlands -with all speed. [729] - -Fenwick had now to consider what he should confess. Had he, according to -his promise, revealed all that he knew, there can be no doubt that his -evidence would have seriously affected many Jacobite noblemen, gentlemen -and clergymen. But, though he was very unwilling to die, attachment to -his party was in his mind a stronger sentiment than the fear of death. -The thought occurred to him that he might construct a story, which might -possibly be considered as sufficient to earn his pardon, which would at -least put off his trial some months, yet which would not injure a -single sincere adherent of the banished dynasty, nay, which would cause -distress and embarrassment to the enemies of that dynasty, and which -would fill the Court, the Council, and the Parliament of William with -fears and animosities. He would divulge nothing that could affect those -true Jacobites who had repeatedly awaited, with pistols loaded and -horses saddled, the landing of the rightful King accompanied by a French -army. But if there were false Jacobites who had mocked their banished -Sovereign year after year with professions of attachment and promises -of service, and yet had, at every great crisis, found some excuse for -disappointing him, and who were at that moment among the chief supports -of the usurper's throne, why should they be spared? That there were -such false Jacobites, high in political office and in military command, -Fenwick had good reason to believe. He could indeed say nothing against -them to which a Court of Justice would have listened; for none of them -had ever entrusted him with any message or letter for France; and all -that he knew about their treachery he had learned at second hand -and third hand. But of their guilt he had no doubt. One of them was -Marlborough. He had, after betraying James to William, promised to make -reparation by betraying William to James, and had, at last, after much -shuffling, again betrayed James and made peace with William. Godolphin -had practised similar deception. He had long been sending fair words to -Saint Germains; in return for those fair words he had received a -pardon; and, with this pardon in his secret drawer, he had continued to -administer the finances of the existing government. To ruin such a man -would be a just punishment for his baseness, and a great service to King -James. Still more desirable was it to blast the fame and to destroy the -influence of Russell and Shrewsbury. Both were distinguished members -of that party which had, under different names, been, during three -generations, implacably hostile to the Kings of the House of Stuart. -Both had taken a great part in the Revolution. The names of both were -subscribed to the instrument which had invited the Prince of Orange -to England. One of them was now his Minister for Maritime Affairs; the -other his Principal Secretary of State; but neither had been constantly -faithful to him. Both had, soon after his accession, bitterly resented -his wise and magnanimous impartiality, which, to their minds, disordered -by party spirit, seemed to be unjust and ungrateful partiality for the -Tory faction; and both had, in their spleen, listened to agents from -Saint Germains. Russell had vowed by all that was most sacred that he -would himself bring back his exiled Sovereign. But the vow was broken as -soon as it had been uttered; and he to whom the royal family had looked -as to a second Monk had crushed the hopes of that family at La Hogue. -Shrewsbury had not gone such lengths. Yet he too, while out of humour -with William, had tampered with the agents of James. With the power and -reputation of these two great men was closely connected the power and -reputation of the whole Whig party. That party, after some quarrels, -which were in truth quarrels of lovers, was now cordially reconciled to -William, and bound to him by the strongest ties. If those ties could be -dissolved, if he could be induced to regard with distrust and aversion -the only set of men which was on principle and with enthusiasm devoted -to his interests, his enemies would indeed have reason to rejoice. - -With such views as these Fenwick delivered to Devonshire a paper so -cunningly composed that it would probably have brought some severe -calamity on the Prince to whom it was addressed, had not that Prince -been a man of singularly clear judgment and singularly lofty spirit. The -paper contained scarcely any thing respecting those Jacobite plots in -which the writer had been himself concerned, and of which he intimately -knew all the details. It contained nothing which could be of the -smallest prejudice to any person who was really hostile to the existing -order of things. The whole narrative was made up of stories, too true -for the most part, yet resting on no better authority than hearsay, -about the intrigues of some eminent warriors and statesmen, who, -whatever their former conduct might have been, were now at least hearty -in support of William. Godolphin, Fenwick averred, had accepted a seat -at the Board of Treasury, with the sanction and for the benefit of King -James. Marlborough had promised to carry over the army, Russell to -carry over the fleet. Shrewsbury, while out of office, had plotted with -Middleton against the government and King. Indeed the Whigs were now the -favourites at Saint Germains. Many old friends of hereditary right -were moved to jealousy by the preference which James gave to the new -converts. Nay, he had been heard to express his confident hope that the -monarchy would be set up again by the very hands which had pulled it -down. - -Such was Fenwick's confession. Devonshire received it and sent it by -express to the Netherlands, without intimating to any of his fellow -councillors what it contained. The accused ministers afterwards -complained bitterly of this proceeding. Devonshire defended himself -by saying that he had been specially deputed by the King to take the -prisoner's information, and was bound, as a true servant of the Crown, -to transmit that information to His Majesty and to His Majesty alone. - -The messenger sent by Devonshire found William at Loo. The King read the -confession, and saw at once with what objects it had been drawn up. It -contained little more than what he had long known, and had long, with -politic and generous dissimulation, affected not to know. If he spared, -employed and promoted men who had been false to him, it was not because -he was their dupe. His observation was quick and just; his intelligence -was good; and he had, during some years, had in his hands proofs of much -that Fenwick had only gathered from wandering reports. It has seemed -strange to many that a Prince of high spirit and acrimonious temper -should have treated servants, who had so deeply wronged him, with a -kindness hardly to be expected from the meekest of human beings. But -William was emphatically a statesman. Ill humour, the natural and -pardonable effect of much bodily and much mental suffering, might -sometimes impel him to give a tart answer. But never did he on any -important occasion indulge his angry passions at the expense of the -great interests of which he was the guardian. For the sake of those -interests, proud and imperious as he was by nature, he submitted -patiently to galling restraints, bore cruel indignities and -disappointments with the outward show of serenity, and not only forgave, -but often pretended not to see, offences which might well have moved him -to bitter resentment. He knew that he must work with such tools as -he had. If he was to govern England he must employ the public men of -England; and in his age, the public men of England, with much of a -peculiar kind of ability, were, as a class, lowminded and immoral. There -were doubtless exceptions. Such was Nottingham among the Tories, and -Somers among the Whigs. But the majority, both of the Tory and of the -Whig ministers of William, were men whose characters had taken the ply -in the days of the Antipuritan reaction. They had been formed in -two evil schools, in the most unprincipled of courts, and the most -unprincipled of oppositions, a court which took its character from -Charles, an opposition headed by Shaftesbury. From men so trained -it would have been unreasonable to expect disinterested and stedfast -fidelity to any cause. But though they could not be trusted, they might -be used and they might be useful. No reliance could be placed on their -principles but much reliance might be placed on their hopes and on their -fears; and of the two Kings who laid claim to the English crown, the -King from whom there was most to hope and most to fear was the King -in possession. If therefore William had little reason to esteem these -politicians his hearty friends, he had still less reason to number them -among his hearty foes. Their conduct towards him, reprehensible as it -was, might be called upright when compared with their conduct towards -James. To the reigning Sovereign they had given valuable service; to the -banished Sovereign little more than promises and professions. Shrewsbury -might, in a moment of resentment or of weakness, have trafficked with -Jacobite agents; but his general conduct had proved that he was as far -as ever from being a Jacobite. Godolphin had been lavish of fair words -to the dynasty which was out; but he had thriftily and skilfully managed -the revenues of the dynasty which was in. Russell had sworn that he -would desert with the English fleet; but he had burned the French fleet. -Even Marlborough's known treasons,--for his share in the disaster of -Brest and the death of Talmash was unsuspected--, had not done so much -harm as his exertions at Walcourt, at Cork and at Kinsale had done -good. William had therefore wisely resolved to shut his eyes to perfidy, -which, however disgraceful it might be, had not injured him, and still -to avail himself, with proper precautions, of the eminent talents which -some of his unfaithful counsellors possessed, Having determined on this -course, and having long followed it with happy effect, he could not but -be annoyed and provoked by Fenwick's confession. Sir John, it was plain, -thought himself a Machiavel. If his trick succeeded, the Princess, whom -it was most important to keep in good humour, would be alienated from -the government by the disgrace of Marlborough. The whole Whig party, -the firmest support of the throne, would be alienated by the disgrace of -Russell and Shrewsbury. In the meantime not one of those plotters whom -Fenwick knew to have been deeply concerned in plans of insurrection, -invasion, assassination, would be molested. This cunning schemer should -find that he had not to do with a novice. William, instead of turning -his accused servants out of their places, sent the confession to -Shrewsbury, and desired that it might be laid before the Lords Justices. -"I am astonished," the King wrote, "at the fellow's effrontery. You know -me too well to think that such stories as his can make any impression -on me. Observe this honest man's sincerity. He has nothing to say -except against my friends. Not a word about the plans of his brother -Jacobites." The King concluded by directing the Lords justices to send -Fenwick before a jury with all speed. [730] - -The effect produced by William's letter was remarkable. Every one of the -accused persons behaved himself in a manner singularly characteristic. -Marlborough, the most culpable of all, preserved a serenity, mild, -majestic and slightly contemptuous. Russell, scarcely less criminal -than Marlborough, went into a towering passion, and breathed nothing but -vengeance against the villanous informer. Godolphin, uneasy, but wary, -reserved and selfpossessed, prepared himself to stand on the defensive. -But Shrewsbury, who of all the four was the least to blame, was utterly -overwhelmed. He wrote in extreme distress to William, acknowledged with -warm expressions of gratitude the King's rare generosity, and protested -that Fenwick had malignantly exaggerated and distorted mere trifles into -enormous crimes. "My Lord Middleton,"--such was the substance of the -letter,--"was certainly in communication with me about the time of -the battle of La Hogue. We are relations; we frequently met; we supped -together just before he returned to France; I promised to take care of -his interests here; he in return offered to do me good offices there; -but I told him that I had offended too deeply to be forgiven, and that -I would not stoop to ask forgiveness." This, Shrewsbury averred, was the -whole extent of his offence. [731] It is but too fully proved that this -confession was by no means ingenuous; nor is it likely that William -was deceived. But he was determined to spare the repentant traitor the -humiliation of owning a fault and accepting a pardon. "I can see," the -King wrote, "no crime at all in what you have acknowledged. Be assured -that these calumnies have made no unfavourable impression on me. Nay, -you shall find that they have strengthened my confidence in you." [732] -A man hardened in depravity would have been perfectly contented with an -acquittal so complete, announced in language so gracious. But Shrewsbury -was quite unnerved by a tenderness which he was conscious that he had -not merited. He shrank from the thought of meeting the master whom he -had wronged, and by whom he had been forgiven, and of sustaining the -gaze of the peers, among whom his birth and his abilities had gained for -him a station of which he felt that he was unworthy. The campaign in -the Netherlands was over. The session of Parliament was approaching. -The King was expected with the first fair wind. Shrewsbury left town and -retired to the Wolds of Gloucestershire. In that district, then one of -the wildest in the south of the island, he had a small country seat, -surrounded by pleasant gardens and fish-ponds. William had, in his -progress a year before, visited this dwelling, which lay far from the -nearest high road and from the nearest market town, and had been much -struck by the silence and loneliness of the retreat in which he found -the most graceful and splendid of English courtiers. - -At one in the morning of the sixth of October, the King landed at -Margate. Late in the evening he reached Kensington. The following -morning a brilliant crowd of ministers and nobles pressed to kiss his -hand; but he missed one face which ought to have been there, and asked -where the Duke of Shrewsbury was, and when he was expected in town. The -next day came a letter from the Duke, averring that he had just had a -bad fall in hunting. His side had been bruised; his lungs had suffered; -he had spit blood, and could not venture to travel. [733] That he had -fallen and hurt himself was true; but even those who felt most kindly -towards him suspected, and not without strong reason, that he made the -most of his convenient misfortune, and, that if he had not shrunk from -appearing in public, he would have performed the journey with little -difficulty. His correspondents told him that, if he was really as ill -as he thought himself, he would do well to consult the physicians and -surgeons of the capital. Somers, especially, implored him in the most -earnest manner to come up to London. Every hour's delay was mischievous. -His Grace must conquer his sensibility. He had only to face calumny -courageously, and it would vanish. [734] The King, in a few kind lines, -expressed his sorrow for the accident. "You are much wanted here," he -wrote: "I am impatient to embrace you, and to assure you that my esteem -for you is undiminished." [735] Shrewsbury answered that he had resolved -to resign the seals. [736] Somers adjured him not to commit so fatal an -error. If at that moment His Grace should quit office, what could the -world think, except that he was condemned by his own conscience? He -would, in fact, plead guilty; he would put a stain on his own honour, -and on the honour of all who lay under the same accusation. It would no -longer be possible to treat Fenwick's story as a romance. "Forgive me," -Somers wrote, "for speaking after this free manner; for I do own I can -scarce be temperate in this matter." [737] A few hours later William -himself wrote to the same effect. "I have so much regard for you, that, -if I could, I would positively interdict you from doing what must -bring such grave suspicions on you. At any time, I should consider your -resignation as a misfortune to myself but I protest to you that, at this -time, it is on your account more than on mine that I wish you to remain -in my service." [738] Sunderland, Portland, Russell and Wharton joined -their entreaties to their master's; and Shrewsbury consented to remain -Secretary in name. But nothing could induce him to face the Parliament -which was about to meet. A litter was sent down to him from London, but -to no purpose. He set out, but declared that he found it impossible to -proceed, and took refuge again in his lonely mansion among the hills. -[739] - -While these things were passing, the members of both Houses were from -every part of the kingdom going up to Westminster. To the opening of the -session, not only England, but all Europe, looked forward with intense -anxiety. Public credit had been deeply injured by the failure of -the Land Bank. The restoration of the currency was not yet half -accomplished. The scarcity of money was still distressing. Much of the -milled silver was buried in private repositories as fast as it came -forth from the Mint. Those politicians who were bent on raising the -denomination of the coin had found too ready audience from a population -suffering under severe pressure; and, at one time, the general voice of -the nation had seemed to be on their side. [740] Of course every person -who thought it likely that the standard would be lowered, hoarded as -much money as he could hoard; and thus the cry for little shillings -aggravated the pressure from which it had sprung. [741] Both the allies -and the enemies of England imagined that her resources were spent, -that her spirit was broken, that the Commons, so often querulous and -parsimonious even in tranquil and prosperous times, would now positively -refuse to bear any additional burden, and would, with an importunity not -to be withstood, insist on having peace at any price. - -But all these prognostications were confounded by the firmness and -ability of the Whig leaders, and by the steadiness of the Whig majority. -On the twentieth of October the Houses met. William addressed to them -a speech remarkable even among all the remarkable speeches in which -his own high thoughts and purposes were expressed in the dignified and -judicious language of Somers. There was, the King said, great reason -for congratulation. It was true that the funds voted in the preceding -session for the support of the war had failed, and that the recoinage -had produced great distress. Yet the enemy had obtained no advantage -abroad; the State had been torn by no convulsion at home; the loyalty -shown by the army and by the nation under severe trials had disappointed -all the hopes of those who wished evil to England. Overtures tending to -peace had been made. What might be the result of those overtures, -was uncertain; but this was certain, that there could be no safe or -honourable peace for a nation which was not prepared to wage vigorous -war. "I am sure we shall all agree in opinion that the only way of -treating with France is with our swords in our hands." - -The Commons returned to their chamber; and Foley read the speech from -the chair. A debate followed which resounded through all Christendom. -That was the proudest day of Montague's life, and one of the proudest -days in the history of the English Parliament. In 1798, Burke held up -the proceedings of that day as an example to the statesmen whose hearts -had failed them in the conflict with the gigantic power of the French -republic. In 1822, Huskisson held up the proceedings of that day as an -example to a legislature which, under the pressure of severe distress, -was tempted to alter the standard of value and to break faith with -the public creditor. Before the House rose the young Chancellor of the -Exchequer, whose ascendency, since the ludicrous failure of the Tory -scheme of finance, was undisputed, proposed and carried three memorable -resolutions. The first, which passed with only one muttered No, declared -that the Commons would support the King against all foreign and domestic -enemies, and would enable him to prosecute the war with vigour. The -second, which passed, not without opposition, but without a division, -declared that the standard of money should not be altered in fineness, -weight or denomination. The third, against which not a single opponent -of the government dared to raise his voice, pledged the House to make -good all the deficiencies of all parliamentary fund's established since -the King's accession. The task of framing an answer to the royal speech -was entrusted to a Committee exclusively composed of Whigs. Montague -was chairman; and the eloquent and animated address which he drew up may -still be read in the journals with interest and pride. [742] - -Within a fortnight two millions and a half were granted for the military -expenditure of the approaching year, and nearly as much for the maritime -expenditure. Provision was made without any dispute for forty thousand -seamen. About the amount of the land force there was a division. The -King asked for eighty-seven thousand soldiers; and the Tories thought -that number too large. The vote was carried by two hundred and -twenty-three to sixty-seven. - -The malecontents flattered themselves, during a short time, that -the vigorous resolutions of the Commons would be nothing more than -resolutions, that it would be found impossible to restore public credit, -to obtain advances from capitalists, or to wring taxes out of the -distressed population, and that therefore the forty thousand seamen and -the eighty-seven thousand soldiers would exist only on paper. Howe, -who had been more cowed than was usual with him on the first day of the -session, attempted, a week later, to make a stand against the Ministry. -"The King," he said, "must have been misinformed; or His Majesty never -would have felicitated Parliament on the tranquil state of the country. -I come from Gloucestershire. I know that part of the kingdom well. The -people are all living on alms, or ruined by paying alms. The soldier -helps himself, sword in hand, to what he wants. There have been serious -riots already; and still more serious riots are to be apprehended." -The disapprobation of the House was strongly expressed. Several -members declared that in their counties every thing was quiet. If -Gloucestershire were in a more disturbed state than the rest of England, -might not the cause be that Gloucestershire was cursed with a more -malignant and unprincipled agitator than all the rest of England could -show? Some Gloucestershire gentlemen took issue with Howe on the facts. -There was no such distress, they said, no such discontent, no such -rioting as he had described. In that county, as in every other county, -the great body of the population was fully determined to support the -King in waging a vigorous war till he could make an honourable peace. -[743] - -In fact the tide had already turned. From the moment at which the -Commons notified their fixed determination not to raise the denomination -of the coin, the milled money began to come forth from a thousand strong -boxes and private drawers. There was still pressure; but that pressure -was less and less felt day by day. The nation, though still suffering, -was joyful and grateful. Its feelings resembled those of a man who, -having been long tortured by a malady which has embittered his life, has -at last made up his mind to submit to the surgeon's knife, who has gone -through a cruel operation with safety, and who, though still smarting -from the steel, sees before him many years of health and enjoyment, and -thanks God that the worst is over. Within four days after the meeting of -Parliament there was a perceptible improvement in trade. The discount -on bank notes had diminished by one third. The price of those wooden -tallies, which, according to an usage handed to us from a rude age, -were given as receipts for sums paid into the Exchequer, had risen. The -exchanges, which had during many months been greatly against England, -had begun to turn. [744] Soon the effect of the magnanimous firmness of -the House of Commons was felt at every Court in Europe. So high indeed -was the spirit of that assembly that the King had some difficulty in -preventing the Whigs from moving and carrying a resolution that an -address should be presented to him, requesting him to enter into no -negotiation with France, till she should have acknowledged him as King -of England. [745] Such an address was unnecessary. The votes of the -Parliament had already forced on Lewis the conviction that there was no -chance of a counterrevolution. There was as little chance that he would -be able to effect that compromise of which he had, in the course of -the negotiations, thrown out hints. It was not to be hoped that either -William or the English nation would ever consent to make the settlement -of the English crown a matter of bargain with France. And even had -William and the English nation been disposed to purchase peace by such a -sacrifice of dignity, there would have been insuperable difficulties in -another quarter. James could not endure to hear of the expedient which -Lewis had suggested. "I can bear," the exile said to his benefactor, "I -can bear with Christian patience to be robbed by the Prince of Orange; -but I never will consent to be robbed by my own son." Lewis never again -mentioned the subject. Callieres received orders to make the concession -on which the peace of the civilised world depended. He and Dykvelt came -together at the Hague before Baron Lilienroth, the representative of -the King of Sweden, whose mediation the belligerent powers had accepted. -Dykvelt informed Lilienroth that the Most Christian King had engaged, -whenever the Treaty of Peace should be signed, to recognise the Prince -of Orange as King of Great Britain, and added, with a very intelligible -allusion to the compromise proposed by France, that the recognition -would be without restriction, condition or reserve. Callieres then -declared that he confirmed, in the name of his master, what Dykvelt had -said. [746] A letter from Prior, containing the good news, was delivered -to James Vernon, the Under Secretary of State, in the House of Commons. -The tidings ran along the benches--such is Vernon's expression--like -fire in a field of stubble. A load was taken away from every heart; -and all was joy and triumph. [747] The Whig members might indeed well -congratulate each other. For it was to the wisdom and resolution which -they had shown, in a moment of extreme danger and distress, that their -country was indebted for the near prospect of an honourable peace. - -Meanwhile public credit, which had, in the autumn, sunk to the lowest -point, was fast reviving. Ordinary financiers stood aghast when they -learned that more than five millions were required to make good the -deficiencies of past years. But Montague was not an ordinary financier. -A bold and simple plan proposed by him, and popularly called the General -Mortgage, restored confidence. New taxes were imposed; old taxes -were augmented or continued; and thus a consolidated fund was formed -sufficient to meet every just claim on the State. The Bank of England -was at the same time enlarged by a new subscription; and the regulations -for the payment of the subscription were framed in such a manner as to -raise the value both of the notes of the corporation and of the public -securities. - -Meanwhile the mints were pouring forth the new silver faster than ever. -The distress which began on the fourth of May 1696, which was almost -insupportable during the five succeeding months, and which became -lighter from the day on which the Commons declared their immutable -resolution to maintain the old standard, ceased to be painfully felt in -March 1697. Some months were still to elapse before credit completely -recovered from the most tremendous shock that it has ever sustained. But -already the deep and solid foundation had been laid on which was to rise -the most gigantic fabric of commercial prosperity that the world had -ever seen. The great body of the Whigs attributed the restoration of the -health of the State to the genius and firmness of their leader Montague. -His enemies were forced to confess, sulkily and sneeringly, that every -one of his schemes had succeeded, the first Bank subscription, the -second Bank subscription, the Recoinage, the General Mortgage, the -Exchequer Bills. But some Tories muttered that he deserved no more -praise than a prodigal who stakes his whole estate at hazard, and has -a run of good luck. England had indeed passed safely through a terrible -crisis, and was the stronger for having passed through it. But she had -been in imminent danger of perishing; and the minister who had exposed -her to that danger deserved, not to be praised, but to be hanged. Others -admitted that the plans which were popularly attributed to Montague were -excellent, but denied that those plans were Montague's. The voice of -detraction, however, was for a time drowned by the loud applauses of -the Parliament and the City. The authority which the Chancellor of -the Exchequer exercised in the House of Commons was unprecedented and -unrivalled. In the Cabinet his influence was daily increasing. He had no -longer a superior at the Board of Treasury. In consequence of Fenwick's -confession, the last Tory who held a great and efficient office in the -State had been removed, and there was at length a purely Whig Ministry. - -It had been impossible to prevent reports about that confession from -getting abroad. The prisoner, indeed, had found means of communicating -with his friends, and had doubtless given them to understand that he -had said nothing against them, and much against the creatures of the -usurper. William wished the matter to be left to the ordinary tribunals, -and was most unwilling that it should be debated elsewhere. But his -counsellors, better acquainted than himself with the temper of large -and divided assemblies, were of opinion that a parliamentary discussion, -though perhaps undesirable, was inevitable. It was in the power of a -single member of either House to force on such a discussion; and in both -Houses there were members who, some from a sense of duty, some from mere -love of mischief, were determined to know whether the prisoner had, -as it was rumoured, brought grave charges against some of the most -distinguished men in the kingdom. If there must be an inquiry, it was -surely desirable that the accused statesmen should be the first to -demand it. There was, however, one great difficulty. The Whigs, who -formed the majority of the Lower House, were ready to vote, as one man, -for the entire absolution of Russell and Shrewsbury, and had no wish to -put a stigma on Marlborough, who was not in place, and therefore excited -little jealousy. But a strong body of honest gentlemen, as Wharton -called them, could not, by any management, be induced to join in a -resolution acquitting Godolphin. To them Godolphin was an eyesore. All -the other Tories who, in the earlier years of William's reign, had -borne a chief part in the direction of affairs, had, one by one, been -dismissed. Nottingham, Trevor, Leeds, were no longer in power. Pembroke -could hardly be called a Tory, and had never been really in power. But -Godolphin still retained his post at Whitehall; and to the men of the -Revolution it seemed intolerable that one who had sate at the Council -Board of Charles and James, and who had voted for a Regency, should be -the principal minister of finance. Those who felt thus had learned with -malicious delight that the First Lord of the Treasury was named in -the confession about which all the world was talking; and they were -determined not to let slip so good an opportunity of ejecting him from -office. On the other hand, every body who had seen Fenwick's paper, and -who had not, in the drunkenness of factious animosity, lost all sense -of reason and justice, must have felt that it was impossible to make -a distinction between two parts of that paper, and to treat all that -related to Shrewsbury and Russell as false, and all that related to -Godolphin as true. This was acknowledged even by Wharton, who of all -public men was the least troubled by scruples or by shame. [748] If -Godolphin had stedfastly refused to quit his place, the Whig leaders -would have been in a most embarrassing position. But a politician of no -common dexterity undertook to extricate them from their difficulties. -In the art of reading and managing the minds of men Sunderland had no -equal; and he was, as he had been during several years, desirous to -see all the great posts in the kingdom filled by Whigs. By his skilful -management Godolphin was induced to go into the royal closet, and to -request permission to retire from office; and William granted that -permission with a readiness by which Godolphin was much more surprised -than pleased. [749] - -One of the methods employed by the Whig junto, for the purpose of -instituting and maintaining through all the ranks of the Whig party a -discipline never before known, was the frequent holding of meetings of -members of the House of Commons. Some of those meetings were numerous; -others were select. The larger were held at the Rose, a tavern -frequently mentioned in the political pasquinades of that time; [750] -the smaller at Russell's in Covent Garden, or at Somers's in Lincoln's -Inn Fields. - -On the day on which Godolphin resigned his great office two select -meetings were called. In the morning the place of assembly was Russell's -house. In the afternoon there was a fuller muster at the Lord Keeper's. -Fenwick's confession, which, till that time, had probably been known -only by rumour to most of those who were present, was read. The -indignation of the hearers was strongly excited, particularly by one -passage, of which the sense seemed to be that not only Russell, not only -Shrewsbury, but the great body of the Whig party was, and had long -been, at heart Jacobite. "The fellow insinuates," it was said, "that the -Assassination Plot itself was a Whig scheme." The general opinion was -that such a charge could not be lightly passed over. There must be a -solemn debate and decision in Parliament. The best course would be that -the King should himself see and examine the prisoner, and that Russell -should then request the royal permission to bring the subject before the -House of Commons. As Fenwick did not pretend that he had any authority -for the stories which he had told except mere hearsay, there could be no -difficulty in carrying a resolution branding him as a slanderer, and an -address to the throne requesting that he might be forthwith brought to -trial for high treason. [751] - -The opinion of the meeting was conveyed to William by his ministers; -and he consented, though not without reluctance, to see the prisoner. -Fenwick was brought into the royal closet at Kensington. A few of -the great officers of state and the Crown lawyers were present. "Your -papers, Sir John," said the King, "are altogether unsatisfactory. -Instead of giving me an account of the plots formed by you and your -accomplices, plots of which all the details must be exactly known to -you, you tell me stories, without authority, without date, without -place, about noblemen and gentlemen with whom you do not pretend to -have had any intercourse. In short your confession appears to be a -contrivance intended to screen those who are really engaged in designs -against me, and to make me suspect and discard those in whom I have good -reason to place confidence. If you look for any favour from me, give me, -this moment and on this spot, a full and straightforward account of -what you know of your own knowledge." Fenwick said that he was taken -by surprise, and asked for time. "No, Sir," said the King. "For what -purpose can you want time? You may indeed want time if you mean to draw -up another paper like this. But what I require is a plain narrative of -what you have yourself done and seen; and such a narrative you can give, -if you will, without pen and ink." Then Fenwick positively refused to -say any thing. "Be it so," said William. "I will neither hear you nor -hear from you any more." [752] Fenwick was carried back to his prison. -He had at this audience shown a boldness and determination which -surprised those who had observed his demeanour. He had, ever since he -had been in confinement, appeared to be anxious and dejected; yet now, -at the very crisis of his fate, he had braved the displeasure of -the Prince whose clemency he had, a short time before, submissively -implored. In a very few hours the mystery was explained. Just before -he had been summoned to Kensington, he had received from his wife -intelligence that his life was in no danger, that there was only -one witness against him, that she and her friends had succeeded in -corrupting Goodman. [753] - -Goodman had been allowed a liberty which was afterwards, with some -reason, made matter of charge against the government. For his testimony -was most important; his character was notoriously bad; the attempts -which had been made to seduce Porter proved that, if money could save -Fenwick's life, money would not be spared; and Goodman had not, like -Porter, been instrumental in sending Jacobites to the gallows, and -therefore was not, like Porter, bound to the cause of William by an -indissoluble tie. The families of the imprisoned conspirators employed -the agency of a cunning and daring adventurer named O'Brien. This -man knew Goodman well. Indeed they had belonged to the same gang of -highwaymen. They met at the Dog in Drury Lane, a tavern which was -frequented by lawless and desperate men. O'Brien was accompanied by -another Jacobite of determined character. A simple choice was offered to -Goodman, to abscond and to be rewarded with an annuity of five hundred -a year, or to have his throat cut on the spot. He consented, half from -cupidity, half from fear. O'Brien was not a man to be tricked as Clancy -had been. He never parted company with Goodman from the moment when the -bargain was struck till they were at Saint Germains. [754] - -On the afternoon of the day on which Fenwick was examined by the King at -Kensington it began to be noised abroad that Goodman was missing. He had -been many hours absent from his house. He had not been seen at his usual -haunts. At first a suspicion arose that he had been murdered by -the Jacobites; and this suspicion was strengthened by a singular -circumstance. Just after his disappearance, a human head was found -severed from the body to which it belonged, and so frightfully mangled -that no feature could be recognised. The multitude, possessed by the -notion that there was no crime which an Irish Papist might not be found -to commit, was inclined to believe that the fate of Godfrey had befallen -another victim. On inquiry however it seemed certain that Goodman had -designedly withdrawn himself. A proclamation appeared promising a reward -of a thousand pounds to any person who should stop the runaway; but it -was too late. [755] - -This event exasperated the Whigs beyond measure. No jury could now find -Fenwick guilty of high treason. Was he then to escape? Was a long series -of offences against the State to go unpunished merely because to those -offences had now been added the offence of bribing a witness to suppress -his evidence and to desert his bail? Was there no extraordinary method -by which justice might strike a criminal who, solely because he was -worse than other criminals, was beyond the reach of the ordinary law? -Such a method there was, a method authorised by numerous precedents, a -method used both by Papists and by Protestants during the troubles of -the sixteenth century, a method used both by Roundheads and by Cavaliers -during the troubles of the seventeenth century, a method which scarcely -any leader of the Tory party could condemn without condemning himself, a -method of which Fenwick could not decently complain, since he had, a few -years before, been eager to employ it against the unfortunate Monmouth. -To that method the party which was now supreme in the State determined -to have recourse. - -Soon after the Commons had met, on the morning of the sixth of November, -Russell rose in his place and requested to be heard. The task which he -had undertaken required courage not of the most respectable kind; but to -him no kind of courage was wanting. Sir John Fenwick, he said, had sent -to the King a paper in which grave accusations were brought against some -of His Majesty's servants; and His Majesty had, at the request of his -accused servants, graciously given orders that this paper should be -laid before the House. The confession was produced and read. The Admiral -then, with spirit and dignity worthy of a better man, demanded justice -for himself and Shrewsbury. "If we are innocent, clear us. If we are -guilty, punish us as we deserve. I put myself on you as on my country, -and am ready to stand or fall by your verdict." - -It was immediately ordered that Fenwick should be brought to the -bar with all speed. Cutts, who sate in the House as member for -Cambridgeshire, was directed to provide a sufficient escort, and was -especially enjoined to take care that the prisoner should have no -opportunity of making or receiving any communication, oral or written, -on the road from Newgate to Westminster. The House then adjourned till -the afternoon. - -At five o'clock, then a late hour, the mace was again put on the table; -candles were lighted; and the House and lobby were carefully cleared of -strangers. Fenwick was in attendance under a strong guard. He was called -in, and exhorted from the chair to make a full and ingenuous confession. -He hesitated and evaded. "I cannot say any thing without the King's -permission. His Majesty may be displeased if what ought to be known only -to him should be divulged to others." He was told that his apprehensions -were groundless. The King well knew that it was the right and the duty -of his faithful Commons to inquire into whatever concerned the safety of -his person and of his government. "I may be tried in a few days," said -the prisoner. "I ought not to be asked to say any thing which may rise -up in judgment against me." "You have nothing to fear," replied the -Speaker, "if you will only make a full and free discovery. No man -ever had reason to repent of having dealt candidly with the Commons of -England." Then Fenwick begged for delay. He was not a ready orator; his -memory was bad; he must have time to prepare himself. He was told, as he -had been told a few days before in the royal closet, that, prepared or -unprepared, he could not but remember the principal plots in which he -had been engaged, and the names of his chief accomplices. If he -would honestly relate what it was quite impossible that he could have -forgotten, the House would make all fair allowances, and would grant him -time to recollect subordinate details. Thrice he was removed from the -bar; and thrice he was brought back. He was solemnly informed that the -opportunity then given him of earning the favour of the Commons would -probably be the last. He persisted in his refusal, and was sent back to -Newgate. - -It was then moved that his confession was false and scandalous. -Coningsby proposed to add that it was a contrivance to create jealousies -between the King and good subjects for the purpose of screening real -traitors. A few implacable and unmanageable Whigs, whose hatred of -Godolphin had not been mitigated by his resignation, hinted their doubts -whether the whole paper ought to be condemned. But after a debate -in which Montague particularly distinguished himself the motion was -carried. One or two voices cried "No;" but nobody ventured to demand a -division. - -Thus far all had gone smoothly; but in a few minutes the storm broke -forth. The terrible words, Bill of Attainder, were pronounced; and all -the fiercest passions of both the great factions were instantly roused. -The Tories had been taken by surprise, and many of them had left the -house. Those who remained were loud in declaring that they never would -consent to such a violation of the first principles of justice. The -spirit of the Whigs was not less ardent, and their ranks were unbroken. -The motion for leave to bring in a bill attainting Sir John Fenwick -was carried very late at night by one hundred and seventy-nine votes to -sixty-one; but it was plain that the struggle would be long and hard. -[756] - -In truth party spirit had seldom been more strongly excited. On both -sides there was doubtless much honest zeal; and on both sides an -observant eye might have detected fear, hatred, and cupidity disguised -under specious pretences of justice and public good. The baleful heat -of faction rapidly warmed into life poisonous creeping things which had -long been lying torpid, discarded spies and convicted false witnesses, -the leavings of the scourge, the branding iron and the shears. Even -Fuller hoped that he might again find dupes to listen to him. The world -had forgotten him since his pillorying. He now had the effrontery to -write to the Speaker, begging to be heard at the bar and promising much -important information about Fenwick and others. On the ninth of November -the Speaker informed the House that he had received this communication; -but the House very properly refused even to suffer the letter of so -notorious a villain to be read. - -On the same day the Bill of Attainder, having been prepared by the -Attorney and Solicitor General, was brought in and read a first time. -The House was full and the debate sharp. John Manley, member for -Bossiney, one of those stanch Tories who, in the preceding session, -had long refused to sign the Association, accused the majority, in no -measured terms, of fawning on the Court and betraying the liberties of -the people. His words were taken down; and, though he tried to explain -them away, he was sent to the Tower. Seymour spoke strongly against -the bill, and quoted the speech which Caesar made in the Roman Senate -against the motion that the accomplices of Catiline should be put to -death in an irregular manner. A Whig orator keenly remarked that the -worthy Baron had forgotten that Caesar was grievously suspected of -having been himself concerned in Catiline's plot. [757] In this stage -a hundred and ninety-six members voted for the bill, a hundred and -four against it. A copy was sent to Fenwick, in order that he might -be prepared to defend himself. He begged to be heard by counsel; his -request was granted; and the thirteenth was fixed for the hearing. - -Never within the memory of the oldest member had there been such a stir -round the House as on the morning of the thirteenth. The approaches -were with some difficulty cleared; and no strangers, except peers, were -suffered to come within the doors. Of peers the throng was so great that -their presence had a perceptible influence on the debate. Even Seymour, -who, having formerly been Speaker, ought to have been peculiarly mindful -of the dignity of the Commons, so strangely forgot himself as once to -say "My Lords." Fenwick, having been formally given up by the Sheriffs -of London to the Serjeant at Arms, was put to the bar, attended by two -barristers who were generally employed by Jacobite culprits, Sir -Thomas Powis and Sir Bartholomew Shower. Counsel appointed by the House -appeared in support of the bill. - -The examination of the witnesses and the arguments of the advocates -occupied three days. Porter was called in and interrogated. It was -established, not indeed by legal proof, but by such moral proof as -determines the conduct of men in the affairs of common life, that -Goodman's absence was to be attributed to a scheme planned and executed -by Fenwick's friends with Fenwick's privity. Secondary evidence of what -Goodman, if he had been present, would have been able to prove, -was, after a warm debate, admitted. His confession, made on oath and -subscribed by his hand, was put in. Some of the grand jurymen who had -found the bill against Sir John gave an account of what Goodman had -sworn before them; and their testimony was confirmed by some of the -petty jurymen who had convicted another conspirator. No evidence was -produced in behalf of the prisoner. After counsel for him and against -him had been heard, he was sent back to his cell. [758] Then the real -struggle began. It was long and violent. The House repeatedly sate from -daybreak till near midnight. Once the Speaker was in the chair fifteen -hours without intermission. Strangers were freely admitted; for it was -felt that, since the House chose to take on itself the functions of a -court of justice, it ought, like a court of justice, to sit with -open doors. [759] The substance of the debates has consequently been -preserved in a report, meagre, indeed, when compared with the reports -of our time, but for that age unusually full. Every man of note in the -House took part in the discussion. The bill was opposed by Finch with -that fluent and sonorous rhetoric which had gained him the name of -Silvertongue, and by Howe with all the sharpness both of his wit and of -his temper, by Seymour with characteristic energy, and by Harley with -characteristic solemnity. On the other side Montague displayed -the powers of a consummate debater, and was zealously supported by -Littleton. Conspicuous in the front ranks of the hostile parties were -two distinguished lawyers, Simon Harcourt and William Cowper. - -Both were gentlemen of honourable descent; both were distinguished -by their fine persons and graceful manners; both were renowned for -eloquence; and both loved learning and learned men. It may be added that -both had early in life been noted for prodigality and love of pleasure. -Dissipation had made them poor; poverty had made them industrious; and -though they were still, as age is reckoned at the Inns of Court, very -young men, Harcourt only thirty-six, Cowper only thirty-two, they -already had the first practice at the bar. They were destined to rise -still higher, to be the bearers of the great seal of the realm, and -the founders of patrician houses. In politics they were diametrically -opposed to each other. Harcourt had seen the Revolution with disgust, -had not chosen to sit in the Convention, had with difficulty reconciled -his conscience to the oaths, and had tardily and unwillingly signed the -Association. Cowper had been in arms for the Prince of Orange and a free -Parliament, and had, in the short and tumultuary campaign which preceded -the flight of James, distinguished himself by intelligence and courage. -Since Somers had been removed to the Woolsack, the law officers of the -Crown had not made a very distinguished figure in the Lower House, or -indeed any where else; and their deficiencies had been more than once -supplied by Cowper. His skill had, at the trial of Parkyns, recovered -the verdict which the mismanagement of the Solicitor General had, for a -moment, put in jeopardy. He had been chosen member for Hertford at -the general election of 1695, and had scarcely taken his seat when he -attained a high place among parliamentary speakers. Chesterfield many -years later, in one of his letters to his son, described Cowper as an -orator who never spoke without applause, but who reasoned feebly, and -who owed the influence which he long exercised over great assemblies to -the singular charm of his style, his voice and his action. Chesterfield -was, beyond all doubt, intellectually qualified to form a correct -judgment on such a subject. But it must be remembered that the object of -his letters was to exalt good taste and politeness in opposition to much -higher qualities. He therefore constantly and systematically attributed -the success of the most eminent persons of his age to their superiority, -not in solid abilities and acquirements, but in superficial graces of -diction and manner. He represented even Marlborough as a man of very -ordinary capacity, who, solely because he was extremely well bred and -well spoken, had risen from poverty and obscurity to the height of power -and glory. It may confidently be pronounced that both to Marlborough and -to Cowper Chesterfield was unjust. The general who saved the Empire and -conquered the Low Countries was assuredly something more than a fine -gentleman; and the judge who presided during nine years in the Court of -Chancery with the approbation of all parties must have been something -more than a fine declaimer. - -Whoever attentively and impartially studies the report of the debates -will be of opinion that, on many points which were discussed at great -length and with great animation, the Whigs had a decided superiority in -argument, but that on the main question the Tories were in the right. - -It was true that the crime of high treason was brought home to Fenwick -by proofs which could leave no doubt on the mind of any man of common -sense, and would have been brought home to him according to the strict -rules of law, if he had not, by committing another crime, eluded the -justice of the ordinary tribunals. It was true that he had, in the very -act of professing repentance and imploring mercy, added a new offence -to his former offences, that, while pretending to make a perfectly -ingenuous confession, he had, with cunning malice, concealed every thing -which it was for the interest of the government that he should divulge, -and proclaimed every thing which it was for the interest of the -government to bury in silence. It was a great evil that he should be -beyond the reach of punishment; it was plain that he could be reached -only by a bill of pains and penalties; and it could not be denied, -either that many such bills had passed, or that no such bill had ever -passed in a clearer case of guilt or after a fairer hearing. - -All these propositions the Whigs seem to have fully established. -They had also a decided advantage in the dispute about the rule which -requires two witnesses in cases of high treason. The truth is that the -rule is absurd. It is impossible to understand why the evidence which -would be sufficient to prove that a man has fired at one of his fellow -subjects should not be sufficient to prove that he has fired at his -Sovereign. It can by no means be laid down as a general maxim that -the assertion of two witnesses is more convincing to the mind than the -assertion of one witness. The story told by one witness may be in itself -probable. The story told by two witnesses may be extravagant. The -story told by one witness may be uncontradicted. The story told by two -witnesses may be contradicted by four witnesses. The story told by one -witness may be corroborated by a crowd of circumstances. The story told -by two witnesses may have no such corroboration. The one witness may be -Tillotson or Ken. The two witnesses may be Oates and Bedloe. - -The chiefs of the Tory party, however, vehemently maintained that -the law which required two witnesses was of universal and eternal -obligation, part of the law of nature, part of the law of God. Seymour -quoted the book of Numbers and the book of Deuteronomy to prove that -no man ought to be condemned to death by the mouth of a single witness. -"Caiaphas and his Sanhedrim," said Harley, "were ready enough to set up -the plea of expediency for a violation of justice; they said,--and we -have heard such things said,--'We must slay this man, or the Romans -will come and take away our place and nation.' Yet even Caiaphas and his -Sanhedrim, in that foulest act of judicial murder, did not venture to -set aside the sacred law which required two witnesses." "Even Jezebel," -said another orator, "did not dare to take Naboth's vineyard from him -till she had suborned two men of Belial to swear falsely." "If the -testimony of one grave elder had been sufficient," it was asked, "what -would have become of the virtuous Susannah?" This last allusion called -forth a cry of "Apocrypha, Apocrypha," from the ranks of the Low -Churchmen. [760] - -Over these arguments, which in truth can scarcely have imposed on those -who condescended to use them, Montague obtained a complete and easy -victory. "An eternal law! Where was this eternal law before the reign of -Edward the Sixth? Where is it now, except in statutes which relate only -to one very small class of offences. If these texts from the Pentateuch -and these precedents from the practice of the Sanhedrim prove any thing, -they prove the whole criminal jurisprudence of the realm to be a mass of -injustice and impiety. One witness is sufficient to convict a murderer, -a burglar, a highwayman, an incendiary, a ravisher. Nay, there are cases -of high treason in which only one witness is required. One witness can -send to Tyburn a gang of clippers and comers. Are you, then, prepared to -say that the whole law of evidence, according to which men have during -ages been tried in this country for offences against life and property, -is vicious and ought to be remodelled? If you shrink from saying this, -you must admit that we are now proposing to dispense, not with a divine -ordinance of universal and perpetual obligation, but simply with an -English rule of procedure, which applies to not more than two or three -crimes, which has not been in force a hundred and fifty years, which -derives all its authority from an Act of Parliament, and which may -therefore be by another, Act abrogated or suspended without offence to -God or men." - -It was much less easy to answer the chiefs of the opposition when they -set forth the danger of breaking down the partition which separates the -functions of the legislator from those of the judge. "This man," it was -said, "may be a bad Englishman; and yet his cause may be the cause of -all good Englishmen. Only last year we passed an Act to regulate the -procedure of the ordinary courts in cases of treason. We passed that -Act because we thought that, in those courts, the life of a subject -obnoxious to the government was not then sufficiently secured. Yet the -life of a subject obnoxious to the government was then far more secure -than it will be if this House takes on itself to be the supreme criminal -judicature in political cases." Warm eulogies were pronounced on the -ancient national mode of trial by twelve good men and true; and indeed -the advantages of that mode of trial in political cases are obvious. The -prisoner is allowed to challenge any number of jurors with cause, and a -considerable number without cause. The twelve, from the moment at which -they are invested with their short magistracy, till the moment when they -lay it down, are kept separate from the rest of the community. Every -precaution is taken to prevent any agent of power from soliciting or -corrupting them. Every one of them must hear every word of the evidence -and every argument used on either side. The case is then summed up by a -judge who knows that, if he is guilty of partiality, he may be called to -account by the great inquest of the nation. In the trial of Fenwick at -the bar of the House of Commons all these securities were wanting. Some -hundreds of gentlemen, every one of whom had much more than half made -up his mind before the case was opened, performed the functions both of -judge and jury. They were not restrained, as a judge is restrained, by -the sense of responsibility; for who was to punish a Parliament? They -were not selected, as a jury is selected, in a manner which enables the -culprit to exclude his personal and political enemies. The arbiters of -his fate came in and went out as they chose. They heard a fragment here -and there of what was said against him, and a fragment here and there of -what was said in his favour. During the progress of the bill they were -exposed to every species of influence. One member was threatened by the -electors of his borough with the loss of his seat; another might obtain -a frigate for his brother from Russell; the vote of a third might be -secured by the caresses and Burgundy of Wharton. In the debates -arts were practised and passions excited which are unknown to well -constituted tribunals, but from which no great popular assembly divided -into parties ever was or ever will be free. The rhetoric of one orator -called forth loud cries of "Hear him." Another was coughed and scraped -down. A third spoke against time in order that his friends who were -supping might come in to divide. [761] If the life of the most worthless -man could be sported with thus, was the life of the most virtuous man -secure? - -The opponents of the bill did not, indeed, venture to say that there -could be no public danger sufficient to justify an Act of Attainder. -They admitted that there might be cases in which the general rule must -bend to an overpowering necessity. But was this such a case? Even if it -were granted, for the sake of argument, that Strafford and Monmouth were -justly attainted, was Fenwick, like Strafford, a great minister who had -long ruled England north of Trent, and all Ireland, with absolute power, -who was high in the royal favour, and whose capacity, eloquence and -resolution made him an object of dread even in his fall? Or was Fenwick, -like Monmouth, a pretender to the Crown and the idol of the common -people? Were all the finest youths of three counties crowding to enlist -under his banners? What was he but a subordinate plotter? He had indeed -once had good employments; but he had long lost them. He had once had -a good estate; but he had wasted it. Eminent abilities and weight of -character he had never had. He was, no doubt, connected by marriage -with a very noble family; but that family did not share his political -prejudices. What importance, then, had he, except that importance which -his persecutors were most unwisely giving him by breaking through all -the fences which guard the lives of Englishmen in order to destroy him? -Even if he were set at liberty, what could he do but haunt Jacobite -coffeehouses, squeeze oranges, and drink the health of King James and -the Prince of Wales? If, however, the government, supported by the Lords -and the Commons, by the fleet and the army, by a militia one hundred and -sixty thousand strong, and by the half million of men who had signed the -Association, did really apprehend danger from this poor ruined baronet, -the benefit of the Habeas Corpus Act might be withheld from him. He -might be kept within four walls as long as there was the least chance of -his doing mischief. It could hardly be contended that he was an enemy so -terrible that the State could be safe only when he was in the grave. - -It was acknowledged that precedents might be found for this bill, or -even for a bill far more objectionable. But it was said that whoever -reviewed our history would be disposed to regard such precedents rather -as warnings than as examples. It had many times happened that an Act of -Attainder, passed in a fit of servility or animosity, had, when fortune -had changed, or when passion had cooled, been repealed and solemnly -stigmatized as unjust. Thus, in old times, the Act which was passed -against Roger Mortimer, in the paroxysm of a resentment not unprovoked, -had been, at a calmer moment, rescinded on the ground that, however -guilty he might have been, he had not had fair play for his life. Thus, -within the memory of the existing generation, the law which attainted -Strafford had been annulled, without one dissentient voice. Nor, it -was added, ought it to be left unnoticed that, whether by virtue of the -ordinary law of cause and effect, or by the extraordinary judgment of -God, persons who had been eager to pass bills of pains and penalties, -had repeatedly perished by such bills. No man had ever made a more -unscrupulous use of the legislative power for the destruction of his -enemies than Thomas Cromwell; and it was by an unscrupulous use of the -legislative power that he was himself destroyed. If it were true that -the unhappy gentleman whose fate was now trembling in the balance had -himself formerly borne a part in a proceeding similar to that which was -now instituted against him, was not this a fact which ought to suggest -very serious reflections? Those who tauntingly reminded Fenwick that he -had supported the bill which attainted Monmouth might perhaps themselves -be tauntingly reminded, in some dark and terrible hour, that they had -supported the bill which had attainted Fenwick. "Let us remember what -vicissitudes we have seen. Let us, from so many signal examples of the -inconstancy of fortune, learn moderation in prosperity. How little -we thought, when we saw this man a favourite courtier at Whitehall, a -general surrounded with military pomp at Hounslow, that we should live -to see him standing at our bar, and awaiting his doom from our lips! And -how far is it from certain that we may not one day, in the bitterness of -our souls, vainly invoke the protection of those mild laws which we now -treat so lightly! God forbid that we should ever again be subject to -tyranny! But God forbid, above all, that our tyrants should ever be able -to plead, in justification of the worst that they can inflict upon us, -precedents furnished by ourselves!" - -These topics, skilfully handled, produced a great effect on many -moderate Whigs. Montague did his best to rally his followers. We -still possess the rude outline of what must have been a most effective -peroration. "Gentlemen warn us"--this, or very nearly this, seems to -have been what he said--"not to furnish King James with a precedent -which, if ever he should be restored, he may use against ourselves. Do -they really believe that, if that evil day shall ever come, this just -and necessary law will be the pattern which he will imitate? No, Sir, -his model will be, not our bill of attainder, but his own; not our bill, -which, on full proof, and after a most fair hearing, inflicts deserved -retribution on a single guilty head; but his own bill, which, without -a defence, without an investigation, without an accusation, doomed near -three thousand people, whose only crimes were their English blood and -their Protestant faith, the men to the gallows and the women to the -stake. That is the precedent which he has set, and which he will follow. -In order that he never may be able to follow it, in order that the fear -of a righteous punishment may restrain those enemies of our country who -wish to see him ruling in London as he ruled at Dublin, I give my vote -for this bill." - -In spite of all the eloquence and influence of the ministry, the -minority grew stronger and stronger as the debates proceeded. The -question that leave should be given to bring in the bill had been -carried by nearly three to one. On the question that the bill should be -committed, the Ayes were a hundred and eighty-six, the Noes a hundred -and twenty-eight. On the question that the bill should pass, the Ayes -were a hundred and eighty-nine, the Noes a hundred and fifty-six. - -On the twenty-sixth of November the bill was carried up to the Lords. -Before it arrived, the Lords had made preparations to receive it. Every -peer who was absent from town had been summoned up: every peer who -disobeyed the summons and was unable to give a satisfactory explanation -of his disobedience was taken into custody by Black Rod. On the day -fixed for the first reading, the crowd on the benches was unprecedented. -The whole number of temporal Lords, exclusive of minors, Roman Catholics -and nonjurors, was about a hundred and forty. Of these a hundred and -five were in their places. Many thought that the Bishops ought to have -been permitted, if not required, to withdraw; for, by an ancient canon, -those who ministered at the altars of God were forbidden to take any -part in the infliction of capital punishment. On the trial of a peer -impeached of high treason, the prelates always retire, and leave the -culprit to be absolved or condemned by laymen. And surely, if it be -unseemly that a divine should doom his fellow creatures to death as a -judge, it must be still more unseemly that he should doom them to death -as a legislator. In the latter case, as in the former, he contracts -that stain of blood which the Church regards with horror; and it will -scarcely be denied that there are some grave objections to the shedding -of blood by Act of Attainder which do not apply to the shedding of blood -in the ordinary course of justice. In fact, when the bill for taking -away the life of Strafford was under consideration, all the spiritual -peers withdrew. Now, however, the example of Cranmer, who had voted -for some of the most infamous acts of attainder that ever passed, was -thought more worthy of imitation; and there was a great muster of lawn -sleeves. It was very properly resolved that, on this occasion, the -privilege of voting by proxy should be suspended, that the House should -be called over at the beginning and at the end of every sitting, and -that every member who did not answer to his name should be taken into -custody. [762] - -Meanwhile the unquiet brain of Monmouth was teeming with strange -designs. He had now reached a time of life at which youth could no -longer be pleaded as an excuse for his faults; but he was more wayward -and eccentric than ever. Both in his intellectual and in his moral -character there was an abundance of those fine qualities which may be -called luxuries, and a lamentable deficiency of those solid qualities -which are of the first necessity. He had brilliant wit and ready -invention without common sense, and chivalrous generosity and delicacy -without common honesty. He was capable of rising to the part of the -Black Prince; and yet he was capable of sinking to the part of Fuller. -His political life was blemished by some most dishonourable actions; -yet he was not under the influence of those motives to which most of the -dishonourable actions of politicians are to be ascribed. He valued -power little and money less. Of fear he was utterly insensible. If he -sometimes stooped to be a villain,--for no milder word will come up to -the truth,--it was merely to amuse himself and to astonish other people. -In civil as in military affairs, he loved ambuscades, surprises, night -attacks. He now imagined that he had a glorious opportunity of making -a sensation, of producing a great commotion; and the temptation was -irresistible to a spirit so restless as his. - -He knew, or at least strongly suspected, that the stories which Fenwick -had told on hearsay, and which King, Lords and Commons, Whigs and -Tories, had agreed to treat as calumnies, were, in the main, true. Was -it impossible to prove that they were true, to cross the wise policy of -William, to bring disgrace at once on some of the most eminent men -of both parties, to throw the whole political world into inextricable -confusion? - -Nothing could be done without the help of the prisoner; and with the -prisoner it was impossible to communicate directly. It was necessary to -employ the intervention of more than one female agent. The Duchess of -Norfolk was a Mordaunt, and Monmouth's first cousin. Her gallantries -were notorious; and her husband had, some years before, tried to induce -his brother nobles to pass a bill for dissolving his marriage; but the -attempt had been defeated, in consequence partly of the zeal with -which Monmouth had fought the battle of his kinswoman. The lady, though -separated from her lord, lived in a style suitable to her rank, and -associated with many women of fashion, among others, with Lady Mary -Fenwick, and with a relation of Lady Mary, named Elizabeth Lawson. By -the instrumentality of the Duchess, Monmouth conveyed to the prisoner -several papers containing suggestions framed with much art. Let Sir -John,--such was the substance of these suggestions,--boldly affirm that -his confession is true, that he has brought accusations, on hearsay -indeed, but not on common hearsay, that he has derived his knowledge of -the facts which he has asserted from the highest quarters; and let him -point out a mode in which his veracity may be easily brought to the -test. Let him pray that the Earls of Portland and Romney, who are well -known to enjoy the royal confidence, may be called upon to declare -whether they are not in possession of information agreeing with what he -has related. Let him pray that the King may be requested to lay before -Parliament the evidence which caused the sudden disgrace of Lord -Marlborough, and any letters which may have been intercepted while -passing between Saint Germains and Lord Godolphin. "Unless," said -Monmouth to his female agents, "Sir John is under a fate, unless he -is out of his mind, he will take my counsel. If he does, his life and -honour are safe. If he does not, he is a dead man." Then this strange -intriguer, with his usual license of speech, reviled William for what -was in truth one of William's best titles to glory. "He is the worst -of men. He has acted basely. He pretends not to believe these charges -against Shrewsbury, Russell, Marlborough, Godolphin. And yet he -knows,"--and Monmouth confirmed the assertion by a tremendous oath,--"he -knows that every word of the charges is true." - -The papers written by Monmouth were delivered by Lady Mary to her -husband. If the advice which they contained had been followed, there can -be little doubt that the object of the adviser would have been attained. -The King would have been bitterly mortified; there would have been a -general panic among public men of every party; even Marlborough's serene -fortitude would have been severely tried; and Shrewsbury would probably -have shot himself. But that Fenwick would have put himself in a better -situation is by no means clear. Such was his own opinion. He saw that -the step which he was urged to take was hazardous. He knew that he was -urged to take that step, not because it was likely to save himself, but -because it was certain to annoy others; and he was resolved not to be -Monmouth's tool. - -On the first of December the bill went through the earliest stage -without a division. Then Fenwick's confession, which had, by the royal -command, been laid on the table, was read; and then Marlborough stood -up. "Nobody can wonder," he said, "that a man whose head is in danger -should try to save himself by accusing others. I assure Your Lordships -that, since the accession of his present Majesty, I have had no -intercourse with Sir John on any subject whatever; and this I declare -on my word of honour." [763] Marlborough's assertion may have been true; -but it was perfectly compatible with the truth of all that Fenwick had -said. Godolphin went further. "I certainly did," he said, "continue to -the last in the service of King James and of his Queen. I was esteemed -by them both. But I cannot think that a crime. It is possible that they -and those who are about them may imagine that I am still attached to -their interest. That I cannot help. But it is utterly false that I have -had any such dealings with the Court of Saint Germains as are described -in the paper which Your Lordships have heard read." [764] - -Fenwick was then brought in, and asked whether he had any further -confession to make. Several peers interrogated him, but to no purpose. -Monmouth, who could not believe that the papers which he had sent to -Newgate had produced no effect, put, in a friendly and encouraging -manner, several questions intended to bring out answers which would have -been by no means agreeable to the accused Lords. No such answer however -was to be extracted from Fenwick. Monmouth saw that his ingenious -machinations had failed. Enraged and disappointed, he suddenly turned -round, and became more zealous for the bill than any other peer in the -House. Every body noticed the rapid change in his temper and manner; but -that change was at first imputed merely to his well known levity. - -On the eighth of December the bill was again taken into consideration; -and on that day Fenwick, accompanied by his counsel, was in attendance. -But, before he was called in, a previous question was raised. Several -distinguished Tories, particularly Nottingham, Rochester, Normanby and -Leeds, said that, in their opinion, it was idle to inquire whether the -prisoner was guilty or not guilty, unless the House was of opinion that -he was a person so formidable that, if guilty, he ought to be attainted -by Act of Parliament. They did not wish, they said, to hear any -evidence. For, even on the supposition that the evidence left no doubt -of his criminality, they should still think it better to leave him -unpunished than to make a law for punishing him. The general sense, -however, was decidedly for proceeding. [765] The prisoner and his -counsel were allowed another week to prepare themselves; and, at length, -on the fifteenth of December, the struggle commenced in earnest. - -The debates were the longest and the hottest, the divisions were the -largest, the protests were the most numerously signed that had ever been -known in the whole history of the House of Peers. Repeatedly the benches -continued to be filled from ten in the morning till past midnight. [766] -The health of many lords suffered severely; for the winter was bitterly -cold; but the majority was not disposed to be indulgent. One evening -Devonshire was unwell; he stole away and went to bed; but Black Rod was -soon sent to bring him back. Leeds, whose constitution was extremely -infirm, complained loudly. "It is very well," he said, "for young -gentlemen to sit down to their suppers and their wine at two o'clock in -the morning; but some of us old men are likely to be of as much use here -as they; and we shall soon be in our graves if we are forced to keep -such hours at such a season." [767] So strongly was party spirit -excited that this appeal was disregarded, and the House continued to sit -fourteen or fifteen hours a day. The chief opponents of the bill were -Rochester, Nottingham, Normanby and Leeds. The chief orators on the -other side were Tankerville, who, in spite of the deep stains which -a life singularly unfortunate had left on his public and private -character, always spoke with an eloquence which riveted the attention -of his hearers; Burnet, who made a great display of historical learning; -Wharton, whose lively and familiar style of speaking, acquired in the -House of Commons, sometimes shocked the formality of the Lords; and -Monmouth, who had always carried the liberty of debate to the verge of -licentiousness, and who now never opened his lips without inflicting -a wound on the feelings of some adversary. A very few nobles of great -weight, Devonshire, Dorset, Pembroke and Ormond, formed a third party. -They were willing to use the Bill of Attainder as an instrument of -torture for the purpose of wringing a full confession out of the -prisoner. But they were determined not to give a final vote for sending -him to the scaffold. - -The first division was on the question whether secondary evidence of -what Goodman could have proved should be admitted. On this occasion -Burnet closed the debate by a powerful speech which none of the Tory -orators could undertake to answer without premeditation. A hundred and -twenty-six lords were present, a number unprecedented in our history. -There were seventy-three Contents, and fifty-three Not Contents. -Thirty-six of the minority protested against the decision of the House. -[768] - -The next great trial of strength was on the question whether the bill -should be read a second time. The debate was diversified by a curious -episode. Monmouth, in a vehement declamation, threw some severe and well -merited reflections on the memory of the late Lord Jeffreys. The title -and part of the ill gotten wealth of Jeffreys had descended to his son, -a dissolute lad, who had lately come of age, and who was then sitting in -the House. The young man fired at hearing his father reviled. The House -was forced to interfere, and to make both the disputants promise that -the matter should go no further. On this day a hundred and twenty-eight -peers were present. The second reading was carried by seventy-three to -fifty-five; and forty-nine of the fifty-five protested. [769] - -It was now thought by many that Fenwick's courage would give way. It -was known that he was very unwilling to die. Hitherto he might have -flattered himself with hopes that the bill would miscarry. But now that -it had passed one House, and seemed certain to pass the other, it was -probable that he would save himself by disclosing all that he knew. He -was again put to the bar and interrogated. He refused to answer, on the -ground that his answers might be used against him by the Crown at the -Old Bailey. He was assured that the House would protect him; but he -pretended that this assurance was not sufficient; the House was not -always sitting; he might be brought to trial during a recess, and hanged -before their Lordships met again. The royal word alone, he said, would -be a complete guarantee. The Peers ordered him to be removed, and -immediately resolved that Wharton should go to Kensington, and should -entreat His Majesty to give the pledge which the prisoner required. -Wharton hastened to Kensington, and hastened back with a gracious -answer. Fenwick was again placed at the bar. The royal word, he was -told, had been passed that nothing which he might say there should be -used against him in any other place. Still he made difficulties. He -might confess all that he knew, and yet might be told that he was still -keeping something back. In short, he would say nothing till he had a -pardon. He was then, for the last time, solemnly cautioned from the -Woolsack. He was assured that, if he would deal ingenuously with the -Lords, they would be intercessors for him at the foot of the throne, -and that their intercession would not be unsuccessful. If he continued -obstinate, they would proceed with the bill. A short interval was -allowed him for consideration; and he was then required to give his -final answer. "I have given it," he said; "I have no security. If I had, -I should be glad to satisfy the House." He was then carried back to his -cell; and the Peers separated, having sate far into the night. [770] - -At noon they met again. The third reading was moved. Tenison spoke for -the bill with more ability than was expected from him, and Monmouth with -as much sharpness as in the previous debates. But Devonshire declared -that he could go no further. He had hoped that fear would induce Fenwick -to make a frank confession; that hope was at an end; the question -now was simply whether this man should be put to death by an Act of -Parliament; and to that question Devonshire said that he must answer, -"Not Content." It is not easy to understand on what principle he can -have thought himself justified in threatening to do what he did not -think himself justified in doing. He was, however, followed by Dorset, -Ormond, Pembroke, and two or three others. Devonshire, in the name of -his little party, and Rochester, in the name of the Tories, offered -to waive all objections to the mode of proceeding, if the penalty were -reduced from death to perpetual imprisonment. But the majority, -though weakened by the defection of some considerable men, was still a -majority, and would hear of no terms of compromise. The third reading -was carried by only sixty-eight votes to sixty-one. Fifty-three Lords -recorded their dissent; and forty-one subscribed a protest, in which -the arguments against the bill were ably summed up. [771] The peers whom -Fenwick had accused took different sides. Marlborough steadily voted -with the majority, and induced Prince George to do the same. Godolphin -as steadily voted with the minority, but, with characteristic wariness, -abstained from giving any reasons for his votes. No part of his life -warrants us in ascribing his conduct to any exalted motive. It is -probable that, having been driven from office by the Whigs and forced -to take refuge among the Tories, he thought it advisable to go with his -party. [772] - -As soon as the bill had been read a third time, the attention of the -Peers was called to a matter which deeply concerned the honour of their -order. Lady Mary Fenwick had been, not unnaturally, moved to the highest -resentment by the conduct of Monmouth. He had, after professing a great -desire to save her husband, suddenly turned round, and become the most -merciless of her husband's persecutors; and all this solely because -the unfortunate prisoner would not suffer himself to be used as an -instrument for the accomplishing of a wild scheme of mischief. She might -be excused for thinking that revenge would be sweet. In her rage she -showed to her kinsman the Earl of Carlisle the papers which she had -received from the Duchess of Norfolk. Carlisle brought the subject -before the Lords. The papers were produced. Lady Mary declared that she -had received them from the Duchess. The Duchess declared that she had -received them from Monmouth. Elizabeth Lawson confirmed the evidence of -her two friends. All the bitter things which the petulant Earl had said -about William were repeated. The rage of both the great factions -broke forth with ungovernable violence. The Whigs were exasperated by -discovering that Monmouth had been secretly labouring to bring to shame -and ruin two eminent men with whose reputation the reputation of -the whole party was bound up. The Tories accused him of dealing -treacherously and cruelly by the prisoner and the prisoner's wife. Both -among the Whigs and among the Tories Monmouth had, by his sneers and -invectives, made numerous personal enemies, whom fear of his wit and -of his sword had hitherto kept in awe. [773] All these enemies were now -openmouthed against him. There was great curiosity to know what he would -be able to say in his defence. His eloquence, the correspondent of the -States General wrote, had often annoyed others. He would now want it -all to protect himself. [774] That eloquence indeed was of a kind much -better suited to attack than to defence. Monmouth spoke near three hours -in a confused and rambling manner, boasted extravagantly of his services -and sacrifices, told the House that he had borne a great part in the -Revolution, that he had made four voyages to Holland in the evil times, -that he had since refused great places, that he had always held lucre -in contempt. "I," he said, turning significantly to Nottingham, "have -bought no great estate; I have built no palace; I am twenty thousand -pounds poorer than when I entered public life. My old hereditary mansion -is ready to fall about my ears. Who that remembers what I have done and -suffered for His Majesty will believe that I would speak disrespectfully -of him?" He solemnly declared,--and this was the most serious of the -many serious faults of his long and unquiet life,--that he had nothing -to do with the papers which had caused so much scandal. The Papists, -he said, hated him; they had laid a scheme to ruin him; his ungrateful -kinswoman had consented to be their implement, and had requited the -strenuous efforts which he had made in defence of her honour by trying -to blast his. When he concluded there was a long silence. He asked -whether their Lordships wished him to withdraw. Then Leeds, to whom he -had once professed a strong attachment, but whom he had deserted with -characteristic inconstancy and assailed with characteristic petulance, -seized the opportunity of revenging himself. "It is quite unnecessary," -the shrewd old statesman said, "that the noble Earl should withdraw -at present. The question which we have now to decide is merely whether -these papers do or do not deserve our censure. Who wrote them is a -question which may be considered hereafter." It was then moved and -unanimously resolved that the papers were scandalous, and that the -author had been guilty of a high crime and misdemeanour. Monmouth -himself was, by these dexterous tactics, forced to join in condemning -his own compositions. [775] Then the House proceeded to consider the -charge against him. The character of his cousin the Duchess did not -stand high; but her testimony was confirmed both by direct and by -circumstantial evidence. Her husband said, with sour pleasantry, that he -gave entire faith to what she had deposed. "My Lord Monmouth thought her -good enough to be wife to me; and, if she is good enough to be wife to -me, I am sure that she is good enough to be a witness against him." In a -House of near eighty peers only eight or ten seemed inclined to show any -favour to Monmouth. He was pronounced guilty of the act of which he had, -in the most solemn manner, protested that he was innocent; he was sent -to the Tower; he was turned out of all his places; and his name was -struck out of the Council Book. [776] It might well have been thought -that the ruin of his fame and of his fortunes was irreparable. But there -was about his nature an elasticity which nothing could subdue. In his -prison, indeed, he was as violent as a falcon just caged, and would, if -he had been long detained, have died of mere impatience. His only solace -was to contrive wild and romantic schemes for extricating himself from -his difficulties and avenging himself on his enemies. When he regained -his liberty, he stood alone in the world, a dishonoured man, more hated -by the Whigs than any Tory, and by the Tories than any Whig, and reduced -to such poverty that he talked of retiring to the country, living like -a farmer, and putting his Countess into the dairy to churn and to make -cheeses. Yet even after this fall, that mounting spirit rose again, and -rose higher than ever. When he next appeared before the world, he had -inherited the earldom of the head of his family; he had ceased to be -called by the tarnished name of Monmouth; and he soon added new lustre -to the name of Peterborough. He was still all air and fire. His -ready wit and his dauntless courage made him formidable; some amiable -qualities which contrasted strangely with his vices, and some great -exploits of which the effect was heightened by the careless levity with -which they were performed, made him popular; and his countrymen were -willing to forget that a hero of whose achievements they were proud, and -who was not more distinguished by parts and valour than by courtesy and -generosity, had stooped to tricks worthy of the pillory. - -It is interesting and instructive to compare the fate of Shrewsbury with -the fate of Peterborough. The honour of Shrewsbury was safe. He had been -triumphantly acquitted of the charges contained in Fenwick's confession. -He was soon afterwards still more triumphantly acquitted of a still more -odious charge. A wretched spy named Matthew Smith, who thought that -he had not been sufficiently rewarded, and was bent on being revenged, -affirmed that Shrewsbury had received early information of the -Assassination Plot, but had suppressed that information, and had taken -no measures to prevent the conspirators from accomplishing their design. -That this was a foul calumny no person who has examined the evidence -can doubt. The King declared that he could himself prove his minister's -innocence; and the Peers, after examining Smith, pronounced the -accusation unfounded. Shrewsbury was cleared as far as it was in the -power of the Crown and of the Parliament to clear him. He had power and -wealth, the favour of the King and the favour of the people. No man had -a greater number of devoted friends. He was the idol of the Whigs; yet -he was not personally disliked by the Tories. It should seem that -his situation was one which Peterborough might well have envied. But -happiness and misery are from within. Peterborough had one of those -minds of which the deepest wounds heal and leave no scar. Shrewsbury -had one of those minds in which the slightest scratch may fester to -the death. He had been publicly accused of corresponding with Saint -Germains; and, though King, Lords and Commons had pronounced him -innocent, his conscience told him that he was guilty. The praises which -he knew that he had not deserved sounded to him like reproaches. He -never regained his lost peace of mind. He left office; but one cruel -recollection accompanied him into retirement. He left England; but one -cruel recollection pursued him over the Alps and the Apennines. On a -memorable day, indeed, big with the fate of his country, he again, after -many inactive and inglorious years, stood forth the Shrewsbury of 1688. -Scarcely any thing in history is more melancholy than that late and -solitary gleam, lighting up the close of a life which had dawned so -splendidly, and which had so early become hopelessly troubled and -gloomy. - -On the day on which the Lords passed the Bill of Attainder, they -adjourned over the Christmas holidays. The fate of Fenwick consequently -remained during more than a fortnight in suspense. In the interval plans -of escape were formed; and it was thought necessary to place a strong -military guard round Newgate. [777] Some Jacobites knew William so -little as to send him anonymous letters, threatening that he should -be shot or stabbed if he dared to touch a hair of the prisoner's head. -[778] On the morning of the eleventh of January he passed the bill. He -at the same time passed a bill which authorised the government to detain -Bernardi and some other conspirators in custody during twelve months. -On the evening of that day a deeply mournful event was the talk of all -London. The Countess of Aylesbury had watched with intense anxiety the -proceedings against Sir John. Her lord had been as deep as Sir John in -treason, was, like Sir John, in confinement, and had, like Sir John, -been a party to Goodman's flight. She had learned with dismay that -there was a method by which a criminal who was beyond the reach of the -ordinary law might be punished. Her terror had increased at every stage -in the progress of the Bill of Attainder. On the day on which the royal -assent was to be given, her agitation became greater than her frame -could support. When she heard the sound of the guns which announced that -the King was on his way to Westminster, she fell into fits, and died in -a few hours. [779] - -Even after the bill had become law, strenuous efforts were made to save -Fenwick. His wife threw herself at William's feet, and offered him a -petition. He took the petition, and said, very gently, that it should be -considered, but that the matter was one of public concern, and that he -must deliberate with his ministers before he decided. [780] She then -addressed herself to the Lords. She told them that her husband had -not expected his doom, that he had not had time to prepare himself for -death, that he had not, during his long imprisonment, seen a divine. -They were easily induced to request that he might be respited for a -week. A respite was granted; but, forty-eight hours before it expired, -Lady Mary presented to the Lords another petition, imploring them to -intercede with the King that her husband's punishment might be commuted -to banishment. The House was taken by surprise; and a motion to adjourn -was with difficulty carried by two votes. [781] On the morrow, the last -day of Fenwick's life, a similar petition was presented to the Commons. -But the Whig leaders were on their guard; the attendance was full; and -a motion for reading the Orders of the Day was carried by a hundred and -fifty-two to a hundred and seven. [782] In truth, neither branch of the -legislature could, without condemning itself, request William to spare -Fenwick's life. Jurymen, who have, in the discharge of a painful duty, -pronounced a culprit guilty, may, with perfect consistency, recommend -him to the favourable consideration of the Crown. But the Houses ought -not to have passed the Bill of Attainder unless they were convinced, not -merely that Sir John had committed high treason, but also that he could -not, without serious danger to the Commonwealth, be suffered to live. He -could not be at once a proper object of such a bill and a proper object -of the royal mercy. - -On the twenty-eighth of January the execution took place. In compliment -to the noble families with which Fenwick was connected, orders were -given that the ceremonial should be in all respects the same as when a -peer of the realm suffers death. A scaffold was erected on Tower Hill -and hung with black. The prisoner was brought from Newgate in the coach -of his kinsman the Earl of Carlisle, which was surrounded by a troop -of the Life Guards. Though the day was cold and stormy, the crowd of -spectators was immense; but there was no disturbance, and no sign that -the multitude sympathized with the criminal. He behaved with a firmness -which had not been expected from him. He ascended the scaffold with -steady steps, and bowed courteously to the persons who were assembled -on it, but spoke to none, except White, the deprived Bishop of -Peterborough. White prayed with him during about half an hour. In the -prayer the King was commended to the Divine protection; but no name -which could give offence was pronounced. Fenwick then delivered a sealed -paper to the Sheriffs, took leave of the Bishop, knelt down, laid his -neck on the block, and exclaimed, "Lord Jesus, receive my soul." His -head was severed from his body at a single blow. His remains were -placed in a rich coffin, and buried that night, by torchlight, under -the pavement of Saint Martin's Church. No person has, since that day, -suffered death in England by Act of Attainder. [783] - -Meanwhile an important question, about which public feeling was much -excited, had been under discussion. As soon as the Parliament met, a -Bill for Regulating Elections, differing little in substance from the -bill which the King had refused to pass in the preceding session, was -brought into the House of Commons, was eagerly welcomed by the country -gentlemen, and was pushed through every stage. On the report it -was moved that five thousand pounds in personal estate should be a -sufficient qualification for the representative of a city or borough. -But this amendment was rejected. On the third reading a rider was -added, which permitted a merchant possessed of five thousand pounds -to represent the town in which he resided; but it was provided that no -person should be considered as a merchant because he was a proprietor of -Bank Stock or East India Stock. The fight was hard. Cowper distinguished -himself among the opponents of the bill. His sarcastic remarks on the -hunting, hawking boors, who wished to keep in their own hands the whole -business of legislation, called forth some sharp rustic retorts. A plain -squire, he was told, was as likely to serve the country well as the most -fluent gownsman, who was ready, for a guinea, to prove that black was -white. On the question whether the bill should pass, the Ayes were two -hundred, the Noes a hundred and sixty. [784] - -The Lords had, twelve months before, readily agreed to a similar bill; -but they had since reconsidered the subject and changed their opinion. -The truth is that, if a law requiring every member of the House of -Commons to possess an estate of some hundreds of pounds a year in land -could have been strictly enforced, such a law would have been very -advantageous to country gentlemen of moderate property, but would have -been by no means advantageous to the grandees of the realm. A lord of a -small manor would have stood for the town in the neighbourhood of which -his family had resided during centuries, without any apprehension that -he should be opposed by some alderman of London, whom the electors had -never seen before the day of nomination, and whose chief title to their -favour was a pocketbook full of bank notes. But a great nobleman, who -had an estate of fifteen or twenty thousand pounds a year, and who -commanded two or three boroughs, would no longer be able to put his -younger son, his younger brother, his man of business, into Parliament, -or to earn a garter or a step in the peerage by finding a seat for a -Lord of the Treasury or an Attorney General. On this occasion therefore -the interest of the chiefs of the aristocracy, Norfolk and Somerset, -Newcastle and Bedford, Pembroke and Dorset, coincided with that of the -wealthy traders of the City and of the clever young aspirants of the -Temple, and was diametrically opposed to the interest of a squire of -a thousand or twelve hundred a year. On the day fixed for the second -reading the attendance of lords was great. Several petitions from -constituent bodies, which thought it hard that a new restriction should -be imposed on the exercise of the elective franchise, were presented and -read. After a debate of some hours the bill was rejected by sixty-two -votes to thirty-seven. [785] Only three days later, a strong party in -the Commons, burning with resentment, proposed to tack the bill which -the Peers had just rejected to the Land Tax Bill. This motion would -probably have been carried, had not Foley gone somewhat beyond the -duties of his place, and, under pretence of speaking to order, shown -that such a tack would be without a precedent in parliamentary history. -When the question was put, the Ayes raised so loud a cry that it was -believed that they were the majority; but on a division they proved -to be only a hundred and thirty-five. The Noes were a hundred and -sixty-three. [786] - -Other parliamentary proceedings of this session deserve mention. While -the Commons were busily engaged in the great work of restoring the -finances, an incident took place which seemed, during a short time, -likely to be fatal to the infant liberty of the press, but which -eventually proved the means of confirming that liberty. Among the -many newspapers which had been established since the expiration of the -censorship, was one called the Flying Post. The editor, John Salisbury, -was the tool of a band of stockjobbers in the City, whose interest it -happened to be to cry down the public securities. He one day published a -false and malicious paragraph, evidently intended to throw suspicion on -the Exchequer Bills. On the credit of the Exchequer Bills depended, at -that moment, the political greatness and the commercial prosperity of -the realm. The House of Commons was in a flame. The Speaker issued his -warrant against Salisbury. It was resolved without a division that a -bill should be brought in to prohibit the publishing of news without a -license. Forty-eight hours later the bill was presented and read. But -the members had now had time to cool. There was scarcely one of them -whose residence in the country had not, during the preceding summer, -been made more agreeable by the London journals. Meagre as those -journals may seem to a person who has the Times daily on his breakfast -table, they were to that generation a new and abundant source of -pleasure. No Devonshire or Yorkshire gentleman, Whig or Tory, could bear -the thought of being again dependent, during seven months of every year, -for all information about what was doing in the world, on newsletters. -If the bill passed, the sheets, which were now so impatiently expected -twice a week at every country seat in the kingdom, would contain nothing -but what it suited the Secretary of State to make public; they would be, -in fact, so many London Gazettes; and the most assiduous reader of the -London Gazette might be utterly ignorant of the most important events of -his time. A few voices, however, were raised in favour of a censorship. -"These papers," it was said, "frequently contain mischievous -matter." "Then why are they not prosecuted?" was the answer. "Has the -Attorney-General filed an information against any one of them? And is -it not absurd to ask us to give a new remedy by statute, when the old -remedy afforded by the common law has never been tried?" On the question -whether the bill should be read a second time, the Ayes were only -sixteen, the Noes two hundred. [787] - -Another bill, which fared better, ought to be noticed as an instance of -the slow, but steady progress of civilisation. The ancient immunities -enjoyed by some districts of the capital, of which the largest and the -most infamous was Whitefriars, had produced abuses which could no longer -be endured. The Templars on one side of Alsatia, and the citizens on the -other, had long been calling on the government and the legislature to -put down so monstrous a nuisance. Yet still, bounded on the west by the -great school of English jurisprudence, and on the east by the great mart -of English trade, stood this labyrinth of squalid, tottering houses, -close packed, every one, from cellar to cockloft, with outcasts whose -life was one long war with society. The best part of the population -consisted of debtors who were in fear of bailiffs. The rest were -attorneys struck off the roll, witnesses who carried straw in their -shoes as a sign to inform the public where a false oath might be -procured for half a crown, sharpers, receivers of stolen goods, clippers -of coin, forgers of bank notes, and tawdry women, blooming with paint -and brandy, who, in their anger, made free use of their nails and their -scissors, yet whose anger was less to be dreaded than their kindness. -With these wretches the narrow alleys of the sanctuary swarmed. The -rattling of dice, the call for more punch and more wine, and the noise -of blasphemy and ribald song never ceased during the whole night. The -benchers of the Inner Temple could bear the scandal and the annoyance no -longer. They ordered the gate leading into Whitefriars to be bricked up. -The Alsatians mustered in great force, attacked the workmen, killed one -of them, pulled down the wall, knocked down the Sheriff who came to keep -the peace, and carried off his gold chain, which, no doubt, was soon in -the melting pot. The riot was not suppressed till a company of the Foot -Guards arrived. This outrage excited general indignation. The City, -indignant at the outrage offered to the Sheriff, cried loudly for -justice. Yet, so difficult was it to execute any process in the dens of -Whitefriars, that near two years elapsed before a single ringleader was -apprehended. [788] - -The Savoy was another place of the same kind, smaller indeed, and less -renowned, but inhabited by a not less lawless population. An unfortunate -tailor, who ventured to go thither for the purpose of demanding payment -of a debt, was set upon by the whole mob of cheats, ruffians and -courtesans. He offered to give a full discharge to his debtor and a -treat to the rabble, but in vain. He had violated their franchises; -and this crime was not to be pardoned. He was knocked down, stripped, -tarred, feathered. A rope was tied round his waist. He was dragged naked -up and down the streets amidst yells of "A bailiff! A bailiff!" Finally -he was compelled to kneel down and to curse his father and mother. -Having performed this ceremony he was permitted,--and the permission was -blamed by many of the Savoyards,--to limp home without a rag upon him. -[789] The Bog of Allen, the passes of the Grampians, were not more -unsafe than this small knot of lanes, surrounded by the mansions of the -greatest nobles of a flourishing and enlightened kingdom. - -At length, in 1697, a bill for abolishing the franchises of these places -passed both Houses, and received the royal assent. The Alsatians -and Savoyards were furious. Anonymous letters, containing menaces of -assassination, were received by members of Parliament who had made -themselves conspicuous by the zeal with which they had supported the -bill; but such threats only strengthened the general conviction that -it was high time to destroy these nests of knaves and ruffians. A -fortnight's grace was allowed; and it was made known that, when that -time had expired, the vermin who had been the curse of London would be -unearthed and hunted without mercy. There was a tumultuous flight to -Ireland, to France, to the Colonies, to vaults and garrets in less -notorious parts of the capital; and when, on the prescribed day, the -Sheriff's officers ventured to cross the boundary, they found those -streets where, a few weeks before, the cry of "A writ!" would have drawn -together a thousand raging bullies and vixens, as quiet as the cloister -of a cathedral. [790] - -On the sixteenth of April, the King closed the session with a speech, -in which he returned warm and well merited thanks to the Houses for the -firmness and wisdom which had rescued the nation from commercial and -financial difficulties unprecedented in our history. Before he set out -for the Continent, he conferred some new honours, and made some -new ministerial arrangements. Every member of the Whig junto was -distinguished by some conspicuous mark of royal favour. Somers delivered -up the seal, of which he was Keeper; he received it back again with the -higher title of Chancellor, and was immediately commanded to affix it to -a patent, by which he was created Baron Somers of Evesham. [791] Russell -became Earl of Orford and Viscount Barfleur. No English title had -ever before been taken from a place of battle lying within a foreign -territory. But the precedent then set has been repeatedly followed; and -the names of Saint Vincent, Trafalgar, Camperdown, and Douro are now -borne by the successors of great commanders. Russell seems to have -accepted his earldom, after his fashion, not only without gratitude, but -grumblingly, and as if some great wrong had been done him. What was -a coronet to him? He had no child to inherit it. The only distinction -which he should have prized was the garter; and the garter had been -given to Portland. Of course, such things were for the Dutch; and it was -strange presumption in an Englishman, though he might have won a victory -which had saved the State, to expect that his pretensions would be -considered till all the Mynheers about the palace had been served. [792] - -Wharton, still retaining his place of Comptroller of the Household, -obtained the lucrative office of Chief Justice in Eyre, South of Trent; -and his brother, Godwin Wharton, was made a Lord of the Admiralty. [793] - -Though the resignation of Godolphin had been accepted in October, no new -commission of Treasury was issued till after the prorogation. Who should -be First Commissioner was a question long and fiercely disputed. For -Montague's faults had made him many enemies, and his merits many more, -Dull formalists sneered at him as a wit and poet, who, no doubt, showed -quick parts in debate, but who had already been raised far higher than -his services merited or than his brain would bear. It would be absurd -to place such a young coxcomb, merely because he could talk fluently and -cleverly, in an office on which the wellbeing of the kingdom depended. -Surely Sir Stephen Fox was, of all the Lords of the Treasury, the -fittest to be at the head of the Board. He was an elderly man, grave, -experienced, exact, laborious; and he had never made a verse in his -life. The King hesitated during a considerable time between the two -candidates; but time was all in Montague's favour; for, from the first -to the last day of the session, his fame was constantly rising. The -voice of the House of Commons and of the City loudly designated him as -preeminently qualified to be the chief minister of finance. At length -Sir Stephen Fox withdrew from the competition, though not with a very -good grace. He wished it to be notified in the London Gazette that the -place of First Lord had been offered to him, and declined by him. Such -a notification would have been an affront to Montague; and Montague, -flushed with prosperity and glory, was not in a mood to put up with -affronts. The dispute was compromised. Montague became First Lord of -the Treasury; and the vacant seat at the Board was filled by Sir Thomas -Littleton, one of the ablest and most consistent Whigs in the House -of Commons. But, from tenderness to Fox, these promotions were not -announced in the Gazette. [794] - -Dorset resigned the office of Chamberlain, but not in ill humour, -and retired loaded with marks of royal favour. He was succeeded by -Sunderland, who was also appointed one of the Lords Justices, not -without much murmuring from various quarters. [795] To the Tories -Sunderland was an object of unmixed detestation. Some of the Whig -leaders had been unable to resist his insinuating address; and others -were grateful for the services which he had lately rendered to the -party. But the leaders could not restrain their followers. Plain men, -who were zealous for civil liberty and for the Protestant religion, who -were beyond the range of Sunderland's irresistible fascination, and -who knew that he had sate in the High Commission, concurred in the -Declaration of Indulgence, borne witness against the Seven Bishops, and -received the host from a Popish priest, could not, without indignation -and shame, see him standing, with the staff in his hand, close to the -throne. Still more monstrous was it that such a man should be entrusted -with the administration of the government during the absence of the -Sovereign. William did not understand these feelings. Sunderland was -able; he was useful; he was unprincipled indeed; but so were all the -English politicians of the generation which had learned, under the -sullen tyranny of the Saints, to disbelieve in virtue, and which had, -during the wild jubilee of the Restoration, been utterly dissolved in -vice. He was a fair specimen of his class, a little worse, perhaps, than -Leeds or Godolphin, and about as bad as Russell or Marlborough. Why he -was to be hunted from the herd the King could not imagine. - -Notwithstanding the discontent which was caused by Sunderland's -elevation, England was, during this summer, perfectly quiet and in -excellent temper. All but the fanatical Jacobites were elated by the -rapid revival of trade and by the near prospect of peace. Nor were -Ireland and Scotland less tranquil. - -In Ireland nothing deserving to be minutely related had taken place -since Sidney had ceased to be Lord Lieutenant. The government had -suffered the colonists to domineer unchecked over the native population; -and the colonists had in return been profoundly obsequious to the -government. The proceedings of the local legislature which sate at -Dublin had been in no respect more important or more interesting than -the proceedings of the Assembly of Barbadoes. Perhaps the most momentous -event in the parliamentary history of Ireland at this time was a dispute -between the two Houses which was caused by a collision between the coach -of the Speaker and the coach of the Chancellor. There were, indeed, -factions, but factions which sprang merely from personal pretensions and -animosities. The names of Whig and Tory had been carried across Saint -George's Channel, but had in the passage lost all their meaning. A man -who was called a Tory at Dublin would have passed at Westminster for as -stanch a Whig as Wharton. The highest Churchmen in Ireland abhorred -and dreaded Popery so much that they were disposed to consider every -Protestant as a brother. They remembered the tyranny of James, the -robberies, the burnings, the confiscations, the brass money, the Act -of Attainder, with bitter resentment. They honoured William as their -deliverer and preserver. Nay, they could not help feeling a certain -respect even for the memory of Cromwell; for, whatever else he might -have been, he had been the champion and the avenger of their race. -Between the divisions of England, therefore, and the divisions of -Ireland, there was scarcely any thing in common. In England there were -two parties, of the same race and religion, contending with each other. -In Ireland there were two castes, of different races and religions, one -trampling on the other. - -Scotland too was quiet. The harvest of the last year had indeed been -scanty; and there was consequently much suffering. But the spirit of -the nation was buoyed up by wild hopes, destined to end in cruel -disappointment. A magnificent daydream of wealth and empire so -completely occupied the minds of men that they hardly felt the present -distress. How that dream originated, and by how terrible an awakening it -was broken, will be related hereafter. - -In the autumn of 1696 the Estates of Scotland met at Edinburgh. The -attendance was thin; and the session lasted only five weeks. A supply -amounting to little more than a hundred thousand pounds sterling was -voted. Two Acts for the securing of the government were passed. One of -those Acts required all persons in public trust to sign an Association -similar to the Association which had been so generally subscribed in -the south of the island. The other Act provided that the Parliament of -Scotland should not be dissolved by the death of the King. But by far -the most important event of this short session was the passing of the -Act for the settling of Schools. By this memorable law it was, in the -Scotch phrase, statuted and ordained that every parish in the realm -should provide a commodious schoolhouse and should pay a moderate -stipend to a schoolmaster. The effect could not be immediately felt. -But, before one generation had passed away, it began to be evident -that the common people of Scotland were superior in intelligence to -the common people of any other country in Europe. To whatever land the -Scotchman might wander, to whatever calling he might betake himself, in -America or in India, in trade or in war, the advantage which he derived -from his early training raised him above his competitors. If he was -taken into a warehouse as a porter, he soon became foreman. If he -enlisted in the army, he soon became a serjeant. Scotland, meanwhile, -in spite of the barrenness of her soil and the severity of her climate, -made such progress in agriculture, in manufactures, in commerce, in -letters, in science, in all that constitutes civilisation, as the Old -World had never seen equalled, and as even the New World has scarcely -seen surpassed. - -This wonderful change is to be attributed, not indeed solely, but -principally, to the national system of education. But to the men by whom -that system was established posterity owes no gratitude. They knew -not what they were doing. They were the unconscious instruments of -enlightening the understandings and humanising the hearts of millions. -But their own understandings were as dark and their own hearts as -obdurate as those of the Familiars of the Inquisition at Lisbon. In the -very month in which the Act for the settling of Schools was touched with -the sceptre, the rulers of the Church and State in Scotland began to -carry on with vigour two persecutions worthy of the tenth century, -a persecution of witches and a persecution of infidels. A crowd of -wretches, guilty only of being old and miserable, were accused of -trafficking with the devil. The Privy Council was not ashamed to issue -a Commission for the trial of twenty-two of these poor creatures. [796] -The shops of the booksellers of Edinburgh were strictly searched for -heretical works. Impious books, among which the sages of the Presbytery -ranked Thomas Burnet's Sacred Theory of the Earth, were strictly -suppressed. [797] But the destruction of mere paper and sheepskin would -not satisfy the bigots. Their hatred required victims who could feel, -and was not appeased till they had perpetrated a crime such as has never -since polluted the island. - -A student of eighteen, named Thomas Aikenhead, whose habits were -studious and whose morals were irreproachable, had, in the course of his -reading, met with some of the ordinary arguments against the Bible. He -fancied that he had lighted on a mine of wisdom which had been hidden -from the rest of mankind, and, with the conceit from which half educated -lads of quick parts are seldom free, proclaimed his discoveries to four -or five of his companions. Trinity in unity, he said, was as much a -contradiction as a square circle. Ezra was the author of the Pentateuch. -The Apocalypse was an allegorical book about the philosopher's stone. -Moses had learned magic in Egypt. Christianity was a delusion which -would not last till the year 1800. For this wild talk, of which, in all -probability, he would himself have been ashamed long before he was five -and twenty, he was prosecuted by the Lord Advocate. The Lord Advocate -was that James Stewart who had been so often a Whig and so often a -Jacobite that it is difficult to keep an account of his apostasies. He -was now a Whig for the third if not for the fourth time. Aikenhead -might undoubtedly have been, by the law of Scotland, punished with -imprisonment till he should retract his errors and do penance before the -congregation of his parish; and every man of sense and humanity would -have thought this a sufficient punishment for the prate of a forward -boy. But Stewart, as cruel as he was base, called for blood. There was -among the Scottish statutes one which made it a capital crime to revile -or curse the Supreme Being or any person of the Trinity. Nothing that -Aikenhead had said could, without the most violent straining, be brought -within the scope of this statute. But the Lord Advocate exerted all his -subtlety. The poor youth at the bar had no counsel. He was altogether -unable to do justice to his own cause. He was convicted, and sentenced -to be hanged and buried at the foot of the gallows. It was in vain that -he with tears abjured his errors and begged piteously for mercy. Some -of those who saw him in his dungeon believed that his recantation was -sincere; and indeed it is by no means improbable that in him, as in many -other pretenders to philosophy who imagine that they have completely -emancipated themselves from the religion of their childhood, the near -prospect of death may have produced an entire change of sentiment. He -petitioned the Privy Council that, if his life could not be spared, he -might be allowed a short respite to make his peace with the God whom -he had offended. Some of the Councillors were for granting this small -indulgence. Others thought that it ought not to be granted unless the -ministers of Edinburgh would intercede. The two parties were evenly -balanced; and the question was decided against the prisoner by the -casting vote of the Chancellor. The Chancellor was a man who has been -often mentioned in the course of this history, and never mentioned with -honour. He was that Sir Patrick Hume whose disputatious and factious -temper had brought ruin on the expedition of Argyle, and had caused not -a little annoyance to the government of William. In the Club which had -braved the King and domineered over the Parliament there had been no -more noisy republican. But a title and a place had produced a wonderful -conversion. Sir Patrick was now Lord Polwarth; he had the custody of the -Great Seal of Scotland; he presided in the Privy Council; and thus he -had it in his power to do the worst action of his bad life. - -It remained to be seen how the clergy of Edinburgh would act. That -divines should be deaf to the entreaties of a penitent who asks, not for -pardon, but for a little more time to receive their instructions and to -pray to Heaven for the mercy which cannot be extended to him on earth, -seems almost incredible. Yet so it was. The ministers demanded, not -only the poor boy's death, but his speedy death, though it should be his -eternal death. Even from their pulpits they cried out for cutting him -off. It is probable that their real reason for refusing him a respite -of a few days was their apprehension that the circumstances of his case -might be reported at Kensington, and that the King, who, while reciting -the Coronation Oath, had declared from the throne that he would not be a -persecutor, might send down positive orders that the sentence should -not be executed. Aikenhead was hanged between Edinburgh and Leith. He -professed deep repentance, and suffered with the Bible in his hand. The -people of Edinburgh, though assuredly not disposed to think lightly of -his offence, were moved to compassion by his youth, by his penitence, -and by the cruel haste with which he was hurried out of the world. It -seems that there was some apprehension of a rescue; for a strong body of -fusileers was under arms to support the civil power. The preachers who -were the boy's murderers crowded round him at the gallows, and, while -he was struggling in the last agony, insulted Heaven with prayers more -blasphemous than any thing that he had ever uttered. Wodrow has told no -blacker story of Dundee. [798] - -On the whole, the British islands had not, during ten years, been so -free from internal troubles as when William, at the close of April 1697, -set out for the Continent. The war in the Netherlands was a little, -and but a little, less languid than in the preceding year. The French -generals opened the campaign by taking the small town of Aeth. They then -meditated a far more important conquest. They made a sudden push for -Brussels, and would probably have succeeded in their design but for the -activity of William. He was encamped on ground which lies within -sight of the Lion of Waterloo, when he received, late in the evening, -intelligence that the capital of the Netherlands was in danger. He -instantly put his forces in motion, marched all night, and, having -traversed the field destined to acquire, a hundred and eighteen years -later, a terrible renown, and threaded the long defiles of the Forest of -Soignies, he was at ten in the morning on the spot from which Brussels -had been bombarded two years before, and would, if he had been only -three hours later, have been bombarded again. Here he surrounded himself -with entrenchments which the enemy did not venture to attack. This was -the most important military event which, during that summer, took place -in the Low Countries. In both camps there was an unwillingness to run -any great risk on the eve of a general pacification. - -Lewis had, early in the spring, for the first time during his long -reign, spontaneously offered equitable and honourable conditions to his -foes. He had declared himself willing to relinquish the conquests which -he had made in the course of the war, to cede Lorraine to its own Duke, -to give back Luxemburg to Spain, to give back Strasburg to the Empire -and to acknowledge the existing government of England. [799] - -Those who remembered the great woes which his faithless and merciless -ambition had brought on Europe might well suspect that this unwonted -moderation was not to be ascribed to sentiments of justice or humanity. -But, whatever might be his motive for proposing such terms, it was -plainly the interest and the duty of the Confederacy to accept them. -For there was little hope indeed of wringing from him by war concessions -larger than those which he now tendered as the price of peace. The most -sanguine of his enemies could hardly expect a long series of campaigns -as successful as the campaign of 1695. Yet in a long series of -campaigns, as successful as that of 1695, the allies would hardly be -able to retake all that he now professed himself ready to restore. -William, who took, as usual, a clear and statesmanlike view of the whole -situation, now gave his voice as decidedly for concluding peace as he -had in former years given it for vigorously prosecuting the war; and he -was backed by the public opinion both of England and of Holland. But, -unhappily, just at the time when the two powers which alone, among -the members of the coalition, had manfully done their duty in the long -struggle, were beginning to rejoice in the near prospect of repose, some -of those governments which had never furnished their full contingents, -which had never been ready in time, which had been constantly sending -excuses in return for subsidies, began to raise difficulties such as -seemed likely to make the miseries of Europe eternal. - -Spain had, as William, in the bitterness of his spirit, wrote to -Heinsius, contributed nothing to the common cause but rodomontades. She -had made no vigorous effort even to defend her own territories against -invasion. She would have lost Flanders and Brabant but for the English -and Dutch armies. She would have lost Catalonia but for the English -and Dutch fleets. The Milanese she had saved, not by arms, but by -concluding, in spite of the remonstrances of the English and Dutch -governments, an ignominious treaty of neutrality. She had not a ship of -war able to weather a gale. She had not a regiment that was not ill paid -and ill disciplined, ragged and famished. Yet repeatedly, within the -last two years, she had treated both William and the States General with -an impertinence which showed that she was altogether ignorant of her -place among states. She now became punctilious, demanded from Lewis -concessions which the events of the war gave her no right to expect, and -seemed to think it hard that allies, whom she was constantly treating -with indignity, were not willing to lavish their blood and treasure for -her during eight years more. - -The conduct of Spain is to be attributed merely to arrogance and folly. -But the unwillingness of the Emperor to consent even to the fairest -terms of accommodation was the effect of selfish ambition. The Catholic -King was childless; he was sickly; his life was not worth three years' -purchase; and when he died, his dominions would be left to be struggled -for by a crowd of competitors. Both the House of Austria and the House -of Bourbon had claims to that immense heritage. It was plainly for the -interest of the House of Austria that the important day, come when it -might, should find a great European coalition in arms against the House -of Bourbon. The object of the Emperor therefore was that the war should -continue to be carried on, as it had hitherto been carried on, at a -light charge to him and a heavy charge to England and Holland, not till -just conditions of peace could be obtained, but simply till the King -of Spain should die. "The ministers of the Emperor," William wrote to -Heinsius, "ought to be ashamed of their conduct. It is intolerable -that a government which is doing every thing in its power to make the -negotiations fail, should contribute nothing to the common defence." -[800] - -It is not strange that in such circumstances the work of pacification -should have made little progress. International law, like other law, has -its chicanery, its subtle pleadings, its technical forms, which may -too easily be so employed as to make its substance inefficient. Those -litigants therefore who did not wish the litigation to come to a speedy -close had no difficulty in interposing delays. There was a long dispute -about the place where the conferences should be held. The Emperor -proposed Aix la Chapelle. The French objected, and proposed the Hague. -Then the Emperor objected in his turn. At last it was arranged that the -ministers of the Allied Powers should meet at the Hague, and that the -French plenipotentiaries should take up their abode five miles off -at Delft. [801] To Delft accordingly repaired Harlay, a man of -distinguished wit and good breeding, sprung from one of the great -families of the robe; Crecy, a shrewd, patient and laborious -diplomatist; and Cailleres, who, though he was named only third in the -credentials, was much better informed than either of his colleagues -touching all the points which were likely to be debated. [802] At the -Hague were the Earl of Pembroke and Edward, Viscount Villiers, who -represented England. Prior accompanied them with the rank of Secretary. -At the head of the Imperial Legation was Count Kaunitz; at the head of -the Spanish Legation was Don Francisco Bernardo de Quiros; the ministers -of inferior rank it would be tedious to enumerate. [803] - -Half way between Delft and the Hague is a village named Ryswick; and -near it then stood, in a rectangular garden, which was bounded by -straight canals, and divided into formal woods, flower beds and melon -beds, a seat of the Princes of Orange. The house seemed to have been -built expressly for the accommodation of such a set of diplomatists as -were to meet there. In the centre was a large hall painted by Honthorst. -On the right hand and on the left were wings exactly corresponding to -each other. Each wing was accessible by its own bridge, its own gate and -its own avenue. One wing was assigned to the Allies, the other to the -French, the hall in the centre to the mediator. [804] Some preliminary -questions of etiquette were, not without difficulty, adjusted; and -at length, on the ninth of May, many coaches and six, attended by -harbingers, footmen and pages, approached the mansion by different -roads. The Swedish Minister alighted at the grand entrance. The -procession from the Hague came up the side alley on the right. The -procession from Delft came up the side alley on the left. At the first -meeting, the full powers of the representatives of the belligerent -governments were delivered to the mediator. At the second meeting, -forty-eight hours later, the mediator performed the ceremony of -exchanging these full powers. Then several meetings were spent in -settling how many carriages, how many horses, how many lacqueys, how -many pages, each minister should be entitled to bring to Ryswick; -whether the serving men should carry canes; whether they should wear -swords; whether they should have pistols in their holsters; who should -take the upper hand in the public walks, and whose carriage should break -the way in the streets. It soon appeared that the mediator would have to -mediate, not only between the coalition and the French, but also between -the different members of the coalition. The Imperial Ambassadors claimed -a right to sit at the head of the table. The Spanish Ambassador would -not admit this pretension, and tried to thrust himself in between two -of them. The Imperial Ambassadors refused to call the Ambassadors of -Electors and Commonwealths by the title of Excellency. "If I am not -called Excellency," said the Minister of the Elector of Brandenburg, "my -master will withdraw his troops from Hungary." The Imperial Ambassadors -insisted on having a room to themselves in the building, and on having -a special place assigned to their carriages in the court. All the -other Ministers of the Confederacy pronounced this a most unjustifiable -demand, and a whole sitting was wasted in this childish dispute. It may -easily be supposed that allies who were so punctilious in their dealings -with each other were not likely to be very easy in their intercourse -with the common enemy. The chief business of Earlay and Kaunitz was to -watch each other's legs. Neither of them thought it consistent with the -dignity of the Crown which he served to advance towards the other faster -than the other advanced towards him. If therefore one of them perceived -that he had inadvertently stepped forward too quick, he went back to the -door, and the stately minuet began again. The ministers of Lewis drew -up a paper in their own language. The German statesmen protested against -this innovation, this insult to the dignity of the Holy Roman Empire, -this encroachment on the rights of independent nations, and would not -know any thing about the paper till it had been translated from good -French into bad Latin. In the middle of April it was known to every body -at the Hague that Charles the Eleventh, King of Sweden, was dead, and -had been succeeded by his son; but it was contrary to etiquette that any -of the assembled envoys should appear to be acquainted with this fact -till Lilienroth had made a formal announcement; it was not less contrary -to etiquette that Lilienroth should make such an announcement till his -equipages and his household had been put into mourning; and some weeks -elapsed before his coachmakers and tailors had completed their task. At -length, on the twelfth of June, he came to Ryswick in a carriage lined -with black and attended by servants in black liveries, and there, in -full congress, proclaimed that it had pleased God to take to himself -the most puissant King Charles the Eleventh. All the Ambassadors then -condoled with him on the sad and unexpected news, and went home to put -off their embroidery and to dress themselves in the garb of sorrow. In -such solemn trifling week after week passed away. No real progress was -made. Lilienroth had no wish to accelerate matters. While the congress -lasted, his position was one of great dignity. He would willingly have -gone on mediating for ever; and he could not go on mediating, unless the -parties on his right and on his left went on wrangling. [805] - -In June the hope of peace began to grow faint. Men remembered that the -last war had continued to rage, year after year, while a congress was -sitting at Nimeguen. The mediators had made their entrance into that -town in February 1676. The treaty had not been signed till February -1679. Yet the negotiation of Nimeguen had not proceeded more slowly -than the negotiation of Ryswick. It seemed but too probable that the -eighteenth century would find great armies still confronting each other -on the Meuse and the Rhine, industrious populations still ground down -by taxation, fertile provinces still lying waste, the ocean still made -impassable by corsairs, and the plenipotentiaries still exchanging -notes, drawing up protocols, and wrangling about the place where this -minister should sit, and the title by which that minister should be -called. - -But William was fully determined to bring this mummery to a speedy -close. He would have either peace or war. Either was, in his view, -better than this intermediate state which united the disadvantages of -both. While the negotiation was pending there could be no diminution -of the burdens which pressed on his people; and yet he could expect -no energetic action from his allies. If France was really disposed to -conclude a treaty on fair terms, that treaty should be concluded in -spite of the imbecility of the Catholic King and in spite of the selfish -cunning of the Emperor. If France was insecure, the sooner the truth was -known, the sooner the farce which was acting at Ryswick was over, the -sooner the people of England and Holland,--for on them every thing -depended,--were told that they must make up their minds to great -exertions and sacrifices, the better. - -Pembroke and Villiers, though they had now the help of a veteran -diplomatist, Sir Joseph Williamson, could do little or nothing to -accelerate the proceedings of the Congress. For, though France had -promised that, whenever peace should be made, she would recognise the -Prince of Orange as King of Great Britain and Ireland, she had not yet -recognised him. His ministers had therefore had no direct intercourse -with Harlay, Crecy and Cailleres. William, with the judgment and -decision of a true statesman, determined to open a communication -with Lewis through one of the French Marshals who commanded in the -Netherlands. Of those Marshals Villeroy was the highest in rank. But -Villeroy was weak, rash, haughty, irritable. Such a negotiator was -far more likely to embroil matters than to bring them to an amicable -settlement. Boufflers was a man of sense and temper; and fortunately he -had, during the few days which he had passed at Huy after the fall of -Namur, been under the care of Portland, by whom he had been treated with -the greatest courtesy and kindness. A friendship had sprung up between -the prisoner and his keeper. They were both brave soldiers, honourable -gentlemen, trusty servants. William justly thought that they were far -more likely to come to an understanding than Harlay and Kaunitz even -with the aid of Lilienroth. Portland indeed had all the essential -qualities of an excellent diplomatist. In England, the people were -prejudiced against him as a foreigner; his earldom, his garter, his -lucrative places, his rapidly growing wealth, excited envy; his dialect -was not understood; his manners were not those of the men of fashion -who had been formed at Whitehall; his abilities were therefore greatly -underrated; and it was the fashion to call him a blockhead, fit only -to carry messages. But, on the Continent, where he was judged without -malevolence, he made a very different impression. It is a remarkable -fact that this man, who in the drawingrooms and coffeehouses of London -was described as an awkward, stupid, Hogan Mogan,--such was the phrase -at that time,--was considered at Versailles as an eminently polished -courtier and an eminently expert negotiator. [806] His chief -recommendation however was his incorruptible integrity. It was certain -that the interests which were committed to his care would be as dear to -him as his own life, and that every report which he made to his master -would be literally exact. - -Towards the close of June Portland sent to Boufflers a friendly message, -begging for an interview of half an hour. Boufflers instantly sent off -an express to Lewis, and received an answer in the shortest time in -which it was possible for a courier to ride post to Versailles and back -again. Lewis directed the Marshal to comply with Portland's request, to -say as little as possible, and to learn as much as possible. [807] - -On the twenty-eighth of June, according to the Old Style, the meeting -took place in the neighbourhood of Hal, a town which lies about ten -miles from Brussels, on the road to Mons. After the first civilities -had been exchanged, Boufflers and Portland dismounted; their attendants -retired; and the two negotiators were left alone in an orchard. Here -they walked up and down during two hours, and, in that time, did -much more business than the plenipotentiaries at Ryswick were able to -despatch in as many months. [808] - -Till this time the French government had entertained a suspicion, -natural indeed, but altogether erroneous, that William was bent on -protracting the war, that he had consented to treat merely because -he could not venture to oppose himself to the public opinion both -of England and of Holland, but that he wished the negotiation to be -abortive, and that the perverse conduct of the House of Austria and the -difficulties which had arisen at Ryswick were to be chiefly ascribed -to his machinations. That suspicion was now removed. Compliments, cold, -austere and full of dignity, yet respectful, were exchanged between the -two great princes whose enmity had, during a quarter of a century, kept -Europe in constant agitation. The negotiation between Boufflers and -Portland proceeded as fast as the necessity of frequent reference to -Versailles would permit. Their first five conferences were held in the -open air; but, at their sixth meeting, they retired into a small house -in which Portland had ordered tables, pens, ink and paper to be placed; -and here the result of their labours was reduced to writing. - -The really important points which had been in issue were four. William -had at first demanded two concessions from Lewis; and Lewis had demanded -two concessions from William. - -William's first demand was that France should bind herself to give no -help or countenance, directly or indirectly, to any attempt which might -be made by James, or by James's adherents, to disturb the existing order -of things in England. - -William's second demand was that James should no longer be suffered to -reside at a place so dangerously near to England as Saint Germains. - -To the first of these demands Lewis replied that he was perfectly -ready to bind himself by the most solemn engagements not to assist or -countenance, in any manner, any attempt to disturb the existing order of -things in England; but that it was inconsistent with his honour that the -name of his kinsman and guest should appear in the treaty. - -To the second demand Lewis replied that he could not refuse his -hospitality to an unfortunate king who had taken refuge in his -dominions, and that he could not promise even to indicate a wish that -James would quit Saint Germains. But Boufflers, as if speaking his own -thoughts, though doubtless saying nothing but what he knew to be in -conformity to his master's wishes, hinted that the matter would probably -be managed, and named Avignon as a place where the banished family might -reside without giving any umbrage to the English government. - -Lewis, on the other side, demanded, first, that a general amnesty should -be granted to the Jacobites; and secondly, that Mary of Modena should -receive her jointure of fifty thousand pounds a year. - -With the first of these demands William peremptorily refused to comply. -He should always be ready, of his own free will, to pardon the offences -of men who showed a disposition to live quietly for the future under -his government; but he could not consent to make the exercise of his -prerogative of mercy a matter of stipulation with any foreign power. The -annuity claimed by Mary of Modena he would willingly pay, if he could -only be satisfied that it would not be expended in machinations against -his throne and his person, in supporting, on the coast of Kent, another -establishment like that of Hunt, or in buying horses and arms for -another enterprise like that of Turnham Green. Boufflers had mentioned -Avignon. If James and his Queen would take up their abode there, no -difficulties would be made about the jointure. - -At length all the questions in dispute were settled. After much -discussion an article was framed by which Lewis pledged his word of -honour that he would not favour, in any manner, any attempt to subvert -or disturb the existing government of England. William, in return, gave -his promise not to countenance any attempt against the government of -France. This promise Lewis had not asked, and at first seemed inclined -to consider as an affront. His throne, he said, was perfectly secure, -his title undisputed. There were in his dominions no nonjurors, no -conspirators; and he did not think it consistent with his dignity to -enter into a compact which seemed to imply that he was in fear of plots -and insurrections such as a dynasty sprung from a revolution might -naturally apprehend. On this point, however, he gave way; and it was -agreed that the covenants should be strictly reciprocal. William ceased -to demand that James should be mentioned by name; and Lewis ceased to -demand that an amnesty should be granted to James's adherents. It was -determined that nothing should be said in the treaty, either about the -place where the banished King of England should reside, or about the -jointure of his Queen. But William authorised his plenipotentiaries at -the Congress to declare that Mary of Modena should have whatever, on -examination, it should appear that she was by law entitled to have. -What she was by law entitled to have was a question which it would have -puzzled all Westminster Hall to answer. But it was well understood that -she would receive, without any contest, the utmost that she could have -any pretence for asking as soon as she and her husband should retire to -Provence or to Italy. [809] - -Before the end of July every thing was settled, as far as France -and England were concerned. Meanwhile it was known to the ministers -assembled at Ryswick that Boufflers and Portland had repeatedly met -in Brabant, and that they were negotiating in a most irregular and -indecorous manner, without credentials, or mediation, or notes, or -protocols, without counting each other's steps, and without calling each -other Excellency. So barbarously ignorant were they of the rudiments of -the noble science of diplomacy that they had very nearly accomplished -the work of restoring peace to Christendom while walking up and down -an alley under some apple trees. The English and Dutch loudly applauded -William's prudence and decision. He had cut the knot which the Congress -had only twisted and tangled. He had done in a month what all the -formalists and pedants assembled at the Hague would not have done in -ten years. Nor were the French plenipotentiaries ill pleased. "It -is curious," said Harlay, a man of wit and sense, "that, while the -Ambassadors are making war, the generals should be making peace." [810] -But Spain preserved the same air of arrogant listlessness; and the -ministers of the Emperor, forgetting apparently that their master had, -a few months before, concluded a treaty of neutrality for Italy without -consulting William, seemed to think it most extraordinary that William -should presume to negotiate without consulting their master. It became -daily more evident that the Court of Vienna was bent on prolonging the -war. On the tenth of July the French ministers again proposed fair -and honourable terms of peace, but added that, if those terms were not -accepted by the twenty-first of August, the Most Christian King would -not consider himself bound by his offer. [811] William in vain exhorted -his allies to be reasonable. The senseless pride of one branch of the -House of Austria and the selfish policy of the other were proof to all -argument. The twenty-first of August came and passed; the treaty had not -been signed. - -France was at liberty to raise her demands; and she did so. For just at -this time news arrived of two great blows which had fallen on Spain, -one in the Old and one in the New World. A French army, commanded by -Vendome, had taken Barcelona. A French squadron had stolen out of Brest, -had eluded the allied fleets, had crossed the Atlantic, had sacked -Carthagena, and had returned to France laden with treasure. [812] The -Spanish government passed at once from haughty apathy to abject terror, -and was ready to accept any conditions which the conqueror might -dictate. The French plenipotentiaries announced to the Congress that -their master was determined to keep Strasburg, and that, unless the -terms which he had offered, thus modified, were accepted by the tenth -of September, he should hold himself at liberty to insist on further -modifications. Never had the temper of William been more severely tried. -He was provoked by the perverseness of his allies; he was provoked by -the imperious language of the enemy. It was not without a hard struggle -and a sharp pang that he made up his mind to consent to what France now -proposed. But he felt that it would be utterly impossible, even if it -were desirable, to prevail on the House of Commons and on the States -General to continue the war for the purpose of wresting from France a -single fortress, a fortress in the fate of which neither England nor -Holland had any immediate interest, a fortress, too, which had been lost -to the Empire solely in consequence of the unreasonable obstinacy of the -Imperial Court. He determined to accept the modified terms, and -directed his Ambassadors at Ryswick to sign on the prescribed day. The -Ambassadors of Spain and Holland received similar instructions. There -was no doubt that the Emperor, though he murmured and protested, would -soon follow the example of his confederates. That he might have time to -make up his mind, it was stipulated that he should be included in the -treaty if he notified his adhesion by the first of November. - -Meanwhile James was moving the mirth and pity of all Europe by his -lamentations and menaces. He had in vain insisted on his right to send, -as the only true King of England, a minister to the Congress. [813] -He had in vain addressed to all the Roman Catholic princes of the -Confederacy a memorial in which he adjured them to join with France in -a crusade against England for the purpose of restoring him to his -inheritance, and of annulling that impious Bill of Rights which excluded -members of the true Church from the throne. [814] When he found that -this appeal was disregarded, he put forth a solemn protest against the -validity of all treaties to which the existing government of England -should be a party. He pronounced all the engagements into which his -kingdom had entered since the Revolution null and void. He gave notice -that he should not, if he should regain his power, think himself bound -by any of those engagements. He admitted that he might, by breaking -those engagements, bring great calamities both on his own dominions and -on all Christendom. But for those calamities he declared that he should -not think himself answerable either before God or before man. It seems -almost incredible that even a Stuart, and the worst and dullest of the -Stuarts, should have thought that the first duty, not merely of his own -subjects, but of all mankind, was to support his rights; that Frenchmen, -Germans, Italians, Spaniards, were guilty of a crime if they did not -shed their blood and lavish their wealth, year after year, in his cause; -that the interests of the sixty millions of human beings to whom peace -would be a blessing were of absolutely no account when compared with the -interests of one man. [815] - -In spite of his protests the day of peace drew nigh. On the tenth of -September the Ambassadors of France, England, Spain and the United -Provinces, met at Ryswick. Three treaties were to be signed, and there -was a long dispute on the momentous question which should be signed -first. It was one in the morning before it was settled that the treaty -between France and the States General should have precedence; and the -day was breaking before all the instruments had been executed. Then the -plenipotentiaries, with many bows, congratulated each other on having -had the honour of contributing to so great a work. [816] - -A sloop was in waiting for Prior. He hastened on board, and on the -third day, after weathering an equinoctial gale, landed on the coast of -Suffolk. [817] - -Very seldom had there been greater excitement in London than during the -month which preceded his arrival. When the west wind kept back the -Dutch packets, the anxiety of the people became intense. Every morning -hundreds of thousands rose up hoping to hear that the treaty was signed; -and every mail which came in without bringing the good news caused -bitter disappointment. The malecontents, indeed, loudly asserted that -there would be no peace, and that the negotiation would, even at this -late hour, be broken off. One of them had seen a person just arrived -from Saint Germains; another had had the privilege of reading a letter -in the handwriting of Her Majesty; and all were confident that Lewis -would never acknowledge the usurper. Many of those who held this -language were under so strong a delusion that they backed their opinion -by large wagers. When the intelligence of the fall of Barcelona arrived, -all the treason taverns were in a ferment with nonjuring priests -laughing, talking loud, and shaking each other by the hand. [818] - -At length, in the afternoon of the thirteenth of September, some -speculators in the City received, by a private channel, certain -intelligence that the treaty had been signed before dawn on the morning -of the eleventh. They kept their own secret, and hastened to make a -profitable use of it; but their eagerness to obtain Bank stock, and -the high prices which they offered, excited suspicion; and there was -a general belief that on the next day something important would be -announced. On the next day Prior, with the treaty, presented himself -before the Lords justices at Whitehall. Instantly a flag was hoisted on -the Abbey, another on Saint Martin's Church. The Tower guns proclaimed -the glad tidings. All the spires and towers from Greenwich to Chelsea -made answer. It was not one of the days on which the newspapers -ordinarily appeared; but extraordinary numbers, with headings in large -capitals, were, for the first time, cried about the streets. The price -of Bank stock rose fast from eighty-four to ninety-seven. In a few -hours triumphal arches began to rise in some places. Huge bonfires were -blazing in others. The Dutch ambassador informed the States General that -he should try to show his joy by a bonfire worthy of the commonwealth -which he represented; and he kept his word; for no such pyre had ever -been seen in London. A hundred and forty barrels of pitch roared and -blazed before his house in Saint James's Square, and sent up a flame -which made Pall Mall and Piccadilly as bright as at noonday. [819] - -Among the Jacobites the dismay was great. Some of those who had betted -deep on the constancy of Lewis took flight. One unfortunate zealot of -divine right drowned himself. But soon the party again took heart. The -treaty had been signed; but it surely would never be ratified. In a -short time the ratification came; the peace was solemnly proclaimed by -the heralds; and the most obstinate nonjurors began to despair. Some -divines, who had during eight years continued true to James, now swore -allegiance to William. They were probably men who held, with Sherlock, -that a settled government, though illegitimate in its origin, is -entitled to the obedience of Christians, but who had thought that the -government of William could not properly be said to be settled while -the greatest power in Europe not only refused to recognise him, but -strenuously supported his competitor. [820] The fiercer and more -determined adherents of the banished family were furious against Lewis. -He had deceived, he had betrayed his suppliants. It was idle to talk -about the misery of his people. It was idle to say that he had drained -every source of revenue dry, and that, in all the provinces of his -kingdom, the peasantry were clothed in rags, and were unable to eat -their fill even of the coarsest and blackest bread. His first duty was -that which he owed to the royal family of England. The Jacobites -talked against him, and wrote against him, as absurdly, and almost as -scurrilously, as they had long talked and written against William. One -of their libels was so indecent that the Lords justices ordered the -author to be arrested and held to bail. [821] - -But the rage and mortification were confined to a very small minority. -Never, since the year of the Restoration, had there been such signs -of public gladness. In every part of the kingdom where the peace was -proclaimed, the general sentiment was manifested by banquets, pageants, -loyal healths, salutes, beating of drums, blowing of trumpets, breaking -up of hogsheads. At some places the whole population, of its own accord, -repaired to the churches to give thanks. At others processions of girls, -clad all in white, and crowned with laurels, carried banners inscribed -with "God bless King William." At every county town a long cavalcade of -the principal gentlemen, from a circle of many miles, escorted the mayor -to the market cross. Nor was one holiday enough for the expression of -so much joy. On the fourth of November, the anniversary of the King's -birth, and on the fifth, the anniversary of his landing at Torbay, the -bellringing, the shouting, and the illuminations were renewed both in -London and all over the country. [822] On the day on which he returned -to his capital no work was done, no shop was opened, in the two thousand -streets of that immense mart. For that day the chiefs streets had, mile -after mile, been covered with gravel; all the Companies had provided new -banners; all the magistrates new robes. Twelve thousand pounds had been -expended in preparing fireworks. Great multitudes of people from all the -neighbouring shires had come up to see the show. Never had the City been -in a more loyal or more joyous mood. The evil days were past. The guinea -had fallen to twenty-one shillings and sixpence. The bank note had risen -to par. The new crowns and halfcrowns, broad, heavy and sharply -milled, were ringing on all the counters. After some days of impatient -expectation it was known, on the fourteenth of November, that His -Majesty had landed at Margate. Late on the fifteenth he reached -Greenwich, and rested in the stately building which, under his auspices, -was turning from a palace into a hospital. On the next morning, a bright -and soft morning, eighty coaches and six, filled with nobles, prelates, -privy councillors and judges, came to swell his train. In Southwark he -was met by the Lord Mayor and the Aldermen in all the pomp of office. -The way through the Borough to the bridge was lined by the Surrey -militia; the way from the bridge to Walbrook by three regiments of the -militia of the City. All along Cheapside, on the right hand and on the -left, the livery were marshalled under the standards of their trades. At -the east end of Saint Paul's churchyard stood the boys of the school of -Edward the Sixth, wearing, as they still wear, the garb of the sixteenth -century. Round the Cathedral, down Ludgate Hill and along Fleet Street, -were drawn up three more regiments of Londoners. From Temple Bar to -Whitehall gate the trainbands of Middlesex and the Foot Guards were -under arms. The windows along the whole route were gay with tapestry, -ribands and flags. But the finest part of the show was the innumerable -crowd of spectators, all in their Sunday clothing, and such clothing -as only the upper classes of other countries could afford to wear. "I -never," William wrote that evening to Heinsius, "I never saw such a -multitude of welldressed people." Nor was the King less struck by the -indications of joy and affection with which he was greeted from the -beginning to the end of his triumph. His coach, from the moment when -he entered it at Greenwich till he alighted from it in the court of -Whitehall, was accompanied by one long huzza. Scarcely had he reached -his palace when addresses of congratulation, from all the great -corporations of his kingdom, were presented to him. It was remarked that -the very foremost among those corporations was the University of Oxford. -The eloquent composition in which that learned body extolled the wisdom, -the courage and the virtue of His Majesty, was read with cruel vexation -by the nonjurors, and with exultation by the Whigs. [823] - -The rejoicings were not yet over. At a council which was held a -few hours after the King's public entry, the second of December was -appointed to be the day of thanksgiving for the peace. The Chapter of -Saint Paul's resolved that, on that day, their noble Cathedral, which -had been long slowly rising on the ruins of a succession of pagan -and Christian temples, should be opened for public worship. William -announced his intention of being one of the congregation. But it was -represented to him that, if he persisted in that intention, three -hundred thousand people would assemble to see him pass, and all the -parish churches of London would be left empty. He therefore attended -the service in his own chapel at Whitehall, and heard Burnet preach a -sermon, somewhat too eulogistic for the place. [824] At Saint Paul's the -magistrates of the City appeared in all their state. Compton ascended, -for the first time, a throne rich with the sculpture of Gibbons, and -thence exhorted a numerous and splendid assembly. His discourse has not -been preserved; but its purport may be easily guessed; for he preached -on that noble Psalm: "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go -into the house of the Lord." He doubtless reminded his hearers that, in -addition to the debt which was common to them with all Englishmen, they -owed as Londoners a peculiar debt of gratitude to the divine goodness, -which had permitted them to efface the last trace of the ravages of the -great fire, and to assemble once more, for prayer and praise, after -so many years, on that spot consecrated by the devotions of thirty -generations. Throughout London, and in every part of the realm, even -to the remotest parishes of Cumberland and Cornwall, the churches were -filled on the morning of that day; and the evening was an evening of -festivity. [825] - -These was indeed reason for joy and thankfulness. England had passed -through severe trials, and had come forth renewed in health and -vigour. Ten years before, it had seemed that both her liberty and her -independence were no more. Her liberty she had vindicated by a just and -necessary revolution. Her independence she had reconquered by a not -less just and necessary war. She had successfully defended the order of -things established by the Bill of Rights against the mighty monarchy of -France, against the aboriginal population of Ireland, against the avowed -hostility of the nonjurors, against the more dangerous hostility of -traitors who were ready to take any oath, and whom no oath could bind. -Her open enemies had been victorious on many fields of battle. Her -secret enemies had commanded her fleets and armies, had been in charge -of her arsenals, had ministered at her altars, had taught at her -Universities, had swarmed in her public offices, had sate in her -Parliament, had bowed and fawned in the bedchamber of her King. -More than once it had seemed impossible that any thing could avert -a restoration which would inevitably have been followed, first by -proscriptions and confiscations, by the violation of fundamental laws, -and the persecution of the established religion, and then by a third -rising up of the nation against that House which two depositions and two -banishments had only made more obstinate in evil. To the dangers of -war and the dangers of treason had recently been added the dangers of -a terrible financial and commercial crisis. But all those dangers were -over. There was peace abroad and at home. The kingdom, after many years -of ignominious vassalage, had resumed its ancient place in the first -rank of European powers. Many signs justified the hope that the -Revolution of 1688 would be our last Revolution. The ancient -constitution was adapting itself, by a natural, a gradual, a peaceful -development, to the wants of a modern society. Already freedom of -conscience and freedom of discussion existed to an extent unknown in any -preceding age. The currency had been restored. Public credit had been -reestablished. Trade had revived. The Exchequer was overflowing. There -was a sense of relief every where, from the Royal Exchange to the -most secluded hamlets among the mountains of Wales and the fens -of Lincolnshire. The ploughmen, the shepherds, the miners of the -Northumbrian coalpits, the artisans who toiled at the looms of Norwich -and the anvils of Birmingham, felt the change, without understanding -it; and the cheerful bustle in every seaport and every market town -indicated, not obscurely, the commencement of a happier age. - -***** ***** - - -[Footnote 1: Relation de la Voyage de Sa Majeste Britannique en -Hollande, enrichie de planches tres curieuses, 1692; Wagenaar; London -Gazette, Jan. 29. 1693; Burnet, ii. 71] - -[Footnote 2: The names of these two great scholars are associated in a -very interesting letter of Bentley to Graevius, dated April 29. 1698. -"Sciunt omnes qui me norunt, et si vitam mihi Deus O.M. prorogaverit, -scient etiam posteri, ut te et ton panu Spanhemium, geminos hujus -aevi Dioscuros, lucida literarum sidera, semper praedicaverim, semper -veneratus sim."] - -[Footnote 3: Relation de la Voyage de Sa Majeste Britannique en Hollande -1692; London Gazette, Feb. 2. 1691,; Le Triomphe Royal ou l'on voit -descrits les Arcs de Triomphe, Pyramides, Tableaux et Devises an Nombre -de 65, erigez a la Haye a l'hounneur de Guillaume Trois, 1692; Le -Carnaval de la Haye, 1691. This last work is a savage pasquinade on -William.] - -[Footnote 4: London Gazette, Feb. 5. 1693; His Majesty's Speech to the -Assembly of the States General of the United Provinces at the Hague the -7th of February N.S., together with the Answer of their High and Mighty -Lordships, as both are extracted out of the Register of the Resolutions -of the States General, 1691.] - -[Footnote 5: Relation de la Voyage de Sa Majeste Britannique en -Hollande; Burnet, ii. 72.; London Gazette, Feb. 12. 19. 23. 1690/1; -Memoires du Comte de Dohna; William Fuller's Memoirs.] - -[Footnote 6: Wagenaar, lxii.; Le Carnaval de la Haye, Mars 1691; Le -Tabouret des Electeurs, April 1691; Ceremonial de ce qui s'est passe -a la Haye entre le Roi Guillaume et les Electeurs de Baviere et de -Brandebourg. This last tract is a MS. presented to the British Museum by -George IV,] - -[Footnote 7: London Gazette, Feb. 23. 1691.] - -[Footnote 8: The secret article by which the Duke of Savoy bound himself -to grant toleration to the Waldenses is in Dumont's collection. It was -signed Feb. 8, 1691.] - -[Footnote 9: London Gazette from March 26. to April 13. 1691; Monthly -Mercuries of March and April; William's Letters to Heinsius of March -18. and 29., April 7. 9.; Dangeau's Memoirs; The Siege of Mons, a -tragi-comedy, 1691. In this drama the clergy, who are in the interest of -France, persuade the burghers to deliver up the town. This treason calls -forth an indignant exclamation, - - "Oh priestcraft, shopcraft, how do ye effeminate - The minds of men!"] - -[Footnote 10: Trial of Preston in the Collection of State Trials. A -person who was present gives the following account of Somers's opening -speech: "In the opening the evidence, there was no affected exaggeration -of matters, nor ostentation of a putid eloquence, one after another, as -in former trials, like so many geese cackling in a row. Here was nothing -besides fair matter of fact, or natural and just reflections from thence -arising." The pamphlet from which I quote these words is entitled, An -Account of the late horrid Conspiracy by a Person who was present at the -Trials, 1691.] - -[Footnote 11: State Trials.] - -[Footnote 12: Paper delivered by Mr. Ashton, at his execution, to Sir -Francis Child, Sheriff of London; Answer to the Paper delivered by Mr. -Ashton. The Answer was written by Dr. Edward Fowler, afterwards Bishop -of Gloucester. Burnet, ii. 70.; Letter from Bishop Lloyd to Dodwell, in -the second volume of Gutch's Collectanea Curiosa.] - -[Footnote 13: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 14: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; Burnet, ii. 71.] - -[Footnote 15: Letter of Collier and Cook to Sancroft among the Tanner -MSS.] - -[Footnote 16: Caermarthen to William, February 3. 1690/1; Life of James, -ii. 443.] - -[Footnote 17: That this account of what passed is true in substance is -sufficiently proved by the Life of James, ii. 443. I have taken one or -two slight circumstances from Dalrymple, who, I believe, took them from -papers, now irrecoverably lost, which he had seen in the Scotch College -at Paris.] - -[Footnote 18: The success of William's "seeming clemency" is admitted by -the compiler of the Life of James. The Prince of Orange's method, it is -acknowledged, "succeeded so well that, whatever sentiments those Lords -which Mr. Penn had named night have had at that time, they proved in -effect most bitter enemies to His Majesty's cause afterwards."-ii. 443.] - -[Footnote 19: See his Diary; Evelyn's Diary, Mar. 25., April 22., July -11. 1691; Burnet, ii. 71.; Letters of Rochester to Burnet, March 21. and -April 2. 1691.] - -[Footnote 20: Life of James, ii. 443. 450.; Legge Papers in the -Mackintosh Collection.] - -[Footnote 21: Burnet, ii. 71; Evelyn's Diary, Jan. 4. and 18. 1690,; -Letter from Turner to Sancroft, Jan. 19. 1690/1; Letter from Sancroft to -Lloyd of Norwich April 2. 1692. These two letters are among the Tanner -MSS. in the Bodleian, and are printed in the Life of Ken by a Layman. -Turner's escape to France is mentioned in Narcissus Luttrell's Diary -for February 1690. See also a Dialogue between the Bishop of Ely and -his Conscience, 16th February 1690/1. The dialogue is interrupted by the -sound of trumpets. The Bishop hears himself proclaimed a traitor, and -cries out, - -"Come, brother Pen, 'tis time we both were gone."] - -[Footnote 22: For a specimen of his visions, see his Journal, page 13; -for his casting out of devils, page 26. I quote the folio edition of -1765.] - -[Footnote 23: Journal, page 4] - -[Footnote 24: Ibid. page 7.] - -[Footnote 25: "What they know, they know naturally, who turn from the -command and err from the spirit, whose fruit withers, who saith that -Hebrew, Greek, and Latine is the original: before Babell was, the earth -was of one language; and Nimrod the cunning hunter, before the Lord -which came out of cursed Ham's stock, the original and builder of -Babell, whom God confounded with many languages, and this they say is -the original who erred from the spirit and command; and Pilate had his -original Hebrew, Greek and Latine, which crucified Christ and set over -him."--A message from the Lord to the Parliament of England by G. Fox, -1654. The same argument will be found in the journals, but has been put -by the editor into a little better English. "Dost thou think to make -ministers of Christ by these natural confused languages which sprung -from Babell, are admired in Babylon, and set atop of Christ, the Life, -by a persecutor?"-Page 64.] - -[Footnote 26: His journal, before it was published, was revised by men -of more sense and knowledge than himself, and therefore, absurd as it -is, gives us no notion of his genuine style. The following is a fair -specimen. It is the exordium of one of his manifestoes. "Them which the -world who are without the fear of God calls Quakers in scorn do deny all -opinions, and they do deny all conceivings, and they do deny all sects, -and they do deny all imaginations, and notions, and judgments which -riseth out of the will and the thoughts, and do deny witchcraft and all -oaths, and the world and the works of it, and their worships and their -customs with the light, and do deny false ways and false worships, -seducers and deceivers which are now seen to be in the world with the -light, and with it they are condemned, which light leadeth to peace and -life from death which now thousands do witness the new teacher Christ, -him by whom the world was made, who raigns among the children of light, -and with the spirit and power of the living God, doth let them see and -know the chaff from the wheat, and doth see that which must be shaken -with that which cannot be shaken nor moved, what gives to see that which -is shaken and moved, such as live in the notions, opinions, conceivings, -and thoughts and fancies these be all shaken and comes to be on heaps, -which they who witness those things before mentioned shaken and removed -walks in peace not seen and discerned by them who walks in those things -unremoved and not shaken."--A Warning to the World that are Groping in -the Dark, by G. Fox, 1655.] - -[Footnote 27: See the piece entitled, Concerning Good morrow and Good -even, the World's Customs, but by the Light which into the World is come -by it made manifest to all who be in the Darkness, by G. Fox, 1657.] - -[Footnote 28: Journal, page 166.] - -[Footnote 29: Epistle from Harlingen, 11th of 6th month, 1677.] - -[Footnote 30: Of Bowings, by G. Fox, 1657.] - -[Footnote 31: See, for example, the Journal, pages 24. 26. and 51.] - -[Footnote 32: See, for example, the Epistle to Sawkey, a justice of -the peace, in the journal, page 86.; the Epistle to William Larnpitt, -a clergyman, which begins, "The word of the Lord to thee, oh Lampitt," -page 80.; and the Epistle to another clergyman whom he calls Priest -Tatham, page 92.] - -[Footnote 33: Journal, page 55.] - -[Footnote 34: Ibid. Page 300.] - -[Footnote 35: Ibid. page 323.] - -[Footnote 36: Ibid. page 48.] - -[Footnote 37: "Especially of late," says Leslie, the keenest of all the -enemies of the sect, "some of them have made nearer advances towards -Christianity than ever before; and among them the ingenious Mr. Penn has -of late refined some of their gross notions, and brought them into some -form, and has made them speak sense and English, of both which George -Fox, their first and great apostle, was totally ignorant..... They -endeavour all they can to make it appear that their doctrine was uniform -from the beginning, and that there has been no alteration; and therefore -they take upon them to defend all the writings of George Fox, and others -of the first Quakers, and turn and wind them to make them (but it is -impossible) agree with what they teach now at this day." (The Snake in -the Grass, 3rd ed. 1698. Introduction.) Leslie was always more civil to -his brother Jacobite Penn than to any other Quaker. Penn himself says of -his master, "As abruptly and brokenly as sometimes his sentences would -fall from him about divine things; it is well known they were often as -texts to many fairer declarations." That is to say, George Fox talked -nonsense and some of his friends paraphrased it into sense.] - -[Footnote 38: In the Life of Penn which is prefixed to his works, we -are told that the warrants were issued on the 16th of January 1690, in -consequence of an accusation backed by the oath of William Fuller, who -is truly designated as a wretch, a cheat and. an impostor; and this -story is repeated by Mr. Clarkson. It is, however, certainly false. -Caermarthen, writing to William on the 3rd of February, says that there -was then only one witness against Penn, and that Preston was that one -witness. It is therefore evident that Fuller was not the informer on -whose oath the warrant against Penn was issued. In fact Fuller -appears from his Life of himself, to have been then at the Hague. When -Nottingham wrote to William on the 26th of June, another witness had -come forward.] - -[Footnote 39: Sidney to William, Feb. 27. 1690,. The letter is in -Dalrymple's Appendix, Part II. book vi. Narcissus Luttrell in his Diary -for September 1691, mentions Penn's escape from Shoreham to France. On -the 5th of December 1693 Narcissus made the following entry: "William -Penn the Quaker, having for some time absconded, and having compromised -the matters against him, appears now in public, and, on Friday last, -held forth at the Bull and Month, in Saint Martin's." On December 18/28. -1693 was drawn up at Saint Germains, under Melfort's direction, a paper -containing a passage of which the following is a translation - -"Mr. Penn says that Your Majesty has had several occasions, but never -any so favourable, as the present; and he hopes that Your Majesty -will be earnest with the most Christian King not to neglect it: that a -descent with thirty thousand men will not only reestablish Your Majesty, -but according to all appearance break the league." This paper is among -the Nairne MSS., and was translated by Macpherson.] - -[Footnote 40: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, April 11. 1691.] - -[Footnote 41: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, August 1691; Letter from -Vernon to Wharton, Oct. 17. 1691, in the Bodleian.] - -[Footnote 42: The opinion of the Jacobites appears from a letter which -is among the archives of the French War Office. It was written in London -on the 25th of June 1691.] - -[Footnote 43: Welwood's Mercurius Reformatus, April 11. 24. 1691; -Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, April 1691; L'Hermitage to the States -General, June 19/29 1696; Calamy's Life. The story of Fenwick's rudeness -to Mary is told in different ways. I have followed what seems to me the -most authentic, and what is certainly the last disgraceful, version.] - -[Footnote 44: Burnet, ii. 71.] - -[Footnote 45: Lloyd to Sancroft, Jan. 24. 1691. The letter is among the -Tanner MSS., and is printed in the Life of Ken by a Layman.] - -[Footnote 46: London Gazette, June 1. 1691; Birch's Life of Tillotson; -Congratulatory Poem to the Reverend Dr. Tillotson on his Promotion, -1691; Vernon to Wharton, May 28. and 30. 1691. These letters to -Wharton are in the Bodleian Library, and form part of a highly curious -collection, which was kindly pointed out to me by Dr. Bandinel.] - -[Footnote 47: Birch's Life of Tillotson; Leslie's Charge of Socinianism -against Dr. Tillotson considered, by a True Son of the Church 1695; -Hickes's Discourses upon Dr. Burnet and Dr. Tillotson, 1695; Catalogue -of Books of the Newest Fashion to be Sold by Auction at the Whigs Coffee -House, evidently printed in 1693. More than sixty years later Johnson -described a sturdy Jacobite as firmly convinced that Tillotson died an -Atheist; Idler, No, 10.] - -[Footnote 48: Tillotson to Lady Russell, June 23. 1691.] - -[Footnote 49: Birch's Life of Tillotson; Memorials of Tillotson by his -pupil John Beardmore; Sherlock's sermon preached in the Temple Church on -the death of Queen Mary, 1694/5.] - -[Footnote 50: Wharton's Collectanea quoted in Birch's Life of -Tillotson.] - -[Footnote 51: Wharton's Collectanea quoted in D'Oyly's Life of Sancroft; -Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 52: The Lambeth MS. quoted in D'Oyly's Life of Sancroft; -Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; Vernon to Wharton, June 9. 11. 1691.] - -[Footnote 53: See a letter of R. Nelson, dated Feb. 21. 1709/10, in -the appendix to N. Marshall's Defence of our Constitution in Church and -State, 1717; Hawkins's Life of Ken; Life of Ken by a Layman.] - -[Footnote 54: See a paper dictated by him on the 15th Nov. 1693, in -Wagstaffe's letter from Suffolk.] - -[Footnote 55: Kettlewell's Life, iii. 59.] - -[Footnote 56: See D'Oyly's Life of Sancroft, Hallam's Constitutional -History, and Dr. Lathbury's History of the Nonjurors.] - -[Footnote 57: See the autobiography of his descendant and namesake the -dramatist. See also Onslow's note on Burnet, ii. 76.] - -[Footnote 58: A vindication of their Majesties' authority to fill the -sees of the deprived Bishops, May 20. 1691; London Gazette, April 27. -and June 15. 1691; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, May 1691. Among the -Tanner MSS. are two letters from Jacobites to Beveridge, one mild and -decent, the other scurrilous even beyond the ordinary scurrility of the -nonjurors. The former will be found in the Life of Ken by a Layman.] - -[Footnote 59: It does not seem quite clear whether Sharp's scruple about -the deprived prelates was a scruple of conscience or merely a scruple of -delicacy. See his Life by his Son.] - -[Footnote 60: See Overall's Convocation Book, chapter 28. Nothing can be -clearer or more to the purpose than his language - -"When, having attained their ungodly desires, whether ambitious kings -by bringing any country into their subjection, or disloyal subjects -by rebellious rising against their natural sovereigns, they have -established any of the said degenerate governments among their people, -the authority either so unjustly established, or wrung by force from the -true and lawful possessor, being always God's authority, and therefore -receiving no impeachment by the wickedness of those that have it, is -ever, when such alterations are thoroughly settled, to be reverenced -and obeyed; and the people of all sorts, as well of the clergy as of the -laity, are to be subject unto it, not only for fear, but likewise for -conscience sake." - -Then follows the canon - -"If any man shall affirm that, when any such new forms of government, -begun by rebellion, are after thoroughly settled, the authority in them -is not of God, or that any who live within the territories of any such -new governments are not bound to be subject to God's authority which is -there executed, but may rebel against the same, he doth greatly err."] - -[Footnote 61: A list of all the pieces which I have read relating to -Sherlock's apostasy would fatigue the reader. I will mention a few -of different kinds. Parkinson's Examination of Dr. Sherlock's Case of -Allegiance, 1691; Answer to Dr. Sherlock's Case of Allegiance, by a -London Apprentice, 1691; the Reasons of the New Converts taking the -Oaths to the present Government, 1691; Utrum horum? or God's ways of -disposing of Kingdoms and some Clergymen's ways of disposing of -them, 1691; Sherlock and Xanthippe 1691; Saint Paul's Triumph in his -Sufferings for Christ, by Matthew Bryan, LL.D., dedicated Ecclesim sub -cruce gementi; A Word to a wavering Levite; The Trimming Court Divine; -Proteus Ecclesiasticus, or observations on Dr. Sh--'s late Case of -Allegiance; the Weasil Uncased; A Whip for the Weasil; the Anti-Weasils. -Numerous allusions to Sherlock and his wife will be found in the ribald -writings of Tom Brown, Tom Durfey, and Ned Ward. See Life of James, ii. -318. Several curious letters about Sherlock's apostasy are among the -Tanner MSS. I will give two or three specimens of the rhymes which the -Case of Allegiance called forth. - - "When Eve the fruit had tasted, - She to her husband hasted, - And chuck'd him on the chin-a. - Dear Bud, quoth she, come taste this fruit; - 'Twill finly with your palate suit, - To eat it is no sin-a." - - "As moody Job, in shirtless ease, - With collyflowers all o'er his face, - Did on the dunghill languish, - His spouse thus whispers in his ear, - Swear, husband, as you love me, swear, - 'Twill ease you of your anguish." - - "At first he had doubt, and therefore did pray - That heaven would instruct him in the right way, - Whether Jemmy or William he ought to obey, - Which nobody can deny, - - "The pass at the Boyne determin'd that case; - And precept to Providence then did give place; - To change his opinion he thought no disgrace; - Which nobody can deny. - - "But this with the Scripture can never agree, - As by Hosea the eighth and the fourth you may see; - 'They have set up kings, but yet not by me,' - Which nobody can deny."] - -[Footnote 62: The chief authority for this part of my history is the -Life of James, particularly the highly important and interesting passage -which begins at page 444. and ends at page 450. of the second volume.] - -[Footnote 63: Russell to William, May 10 1691, in Dalrymple's Appendix, -Part II. Book vii. See also the Memoirs of Sir John Leake.] - -[Footnote 64: Commons' Journals, Mar. 21. 24. 1679; Grey's Debates; -Observator.] - -[Footnote 65: London Gazette, July 21. 1690.] - -[Footnote 66: Life of James, ii. 449.] - -[Footnote 67: Shadwell's Volunteers.] - -[Footnote 68: Story's Continuation; Proclamation of February 21. 1690/1; -the London Gazette of March 12.] - -[Footnote 69: Story's Continuation.] - -[Footnote 70: Story's Impartial History; London Gazette, Nov. 17. 1690.] - -[Footnote 71: Story's Impartial History. The year 1684 had been -considered as a time of remarkable prosperity, and the revenue from the -Customs had been unusually large. But the receipt from all the ports -of Ireland, during the whole year, was only a hundred and twenty-seven -thousand pounds. See Clarendon's Memoirs.] - -[Footnote 72: Story's History and Continuation; London Gazettes of -September 29. 1690, and Jan. 8. and Mar. 12. 1690/1.] - -[Footnote 73: See the Lords' Journals of March 2. and 4. 1692/3 and the -Commons' Journals of Dec. 16. 1693, and Jan. 29. 1695/4. The story, bad -enough at best, was told by the personal and political enemies of the -Lords justices with additions which the House of Commons evidently -considered as calumnious, and which I really believe to have been -so. See the Gallienus Redivivus. The narrative which Colonel Robert -Fitzgerald, a Privy Councillor and an eyewitness delivered in writing to -the House of Lords, under the sanction of an oath, seems to me perfectly -trustworthy. It is strange that Story, though he mentions the murder of -the soldiers, says nothing about Gafney.] - -[Footnote 74: Burnet, ii. 66.; Leslie's Answer to King.] - -[Footnote 75: Macariae Excidium; Fumeron to Louvois Jan 31/Feb 10 1691. -It is to be observed that Kelly, the author of the Macariae Excidium and -Fumeron, the French intendant, are most unexceptionable witnesses. -They were both, at this time, within the walls of Limerick. There is no -reason to doubt the impartiality of the Frenchman; and the Irishman was -partial to his own countrymen.] - -[Footnote 76: Story's Impartial History and Continuation and the London -Gazettes of December, January, February, and March 1690/1.] - -[Footnote 77: It is remarkable that Avaux, though a very shrewd judge -of men, greatly underrated Berwick. In a letter to Louvois, dated Oct. -15/25. 1689, Avaux says: "Je ne puis m'empescher de vous dire qu'il est -brave de sa personne, a ce que l'on dit mais que c'est un aussy mechant -officie, qu'il en ayt, et qu'il n'a pas le sens commun."] - -[Footnote 78: Leslie's Answer to King, Macariae Excidium.] - -[Footnote 79: Macariae Excidium.] - -[Footnote 80: Macariae Excidium; Life of James, ii. 422.; Memoirs of -Berwick.] - -[Footnote 81: Macariae Excidium.] - -[Footnote 82: Life of James, ii. 422, 423.; Memoires de Berwick.] - -[Footnote 83: Life of James, ii. 433-457.; Story's Continuation.] - -[Footnote 84: Life of James, ii. 438.; Light to the Blind; Fumeron to -Louvois, April 22/May 2 1691.] - -[Footnote 85: Macariae Excidium; Memoires de Berwick; Life of James, ii. -451, 452.] - -[Footnote 86: Macariae Excidium; Burnet, ii. 78.; Dangeau; The Mercurius -Reformatus, June 5. 1691.] - -[Footnote 87: An exact journal of the victorious progress of their -Majesties' forces under the command of General Ginckle this summer in -Ireland, 1691; Story's Continuation; Mackay's Memoirs.] - -[Footnote 88: London Gazette, June 18. 22. 1691; Story's Continuation; -Life of James, ii. 452. The author of the Life accuses the Governor of -treachery or cowardice.] - -[Footnote 89: London Gazette, June 22. 25. July 2. 1691; Story's -Continuation; Exact Journal.] - -[Footnote 90: Life of James, ii. 373. 376. 377] - -[Footnote 91: Macariae Excidium. I may observe that this is one of -the many passages which lead me to believe the Latin text to be the -original. The Latin is: "Oppidum ad Salaminium amnis latus recentibus ac -sumptuosioribus aedificiis attollebatur; antiquius et ipsa vetustate in -cultius quod in Paphiis finibus exstructum erat." The English version -is: "The town on Salaminia side was better built than that in Paphia." -Surely there is in the Latin the particularity which we might expect -from a person who had known Athlone before the war. The English -version is contemptibly bad, I need hardly say that the Paphian side is -Connaught, and the Salaminian side Leinster.] - -[Footnote 92: I have consulted several contemporary maps of Athlone. One -will be found in Story's Continuation.] - -[Footnote 93: Diary of the Siege of Athlone, by an Engineer of the Army, -a Witness of the Action, licensed July 11. 1691; Story's Continuation; -London Gazette, July 2. 1691; Fumeron to Louvois, June 28/July 8. 1691. -The account of this attack in the Life of James, ii. 453., is an absurd -romance. It does not appear to have been taken from the King's original -Memoirs.] - -[Footnote 94: Macariae Excidium. Here again I think that I see clear -proof that the English version of this curious work is only a -bad translation from the Latin. The English merely says: -"Lysander,"--Sarsfield,--"accused him, a few days before, in the -general's presence," without intimating what the accusation was. The -Latin original runs thus: "Acriter Lysander, paucos ante dies, coram -praefecto copiarum illi exprobraverat nescio quid, quod in aula Syriaca -in Cypriorum opprobrium effutivisse dicebatur." The English translator -has, by omitting the most important words, and by using the aorist -instead of the preterpluperfect tense, made the whole passage -unmeaning.] - -[Footnote 95: Story's Continuation; Macariae Excidium; Daniel Macneal to -Sir Arthur Rawdon, June 28. 1691, in the Rawdon Papers.] - -[Footnote 96: London Gazette, July 6. 1691; Story's Continuation; -Macariae Excidium; Light to the Blind.] - -[Footnote 97: Macariae Excidium; Light to the Blind.] - -[Footnote 98: Life of James, ii. 460.; Life of William, 1702.] - -[Footnote 99: Story's Continuation; Mackay's Memoirs; Exact Journal; -Diary of the Siege of Athlone.] - -[Footnote 100: Story's Continuation.; Macariae Excid.; Burnet, ii. 78, -79.; London Gaz. 6. 13. 1689; Fumeron to Louvois June 30/July 10 1690; -Diary of the Siege of Athlone; Exact Account.] - -[Footnote 101: Story's Continuation; Life of James, ii. 455. Fumeron to -Louvois June 30/July 10 1691; London Gazette, July 13.] - -[Footnote 102: The story, as told by the enemies of Tyrconnel, will be -found in the Macariae Excidium, and in a letter written by Felix O'Neill -to the Countess of Antrim on the 10th of July 1691. The letter was found -on the corpse of Felix O'Neill after the battle of Aghrim. It is printed -in the Rawdon Papers. The other story is told in Berwick's Memoirs and -in the Light to the Blind.] - -[Footnote 103: Macariae Excidium; Life of James, ii 456.; Light to the -Blind.] - -[Footnote 104: Macariae Excidium.] - -[Footnote 105: Story's Continuation.] - -[Footnote 106: Burnet, ii. 79.; Story's Continuation.] - -[Footnote 107: "They maintained their ground much longer than they had -been accustomed to do," says Burnet. "They behaved themselves like men -of another nation," says Story. "The Irish were never known to fight -with more resolution," says the London Gazette.] - -[Footnote 108: Story's Continuation; London Gazette, July 20. 23. 1691; -Memoires de Berwick; Life of James, ii. 456.; Burnet, ii. 79.; Macariae -Excidium; Light to the Blind; Letter from the English camp to Sir Arthur -Rawdon, in the Rawdon Papers; History of William the Third, 1702.] - -The narratives to which I have referred differ very widely from -each other. Nor can the difference be ascribed solely or chiefly to -partiality. For no two narratives differ more widely than that which -will be found in the Life of James, and that which will be found in the -memoirs of his son.] - -In consequence, I suppose, of the fall of Saint Ruth, and of the absence -of D'Usson, there is at the French War Office no despatch containing a -detailed account of the battle.] - -[Footnote 109: Story's Continuation.] - -[Footnote 110: Story's Continuation; Macariae Excidium; Life of James, -ii. 464.; London Gazette, July 30., Aug. 17. 1691; Light to the Blind.] - -[Footnote 111: Story's Continuation; Macariae Excidium; Life of James, -ii. 459; London Gazette, July 30., Aug. 3. 1691.] - -[Footnote 112: He held this language in a letter to Louis XIV., dated -the 5/15th of August. This letter, written in a hand which it is not -easy to decipher, is in the French War Office. Macariae Excidium; Light -to the Blind.] - -[Footnote 113: Macariae Excidium; Life of James, ii. 461, 462.] - -[Footnote 114: Macariae Excidium; Life of James, ii. 459. 462.; -London Gazette, Aug. 31 1691; Light to the Blind; D'Usson and Tesse to -Barbesieux, Aug. 13/23.] - -[Footnote 115: Story's Continuation; D'Usson and Tesse to Barbesieux -Aug. 169r. An unpublished letter from Nagle to Lord Merion of Auk. -15. This letter is quoted by Mr. O'Callaghan in a note on Macariae -Excidium.] - -[Footnote 116: Macariae Excidium; Story's Continuation.] - -[Footnote 117: Story's Continuation; London Gazette, Sept. 28. 1691; -Life of James, ii. 463.; Diary of the Siege of Lymerick, 1692; Light to -the Blind. In the account of the siege which is among the archives of -the French War Office, it is said that the Irish cavalry behaved worse -than the infantry.] - -[Footnote 118: Story's Continuation; Macariae Excidium; R. Douglas to -Sir A. Rawdon, Sept. 25. 1691, in the Rawdon Papers; London Gazette, -October 8.; Diary of the Siege of Lymerick; Light to the Blind; Account -of the Siege of Limerick in the archives of the French War Office. - -The account of this affair in the Life of James, ii. 464., deserves to -be noticed merely for its preeminent absurdity. The writer tells us -that seven hundred of the Irish held out some time against a much larger -force, and warmly praises their heroism. He did not know, or did -not choose to mention, one fact which is essential to the right -understanding of the story; namely, that these seven hundred men were in -a fort. That a garrison should defend a fort during a few hours against -superior numbers is surely not strange. Forts are built because they can -be defended by few against many.] - -[Footnote 119: Account of the Siege of Limerick in the archives of the -French War Office; Story's Continuation.] - -[Footnote 120: D'Usson to Barbesieux, Oct. 4/14. 1691.] - -[Footnote 121: Macariae Excidium.] - -[Footnote 122: Story's Continuation; Diary of the Siege of Lymerick.] - -[Footnote 123: London Gazette, Oct. S. 1691; Story's Continuation; Diary -of the Siege of Lymerick.] - -[Footnote 124: Life of James, 464, 465.] - -[Footnote 125: Story's Continuation.] - -[Footnote 126: Story's Continuation; Diary of the Siege of Lymerick; -Burnet, ii. 81.; London Gazette, Oct. 12. 1691.] - -[Footnote 127: Story's Continuation; Diary of the Siege of Lymerick; -London Gazette, Oct. 15. 1691.] - -[Footnote 128: The articles of the civil treaty have often been -reprinted.] - -[Footnote 129: Story's Continuation; Diary of the Siege of Lymerick.] - -[Footnote 130: Story's Continuation; Diary of the Siege of Lymerick.] - -[Footnote 131: Story's Continuation. His narrative is confirmed by the -testimony which an Irish Captain who was present has left us in bad -Latin. "Hic apud sacrum omnes advertizantur a capellanis ire potius in -Galliam."] - -[Footnote 132: D'Usson and Tesse to Barbesieux, Oct. 17. 1691.] - -[Footnote 133: That there was little sympathy between the Celts of -Ulster and those of the Southern Provinces is evident from the curious -memorial which the agent of Baldearg O'Donnel delivered to Avaux.] - -[Footnote 134: Treasury Letter Book, June 19. 1696; Journals of the -Irish House of Commons Nov. 7. 1717.] - -[Footnote 135: This I relate on Mr. O'Callaghan's authority. History of -the Irish Brigades Note 47.] - -[Footnote 136: There is, Junius wrote eighty years after the -capitulation of Limerick, "a certain family in this country on which -nature seems to have entailed a hereditary baseness of disposition. As -far as their history has been known, the son has regularly improved upon -the vices of the father, and has taken care to transmit them pure and -undiminished into the bosom of his successors." Elsewhere he says of the -member for Middlesex, "He has degraded even the name of Luttrell." He -exclaims, in allusion to the marriage of the Duke of Cumberland and Mrs. -Horton who was born a Luttrell: "Let Parliament look to it. A Luttrell -shall never succeed to the Crown of England." It is certain that very -few Englishmen can have sympathized with Junius's abhorrence of -the Luttrells, or can even have understood it. Why then did he use -expressions which to the great majority of his readers must have been -unintelligible? My answer is that Philip Francis was born, and passed -the first ten years of his life, within a walk of Luttrellstown.] - -[Footnote 137: Story's Continuation; London Gazette, Oct. 22. 1691; -D'Usson and Tesse to Lewis, Oct. 4/14., and to Barbesieux, Oct. 7/17.; -Light to the Blind.] - -[Footnote 138: Story's Continuation; London Gazette Jan. 4. 1691/2] - -[Footnote 139: Story's Continuation; Macariae Excidium, and Mr. -O'Callaghan's note; London Gazette, Jan. 4. 1691/2.] - -[Footnote 140: Some interesting facts relating to Wall, who was minister -of Ferdinand the Sixth and Charles the Third, will be found in the -letters of Sir Benjamin Keene and Lord Bristol, published in Coxe's -Memoirs of Spain.] - -[Footnote 141: This is Swift's language, language held not once, but -repeatedly and at long intervals. In the Letter on the Sacramental Test, -written in 1708, he says: "If we (the clergy) were under any real fear -of the Papists in this kingdom, it would be hard to think us so stupid -as not to be equally apprehensive with others, since we are likely to be -the greater and more immediate sufferers; but, on the contrary, we -look upon them to be altogether as inconsiderable as the women and -children.... The common people without leaders, without discipline, or -natural courage, being little better than hewers of wood and drawers of -water, are out of all capacity of doing any mischief, if they were ever -so well inclined." In the Drapier's Sixth Letter, written in 1724, he -says: "As to the people of this kingdom, they consist either of Irish -Papists, who are as inconsiderable, in point of power, as the women and -children, or of English Protestants." Again, in the Presbyterian's Plea -of Merit written in 1731, he says, - -"The estates of Papists are very few, crumbling into small parcels, and -daily diminishing; their common people are sunk in poverty, ignorance -and cowardice, and of as little consequence as women and children. Their -nobility and gentry are at least one half ruined, banished or converted. -They all soundly feel the smart of what they suffered in the last Irish -war. Some of them are already retired into foreign countries; others, as -I am told, intend to follow them; and the rest, I believe to a man, who -still possess any lands, are absolutely resolved never to hazard them -again for the sake of establishing their superstition." - -I may observe that, to the best of my belief, Swift never, in any thing -that he wrote, used the word Irishman to denote a person of Anglosaxon -race born in Ireland. He no more considered himself as an Irishman than -an Englishman born at Calcutta considers himself as a Hindoo.] - -[Footnote 142: In 1749 Lucas was the idol of the democracy of his own -caste. It is curious to see what was thought of him by those who were -not of his own caste. One of the chief Pariah, Charles O'Connor, wrote -thus: "I am by no means interested, nor is any of our unfortunate -population, in this affair of Lucas. A true patriot would not have -betrayed such malice to such unfortunate slaves as we." He adds, with -too much truth, that those boasters the Whigs wished to have liberty all -to themselves.] - -[Footnote 143: On this subject Johnson was the most liberal politician -of his time. "The Irish," he said with great warmth, "are in a most -unnatural state for we see there the minority prevailing over the -majority." I suspect that Alderman Beckford and Alderman Sawbridge -would have been far from sympathizing with him. Charles O'Connor, whose -unfavourable opinion of the Whig Lucas I have quoted, pays, in the -Preface to the Dissertations on Irish History, a high compliment to the -liberality of the Tory Johnson.] - -[Footnote 144: London Gazette, Oct. 22. 1691.] - -[Footnote 145: Burnet, ii. 78, 79.; Burchett's Memoirs of Transactions -at Sea; Journal of the English and Dutch fleet in a Letter from an -Officer on board the Lennox, at Torbay, licensed August 21. 1691. The -writer says: "We attribute our health, under God, to the extraordinary -care taken in the well ordering of our provisions, both meat and -drink."] - -[Footnote 146: Lords' and Commons' Journals, Oct. 22. 1691.] - -[Footnote 147: This appears from a letter written by Lowther, after he -became Lord Lonsdale, to his son. A copy of this letter is among the -Mackintosh MSS.] - -[Footnote 148: See Commons' Journals, Dec. 3. 1691; and Grey's Debates. -It is to be regretted that the Report of the Commissioners of Accounts -has not been preserved. Lowther, in his letter to his son, alludes to -the badgering of this day with great bitterness. "What man," he asks, -"that hath bread to eat, can endure, after having served with all the -diligence and application mankind is capable of, and after having given -satisfaction to the King from whom all officers of State derive their -authoritie, after acting rightly by all men, to be hated by men who do -it to all people in authoritie?"] - -[Footnote 149: Commons' Journals, Dec. 12. 1691.] - -[Footnote 150: Commons' Journals, Feb. 15. 1690/1; Baden to the States -General, Jan 26/Feb 5] - -[Footnote 151: Stat. 3 W. & M. c. 2., Lords' Journals; Lords' Journals, -16 Nov. 1691; Commons' Journals, Dec. 1. 9. 5.] - -[Footnote 152: The Irish Roman Catholics complained, and with but -too much reason, that, at a later period, the Treaty of Limerick was -violated; but those very complaints are admissions that the Statute 3 W. -& M. c. 2. was not a violation of the Treaty. Thus the author of A Light -to the Blind speaking of the first article, says: "This article, in -seven years after, was broken by a Parliament in Ireland summoned by the -Prince of Orange, wherein a law was passed for banishing the Catholic -bishops, dignitaries, and regular clergy." Surely he never would have -written thus, if the article really had, only two months after it was -signed, been broken by the English Parliament. The Abbe Mac Geoghegan, -too, complains that the Treaty was violated some years after it was -made. But he does not pretend that it was violated by Stat. 3 W. & M. c. -2.] - -[Footnote 153: Stat. 21 Jac. 1. c. 3.] - -[Footnote 154: See particularly Two Letters by a Barrister concerning -the East India Company (1676), and an Answer to the Two Letters -published in the same year. See also the judgment of Lord Jeffreys -concerning the Great Case of Monopolies. This judgment was published -in 1689, after the downfall of Jeffreys. It was thought necessary to -apologize in the preface for printing anything that bore so odious a -name. "To commend this argument," says the editor, "I'll not undertake -because of the author. But yet I may tell you what is told me, that it -is worthy any gentleman's perusal." The language of Jeffreys is most -offensive, sometimes scurrilous, sometimes basely adulatory; but -his reasoning as to the mere point of law is certainly able, if not -conclusive.] - -[Footnote 155: Addison's Clarinda, in the week of which she kept a -journal, read nothing but Aurengzebe; Spectator, 323. She dreamed that -Mr. Froth lay at her feet, and called her Indamora. Her friend Miss -Kitty repeated, without book, the eight best lines of the play; those, -no doubt, which begin, "Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay." There -are not eight finer lines in Lucretius.] - -[Footnote 156: A curious engraving of the India House of the seventeenth -century will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine for December 1784.] - -[Footnote 157: See Davenant's Letter to Mulgrave.] - -[Footnote 158: Answer to Two Letters concerning the East India Company, -1676.] - -[Footnote 159: Anderson's Dictionary; G. White's Account of the Trade to -the East Indies, 1691; Treatise on the East India Trade by Philopatris, -1681.] - -[Footnote 160: Reasons for constituting a New East India Company in -London, 1681; Some Remarks upon the Present State of the East India -Company's Affairs, 1690.] - -[Footnote 161: Evelyn, March 16. 1683] - -[Footnote 162: See the State Trials.] - -[Footnote 163: Pepys's Diary, April 2. and May 10 1669.] - -[Footnote 164: Tench's Modest and Just Apology for the East India -Company, 1690.] - -[Footnote 165: Some Remarks on the Present State of the East India -Company's Affairs, 1690; Hamilton's New Account of the East Indies.] - -[Footnote 166: White's Account of the East India Trade, 1691; Pierce -Butler's Tale, 1691.] - -[Footnote 167: White's Account of the Trade to the East Indies, 1691; -Hamilton's New Account of the East Indies; Sir John Wyborne to Pepys -from Bombay, Jan. 7. 1688.] - -[Footnote 168: London Gazette, Feb. 16/26 1684.] - -[Footnote 169: Hamilton's New Account of the East Indies.] - -[Footnote 170: Papillon was of course reproached with his inconsistency. -Among the pamphlets of that time is one entitled "A Treatise concerning -the East India Trade, wrote at the instance of Thomas Papillon, Esquire, -and in his House, and printed in the year 1680, and now reprinted for -the better Satisfaction of himself and others."] - -[Footnote 171: Commons' Journals, June 8. 1689.] - -[Footnote 172: Among the pamphlets in which Child is most fiercely -attacked are Some Remarks on the Present State of the East India -Company's Affairs, 1690; fierce Butler's Tale, 1691; and White's Account -of the Trade to the East Indies, 1691.] - -[Footnote 173: Discourse concerning the East India Trade, showing it -to be unprofitable to the Kingdom, by Mr. Cary; pierce Butler's Tale, -representing the State of the Wool Case, or the East India Case truly -stated, 1691. Several petitions to the same effect will be found in the -Journals of the House of Commons.] - -[Footnote 174: Reasons against establishing an East India Company with a -joint Stock, exclusive to all others, 1691.] - -[Footnote 175: The engagement was printed, and has been several times -reprinted. As to Skinners' Hall, see Seymour's History of London, 1734] - -[Footnote 176: London Gazette, May 11. 1691; White's Account of the East -India Trade.] - -[Footnote 177: Commons' Journals, Oct. 28. 1691.] - -[Footnote 178: Ibid. Oct. 29. 1691.] - -[Footnote 179: Rowe, in the Biter, which was damned, and deserved to be -so, introduced an old gentleman haranguing his daughter thus: "Thou hast -been bred up like a virtuous and a sober maiden; and wouldest thou take -the part of a profane wretch who sold his stock out of the Old East -India Company?"] - -[Footnote 180: Hop to the States General, Oct 30/Nov. 9 1691.] - -[Footnote 181: Hop mentions the length and warmth of the debates; Nov. -12/22. 1691. See the Commons' Journals, Dec. 17. and 18.] - -[Footnote 182: Commons' Journals, Feb 4. and 6. 1691.] - -[Footnote 183: Ibid. Feb. 11. 1691.] - -[Footnote 184: The history of this bill is to be collected from the -bill itself, which is among the Archives of the Upper House, from -the Journals of the two Houses during November and December 1690, and -January 1691; particularly from the Commons' Journals of December 11. -and January 13. and 25., and the Lords' Journals of January 20. and 28. -See also Grey's Debates.] - -[Footnote 185: The letter, dated December 1. 1691, is in the Life of -James, ii. 477.] - -[Footnote 186: Burnet, ii. 85.; and Burnet MS. Harl. 6584. See also a -memorial signed by Holmes, but consisting of intelligence furnished -by Ferguson, among the extracts from the Nairne Papers, printed by -Macpherson. It bears date October 1691. "The Prince of Orange," says -Holmes, "is mortally hated by the English. They see very fairly that he -hath no love for them; neither doth he confide in them, but all in his -Dutch... It's not doubted but the Parliament will not be for foreigners -to ride them with a caveson."] - -[Footnote 187: Evelyn's Diary, Jan. 24.; Hop to States General, Jan -22/Feb 1 1691; Bader to States General, Feb. 16/26] - -[Footnote 188: The words of James are these; they were written in -November 1692:--"Mes amis, l'annee passee, avoient dessein de me -rappeler par le Parlement. La maniere etoit concertee; et Milord -Churchill devoit proposer dans le Parlement de chasser tous les -etrangers tant des conseils et de l'armee que du royaume. Si le Prince -d'Orange avoit consenti a cette proposition ils l'auroient eu entre -leurs mains. S'il l'avoit refusee, il auroit fait declarer le Parlement -contre lui; et en meme temps Milord Churchill devoir se declarer avec -l'armee pour le Parlement; et la flotte devoit faire de meme; et l'on -devoit me rappeler. L'on avoit deja commence d'agir dans ce projet; et -on avoit gagne un gros parti, quand quelques fideles sujets indiscrets, -croyant me servir, et s'imaginant que ce que Milord Churchill faisoit -n'etoit pas pour moi, mais pour la Princesse de Danemarck, eurent -l'imprudence de decouvrir le tout a Benthing, et detournerent ainsi le -coup." - -A translation of this most remarkable passage, which at once solves many -interesting and perplexing problems, was published eighty years ago by -Macpherson. But, strange to say, it attracted no notice, and has never, -as far as I know, been mentioned by any biographer of Marlborough. - -The narrative of James requires no confirmation; but it is strongly -confirmed by the Burnet MS. Harl. 6584. "Marleburrough," Burnet wrote in -September 1693, "set himself to decry the King's conduct and to lessen -him in all his discourses, and to possess the English with an aversion -to the Dutch, who, as he pretended, had a much larger share of the -King's favour and confidence than they,"--the English, I suppose,--"had. -This was a point on which the English, who are too apt to despise all -other nations, and to overvalue themselves, were easily enough inflamed. -So it grew to be the universal subject of discourse, and was the -constant entertainment at Marleburrough's, where there was a constant -randivous of the English officers." About the dismission of Marlborough, -Burnet wrote at the same time: "The King said to myself upon it that -he had very good reason to believe that he had made his peace with King -James and was engaged in a correspondence with France. It is certain he -was doing all he could to set on a faction in the army and the nation -against the Dutch." - -It is curious to compare this plain tale, told while the facts were -recent, with the shuffling narrative which Burnet prepared for the -public eye many years later, when Marlborough was closely united to the -Whigs, and was rendering great and splendid services to the country. -Burnet, ii. 90. - -The Duchess of Marlborough, in her Vindication, had the effrontery to -declare that she "could never learn what cause the King assigned for his -displeasure." She suggests that Young's forgery may have been the cause. -Now she must have known that Young's forgery was not committed till some -months after her husband's disgrace. She was indeed lamentably deficient -in memory, a faculty which is proverbially said to be necessary to -persons of the class to which she belonged. Her own volume convicts her -of falsehood. She gives us a letter from Mary to Anne, in which Mary -says, "I need not repeat the cause my Lord Marlborough has given the -King to do what he has done." These words plainly imply that Anne had -been apprised of the cause. If she had not been apprised of the cause -would she not have said so in her answer? But we have her answer; and it -contains not a word on the subject. She was then apprised of the cause; -and is it possible to believe that she kept it a secret from her adored -Mrs. Freeman?] - -[Footnote 189: My account of these transactions I have been forced to -take from the narrative of the Duchess of Marlborough, a narrative which -is to be read with constant suspicion, except when, as is often the -case, she relates some instance of her own malignity and insolence.] - -[Footnote 190: The Duchess of Marlborough's Vindication; Dartmouth's -Note on Burnet, ii. 92.; Verses of the Night Bellman of Piccadilly and -my Lord Nottingham's Order thereupon, 1691. There is a bitter lampoon on -Lady Marlborough of the same date, entitled The Universal Health, a true -Union to the Queen and Princess.] - -[Footnote 191: It must not be supposed that Anne was a reader of -Shakspeare. She had no doubt, often seen the Enchanted Island. That -miserable rifacimento of the Tempest was then a favourite with the town, -on account of the machinery and the decorations.] - -[Footnote 192: Burnet MS. Harl. 6584.] - -[Footnote 193: The history of an abortive attempt to legislate on this -subject may be studied in the Commons' Journals of 1692/3.] - -[Footnote 194: North's Examen,] - -[Footnote 195: North's Examen; Ward's London Spy; Crosby's English -Baptists, vol. iii. chap. 2.] - -[Footnote 196: The history of this part of Fuller's life I have taken -from his own narrative.] - -[Footnote 197: Commons' Journals, Dec. 2. and 9. 1691; Grey's Debates.] - -[Footnote 198: Commons' Journals, Jan. 4. 1691/2 Grey's Debates.] - -[Footnote 199: Commons' Journals, Feb. 22, 23, and 24. 1691/2.] - -[Footnote 200: Fuller's Original Letters of the late King James and -others to his greatest Friends in England.] - -[Footnote 201: Burnet, ii. 86. Burnet had evidently forgotten what the -bill contained. Ralph knew nothing about it but what he had learned from -Burnet. I have scarcely seen any allusion to the subject in any of -the numerous Jacobite lampoons of that day. But there is a remarkable -passage in a pamphlet which appeared towards the close of William's -reign, and which is entitled The Art of Governing by Parties. The writer -says, "We still want an Act to ascertain some fund for the salaries of -the judges; and there was a bill, since the Revolution, past both Houses -of Parliament to this purpose; but whether it was for being any way -defective or otherwise that His Majesty refused to assent to it, I -cannot remember. But I know the reason satisfied me at that time. And I -make no doubt but he'll consent to any good bill of this nature whenever -'tis offered." These words convinced me that the bill was open to -some grave objection which did not appear in the title, and which no -historian had noticed. I found among the archives of the House of Lords -the original parchment, endorsed with the words "Le Roy et La Royne -s'aviseront." And it was clear at the first glance what the objection -was.] - -There is a hiatus in that part of Narcissus Luttrell's Diary which -relates to this matter. "The King," he wrote, "passed ten public bills -and thirty-four private ones, and rejected that of the--"] - -As to the present practice of the House of Commons in such cases, see -Hatsell's valuable work, ii. 356. I quote the edition of 1818. Hatsell -says that many bills which affect the interest of the Crown may be -brought in without any signification of the royal consent, and that it -is enough if the consent be signified on the second reading, or even -later; but that, in a proceeding which affects the hereditary revenue, -the consent must be signified in the earliest stage.] - -[Footnote 202: The history of these ministerial arrangements I have -taken chiefly from the London Gazette of March 3. and March 7. 1691/2 -and from Narcissus Luttrell's Diary for that month. Two or three slight -touches are from contemporary pamphlets.] - -[Footnote 203: William to Melville, May 22. 1690.] - -[Footnote 204: See the preface to the Leven and Melville Papers. I have -given what I believe to be a true explanation of Burnet's hostility to -Melville. Melville's descendant who has deserved well of all students -of history by the diligence and fidelity with which he has performed his -editorial duties, thinks that Burnet's judgment was blinded by zeal for -Prelacy and hatred of Presbyterianism. This accusation will surprise and -amuse English High Churchmen.] - -[Footnote 205: Life of James, ii. 468, 469.] - -[Footnote 206: Burnet, ii. 88.; Master of Stair to Breadalbane, Dee. 2. -1691.] - -[Footnote 207: Burnet, i. 418.] - -[Footnote 208: Crawford to Melville, July 23. 1689; The Master of -Stair to Melville, Aug. 16. 1689; Cardross to Melville, Sept. 9. 1689; -Balcarras's Memoirs; Annandale's Confession, Aug. i4. 1690.] - -[Footnote 209: Breadalbane to Melville, Sept. 17. 1690.] - -[Footnote 210: The Master of Stair to Hamilton, Aug. 17/27. 1691; Hill -to Melville, June 26. 1691; The Master of Stair to Breadalbane, Aug. 24. -1691.] - -[Footnote 211: "The real truth is, they were a branch of the Macdonalds -(who were a brave courageous people always), seated among the Campbells, -who (I mean the Glencoe men) are all Papists, if they have any religion, -were always counted a people much given to rapine and plunder, or -sorners as we call it, and much of a piece with your highwaymen in -England. Several governments desired to bring them to justice; but their -country was inaccessible to small parties." See An impartial Account of -some of the Transactions in Scotland concerning the Earl of Breadalbane, -Viscount and Master of Stair, Glenco Men, &c., London, 1695.] - -[Footnote 212: Report of the Commissioners, signed at Holyrood, June 20. -1695.] - -[Footnote 213: Gallienus Redivivus; Burnet, ii. 88.; Report of the -Commission of 1695.] - -[Footnote 214: Report of the Glencoe Commission, 1695.] - -[Footnote 215: Hill to Melville, May 15. 1691.] - -[Footnote 216: Ibid. June 3. 1691.] - -[Footnote 217: Burnet, ii. 8, 9.; Report of the Glencoe Commission. The -authorities quoted in this part of the Report were the depositions of -Hill, of Campbell of Ardkinglass, and of Mac Ian's two sons.] - -[Footnote 218: Johnson's Tour to the Hebrides.] - -[Footnote 219: Proclamation of the Privy Council of Scotland, Feb. q. -1589. I give this reference on the authority of Sir Walter Scott. See -the preface to the Legend of Montrose.] - -[Footnote 220: Johnson's Tour to the Hebrides.] - -[Footnote 221: Lockhart's Memoirs.] - -[Footnote 222: "What under heaven was the Master's byass in this matter? -I can imagine none." Impartial Account, 1695. "Nor can any man of -candour and ingenuity imagine that the Earl of Stair, who had neither -estate, friendship nor enmity in that country, nor so much as knowledge -of these persons, and who was never noted for cruelty in his temper, -should have thirsted after the blood of these wretches." Complete -History of Europe, 1707.] - -[Footnote 223: Dalrymple, in his Memoirs, relates this story, without -referring to any authority. His authority probably was family tradition. -That reports were current in 1692 of horrible crimes committed by the -Macdonalds of Glencoe, is certain from the Burnet MS. Marl. 6584. "They -had indeed been guilty of many black murthers," were Burnet's words, -written in 1693. He afterwards softened down this expression.] - -[Footnote 224: That the plan originally framed by the Master of Stair -was such as I have represented it, is clear from parts of his letters -which are quoted in the Report of 1695; and from his letters to -Breadalbane of October 27., December 2., and December 3. 1691. Of these -letters to Breadalbane the last two are in Dalrymple's Appendix. The -first is in the Appendix to the first volume of Mr. Burtons valuable -History of Scotland. "It appeared," says Burnet (ii. 157.), "that a -black design was laid, not only to cut off the men of Glencoe, but -a great many more clans, reckoned to be in all above six thousand -persons."] - -[Footnote 225: This letter is in the Report of 1695.] - -[Footnote 226: London Gazette, January 14and 18. 1691.] - -[Footnote 227: "I could have wished the Macdonalds had not divided; and -I am sorry that Keppoch and Mackian of Glenco are safe."--Letter of the -Master of Stair to Levingstone, Jan. 9. 1691/2 quoted in the Report of -1695.] - -[Footnote 228: Letter of the Master of Stair to Levingstone, Jan. 11 -1692, quoted in the Report of 1695.] - -[Footnote 229: Burnet, in 1693, wrote thus about William:--"He suffers -matters to run till there is a great heap of papers; and then he signs -them as much too fast as he was before too slow in despatching them." -Burnet MS. Harl. 6584. There is no sign either of procrastination or -of undue haste in William's correspondence with Heinsius. The truth is, -that the King understood Continental politics thoroughly, and gave his -whole mind to them. To English business he attended less, and to Scotch -business least of all.] - -[Footnote 230: Impartial Account, 1695.] - -[Footnote 231: See his letters quoted in the Report of 1695, and in the -Memoirs of the Massacre of Glencoe.] - -[Footnote 232: Report of 1695.] - -[Footnote 233: Deposition of Ronald Macdonald in the Report of 1695; -Letters from the Mountains, May 17. 1773. I quote Mrs. Grant's authority -only for what she herself heard and saw. Her account of the massacre -was written apparently without the assistance of books, and is grossly -incorrect. Indeed she makes a mistake of two years as to the date.] - -[Footnote 234: I have taken the account of the Massacre of Glencoe -chiefly from the Report of 1695, and from the Gallienus Redivivus. An -unlearned, and indeed a learned, reader may be at a loss to guess why -the Jacobites should have selected so strange a title for a pamphlet on -the massacre of Glencoe. The explanation will be found in a letter of -the Emperor Gallienus, preserved by Trebellius Pollio in the Life of -Ingenuus. Ingenuus had raised a rebellion in Moesia. He was defeated and -killed. Gallienus ordered the whole province to be laid waste, and wrote -to one of his lieutenants in language to which that of the Master of -Stair bore but too much resemblance. "Non mihi satisfacies si tantum -armatos occideris, quos et fors belli interimere potuisset. Perimendus -est omnis sexus virilis. Occidendus est quicunque maledixit. Occidendus -est quicunque male voluit. Lacera. Occide. Concide."] - -[Footnote 235: What I have called the Whig version of the story is -given, as well as the Jacobite version, in the Paris Gazette of April 7. -1692.] - -[Footnote 236: I believe that the circumstances which give so peculiar a -character of atrocity to the Massacre of Glencoe were first published in -print by Charles Leslie in the Appendix to his answer to King. The date -of Leslie's answer is 1692. But it must be remembered that the date of -1692 was then used down to what we should call the 25th of March 1693. -Leslie's book contains some remarks on a sermon by Tillotson which -was not printed till November 1692. The Gallienus Redivivus speedily -followed.] - -[Footnote 237: Gallienus Redivivus.] - -[Footnote 238: Hickes on Burnet and Tillotson, 1695.] - -[Footnote 239: Report of 1695.] - -[Footnote 240: Gallienus Redivivus.] - -[Footnote 241: Report of 1695.] - -[Footnote 242: London Gazette, Mar. 7. 1691/2] - -[Footnote 243: Burnet (ii. 93.) says that the King was not at this time -informed of the intentions of the French Government. Ralph contradicts -Burnet with great asperity. But that Burnet was in the right is proved -beyond dispute, by William's correspondence with Heinsius. So late as -April 24/May 4 William wrote thus: "Je ne puis vous dissimuler que je -commence a apprehender une descente en Angleterre, quoique je n'aye pu -le croire d'abord: mais les avis sont si multiplies de tous les cotes, -et accompagnes de tant de particularites, qu'il n'est plus guere -possible d'en douter." I quote from the French translation among the -Mackintosh MSS.] - -[Footnote 244: Burnet, ii. 95. and Onslow's note; Memoires de Saint -Simon; Memoires de Dangeau.] - -[Footnote 245: Life of James ii. 411, 412.] - -[Footnote 246: Memoires de Dangeau; Memoires de Saint Simon. Saint Simon -was on the terrace and, young as he was, observed this singular scene -with an eye which nothing escaped.] - -[Footnote 247: Memoires de Saint Simon; Burnet, ii. 95.; Guardian No. -48. See the excellent letter of Lewis to the Archbishop of Rheims, which -is quoted by Voltaire in the Siecle de Louis XIV.] - -[Footnote 248: In the Nairne papers printed by Macpherson are two -memorials from James urging Lewis to invade England. Both were written -in January 1692.] - -[Footnote 249: London Gazette, Feb. 15. 1691/2] - -[Footnote 250: Memoires de Berwick; Burnet, ii. 92.; Life of James, ii. -478. 491.] - -[Footnote 251: History of the late Conspiracy, 1693.] - -[Footnote 252: Life of James, ii. 479. 524. Memorials furnished by -Ferguson to Holmes in the Nairne Papers.] - -[Footnote 253: Life of James, ii. 474.] - -[Footnote 254: See the Monthly Mercuries of the spring of 1692.] - -[Footnote 255: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary for April and May 1692; London -Gazette, May 9. and 12.] - -[Footnote 256: Sheridan MS.; Life of James, ii. 492.] - -[Footnote 257: Life of James, ii. 488.] - -[Footnote 258: James told Sheridan that the Declaration was written by -Melfort. Sheridan MS.] - -[Footnote 259: A Letter to a Friend concerning a French Invasion to -restore the late King James to his Throne, and what may be expected from -him should he be successful in it, 1692; A second Letter to a Friend -concerning a French Invasion, in which the Declaration lately dispersed -under the Title of His Majesty's most gracious Declaration to all his -loving Subjects, commanding their Assistance against the P. of O. -and his Adherents, is entirely and exactly published according to -the dispersed Copies, with some short Observations upon it, 1692; The -Pretences of the French Invasion examined, 1692; Reflections on the late -King James's Declaration, 1692. The two Letters were written, I believe, -by Lloyd Bishop of Saint Asaph. Sheridan says, "The King's Declaration -pleas'd none, and was turn'd into ridicule burlesque lines in England." -I do not believe that a defence of this unfortunate Declaration is to be -found in any Jacobite tract. A virulent Jacobite writer, in a reply to -Dr. Welwood, printed in 1693, says, "As for the Declaration that was -printed last year... I assure you that it was as much misliked by -many, almost all, of the King's friends, as it can be exposed by his -enemies."] - -[Footnote 260: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, April 1692.] - -[Footnote 261: Sheridan MS.; Memoires de Dangeau.] - -[Footnote 262: London Gazette, May 12. 16. 1692; Gazette de Paris, May -31. 1692.] - -[Footnote 263: London Gazette, April 28. 1692] - -[Footnote 264: Ibid. May 2. 5. 12. 16.] - -[Footnote 265: London Gazette, May 16. 1692; Burchett.] - -[Footnote 266: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; London Gazette, May 19. -1692.] - -[Footnote 267: Russell's Letter to Nottingham, May 20. 1692, in the -London Gazette of May 23.; Particulars of Another Letter from the Fleet -published by authority; Burchett; Burnet, ii. 93.; Life of James, ii. -493, 494.; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; Memoires de Berwick. See also the -contemporary ballad on the battle one of the best specimens of English -street poetry, and the Advice to a Painter, 1692.] - -[Footnote 268: See Delaval's Letter to Nottingham, dated Cherburg, May -22., in the London Gazette of May 26.] - -[Footnote 269: London Gaz., May 26. 1692; Burchett's Memoirs of -Transactions at Sea; Baden to the States General, May 24/June 3; Life of -James, ii. 494; Russell's Letters in the Commons' Journals of Nov. 28. -1692; An Account of the Great Victory, 1692; Monthly Mercuries for June -and July 1692; Paris Gazette, May 28/June 7; Van Almonde's despatch -to the States General, dated May 24/June 3. 1692. The French official -account will be found in the Monthly Mercury for July. A report drawn up -by Foucault, Intendant of the province of Normandy, will be found in M. -Capefigue's Louis XIV.] - -[Footnote 270: An Account of the late Great Victory, 1692; Monthly -Mercury for June; Baden to the States General, May 24/ June 3; Narcissus -Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 271: London Gazette, June 2. 1692; Monthly Mercury; Baden to -the States General, June 14/24. Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 272: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; Monthly Mercury.] - -[Footnote 273: London Gazette, June 9.; Baden to the States General, -June 7/17] - -[Footnote 274: Baden to the States General, June. 3/13] - -[Footnote 275: Baden to the States General, May 24/June 3; Narcissus -Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 276: An Account of the late Great Victory, 1692; Narcissus -Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 277: Baden to the States General, June 7/17. 1692.] - -[Footnote 278: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 279: I give one short sentence as a specimen: "O fie that ever -it should be said that a clergyman have committed such durty actions!"] - -[Footnote 280: Gutch, Collectanea Curiosa.] - -[Footnote 281: My account of this plot is chiefly taken from Sprat's -Relation of the late Wicked Contrivance of Stephen Blackhead and Robert -Young, 1692. There are very few better narratives in the language.] - -[Footnote 282: Baden to the States General, Feb. 14/24 1693.] - -[Footnote 283: Postman, April 13. and 20. 1700; Postboy, April 18.; -Flying Post, April 20.] - -[Footnote 284: London Gazette, March 14. 1692.] - -[Footnote 285: The Swedes came, it is true, but not till the campaign -was over. London Gazette, Sept, 10 1691,] - -[Footnote 286: William to Heinsius March 14/24. 1692.] - -[Footnote 287: William to Heinsius, Feb. 2/12 1692.] - -[Footnote 288: Ibid. Jan 12/22 1692.] - -[Footnote 289: Ibid. Jan. 19/29. 1692.] - -[Footnote 290: Burnet, ii. 82 83.; Correspondence of William and -Heinsius, passim.] - -[Footnote 291: Memoires de Torcy.] - -[Footnote 292: William to Heinsius, Oct 28/Nov 8 1691.] - -[Footnote 293: Ibid. Jan. 19/29. 1692.] - -[Footnote 294: His letters to Heinsius are full of this subject.] - -[Footnote 295: See the Letters from Rome among the Nairne Papers. Those -in 1692 are from Lytcott; those in 1693 from Cardinal Howard; those in -1694 from Bishop Ellis; those in 1695 from Lord Perth. They all tell the -same story.] - -[Footnote 296: William's correspondence with Heinsius; London Gazette, -Feb. 4. 1691. In a pasquinade published in 1693, and entitled "La Foire -d'Ausbourg, Ballet Allegorique," the Elector of Saxony is introduced -saying, - - "Moy, je diray naivement, - Qu'une jartiere d'Angleterre - Feroit tout Mon empressement; - Et je ne vois rien sur la terre - Ou je trouve plus d'agrement."] - -[Footnote 297: William's correspondence with Heinsius. There is a -curious account of Schoening in the Memoirs of Count Dohna.] - -[Footnote 298: Burnet, ii. 84.] - -[Footnote 299: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 300: Monthly Mercuries of January and April 1693; Burnet, ii. -84. In the Burnet MS. Hail. 6584, is a warm eulogy on the Elector of -Bavaria. When the MS. was written he was allied with England against -France. In the History, which was prepared for publication when he was -allied with France against England, the eulogy is omitted.] - -[Footnote 301: "Nec pluribus impar."] - -[Footnote 302: Memoires de Saint Simon; Dangeau; Racine's Letters, and -Narrative entitled Relation de ce qui s'est passe au Siege de Namur; -Monthly Mercury, May 1692.] - -[Footnote 303: Memoires de Saint Simon; Racine to Boileau, May 21. -1692.] - -[Footnote 304: Monthly Mercury for June; William to Heinsius May 26/ -June 5 1692.] - -[Footnote 305: William to Heinsius, May 26/June 5 1692.] - -[Footnote 306: Monthly Mercuries of June and July 1692; London Gazettes -of June; Gazette de Paris; Memoires de Saint Simon; Journal de Dangeau; -William to Heinsius, May 30/June 9 June 2/12 June 11/21; Vernon's -Letters to Colt, printed in Tindal's History; Racine's Narrative, and -Letters to Boileau of June 15. and 24.] - -[Footnote 307: Memoires de Saint Simon.] - -[Footnote 308: London Gazette, May 30. 1692; Memoires de Saint Simon; -Journal de Dangeau; Boyer's History of William III.] - -[Footnote 309: Memoires de Saint Simon; Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XIV. -Voltaire speaks with a contempt which is probably just of the account -of this affair in the Causes Celebres. See also the Letters of Madame -de Sevigne during the months of January and February 1680. In several -English lampoons Luxemburg is nicknamed Aesop, from his deformity, and -called a wizard, in allusion to his dealings with La Voisin. In one -Jacobite allegory he is the necromancer Grandorsio. In Narcissus -Luttrell's Diary for June 1692 he is called a conjuror. I have seen two -or three English caricatures of Luxemburg's figure.] - -[Footnote 310: Memoires de Saint Simon; Memoires de Villars; Racine to -Boileau, May 21. 1692.] - -[Footnote 311: Narcissus Luttrell, April 28. 1692.] - -[Footnote 312: London Gazette Aug. 4. 8. 11. 1692; Gazette de Paris, -Aug. 9. 16.; Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XIV.; Burnet, ii. 97; Memoires -de Berwick; Dykvelt's Letter to the States General dated August 4. 1692. -See also the very interesting debate which took place in the House of -Commons on Nov. 21. 1692. An English translation of Luxemburg's very -elaborate and artful despatch will be found in the Monthly Mercury -for September 1692. The original has recently been printed in the new -edition of Dangeau. Lewis pronounced it the best despatch that he had -ever seen. The editor of the Monthly Mercury maintains that it was -manufactured at Paris. "To think otherwise," he says, "is mere folly; -as if Luxemburg could be at so much leisure to write such a long letter, -more like a pedant than a general, or rather the monitor of a school, -giving an account to his master how the rest of the boys behaved -themselves." In the Monthly Mercury will be found also the French -official list of killed and wounded. Of all the accounts of the battle -that which seems to me the best is in the Memoirs of Feuquieres. It -is illustrated by a map. Feuquieres divides his praise and blame very -fairly between the generals. The traditions of the English mess tables -have been preserved by Sterne, who was brought up at the knees of -old soldiers of William. "'There was Cutts's' continued the Corporal, -clapping the forefinger of his right hand upon the thumb of his left, -and counting round his hand; 'there was Cutts's, Mackay's Angus's, -Graham's and Leven's, all cut to pieces; and so had the English -Lifeguards too, had it not been for some regiments on the right, who -marched up boldly to their relief, and received the enemy's fire in -their faces before any one of their own platoons discharged a musket. -They'll go to heaven for it,' added Trim."] - -[Footnote 313: Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XIV.] - -[Footnote 314: Langhorne, the chief lay agent of the Jesuits in England, -always, as he owned to Tillotson, selected tools on this principle. -Burnet, i. 230.] - -[Footnote 315: I have taken the history of Grandval's plot chiefly from -Grandval's own confession. I have not mentioned Madame de Maintenon, -because Grandval, in his confession, did not mention her. The accusation -brought against her rests solely on the authority of Dumont. See also -a True Account of the horrid Conspiracy against the Life of His most -Sacred Majesty William III. 1692; Reflections upon the late horrid -Conspiracy contrived by some of the French Court to murder His Majesty -in Flanders 1692: Burnet, ii. 92.; Vernon's letters from the camp -to Colt, published by Tindal; the London Gazette, Aug, 11. The Paris -Gazette contains not one word on the subject,--a most significant -silence.] - -[Footnote 316: London Gazette, Oct. 20. 24. 1692.] - -[Footnote 317: See his report in Burchett.] - -[Footnote 318: London Gazette, July 28. 1692. See the resolutions of the -Council of War in Burchett. In a letter to Nottingham, dated July 10, -Russell says, "Six weeks will near conclude what we call summer." Lords -Journals, Dec. 19. 1692.] - -[Footnote 319: Monthly Mercury, Aug. and Sept. 1692.] - -[Footnote 320: Evelyn's Diary, July 25. 1692; Burnet, ii. 94, 95., and -Lord Dartmouth's Note. The history of the quarrel between Russell and -Nottingham will be best learned from the Parliamentary Journals and -Debates of the Session of 1692/3.] - -[Footnote 321: Commons' Journals, Nov. 19. 1692; Burnet, ii. 95.; -Grey's Debates, Nov. 21. 1692; Paris Gazettes of August and September; -Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Sept.] - -[Footnote 322: See Bart's Letters of Nobility, and the Paris Gazettes of -the autumn of 1692.] - -[Footnote 323: Memoires de Du Guay Trouin.] - -[Footnote 324: London Gazette, Aug. 11. 1692; Evelyn's Diary, Aug. -10.; Monthly Mercury for September; A Full Account of the late dreadful -Earthquake at Port Royal in Jamaica, licensed Sept. 9. 1692.] - -[Footnote 325: Evelyn's Diary, June 25. Oct. 1. 1690; Narcissus -Luttrell's Diary, June 1692, May 1693; Monthly Mercury, April, May, and -June 1693; Tom Brown's Description of a Country Life, 1692.] - -[Footnote 326: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Nov. 1692.] - -[Footnote 327: See, for example, the London Gazette of Jan. 12. 1692] - -[Footnote 328: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Dec. 1692.] - -[Footnote 329: Ibid. Jan. 1693.] - -[Footnote 330: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, July 1692.] - -[Footnote 331: Evelyn's Diary, Nov. 20. 1692: Narcissus Luttrell's -Diary; London Gazette, Nov. 24.; Hop to the Greffier of the States -General, Nov. 18/28] - -[Footnote 332: London Gazette, Dec. 19. 1692.] - -[Footnote 333: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Dec. 1692.] - -[Footnote 334: Ibid. Nov. 1692.] - -[Footnote 335: Ibid. August 1692.] - -[Footnote 336: Hop to the Greffier of the States General, Dec 23/Jan -2 1693. The Dutch despatches of this year are filled with stories of -robberies.] - -[Footnote 337: Hop to the Greffier of the States General, Dec 23/Jan 2 -1693; Historical Records of the Queen's Bays, published by authority; -Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Nov. 15.] - -[Footnote 338: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Dee. 22.] - -[Footnote 339: Ibid. Dec. 1692; Hop, Jan. 3/13 Hop calls Whitney, "den -befaamsten roover in Engelandt."] - -[Footnote 340: London Gazette January 2. 1692/3.] - -[Footnote 341: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Jan. 1692/3.] - -[Footnote 342: Ibid. Dec. 1692.] - -[Footnote 343: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, January and February; Hop Jan -31/Feb 10 and Feb 3/13 1693; Letter to Secretary Trenchard, 1694; New -Court Contrivances or more Sham Plots still, 1693.] - -[Footnote 344: Lords' and Commons' Journals, Nov. 4., Jan. 1692.] - -[Footnote 345: Commons' Journals, Nov. 10 1692.] - -[Footnote 346: See the Lords' Journals from Nov. 7. to Nov. 18. 1692; -Burnet, ii. 102. Tindall's account of these proceedings was taken from -letters addressed by Warre, Under Secretary of State, to Colt, envoy at -Hanover. Letter to Mr. Secretary Trenchard, 1694.] - -[Footnote 347: Lords' Journals, Dec. 7.; Tindal, from the Colt Papers; -Burnet, ii. 105.] - -[Footnote 348: Grey's Debates, Nov. 21. and 23. 1692.] - -[Footnote 349: Grey's Debates, Nov. 21. 1692; Colt Papers in Tindal.] - -[Footnote 350: Tindal, Colt Papers; Commons' Journals, Jan. 11. 1693.] - -[Footnote 351: Colt Papers in Tindal; Lords' Journals from Dec. 6. to -Dec. 19. 1692; inclusive,] - -[Footnote 352: As to the proceedings of this day in the House of -Commons, see the Journals, Dec. 20, and the letter of Robert Wilmot, -M.P. for Derby, to his colleague Anchitel Grey, in Grey's Debates.] - -[Footnote 353: Commons' Journals, Jan. 4. 1692/3.] - -[Footnote 354: Colt Papers in Tindal; Commons' Journals, Dec. 16. 1692, -Jan. 11 1692; Burnet ii. 104.] - -[Footnote 355: The peculiar antipathy of the English nobles to the Dutch -favourites is mentioned in a highly interesting note written by Renaudot -in 1698, and preserved among the Archives of the French Foreign Office.] - -[Footnote 356: Colt Papers in Tindal; Lords' Journals, Nov. 28. and 29. -1692, Feb. 18. and 24. 1692/3.] - -[Footnote 357: Grey's Debates, Nov 18. 1692; Commons' Journals, Nov. -18., Dec. 1. 1692.] - -[Footnote 358: See Cibber's Apology, and Mountford's Greenwich Park.] - -[Footnote 359: See Cibber's Apology, Tom Brown's Works, and indeed the -works of every man of wit and pleasure about town.] - -[Footnote 360: The chief source of information about this case is the -report of the trial, which will be found in Howell's Collection. See -Evelyn's Diary, February 4. 1692/3. I have taken some circumstances from -Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, from a letter to Sancroft which is among the -Tanner MSS in the Bodleian Library, and from two letters addressed by -Brewer to Wharton, which are also in the Bodleian Library.] - -[Footnote 361: Commons' Journals, Nov. 14. 1692.] - -[Footnote 362: Commons' Journals of the Session, particularly of Nov. -17., Dec. 10., Feb. 25., March 3.; Colt Papers in Tindal.] - -[Footnote 363: Commons' Journals, Dec. 10.; Tindal, Colt Papers.] - -[Footnote 364: See Coke's Institutes, part iv. chapter 1. In 1566 a -subsidy was 120,000L.; in 1598, 78,000L.; when Coke wrote his -Institutes, about the end of the reign of James I. 70,000L. Clarendon -tells us that, in 1640, twelve subsidies were estimated at about -600,000L.] - -[Footnote 365: See the old Land Tax Acts, and the debates on the Land -Tax Redemption Bill of 1798.] - -[Footnote 366: Lords' Journals Jan. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.; Commons' -Journals, Jan. 17, 18. 20. 1692; Tindal, from the Colt Papers; Burnet, -ii. 104, 105. Burnet has used an incorrect expression, which Tindal, -Ralph and others have copied. He says that the question was whether the -Lords should tax themselves. The Lords did not claim any right to alter -the amount of taxation laid on them by the bill as it came up to them. -They only demanded that their estates should be valued, not by the -ordinary commissioners, but by special commissioners of higher rank.] - -[Footnote 367: Commons' Journals, Dec. 2/12. 1692,] - -[Footnote 368: For this account of the origin of stockjobbing in the -City of London I am chiefly indebted to a most curious periodical paper, -entitled, "Collection for the Improvement of Husbandry and Trade, by -J. Houghton, F.R.S." It is in fact a weekly history of the commercial -speculations of that time. I have looked through the files of several -years. In No. 33., March 17. 1693, Houghton says: "The buying and -selling of Actions is one of the great trades now on foot. I find a -great many do not understand the affair." On June 13. and June 22. 1694, -he traces the whole progress of stockjobbing. On July 13. of the same -year he makes the first mention of time bargains. Whoever is desirous -to know more about the companies mentioned in the text may consult -Houghton's Collection and a pamphlet entitled Anglia Tutamen, published -in 1695.] - -[Footnote 369: Commons' Journals; Stat. 4 W. & M. c. 3.] - -[Footnote 370: See a very remarkable note in Hume's History of England, -Appendix III.] - -[Footnote 371: Wealth of Nations, book v. chap. iii.] - -[Footnote 372: Wesley was struck with this anomaly in 1745. See his -Journal.] - -[Footnote 373: Pepys, June 10. 1668.] - -[Footnote 374: See the Politics, iv. 13.] - -[Footnote 375: The bill will be found among the archives of the House of -Lords.] - -[Footnote 376: Lords' Journals, Jan. 3. 1692/3.] - -[Footnote 377: Introduction to the Copies and Extracts of some Letters -written to and from the Earl of Danby, now Duke of Leeds, published by -His Grace's Direction, 1710.] - -[Footnote 378: Commons' Journals; Grey's Debates. The bill itself is -among the archives of the House of Lords.] - -[Footnote 379: Dunton's Life and Errors; Autobiography of Edmund Bohun, -privately printed in 1853. This autobiography is, in the highest degree, -curious and interesting.] - -[Footnote 380: Vox Cleri, 1689.] - -[Footnote 381: Bohun was the author of the History of the Desertion, -published immediately after the Revolution. In that work he propounded -his favourite theory. "For my part," he says, "I am amazed to see men -scruple the submitting to the present King; for, if ever man had a just -cause of war, he had; and that creates a right to the thing gained by -it. The King by withdrawing and disbanding his army yielded him the -throne; and if he had, without any more ceremony, ascended it, he had -done no more than all other princes do on the like occasions."] - -[Footnote 382: Character of Edmund Bohun, 1692.] - -[Footnote 383: Dryden, in his Life of Lucian, speaks in too high terms -of Blount's abilities. But Dryden's judgment was biassed; for Blount's -first work was a pamphlet in defence of the Conquest of Granada.] - -[Footnote 384: See his Appeal from the Country to the City for the -Preservation of His Majesty's Person, Liberty, Property, and the -Protestant Religion.] - -[Footnote 385: See the article on Apollonius in Bayle's Dictionary. -I say that Blount made his translation from the Latin; for his works -contain abundant proofs that he was not competent to translate from the -Greek.] - -[Footnote 386: See Gildon's edition of Blount's Works, 1695.] - -[Footnote 387: Wood's Athenae Oxonienses under the name Henry Blount -(Charles Blount's father); Lestrange's Observator, No. 290.] - -[Footnote 388: This piece was reprinted by Gildon in 1695 among Blount's -Works.] - -[Footnote 389: That the plagiarism of Blount should have been detected -by few of his contemporaries is not wonderful. But it is wonderful -that in the Biographia Britannica his just Vindication should be warmly -extolled, without the slightest hint that every thing good in it is -stolen. The Areopagitica is not the only work which he pillaged on this -occasion. He took a noble passage from Bacon without acknowledgment.] - -[Footnote 390: I unhesitatingly attribute this pamphlet to Blount, -though it was not reprinted among his works by Gildon. If Blount did not -actually write it he must certainly have superintended the writing. That -two men of letters, acting without concert, should bring out within -a very short time two treatises, one made out of one half of the -Areopagitica and the other made out of the other half, is incredible. -Why Gildon did not choose to reprint the second pamphlet will appear -hereafter.] - -[Footnote 391: Bohun's Autobiography.] - -[Footnote 392: Bohun's Autobiography; Commons' Journals, Jan. 20. -1692/3.] - -[Footnote 393: Ibid. Jan. 20, 21. 1692/3] - -[Footnote 394: Oldmixon; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Nov. and Dec. 1692; -Burnet, ii. 334; Bohun's Autobiography.] - -[Footnote 395: Grey's Debates; Commons' Journals Jan. 21. 23. 1692/3.; -Bohun's Autobiography; Kennet's Life and Reign of King William and Queen -Mary.] - -[Footnote 396: "Most men pitying the Bishop."--Bohun's Autobiography.] - -[Footnote 397: The vote of the Commons is mentioned, with much feeling -in the memoirs which Burnet wrote at the time. "It look'd," he says, -"somewhat extraordinary that I, who perhaps was the greatest assertor -of publick liberty, from my first setting out, of any writer of the age, -should be so severely treated as an enemy to it. But the truth was the -Toryes never liked me, and the Whiggs hated me because I went not into -their notions and passions. But even this, and worse things that may -happen to me shall not, I hope, be able to make me depart from moderate -principles and the just asserting the liberty of mankind."--Burnet MS. -Harl. 6584.] - -[Footnote 398: Commons' Journals, Feb. 27. 1692/3; Lords' Journals, Mar. -4.] - -[Footnote 399: Lords' Journals, March 8. 1692/3.] - -[Footnote 400: In the article on Blount in the Biographia Britannica he -is extolled as having borne a principal share in the emancipation of the -press. But the writer was very imperfectly informed as to the facts. - -It is strange that the circumstances of Blount's death should be so -uncertain. That he died of a wound inflicted by his own hand, and that -he languished long, are undisputed facts. The common story was that he -shot himself; and Narcissus Luttrell at the time, made an entry to this -effect in his Diary. On the other hand, Pope, who had the very best -opportunities of obtaining accurate information, asserts that Blount, -"being in love with a near kinswoman of his, and rejected, gave himself -a stab in the arm, as pretending to kill himself, of the consequence of -which he really died."--Note on the Epilogue to the Satires, Dialogue I. -Warburton, who had lived first with the heroes of the Dunciad, and then -with the most eminent men of letters of his time ought to have known -the truth; and Warburton, by his silence, confirms Pope's assertion. -Gildon's rhapsody about the death of his friend will suit either story -equally.] - -[Footnote 401: The charges brought against Coningsby will be found in -the journals of the two Houses of the English Parliament. Those charges -were, after the lapse of a quarter of a century, versified by Prior, -whom Coningsby had treated with great insolence and harshness. I will -quote a few stanzas. - -It will be seen that the poet condescended to imitate the style of the -street ballads. - - "Of Nero tyrant, petty king, - Who heretofore did reign - In famed Hibernia, I will sing, - And in a ditty plain. - - "The articles recorded stand - Against this peerless peer; - Search but the archives of the land, - You'll find them written there." - -The story of Gaffney is then related. Coningsby's speculations are -described thus: - - "Vast quantities of stores did he - Embezzle and purloin - Of the King's stores he kept a key, - Converting them to coin. - - "The forfeited estates also, - Both real and personal, - Did with the stores together go. - Fierce Cerberas swallow'd all." - -The last charge is the favour shown the Roman Catholics: - - "Nero, without the least disguise, - The Papists at all times - Still favour'd, and their robberies - Look'd on as trivial crimes. - - "The Protestants whom they did rob - During his government, - Were forced with patience, like good Job, - To rest themselves content. - - "For he did basely them refuse - All legal remedy; - The Romans still he well did use, - Still screen'd their roguery."] - -[Footnote 402: An Account of the Sessions of Parliament in Ireland, -1692, London, 1693.] - -[Footnote 403: The Poynings Act is 10 H. 7. c. 4. It was explained by -another Act, 3&4P.and M.c. [4].] - -[Footnote 404: The history of this session I have taken from the -journals of the Irish Lords and Commons, from the narratives laid -in writing before the English Lords and Commons by members of the -Parliament of Ireland and from a pamphlet entitled a Short Account of -the Sessions of Parliament in Ireland, 1692, London, 1693. Burnet seems -to me to have taken a correct view of the dispute, ii. 118. "The English -in Ireland thought the government favoured the Irish too much; some said -this was the effect of bribery, whereas others thought it was necessary -to keep them safe from the prosecutions of the English, who hated -them, and were much sharpened against them.... There were also great -complaints of an ill administration, chiefly in the revenue, in the pay -of the army, and in the embezzling of stores."] - -[Footnote 405: As to Swift's extraction and early life, see the -Anecdotes written by himself.] - -[Footnote 406: Journal to Stella, Letter liii.] - -[Footnote 407: See Swift's Letter to Temple of Oct. 6. 1694.] - -[Footnote 408: Journal to Stella, Letter xix.;] - -[Footnote 409: Swift's Anecdotes.] - -[Footnote 410: London Gazette, March 27. 1693.] - -[Footnote 411: Burnet, ii. 108, and Speaker Onslow's Note; Sprat's True -Account of the Horrid Conspiracy; Letter to Trenchard, 1694.] - -[Footnote 412: Burnett, ii. 107.] - -[Footnote 413: These rumours are more than once mentioned in Narcissus -Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 414: London Gazette, March 27. 1693; Narcissus Luttrell's -Diary:] - -[Footnote 415: Burnett, ii, 123.; Carstairs Papers.] - -[Footnote 416: Register of the Actings or Proceedings of the General -Assembly of the Church of Scotland held at Edinburgh, Jan. 15. 1692, -collected and extracted from the Records by the Clerk thereof. This -interesting record was printed for the first time in 1852.] - -[Footnote 417: Act. Parl. Scot., June 12. 1693.] - -[Footnote 418: Ibid. June 15. 1693.] - -[Footnote 419: The editor of the Carstairs Papers was evidently very -desirous, from whatever motive, to disguise this most certain and -obvious truth. He has therefore prefixed to some of Johnstone's letters -descriptions which may possibly impose on careless readers. For example -Johnstone wrote to Carstairs on the 18th of April, before it was known -that the session would be a quiet one, "All arts have been used and will -be used to embroil matters." The editor's account of the contents of -this letter is as follows: - -"Arts used to embroil matters with reference to the affair of Glencoe." -Again, Johnstone, in a letter written some weeks later, complained -that the liberality and obsequiousness of the Estates had not been -duly appreciated. "Nothing," he says, "is to be done to gratify the -Parliament, I mean that they would have reckoned a gratification." -The editor's account of the contents of this letter is as follows: -"Complains that the Parliament is not to be gratified by an inquiry into -the massacre of Glencoe."] - -[Footnote 420: Life of James, ii. 479.] - -[Footnote 421: Hamilton's Zeneyde.] - -[Footnote 422: A View of the Court of St. Germains from the Year 1690 -to 1695, 1696; Ratio Ultima, 1697. In the Nairne Papers is a letter in -which the nonjuring bishops are ordered to send a Protestant divine -to Saint Germains. This letter was speedily followed by another -letter revoking the order. Both letters will be found in Macpherson's -collection. They both bear date Oct. 16. 1693. I suppose that the first -letter was dated according to the New Style and the letter of revocation -according to the Old Style.] - -[Footnote 423: Ratio Ultima, 1697; History of the late Parliament, -1699.] - -[Footnote 424: View of the Court of Saint Germains from 1690 to 1695. -That Dunfermline was grossly ill used is plain even from the Memoirs of -Dundee, 1714.] - -[Footnote 425: So early as the year 1690, that conclave of the -leading Jacobites which gave Preston his instructions made a strong -representation to James on this subject. "He must overrule the bigotry -of Saint Germains; and dispose their minds to think of those methods -that are more likely to gain the nation. For there is one silly thing or -another daily done there, that comes to our notice here which prolongs -what they so passionately desire." See also A Short and True Relation -of Intrigues transacted both at Home and Abroad to restore the late King -James, 1694.] - -[Footnote 426: View of the Court of Saint Germains. The account given in -this View is confirmed by a remarkable paper, which is among the -Nairne MSS. Some of the heads of the Jacobite party in England made a -representation to James, one article of which is as follows: "They beg -that Your Majesty would be pleased to admit of the Chancellor of England -into your Council; your enemies take advantage of his not being in it." -James's answer is evasive. "The King will be, on all occasions, ready to -express the just value and esteem he has for his Lord Chancellor."] - -[Footnote 427: A short and true Relation of Intrigues, 1694.] - -[Footnote 428: See the paper headed "For my Son the Prince of Wales, -1692." It is printed at the end of the Life of James.] - -[Footnote 429: Burnet, i. 683.] - -[Footnote 430: As to this change of ministry at Saint Germains see -the very curious but very confused narrative in the Life of James, ii. -498-575.; Burnet, ii. 219.; Memoires de Saint Simon; A French Conquest -neither desirable nor practicable, 1693; and the Letters from the Nairne -MSS. printed by Macpherson.] - -[Footnote 431: Life of James, ii. 509. Bossuet's opinion will be found -in the Appendix to M. Mazure's history. The Bishop sums up his arguments -thus "Je dirai done volontiers aux Catholiques, s'il y en a qui -n'approuvent point la declaration dont il s'agit; Noli esse justus -multum; neque plus sapias quam necesse est, ne obstupescas." In the Life -of James it is asserted that the French Doctors changed their opinion, -and that Bossuet, though he held out longer than the rest, saw at last -that he had been in error, but did not choose formally to retract. I -think much too highly of Bossuet's understanding to believe this.] - -[Footnote 432: Life of James, ii. 505.] - -[Footnote 433: "En fin celle cy--j'entends la declaration--n'est que -pour rentrer: et l'on peut beaucoup mieux disputer des affaires des -Catholiques a Whythall qu'a Saint Germain."--Mazure, Appendix.] - -[Footnote 434: Baden to the States General, June 2/12 1693. Four -thousand copies, wet from the press, were found in this house.] - -[Footnote 435: Baden's Letters to the States General of May and June -1693; An Answer to the Late King James's Declaration published at Saint -Germains, 1693.] - -[Footnote 436: James, ii. 514. I am unwilling to believe that Ken was -among those who blamed the Declaration of 1693 as too merciful.] - -[Footnote 437: Among the Nairne Papers is a letter sent on this occasion -by Middleton to Macarthy, who was then serving in Germany. Middleton -tries to soothe Macarthy and to induce Macarthy to soothe others. -Nothing more disingenuous was ever written by a Minister of State. "The -King," says the Secretary, "promises in the foresaid Declaration to -restore the Settlement, but at the same time, declares that he will -recompense all those who may suffer by it by giving them equivalents." -Now James did not declare that he would recompense any body, but merely -that he would advise with his Parliament on the subject. He did not -declare that he would even advise with his Parliament about recompensing -all who might suffer, but merely about recompensing such as had followed -him to the last. Finally he said nothing about equivalents. Indeed the -notion of giving an equivalent to every body who suffered by the Act of -Settlement, in other words, of giving an equivalent for the fee simple -of half the soil of Ireland, was obviously absurd. Middleton's letter -will be found in Macpherson's collection. I will give a sample of the -language held by the Whigs on this occasion. "The Roman Catholics of -Ireland," says one writer, "although in point of interest and profession -different from us yet, to do them right, have deserved well from the -late King, though ill from us; and for the late King to leave them -and exclude them in such an instance of uncommon ingratitude that -Protestants have no reason to stand by a Prince that deserts his own -party, and a people that have been faithful to him and his interest to -the very last."--A short and true Relation of the Intrigues, &c., 1694.] - -[Footnote 438: The edict of creation was registered by the Parliament of -Paris on the 10th of April 1693.] - -[Footnote 439: The letter is dated the 19th of April 1693. It is among -the Nairne MSS., and was printed by Macpherson.] - -[Footnote 440: "Il ne me plait nullement que M. Middleton est alle en -France. Ce n'est pas un homme qui voudroit faire un tel pas sans quelque -chose d'importance, et de bien concerte, sur quoy j'ay fait beaucoup -de reflections que je reserve a vous dire avostre heureuse -arrivee."--William to Portland from Loo. April 18/28 1693.] - -[Footnote 441: The best account of William's labours and anxieties at -this time is contained in his letters to Heinsius--particularly the -letters of May 1. 9. and 30. 1693.] - -[Footnote 442: He speaks very despondingly in his letter to Heinsius -of the 30th of May, Saint Simon says: "On a su depuis que le Prince -d'Orange ecrivit plusieurs fois au prince de Vaudmont son ami intime, -qu'il etait perdu et qu'il n'y avait que par un miracle qu'il put -echapper."] - -[Footnote 443: Saint Simon; Monthly Mercury, June 1693; Burnet, ii. -111.] - -[Footnote 444: Memoires de Saint Simon; Burnet, i. 404.] - -[Footnote 445: William to Heinsius, July. 1693.] - -[Footnote 446: Saint Simon's words are remarkable. "Leur cavalerie," he -says, "y fit d'abord plier des troupes d'elite jusqu'alors invincibles." -He adds, "Les gardes du Prince d'Orange, ceux de M. de Vaudemont, et -deux regimens Anglais en eurent l'honneur."] - -[Footnote 447: Berwick; Saint Simon; Burnet, i. 112, 113.; Feuquieres; -London Gazette, July 27. 31. Aug. 3. 1693; French Official Relation; -Relation sent by the King of Great Britain to their High Mightinesses, -Aug. 2. 1693; Extract of a Letter from the Adjutant of the King of -England's Dragoon Guards, Aug. 1.; Dykvelt's Letter to the States -General dated July 30. at noon. The last four papers will be found in -the Monthly Mercuries of July and August 1693. See also the History -of the Last Campaign in the Spanish Netherlands by Edward D'Auvergne, -dedicated to the Duke of Ormond, 1693. The French did justice to -William. "Le Prince d'Orange," Racine wrote to Boileau, "pensa etre -pris, apres avoir fait des merveilles." See also the glowing description -of Sterne, who, no doubt, had many times heard the battle fought over -by old soldiers. It was on this occasion that Corporal Trim was left -wounded on the field, and was nursed by the Beguine.] - -[Footnote 448: Letter from Lord Perth to his sister, June 17. 1694.] - -[Footnote 449: Saint Simon mentions the reflections thrown on the -Marshal. Feuquieres, a very good judge, tells us that Luxemburg was -unjustly blamed, and that the French army was really too much crippled -by its losses to improve the victory.] - -[Footnote 450: This account of what would have taken place, if Luxemburg -had been able and willing to improve his victory, I have taken from what -seems to have been a very manly and sensible speech made by Talmash -in the House of Commons on the 11th of December following. See Grey's -Debates.] - -[Footnote 451: William to Heinsius, July 20/30. 1693.] - -[Footnote 452: William to Portland, July 21/31. 1693.] - -[Footnote 453: London Gazette, April 24., May 15. 1693.] - -[Footnote 454: Burchett's Memoirs of Transactions at Sea; Burnet, ii. -114, 115, 116.; the London Gazette, July 17. 1693; Monthly Mercury of -July; Letter from Cadiz, dated July 4.] - -[Footnote 455: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; Baden to the States General, -Jul 14/24, July 25/Aug 4. Among the Tanner MSS. in the Bodleian Library -are letters describing the agitation in the City. "I wish," says one of -Sancroft's Jacobite correspondents, "it may open our eyes and change our -minds. But by the accounts I have seen, the Turkey Company went from the -Queen and Council full of satisfaction and good humour."] - -[Footnote 456: London Gazette, August 21 1693; L'Hermitage to the States -General, July 28/Aug 7 As I shall, in this and the following chapters, -make large use of the despatches of L'Hermitage, it may be proper to say -something about him. He was a French refugee, and resided in London -as agent for the Waldenses. One of his employments had been to -send newsletters to Heinsius. Some interesting extracts from those -newsletters will be found in the work of the Baron Sirtema de -Grovestins. It was probably in consequence of the Pensionary's -recommendation that the States General, by a resolution dated July -24/Aug 3 1693, desired L'Hermitage to collect and transmit to them -intelligence of what was passing in England. His letters abound with -curious and valuable information which is nowhere else to be found. His -accounts of parliamentary proceedings are of peculiar value, and seem to -have been so considered by his employers. - -Copies of the despatches of L'Hermitage, and, indeed of the despatches -of all the ministers and agents employed by the States General in -England from the time of Elizabeth downward, now are or will soon be -in the library of the British Museum. For this valuable addition to the -great national storehouse of knowledge, the country is chiefly -indebted to Lord Palmerston. But it would be unjust not to add that his -instructions were most zealously carried into effect by the late Sir -Edward Disbrowe, with the cordial cooperation of the enlightened men who -have charge of the noble collection of Archives at the Hague.] - -[Footnote 457: It is strange that the indictment should not have been -printed in Howell's State Trials. The copy which is before me was made -for Sir James Mackintosh.] - -[Footnote 458: Most of the information which has come down to us about -Anderton's case will be found in Howell's State Trials.] - -[Footnote 459: The Remarks are extant, and deserve to be read.] - -[Footnote 460: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 461: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 462: There are still extant a handbill addressed to All -Gentlemen Seamen that are weary of their Lives; and a ballad accusing -the King and Queen of cruelty to the sailors. - - "To robbers, thieves, and felons, they - Freely grant pardons every day. - Only poor seamen, who alone - Do keep them in their father's throne, - Must have at all no mercy shown."] - -Narcissus Luttrell gives an account of the scene at Whitehall.] - -[Footnote 463: L'Hermitage, Sept. 5/15. 1693; Narcissus Luttrell's -Diary.] - -[Footnote 464: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 465: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary. In a pamphlet published -at this time, and entitled A Dialogue between Whig and Tory, the Whig -alludes to "the public insolences at the Bath upon the late defeat in -Flanders." The Tory answers, "I know not what some hotheaded drunken -men may have said and done at the Bath or elsewhere." In the folio -Collection of State Tracts, this Dialogue is erroneously said to have -been printed about November 1692.] - -[Footnote 466: The Paper to which I refer is among the Nairne MSS., -and will be found in Macpherson's collection. That excellent writer Mr. -Hallam has, on this subject, fallen into an error of a kind very rare -with him. He says that the name of Caermarthen is perpetually mentioned -among those whom James reckoned as his friends. I believe that the -evidence against Caermarthen will be found to begin and to end with the -letter of Melfort which I have mentioned. There is indeed, among the -Nairne MSS, which Macpherson printed, an undated and anonymous letter -in which Caermarthen is reckoned among the friends of James. But this -letter is altogether undeserving of consideration. The writer was -evidently a silly hotheaded Jacobite, who knew nothing about the -situation or character of any of the public men whom he mentioned. He -blunders grossly about Marlborough, Godolphin, Russell, Shrewsbury -and the Beaufort family. Indeed the whole composition is a tissue of -absurdities.] - -It ought to be remarked that, in the Life of James compiled from his own -Papers, the assurances of support which he received from Marlborough, -Russell, Godolphin Shrewsbury, and other men of note are mentioned with -very copious details. But there is not a word indicating that any such -assurances were ever received from Caermarthen.] - -[Footnote 467: A Journal of several Remarkable Passages relating to the -East India Trade, 1693.] - -[Footnote 468: See the Monthly Mercuries and London Gazettes of -September, October, November and December 1693; Dangeau, Sept. 5. 27., -Oct. 21., Nov. 21.; the Price of the Abdication, 1693.] - -[Footnote 469: Correspondence of William and Heinsius; Danish Note, -dated Dec 11/21 1693. The note delivered by Avaux to the Swedish -government at this time will be found in Lamberty's Collection and in -the Memoires et Negotiations de la Paix de Ryswick.] - -[Footnote 470: "Sir John Lowther says, nobody can know one day what a -House of Commons would do the next; in which all agreed with him." These -remarkable words were written by Caermarthen on the margin of a paper -drawn up by Rochester in August 1692. Dalrymple, Appendix to part ii. -chap. 7.] - -[Footnote 471: See Sunderland's celebrated Narrative which has often -been printed, and his wife's letters, which are among the Sidney papers, -published by the late Serjeant Blencowe.] - -[Footnote 472: Van Citters, May 6/16. 1690.] - -[Footnote 473: Evelyn, April 24. 1691.] - -[Footnote 474: Lords' Journals, April 28. 1693.] - -[Footnote 475: L'Hermitage, Sept. 19/29, Oct 2/12 1693.] - -[Footnote 476: It is amusing to see how Johnson's Toryism breaks out -where we should hardly expect to find it. Hastings says, in the Third -Part of Henry the Sixth, - -"Let us be back'd with God and with the seas Which He hath given for -fence impregnable, And with their helps alone defend ourselves." - -"This," says Johnson in a note, "has been the advice of every man who, -in any age, understood and favoured the interest of England."] - -[Footnote 477: Swift, in his Inquiry into the Behaviour of the Queen's -last Ministry, mentions Somers as a person of great abilities, who used -to talk in so frank a manner that he seemed to discover the bottom -of his heart. In the Memoirs relating to the Change in the Queen's -Ministry, Swift says that Somers had one and only one unconversable -fault, formality. It is not very easy to understand how the same man -can be the most unreserved of companions and yet err on the side of -formality. Yet there may be truth in both the descriptions. It is well -known that Swift loved to take rude liberties with men of high rank and -fancied that, by doing so, he asserted his own independence. He has been -justly blamed for this fault by his two illustrious biographers, both -of them men of spirit at least as independent as his, Samuel Johnson -and Walter Scott. I suspect that he showed a disposition to behave with -offensive familiarity to Somers, and that Somers, not choosing to submit -to impertinence, and not wishing to be forced to resent it, resorted, -in selfdefence, to a ceremonious politeness which he never would have -practised towards Locke or Addison.] - -[Footnote 478: The eulogies on Somers and the invectives against him are -innumerable. Perhaps the best way to come to a just judgment would be to -collect all that has been said about him by Swift and by Addison. They -were the two keenest observers of their time; and they both knew him -well. But it ought to be remarked that, till Swift turned Tory, he -always extolled Somers not only as the most accomplished, but as the -most virtuous of men. In the dedication of the Tale of a Tub are these -words, "There is no virtue, either of a public or private life, which -some circumstances of your own have not often produced upon the stage of -the world;" and again, "I should be very loth the bright example of your -Lordship's virtues should be lost to other eyes, both for their sake and -your own." In the Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions at Athens -and Rome, Somers is the just Aristides. After Swift had ratted he -described Somers as a man who "possessed all excellent qualifications -except virtue."] - -[Footnote 479: See Whiston's Autobiography.] - -[Footnote 480: Swift's note on Mackay's Character of Wharton.] - -[Footnote 481: This account of Montague and Wharton I have collected -from innumerable sources. I ought, however, to mention particularly the -very curious Life of Wharton published immediately after his death.] - -[Footnote 482: Much of my information about the Harleys I have derived -from unpublished memoirs written by Edward Harley, younger brother of -Robert. A copy of these memoirs is among the Mackintosh MSS.] - -[Footnote 483: The only writer who has praised Harley's oratory, as far -as I remember, is Mackay, who calls him eloquent. Swift scribbled in the -margin, "A great lie." And certainly Swift was inclined to do more than -justice to Harley. "That lord," said Pope, "talked of business in so -confused a manner that you did not know what he was about; and every -thing he went to tell you was in the epic way; for he always began in -the middle."--Spence's Anecdotes.] - -[Footnote 484: "He used," said Pope, "to send trifling verses from Court -to the Scriblerus Club almost every day, and would come and talk idly -with them almost every night even when his all was at stake." Some -specimens of Harley's poetry are in print. The best, I think, is a -stanza which he made on his own fall in 1714; and bad is the best. - - "To serve with love, - And shed your blood, - Approved is above; - But here below - The examples show - 'Tis fatal to be good."] - -[Footnote 485: The character of Harley is to be collected from -innumerable panegyrics and lampoons; from the works and the private -correspondence of Swift, Pope, Arbuthnot, Prior and Bolingbroke, and -from multitudes of such works as Ox and Bull, the High German Doctor, -and The History of Robert Powell the Puppet Showman.] - -[Footnote 486: In a letter dated Sept. 12. 1709 a short time before he -was brought into power on the shoulders of the High Church mob, he says: -"My soul has been among Lyons, even the sons of men, whose teeth are -spears and arrows, and their tongues sharp swords. But I learn how good -it is to wait on the Lord, and to possess one's soul in peace." The -letter was to Carstairs. I doubt whether Harley would have canted thus -if he had been writing to Atterbury.] - -[Footnote 487: The anomalous position which Harley and Foley at this -time occupied is noticed in the Dialogue between a Whig and a Tory, -1693. "Your great P. Fo-y," says the Tory, "turns cadet and carries arms -under the General of the West Saxons. The two Har-ys, father and son, -are engineers under the late Lieutenant of the Ordnance, and bomb any -bill which he hath once resolv'd to reduce to ashes." Seymour is the -General of the West Saxons. Musgrave had been Lieutenant of the Ordnance -in the reign of Charles the Second.] - -[Footnote 488: Lords' and Commons' Journals, Nov. 7. 1693.] - -[Footnote 489: Commons' Journals, Nov. 13. 1693; Grey's Debates.] - -[Footnote 490: Commons' Journals, Nov. 17. 1693.] - -[Footnote 491: Ibid. Nov. 22. 27. 1693; Grey's Debates.] - -[Footnote 492: Commons' Journals, Nov. 29. Dec. 6. 1693; L'Hermitage, -Dec. 1/11 1693.] - -[Footnote 493: L'Hermitage, Sept. 1/11. Nov. 7/17 1693.] - -[Footnote 494: See the Journal to Stella, lii. liii. lix. lxi.; and Lady -Orkney's Letters to Swift.] - -[Footnote 495: See the letters written at this time by Elizabeth -Villiers, Wharton, Russell and Shrewsbury, in the Shrewsbury -Correspondence.] - -[Footnote 496: Commons' Journals, Jan. 6. 8. 1693/4.] - -[Footnote 497: Ibid. Jan. 19. 1693/4] - -[Footnote 498: Hamilton's New Account.] - -[Footnote 499: The bill I found in the Archives of the Lords. Its -history I learned from the journals of the two Houses, from a passage -in the Diary of Narcissus Luttrell, and from two letters to the States -General, both dated on Feb 27/March 9 1694 the day after the debate in -the Lords. One of these letters is from Van Citters; the other, which -contains fuller information, is from L'Hermitage.] - -[Footnote 500: Commons' Journals, Nov. 28. 1693; Grey's Debates. -L'Hermitage expected that the bill would pas;, and that the royal assent -would not be withheld. On November. he wrote to the States General, -"Il paroist dans toute la chambre beaucoup de passion a faire passer ce -bil." On Nov 28/Dec 8 he says that the division on the passing "n'a pas -cause une petite surprise. Il est difficile d'avoir un point fixe sur -les idees qu'on peut se former des emotions du parlement, car il paroist -quelquefois de grander chaleurs qui semblent devoir tout enflammer, et -qui, peu de tems apres, s'evaporent." That Seymour was the chief manager -of the opposition to the bill is asserted in the once celebrated Hush -Money pamphlet of that year.] - -[Footnote 501: Commons' Journals; Grey's Debates. The engrossed copy of -this Bill went down to the House of Commons and is lost. The original -draught on paper is among the Archives of the Lords. That Monmouth -brought in the bill I learned from a letter of L'Hermitage to the -States General Dec. 13. 1693. As to the numbers on the division, I have -followed the journals. But in Grey's Debates and in the letters of Van -Citters and L'Hermitage, the minority is said to have been 172.] - -[Footnote 502: The bill is in the Archives of the Lords. Its history I have -collected from the journals, from Grey's Debates, and from the highly -interesting letters of Van Citters and L'Hermitage. I think it clear -from Grey's Debates that a speech which L'Hermitage attributes to a -nameless "quelq'un" was made by Sir Thomas Littleton.] - -[Footnote 503: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, September 1691.] - -[Footnote 504: Commons' Journals, Jan. 4. 1693/4.] - -[Footnote 505: Of the Naturalisation Bill no copy, I believe exists. The -history of that bill will be found in the Journals. From Van Citters -and L'Hermitage we learn less than might have been expected on a subject -which must have been interesting to Dutch statesmen. Knight's speech -will be found among the Somers Papers. He is described by his brother -Jacobite, Roger North, as "a gentleman of as eminent integrity and -loyalty as ever the city of Bristol was honoured with."] - -[Footnote 506: Commons' Journals, Dec 5. 1694.] - -[Footnote 507: Commons' Journals, Dec. 20. and 22. 1693/4. The journals -did not then contain any notice of the divisions which took place when -the House was in committee. There was only one division on the army -estimates of this year, when the mace was on the table. That division -was on the question whether 60,000L. or 147,000L. should be -granted for hospitals and contingencies. The Whigs carried the larger -sum by 184 votes to 120. Wharton was a teller for the majority, Foley -for the minority.] - -[Footnote 508: Commons' Journals, Nov. 25. 1694.] - -[Footnote 509: Stat. 5 W. & M. c. I.] - -[Footnote 510: Stat. 5 & 6 W.& M. c. 14.] - -[Footnote 511: Stat. 5 & 6 W. & M. c. 21.; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 512: Stat. 5 & 6 W. & M. c. 22.; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 513: Stat. 5 W. & M. c. 7.; Evelyn's Diary, Oct. 5, Nov. 22. -1694; A Poem on Squire Neale's Projects; Malcolm's History of London. -Neale's functions are described in several editions of Chamberlayne's -State of England. His name frequently appears in the London Gazette, as, -for example, on July 28. 1684.] - -[Footnote 514: See, for example, the Mystery of the Newfashioned -Goldsmiths or Brokers, 1676; Is not the Hand of Joab in all this? 1676; -and an answer published in the same year. See also England's Glory in -the great Improvement by Banking and Trade, 1694.] - -[Footnote 515: See the Life of Dudley North, by his brother Roger.] - -[Footnote 516: See a pamphlet entitled Corporation Credit; or a Bank of -Credit, made Current by Common Consent in London, more Useful and Safe -than Money.] - -[Footnote 517: A proposal by Dr. Hugh Chamberlayne, in Essex Street, for -a Bank, of Secure Current Credit to be founded upon Land, in order to -the General Good of Landed Men, to the great Increase in the Value of -Land, and the no less Benefit of Trade and Commerce, 1695; Proposals for -the supplying their Majesties with Money on Easy Terms, exempting the -Nobility, Gentry, &c., from Taxes enlarging their Yearly Estates, and -enriching all the Subjects of the Kingdom by a National Land Bank; by -John Briscoe. "O fortunatos nimium bona si sua norint Anglicanos." -Third Edition, 1696. Briscoe seems to have been as much versed in Latin -literature as in political economy.] - -[Footnote 518: In confirmation of what is said in the text, I extract -a single paragraph from Briscoe's proposals. "Admit a gentleman hath -barely 100L. per annum estate to live on, and hath a wife and four -children to provide for; this person, supposing no taxes were upon -his estates must be a great husband to be able to keep his charge, but -cannot think of laying up anything to place out his children in the -world; but according to this proposed method he may give his children -500l. a piece and have 90l. per annum left for himself and his wife to -live upon, the which he may also leave to such of his children as he -pleases after his and his wife's decease. For first having settled his -estate of 100l. per annum, as in proposals 1. 3., he may have bills of -credit for 2000L. for his own proper use, for 10s per cent. per annum as -in proposal 22., which is but 10L. per annum for the 2000L., which being -deducted out of his estate of 100L. per annum, there remains 90L. per -annum clear to himself." It ought to be observed that this nonsense -reached a third edition.] - -[Footnote 519: See Chamberlayne's Proposal, his Positions supported by -the Reasons explaining the Office of Land Credit, and his Bank Dialogue. -See also an excellent little tract on the other side entitled "A Bank -Dialogue between Dr. H. C. and a Country Gentleman, 1696," and "Some -Remarks upon a nameless and scurrilous Libel entitled a Bank Dialogue -between Dr. H. C. and a Country Gentleman, in a Letter to a Person of -Quality."] - -[Footnote 520: Commons' Journals Dec. 7. 1693. I am afraid that I may -be suspected of exaggerating the absurdity of this scheme. I therefore -transcribe the most important part of the petition. "In consideration -of the freeholders bringing their lands into this bank, for a fund -of current credit, to be established by Act of Parliament, it is now -proposed that, for every 150L per annum, secured for 150 years, for but -one hundred yearly payments of 100L per annum, free from all manner of -taxes and deductions whatsoever, every such freeholder shall receive -4000L in the said current credit, and shall have 2000L more put into -the fishery stock for his proper benefit; and there may be further -2000L reserved at the Parliament's disposal towards the carrying on this -present war..... The free holder is never to quit the possession of his -said estate unless the yearly rent happens to be in arrear."] - -[Footnote 521: Commons' Journals, Feb. 5. 1693/4.] - -[Footnote 522: Account of the Intended Bank of England, 1694.] - -[Footnote 523: See the Lords' Journals of April 23, 24, 25. 1694, and -the letter of L'Hermitage to the States General dated April 24/May 4] - -[Footnote 524: Narcissus Luttrell's. Diary, June 1694.] - -[Footnote 525: Heath's Account of the Worshipful Company of Grocers; -Francis's History of the Bank of England.] - -[Footnote 526: Spectator, No. 3.] - -[Footnote 527: Proceedings of the Wednesday Club in Friday Street.] - -[Footnote 528: Lords' Journals, April 25. 1694; London Gazette, May 7. -1694.] - -[Footnote 529: Life of James ii. 520.; Floyd's (Lloyd's) Account in the -Nairne Papers, under the date of May 1. 1694; London Gazette, April 26. -30. 1694.] - -[Footnote 530: London Gazette, May 3. 1694.] - -[Footnote 531: London Gazette, April 30. May 7. 1694; Shrewsbury to -William, May 11/21; William to Shrewsbury, May 22? June 1; L'Hermitage, -April 27/Nay 7] - -[Footnote 532: L'Hermitage, May 15/25. After mentioning the various -reports, he says, "De tous ces divers projets qu'on s'imagine aucun -n'est venu a la cognoissance du public." This is important; for it has -often been said, in excuse for Marlborough, that he communicated to the -Court of Saint Germains only what was the talk of all the coffeehouses, -and must have been known without his instrumentality.] - -[Footnote 533: London Gazette, June 14. 18. 1694; Paris Gazette June -16/July 3; Burchett; Journal of Lord Caermarthen; Baden, June 15/25; -L'Hermitage, June 15/25. 19/29] - -[Footnote 534: Shrewsbury to William, June 15/25. 1694. William to -Shrewsbury, July 1; Shrewsbury to William, June 22/July 2] - -[Footnote 535: This account of Russell's expedition to the Mediterranean -I have taken chiefly from Burchett.] - -[Footnote 536: Letter to Trenchard, 1694.] - -[Footnote 537: Burnet, ii. 141, 142.; and Onslow's note; Kingston's True -History, 1697.] - -[Footnote 538: See the Life of James, ii. 524.,] - -[Footnote 539: Kingston; Burnet, ii. 142.] - -[Footnote 540: Kingston. For the fact that a bribe was given to Taaffe, -Kingston cites the evidence taken on oath by the Lords.] - -[Footnote 541: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Oct. 6. 1694.] - -[Footnote 542: As to Dyer's newsletter, see Narcissus Luttrell's Diary -for June and August 1693, and September 1694.] - -[Footnote 543: The Whig narrative is Kingston's; the Jacobite narrative, -by an anonymous author, has lately been printed by the Chetham Society. -See also a Letter out of Lancashire to a Friend in London, giving some -Account of the late Trials, 1694.] - -[Footnote 544: Birch's Life of Tillotson; the Funeral Sermon preached by -Burnet; William to Heinsius, Nov 23/Dec 3 1694.] - -[Footnote 545: See the Journals of the two Houses. The only account that -we have of the debates is in the letters of L'Hermitage.] - -[Footnote 546: Commons' Journals, Feb. 20. 1693/4 As this bill never -reached the Lords, it is not to be found among their archives. I have -therefore no means of discovering whether it differed in any respect -from the bill of the preceding year.] - -[Footnote 547: The history of this bill may be read in the Journals of -the Houses. The contest, not a very vehement one, lasted till the 20th -of April.] - -[Footnote 548: "The Commons," says Narcissus Luttrell, "gave a great -hum." "Le murmure qui est la marque d'applaudissement fut si grand qu'on -pent dire qu'il estoit universel. "--L'Hermitage, Dec. 25/Jan. 4.] - -[Footnote 549: L'Hermitage says this in his despatch of Nov. 20/30.] - -[Footnote 550: Burnet, ii. 137.; Van Citters, Dec 25/Jan 4.] - -[Footnote 551: Burnet, ii. 136. 138.; Narcissus Luttrell's Dairy; Van -Citters, Dec 28/Jan 7 1694/5; L'Hermitage, Dec 25/Jan 4, Dec 28/Jan -7 Jan. 1/11; Vernon to Lord Lexington, Dec. 21. 25. 28., Jan. 1.; -Tenison's Funeral Sermon.] - -[Footnote 552: Evelyn's Dairy; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; Commons' -Journals, Dec. 28. 1694; Shrewsbury to Lexington, of the same date; Van -Citters of the same date; L'Hermitage, Jan. 1/11 1695. Among the sermons -on Mary's death, that of Sherlock, preached in the Temple Church, and -those of Howe and Bates, preached to great Presbyterian congregations, -deserve notice.] - -[Footnote 553: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 554: Remarks on some late Sermons, 1695; A Defence of the -Archbishop's Sermon, 1695.] - -[Footnote 555: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 556: L'Hermitage, March 1/11, 6/16 1695; London Gazette, March -7,; Tenison's Funeral Sermon; Evelyn's Diary.] - -[Footnote 557: See Claude's Sermon on Mary's death.] - -[Footnote 558: Prior to Lord and Lady Lexington, Jan. 14/24 1695. The -letter is among the Lexington papers, a valuable collection, and well -edited.] - -[Footnote 559: Monthly Mercury for January 1695. An orator who -pronounced an eulogium on the Queen at Utrecht was so absurd as to say -that she spent her last breath in prayers for the prosperity of the -United Provinces:--"Valeant et Batavi;"--these are her last words--"sint -incolumes; sint florentes; sint beati; stet in sternum, stet immota -praeclarissima illorum civitas hospitium aliquando mihi gratissimum, -optime de me meritum." See also the orations of Peter Francius of -Amsterdam, and of John Ortwinius of Delft.] - -[Footnote 560: Journal de Dangeau; Memoires de Saint Simon.] - -[Footnote 561: Saint Simon; Dangeau; Monthly Mercury for January 1695.] - -[Footnote 562: L'Hermitage, Jan. 1/11. 1695; Vernon to Lord Lexington -Jan. I. 4.; Portland to Lord Lexington, Jan 15/25; William to Heinsius, -Jan 22/Feb 1] - -[Footnote 563: See the Commons' Journals of Feb. 11, April 12. and -April 27., and the Lords' Journals of April 8. and April is. 1695. -Unfortunately there is a hiatus in the Commons' Journal of the 12th -of April, so that it is now impossible to discover whether there was a -division on the question to agree with the amendment made by the Lords.] - -[Footnote 564: L'Hermitage, April 10/20. 1695; Burnet, ii. 149.] - -[Footnote 565: An Essay upon Taxes, calculated for the present Juncture -of Affairs, 1693.] - -[Footnote 566: Commons' Journals, Jan. 12 Feb. 26. Mar. 6.; A Collection -of the Debates and Proceedings in Parliament in 1694 and 1695 upon the -Inquiry into the late Briberies and Corrupt Practices, 1695; L'Hermitage -to the States General, March 8/18; Van Citters, Mar. 15/25; L'Hermitage -says, - -"Si par cette recherche la chambre pouvoit remedier au desordre qui -regne, elle rendroit un service tres utile et tres agreable au Roy."] - -[Footnote 567: Commons' Journals, Feb. 16, 1695; Collection of the -Debates and Proceedings in Parliament in 1694 and 1695; Life of Wharton; -Burnet, ii. 144.] - -[Footnote 568: Speaker Onslow's note on Burnet ii. 583.; Commons' -Journals, Mar 6, 7. 1695. The history of the terrible end of this man -will be found in the pamphlets of the South Sea year.] - -[Footnote 569: Commons' Journals, March 8. 1695; Exact Collection of -Debates and Proceedings in Parliament in 1694 and 1695; L'Hermitage, -March 8/18] - -[Footnote 570: Exact Collection of Debates.] - -[Footnote 571: L'Hermitage, March 8/18. 1695. L'Hermitage's narrative is -confirmed by the journals, March 7. 1694/5. It appears that just before -the committee was appointed, the House resolved that letters should not -be delivered out to members during a sitting.] - -[Footnote 572: L'Hermitage, March 19/29 1695.] - -[Footnote 573: Birch's Life of Tillotson.] - -[Footnote 574: Commons' Journals, March 12 13, 14 15, 16, 1694/5; Vernon -to Lexington, March 15.; L'Hermitage, March 15/25.] - -[Footnote 575: On vit qu'il etoit impossible de le poursuivre en -justice, chacun toutefois demeurant convaincu que c'etoit un marche -fait a la main pour lui faire present de la somme de 10,000L. et qu'il -avoit ete plus habile que les autres novices que n'avoient pas su faire -si finement leure affaires.--L'Hermitage, March 29/April 8; Commons' -Journals, March 12.; Vernon to Lexington, April 26.; Burnet, ii. 145.] - -[Footnote 576: In a poem called the Prophecy (1703), is the line - - "when Seymour scorns saltpetre pence." - -In another satire is the line - - "Bribed Seymour bribes accuses."] - -[Footnote 577: Commons' Journals from March 26. to April 8. 1695.] - -[Footnote 578: L'Hermitage, April 10/20 1695.] - -[Footnote 579: Exact Collection of Debates and Proceedings.] - -[Footnote 580: L'Hermitage, April 30/May 10 1695; Portland to Lexington, -April 23/May 3] - -[Footnote 581: L'Hermitage (April 30/May 10 1695) justly remarks, that -the way in which the money was sent back strengthened the case against -Leeds.] - -[Footnote 582: There can, I think, be no doubt, that the member who is -called D in the Exact Collection was Wharton.] - -[Footnote 583: As to the proceedings of this eventful day, April 27. -1695, see the Journals of the two Houses, and the Exact Collection.] - -[Footnote 584: Exact Collection; Lords' Journals, May 3. 1695; Commons' -Journals, May 2, 3.; L'Hermitage, May 3/13.; London Gazette, May 13.] - -[Footnote 585: L'Hermitage, May 10/20. 1695; Vernon to Shrewsbury, June -22. 1697.] - -[Footnote 586: London Gazette, May 6. 1695.] - -[Footnote 587: Letter from Mrs. Burnet to the Duchess of Marlborough, -1704, quoted by Coxe; Shrewsbury to Russell, January 24. 1695; Burnett, -ii. 149.] - -[Footnote 588: London Gazette April 8. 15. 29. 1695.] - -[Footnote 589: Shrewsbury to Russell, January 24. 1695; Narcissus -Luttrell's Diary,] - -[Footnote 590: De Thou, liii. xcvi.] - -[Footnote 591: Life of James ii. 545., Orig. Mem. Of course James does -not use the word assassination. He talks of the seizing and carrying -away of the Prince of Orange.] - -[Footnote 592: Every thing bad that was known or rumoured about Porter -came out on the State Trials of 1696.] - -[Footnote 593: As to Goodman see the evidence on the trial of Peter -Cook; Cleverskirke, Feb 28/March 9 1696; L'Hermitage, April 10/20 1696; -and a pasquinade entitled the Duchess of Cleveland's Memorial.] - -[Footnote 594: See the preamble to the Commission of 1695.] - -[Footnote 595: The Commission will be found in the Minutes of the -Parliament.] - -[Footnote 596: Act. Parl. Scot., May 21. 1695; London Gazette, May 30.] - -[Footnote 597: Act. Parl. Scot. May 23. 1695.] - -[Footnote 598: Ibid. June 14. 18. 20. 1695; London Gazette, June 27.] - -[Footnote 599: Burnet, ii. 157.; Act. Parl., June 10 1695.] - -[Footnote 600: Act. Parl., June 26. 1695; London Gazette, July 4.] - -[Footnote 601: There is an excellent portrait of Villeroy in St. Simon's -Memoirs.] - -[Footnote 602: Some curious traits of Trumball's character will be found -in Pepys's Tangier Diary.] - -[Footnote 603: Postboy, June 13., July 9. 11., 1695; Intelligence -Domestic and Foreign, June 14.; Pacquet Boat from Holland and Flanders, -July 9.] - -[Footnote 604: Vaudemont's Despatch and William's Answer are in the -Monthly Mercury for July 1695.] - -[Footnote 605: See Saint Simon's Memoirs and his note upon Dangeau.] - -[Footnote 606: London Gazette July 22. 1695; Monthly Mercury of August, -1695. Swift ten years later, wrote a lampoon on Cutts, so dull and so -nauseously scurrilous that Ward or Gildon would have been ashamed of it, -entitled the Description of a Salamander.] - -[Footnote 607: London Gazette, July 29. 1695; Monthly Mercury for August -1695; Stepney to Lord Lexington, Aug. 16/26; Robert Fleming's Character -of King William, 1702. It was in the attack of July 17/27 that Captain -Shandy received the memorable wound in his groin.] - -[Footnote 608: London Gazette, Aug. r. 5. 1695; Monthly Mercury of -August 1695, containing the Letters of William and Dykvelt to the States -General.] - -[Footnote 609: Monthly Mercury for August 1695; Stepney to Lord -Lexington, Aug. 16/26] - -[Footnote 610: Monthly Mercury for August 1695; Letter from Paris, Aug -26/Sept 5 1695, among the Lexington Papers.] - -[Footnote 611: L'Hermitage, Aug. 13/23 1695.] - -[Footnote 612: London Gazette, Aug. 26. 1695; Monthly Mercury, Stepney -to Lexington, Aug. 20/30.] - -[Footnote 613: Boyer's History of King William III, 1703; London -Gazette, Aug. 29. 1695; Stepney to Lexington, Aug. 20/30.; Blathwayt to -Lexington, Sept. 2.] - -[Footnote 614: Postscript to the Monthly Mercury for August 1695; London -Gazette, Sept. 9.; Saint Simon; Dangeau.] - -[Footnote 615: Boyer, History of King William III, 2703; Postscript to -the Monthly Mercury, Aug. 1695; London Gazette, Sept. 9. 12.; Blathwayt -to Lexington, Sept. 6.; Saint Simon; Dangeau.] - -[Footnote 616: There is a noble, and I suppose, unique Collection of the -newspapers of William's reign in the British Museum. I have turned over -every page of that Collection. It is strange that neither Luttrell nor -Evelyn should have noticed the first appearance of the new journals. The -earliest mention of those journals which I have found, is in a -despatch of L'Hermitage, dated July 12/22, 1695. I will transcribe his -words:--"Depuis quelque tems on imprime ici plusieurs feuilles volantes -en forme de gazette, qui sont remplies de toutes series de nouvelles. -Cette licence est venue de ce que le parlement n'a pas acheve le bill -ou projet d'acte qui avoit ete porte dans la Chambre des Communes pour -regler l'imprimerie et empecher que ces sortes de choses n'arrivassent. -Il n'y avoit ci-devant qu'un des commis des Secretaires d'Etat qui eut -le pouvoir de faire des gazettes: mais aujourdhui il s'en fait plusieurs -sons d'autres noms." L'Hermitage mentions the paragraph reflecting on -the Princess, and the submission of the libeller.] - -[Footnote 617: L'Hermitage, Oct. 15/25., Nov. 15/25. 1695.] - -[Footnote 618: London Gazette, Oct. 24. 1695. See Evelyn's Account of -Newmarket in 1671, and Pepys, July 18. 1668. From Tallard's despatches -written after the Peace of Ryswick it appears that the autumn meetings -were not less numerous or splendid in the days of William than in those -of his uncles.] - -[Footnote 619: I have taken this account of William's progress chiefly -from the London Gazettes, from the despatches of L'Hermitage, from -Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, and from the letters of Vernon, Yard and -Cartwright among the Lexington Papers.] - -[Footnote 620: See the letter of Yard to Lexington, November 8. 1695, -and the note by the editor of the Lexington Papers.] - -[Footnote 621: L'Hermitage, Nov. 15/25. 1695.] - -[Footnote 622: L'Hermitage Oct 25/Nov 4 Oct 29/Nov 8 1695.] - -[Footnote 623: Ibid. Nov. 5/15 1695.] - -[Footnote 624: L'Hermitage, Nov. 15/25 1695; Sir James Forbes to Lady -Russell, Oct. 3. 1695; Lady Russell to Lord Edward Russell; The Postman, -Nov. 1695.] - -[Footnote 625: There is a highly curious account of this contest in the -despatches of L'Hermitage.] - -[Footnote 626: Postman, Dec. 15. 17. 1696; Vernon to Shrewsbury, Dec. -13. 15.; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; Burnet, i. 647.; Saint Evremond's -Verses to Hampden.] - -[Footnote 627: L'Hermitage, Nov. 13/23. 1695.] - -[Footnote 628: I have derived much valuable information on this subject -from a MS. in the British Museum, Lansdowne Collection, No. 801. It -is entitled Brief Memoires relating to the Silver and Gold Coins of -England, with an Account of the Corruption of the Hammered Money, and of -the Reform by the late Grand Coinage at the Tower and the Country Mints, -by Hopton Haynes, Assay Master of the Mint.] - -[Footnote 629: Stat. 5 Eliz. c. ii., and 18 Eliz. c. 1] - -[Footnote 630: Pepys's Diary, November 23. 1663.] - -[Footnote 631: The first writer who noticed the fact that, where good -money and bad money are thown into circulation together, the bad money -drives out the good money, was Aristophanes. He seems to have thought -that the preference which his fellow citizens gave to light coins was to -be attributed to a depraved taste such as led them to entrust men like -Cleon and Hyperbolus with the conduct of great affairs. But, though his -political economy will not bear examination, his verses are excellent:-- - - pollakis g' emin edoksen e polis peponthenai - tauton es te ton politon tous kalous te kagathous - es te tarkhaion nomisma Kai to kainon khrusion. - oute gar toutoisin ousin ou kekibdeleumenios - alla kallistois apanton, us dokei, nomismaton, - kai monois orthos kopeisi, kai kekodonismenois - en te tois Ellisim kai tois barbarioisi pantahkou - khrometh' ouden, alla toutois tois ponerois khalkiois, - khthes te kai proen kopeisi to kakistu kommati. - ton politon th' ous men ismen eugeneis kai sophronas - andras ontas, kai dikaious, kai kalous te kagathous, - kai traphentas en palaistrais, kai khorois kai mousiki - prouseloumen tois de khalkois, kai ksenois, kai purriais, - kai ponerois kak poneron eis apanta khrometha.] - -[Footnote 632: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary is filled with accounts of -these executions. "Le metier de rogneur de monnoye," says L'Hermitage, -"est si lucratif et paroit si facile que, quelque chose qu'on fasse pour -les detruire, il s'en trouve toujours d'autres pour prendre leur place. -Oct 1/11. 1695."] - -[Footnote 633: As to the sympathy of the public with the clippers, -see the very curious sermon which Fleetwood afterwards Bishop of Ely, -preached before the Lord Mayor in December 1694. Fleetwood says that "a -soft pernicious tenderness slackened the care of magistrates, kept back -the under officers, corrupted the juries, and withheld the evidence." He -mentions the difficulty of convincing the criminals themselves that -they had done wrong. See also a Sermon preached at York Castle by George -Halley, a clergyman of the Cathedral, to some clippers who were to be -hanged the next day. He mentions the impenitent ends which clippers -generally made, and does his best to awaken the consciences of his -bearers. He dwells on one aggravation of their crime which I should not -have thought of. "If," says he, "the same question were to be put in -this age, as of old, 'Whose is this image and superscription?' we could -not answer the whole. We may guess at the image; but we cannot tell -whose it is by the superscription; for that is all gone." The testimony -of these two divines is confirmed by that of Tom Brown, who tells a -facetious story, which I do not venture to quote, about a conversation -between the ordinary of Newgate and a clipper.] - -[Footnote 634: Lowndes's Essay for the Amendment of the Silver Coins, -1695.] - -[Footnote 635: L'Hermitage, Nov 29/Dec 9 1695.] - -[Footnote 636: The Memoirs of this Lancashire Quaker were printed a few -years ago in a most respectable newspaper, the Manchester Guardian.] - -[Footnote 637: Lowndes's Essay.] - -[Footnote 638: L'Hermitage, Dec 24/Jan 3 1695.] - -[Footnote 639: It ought always to be remembered, to Adam Smith's honour, -that he was entirely converted by Bentham's Defence of Usury, and -acknowledged, with candour worthy of a true philosopher, that the -doctrine laid down in the Wealth of Nations was erroneous.] - -[Footnote 640: Lowndes's Essay for the Amendment of the Silver Coins; -Locke's Further Considerations concerning raising the Value of Money; -Locke to Molyneux, Nov. 20. 1695; Molyneux to Locke, Dec. 24. 1695.] - -[Footnote 641: Burnet, ii. 147.] - -[Footnote 642: Commons' Journals, Nov. 22, 23. 26. 1695; L'Hermitage, -Nov 26/Dec 6] - -[Footnote 643: Commons' Journals, Nov. 26, 27, 28, 29. 1695; -L'Hermitage, Nov 26./Dec 6 Nov. 29/Dec 9 Dec 3/13] - -[Footnote 644: Commons' Journals, Nov. 28, 29. 1695; L'Hermitage, Dec. -3/13] - -[Footnote 645: L'Hermitage, Nov 22/Dec 2, Dec 6/16 1695; An Abstract of -the Consultations and Debates between the French King and his Council -concerning the new Coin that is intended to be made in England, -privately sent by a Friend of the Confederates from the French Court -to his Brother at Brussels, Dec. 12. 1695; A Discourse of the General -Notions of Money, Trade and Exchanges, by Mr. Clement of Bristol; A -Letter from an English Merchant at Amsterdam to his Friend in London; A -Fund for preserving and supplying our Coin; An Essay for regulating -the Coin, by A. V.; A Proposal for supplying His Majesty with -1,200,000L, by mending the Coin, and yet preserving the ancient Standard -of the Kingdom. These are a few of the tracts which were distributed -among members of Parliament at this conjuncture.] - -[Footnote 646: Commons' Journals, Dec. 10. 1695; L'Hermitage, Dec. 3/13 -6/16 10/20] - -[Footnote 647: Commons' Journals, Dec. 13. 1695.] - -[Footnote 648: Stat. 7 Gul. 3.c. [1].; Lords' and Commons' Journals; -L'Hermitage, Dec 31/Jan 10 Jan 7/17 10/20 14/24 1696. L'Hermitage -describes in strong language the extreme inconvenience caused by the -dispute between the Houses:--"La longueur qu'il y a dans cette affaire -est d'autant plus desagreable qu'il n'y a point (le sujet sur lequel le -peuple en general puisse souffrir plus d'incommodite, puisqu'il n'y a -personne qui, a tous moments, n'aye occasion de l'esprouver.)] - -[Footnote 649: That Locke was not a party to the attempt to make gold -cheaper by penal laws, I infer from a passage in which he notices -Lowndes's complaints about the high price of guineas. "The only remedy," -says Locke, "for that mischief, as well as a great many others, is the -putting an end to the passing of clipp'd money by tale." Locke's Further -Considerations. That the penalty proved, as might have been expected, -inefficacious, appears from several passages in the despatches of -L'Hermitage, and even from Haynes's Brief Memoires, though Haynes was a -devoted adherent of Montague.] - -[Footnote 650: L'Hermitage, Jan 14/24 1696.] - -[Footnote 651: Commons' Journals, Jan. 14. 17. 23. 1696; L'Hermitage, -Jan. 14/24; Gloria Cambriae, or Speech of a Bold Briton against a Dutch -Prince of Wales 1702; Life of the late Honourable Robert Price, -&c. 1734. Price was the bold Briton whose speech--never, I believe, -spoken--was printed in 1702. He would have better deserved to be called -bold, if he had published his impertinence while William was living. -The Life of Price is a miserable performance, full of blunders and -anachronisms.] - -[Footnote 652: L'Hermitage mentions the unfavourable change in the -temper of the Commons; and William alludes to it repeatedly in his -letters to Heinsius, Jan 21/31 1696, Jan 28/Feb 7.] - -[Footnote 653: The gaiety of the Jacobites is said by Van Cleverskirke -to have been noticed during some time; Feb 25/March 6 1696.] - -[Footnote 654: Harris's deposition, March 28. 1696.] - -[Footnote 655: Hunt's deposition.] - -[Footnote 656: Fisher's and Harris's depositions.] - -[Footnote 657: Barclay's narrative, in the Life of James, ii. 548.; -Paper by Charnock among the MSS. in the Bodleian Library.] - -[Footnote 658: Harris's deposition.] - -[Footnote 659: Ibid. Bernardi's autobiography is not at all to be -trusted.] - -[Footnote 660: See his trial.] - -[Footnote 661: Fisher's deposition; Knightley's deposition; Cranburne's -trial; De la Rue's deposition.] - -[Footnote 662: See the trials and depositions.] - -[Footnote 663: L'Hermitage, March 3/13] - -[Footnote 664: See Berwick's Memoirs.] - -[Footnote 665: Van Cleverskirke, Feb 25/March 6 1696. I am confident -that no sensible and impartial person, after attentively reading -Berwick's narrative of these transactions and comparing it with the -narrative in the Life of James (ii. 544.) which is taken, word for word, -from the Original Memoirs, can doubt that James was accessory to the -design of assassination.] - -[Footnote 666: L'Hermitage, March Feb 25/March 6] - -[Footnote 667: My account of these events is taken chiefly from -the trials and depositions. See also Burnet, ii. 165, 166, 167, and -Blackmore's True and Impartial History, compiled under the direction of -Shrewsbury and Somers, and Boyer's History of King William III., 1703.] - -[Footnote 668: Portland to Lexington, March 3/13. 1696; Van -Cleverskirke, Feb 25/Mar 6 L'Hermitage, same date.] - -[Footnote 669: Commons' Journals, Feb. 24 1695.] - -[Footnote 670: England's Enemies Exposed, 1701.] - -[Footnote 671: Commons' Journals, Feb. 24. 1695/6.] - -[Footnote 672: Ibid. Feb. 25. 1695/6; Van Cleverskirke, Feb 28/March 9; -L'Hermitage, of the same date.] - -[Footnote 673: According to L'Hermitage, Feb 27/Mar 8,there were two of -these fortunate hackney coachmen. A shrewd and vigilant hackney coachman -indeed was from the nature of his calling, very likely to be successful -in this sort of chase. The newspapers abound with proofs of the general -enthusiasm.] - -[Footnote 674: Postman March 5. 1695/6] - -[Footnote 675: Ibid. Feb. 29., March 2., March 12., March 14. 1695/6.] - -[Footnote 676: Postman, March 12. 1696; Vernon to Lexington, March 13; -Van Cleverskirke, March 13/23 The proceedings are fully reported in the -Collection of State Trials.] - -[Footnote 677: Burnet, ii. 171.; The Present Disposition of England -considered; The answer entitled England's Enemies Exposed, 1701; -L'Hermitage, March 17/27. 1696. L'Hermitage says, "Charnock a fait des -grandes instances pour avoir sa grace, et a offert de tout declarer: -mais elle lui a este refusee."] - -[Footnote 678: L'Hermitage, March 17/27] - -[Footnote 679: This most curious paper is among the Nairne MSS. in the -Bodleian Library. A short, and not perfectly ingenuous abstract of it -will be found in the Life of James, ii. 555. Why Macpherson, who has -printed many less interesting documents did not choose to print this -document, it is easy to guess. I will transcribe two or three important -sentences. "It may reasonably be presumed that what, in one juncture His -Majesty had rejected he might in another accept, when his own and the -public good necessarily required it. For I could not understand it in -such a manner as if he had given a general prohibition that at no time -the Prince of Orange should be touched... Nobody that believes His -Majesty to be lawful King of England can doubt but that in virtue of his -commission to levy war against the Prince of Orange and his adherents, -the setting upon his person is justifiable, as well by the laws of the -land duly interpreted and explained as by the law of God."] - -[Footnote 680: The trials of Friend and Parkyns will be found, -excellently reported, among the State Trials.] - -[Footnote 681: L'Hermitage, April 3/13 1696.] - -[Footnote 682: Commons' Journals, April 1, 2. 1696; L'Hermitage, April -3/13. 1696; Van Cleverskirke, of the same date.] - -[Footnote 683: L'Hermitage, April 7/17. 1696. The Declaration of the -Bishops, Collier's Defence, and Further Defence, and a long legal -argument for Cook and Snatt will be found in the Collection of State -Trials.] - -[Footnote 684: See the Manhunter, 1690.] - -[Footnote 685: State Trials.] - -[Footnote 686: The best, indeed the only good, account of these debates -is given by L'Hermitage, Feb 28/March 9 1696. He says, very truly; "La -difference n'est qu'une dispute de mots, le droit qu'on a a une chose -selon les loix estant aussy bon qu'il puisse estre."] - -[Footnote 687: See the London Gazettes during several weeks; -L'Hermitage, March 24/April 3 April 14/24. 1696; Postman, April 9 25 30] - -[Footnote 688: Journals of the Commons and Lords; L'Hermitage, April -7/17 10/20 1696.] - -[Footnote 689: See the Freeholder's Plea against Stockjobbing Elections -of Parliament Men, and the Considerations upon Corrupt Elections of -Members to serve in Parliament. Both these pamphlets were published in -1701.] - -[Footnote 690: The history of this bill will be found in the Journals -of the Commons, and in a very interesting despatch of L'Hermitage, April -14/24 1696.] - -[Footnote 691: The Act is 7 & 8 Will. 3. c. 31. Its history maybe traced -in the Journals.] - -[Footnote 692: London Gazette, May 4. 1696] - -[Footnote 693: Ibid. March 12. 16. 1696; Monthly Mercury for March, -1696.] - -[Footnote 694: The Act provided that the clipped money must be brought -in before the fourth of May. As the third was a Sunday, the second was -practically the last day.] - -[Footnote 695: L'Hermitage, May 5/15 1696; London Newsletter, May 4., -May 6. In the Newsletter the fourth of May is mentioned as "the day so -much taken notice of for the universal concern people had in it."] - -[Footnote 696: London Newsletter, May 21. 1696; Old Postmaster, June -25.; L'Hermitage, May 19/29.] - -[Footnote 697: Haynes's Brief Memoirs, Lansdowne MSS. 801.] - -[Footnote 698: See the petition from Birmingham in the Commons' -Journals, Nov. 12. 1696; and the petition from Leicester, Nov. 21] - -[Footnote 699: "Money exceeding scarce, so that none was paid or -received; but all was on trust."--Evelyn, May 13. And again, on June -11.: "Want of current money to carry on the smallest concerns, even for -daily provisions in the markets."] - -[Footnote 700: L'Hermitage, May 22/June 1; See a Letter of Dryden to -Tonson, which Malone, with great probability, supposes to have been -written at this time.] - -[Footnote 701: L'Hermitage to the States General May 8/18.; Paris -Gazette, June 2/12.; Trial and Condemnation of the Land Bank at Exeter -Change for murdering the Bank of England at Grocers' Hall, 1696. The -Will and the Epitaph will be found in the Trial.] - -[Footnote 702: L'Hermitage, June 12/22. 1696.] - -[Footnote 703: On this subject see the Short History of the Last -Parliament, 1699; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; the newspapers of 1696 -passim, and the letters of L'Hermitage passim. See also the petition -of the Clothiers of Gloucester in the Commons' Journal, Nov. 27. 1696. -Oldmixon, who had been himself a sufferer, writes on this subject with -even more than his usual acrimony.] - -[Footnote 704: See L'Hermitage, June 12/22, June 23/July, 3 June 30/July -10, Aug 1/11 Aug 28/Sept 7 1696. The Postman of August 15. mentions the -great benefit derived from the Exchequer Bills. The Pegasus of Aug. 24. -says: "The Exchequer Bills do more and more obtain with the public; and -'tis no wonder." The Pegasus of Aug. 28. says: "They pass as money from -hand to hand; 'tis observed that such as cry them down are ill affected -to the government." "They are found by experience," says the Postman -of the seventh of May following, "to be of extraordinary use to the -merchants and traders of the City of London, and all other parts of -the kingdom." I will give one specimen of the unmetrical and almost -unintelligible doggrel which the Jacobite poets published on this -subject:-- - - "Pray, Sir, did you hear of the late proclamation, - Of sending paper for payment quite thro' the nation? - Yes, Sir, I have: they're your Montague's notes, - Tinctured and coloured by your Parliament votes. - But 'tis plain on the people to be but a toast, - They come by the carrier and go by the post."] - -[Footnote 705: Commons' Journals, Nov. 25. 1696.] - -[Footnote 706: L'Hermitage, June 2/12. 1696; Commons' Journals, Nov. -25.; Post-man, May 5., June 4., July 2.] - -[Footnote 707: L'Hermitage, July. [3]/13 10/20 1696; Commons' Journals, -Nov. 25.; Paris Gazette, June 30., Aug. 25.; Old Postmaster, July 9.] - -[Footnote 708: William to Heinsius, July 30. 1696; William to -Shrewsbury, July 23. 30. 31.] - -[Footnote 709: Shrewsbury to William, July 28. 31., Aug. 4. 1696; -L'Hermitage, Aug. 1/11] - -[Footnote 710: Shrewsbury to William, Aug 7. 1696; L'Hermitage, Aug -14/24.; London Gazette, Aug. 13.] - -[Footnote 711: L'Hermitage, Aug. [18]/28. 1696. Among the records of the -Bank is a resolution of the Directors prescribing the very words which -Sir John Houblon was to use. William's sense of the service done by the -Bank on this occasion is expressed in his letter to Shrewsbury, of -Aug. 24/Sept 3. One of the Directors, in a letter concerning the Bank, -printed in 1697, says: "The Directors could not have answered it to -their members, had it been for any less occasion than the preservation -of the kingdom."] - -[Footnote 712: Haynes's Brief Memoires; Lansdowne MSS. 801. Montague's -friendly letter to Newton, announcing the appointment, has been -repeatedly printed. It bears date March 19. 1695/6.] - -[Footnote 713: I have very great pleasure in quoting the words of -Haynes, an able, experienced and practical man, who had been in the -habit of transacting business with Newton. They have never I believe, -been printed. "Mr. Isaac Newton, public Professor of the Mathematicks -in Cambridge, the greatest philosopher, and one of the best men of this -age, was, by a great and wise statesman, recommended to the favour of -the late King for Warden of the King's Mint and Exchanges, for which he -was peculiarly qualified, because of his extraordinary skill in numbers, -and his great integrity, by the first of which he could judge correctly -of the Mint accounts and transactions as soon as he entered upon his -office; and by the latter--I mean his integrity--he set a standard to -the conduct and behaviour of every officer and clerk in the Mint. Well -had it been for the publick, had he acted a few years sooner in that -situation." It is interesting to compare this testimony, borne by a man -who thoroughly understood the business of the Mint, with the childish -talk of Pope. "Sir Isaac Newton," said Pope, "though so deep in algebra -and fluxions, could not readily make up a common account; and, whilst he -was Master of the Mint, used to get somebody to make up the accounts -for him." Some of the statesmen with whom Pope lived might have told him -that it is not always from ignorance of arithmetic that persons at the -head of great departments leave to clerks the business of casting up -pounds, shillings and pence.] - -[Footnote 714: "I do not love," he wrote to Flamsteed, "to be printed -on every occasion, much less to be dunned and teased by foreigners about -mathematical things, or to be thought by our own people to be trifling -away my time about them, when I am about the King's business."] - -[Footnote 715: Hopton Haynes's Brief Memoires; Lansdowne MSS. 801.; the -Old Postmaster, July 4. 1696; the Postman May 30., July 4, September -12. 19., October 8,; L'Hermitage's despatches of this summer and autumn, -passim.] - -[Footnote 716: Paris Gazette, Aug. 11. 1696.] - -[Footnote 717: On the 7th of August L'Hermitage remarked for the first -time that money seemed to be more abundant.] - -[Footnote 718: Compare Edmund Bohn's Letter to Carey of the 31st of July -1696 with the Paris Gazette of the same date. Bohn's description of the -state of Norfolk is coloured, no doubt, by his constitutionally gloomy -temper, and by the feeling with which he, not unnaturally, regarded -the House of Commons. His statistics are not to be trusted; and his -predictions were signally falsified. But he may be believed as to plain -facts which happened in his immediate neighbourhood.] - -[Footnote 719: As to Grascombe's character, and the opinion entertained -of him by the most estimable Jacobites, see the Life of Kettlewell, part -iii., section 55. Lee the compiler of the Life of Kettlewell mentions -with just censure some of Grascombe's writings, but makes no allusion -to the worst of them, the Account of the Proceedings in the House of -Commons in relation to the Recoining of the Clipped Money, and falling -the price of Guineas. That Grascombe was the author, was proved before a -Committee of the House of Commons. See the Journals, Nov. 30. 1696.] - -[Footnote 720: L'Hermitage, June 12/22., July 7/17. 1696.] - -[Footnote 721: See the Answer to Grascombe, entitled Reflections on a -Scandalous Libel.] - -[Footnote 722: Paris Gazette, Sept. 15. 1696,] - -[Footnote 723: L'Hermitage, Oct. 2/12 1696.] - -[Footnote 724: L'Hermitage, July 20/30., Oct. 2/12 9/10 1696.] - -[Footnote 725: The Monthly Mercuries; Correspondence between Shrewsbury -and Galway; William to Heinsius, July 23. 30. 1696; Memoir of the -Marquess of Leganes.] - -[Footnote 726: William to Heinsius, Aug 27/Sept 6, Nov 15/25 Nov. 17/27 -1696; Prior to Lexington, Nov. 17/27; Villiers to Shrewsbury, Nov. -13/23] - -[Footnote 727: My account of the attempt to corrupt Porter is taken from -his examination before the House of Commons on Nov. 16. 1696, and from -the following sources: Burnet, ii. 183.; L'Hermitage to the States -General, May 8/18. 12/22 1696; the Postboy, May 9.; the Postman, May 9.; -Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; London Gazette, Oct. 19. 1696.] - -[Footnote 728: London Gazette; Narcissus Luttrell; L'Hermitage, June -12/22; Postman, June 11.] - -[Footnote 729: Life of William III. 1703; Vernon's evidence given in his -place in the House of Commons, Nov. 16. 1696.] - -[Footnote 730: William to Shrewsbury from Loo, Sept. 10. 1696.] - -[Footnote 731: Shrewsbury to William, Sept. 18. 1696.] - -[Footnote 732: William to Shrewsbury, Sept. 25. 1696.] - -[Footnote 733: London Gazette, Oct. 8. 1696; Vernon to Shrewsbury, -October 8. Shrewsbury to Portland, Oct. 11.] - -[Footnote 734: Vernon to Shrewsbury, Oct. 13. 1696; Somers to -Shrewsbury, Oct. 15.] - -[Footnote 735: William to Shrewsbury, Oct. 9. 1696.] - -[Footnote 736: Shrewsbury to William, Oct. 11. 1696.] - -[Footnote 737: Somers to Shrewsbury, Oct. 19. 1696.] - -[Footnote 738: William to Shrewsbury, Oct. 20. 1696.] - -[Footnote 739: Vernon to Shrewsbury, Oct. 13. 15.; Portland to -Shrewsbury, Oct, 20, 1696.] - -[Footnote 740: L'Hermitage, July 10/20 1696.] - -[Footnote 741: Lansdowne MS. 801.] - -[Footnote 742: I take my account of these proceedings from the Commons' -Journals, from the despatches of Van Cleverskirke and L'Hermitage to the -States General, and from Vernon's letter to Shrewsbury of the 27th of -October 1696. "I don't know," says Vernon "that the House of Commons -ever acted with greater concert than they do at present."] - -[Footnote 743: Vernon to Shrewsbury, Oct. 29. 1696; L'Hermitage, Oct -30/Nov 9 L'Hermitage calls Howe Jaques Haut. No doubt the Frenchman had -always heard Howe spoken of as Jack.] - -[Footnote 744: Postman, October 24. 1696; L'Hermitage, Oct 23/Nov 2. -L'Hermitage says: "On commence deja a ressentir des effets avantageux -des promptes et favorables resolutions que la Chambre des Communes prit -Mardy. Le discomte des billets de banque, qui estoit le jour auparavant -a 18, est revenu a douze, et les actions ont aussy augmente, aussy bien -que les taillis."] - -[Footnote 745: William to Heinsius, Nov. 13/23 1696.] - -[Footnote 746: Actes et Memoires des Negociations de la Paix de Ryswick, -1707; Villiers to Shrewsbury Dec. 1. [11]. 4/14. 1696; Letter of -Heinsius quoted by M. Sirtema de Grovestins. Of this letter I have not a -copy.] - -[Footnote 747: Vernon to Shrewsbury, Dec. 8. 1696.] - -[Footnote 748: Wharton to Shrewsbury, Oct. 27. 1696.] - -[Footnote 749: Somers to Shrewsbury, Oct. 27. 31. 1696; Vernon to -Shrewsbury, Oct. 31.; Wharton to Shrewsbury, Nov. 10. "I am apt to -think," says Wharton, "there never was more management than in bringing -that about."] - -[Footnote 750: See for example a poem on the last Treasury day at -Kensington, March 1696/7.] - -[Footnote 751: Somers to Shrewsbury, Oct 31. 1696; Wharton to -Shrewsbury, of the same date.] - -[Footnote 752: Somers to Shrewsbury, Nov. 3. 1696. The King's -unwillingness to see Fenwick is mentioned in Somers's letter of the 15th -of October.] - -[Footnote 753: Vernon to Shrewsbury, Nov. 3. 1696.] - -[Footnote 754: The circumstances of Goodman's flight were ascertained -three years later by the Earl of Manchester, when Ambassador at Paris, -and by him communicated to Jersey in a letter dated Sept 25/Oct 5 1699.] - -[Footnote 755: London Gazette Nov. 9. 1696; Vernon to Shrewsbury, Nov. -3.; Van Cleverskirke and L'Hermitage of the same date.] - -[Footnote 756: The account of the events of this day I have taken -from the Commons' Journals; the valuable work entitled Proceedings in -Parliament against Sir John Fenwick, Bart. upon a Bill of Attainder for -High Treason, 1696; Vernon's Letter to Shrewsbury, November 6. 1696, and -Somers's Letter to Shrewsbury, November 7. From both these letters it -is plain that the Whig leaders had much difficulty in obtaining the -absolution of Godolphin.] - -[Footnote 757: Commons' Journals, Nov. 9. 1696--Vernon to Shrewsbury, -Nov. 10. The editor of the State Trials is mistaken in supposing that -the quotation from Caesar's speech was made in the debate of the 13th.] - -[Footnote 758: Commons' Journals, Nov. 13. 16, 17.; Proceedings against -Sir John Fenwick.] - -[Footnote 759: A Letter to a Friend in Vindication of the Proceedings -against Sir John Fenwick, 1697.] - -[Footnote 760: This incident is mentioned by L'Hermitage.] - -[Footnote 761: L'Hermitage tells us that such things took place in these -debates.] - -[Footnote 762: See the Lords' Journals, Nov. 14., Nov. 30., Dec. 1. -1696.] - -[Footnote 763: Wharton to Shrewsbury, Dec. 1. 1696; L'Hermitage, of same -date.] - -[Footnote 764: L'Hermitage, Dec. 4/14. 1696; Wharton to Shrewsbury, Dec. -1.] - -[Footnote 765: Lords' Journals Dec. 8. 1696; L'Hermitage, of the same -date.] - -[Footnote 766: L'Hermitage, Dec. 15/25 18/28 1696.] - -[Footnote 767: Ibid. Dec. 18/28 1696.] - -[Footnote 768: Lords' Journals, Dec. 15. 1696; L'Hermitage, Dec. -[18]/28; Vernon to Shrewsbury, Dec. 15. About the numbers there is -a slight difference between Vernon and L'Hermitage. I have followed -Vernon.] - -[Footnote 769: Lords' Journals, Dec. 18. 1696; Vernon to Shrewsbury, -Dec. 19.; L'Hermitage, Dec 22/Jan 1. I take the numbers from Vernon.] - -[Footnote 770: Lords' Journals, Dec. 25 1696; L'Hermitage, Dec 26/Jan 4. -In the Vernon Correspondence there is a letter from Vernon to Shrewsbury -giving an account of the transactions of this day; but it is erroneously -dated Dec. 2., and is placed according to that date. This is not the -only blunder of the kind. A letter from Vernon to Shrewsbury, evidently -written on the 7th of November 1696, is dated and placed as a letter of -the 7th of January 1697. A letter of June 14. 1700 is dated and placed -as a letter of June 15. 1698. The Vernon Correspondence is of great -value; but it is so ill edited that it cannot be safely used without -much caution, and constant reference to other authorities.] - -[Footnote 771: Lords' Journals, Dec. 23. 1696; Vernon to Shrewsbury, -Dec. 24; L'Hermitage, Dec 25/Jan 4.] - -[Footnote 772: Vernon to Shrewsbury, Dec, 24 1696.] - -[Footnote 773: Dohna, who knew Monmouth well, describes him thus: "Il -avoit de l'esprit infiniment, et meme du plus agreable; mais il y avoir -un peu trop de haut et de bas dans son fait. Il ne savoit ce que c'etoit -que de menager les gens; et il turlupinoit a l'outrance ceux qui ne lui -plaisoient pas."] - -[Footnote 774: L'Hermitage, Jan. 12/22 1697.] - -[Footnote 775: Lords' Journals, Jan. 9. 1696/7; Vernon to Shrewsbury, of -the same date; L'Hermitage, Jan. 12/22.] - -[Footnote 776: Lords' Journals, Jan. 15. 1691; Vernon to Shrewsbury, of -the same date; L'Hermitage, of the same date.] - -[Footnote 777: Postman, Dec. 29. 31. 1696.] - -[Footnote 778: L'Hermitage, Jan. 12/22. 1697.] - -[Footnote 779: Van Cleverskirke, Jan. 12/22. 1697; L'Hermitage, Jan. -15/25.] - -[Footnote 780: L'Hermitage, Jan. 15/25. 1697.] - -[Footnote 781: Lords' Journals, Jan. 22. 26. 1696/7; Vernon to -Shrewsbury, Jan. 26.] - -[Footnote 782: Commons' Journals, Jan. 27. 169. The entry in the -journals, which might easily escape notice, is explained by a letter of -L'Hermitage, written Jan 29/Feb 8] - -[Footnote 783: L'Hermitage, Jan 29/Feb 8; 1697; London Gazette, Feb. 1.; -Paris Gazette; Vernon to Shrewsbury; Jan. 28.; Burnet, ii. 193.] - -[Footnote 784: Commons' Journals, December 19. 1696; Vernon to -Shrewsbury, Nov. 28. 1696.] - -[Footnote 785: Lords' Journals, Jan. 23. 1696/7; Vernon to Shrewsbury, -Jan. 23.; L'Hermitage, Jan 26/Feb 5.] - -[Footnote 786: Commons' Journals, Jan. 26. 1696/7; Vernon to Shrewsbury -and Van Cleverskirke to the States General of the same date. It is -curious that the King and the Lords should have made so strenuous a -fight against the Commons in defence of one of the five points of the -Peoples Charter.] - -[Footnote 787: Commons' Journals, April 1. 3. 1697; Narcissus Luttrell's -Diary; L'Hermitage, April 2/12 As L'Hermitage says, "La plupart des -membres, lorsqu'ils sont a la campagne, estant bien aises d'estre -informez par plus d'un endroit de ce qui se passe, et s'imaginant que -la Gazette qui se fait sous la direction d'un des Secretaires d'Etat, ne -contiendroit pas autant de choses que fait celle-cy, ne sont pas fichez -que d'autres les instruisent." The numbers on the division I take from -L'Hermitage. They are not to be found in the Journals. But the Journals -were not then so accurately kept as at present.] - -[Footnote 788: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, June 1691, May 1693.] - -[Footnote 789: Commons' Journals, Dec 30. 1696; Postman, July 4. 1696.] - -[Footnote 790: Postman April 22. 1696; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.] - -[Footnote 791: London Gazette, April 26. 29. 1697,] - -[Footnote 792: London Gazette, April 29. 1697; L'Hermitage, April 23/May -3] - -[Footnote 793: London Gazette, April 26. 29 1697 L'Hermitage, April -23/May 3] - -[Footnote 794: What the opinion of the public was we learn from a letter -written by L'Hermitage immediately after Godolphin's resignation, Nov -3/13. 1696, "Le public tourne plus la veue sur le Sieur Montegu, qui -a la seconde charge de la Tresorerie que sur aucun autre." The strange -silence of the London Gazette is explained by a letter of Vernon to -Shrewsbury, dated May 1. 1697.] - -[Footnote 795: London Gazette, April 22. 26: 1697.] - -[Footnote 796: Postman, Jan. 26; Mar. 7. 11. 1696/7; April 8. 1697.] - -[Footnote 797: Ibid. Oct. 29. 1696.] - -[Footnote 798: Howell's State Trials; Postman, Jan. 9/19 1696/7.] - -[Footnote 799: See the Protocol of February 10 1697, in the Actes et -Memoires des Negociations de la Paix de Ryswick, 1707.] - -[Footnote 800: William to Heinsius, Dec. 11/21 1696. There are similar -expressions in other letters written by the King about the same time.] - -[Footnote 801: See the papers drawn up at Vienna, and dated Sept. 16. -1696, and March 14 1697. See also the protocol drawn up at the Hague, -March 14. 1697. These documents will be found in the Actes et Memoires -des Negociations de la Paix de Ryswick, 1707.] - -[Footnote 802: Characters of all the three French ministers are given by -Saint Simon.] - -[Footnote 803: Actes et Memoires des Negociations de la Paix de -Ryswick.] - -[Footnote 804: An engraving and ground plan of the mansion will be found -in the Actes et Memoires.] - -[Footnote 805: Whoever wishes to be fully informed as to the idle -controversies and mummeries in which the Congress wasted its time, may -consult the Actes et Memoires.] - -[Footnote 806: Saint Simon was certainly as good a judge of men as any -of those English grumblers who called Portland a dunce and a boor; Saint -Simon too had every opportunity of forming a correct judgment; for he -saw Portland in a situation full of difficulties; and Saint Simon says, -in one place, "Benting, discret, secret, poli aux autres, fidele a -son maitre, adroit en affaires, le servit tres utilement;" in another, -"Portland parut avec un eclat personnel, une politesse, un air de monde -et de cour, une galanterie et des graces qui surprirent; avec cela, -beaucoup de dignite, meme (le hauteur), mais avec discernement et un -jugement prompt sans rien de hasarde." Boufflers too extols Portland's -good breeding and tact. Boufflers to Lewis, July 9. 1697. This letter -is in the archives of the French Foreign Office. A translation will be -found in the valuable collection published by M. Grimblot.] - -[Footnote 807: Boufflers to Lewis, June 21/July 1 1697; Lewis to -Boufflers, June 22/July 2; Boufflers to Lewis, June 25/July 5] - -[Footnote 808: Boufflers to Lewis June 28/July 8, June 29/July 9 1697] - -[Footnote 809: My account of this negotiation I have taken chiefly -from the despatches in the French Foreign Office. Translations of those -despatches have been published by M. Grimblot. See also Burnet, ii. 200, -201. - -It has been frequently asserted that William promised to pay Mary of -Modena fifty thousand pounds a year. Whoever takes the trouble to -read the Protocol of Sept. 10/20 1697, among the Acts of the Peace of -Ryswick, will see that my account is correct. Prior evidently understood -the protocol as I understand it. For he says, in a letter to Lexington -of Sept. 17. 1697, "No. 2. is the thing to which the King consents as to -Queen Marie's settlements. It is fairly giving her what the law allows -her. The mediator is to dictate this paper to the French, and enter it -into his protocol; and so I think we shall come off a bon marche upon -that article." - -It was rumoured at the time (see Boyer's History of King William III. -1703) that Portland and Boufflers had agreed on a secret article by -which it was stipulated that, after the death of William, the Prince of -Wales should succeed to the English throne. This fable has often been -repeated, but was never believed by men of sense, and can hardly, since -the publication of the letters which passed between Lewis and Boufflers, -find credit even with the weakest. Dalrymple and other writers imagined -that they had found in the Life of James (ii. 574, 575.) proof that the -story of the secret article was true. The passage on which they relied -was certainly not written by James, nor under his direction; and the -authority of those portions of the Life which were not written by him, -or under his direction, is but small. Moreover, when we examine this -passage, we shall find that it not only does not bear out the story of -the secret article, but directly contradicts that story. The compiler -of the Life tells us that, after James had declared that he never would -consent to purchase the English throne for his posterity by surrendering -his own rights, nothing more was said on the subject. Now it is quite -certain that James in his Memorial published in March 1697, a Memorial -which will be found both in the Life (ii. 566,) and in the Acts of the -Peace of Ryswick, declared to all Europe that he never would stoop to so -low and degenerate an action as to permit the Prince of Orange to -reign on condition that the Prince of Wales should succeed. It follows, -therefore, that nothing can have been said on this subject after March -1697. Nothing therefore, can have been said on this subject in the -conferences between Boufflers and Portland, which did not begin till -late in June. - -Was there then absolutely no foundation for the story? I believe that -there was a foundation; and I have already related the facts on which -this superstructure of fiction has been reared. It is quite certain -that Lewis, in 1693, intimated to the allies through the government -of Sweden, his hope that some expedient might be devised which would -reconcile the Princes who laid claim to the English crown. The expedient -at which he hinted was, no doubt, that the Prince of Wales should -succeed William and Mary. It is possible that, as the compiler of the -Life of James says, William may have "show'd no great aversness" to this -arrangement. He had no reason, public or private, for preferring his -sister in law to his brother in law, if his brother in law were bred a -Protestant. But William could do nothing without the concurrence of the -Parliament; and it is in the highest degree improbable that either he or -the Parliament would ever have consented to make the settlement of the -English crown a matter of stipulation with France. What he would or -would not have done, however, we cannot with certainty pronounce. For -James proved impracticable. Lewis consequently gave up all thoughts -of effecting a compromise and promised, as we have seen, to recognise -William as King of England "without any difficulty, restriction, -condition, or reserve." It seems certain that, after this promise, which -was made in December 1696, the Prince of Wales was not again mentioned -in the negotiations.] - -[Footnote 810: Prior MS.; Williamson to Lexington, July 20/30. 1697; -Williamson to Shrewsbury, July 23/Aug 2] - -[Footnote 811: The note of the French ministers, dated July 10/20 1697, -will be found in the Actes et Memoires.] - -[Footnote 812: Monthly Mercuries for August and September, 1697.] - -[Footnote 813: Life of James, ii: 565.] - -[Footnote 814: Actes et Memoires des Negociations de la Paix de Ryswick; -Life of James, ii. 566.] - -[Footnote 815: James's Protest will be found in his Life, ii. 572.] - -[Footnote 816: Actes et Memoires des Negociations de la Paix de Ryswick; -Williamson to Lexington, Sept 14/24 1697; Prior MS.] - -[Footnote 817: Prior MS.] - -[Footnote 818: L'Hermitage, July 20/30; July 27/Aug 6, Aug 24/Sept 3, -Aug 27/Sept 6 Aug 31/Sept 10 1697 Postman, Aug. 31.] - -[Footnote 819: Van Cleverskirke to the States General, Sept. 14/24 1697; -L'Hermitage, Sept. 14/24; Postscript to the Postman, of the same date; -Postman and Postboy of Sept. 19/29 Postman of Sept. 18/28.] - -[Footnote 820: L'Hermitage, Sept 17/27, Sept 25/Oct 4 1697 Oct 19/29; -Postman, Nov. 20.] - -[Footnote 821: L'Hermitage, Sept 21/Oct 1 Nov 2/12 1697; Paris Gazette, -Nov. 20/30; Postboy, Nov. 2. At this time appeared a pasquinade -entitled, A Satyr upon the French King, written after the Peace was -concluded at Reswick, anno 1697, by a Non-Swearing Parson, and said to -be drop'd out of his Pocket at Sam's Coffee House. I quote a few of the -most decent couplets. - - "Lord! with what monstrous lies and senseless shams - Have we been cullied all along at Sam's! - Who could have e'er believed, unless in spite - Lewis le Grand would turn rank Williamite? - Thou that hast look'd so fierce and talk'd so big, - In thine old age to dwindle to a Whig! - Of Kings distress'd thou art a fine securer. - Thou mak'st me swear, that am a known nonjuror. - Were Job alive, and banter'd by such shufflers, - He'd outrail Oates, and curse both thee and Boufflers - For thee I've lost, if I can rightly scan 'em, - Two livings, worth full eightscore pounds per annum, - Bonae et legalis Angliae Monetae. - But now I'm clearly routed by the treaty."] - -[Footnote 822: London Gazettes; Postboy of Nov. 18 1697; L'Hermitage, -Nov. 5/15.] - -[Footnote 823: London Gazette, Nov. 18. 22 1697; Van Cleverskirke Nov. -16/26, 19/29.; L'Hermitage, Nov. 16/26; Postboy and Postman, Nov. 18. -William to Heinsius, Nov. 16/26] - -[Footnote 824: Evelyn's Diary, Dec, 2. 1697. The sermon is extant; and I -must acknowledge that it deserves Evelyn's censure.] - -[Footnote 825: London Gazette, Dec. 6. 1697; Postman, Dec. 4.; Van -Cleverskirke, Dec. 2/12; L'Hermitage, Nov. 19/29.] - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of England from the -Accession of James II., by Thomas Babington Macaulay - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF ENGLAND *** - -***** This file should be named 2613.txt or 2613.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/1/2613/ - -Produced by Martin Adamson - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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