jgm&p ¦.ii,". ¦:.-¦- ' 1p8p D "I &vt tkeft Bi$ks_ I fwgtoefiwuRag if a CoUtg* ik? iftf%_Colony ' ' 'YALH«wan¥Eissinnf- - ILIIIBISABW • Gift of MRS. EDWARD ALLEN WILSON 1929 BISHOP BURNET'S HISTORY OF HIS OWN TIME : WITH NOTES BY THE EARLS OP DARTMOUTH AND HARDWICKE, SPEAKER ONSLOW, AND DEAN SWIFT. TO WHICH ARE ADDED OTHER ANNOTATIONS. IN SIX VOLUMES. VOL. III. SECOND EDITION ENLARGED. OXFORD, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. mdcccxxxiii. THE . 617 HISTORY OF MY OWN TIMES. BOOK IV. Ofthe reign of King James II. A AM now to prosecute this work, and to give the 1685. relation of an inglorious and unprosperous reign, A Teign that was begun with great advantages: but these haPpiJybe" were so poorly managed, and so ill improved, that ingloriousall over. bad designs were ill laid, and worse conducted ; and all came, in conclusion, under one of the strangest catastrophes that is in any history. A great king, with strong armies and mighty fleets, a vast trea sure and powerful allies, fell a all at once : and his whole strength, like a spider's web, was so irre coverably ^broken with a touch, that he was never able to retrieve, what for want both of judgment and heart he threw up in a day. Such an unex-618 pected revolution deserves to be well opened : I will do it as fully as I can. But, having been beyond a He fell by the knavery of false and treacherous servants. Cole's MS. Note. VOL. III. B 2 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. sea almost all this reign, many small particulars, ~ that may well deserve to be remembered, may have escaped me : yet as I had good opportunities to be well informed, I will pass over nothing that seems of any importance to the opening such great and unusual transactions. I will endeavour to watch over my pen with more than ordinary caution, that I may let no sharpness, from any ill usage I my self met with, any way possess my thoughts, or bias my mind : on the contrary, the sad fate of this unfor tunate prince will make me the more tender in not aggravating the errors of his reign. As to my own particular, I will remember how much I was once in his favour, and how highly I was obliged to him. And as I must let his designs and miscarriages be seen, so I will open things as fully as I can, that it may appear on whom we ought to lay the chief load of them : which indeed ought to be chiefly charged on his religion b, and on those who had the manage- D And as much on the arbi- cause of each other, and indeed trariness of his own nature, they cannot easily be separated. with some disposition to cruel- The protestant faith is founded ty. It has been said, that this upon inquiry and knowledge, temper of his inclined him to the popish upon submission and popery, as strongly as his con- ignorance. And nothing leads victions, and that the protestant more to slavery in the state, religion was, in this country at than blind obedience in matters least, according to his opinion, of religion ; as nothing tends the source of faction and rebel- more to civil liberty, than that lion, and what ruined his father, spirit of free inquiry, which is He loved and aimed at absolute the life of protestantism. So power, and believed that no- that king James's system was thing could introduce and sup- consistent enough in itself; but port it but the catholic religion, he either was mistaken in the as the Romanists call theirs; application of it to this coun- and this, increased his zeal for try, or wanted skill to conduct it, and that zeal increased his it. This last did, undoubtedly, disposition to arbitrary power : precipitate his ruin ; but how so that in truth, his religion far the other was true or not, and his politics were partly the (that he was mistaken in his OF KING JAMES II. 3 ment of his conscience, his priests, and his Italian '685. queen ; which last had hitherto acted a popular part- with great artifice and skill, but came now to take off the mask, and to discover her self. This prince was much neglected in his childhood, The king's during the time he was under his father's care. tion. The parliament, getting him into their hands, put him under the earl of Northumberland's govern ment, who, as the duke himself told me, treated him with great respect, and a very tender regard. When he escaped out of their hands, by the means of colonel Bamfield, his father writ to him a letter in cipher, concluding in these plain words, Do this as you expect the blessing of your loving father. This was sent to William duke of Hamilton, but came after he had made his escape : and so I found it among his papers : and I gave it to the duke of York in the year 1674. He said to me, he believed general design, is a matter of kingdom at that time, he would more difficulty. Happily for have been too well able to have these nations, the age produced established thatpart of his work. a prince formed and circum- The high principles in govern- stanced as the prince of Orange ment which the clergy profess- was, and that the then state of ed, would certainly have carried Europe made his enterprise for them so far with him, and they us to be critical for them who large numbers of church lay- dreaded the power of France, men of the same high notions. With this, it was not unhappy He would have had besides all too for this country, that the his courtiers, and the expectants introduction of popery was the to be such, and in all probabi- chief part ofthe king's scheme, lity in this he would have had That engaged the clergy and his army too. By this force he the body of the church laity might, for a time at least, have against him ; but if he had not suppressed the civil rights of made it a quarrel of religion, his people, and subdued the and had designed only to make true protestant spirit of liberty, his power absolute, (which he (that has always been the best was much inclined to,) it was guard of the other,) and only as much to be feared, that, suffered the name and shadow considering the state of the of it to remain. O. B 2 4 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. he had his father's cipher among his papers, and that he would try to decipher the letter : but I be lieve he never did it. I told him I was confident, that as the letter was writ when his escape was un der consideration, so it contained an order to go to the queen, and to be obedient to her in all things, except in matters of religion. The king appointed sir John Berkeley, afterwards lord Berkeley, to be his governor. It was a strange choice, if it was not that, in such a want of men who stuck to the king 619 as was then, there were few capable in any sort of such a trust. Berkeley was bold and insolent, and seemed to lean to popery : he was certainly very ar bitrary, both in his temper and notions. The queen took such a particular care of this prince, that he was soon observed to have more of her favour than either of his two brothers : and she was so set on making proselytes, hoping that to save a soul would cover a multitude of sins, that it is not to be doubted but she used more than ordinary arts to draw him over to her religion. Yet, as he himself told me, he stood out against her practices. He learned During his stay in France he made some cam- war under . q .... , rr, Turenne. paigns under Mr. de Turenne, who took him so par ticularly under his care, that he instructed him in all that he undertook, and shewed him the reasons of every thing he did so minutely, that he had great advantages by being formed under the greatest general of the age. Turenne was so much taken with his application, and the heat that he shewed, that he recommended him out of measure. He said often of him, There was the greatest prince, and like to be the best general of his time. This raised his character so much, that the king was not a little OF KING JAMES II. 5 eclipsed by him. Yet he quickly ran into amours 1685. and vice. And that by degrees wore out any cou- rage that had appeared in his youth. And in the end of his life he came to lose the reputation of a brave man and a good captain so entirely, that either he was never that which flatterers gave out concerning him, or his age and affairs wrought a very unusual change on him. He seemed to follow his mother's maxims all the while he was beyond sea. He was the head of a party that was formed in the king's small court against lord Clarendon. And it was believed that his applications to lord Clarendon's daughter were made at first on design to dishonour his family, though she had the address to turn it another way. After his brother's restoration, he applied himself He was x *¦ admiral or much to the marine, in which he arrived at great England. skill, and brought the fleet so entirely into his de- pendance, that even after he laid down the com mand he was still the master of our whole sea force. He had now for these last three years directed all our counsels with so absolute an authority, that the king seemed to have left the government wholly in his hands : only the unlooked-for bringing in the duke of Monmouth put him under no small appre hensions, that at some time or other the king might slip out of his hands : now that fear was over. The king was dead : and so all the court went 620 immediately and paid their duty to him. Orders ^c^med were presently given for proclaiming him king Itkin&- was a heavy solemnity : few tears were shed for the former, nor were there any shouts of joy for the present king. A dead silence, but without any dis- B 3 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. His first speech order or tumult, followed it through the streets0. "When the privy counsellors came back from the proclamation, and waited on the new king, he made a short speech to them ; which it seems was well considered, and much liked by him, for he repeated it to his parliament, and upon several other occa sions. He began with an expostulation for the ill cha racter that had been entertained of him. He told them, in very positive words, that he would never depart from any branch of his prerogative: but with that he promised, that he would maintain the liberty and property of the subject. He expressed his good opinion of the church of England, as a friend to monarchy. Therefore, he said, he would defend and c This is so far from the truth, that the death of no prince was ever so universally lamented ; especially by the common people, who had en joyed more ease and plenty during his reign, than ever they had done before, or expected after. D. (A zealous revolu tionist, sir Patrick Hume, in his Narrative of the Earl of Ar- gyle's Expedition, before cited, admits the ease of the people pf England from war and taxes, and the free course of their traffic and trade during the latter years of king Charles's reign. P. 4. And the sorrow occasioned by the death of Charles, is spoken of by Cib ber, the poet laureat, who was no friend of the house of Stuart, in the beginning of the History of his own life. See also sir John Reresby'sMemoirs.p. 107. and North's Examen of Ken- nett's Critical History of Eng land, III. c. 9. p. 647. As to the new king's unpopularity, Welwood, whom no one can suspect of being partial to him, for he is known to have answered one of the king's de clarations after his dethrone ment, says in his Memoirs, p. 154. "All the former animosi- " ties seemed to be forgotten " amidst the loud acclamations ¦" of his people on his acces- " sion to the throne." Dr. Calamy also, who was a non conformist, declares that his heart ached within him at the acclamations made on this oc casion, expressing at the same time his wonder at bishop Bur net's contrary assertion. Ac count of his own Life, lately published, vol. I. p. 1 16.) OF KING JAMES II. 7 maintain the church, and would preserve the go- 1685. vernment in church and state, as it was established ~ by law. This speech was soon printed, and gave great well re- content to those who believed that he would stick to the promises made in it. And those few who did not believe it, yet durst not seem to doubt of it. The pulpits of England were full of it, and of thanksgivings for it. It was magnified as a security far greater than any that laws could give. The common phrase was, We have now the word of a hing, and a word never yet broken. Upon this a new set of addresses went round Addresses England, in which the highest commendations that him. flattery could invent were given to the late king ; and assurances of loyalty and fidelity were renewed to the king, in terms that shewed there were no jealousies nor fears left. The university of Oxford in their address promised to obey the king with out limitations or restrictions. The king's promise passed for a thing so sacred, that they were looked on as ill bred that put in their address, our religion established by law, which looked like a tie on the king to maintain it : whereas the style of the more courtly was to put all our security upon the king's promise. The clergy of London added a word to this in their address, our religion established by law, dearer to us than our lives. This had such an insinuation in it, as made it very unacceptable. Some followed their pattern. But this was marked 621 to be remembered against those that used so me nacing a form. All employments were ended of course with the life of the former king. But the king continued all B 4 8 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. in their places : only the posts in the household were given to those who had served the king, while he was duke of York. The marquis of Halifax had reason to look on himself as in ill terms with the king : so in a private audience he made the best ex cuses he could for his conduct of late. The king diverted the discourse ; and said, he would forget every thing that was past, except his behaviour in the business of the exclusion. The king also added, that he would expect no other service of him The earf than what was consistent with law. He prepared Chester him for the exaltation of the earl of Rochester. He temurTr? sa*&> ne nad served him well, and had suffered on his account, and therefore he would now shew fa vour to him : and the next day he declared him lord treasurer. His brother the earl of Clarendon was made lord privy seal : and the marquis of Halifax was made lord president of the council. The earl of Sunderland was looked on as a man lost at court : and so was lord Godolphin. But the former of these insinuated himself so into the queen's confidence, that he was, beyond all people's expectation, not only maintained in his posts, but grew into great degrees of favour. The earl The queen was made to consider the earl of Ro- LidTn61' Chester as a person that would be in the interest of favour. the kjng>s daughters, and united to the church party. So she saw it was necessary to have one in a high post, who should depend wholly on her, and be entirely hers. And the earl of Sunderland was the only person capable of that. The earl of Ro chester did upon his advancement become so violent and boisterous, that the whole court joined to sup port the earl of Sunderland, as the proper balance to OF KING JAMES II. 9 the other. Lord Godolphin was put in a great post 1 685. in the queen's household6. But before the earl of Rochester had the white Customs staff, the court engaged the lord Godolphin, and the levied™-86 other lords of the treasury, to send orders to the gamst law- commissioners of the customs to continue to levy the customs, though the act that granted them to the late king was only for his life, and so was now de termined with it. It is known how much this mat ter was contested in king Charles the first's time, and what had passed upon it. The legal method f was to have made entries, and to have taken bonds for those duties, to be paid when the parliament 622 should meet, and renew the grant. Yet the king declared, that he would levy the customs, and not stay for the new grant. But, though this did not agree well with the king's promise of maintaining liberty and property, yet it was said in excuse for it, that, if the customs should not be levied in this in terval, great importations would be made, and the - He was made lord cham- was suggested by Jefferies. See berlain to the queen, and more North's Life of the Lord Keep- esteemed and trusted by her er, p. 255. Dr. Lingard rightly than any man in England, observes, that, although some After the revolution, he kept a thought the duties should be constant correspondence with paid into the exchequer, and her to his dying day : (which remain there, to be disposed of was managed by the countess by parhament, others that no of Lichfield :) notwithstanding money, but bonds for subse- Mr. Caesar of Hartfordshire was quent payment should be taken, sent to the tower for saying so yet that both expedients were in the house of commons, in contrary to law; and that as the reign of queen Ann. D. the duties were not in exist- f The least illegal and the ence, neither the money nor only justifiable, he should have bonds for money could be le- said. O. (It was the proposal gaily required. Hist, of Eng- of lord keeper North, whilst land, vol. VII. c. 8. p. 297. the other which was adopted note.) 10 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. markets would be so stocked, that this would very much spoil the king's customs S. But in answer to this it was said again, entries were to be made, and bonds taken, to be sued when the act granting them should pass. Endeavours were used with some of the merchants to refuse to pay those duties, and to dispute the matter in Westminster hall : but none would venture on so bold a thing. He who should begin any such opposition would probably be ruined by it : so none would run that hazard. The earl of Rochester got this to be done before he came into the treasury : so he pretended, that he only held on in the course that was begun by others. The additional excise had been given to the late king only for life. But there was a clause in the act that empowered the treasury to make a farm of it for three years, without adding a limiting clause, in case it should be so long due. And it was thought a great stretch of the clause, to make a fraudulent farm, by which it should continue to be levied three years after it was determined, according to the letter and intendment of the act. A farm was now brought out, as made during the king's life, though it was well known that no such farm had been made ; for it was made after his death, but a false date was put to it. This matter seemed doubtful. It was laid before the judges. And they all, except two, were of opinion that it was good in lawQ. So two e (Macpherson follows North " markets by those who now in his account of the measure, " should pay no duties." Vol.1. and adds to this plea, "that Hist, of Great Britain, p. 428.) " the merchants, who had their h (" The lease was made but " warehouses full of goods, for " the day before the king died. " which custom had been paid, " The major part of the judges, " would be undersold in all the " but, as some think, not the OF KING JAMES II. 11 proclamations were ordered, the one for levying the 1685. customs, and the other for the excise. These came out in the first week of the reign, and gave a melancholy prospect. Such beginnings did not promise well, and raised just fears in the minds of those who considered the consequences of such proceedings. They saw, that by violence and fraud duties were now to be levied without law. But all people were under the power of fear or flat tery to such a degree, that none durst complain, and few would venture to talk of those matters. Persons of all ranks went in such crowds to pay The king's their duty to the king, that it was not easy to ad- tLsewho" mit them all. Most of the whigs that were ad-^rdt^x. mitted were received coldly at best. Some were^us™n- sharply reproached for their past behaviour. Others were denied access. The king began likewise to say, that he would not be served as his brother had been : he would have all about him serve him with out reserve, and go thorough in his business. Many were amazed to see such steps made at first. The second Sunday after he came to the throne, he, to the surprise of the whole court, went openly to mass, and sent Caryl to Rome with letters to the pope, but without a character. In one thing only the king seemed to comply He seemed " best lawyers, pronounced it " force till the expiration of " legal, but four dissented." " that term. James was care- Evelyn's Memoirs, vol. I. page " ful to have the lease renewed 550. Lingard says, "One por- " and signed by his brother the " tion of the duties, the addi- " day before his death. Ga- *' tional excise amounting to " zette, 2009. Fox's App. 39. " 550,000?. a year, might, ac- " This portion therefore he " cording to the act of pariia- " could levy by law." History " ment, be farmed for the space of England, vol. VII. c. 8. p. " of three years, and remain in 296. note.) 12 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. with the genius of the nation, though it proved in equal terms the end to be only a show. He seemed resolved French6 not to be governed by French counsels, but to act kins- in an equality with that haughty monarch in all things. And, as he entertained all the other foreign ministers with assurances that he would maintain the balance of Europe with a more steady hand than had been done formerly; so, when he sent over the lord Churchil to the court of France with the notice of his brother's death, he ordered him to ob serve exactly the ceremony and state with which he was received, that he might treat him, who should be sent over with the compliment in return to that, in the same manner. And this he observed very punctually, when the marshal de Lorge came over. This was set about by the courtiers as a sign of an other spirit, that might be looked for in a reign so begun. And this made some impression on the court of France, and put them to a stand. But, not long after this, the French king said to the duke of Villeroy, (who told it to young Rouvigny, now earl of Gal way, from whom I had it,) that the king of England, after all the high things given out in his name, was willing to take his money, as well as his brother had done*. The king did also give out, that he would live in a particular confidence with the prince of Orange, and the States of Holland. And, because Chud- leigh, the envoy there, had openly broken with the prince, (for he not only waited no more on him, but 1 (From the now ascertained as Mr. Fox observes, be doubt- fact of James's receiving money ed. See Fox's Hist, of the from France, the truth of the Reign of James II. p. 106.) anecdote here related cannot, OF KING JAMES II. 13 acted openly against him; and once in the Vorhaut 1685. had affronted him, while he was driving the princess upon the snow in a trainau, according to the Ger man manner, and pretending they were masked, and that he did not know them, had ordered his coach man to keep his way, as they were coming towards the place where he drove k;) the king recalled him, and sent Shelton in his room, who was the haugh tiest, but withal the weakest man, that he could have found out. He talked out all secrets, and made himself the scorn of all Holland. The court- 624 iers now said every where, that we had a martial prince who loved glory, who would bring France into as humble a dependance on us, as we had been formerly on that court. The king did, some days after his coming to the The king's crown, promise the queen and his priests, that he^e.86 would see Mrs. Sidley no more, by whom he had some children. And he spoke openly against lewd ness, and expressed a detestation of drunkenness. He sat many hours a day about business with the council, the treasury, and the admirality. It was k A pretty parenthesis. S. " king (Charles) had forbid it (See before, p. 594; but D'Or- " to those he had in the service leans, in his History of the " of the States, by Mr. Chud- Revolutions in England, which " ley, then minister at the was written, according to lord " Hague, which the prince took Bolingbroke in his Dissertation " so ill, that he was in a pas- on Parties, p. 28. on materials " sion with Chudley, who had furnished him by James II. " given those orders to the gives the following account of " officers, without acquainting the difference between the " him, and threatened him, prince of Orange and Chud- " lifting up his hand. The leigh : " The prince of Orange "minister complained to his " still did the duke of Mon- " master, who was so highly " mouth much honour, and or- " offended at it, that he for- '* dered his troops to salute " bad him seeing the prince." " him at reviews when he hap- p. 276. Compare p. 576 of " pened to be present. The Burnet's History, folio edit.) 14 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. upon this said, that now we should have a reign of action and business, and not of sloth and luxury, as the last was. Mrs. Sidley had lodgings in White hall : orders were sent to her to leave them. This was done to mortify her ; for [as she was naturally bold and insolent] she pretended that she should now govern as absolutely as the duchess of Ports mouth had done : yet the king still continued a secret commerce with her. And thus he began his reign with some fair appearances. A long and great frost had so shut up the Dutch ports, that for some weeks they had no letters from England : at last the news of the king's sickness and death, and of the beginnings of the new reign, came to them all at once. The prince The first difficulty the prince of Orange was in, sent away was with relation to the duke of Monmouth. He ofMon? knew the king would immediately, after the first mouth. compliments were over, ask him to dismiss him, if not to deliver him up. And as it was no way de cent for him to break with the king upon such a point, so he knew the states would never bear it. He thought it better to dismiss him immediately, as of himself. The duke of Monmouth seemed sur prised at this. Yet at parting he made great pro testations both to the prince and princess of an in violable fidelity to their interests. So he retired to Brussels, where he knew he could be suffered to stay no longer than till a return should come from Spain, upon the notice of king Charles's death, and the declarations that the king was making of main taining the balance of Europe1. The duke was upon 1 (On the back of a paper of persons imprisoned for refusing instructions for the release of the oaths of supremacy and al- OF KING JAMES II. 15 that thinking to go to Vienna, or to some court in 1685. Germany. But those about him studied to inflame him both against the king and the prince of Orange. They told him, the prince by casting him off had cancelled all former obligations, and set him free from them : he was now to look to himself: and in stead of wandering about as a vagabond, he was to set himself to deliver his country, and to raise his party and his friends, who were now like to be used 635 very ill for their adhering to him and to his in terest. They sent one over to England to try men's some in pulses, and to see if it was yet a proper time to^n"* make an attempt. Wildman, Charlton, and some ™™ for others, went about trying if men were in a disposi tion to encourage an invasion. They talked of this in so remote a way of speculation, that though one could not but see what lay at bottom, yet they did not run into treasonable discourse. I was in general sounded by them: yet nothing was proposed that ran me into any danger from concealing it. I did not think fears and dangers, nor some illegal acts in the administration, could justify an insurrection, as lawful in itself : and I was confident an insurrection undertaken on such grounds would be so ill |se- conded, and so weakly supported, that it would not only come to nothing, but it would precipitate our ruin. Therefore I did all I could to divert all per sons with whom I had any credit from engaging in such designs. These were for some time carried on legiance, king James has writ- These instructions were among ten, " to advise, whether to the Melfort papers, lately sold, " connive at the duke of Mon- and are now in Magdalen col- " mouth's stay in Flanders." lege, Oxford.) 16 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. in the dark. The king, after he had put his affairs ~ in a method, resolved to hasten his coronation, and to have it performed with great magnificence : and for some weeks he was so entirely possessed with the preparations for that solemnity, that all business was laid aside, and nothing but ceremony was thought on. strange At the same time a parliament was summoned: practices in elections of and all arts were used to manage elections so, that men.3™61 the king should have a parliament to his mind. Complaints came up from all the parts of England of the injustice and violence used in elections, be yond what had ever been practised in former times. And this was so universal over the whole nation, that no corner of it was neglected. In the new charters that had been granted, the election of the members was taken out of the hands of the inhabit ants, and restrained to the corporation-men, all those being left out who were not acceptable at court. In some boroughs they could not find a number of men to be depended on : so the neigh bouring gentlemen were made the corporation-men : and, in some of these, persons of other counties, not so much as known in the borough, were named. This was practised in the most avowed manner in Cornwall by the earl of Bath ; who to secure him self the groom of the stole's place, which he held all king Charles's time, put the officers of the guards 626 names in almost all the charters of that county; which sending up forty-four members, they were for most part so chosen, that the king was sure of their votes on all occasions. These methods were so successful over England, that when the elections were all returned, the king OF KING JAMES II. 17 said, there were not above forty members, but such as he himself wished for. They were neither men " of parts nor estates111: so there was no hope left, either of working on their understandings, or of making them see their interest, in not giving the king all at once. Most of them were furious and violent, and seemed resolved to recommend them selves to the king by putting every thing in his power, and by ruining all those who had been for the exclusion. Some few had designed to give the king the revenue only from three years to three years11. The earl of Rochester told me, that was what he looked for, though the post he was in made it not so proper for him to move in it. But there was no prospect of any strength in opposing any thing that the king should ask of them. 1685. m That was not so, for al though very bad practices were used in the elections, yet the returns shew, they were in ge neral men of fashion and for tune in the countries they were chosen for, but most of them indeed very high tories. O. (Bevill Higgons says, that in regard to their estates and cir cumstances, he must refer the reader to the printed list, sup posing him to know the gentle men of fortune and quality in the respective counties of Eng land ; and adds, that they were both good subjects and good patriots ; the last shewn by their being afterwards dissolv ed in anger, p. 301. of his Re marks. Examine what the bi shop himself relates afterwards at p. 667. concerning the con duct of these gentlemen, and VOL. III. the candid character given of them by the continuator of Rapin's History of England. See also Echard's Hist, of Eng land, p. 1056. and his Hist, of the Revolution, p. 630 ; and Treatise on the Danger of Mer cenary Parliaments, written by an adversary of king James, p. 3. Evelyn, however, in his Memoirs, vol. I. pp. 558, 561, speaks of very mean and slight persons having been set up as candidates for seats in this par liament, and of their having obtained them.) n Might not these persons have suggested the giving of king William the principal re venues but from year to year ? which subsisted for some time, much to the dissatisfaction of the king. See vol. II. pp. 12, 13,14. O. 18 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. This gave all thinking men a melancholy pro- Evil spect. England now seemed lost, unless some spect from happy accident should save it. All people saw the a bad par- rrJ ¦*¦ *• Lament, way for packing a parliament now laid open0. A new set of charters and corporation-men, if those now named should not continue to be still as com pliant as they were at present, was a certain re medy, to which recourse might be easily had. The boroughs of England saw their privileges now wrested out of their hands, and that their elections, which had made them so considerable before, were hereafter to be made as the court should direct : so that from henceforth little regard would be had to them; and the usual practices in courting, or rather in corrupting them, would be no longer pursued. Thus all people were alarmed : but few durst speak out, or complain openly. Only the duke of Mon mouth's agents made great use of this to inflame their party. It was said, here was a parliament to meet, that was not the choice and representative of the nation, and therefore was no parliament. So they upon this possessed all people with dreadful apprehensions that a blow was now given to the constitution, which could not be remedied but by an insurrection. It was resolved to bring up petitions against some elections, that were so indecently managed, that it seemed scarce possible to excuse them : but these were to be judged by a majority of men, who knew their own elections to be so faulty, that to secure 627 themselves they would justify the rest: and fair dealing was not to be expected from those, who were so deeply engaged in the like injustice. All that was offered on the other hand to lay 0 Just our case at the queen's death. S. OF KING JAMES II. 19 those fears, which so ill an appearance did raise, 1685. was, that it was probable the king would go into measures against France. All the offers of submis sion possible were made him by Spain, the empire, and the States P. The king had begun with the prince of Orange The prince upon a hard point. He was not satisfied with his^S dismissing the duke of Monmouth, but wrote tof6^^ _ , tO til© Knit; . him to break all those officers who had waited on him while he was in Holland. In this they had only followed the prince's example : so it was hard to punish them for that which he himself had en couraged. They had indeed shewed their affections to him so evidently, that the king wrote to the prince, that he could not trust to him, nor depend on his friendship, as long as such men served under him. This was of a hard digestion. Yet, since the break ing them could be easily made up by employing them afterwards, and by continuing their appointments to them, the prince complied in this likewise. And the king was so well pleased with it, that when P This was a crisis that might before such a concurrence of have made this country as great incidents to produce all this : in Europe, or greater, than it but the family was not made had been in any age, and put to govern this country. A false the king at the head of all fo- policy run through their four reign transactions, to have en- reigns, and they either did not gaged in them more or less, as know, or did not know how to it suited either his interest or make use of, the true genius his honour : and had he but and greatness of their people. have kept his religion to his The British nation, in its free- own practice of it, and govern- dom, may be the first power of ed by parliaments, he would Europe ; and a king who shews have been the happiest arid them he means their interest greatest king at the same time, only, be the best obeyed. When both at home and abroad, that they see him their king, they this nation had almost ever will be his subjects. O. seen. There never happened C 2 20 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. bishop Turner complained of some things relating to the prince and princess, and proposed rougher me thods, the king told him, it was absolutely necessary that the prince and he should continue in good cor respondence. Of this Turner gave an account to the other bishops, and told them very solemnly, that the church would be in no hazard during the pre sent reign ; but that they must take care to secure themselves against the prince of Orange, otherwise they would be in great danger. The submission of the prince and the States to the king made some fancy that this would over come him. All people concluded, that it would soon appear, whether bigotry or a desire of glory was the prevailing passion; since if he did not strike in with an alliance that was then projected against France, it might be concluded that he was resolved to deliver himself up to his priests, and to sacrifice all to their ends. The season of the year made it to be hoped, that the first session of parlia ment would be so short, that much could not be done in it, but that when the revenue should be granted, other matters might be put off to a winter session. So that, if the parliament should not deli ver up the nation in a heat all at once, but should leave half their work to another session, they might 628 come under some management, and either see the interest of the nation in general, or their own in particular; and so manage their favours tothe court in such a manner as to make themselves necessary, and not to give away too much at once, but be spar ing in their bounty; which they had learned so well in king Charles's time, that it was to be hoped they would soon fall into it, if they made not too much 1685. . was crown- OF KING JAMES II. 21 haste at their first setting out. So it was resolved not to put them on too hastily in their first session to judge of any election, but to keep that matter entire for some time, till they should break into parties. The coronation was set for St. George's day. The king Turner was ordered to preach the sermon: andeT both king and queen resolved to have all done in the protestant form, and to assist in all the prayers : only the king would not receive the sacrament, which is always a part of the ceremony. In this certainly his priests dispensed with him, and he had such senses given him of the oath, that he either took it as a sin with a resolution not to keep it, or he had a reserved meaning in his own mind. The crown was not well fitted for the king's head : it came down too far, and covered the upper part of his face. The canopy carried over him did also break. Some other smaller things happened that were looked on as ill omens : and his son by Mrs. Sidley died that dayl. The queen with the peer esses made a more graceful figure. The best thing in Turner's sermon was, that he set forth that part of Constantius Chlorus's history very handsomely, in which he tried who would be true in their religion, 1 At the coronation of the queen,who discerned it, change present king, (George the se- countenance and turn pale. I cond,) and the queen, the dean was then in an upper gallery of Westminster, (bishop Brad- of the church, just over the ford,) who was then old and place where this part of the very feeble, in bringing the ceremonial was performed. The crown from the communion author should not have taken table, tottered with it in com- notice of these superstitious ing down the steps, and had observations upon accidents much ado to save it from fall- that may happen alike to all. ing ; upon which I saw the O. C 3 22 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. and reckoned that those would be faithfuUest to himself who were truest to their God. I went out I must now say somewhat concerning my self. ofEngland. . _ J „ ^ , , °T J . . At this time I went out ot England, upon king Charles's death, I had desired leave to come and pay my duty to the king by the marquis of Halifax. The king would not see me. So, since I was at that time in no sort of employment, not so much as allowed to preach any where, I resolved to go abroad. I saw we were like to fall into great con fusion ; and were either to be rescued, in a way that I could not approve of, by the duke of Mon mouth's means, or to be delivered up by a meeting that had the face and name of a parliament. I thought the best thing for me was to go out of the way. The king approved of this, and consented to my going : but still refused to see me. So I was to go beyond sea, as to a voluntary exile. This gave 629 me great credit with all the malecontents : and I made the best use of it I could. I spoke very earn estly to the lord de la Meer, to Mrs. Hambdenr, and such others as I could meet with, who I feared might be drawn in by the agents of the duke of Monmouth. The king had not yet done that which would justify extreme counsels. A raw rebellion would be soon crushed, and give a colour for keep ing up a standing army, or for bringing over a force from France. I perceived, many thought the con stitution was so broken into by the elections of the house of commons, that they were disposed to put all to hazard. Yet most people thought the crisis was not so near, as it proved to be. ' (Mr. Hampden.) OF KING JAMES II. 23 The deliberations in Holland, among the English 1685. and Scotch that fled thither, came to ripen faster than was expected. Lord Argile had been quiet pgned to " ever since the disappointment in the year eighty- Scotland. three. He had lived for most part in Frizeland, but came oft to Amsterdam, and met with the rest of his countrymen that lay concealed there: the chief of whom were the lord Melvill, sir Patrick Hume, and sir John Cochran. [The first of these (Melvill) was a fearful and mean-spirited man, a zealous presbyterian, but more zealous in preserving his person and estate. Hume was a hot and eager man, full of passion and resentment, and instead of minding the business then in hand, he was always forming schemes about the modelling of matters, when they should prevail ; in which he was so earn est, that he fell into perpetual disputes and quar rels about it : Cochran was more tractable.] With these lord Argile communicated all the advices that were sent him. He went on still with his first pro ject. He said, he wanted only a sum of money to buy arms, and reckoned, that as soon as he was fur nished with these, he might venture on Scotland. He resolved to go to his own country, where he hoped he could bring five thousand men together. And he reckoned that the western and southern counties were under such apprehensions, that with out laying of matters, or having correspondence among them, they would all at once come about him, when he had gathered a good force together in his own country. There was a rich widow in Am sterdam, who was full of zeal : so she, hearing at what his designs stuck, sent to him, and furnished him with ten thousand pounds. With this money c 4 24 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. be bought a stock of arms and ammunition, which was very dexterously managed by one that traded to Venice, as intended for the service of that repub lic. All was performed with great secrecy, and put on boards. They had sharp debates among them about the course they were to hold. He was for sailing round Scotland to his own country. Hume was for the shorter passage : the other was a long navigation, and subject to great accidents. Argile said, the fastnesses of his own country made that to be the safer place to gather men together. He pre sumed so far on his own power, and on his manage- 630 ment hitherto, that he took much upon him : so that the rest were often on the point of breaking with him. The duke The duke of Monmouth came secretly to them, mouth " and made up all their quarrels. He would will- forautimed mgty have gone with them himself : but Argile did not offer him the command : on the contrary he pressed him to make an impression on England at the same time. This was not possible : for the, duke of Monmouth had yet made no preparations. So he was hurried into a fatal undertaking, before things were in any sort ready for it. He had been indeed much pressed to the same thing by Wade, Ferguson, and some others about him, but chiefly by the lord Grey, and the lady Wentworth, who followed him to Brussels desperately in love with him. And both he and she came to fancy, that he being married to his duchess while he was indeed of s It is said, in lord Grey's pounds on this occasion. See papers before mentioned, that that paper for the whole of the famous Mr. Lock, then in this enterprise, by Monmouth Holland, advanced a thousand and Argyle. O. an invasion. OF KING JAMES II. 25 the age of consent, but not capable of a free one, 1685. the marriage was null : so they lived together : and she had heated both herself and him with such en- thusiastical conceits, that they fancied what they did was approved of God. With this small council he took his measures. Fletcher*, a Scotch gentle man of great parts, and many virtues, but a most violent republican, and extravagantly passionate, did not like Argile's scheme : so he resolved to run for tunes with the duke of Monmouth. He told me, that all the English among them were still pressing the duke of Monmouth to venture. They said, all the west of England would come about him, as soon as he appeared, as they had done five or six years ago. They reckoned there would be no fight ing, but that the guards, and others who adhered to the king, would melt to nothing before him. They fancied, the city of London would be in such a dis position to revolt, that if he should land in the west the king would be in great perplexity. He could not have two armies : and his fear of tumults near his person would oblige him to keep such a force about him, that he would not be able to send any against him. So they reckoned he would have time to form an army, and in a little while be in a con dition to seek out the king, and fight him on equal terms. This appeared a mad and desperate undertaking t He of Salton, so well next day for any body's being known afterwards in Scotland of an opinion that he was of and England. O. He was himself the night before, but very brave, and a man of great very constant in his dislikes of integrity, but had strange chi- bishop Burnet, whom he always merical notions of govern- spoke of with the utmost con- ment, which were so unsettled, tempt. D, that he would be very angry 26 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. to the duke of Monmouth himself. He knew what a weak body a rabble was, and how unable to deal with troops long trained. He had neither money nor officers, and no encouragement from the men of estates and interest in the country. It seemed too early yet to venture. It was the throwing away all his hopes in one day. Fletcher, how vehemently soever he was set on the design in general, yet saw nothing in this scheme that gave any hopes : so he argued much against it. And he said to me, that the duke of Monmouth was pushed on to it against 631 his own sense and reason : but he could not refuse to hazard his person, when others were so forward11. Lord Grey said, that Henry the seventh landed with a smaller number, and succeeded. Fletcher answered, he was sure of several of the nobility, who were little princes in those daysx. Ferguson, u (But Lingard observes, that, note of lord Dartmouth's, in the if any credit be due to sir Pa- second volume of his Memoirs, trick Hume's Narrative, Mon- p. 137, observes, that the au- mouth, instead of joining in thority is high, because that the expedition through impor- Fletcher was in a situation to tunity and against his judg- know, and was incapable of ment, as is sometimes said, lying. D'Orleans, in his Revo- promoted it with all his might, lutions of England, p. 276, re- History of England, vol. VIII. lates, that certain proofs ofthe c. 8. From this narrative, al- intelligence kept up between though professedly written with Bentinck, the prince's ambas- great caution, it may be col- sador, and Monmouth, were lected, that promises of assist- found by Skelton.who succeed- ance had been made in a cer- ed Chudleigh as minister at tain quarter to the Scotish in- the Hague, in the duke of vaders. See pp. 13. 33.) Monmouth's house. And in x Fletcher told me he had Macpherson's Extracts from the good grounds to suspect that Life of King James, p. 147, it is the prince of Orange underhand stated, that Bentinck, the prince encouraged the expedition.with of Orange's ambassador, though design to ruin the duke of he found that Monmouth had Monmouth. D. (SirJohnDal- said nothing of his master, was rymple, who has published this never quiet till Monmouth's OF KING JAMES II. 27 in his enthusiastical way, said, it was a good cause, and that God would not leave them un-" less they left him. And though the duke of Mon mouth's course of life gave him no great reason to hope that God would appear signally for him, yet even he came to talk enthusiastically on the subject. But Argile's going, and the promise he had made of coming to England with all possible haste, had so fixed him, that, all further deliberations being laid 1685. head was off. That many peo ple in those times considered the prince, who was in their estimation Monmouth's rival for the crown of England, to be eager for the immediate possession of 4-t, even during the reigns of both his uncles, is certain ; but that the opinion was well founded, depends principally on the authority of D'Avaux's Negotiations, year 1679, &c. What his intention was, when he finally determin ed on his expedition to this country, cannot reasonably be doubted, and is perhaps actu ally implied in one of the clauses of his famous declara tion, where he promises to send home his foreign troops. And since this note was first print ed, it has been found that this expression did not escape ob servation at the time. See Ralph's Hist, of England, vol. I. p. 1036. In the Life of Car- stares, private secretary to king William, prefixed to his State Papers by Dr. M'Cormick, the following curious fact is men tioned : " In a paper of ac- " counts of money disbursed " by Carstares for the prince's " service, he informs his high- " ness, that such and such sums " he had disposed of in concert "with my lord Mel vii; but " others, he at the same time " tells him, were privy to none " but himself. Among other " particulars, in the paper of " disbursements, I find one " sum stated to a captainWish- " art, who was master" of the " vessel in which lord Argyle " went home, of whose honesty " and willingness, Mr.Carstares " says, to serve his highness, I " am fully assured. This is " the only instance I have ever " met with, that Monmouth " and Argyle were counte- " nanced in their undertaking " by the prince of Orange." P. 35. It ought, however, to be recollected, that the duke of Monmouth, in his letter to the king after the battle of Sedge- more, says, that he told the prince and princess of Orange he would never stir against the king ; which assertion is con firmed by the prince himself in a letter to the earl of Ro chester. See the Clarendon Correspondence, published by Mr. Singer in 1828, vol. I. p. 127.) 28 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. aside, he pawned a parcel of jewels, and bought up arms ; and they were put aboard a ship freighted for Spain. These de- King James was so intent upon the pomp of his oSriJon coronation, that for some weeks more important %£%?* matters were not thought on>'. Both Argile and Monmouth's people were so true to them, that no thing was discovered by any of them. Yet some days after Argile had sailed, the king knew of it : for the night before I left London, the earl of Arran came to me, and told me, the king had an advertise ment of it that very day. I saw it was fit for me to make haste : otherwise I might have been seized on, if it had been only to put the affront on me, of being suspected of holding correspondence with traitors. Argile Argile had a very prosperous voyage. He sent Sratiand? out a boat at Orkney to get intelligence, and to take prisoners. This had no other effect, but that it gave intelligence where he was : and the wind chopping, he was obliged to sail away, and leave his men to mercy. The winds were very favourable, and turned as his occasions required : so that in a very few days he arrived in Argileshire. The misunderstandings between him and Hume grew very high ; for he car ried all things with an air of authority, that was not easy to those who were setting up for liberty. At his landing he found, that the early notice the coun cil had of his designs had spoiled his whole scheme ; y (Compare Ralph's Hist, of as April 28, the earl of Argyle England, vol. I. p. 856, who setting sail from Holland on states, that in consequence of May 2. But on the bishop's Skelton's information, a pro- part it may be observed, that clamation had been issued in the king's coronation had taken Scotland, requiring the king's place before, on April 23. St. subjects to repel any invasion George's day.) from abroad, and this so early OF KING JAMES II. 29 for they had brought in all the gentlemen of his 1685. country to Edenburgh, which saved them, though it helped on his ruin. Yet he got above five and twenty hundred men to come to him. If with these 632 he had immediately gone over to the western coun ties of Air and Renfrew, he might have given the go vernment much trouble. But he lingered too long, hoping still to have brought more of his Highlanders together. He reckoned these were sure to him, and would obey him blindfold : whereas, if he had gone out of his own country with a small force, those who might have come in to his assistance might also have disputed his authority: and he could not bear con tradiction. Much time was by this means lost : and all the country was summoned to come out against him. At last he crossed an arm of the sea, and landed in the isle of Bute ; where he spent twelve days more, till he had eat up that island, pretend ing still that he hoped to be joined by more of his Highlanders. He had left his arms in a castle, with such a guard But was de- as he could spare : but they were routed by a party taken. of the king's forces. And with this he lost both heart and hope. And then, apprehending that all was gone, he put himself in a disguise, and had al most escaped : but he was taken. A body of gentle men that had followed him stood better to it, and forced their way through : so that the greater part of them escaped. Some of these were taken : the chief of them were Sir John Cochran, Ailoffe, and Rumbold. These two last were Englishmen : but I knew not upon what motive it was, that they chose rather to run fortunes with Argile, than with the duke of Monmouth. Thus was this rebellion brought 30 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. to a speedy end, with the effusion of veiy little blood. Nor was there much shed in the way of justice ; for it was considered, that the Highlanders were under such ties by their tenures, that it was somewhat ex cusable in them to follow their lord. Most of the gentlemen were brought in by order of council to Edenburgh, which preserved them. One of those that were with Argile, by a great presence of mind, got to Carlyle, where he called for post horses, and said, he was sent by the general to carry the good news by word of mouth to the king. And so he got to London : and there he found a way to get beyond sea. Argiie'sex- Argile was brought in to Edenburgh. He ex pressed even a cheerful calm under all his misfor tunes. He justified all he had done : for he said, he was unjustly attainted : that had dissolved his alle giance : so it was justice to himself and his family, to endeavour to recover what was so wrongfully taken from him. He also thought, that no allegiance was due to the king, till he had taken the oath 633 which the law prescribed to be taken by our kings at their coronation, or the receipt of their princely dignity. He desired that Mr. Charteris might be ordered to attend upon him ; which was granted z. When he came to him, he told him he was satisfied in conscience with the lawfulness of what he had done, and therefore desired he would not disturb him •Dr. Bliss remarks, that ac- the dean to begin some good cording to the account of sir discourse on the occafion, Alexander Brand, then sheriff, which he did, and the earl Annan, dean of Edenburgh, at- seemed pleased with it. Sir tended the earl of Argyle from Alexander Brand's Specimen of the castle to the council house; Bishop Burnet's Behaviour to- wno was chearful, and desired wards Aim, p. 31. 2nd edit. OF KING JAMES II. 31 with any discourse on that subject. The other, after 1685. he had told him his sense of the matter, complied " easily with this. So all that remained was to prepare him to die, in which he expressed an unshaken firm ness. The duke of Queensbury examined him in private. He said, he had not laid his business with any in Scotland. He had only found credit with a person that lent him money; upon which he had trusted, perhaps too much, to the dispositions of the people, sharpened by their administration. When the day of his execution came, Mr. Charteris hap pened to come to him as he was ending dinner : he said to him pleasantly, Serb venientibus ossa. He prayed often with him, and by himself, and went to the scaffold with great serenity. He had complained of the duke of Monmouth much, for delaying his coming so long after him, and for assuming the name of king ; both which, he said, were contrary to their agreement at parting. Thus he died, pitied by all. His death, being pursuant to the sentence passed three years before, of which mention was made, was looked on as no better than murder. But his con duct in this matter was made up of so many errors, that it appeared he was not made for designs of this kinda. Ailoffe had a mind to prevent the course of jus tice, and having got a penknife into his hands gave himself several stabs. And thinking he was cer tainly a dead man, he cried out, and said, now he defied his enemies. Yet he had not pierced his guts : so his wounds were not mortal. And, it be- a (Evelyn says of this noble- ed a man of parts. Memoirs, man, who came to visit his vol. I. p. 334.) curious garden, that he seem- 32 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 685. ing believed that he could make great discoveries, he was brought up to London. Rumboid at Rumbold was he that dwelt in Rye-house, where denieTthe it was pretended the plot was laid for murdering the Rye-piot. late and the present; king. He denied the truth of that conspiracy. He owned, he thought the prince was as much tied to the people, as the people were to the prince ; and that, when a king departed from the legal measures of government, the people had a right to assert their liberties, and to restrain him. He did not deny, but that he had heard many pro positions at West's chambers about killing the two brothers, and upon that he had said, it could have 634 been easily executed near his house ; upon which some discourse had followed, how it might have been managed. But, he said, it was only talk, and that nothing was either laid, or so much as resolved on. He said, he was not for a commonwealth, but for kingly government according to the laws of Eng land : but he did not think that the king had his au thority by any divine right, which he expressed in rough but significant words. He said, he did not believe that God had made the greater part of man kind with saddles on their backs, and bridles in their mouths, and some few booted and spurred to ride the rest. Cochran had a rich father, the earl of Dundonald : and he offered the priests 5,000/. to save his son. They wanted a stock of money for managing their designs : so they interposed so effectually, that the bargain was made. But, to cover it, Cochran pe titioned the council that he might be sent to the king : for he had some secrets of great importance, which were not fit to be communicated to any but to OF KING JAMES II. 33 the king himself. He was upon that brought up to 1685. London : and, after he had been for some time in private with the king, the matters he had discovered were said to be of such importance, that in consi deration of that the king pardoned him. It was said, he had discovered all their negociations with the elector of Brandenburg and the prince of Orange. But this was a pretence only given out to conceal the bargain ; for the prince told me, he had never once seen himb. The secret of this came to be known soon after. When Ailoffe was brought up to London, the king examined him, but could draw nothing from him, but one severe repartee. He being sullen, and re fusing to discover any thing, the king said to him ; Mr. Ailoffe, you know it is in my power to pardon you ; therefore say that which may deserve it. It was said that he answered, that though it was in his power, yet it was not in his nature to pardon. He was nephew to the old earl of Clarendon by mar riage ; for Ailoffe's aunt was his first wife, but she had no children. It was thought, that the nearness of his relation to the king's children might have moved him to pardon him, which would have been the most effectual confutation of his bold repartee : but he suffered with the restc. b (Ralph, the historian, re- and the insolence of what the marks, that the prince only told bishop calls a bold repartee, in- Burnet that he had never seen clines me to believe, he was re- Cochran, not that there had solved not to accept of a par- been no such negociations. don ; for certainly no man in Hist. vol. I. p. 871.) his senses would have said such c As the bishop has stated the a thing to a king he expected case, he had no relation to the to live under. D. (He did not king's children ; but Ailoffe's expect to live under him ; and having stabbed himself at first, he appears to have uttered, if VOL. III. D 34 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 685 . Immediately after Argile's execution, a parliament a pariia- was held in Scotland.- Upon king Charles's death, Srodand. the marquis of Queensbury, soon after made a duke, and the earl of Perth, came to court. The duke 635 of Queensbury told the king, that if he had any thoughts of changing the established religion, he could not make any one step with him in that mat ter. The king seemed to receive this very kindly from him ; and assured him, he had no such inten tion, but that he would have a parliament called, to which he should go his commissioner, and give all possible assurances in the matter of religion, and get the revenue to be settled, and such other laws to be passed as might be necessary for the common safety. The duke of Queensbury pressed the earl of Perth to speak in the same strain to the king. But, though he pretended to be still a protestant, yet he could not prevail on him to speak in so positive a style. I had not then left London : so the duke sent me word of this, and seemed so fully satisfied with it, that he thought all would be safe. So he prepared instruc tions by which both the revenue and the king's au thority were to be carried very high. He has often since that time told me, that the king made those promises to him in so frank and hearty a manner, that he concluded it was impossible for him to be acting a part. Therefore he always believed, that the priests gave him leave to promise every thing, and that he did it very sincerely; but that afterwards they pretended, they had a power to dissolve the obligation of all oaths and promises ; since nothing the story is true, what he was disposition, or by what he had firmly assured of, either from his heard of it from others.) own knowledge of the king's OF KING JAMES II. 35 could be more open and free than his way of ex- 1685. pressing himself was, though afterwards he had no sort of regard to any of the promises he then made. The test had been the king's owrn act while he was in Scotland. So he thought, the putting that on all persons would be the most acceptable method, as well as the most effectual, for securing the protestant religion. Therefore he proposed an instruction oblig ing all people to take the test, not only to qualify them for public employments, but that all those to whom the council should tender it should be bound to take it under the pain of treason : and this was granted. He also projected many other severe laws, that left an arbitrary power in the privy council. And, as he was naturally violent and imperious in his own temper, so he saw the king's inclinations to those methods, and hoped to have recommended himself effectually, by being instrumental in setting up an absolute and despotic form of government. But he found afterwards how he had deceived him self, in thinking that any thing, but the delivering up his religion, could be acceptable long. And he saw, after he had prepared a cruel scheme of government, other men were trusted with the management of it ; 636 and it had almost proved fatal to himself. The parliament of Scotland sat not long. No op- Granted ail position was made. The duke of Queensbury gave king de- very full assurances in the point of religion, that the sired' king would never alter it, but would maintain it, as it was established by law. And in confirmation of them he proposed that act enjoining the test, which was passed, and was looked on as a full security; though it was very probable, that all the use that the council would make of this discretional power D 2 36 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. lodged with them, would be only to tender the test to those that might scruple it on other accounts, but that it would be offered to none of the church of Rome. In return for this, the parliament gave the king for life all the revenue that had been given to his brother : and with that some additional taxes were given. Severe laws Other severe laws were also passed. By one of were pas ,- ^ese an inquisition was upon the matter set up. All persons were required, under the pain of treason, to answer to all such questions as should be put to them by the privy council. This put all men under great apprehensions, since upon this act an inquisition might have been grafted, as soon as the king pleased. Another act was only in one particular case : but it was a crying one, and so deserves to be remem bered. When Carstairs was put to the torture, and came to capitulate in order to the making a discovery, he got a promise from the council, that no use should be made of his deposition against any person what soever. He in his deposition said somewhat that brought sir Hugh Campbell and his son under the guilt of treason, who had been taken up in London two years before, and were kept in prison all this while. The earl of Melfort got the promise of his estate, which was about 1000/. a year, as soon as he should be convicted of high treason. So" an act was brought in, which was to last only six weeks ; and enacted, that if within that time any of the privy council would depose that any man was proved to be guilty of high treason, he should upon such a proof be attainted. Upon which, as soon as the act was passed, four of the privy council stood up, and OF KING JAMES II. 37 affirmed that the Campbells were proved by Carstairs' 1 685 . deposition to be guilty. Upon this both father and son were brought to the bar, to see what they had to say, why the sentence should not be executed. The old gentleman, then near eighty, seeing the ruin of his family was determined, and that he was condemned in so unusual a manner, took courage, and said, the 637 oppression they had been under had driven them to despair, and made them think how they might secure their lives and fortunes : upon this he went to London, and had some meetings with Baillie, and others : that one was sent to Scotland to hinder all risings : that an oath of secrecy was indeed offered, but was never taken upon all this. So it was pre tended, he had confessed the crime, and by a shew of mercy they were pardoned : but the earl of Melfort possessed himself of their estate. The old gentleman died soon after. And very probably his death was hastened by his long and rigorous imprisonment, and this unexampled conclusion of it ; which was so uni versally condemned, that when the news of it was writ to foreign parts, it was not easy to make peo ple believe it possible. But now the sitting of the parliament of England Oates con- came on. And, as a preparation to it, Oates was perjury, convicted of perjury, upon the evidence of the wit nesses from St. Omar's, who had been brought over before to discredit his testimony. Now juries were so prepared, as to believe more easily than formerly. So he was condemned to have his priestly habit taken from him, to be a prisoner for life, to be set on the pillory in all the public places of the city, and ever after that to be set on the pillory four times a year, and to be whipt by the common hangman from and cruelly D 3 Whipt' 38 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. Aldgate to Newgate one day, and the next from Newgate to Tyburn ; which was executed with so much rigour, that his back seemed to be all over flead. This was thought too little if he was guilty, and too much if innocent, and was illegal in all the parts of it : for as the secular court could not order the ecclesiastical habit to be taken from him, so to condemn a man to a perpetual imprisonment was not in the power of the court : and the extreme rigour of such whipping was without a precedent. Yet he, who was an original in all things, bore this with a constancy that amazed all those who saw it. So that this treatment did rather raise his reputation than sink it d. Dangerfieid And, that I may join things of the same sort to gether, though they were transacted at some distance of time, Dangerfieid, another of the witnesses in the popish plot, was also found guilty of perjury, and had the same punishment e. But it had a more ter rible conclusion ; for a brutal student of the law, who had no private quarrel with him, but was only transported with the heat of that time, struck him 638 over the head with his cane, as he got his last lash. This hit him so fatally, that he died of it imme diately. The person was apprehended. And the king left him to the law. And, though great inter- d (" After the revolution he " lieu of his pensions granted " brought writs of error against " to him by Charles II. amount- " these judgments into the " ing to 864Z. per annum. See " house of lords : but the house " State Trials, X. 1079— 1330." " refused to reverse them. The Lingard's History of England, " king, however, at their re- vol. VII. c. 8. p. 311. note.) " quest, pardoned him the re- e It was for his narrative. " mainder of the punishment, See, for a better account of this " and moreover allowed him a matter, Echard's History, page " pension of 5^. per week, in 1055. O. OF KING JAMES II. 39 cession was made for him, the king would not inter- 1685. pose. So he was hanged for it f. At last the parliament met. The king in hisApariia- speech repeated that which he had said to the England. council upon his first accession to the throne. He told them, some might think, the keeping him low would be the surest way to have frequent parlia ments : but they should find the contrary, that the using him well would be the best argument to per suade him to meet them often. This was put in to prevent a motion, which was a little talked of abroad, but none would venture on it within doors, that it was safest to grant the revenue only for a term of years S. The revenue was granted for life, and every thing Grants the else that was asked, with such a profusion, that theitfe.enue °r house was more forward to give, than the king was to ask : to which the king thought fit to put a stop by a message, intimating that he desired no more money that session n. And yet this forwardness to f (Higgons relates the fol- ner's inquest, whether he died lowing circumstances of exte- of the wound in his eye, or of. nuation in this assault. That the effects of his punishment, Dangerfieid was returning from Remarks, p. 302. A similar ac- the place of punishment in a count is given in the Life of coach, which stopping near King James II. published from Gray's Inn, Francis, a student the Stuart Papers, vol.11, p. 47. of that house, approached, and Echard, in his Hist, of the Re used insulting language to him ; volution, says, with some pro- on which Dangerfieid spit in bability, that Francis was ex- his face; that Francis, having a ecuted to satisfy the murmurs small bamboo cane in his hand, of the people.) thrust it at the other in the S See antea, p. 626. O. coach, and the ferrel unfortu- h (To the charge of Mr. Rose nately went into his eye. And against the bishop, of a mis- that Dangerfieid lived so long statement of a fact in asserting, afterwards, as to cause a very that the king sent a message to great debate among the sur- this effect, a full reply has been geons, who attended the coro- made by sergeant Heywood, m D 4 40 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. give in such a reign was set on by Musgrave and others, who pretended afterwards, when money was asked for just and necessary ends, to be frugal pa triots, and to be careful managers of the public trea sure '. And tmsts As for religion, some began to propose a new and king'! pro- firmer security to it. But all the courtiers run out imse" into eloquent harangues on that subject: and pressed a vote, that they took the king's word in that mat ter, and would trust to it ; and that this should be signified in an address to him. This would bind the king in point of honour, and gain his heart so en tirely, that it would be a tie above all laws whatso ever. And the tide run so strong that way, that the house went into it without opposition. The lord Preston, who had been for some years envoy in France, was brought over, and set up to be a manager in the house of commons. He told them, the reputation of the nation was beginning to rise very high all Europe over, under a prince whose name spread terror every where : and if this was confirmed by the entire confidence of his parliament, even in the tenderest matters, it would give such a turn to the affairs of Europe, that England would again hold the balance, and their king would be the arbiter of Europe. This was seconded by all the court flatterers. So in their address to the king, thanking him for his speech, they told him, they trusted to him so entirely, that they relied on his word, and thought themselves and their religion safe, since he had promised it to them k. the Appendix to his Vindication k (Ralph, in his History of of Mr. Fox's Historical Work, the reign, p. 909, thinks, that p. 111 — 141.) this lord, who had come over 1 A party remark. S. on this account, did not make OF KING JAMES II. 41 When this was settled, the petitions concerning 1685. the elections were presented. Upon those Seimour spoke very high, and with much weight1. He said, the complaints of the irregularities in elections were so great, that many doubted whether this was a true representative of the nation, or not. He said, little equity was expected upon petitions, where so many were too guilty to judge justly and impar tially. He said, it concerned them to look to these : for if the nation saw no justice was to be expected from them, other methods would be found, in which they might come to suffer that justice which they would not do. He was a haughty man, and would not communicate his design in making this motion to any : so all were surprised with it, but none se conded it. This had no effect, not so much as to draw on a debate. The courtiers were projecting many laws to ruin The pariia- all who opposed their designs. The most important violent™8 use of his interest with the " of new for ancient charters house till afterwards, on the " amounted to a disseizing of second meeting of the pariia- " the subject of his freehold, ment, and that the bishop has " without a trial; it shook the misplaced the speech, which " very foundation of parliam ent was delivered on the debate " by transferring the choice of about the forces after Mon- " representatives to other elec- mouth's rebellion.) " tors, and was pregnant with 1 (Mr. Fox in 'his Historical " such important consequences Work observes, that Seymour's " as to demand the most se- speech was not a regular mo- " rious attention of the house. tion for inquiring into the elec- " He concluded by moving for tions, but a suggestion to that " a committee to consider the effect made in his speech upon " proper method of applying to the question of a grant to the " the king for a remedy, and crown: p. 147 — 150. Lingard, " received the support of seve- in his Hist, of England, relates, " rai among the more influen- that the- subject was again " tial members. The debate brought forward by sir John " was never afterwards re- Lowther, who observed, "that " sumed." Vol. VII. chap. 8. " the compulsory substitution p. 314.) 42 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. of these was an act declaring treasons during that reign, by which words were to be made treason. And the clause was so drawn, that any thing said to disparage the king's person or government was made treason ; within which every thing said to the dishonour of the king's religion would have been comprehended, as judges and juries were then mo delled. This was chiefly opposed by sergeant May nard, who in a very grave speech laid open the in convenience of making words treason : they were often ill heard and ill understood, and were apt to be misrecited by a very small variation : men in passion or in drink might say things they never in tended : therefore he hoped they would keep to the law of the twenty-fifth of Edward the third, by which an overt act was made the necessary proof of ill intentions. And when others insisted, that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth spake, he brought the instance of our Saviour's words, De stroy this temple ; and shewed how near the temple was to this temple, pronouncing it in Syriac, so that the difference was almost imperceptible111. There was nothing more innocent than these words, as our Saviour meant and spoke them : but nothing was more criminal than the setting on a multitude to destroy the temple. This made some impression at that time n. But if the duke of Monmouth's landing m (Johnii. 19.) 234; where, p. 231, lord Lons- n (The title of the intended dale's Memoir of the reign of act, was, " A bill for the pre- James II. is cited, in which " servation of the person and sergeant Maynard's argument " government of his gracious is expressly noticed; and the ac- " majesty king James the se- curacy of bishop Burnet is thus " cond." See Rose's Observa- maintained against Mr. Rose's tions on Fox, p. 157, and Hey- doubts.) ward's Vindication, p. 318 — OF KING JAMES II. 43 had not brought the session to an early conclusion, 1685. that, and every thing else which the officious court- q^q iers were projecting, would have certainly passed °. The most important business that was before the The lords house of lords was the reversing the attainder of the cautious.™3 lord Stafford. It was said for it, that the witnesses were now convicted of perjury, and therefore the restoring the blood that was tainted by their evi dence was a just reparation. The proceedings in the matter of the popish plot were chiefly founded on Oates's discovery, which was now judged to be a thread of perjury. This stuck with the lords, and would not go down P. Yet they did justice both to the popish lords then in the tower, and to the earl of Danby, who moved the house of lords, that they might either be brought to their trial, or be set at liberty 1. This was sent by the lords to the house ° (Lord Lonsdale, in his un- " happening at the same time, published Memoir just men- " and the parliament being tioned, reports, p. 9, that there " prorogued on these accounts were two provisos agreed on in " the second of July, the bill a committee; the one was, that " never came to a third read- no preaching or teaching a- " ing." Salmon's Examination gainst the errors of Rome in of this Hist. -p. 1001. The bill defence of the protestant reli- certainly passed the lords; but gion should be construed to be compare Dalrymple's Memoirs, within that act. The second vol. I. p. 79, Fox's Hist, of the was, that all informations with- Reign of James II. p. 161 , and in that statute should be made Hume's History of England, within forty-eight hours. With James II. p. 382; the last of these two provisos, it is added, whom says, that after one read- the force of it was so muti- ing it was dropped by the com- lated, that it was not thought mons. Kennett in his Corn- worth having, and so it died.) plete Hist, of England agrees p (" The bill passed easily with Salmon in the bill's hav- " through that house, and was ing been read twice.) " read twice in the commons ; 1 But see the Journals of '* but it being sent down but both houses with regard to " in June, and the rebellions both these matters, and see "in England and Scotland anteap. 591. O. 44 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. of commons, who returned answer, that they did not think fit to insist on the impeachments. So upon that they were discharged of them, and set at liberty. Yet, though both houses agreed in this of prosecuting the popish plot no further, the lords had no mind to reverse and condemn past proceed ings. The duke But while all these things were in agitation, the mouth duke of Monmouth's landing brought the session to lLI a a conclusion. As soon as lord Argile sailed for Scotland, he set about his design with as much haste as was possible. Arms were brought, and a ship was freighted for Bilbao in Spain. The duke of Monmouth pawned all his jewels : but these could not raise much : and no money was sent him out of England. So he was hurried into an ill de signed invasion. The whole company consisted but of eighty-two persons. They were all faithful to one another. But some spies, whom Shelton the new envoy set on work, sent him the notice of a suspected ship sailing out of Amsterdam with arms. Shelton neither understood the laws of Holland, nor advised with those who did : otherwise he would have carried with him an order from the admiralty of Holland, that sat at the Hague, to be made use of as the occasion should require. When he came to Amsterdam, and applied himself to the magi strates there, desiring them to stop and search the ship that he named, they found the ship was already sailed out of their port, and their jurisdiction went no further. So he was forced to send to the ad miralty at the Hague. But those on board, hearing what he was come for, made all possible haste. And, 641 the wind favouring them, they got out of the Texel, OF KING JAMES II. 45 before the order desired could be brought from the 1685. Hague. After a prosperous course, the duke landed at Lime in Dorsetshire: and he with his small com pany came ashore with some order, but with too much day light, which discovered how few they were. The alarm was brought hot to London : where, An act of upon the general report and belief of the thing, an pasTed a- act of attainder passed both houses in one day ; giunst him' some small opposition being made by the earl of Anglesey, because the evidence did not seem clear enough for so severe a sentence, which was grounded on the notoriety of the thing r. The sum of 5000/. was set on his head. And with that the session of parliament ended ; which was no small happiness to the nation, such a body of men being dismissed with r (Mr. Rose, in the Appendix " tainder, a sort of prerogative to his Observations on Fox's " trial, in which the legislature Historical Work, p. liv, denies, " by an extraordinary interfer- in opposition to bishop Bur- " ence removes the considera- net, that the act passed on a " tion of an offence from the general report, or that it was " common tribunals, and takes grounded on the notoriety of "it upon itself." Vindication the thing, because the king on of Mr. Fox's Historical Work, the 1 2th of June communicated Appendix, no. 5. p. in. Still it to the two houses a letter from appears, that when sir Richard Alford, the mayor of Lyme, Temple was reflected on, in the giving a particular account of reign of king William, for hav- the duke's landing there, and ing moved for the impeach- taking possession of the town, ment of the duke of Monmouth, To this attack on the bishop, he said, that he had done it sergeant Heywood, amongst on the testimony of three wit- other considerations of import- nesses, who declared they saw ance, replies, that the letter of him in actual rebellion at the the mayor, which as a founda- head of an army. See Ralph's tion for the act of attainder History of England, vol. II. was in fact never read, " might p. 697, and the Journals of the " be sufficient to authorize an House of Commons.) " address, but not a bill of at- 46 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. doing so little hurt. The duke of Monmouth's manifesto was long, and ill penned: full of much black and dull malice. It was plainly Furguson's style, which was both tedious and fulsome. It charged the king with the burning of London, the popish plot, Godfrey's murder, and the earl of Es sex's death : and to crown all, it was pretended, that the late king was poisoned by his orders: it was set forth, that the king's religion made him in capable of the crown ; that three subsequent houses of commons had voted his exclusion : the taking away the old charters, and all the hard things done in the last reign, were laid to his charge : the elec tions of the present parliament were also set forth very odiously, with great indecency of style : the na tion was also appealed to, when met in a free par liament, to judge of the duke's own pretensions s :. and all sort of liberty, both in temporals and spirit uals, was promised to persons of all persuasions. a rabble Upon the duke of Monmouth's landing, many of came and x o> •/ joined him. the country people came in to join him, but very few of the gentry. He had quickly men enough about him to use all his arms. The duke of Albe marle, as lord lieutenant of Devonshire, was sent down to raise the militia, and with them to make head against him. But their ill affection appeared very evidently : many deserted, and all were cold in the service. The duke of Monmouth had the whole country open to him for almost a fortnight, during which time he was very diligent in training and animating his men. His own behaviour was so gentle and obliging, that he was master of all their s He asserted that his mother was the lawful wife of his father. O. OF KING JAMES II. 47 hearts, as much as was possible. But he quickly 1685. found, what it was to be at the head of undisci- plined men, that knew nothing of war, and that 642 were not to be used with rigour. Soon after their LordGrey's landing, lord Grey was sent out with a small party. cowardlce- He saw a few of the militia, and he ran for it : but his men stood, and the militia ran from them. Lord Grey brought a false alarm, that was soon found to be so: for the men whom their leader had aban doned came back in good order. The duke of Mon mouth was struck with this, when he found that the person on whom he depended most, and for whom he designed the command of the horse, had already made himself infamous by his cowardice. He intended to join Fletcher with him in that com mand. But an unhappy accident made it not con venient to keep him longer about him. He sent him out on another party: and he, not being yet furnished with a horse, took the horse of one who had brought in a great body of men from Taunton. He was not in the way: so Fletcher, not seeing him to ask his leave, thought that all things were to be in common among them, that could advance the service. After Fletcher had rid about as he was or dered, as he returned, the owner of the horse he rode on, who was a rough and ill bred man, re proached him in very injurious terms, for taking out his horse without his leave. Fletcher bore this longer than could have been expected from one of his impetuous temper. But the other persisted in giving him foul language, and offered a switch or a cane : upon which he discharged his pistol at him, and fatally shot him dead. He went and gave the duke of Monmouth an account of this, who saw it 48 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. was impossible to keep him longer about him, with- " out disgusting and losing the country people, who were coming in a body to demand justice. So he advised him to go aboard the ship, and to sail on to Spain, whither she was bound. By this means he was preserved for that time *. Ferguson ran among the people with all the fury of an enraged man, that affected to pass for an en thusiast, though all his performances that way were forced and dry. The duke of Monmouth's great error was, that he did not in the first heat venture on some hardy action, and then march either to Exeter or Bristol ; where, as he would have found much wealth, so he would have gained some reputa tion by it. But he lingered in exercising his men, and stayed too long in the neighbourhood of Lime. By this means the king had time both to bring troops out of Scotland, after Argile was taken, and to send to Holland for the English and Scotch regi- 643 ments that were in the service of the States ; which the prince sent over very readily, and offered his own person, and a greater force, if it was necessaryu. The king received this with great expressions of ac knowledgment and kindness. It was very visible, * (Oldmixon in his History among the lower classes of the of England, p. 376, where he people. History of England, asserts, that he had the account vol. VII. c. 8. p. 331. Perhaps from people on the spot, says, this was the man, or at least a that the person shot by Fletcher kinsman of his, who told king was a farmer at Lyme ; but Dr. Charles II. when he asked him, Lingard, very probably on suf- on his presenting an obnoxious ficient authority, relates, that petition, how he dared to bring it was Dare of Taunton, who him such a paper, that his name had come over with the duke was Dare. of Monmouth, and now held n The king was too wise to the offices of secretary and pay- accept it on many accounts. master to him, a man who pos- Cole's MS. note. sessed considerable influence OF KING JAMES II. 49 that he was much distracted in his thoughts, and 1685. that what appearance of courage soever he might- put on, he was inwardly full of apprehensions and fears. He durst not accept of the offer of assist ance that the French made him: for by that he would have lost the hearts of the English nation x. And he had no mind to be much obliged to the prince of Orange, or to let him into his counsels or affairs. Prince George committed a great error in not asking the command of the army : for the com mand, how much soever he might have been bound to the counsels of others, would have given him some lustre ; whereas his staying at home in such time of danger brought him under much neglect y. The king could not choose worse than he did,Theeari when he gave the command to the earl of Fever- sham com- sham, who was a Frenchman by birth, and nephew ^"idifg's to Mr. de Turenne. Both his brothers changing re- army- x And with the greatest rea- terposing was a prejudice in son. Cole. obtaining favours at court. All y Prince George of Den- foreign princes had him in very mark was the most indolent of low esteem ; and Mr. Hill told all mankind, had given great me, the duke of Savoy asked proofs of bravery in his own him if prince George ever lay country, where he was much with the queen, for he had no beloved. King Charles the se- notion how a prince that was cond told my father he had married to the queen, could be tried him, drunk and sober, but so much neglected as not to " God's fish," there was no- be king, unless he had some thing in him. His behaviour natural infirmities. After thirty at the revolution shewed he years living in England, he could be made a tool of upon died of eating and drinking, occasion ; but king William without any man's thinking treated him with the utmost himself obliged to him : but I contempt. When queen Ann have been told, that he would came to the crown, she shewed sometimes do ill offices, though him little respect, but expected he never did a good one. D. every body else should give him (Compare note afterwards at more than was his due : but it p. 489. vol. II. folio edit.) was soon found out that his in- VOL. III. E 50 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. ligion, though he continued still a protestant, made that his religion was not much trusted to. He was an honest, brave, and good natured man, but weak to a degree not easy to be conceived. And he con ducted matters so ill, that every step he made was like to prove fatal to the king's service. He had no parties abroad. He got no intelligence : and was almost surprised, and like to be defeated, when he seemed to be under no apprehension, but was a-bed without any care or order. So that, if the duke of Monmouth had got but a very small number of good soldiers about him, the king's affairs would have fallen into great disorder. The duke of Monmouth had almost surprised lord Feversham, and all about him, while they were a-bed. He got in between two bodies, into which the army lay divided. He now saw his error in lin gering so long. He began to want bread, and to be so straitened, that there was a necessity of push ing for a speedy decision2. He was so misled in his march, that he lost an hour's time : and when he came near the army, there was an inconsiderable ditch, in the passing which he lost so much more time, that the officers had leisure to rise and be dressed, now they had the alarm. And they put themselves in order. Yet the duke of Monmouth's foot stood longer and fought better than could have been expected : especially, when the small body of 2 (The duke was also obliged London through whose hands to attack the king's army on supplies of money were con- the account of his wanting mo- veyed to him. See Allestree's ney to pay his troops, and this Thanksgiving Sermon, preach- was occasioned by the king's ed immediately after this re- having secured the persons of bellion, p. 25.) those disaffected citizens of OF KING JAMES II. 51 horse they had, ran upon the first charge, the blame ]685. of which was cast on the lord Grey a. The foot being ~ thus forsaken, and galled by the cannon, did run at last. About a thousand of them were killed on the spot : and fifteen hundred were taken prisoners. Their numbers, when fullest, were between five and six thousand. The duke of Monmouth left the field The duke too soon for a man of courage, who had such high mouth de- pretensions : for a few days before he had suffered feated' himself to be called king, which did him no service, even among those that followed him. He rode to wards Dorsetshire : and when his horse could carry him no further, he changed clothes with a shepherd, and went as far as his legs could carry him, being accompanied only with a German, whom he had brought over with him. At last, when he could go no further, he lay down in a field where there was hay and straw, with which they covered themselves, so that they hoped to lie there unseen till night. Parties went out on all hands to take prisoners. The shepherd was found by the lord Lumley in the duke of Monmouth's clothes. So this put them on his track, and having some dogs with them they followed the scent, and came to the place where the German was first discovered. And he immediately pointed to the place where the duke of Monmouth lay. So he was taken in a very indecent dress and And taken. posture. His body was quite sunk with fatigue : and his mind was now so low, that he begged his life in a «¦ (This cowardly, perfidious the revolution was created earl person was pardoned by king of Tankerville by king Wil- James in consequence of the liam, and likewise made by him confession, which he made of first commissioner of the trea- his several treasons ; and after sury and lord privy seal.) E 2 52 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. manner that agreed ill with the courage of the for- ~~ mer parts of it. He called for pen, ink, and paper; and wrote to the earl of Feversham, and both to the queen, and the queen dowager, to intercede with the king for his life. The king's temper, as well as his interest, made it so impossible to hope for that, that it shewed a great meanness in him to ask it in such terms as he used in his letters. He was carried up to Whitehall ; where the king exa mined him in person, which was thought very inde cent, since he was resolved not to pardon himb. He made new and unbecoming submissions, and insinu ated a readiness to change his religion : for he said, the king knew what his first education was in reli gion c. There were no discoveries to be got from him ; for the attempt was too rash to be well con certed, or to be so deep laid that many were in volved in the guilt of it. He was examined on Monday, and orders were given for his execution on Wednesday d. 645 Turner and Ken, the bishops of Ely and of Bath fxerataT and Wells, were ordered to wait on him. But he called for Dr. Tennison. The bishops studied to D The duke of Monmouth cent actions of a man's life be pressed extremely that the king sometimes turned to his disad- would see him, from whence vantage. D. the king concluded he had c (This particular, concern- something to say to him, that ing which Mr. Fox, in his Histo- he would tell to nobody else : ricalWork.p. 277, professes his but when he found it ended in doubts, is now confirmed by the nothing but lower submission account of this interview in the than he either expected or de- Life of James the second, pub- sired, he told him plainly he lished by Dr. Clarke, from the had put it out of his power to Stuart Papers, vol. II. p. 37.) pardon him, by having pro- d (Mr. Fox observes, p. 278, claimed himself king. Thus, that the bill of attainder which as the bishop observes in an- had lately passed, superseded other place, may the most inno- the necessity of a legal trial.) OF KING JAMES II. 53 convince him of the sin of rebellion. He answered, 1685. he was sorry for the blood that was shed in it : but he did not seem to repent of the design. Yet he confessed that his father had often told him, that there was no truth in the reports of his having mar ried his mother. This he set under his hand, pro bably for his children's sake, who were then prisoners in the tower, that so they might not be ill used on his account. He shewed a great neglect of his duch ess. And her resentments for his course of life with the lady Wentworth wrought so much on her, that [she seemed not to have any of that tenderness left, that became her sex and his present circumstances ; for] though he desired to speak privately with her, she would have witnesses to hear all that passed, to justify herself, and to preserve her family. They parted very coldly e. He only recommended to her the breeding their children in the protestant reli gion. The bishops continued still to press on him a deep sense of the sin of rebellion ; at which he grew so uneasy, that he desired them to speak to him of other matters. They next charged him with the sin e (Mr. Rose, in the Appendix " and care to his poor children. to his Observations on Fox's " At this expression, she fell Historical Work, has printed " down on her knees with her from a MS. belonging to the " eyes full of tears, and begged Buccleugh family an account " him to pardon her, if ever she of the behaviour of the duke of " had done any thing to offend Monmouth from the time he " and displease him, and em- was taken to his execution, in " bracing his knees fell into a which a different representation " sound out of which they had is made of the conduct of both " much ado to raise her up, in parties. " He (the duke) gave " a good while after." p. lxxii. " her the kindest character that But Burnet's account of the " could be, and begged her par- general coldness of the inter- " don of his many failings and view is supported by other tes- " offences to her, and prayed timony. See Lingard's Hist. " her to continue her kindness vol. VII. ch. 8. p. 342.) E 3 54 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. of living with the. lady Wentworth as he had done. In that he justified himself : he had married his duchess too young to give a true consent : he said, that lady was a pious worthy woman, and that he had never lived so well in all respects, as since his engagements with her. All the pains they took to convince him of the unlawfulness of that course of life had no effect. They did certainly very well in discharging their consciences, and speaking so plain ly to him. But they did very ill to talk so much of this matter, and to make it so public as they did ; for divines ought not to repeat what they say to dy ing penitents, no more than what the penitents say to them. By this means the duke of Monmouth had little satisfaction in them, and they had as little in him. He was much better pleased with Dr. Tennison, who did very plainly speak to him, with relation to his public actings, and to his course of life : but he did it in a softer and less peremptory manner. And having said all that he thought proper, he left those points, in which he saw he could not convince him, to his own conscience, and turned to other things fit to be laid before a dying man. The duke begged one day more of life with such repeated earnestness, that as the king was much blamed for denying so small a favour, so it gave occasion to others to be lieve, that he had some hope from astrologers, that, 646 if he outlived that day, he might have a better fatef. f My uncle, colonel William that were tied about him when Legge_, who went in the coach he was taken, and his table- with him to London, as a guard, book, which was full of astrolo- with orders to stab him, if there gical figures that nobody could were any disorders upon the understand. But he told my road, shewed me several charms uncle that they had been given OF KING JAMES II. 55 As long as he fancied there was any hope, he was 1685. too much unsettled in his mind to be capable of any thing S. But when he saw all was to no purpose, and that He died he must die, he complained a little that his death calmness. was hurried on so fast. But all on the sudden he came into a composure of mind that surprised those that saw it. There was no affectation in it. His whole behaviour was easy and calm, not without a decent cheerfulness. He prayed God to forgive all his sins, unknown as well as known. He seemed confident of the mercies of God, and that he was going to be happy with him. And he went to the place of execution on Tower-hill with an air of un disturbed courage, that was grave and composed. He said little there, only that he was sorry for the blood that was shed : but he had ever meant well to the nation. When he saw the ax, he touched it, and said, it was not sharp enough. He gave the hangman but half the reward he intended ; and said, if he cut off his head cleverly, and not so butcherly as he did the lord Russel's, his man would give him the rest. The executioner was in great disorder, him some years before in Scot- and God's sake, to try if there land, and said he now found were yet no room for mercy. they were but foolish conceits. My father said, the king had D. (The bishop's account is told him the truth, which was, confirmed also by king James, that he had made it impracti- in his Life lately published, cable to save his life, by having p. 40.) declared himself king. "That's g When my father carried " my misfortune," said he, him to the tower, he pressed " and those that put me upon him in a most indecent manner "it will fare better them- to intercede once more with " selves :" and then told him, the king for his life, upon any that lord Grey had threatened terms ; and told him he knew to leave him upon their first lord Dartmouth loved king landing, if he did not do it. Charles ; therefore for his sake, D. E 4 56 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. Lord Grey pardoned. trembling all over: so he gave him two or three "strokes without being able to finish the matter, and then flung the ax out of his hand. But the sheriff forced him to take it up : and at three or four more strokes he severed his head from his body : and both were presently buried in the chapel of the tower. Thus lived and died this unfortunate young man. He had several good qualities in him, and some that were as bad. He was soft and gentle even to excess, and too easy to those who had credit with him. He was both sincere and good-natured, and understood war well. But he was too much given to pleasure and to favourites n. The lord Grey, it was thought, would go next. But he had a great estate that by his death was to go over to his brother. So the court resolved to pre- h (An anecdote favourable to Monmouth's character is given by lord Grey in his Confession, p. 61. " My lord Macclesfield, " (Gerard,) the duke said to " me, had made a barbarous " proposal, which was, the mur- " thering your majesty, (then " duke of York,) for that, my " lord said, would frighten the " king into a compliance. The " duke of Monmouth express- " ed himself with the greatest " abhorrence of such an action " that can be imagined, and " said, he would not consent to " the murthering the meanest " creature, (though the worst " enemy he had in the world,) " for all the advantages under " heaven ; and should never " have any esteem for my lord " Macclesfield while he hved." On the other hand it must be observed, that sir John Dal rymple, in his Memoirs, vol. I. page 60, mentions the follow ing circumstance : " Brigadier " Hook, the author ofthe Me- " moirs, who was afterwards " pardoned by king James, fol- " lowed him into France, and " became his secretary there, " owned to James, when he " was seized during Mon- " mouth's rebellion, that Dan- " vers and he had engaged " to Monmouth to assassinate " him, if they could not bring " about the insurrection (in " London) they meditated." It is probable that Hook did not give this information, till after the duke's execution, otherwise the king would have been still more justified in ordering it to take place.) OF KING JAMES II. 57 serve him, till he should be brought to compound for 1685. his life. The earl of Rochester had 16,000£ of him1. Others had smaller shares. He was likewise obliged to tell all he knewk, and to be a witness in order to the conviction of others, but with this assurance, that nobody should die upon his evidence. So the lord Brandon, son to the earl of Macclesfield, was con victed by his and some other evidence. Mr. Hamb- den was also brought on his trial. And he was told, that he must expect no favour, unless he would plead guilty. And he, knowing that legal evidence would 647 be brought against him, submitted to this ; and begged his life with a meanness, of which he himself was so ashamed afterwards, that it gave his spirits a depression and disorder that he could never quite master1. And that had a terrible conclusion; for about ten years after he cut his own throat. The king was now as successful as his own heart The king could wish. He had held a session of parliament in up^hhis both kingdoms, that had settled his revenue : and s now two ill prepared and ill managed rebellions had so broken all the party that was against him, that 1 It was a bond for 40,000/. through the house of commons. which he had no benefit from, He was brother to the wife of chiefly by the interventions of the earl of Rochester's eldest parliamentary privilege, till af- son. O. ter the act for the restraining k In a narrative that has been of the privilege of parliament, lately published, by which he 12 and 13 of William III. ch.3. discovers also the whole ofthe which act was obtained by the plot of 1683, and makes lord earl of Rochester's friends, and Russel to have been very deep after it passed, the lord Grey, in it, except as to the king's then earl of Tankerfield, com- person, or change ofthe govern- pounded with the earl of Ro- ment. This is the same with Chester for 16,000?. Many what I have mentioned before, good pubhc laws have arisen under the appellation of lord from private cases. Sir John Grey's paper. O. Levison Gower carried the bill l See antea, p. 539. O. successes. 58 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. he seemed secure in his throne, and above the power of all his enemies. And certainly a reign that was now so beyond expectation successful in its first six months seemed so well settled, that no ordinary mismanagement could have spoiled such beginnings. If the king had ordered a speedy execution of such persons as were fit to be made public examples, and had upon that granted a general indemnity, and if he had but covered his intentions till he had got through another session of parliament, it is not easy to imagine with what advantage he might then have opened and pursued his designs. But it had But his own temper, and the fury of some of his an ill effect ... •, . i . c 1 • -j. i_ on his af- ministers, and the maxims ot his priests, who were fiurs' become enthusiastical upon this success, and fancied that nothing could now stand before him : all these concurred to make him lose advantages that were never to be recovered : for the shews of mercy, that were afterwards put on, were looked on as an after game, to retrieve that which was now lost. The army was kept for some time in the western counties, where both officers and soldiers lived as in an enemy's country, and treated all that were believed to be ill affected to the king with great rudeness and vio lence. Great cru- Kirk, who had commanded long in Tangier, was elties com- ° ° mitted by become so savage by the neighbourhood of the Moors ers- there, that some days after the battle, he ordered several of the prisoners to be hanged up at Taunton, without so much as the form of law, he and his company looking on from an entertainment they were at. At every new health another prisoner was hanged up. And they were so brutal, that observ ing the shaking of the legs of those whom they OF KING JAMES II. 59 1685. hanged, it was said among them, they were dancing ; and upon that music was called for. This was both — so illegal and so inhuman, that it might have been expected that some notice would have been taken of it. But Kirk was only chid for it™. And it was said, that he had a particular order for some military 648 executions : so that he could only be chid for the manner of it. [Some particulars relating to that matter are too indecent to be mentioned by me.] But, as if this had been nothing, Jefferies was sent And much the western circuit to try the prisoners. His be- jefferies/ haviour was beyond any thing that was ever heard of in a civilized nation. He was perpetually either drunk or in a rage, liker a fury than the zeal of a m The bishop might have added, that no man was better received, or more caressed by king William ; but he does him the justice to take notice of the engagement he was under to the king of Morocco, in another place, (p. 684,) which it is pos sible procured him so much fa vour. D. Perhaps colonel Kirk might be under other engage ments to other princes besides the king of Morocco. Old- mixon, in his History of the Stuarts, gives the following ac count : " One thing must be " remembered of this Kirk, who " protested that his commis- " sion went further, and that ' ' he had put a restraint on the " power and the instructions " that were given him, which " shews he was apprehensive " that king James would make " such an ill use of his victory " as to occasion a more suc- " cessful attempt against him "in a few years. For when " he took leave of a gentle- " man, Mr. Harvey of the cas- " tie in Bridgwater, who had " been very civil to him, he " shook him by the hand, and " said, ' I believe it will not " be long before I see you " again ;' and by his motions " gave him to understand it " would not be on the same " side." P. 705. It was through Kirk, it should seem, that Jef feries informed Burnet when in Holland, of a conversation he had had with the king, which portended danger to Burnet. See afterwards, vol. I. p. 730, folio edition. Kirk was in the number of those persons, who were accused by sir John Fen- wick of sending to king James, after the revolution, assurances of their good services. See Oldmixon's Hist, of England, p- IS2- 60 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. judge. He required the prisoners to plead guilty. And in that case he gave them some hope of favour, if they gave him no trouble : otherwise, he told them, he would execute the letter of the law upon them in its utmost severity. This made many plead guilty, who had a great defence in law. But he shewed no mercy. He ordered a great many to be hanged up immediately, without allowing them a minute's time to say their prayers. He hanged, in several places, about six hundred persons n. The greatest part of these were of the meanest sort, and of no distinc tion. The impieties with which he treated them, and his behaviour towards some of the nobility and gentry that were well affected, but came and pleaded in favour of some prisoners, would have amazed one, if done by a bashaw in Turkey. England had never known any thing like it. The instances are too many to be reckoned up. withwhich But that which brought all his excesses to be im- the king was well puted to the king himself, and to the orders given by p ease ' him, was, that the king had a particular account of all his proceedings writ to him every day0. And he took pleasure to relate them in the drawing room n (" Jefferies condemned in military commanders, that two " all these places above five hundred and fifty-one are com- " hundred persons.whereof two puted to have fallen by the " hundred and thirty were ex- hands of justice. Vol. VI. p. " ecuted, and had their quar- 386. In an account printed " ters set up in the principal in 1716, of the proceedings " places and roads of those against the rebels in the west, " countries, to the terror of beforeJefferiesandotherjudges, " passengers, and the great there is a hst of the names of " annoyance of those parts." persons ordered for transporta- Echard's Hist, of England, p." tion, amounting to more than 1068. Hume, after Ralph, says, eight hundred and fifty.) besides those butchered by the o gee pOStea, p. 651. O. OF KING JAMES II. 61 to foreign ministers, and at his table, calling it Jef- 1685. feries's campaign : speaking of all he had done in a style that neither became the majesty nor the mercifulness of a great prince. Dykfield was at that time in England, one of the ambassadors whom the States had sent over to congratulate the king's com ing to the crown. He told me, that the king talked so often of these things in his hearing, that he won dered to see him break out into those indecencies. And upon Jefferies's coming back, he was created a baron and peer of England : a dignity which, though anciently some judges were raised to it, yet in these latter ages, as there was no example of it, so it was thought inconsistent with the character of a judgeP. Two executions were of such an extraordinary The execu- ,i.ii -i ¦¦ *'ons °f tw0 nature, that they deserve a more particular recital, women. The king apprehended that many of the prisoners had got into London, and were concealed there. So he said, those who concealed them were the worst sort of traitors, who endeavoured to preserve such 649 persons to a better time. He had likewise a great mind to find out any among the rich merchants, who might afford great compositions to save their lives : for though there was much blood shed, there was little booty got to reward those who had served. Upon this the king declared, he would sooner par don the rebels than those who harboured them. There was in London one Gaunt, a woman that was an anabaptist, who spent a great part of her life in acts of charity, visiting the gaols, and looking after the poor of what persuasion soever they were. P He was created a baron of the Lords, 19th of May, and peer before. See Journal 1685. O. 62 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. One of the rebels found her out, and she harboured him in her house ; and was looking for an occasion of sending him out of the kingdom. He went about in the night, and came to hear what the king had said. So he, by an unheard-of baseness, went and delivered himself, and accused her that harboured him. She was seized on and tried. There was no witness to prove that she knew that the person she harboured was a rebel, but he himself: her maid witnessed only, that he was entertained at her house. But though the crime was her harbouring a traitor, and was proved only by this infamous witness, yet the judge charged the jury to bring her in guilty, pretending that the maid was a second witness, though she knew nothing of that which was the cri minal part. She was condemned, and burnt, as the law directs in the case of women convict of treason. She died with a constancy, even to a cheerfulness, that struck all that saw it. She said, charity was a part of her religion, as well as faith : this at worst was the feeding an enemy : so she hoped, she had her reward with him, for whose sake she did this service, how unworthy soever the person was, that made so ill a return for it : she rejoiced, that God had honoured her to be the first that suffered by fire in this reign : and that her suffering was a mar tyrdom for that religion which was all love. Pen, the quaker, told me, he saw her die. She laid the straw about her for burning her speedily ; and be haved herself in such a manner, that all the specta tors melted in tears. The other execution was of a woman of greater quality : the lady Lisle. Her husband had been a regicide, and was one of Cromwell's lords, and was OF KING JAMES II. 63 called the lord Lisle 1. He went at the time of the 1685. restoration beyond sea, and lived at Lausanne. But three desperate Irishmen, hoping by such a ser vice to make their fortunes, went thither, and killed him as he was going to church ; and being well mounted, and ill pursued, got into France. His lady was known to be much affected with the king's 650 death, and not easily reconciled to her husband for the share he had in it. She was a woman of great piety and charity. The night after the action, Hicks, a violent preacher among the dissenters, and Nelthorp, came to her house. She knew Hicks r, and treated him civilly, not asking from whence they came. But Hicks told what brought them thither ; for they had been with the duke of Monmouth. Upon which she went out of the room immediately, and ordered her chief servant to send an information concerning them to the next justice of peace, and in the mean while to suffer them to make their escape. But, before this could be done, a party came about the house, and took both them and her for harbour ing them s. Jefferies resolved to make a sacrifice of as the most fatal to the protestant testant reh. religion. In February, a king of England declared himself a papist. In June, Charles the elector pala tine dying without issue, the electoral dignity went to the house of Newburgh, a most bigoted popish d Lord Mountague. O. (He was an earl, when the author wrote this.) OF KING JAMES II. 75 family. In October, the king of France recalled 1685. and vacated the edict of Nantes. And in December, the duke of Savoy being brought to it, not only by 656 the persuasions, but even by the threatenings of the court of France, recalled the edict that his father had granted to the Vaudois. So it must be con fessed, that this was a very critical year. And I have ever reckoned this the fifth great crisis of the protestant religion. For some years the priests were every where making conversions in France. The hopes of pen sions and preferment wrought on many. The plausible colours that the bishop of Meaux, then bishop of Condom, put on all the errors of the church of Rome, furnished others with excuses for changing. Many thought, they must change at last, or be quite undone : for the king seemed to be en gaged to go through with the matter, both in com pliance with the shadow of conscience that he seemed to have, which was to follow implicitly the conduct of his confessor, and of the archbishop of Paris, he himself being ignorant in those matters beyond what can be well imagined ; and because his glory seemed also concerned to go through with every thing that he had once begun. Old Rouvigny, who was the deputy general of Rouvigny's the churches, told me, that he was long deceived in his opinion of the king. He knew he was not na turally bloody. He saw his gross ignorance in those matters. His bigotry could not rise from any in ward principle. So for many years he flattered himself with the hopes, that the design would go on so slowly, that some unlooked for accident might defeat it. But after the peace of Nimeguen he saw 76 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. such steps made with so much precipitation, that he told the king he must beg a full audience of him upon that subject. He gave him one that lasted some hours. He came well prepared. He told him, what the state of France was during the wars in his father's reign ; how happy France had been now for fifty years, occasioned chiefly by the quiet it was in with relation to those matters. He gave him an account of their numbers, their industry and wealth, their constant readiness to advance the revenue, and that all the quiet he had with the court of Rome was chiefly owing to them : if they were rooted outj the court of Rome would govern as absolutely in France, as it did in Spain. He desired leave to un deceive him, if he was made believe they would all change, as soon as he engaged his authority in the matter: many would go out of the kingdom, and carry their wealth and industry into other coun- 657 tries. And by a scheme of particulars he reckoned how far that would go. In fine, he said, it would come to the shedding of much blood : many would suffer, and others would be precipitated into despe rate courses. So that the most glorious of all reigns would be in conclusion disfigured and defaced, and become a scene of blood and horror. He told me, as he went through these matters the king seemed to hearken to him very attentively. But he per ceived they made no impression : for the king never asked any particulars, or any explanation, but let him go on. And, when he had ended, the king said, he took his freedom well, since it flowed from his zeal to his service. He believed all that he had told him, of the prejudice it might do him in his affairs : only he thought, it would not go to the OF KING JAMES II. 77 shedding of blood. But he said, he considered him- 1685. self as so indispensably bound to endeavour the con- — version of all his subjects, and the extirpation of he resy, that if the doing it should require that with one hand he should cut off the other, he would sub mit to that. After this, Rouvigny gave all his friends hints of what they were to look for. Some were for flying out into a new civil war. But, their chief confidence being in the assistance they expected from England, he, who knew what our princes were, and had reason to believe that king Charles was at least a cold protestant, if not a secret papist, and knew that the States would not embroil their affairs in assisting them, their maxims rather leading them to connive at any thing that would bring great numbers and much wealth into their country than to oppose it, was against all motions of that kind. He reckoned, those risings would be soon crushed, and so would precipitate their ruin with some colour of justice. He was much censured for this by some hot men among them, as having betrayed them to the court. But he was very unjustly blamed, as appeared both by his own conduct, and by his son's; who was received at first into the survivance of be ing deputy general for the churches, and afterwards, at his father's desire, had that melancholy post given him, in which he daily saw new injustices done, and was only suffered, for form's sake, to inform against them, but with no hope of success. The father did, upon king Charles's death, write He came a letter of congratulation to the king, who wrote England. him such an obliging answer, that upon it he wrote to his niece the lady Russel, that, having such as surances given him by the king of a high sense of 78 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. his former services, he resolved to come over, and 658 beS the restoring her son's honour. The marquis of Halifax did presently apprehend, that this was a blind, and that the king of France was sending him over to penetrate into the king's designs ; since from all hands intimations were brought of the promises that he made to the ministers of the other princes of Europe. So I was ordered to use all endeavours to divert him from coming over : his niece had in deed begged that journey of him, when she hoped it might have saved her husband's life, but she would not venture to desire the journey on any other con sideration, considering his great age, and that her son was then but five years old. I pressed this so much on him, that, finding him fixed in his resolu tion, I could not hinder my self from suspecting, that such a high act of friendship, in a man some years past fourscore, had somewhat under it : and it was said, that, when he took leave of the king of France, he had an audience of two hours of him. But this was a false suggestion : and I was assured afterwards that he came over only in friendship to his niece, and that he had no directions nor mes sages from the court of France. He came over, and had several audiences of the king, who used him with great kindness, but did not grant him that which he said he came for : only he gave him a general promise of doing it in a pro per time. But whether the court of France was satisfied by the conversation that Rouvigny had with the king, that they needed apprehend nothing from England ; or whether the king's being now so settled on the throne, made them conclude that the time was come OF KING JAMES II. 79 of repealing the edicts, is not certain: Mr. de Lou- 1685. voy, seeing the king so set on the matter, proposed to him a method, which he believed would shorten the work, and do it effectually : which was, to let Dragoons loose some bodies of dragoons to live upon the pro-^*^^ testants on discretion6. They were put under nocretion ' x upon the restraint, but only to avoid rapes, and the killing protestants. them. This was begun in Beam. And the people were so struck with it, that, seeing they were to be eat up first, and, if that prevailed not, to be cast in prison, when all was taken from them, till they should change, and being required only to promise to reunite themselves to the church, they, overcome with fear, and having no time for consulting to gether, did universally comply. This did so animate the court, that upon it the same methods were taken in most places of Guienne, Languedoc, and Dau- phine, where the greatest numbers of the protest ants were. A dismal consternation and feebleness 659 ran through most of them, so that great numbers Many of yielded. Upon which the king, now resolved to go^^j through with what had been long projected, pub-*™ush lished the edict repealing the edict of Nantes, in which (though that edict was declared to be a per petual and irrevocable law) he set forth, that it was only intended to quiet matters by it, till more ef fectual ways should be taken for the conversion of c It has heen said that Lou- " testants ;" to which Louvoy voy took the thought of this immediately replied, " Why from some person who, in op- " should not that be done ? it posing other methods which " is the best thing for the pur- were mentioned, said, (to shew " pose that has been spoken the cruelty of them,) " that the " of;" and so went to the king " king might as well let loose with it, who approved of it. O. " his dragoons upon the pro- 80 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. heretics. He also promised in it, that, though all the public exercises of that religion were now sup pressed, yet those of that persuasion who lived quietly should not be disturbed on that account, while at the same time not only the dragoons, but all the clergy, and the bigots of France, broke out into all the instances of rage and fury against such as did not change upon their being required in the king's name to be of his religion ; for that was the style every where. Great Men and women of all ages, who would not yield, every*7 were not only stript of all they had, but kept long where' from sleep, driven about from place to place, and hunted out of their retirements. The women were carried into nunneries, in many of which they were almost starved, whipped, and barbarously treated. Some few of the bishops, and of the secular clergy, to make the matter easier, drew formularies, import ing that they were resolved to reunite themselves to the catholic church, and that they renounced the errors of Luther and Calvin. People in such ex tremities are easy to put a stretched sense on any words that may give them present relief. So it was said, what harm was it to promise to be united to the catholic church : and the renouncing those men's errors did not renounce their good and sound doc trine. But it was very visible, with what intent those subscriptions or promises were asked of them : so their compliance in that matter was a plain equi vocation. But, how weak and faulty soever they might be in this, it must be acknowledged, here was one of the most violent persecutions that is to be found in history. In many respects it exceeded them all, both in the several inventions of cruelty, OF KING JAMES II. 81 and in its long continuance. I went over the great- 1685. est part of France while it was in its hottest rage, ~ from Marseilles to Montpelier, and from thence to Lions, and so to Geneva. I saw and knew so many instances of their injustice and violence, that it ex ceeded even what could have been well imagined; for all men set their thoughts on work to invent new methods of cruelty. In all the towns through which I passed, I heard the most dismal accounts of those things possible ; but chiefly at Valence, where 660 one Dherapine seemed to exceed even the furies of inquisitors. One in the streets could have known the new converts, as they were passing by them, by a cloudy dejection that appeared in their looks and deportment. Such as endeavoured to make their escape, and were seized, (for guards and secret agents were spread along the whole roads and fron tier of France,) were, if men, condemned to the gal leys, and, if women, to monasteries. To complete this cruelty, orders were given, that such of the new converts as did not at their death receive the sacra ment, should be denied burial, and that their bodies should be left where other dead carcases were cast out, to be devoured by wolves or dogs. This was executed in several places with the utmost barbarity : and it gave all people so much horror, that, finding the ill effect of it, it was let fall. This hurt none, but struck all that saw it even with more horror than those sufferings that were more felt. The fury that appeared on this occasion did spread it self with a sort of contagion : for the intendants and other officers, that had been mild and gentle in the former parts of their life, seemed now to have laid aside the compassion of Christians, the breeding of VOL. III. g 82 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. gentlemen, and the common impressions of human- ity. The greatest part of the clergy, the regulars especially, were so transported with the zeal that their king shewed on this occasion, that their ser mons were full of the most inflamed eloquence that they could invent, magnifying their king in strains too indecent and blasphemous to be mentioned by me. i went into I stayed at Paris till the beginning of August. Barrillon sent to me to look to my self; for the king had let some words fall importing his suspicion of me, as concerned in the duke of Monmouth's busi ness. Whether this was done on design, to see if such an insinuation could fright me away, and so bring me under some appearance of guilt, I cannot tell: for in that time every thing was deceitfully managed. But I, who knew that I was not so much as guilty of concealment, resolved not to stir from Paris till the rebellion was over, and that the pri soners were examined and tried. When that was done, Stouppef, a brigadier general, told me, that Mr. de Louvoy had said to him, that the king was resolved to put an end to the business of the Hugue nots that season : and since he was resolved not to change, he advised him to make a tour into Italy, that he might not seem to do any thing that op posed the king's service. Stouppe told me this in 661 confidence. So we resolved to make that journey- together. Some thought it was too bold an adven ture in me, after what I had written and acted in the matters of religion, to go to Rome. But others, who judged better, thought I ran no hazard in going f (Of whom the bishop has in his favour, in vol. I. p. 65, said much, but what is httle &c. folio edit.) OF KING JAMES II. 83 thither : for, besides the high civility with which all 1685. strangers are treated there, they were at that time in such hopes of gaining England, that it was not reasonable to think, that they would raise the ap prehensions of the nation, by using any that be longed to it ill : and the destroying me would not do them the service that could in any sort balance the prejudice that might arise from the noise it would make. And indeed I met with so high a ci vility at Rome, that it fully justified this opinion. Pope Innocent the eleventh, Odescalchi, knew who And was I was the day after I came to Rome. And he ordered ceived at the captain of the Swiss guards to tell Stouppe, that Rome he had heard of me, and would give me a private audience abed, to save me from the ceremony of the pantoufleS. But I knew the noise that this would make : so I resolved to avoid it, and excused it upon my speaking Italian so ill as I did. But cardinal Howard and the cardinal d'Estrees treated me with great freedom. The latter talked much with me concerning the orders in our church, to know whe ther they had been brought down to us by men truly ordained, or not : for, he said, they apprehended things would be much more easily brought about, if our orders could be esteemed valid, though given in heresy and schism. I told him, I was glad they e Burnet, in the year 1677, was understood to be a fair ad- published a book in vindication vance towards a reconciliation of the ordinations ofthe church with the church of Rome, fun- of England, in which is this damentals and essentials being passage, page 62. "Yet as we granted. D. (All sound di- " acknowledge the church of vines of the church of England " Rome holds still the funda- confess as much. But they at " mentals of the Christian re- the same time recollect, what, " ligion ; so we confess she and how much, the church of " retains the essentials of ordi- Rome has added to scriptural " nation." Which, no doubt, fundamentals.) G 2 84 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. were possessed with any opinion that made the re- conciliation more difficult ; but, as for the matter of fact, nothing was more certain, than that the ordi nations in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign were canonical and regular. He seemed to be per suaded of the truth of this, but lamented that it was impossible to bring the Romans to think so. cardinal Cardinal Howard shewed me all his letters from freXm s England, by which I saw, that those who wrote to with me. ^m reckoned that their designs were so well laid, that they could not miscarry. They thought, they should certainly carry every thing in the next ses sion of parliament. There was a high strain of in solence in their letters ; and they reckoned, they were so sure of the king, that they seemed to have no doubt left of their succeeding in the reduction of England. The Romans and Italians were much troubled at all this : for they were under such ap prehensions of the growth of the French power, and had conceived such hopes of the king of England's 662 putting a stop to it, that they were sorry to see the king engage himself so in the design of changing the religion of his subjects, which they thought would create him so much trouble at home, that he would neither have leisure nor strength to look after the common concerns of Europe. The cardinal told me, that all the advices writ over from thence to England were for slow, calm, and moderate courses. He said, he wished he was at liberty to shew me the copies of them : but he saw violent courses were more acceptable, and would probably be followed. And he added, that these were the production of England, far different from the counsels of Rome. He also told me, that they had not instruments OF KING JAMES II. 85 enough to work with : for though they were send- 1685. ing over all that were capable of the mission, yet he expected no great matters from them. Few of them spoke true English. They came over young, and retained all the English that they brought over with them, which was only the language of boys : but, their education being among strangers, they had formed themselves so upon that model, that really they preached as Frenchmen or Italians in English words ; of which he was every day warning them, for he knew this could have no good effect in Eng land. He also spoke with great sense of the pro ceedings in France, which he apprehended would have very ill consequences in England. I shall only add one other particular, which will shew the soft temper of that good natured man. He used me in such a manner, that it was much observed by many others. So two French gentlemen desired a note from me to introduce them to him. Their design was to be furnished with reliques ; for he was then the cardinal that looked after that mat ter. One evening I came in to him as he was very busy in giving them some reliques. So I was called in to see them : and I whispered to him in English, that it was somewhat odd, that a priest of the church of England should be at Rome helping them off with the ware of Babylon. He was so pleased with this, that he repeated it to the others in French ; and told the Frenchmen, that they should tell their countrymen, how bold the heretics and how mild the cardinals were at Romen. I stayed in Rome till prince Borghese came to me, h Did our author understand this in a soft sense towards him self? O. G 3 86 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. and told me it was time for me to go. I had got ~' great acquaintance there. And, though I did not provoke any to discourse of points of controversy, yet I defended my self against all those who at tacked me, with the same freedom that I had done 563 in other places. This began to be taken notice of. So upon the first intimation I came away, and re turned by Marseilles. And then I went through those southern provinces of France, that were at that time a scene of barbarity and cruelty. Cruelties in i intended to have gone to Orange: but Tesse with a body of dragoons was then quartered over that small principality, and was treating the protest ants there in the same manner that the French sub jects were treated in other parts. So I went not in, but passed near it, and had this account of that matter from some that were the most considerable men of the principality. Many of the neighbouring places fled thither from the persecution : upon which a letter was writ to the government there, in the name of the king of France, requiring them to put all his subjects out of their territory. This was hard. Yet they were too naked and exposed to dis* pute any thing with those who could command every thing. So they ordered all the French to withdraw : upon which Tesse, who commanded in those parts, wrote to them, that the king would be well satisfied with the obedience they had given his orders. They upon this were quiet, and thought there was no dan ger. But the next morning Tesse marched his dra goons into the town, and let them loose upon them, as he had done upon the subjects of France, And they plied as feebly as most of the French had done. This was done while that principality was in the OF KING JAMES II. 87 possession of the prince of Orange, pursuant to an 1685. article of the treaty of Nimeguen, of which the king of England was the guarantee. Whether the French had the king's consent to this, or if they presumed upon it, was not known. It is certain, he ordered two memorials to be given in at that court, com plaining of it in very high terms. But nothing fol lowed on it. And, some months after, the king of France did unite Orange to the rest of Provence, and suppressed all the rights it had, as a distinct principality. The king writ upon it to the princess of Orange, that he could do no more in that matter, unless he should declare war upon it ; which he could not think fit for a thing of such small import ance. But now the session of parliament drew on. And Another there was a great expectation of the issue of it. Forp^rhament. some weeks before it met, there was such a number of refugees coming over every day, who set about a most dismal recital of the persecution in France, and that in so many instances that were crying and odious, that, though all endeavours were used to 664 lessen the clamour this had raised, yet the king did not stick openly to condemn it, as both unchristian and unpolitic. He took pains to clear the Jesuits of it, and laid the blame of it chiefly on the king, on madame de Maintenon, and the archbishop of Paris. He spoke often of it with such vehemence, that there seemed to be an affectation in it. He did more. He was very kind to the refugees. He was liberal to many of them. He ordered a brief for a charitable collection over the nation for them all : upon which great sums were sent in. They were deposited in good hands, and well distributed. The g4 88 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. king also ordered them to be denised without pay- ing fees, and gave them great immunities. So that in all there came over, first and last, between forty and fifty thousand of that nation. Here was such a real argument of the cruel and persecuting spirit of popery, wheresoever it prevailed, that few could re sist this conviction. So that all men confessed, that the French persecution came very seasonably to awaken the nation, and open men's eyes in so cri tical a conjuncture : for upon this session of parlia ment all did depend. The king's When it was opened, the king told them how gainst the happy his forces had been in reducing a dangerous test. rebellion, in which it had appeared, how weak and insignificant the militia was : and therefore he saw the necessity of keeping up an army for all their se curity. He had put some in commission, of whose loyalty he was well assured : and they had served him so well, that he would not put that affront on them, and on himself, to turn them out. He told them, all the world saw, and they had felt the hap piness of a good understanding between him and his parliament : so he hoped, nothing should be done on their part to interrupt that ; as he, on his own part, would observe all that he had promised. Thus he fell upon the two most unacceptable points that he could have found out ; which were, a standing army, and a violation of the act of the test. There were some debates in the house of lords about thanking the king for his speech. It was pressed by the courtiers, as a piece of respect that was always paid. To this some answered, that was done when there were gracious assurances given. Only the earl of Devonshire said, he was for giving thanks, be- OF KING JAMES II. 89 cause the king had spoken out so plainly, and 1685. warned them of what they might look for i. It was carried in the house to make an address of thanks for the speech. The lord Guilford, North, was now 665 dead. He was a crafty and designing man. He had no mind to part with the great seal : and yet he saw, he could not hold it without an entire com pliance with the pleasure of the court. An appeal against a decree of his had been brought before the lords in the former session k : and it was not only reversed with many severe reflections on him that made it, but the earl of Nottingham, who hated him because he had endeavoured to detract from his fa ther's memory, had got together so many instances of his ill administration of justice, that he exposed him severely for it. And, it was believed, that gave the crisis to the uneasiness and distraction of mind he was labouring under. He languished for some time; and died despised and ill thought of by the whole nation1. i (Kennett as well as Rapin affairs, obhged him to give it attributes this seasonable and up. In an audience with the sharp speech to the marquis of king, he honestly advised his Halifax, whose vein of humour majesty to avoid giving occa- it corresponds with.) sion to the pubhc discontent, k There were not two ses- and to place no reliance on an sions ; the second meeting was army, or confidence in the dis- upon an adjournment. O. senters ; reminding him, that 1 (According to his brother's although the duke of Mon- account, in his Life of the Lord mouth was gone, yet there was Keeper, de delayed resigning still a prince of Orange remain- his office from regard to the ing. His brother, the historian king's service, notwithstanding of the family, who had been the the affronts he received from then queen's attorney general, his court enemies, Sunderland and whose love of truth was and Jefferies : but at length, the the theme of the neighbourhood melancholy he had contracted, in which he resided, goes on to want of health, and the uneasi- observe, that although the lord ness he felt at the then state of keeper actually made use of 90 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. Nothing but his successor made him be remem- Jefferies bered with regret : for Jefferies had the seals. He ch^ceiior ^d been made a peer while he was chief justice, which had not been done for some ages : but he af fected to be an original in every thing. A day or two after the session was opened, the lords went upon the consideration of the king's speech : and, when some began to make remarks upon it, they were told, that by giving thanks for the speech, they had precluded themselves from finding fault with any part of it. This was rejected with indig nation, and put an end to that compliment of giving thanks for a speech when there was no special rea son for it. The lords Halifax, Nottingham, and Mordaunt, were the chief arguers among the tem poral lords. The bishop of London spoke often likewise : and twice or thrice he said, he spoke not these very suggestions to the of one of the vilest written li king, it was only to satisfy his bels in those times was reduced, own conscience; "for he knew for want of something worse, " the king's humour, and that to the calhng him slyboots. He " nothing that he could say to relates also, that some particu- " him would take place or sink lar acts were alleged after his " with him. So strong were death, impeaching his conduct " his prejudices, and so feeble as lord keeper : to all which " his genius, that he took none charges the author replies at " to have any right understand- full. See North's Life of the " ing, that were not in his Lord Keeper Guilford, p. 271 " measures, and that the coun- — 284. Compare Ralph's Hist. " sel given him to the contrary of England, vol. I. pp. 707, 708. " was for policy of party more Sir John Dalrymple, in his pre- " than for friendship to him." face to the second volume of p. 273. Mr. North acknow- his Memoirs, remarks, that the ledges, that the lord keeper lord Guilford is one of the very was much vilified both during few virtuous characters, which his life and after his death ; are to be found in the history yet says, that his justice was so of the reign of Charles the se- exact, and course of life so un- cond.) exceptionable, that the author OF KING JAMES II. 91 only his own sense, but the sense of that whole 1685. bench. They said, the test was now the best fence they had for their religion: if they gave up so great a point, all the rest would soon follow : and if the king might by his authority supersede such a law, fortified with so many clauses, and above all with that of an incapacity, it was in vain to think of law any more : the government would become arbitrary and absolute. Jefferies began to argue in his rough manner: but he was soon taken down; it appearing, that how furiously soever he raved on the bench, where he played the tyrant, yet where others might speak with him on equal terms, he was a very con temptible man : and he received as great a mortifi cation, as such a brutal man as he was capable of. But as the scene lay in the house of commons, so The house the debates there were more important. A project ^jdr^Tthe was offered for making the militia more useful, in^^™^' order to the disbanding the army. But, to oppose1^- that, the court shewed, how great a danger we had lately escaped, and how much of an ill leaven yet re mained in the nation, so that it was necessary a force should be kept up. The court moved for a subsidy, the king having been at much extraordinary charge in reducing the late rebellion. Many, that were re solved to assert the business of the test with great firmness, thought, the voting of money first was the decentest way of managing the opposition to the court : whereas others opposed this, having often observed, that the voting of money was the giving up the whole session to the court. The court wrought on many weak men with this topic, that the only way to gain the king, and to dispose him to agree to them in the business of the test, was to 92 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. begin with the supply. This had so great an effect, that it was carried only by one vote to consider the king's speech m, before they should proceed to the supply. It was understood, that when they received satisfaction in other things, they were resolved to give 500,000?. They went next to consider the act about the test, and the violations of it, with the king's speech upon that head. The reasoning was clear and full on the one hand. The court offered nothing on the other hand in the way of argument, but the danger of offending the king, and of raising a misunder standing between him and them. So the whole house went in unanimously into a vote for an ad dress to the king, that he would maintain the laws, in particular that concerning the test. But with that they offered to pass a bill for indemnifying those who had broken that law ; and were ready to have considered them in the supply that they in tended to give. The king The king expressed his resentments of this with offended much vehemence, when the address was brought to him. He said, some men intended to disturb the m That part of it which re- them to theirfacesforthevoting lated to the dispensing power, as they did ; and a captain Ken- See the Journal of the House dal being one of them, the earl of Commons, upon the divi- said to him there, " Sir, have sion, when it was carried by " not you a troop of horse in one only against the court. The " his majesty's service ?" "Yes, earl of Middleton of Scotland, "my lord," says the other; then a secretary of state for " but my brother died last England, and a member of the " night, and has left me 700Z. house of commons here, seeing " a year." This I had from many go out upon the division my uncle, the first lord Onslow, against the court, who were in who was then of the house of the service of the government, commons, and present. This went down to the bar, and as incident upon one vote, very they were told in, reproached likely, saved the nation. O. with it. OF KING JAMES II. 93 good correspondence that was between him and 1685. them, which would be a great prejudice to the na- tion : he had declared his mind so positively in that matter, that he hoped they would not have meddled with it : yet, he said, he would still observe all the promises that he had made. This made some reflect on the violations of the edict of Nantes by many of the late edicts that were set out in France before the last that repealed it, in which the king of France had always declared, that he would maintain that edict, even when the breaches made upon it were 667 the most visible and notorious. The house, upon this rough answer, was in a high fermentation. Yet, when one Cook11 said, that they were Englishmen, and were not to be threatened, because this seemed to be a want of respect, they sent him to the tower; and obliged him to ask pardon for those indecent words. But they resolved to insist on their address, and then to proceed upon the petitions concerning elections. And now those, that durst not open their mouth before, spoke with much force upon this head. They said, it was a point upon which the nation expected justice, and they had a right to claim it. And it was probable, they would have condemned a great many elections : for an intima tion was set round, that all those who had stuck to the interest of the nation, in the main points then before them, should be chosen over again, though it should be found that their election was void, and that a new writ should go out. By this means those petitions were now encouraged, and were like to have a fair hearing, and a just decision : and it n (Mr. Coke of Derbyshire, of the Coke family.) 94 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. was believed, that the abject courtiers would have been voted out °. The pariia- The king saw, that both houses were now so "roro^i. fixed, that he could carry nothing in either of them, unless he would depart from his speech, and let the act of the test take place. So he prorogued the parliament, and kept it by repeated prorogations still on foot for about a year and a half, but without holding a session. All those, who had either spoken or voted for the test, were soon after this disgraced, and turned out of their places, though many of these had served the king hitherto with great obsequious ness and much zeal. He called for many of them, and spoke to them very earnestly upon that subject in his closet : upon which the term of closeting was much tossed about. Many of these gave him very flat and hardy denials : others, though more Silent, yet were no less steady. So that, when, after a long practice, both of threatening and ill usage on the one hand, and of promises and corruption on the other, the king saw he could not bring them into a com pliance with him, he at last dissolved the parlia ment : by which he threw off a body of men that were in all other respects sure to him, and that would have accepted a very moderate satisfaction from him at any time. And indeed in all England it would not have been easy to have found five hun dred men, so weak, so poor, and so devoted to the ° (Lord Lonsdale, who him- if the debate had ever been selfmovedjthatthehousewould resumed, probably something name a committee, to consider considerable would have been of a mode of applying to the done in the affair, the house king for a remedy against this seeming so well inclined and so iniquity, observes, in his un- zealous in it. Ralph errs in this pubhshed Memoir, p. 7, that point. See p. 909 of his Hist.) OF KING JAMES II. 95 court, as these were P. So happily was the nation 1685. taken out of their hands, by the precipitated violence 668 of a bigoted court. Soon after the prorogation, the lord de la Meer The lord was brought to his trial. Some witnesses swore tleiea; anar high treason against him only upon report, that he aciuitted- had designed to make a rebellion in Cheshire, and to join with the duke of Monmouth. But, since those swore only upon hearsay, that was no evi dence in law. One witness swore home against him, and against two other gentlemen, who, as he said, were in company with him ; and that treason able messages were then given to him by them all to carry to some others. That which gave the greatest credit to the evidence was, that this lord had gone from London secretly to Cheshire at the time of the duke of Monmouth's landing, and that after he had stayed a day or two in that country, he had come up as secretly to London. This looked suspicious, and made it to be believed, that he went to try what could be done. The credit of that sin gle witness was overthrown by many unquestionable proofs, by which it appeared that the two gentle men, who he said met with that lord in Cheshire, were all that while still in London. The witness, to gain the more credit, had brought others into the plot, by the common fate of false swearers, who bring in such circumstances to support their evi dence, as they think will make it more credible, but, P But see the first note in would have accepted satisfac- page 626. O. (Consider also tion for the past, and securities the preceding account given by in future, from their sovereign; the bishop himself; but he is yet this would not have suited perhaps well founded in his the views of either Enghsh or opinion that this parliament foreign politicians.) 96 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. being ill laid, give a handle to those concerned to find out their falsehood. And that was the case of this witness: for, though little doubt was made of the truth of that which he swore against this lord, as to the main of his evidence, yet he had added such a mixture of falsehood to it, as being fully proved destroyed the evidence. As for the secret journey to and again between London and Cheshire, that lord said, he had been long a prisoner in the tower upon bare suspicion : he had no mind to be lodged again there : so he resolved in that time of jealousy to go out of the way : and hearing that a child, of which he was very fond, was sick in Che shire, he went thither : and hearing from his lady that his eldest son was very ill at London, he made haste back again. This was well proved by his physicians and domestics, though it was a thing of very ill appearanee, that he made such journeys so quick and so secretly at such a time. The solicitor general, Finch, pursuant to the doctrine he had maintained in former trials, and perhaps to atone for the zeal he had shewed in the house of commons for maintaining the act of the test, made a violent declamation, to prove that one witness with pre sumptions was sufficient to convict one of high trea son 1. The peers did unanimously acquit the lord. 669 So that trial ended to the great joy of the whole town; which was now turned to be as much against the court, as it had been of late years for it. Finch had been continued in his employment only to lay the load of this judgment upon him : and he acted q Jefferies was high steward dignity, that he had never shewn ' upon this trial, and behaved before. O. himself with a decency and a OF KING JAMES II. 97 his part in it with his usual vehemence1-. He was 1685. presently after turned out. And Powis succeeded"" him, who was a compliant young aspiring lawyer, though in himself he was no ill natured mans. Now the posts in the law began to be again taken care of: for it was resolved to act a piece of pa geantry in Westminster-hall, with which the next year began. Sir Edward Hales, a gentleman of a noble family 1 686. in Kent, declared himself a papist, though he had^*"^e long disguised it ; and had once to my self so so- ¦"* for the lemnly denied it, that I was led from thence to see, there was no credit to be given to that sort of men, where their church or religion was concerned. He had an employment: and not taking the test, his coachman was set up to inform against him, and to claim the 500Z. that the law gave to the informer. When this was to be brought to trial, the judges Many were secretly asked their opinions : and such as turned out. were not clear to judge as the court did direct were turned out : and upon two or three canvassings the half of them were dismissed, and others of more pliable and obedient understandings were put in their places. Some of these were weak and ignorant to a scandal. The suit went on in a [mock and] feeble prosecution : and in Trinity term judgment was given. There was a new chief justice found out, very Herbert, different indeed from Jefferies, sir Edward Herbert, tic^ giv™ He was a well bred and a virtuous man, generous, }^m r But see the trial. O. s Sir Thomas Powis, a good dull lawyer. S. VOL. III. H 98 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. and good natured. He was but an indifferent law- king'sdis. ver; and had g°ne to Irel»nd to find practice and pensing preferment there. He unhappily got into a set of very high notions with relation to the king's prero gative. His gravity and virtues gave him great ad vantages, chiefly his succeeding such a monster as had gone before him. So he, being found to be a fit tool, was, without any application of his own, raised up all at once to this high post*. After the coach man's cause had been argued with a most indecent coldness, by those who were made use of on design to expose and betray it, it was said, in favour of the prerogative, that the government of England was 670 entirely in the king : that the crown was an im perial crown, the importance of which was, that it was absolute : all penal laws were powers lodged in the crown to enable the king to force the execution of the law, but were not bars to limit or bind up the king's power : the king could pardon all offences against the law, and forgive the penalties : and why could not he as well dispense with them? Acts of parliament had been oft superseded : the judges had some times given directions in their charges at cir cuits to inquire after some acts of parliament no more : of which one late instance happened during the former reign : an act passed concerning the size of carts and waggons, with many penalties upon the transgressors : and yet, when it appeared that the * After the revolution he a grant of his estate, which he made his escape into France, afterwards left to the earl of where he was created earl of Lincoln ; and his library, which Portland, and lord chancellor, was esteemed a very valuable by king James. His brother collection, especially for law Arthur, created earl of Tor- books, to lord Harcourt. D. rington by king William, had OF KING JAMES II. 99 model prescribed in the act was not practicable, the 168C. judges gave direction not to execute the act. These were the arguments brought to support the king's dispensing power. In opposition to this it was said, though not at the bar, yet in the common discourse of the town, that if penalties did arise only by virtue of the king's proclamation, it was reason able that the power of dispensing should be only in the king: but since the prerogative was both con stituted and limited by law, and since penalties were imposed to force the observation of laws that were necessary for the public safety, it was an overturn ing the whole government, and the changing it from a legal into a despotic form, to say that laws, made and declared not to be capable of being dispensed with, where one of the penalties was an incapacity, which by a maxim of law cannot be taken away even by a pardon, should at the pleasure of the prince be dispensed with : a fine was also set by the act on offenders, but not given to the king, but to the informer, which thereby became his. So that the king could no more pardon that, than he could discharge the debts of the subjects, and take away property11: laws of small consequence, when a visible error not observed in making them was afterwards found out, like that of the size of carts, might well be superseded : for the intention of the legislature being the good of the subject, that is always to be presumed for the repeal of an impracticable law. But it was not reasonable to infer from thence, that a law made for the security of the government, with the most effectual clauses that could be contrived, on design to force the execution of it, even in bar to 11 Wrong reasoning. S. H 2 100 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 686. the power of the prerogative, should be made so pre- 671 carious a thing, especially when it was so lately as serted with so much vigour by the representatives of the nation. It was said, that, though this was now only applied to one statute, yet the same force of reason would hold to annul all our laws : and the penalty being that which is the life of the law, the dispensing with penalties might soon be carried so far as to dissolve the whole government: and the security that the subjects had were only from the laws, or rather from the penalties, since laws with out these were feeble things, which tied men only according to their own discretion. Thus was this matter tossed about in the argu ments with which all people's mouths were now filled. But judges, who are beforehand determined how to give their opinions, will not be much moved even by the strongest arguments. The ludicrous ones used on this occasion at the bar were rather a farce, fitter for a mock trial in a play, than such as became men of learning in so important a matter. Great expectations were raised, to hear with what arguments the judges would maintain the judg ment that they should give. But they made no thing of it; and without any arguing gave judg ment for the defendant, as if it had been in a cause of course. Herterfs N°W the matter was as mucn settled, as a decision firmness, in the king's bench could settle it. Yet so little re gard had the chief justice's nearest friends to his opinion in this particular, that his brother, admiral Herbert, being pressed by the king to promise that he would vote the repeal of the test, answered the king very plainly, that he could not do it either in OF KING JAMES II. 101 honour nor conscience x. The king said, he knew he 1686. was a man of honour, but the rest of his life did not look like a man that had great regard to conscience y. He answered boldly, he had his faults, but they were such, that other people, who talked more of conscience, were guilty of the like. He was indeed a man abandoned to luxury and vice. But, though he was poor, and had much to lose, having places to the value of 4000£ a year, he chose to lose them all rather than comply. This made much noise : for as he had a great reputation for his conduct in sea af fairs, so he had been most passionately zealous in the king's service from his first setting out to that day. It appeared by this, that no past services would be considered, if men were not resolved to - comply in every thing. The door was now opened. So all regard to the test was laid aside. And all men that intended to recommend themselves took employments, and accepted of this dispensing power. 672 This was done even by some of those who continued still protestants, though the far greater number of x (Sir Edward Herbert, in y (The king's reply is differ- 1688, immediately after the re- ently represented in the Life of volution, published a vindica- King James II. lately published; tion of the judgment of the " His (admiral Herbert's) an- court in sir Edward Hales's case, " swer was, he could not do it and of the king's dispensing " in honour or conscience ; at power; the exercise of which, " which the king being more as is well known, was declared " moved than ordinary, could to be illegal, as it had been as- " not forbear telling him, that sumed and exercised of late, in "as for his honour he had lit- the first year of king Wilham. " tie but what he owed to his Compare what is said below, " bounty, and for his con- p. 780, 822, 823. But oppo- " science, the putting away his sition to the repeal of the test " wife to keep with more li- act was not inconsistent with " berty other women, gave a sir Edward Herbert's opinion in "true idea of its niceness." favour of the king's legal right Vol. II. p. 204.) to dispense with penal statutes.) H 3 102 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. Father Petre, a Jesuit, in high fa vour. The king declared for a toleration. them continued to qualify themselves according to law. Many of the papists, that were men of quiet or of fearful tempers, did not like these methods. They thought the priests went too fast, and the king was too eager in pursuing every thing that was suggested by them. One Petre, descended from a noble fa mily z, a man of no learning, nor any way famed for his virtue, but who made all up in boldness and zeal, was the Jesuit of them all that seemed animated with the most courage. He had, during the popish plot, been introduced to the king, and had suggested things that shewed him a resolute and undertaking man. Upon that the king looked on him as the fit test man to be set at the head of his counsels. So he was now considered as the person who of all others had the greatest credit. He applied himself most to the earl of Sunderland, and was for some time chiefly directed by him a. The maxim that the king set up, and about which he entertained all that were about him, was, the great happiness of an universal toleration. On this the king used to enlarge in a great variety of z (That of the lord Petre ; being a brother of the lord Petre, who died in the tower.) a (It is a well known fact, that the queen opposed with the greatest earnestness the in troduction of Petre into the privy council. She observed, that Sunderland got it over her belly, using an Itahan phrase, for getting the ascendancy over another. See Impartial Reflec tions upon Dr. Burnet's Post humous History, 8V0.1724. p. 103. See also D'Orleans's Re volutions in England, p. 304. Of Petre's intrigues with lord Sunderland, and the queen's opposition to them, an account is given by the king himself in his Life, lately pubhshed, vol. II. p. 13 1. It is there in timated, as well as by sir James Montgomery in his pamphlet, entitled, Great Britain's just Complaint, first pubhshed in the year 1692; that the king was with difficulty prevailed on to admit Petre to a seat in the council. Seep. 14.) OF KING JAMES II. 103 topics. He said, nothing was more reasonable, more 1686. Christian, and more politic : and he reflected much on the church of England for the severities with which dissenters had been treated. This, how true or just soever it might be, yet was strange doctrine in the mouth of a professed papist, and of a prince on whose account, and by whose direction, the church party had been, indeed but too obsequiously, pushed on to that rigour. But, since the church party could not be brought to comply with the design of the court, applications were now made to the dis senters : and all on a sudden the churchmen were disgraced, and the dissenters were in high favour. Chief justice Herbert went the western circuit after Jefferies's bloody one. And now all was grace and favour to them. Their former sufferings were much reflected on, and pitied. Every thing was offered that could alleviate their sufferings. Their teachers were now encouraged to set up their conventicles again, which had been discontinued, or held very se cretly, for four or five years. Intimations were every where given, that the king would not have them or their meetings to be disturbed. Some of them be gan to grow insolent upon this shew of favour0. But wiser men among them saw through all this, and perceived the design of the papists was now, to set on the dissenters against the church, as much as they had formerly set the church against them : and therefore, though they returned to their conventicles, yet they had a just jealousy of the ill designs that lay hid under all this sudden and unexpected shew t> The whole body of them grew insolent, and complying to the king. S. H 4 104 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 686. of grace and kindness : and they took care not to provoke the church party. The clergy Many of the clergy acted now a part that made managed _, , , the points good amends for past errors. 1 hey began to preach veraynm?th generally against popery, which the dissenters did am^iT"1 not- They set themselves to study the points of cess- controversy. And upon that there followed a great variety of small books, that were easily purchased, and soon read. They examined all the points of popery with a solidity of judgment, a clearness of arguing, a depth of learning, and a vivacity of writ ing, far beyond any thing that had before that time appeared in our language. The truth is, they were very unequally yoked : for, if they are justly to be reckoned among the best writers that have yet ap peared on the protestant side, those they wrote against were certainly among the weakest that had ever appeared on the popish sidec. Their books were poorly but insolently writ ; and had no other learn- c The Roman catholics, I am " prince. But our adversaries told, do not think so at this " have not been wanting to day, and the protestant writers " their own cause in this op- did not think so at the time " portunity." Preface to His- of the dispute. " The chief torical Examination of the Au- •• controversies between the thority of General Councils, by "churches of England and Mr. Jenkin, 1688. "The truth " Rome have of late been ma- "is, we ought to give that " naged to best advantage of " learned man (Dr. Godden) " both sides. I am confident " his due. He has said what " all has been said for popery, " was to be said to excuse his " that can be said ; though I " church from idolatry, and his " am not so well assured, that " performance shews, that he " much more might not have " wanted nothing but a better " been said against it, which " cause to have acquitted him- " has been spared out of a re- " self to every one's satisfac- " gard to our common Chris- " tion." A Discourse concern- " tiamty, and to rehgion in ing the Nature of Idolatry, by " general, besides the respect Mr. Wake. Bowyer's MS. note. " due to a great and gracious OF KING JAMES II. !J 105 ing in them, but what was taken out of some French 1 686. writers, which they put into very bad English : so that a victory over them need have been but a mean performance. This had a mighty effect on the whole nation: even those who could not search things to the bot tom, yet were amazed at the great inequality that appeared in this engagement. The papists, who knew what service the bishop of Meaux's book had done in France, resolved to pursue the same method here in several treatises, which they entitled, Papists represented and misrepresented; to which such clear answers were writ, that what effect soever that artifice might have, where it was supported by the authority of a great king, and the terror of ill usage, and a dragoonade in conclusion, yet it succeeded so ill in England, that it gave occasion to inquire into the true opinions of that church, not as some artful writers had disguised them, but as they were laid down in the books that are of authority among them, such as the decisions of councils received among them, and their established offices, and as they are held at Rome, and in all those countries where popery prevails without any intermixture with heretics, or apprehension of them, as in Spain and Portugal. This was done in so authentical a 674 manner, that popery it self was never so well under stood by the nation, as it came to be upon this oc casion. The persons who both managed and directed this The Per- controversial war, were chiefly Tillotson, Stilling- were chiefly fleet, Tennison, and Patrick. Next them were Sher-™^d lock, Williams, Claget, Gee, Aldrich, Atterbury, Whitby, Hooper, and above all these Wake, who 106 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. having been long in France, chaplain to the lord Preston, brought over with him many curious dis coveries, that were both useful and surprising d. Be sides the chief writers of those books of controversy, there were many sermons preached and printed on those heads, that did very much edify the whole na tion. And this matter was managed with that con cert, that for the most part once a week some new book or sermon came out, which both instructed and animated those who read them. There were but very few proselytes gained to popery : and these were so inconsiderable, that they were rather a re proach than an honour to them. Walker, the head of University college, and five or six more at Ox ford, declared themselves to be of that religion ; but with this branch [brand] of infamy, that they had continued for several years complying with the doc trine and worship of the church of England after they were reconciled to the church of Rome. The popish priests were enraged at this opposition made by the clergy, when they saw their religion so ex posed, and themselves so much despised. They said, it was ill manners and want of duty to treat the king's religion with so much contempt. Dr. sharp It was resolved to proceed severely against some in trouble. /.,-, - , . „ , , , ot the preachers, and to try if by that means they might intimidate the rest. Dr. Sharp was the rector of St. Giles's, (and dean of Norwich,) and was both a very pious man, and one of the most popular d (Besides some modern printed by Wake. In the enu- pieces, the bishop alludes to meration of the writers en- St. Chrysostom's Epistle to Cse- gaged in what is called the sarius, Bigot's edition of which Popish Controversy, Burnet had been suppressed by the forgets his old antagonist, the Romanists, and was now re- learned Henry Wharton.) OF KING JAMES II. 107 preachers of the age, who had a peculiar talent of 1686. reading his sermons with much life and zeale. He received one day as he was coming out of the pul pit, a paper sent him, as he believed, by a priest, containing a sort of challenge upon some points of controversy touched by him in some of his sermons. Upon this, he, not knowing to whom he should send an answer, preached a sermon in answer to it : and, after he had confuted it, he concluded, shewing how unreasonable it was for protestants to change their religion on such grounds. This was carried to court, and represented there as a reflection on the king for changing on those grounds. The information, as to the words pretended to be 675 spoken by Sharp, was false, as he himself assured me. ^ndon13 But, without inquiring into that, the earl of Sunder- reiuire* t0 land sent an order to the bishop of London, in the him. king's name, requiring him to suspend Sharp imme diately, and then to examine the matter. The bi shop answered, that he had no power to proceed in such a summary way: but, if an accusation were brought into his court in a regular way, he would proceed to such a censure as could be warranted by the ecclesiastical law : yet, he said, he would do that which was in his power, and should be upon the e He was a great reader of Sharp should say, that the Bible Shakespear. Doctor Mangey, and Shakespear made him arch- who had married his daughter, bishop of York. His wonder- told me that he used to recom- ful knowledge of human nature, mend to young divines the the dignity and nobleness of reading of the scriptures and his sentiments, and the amaz- Shakespear. And doctor Lisle, ing force and brightness of his bishop of Norwich, who had expression, do indeed make been chaplain at Lambeth to Shakespear to be a great pat- archbishop Wake, told me that tern for the gravest and most it was often related there, that solemn compositions. O. 108 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. matter a suspension ; for he desired Sharp to abstain from officiating, till the matter should be better un derstood. But to lay such a censure on a clergyman, as a suspension, without proof, in a judiciary proceed- which he ing, was contrary both to law and justice. Sharp X^ n°* went to court, to shew the notes of his sermon, which he was ready to swear were those from which he had read it, by which the falsehood of the information would appear f. But, since he was not suspended, he was not admitted. Yet he was let alone. And it was resolved to proceed against the bishop of London for contempt. An ecclesi- Jefferies was much sunk at court, and Herbert astical com- . , . . ~ -n . t if • a. mission set was the most in favour. But now Jefferies, to re- up" commend himself, offered a bold and illegal advice, for setting up an ecclesiastical commission, without calling it the high commission, pretending it was only a standing court of delegates. The act that put down the high commission in the year 1640, had provided by a clause, as full as could be conceived, that no court should be ever set up for those matters, besides the ordinary ecclesiastical courts. Yet, in contempt of that, a court was erected, with full pow er to proceed in a summary and arbitrary way in all ecclesiastical matters, without limitations to any rule of law in their proceedings. This stretch of the f (In the Life of Sharp, " Sharp had preached a ser- written by his son, the fact of " mon, animadverting in no his going to court is denied. " very measured terms on the On the expression of his re- " motives of the new converts gret, that the king had been " to the church of Rome." He offended, he was permitted to appears to have found fault resume his functions. See vol. with the reasons assigned for I. p. 75. Dr. Lingard, in his the change, not to have im- History of England, vol. VII. puted interested motives to c- 8- P- 375> states, that " Dr. those who made it.) OF KING JAMES II. 109 supremacy, so contrary to law, was assumed by a 1686. king, whose religion made him condemn all that su- premacy that the law had vested in the crown. The persons with whom this power was lodged were the archbishop of Canterbury, and the bishops of Duresme and Rochester, and the lord chancellor, the lord treasurer, and lord chief justice, the lord chancellor being made president in the court, sine quo non; for they would trust this to no other ma nagement. The bishop of London was marked out to be the first sacrifice. Sancroft lay silent at Lam beth : he seemed zealous against popery in private discourse : but he was of such a timorous temper, and so set on the enriching his nephew, that he shewed 676 no sort of courage S. He would not go to this court, when it was first opened, and declare against it, and give his reasons why he could not sit and act in it, judging it to be against law : but he contented him self with not going to itn. The other two bishops were more compliant. Duresme was lifted up with it, and said, now his name would be recorded in his tory : and, when some of his friends represented to him the danger of acting in a court so illegally con stituted, he said, he could not live if he should lose the king's gracious smiles: so low and so fawning S False as hell. S. This re- aspersions cast by Burnet on flection might well have been the good archbishop's charac- spared, upon a man that gave ter ably refuted in Dr. D'Oyly's sufficient proof at the revolu- Lifeof the latter ; vol.1, p. 222 tion, that he could quit the — 229.) highest preferment, rather than h (The archbishop sent a re- comply with any thing contra- gular and formal petition to the ry to his conscience : especially king to be excused attendance from the most interested, con- on this commission, on account fident, busy man, that ever his of his age and infirmities.) nation produced. D. (See the 110 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 686. was he. [He was in all respects an ignorant, worth- less, vain and abject man, without any one good qua lity1.] Dolben, archbishop of York, died this year. So, as Sprat had succeeded him in Rochester, he had some hopes let fall of succeeding likewise in York. But the court had laid it down for a maxim to keep all the great sees, that should become vacant, still empty, till they might fill them to their own mind : so he was mistaken in his expectations, if he ever had them. The bishop The bishop of London was the first person that brought be- was summoned to appear before this new court. He fore lt. wag attended on by many persons of great quality, which gave a new offence : and the lord chancellor treated him in that brutal way, that was now become as it were natural to him. The bishop said, here was a new court, of which he knew nothing : so he de sired a copy of the commission that authorized them. And, after he had drawn out the matters by delays for some time, hoping that the king might accept of some general and respectful submission, and so let the matter fall, at last he came to make his defence, all secret methods to divert the storm proving inef fectual. The first part of it was an exception to the authority of the court, as being not only founded on no law, but contrary to the express words of the act of parliament that put down the high commission. Yet this point was rather insinuated, than urged with the force that might have been used : for it was said, that, if the bishop should insist too much on that, it would draw a much heavier measure of indignation on him ; therefore it was rather opened, and modest ly represented to the court, than strongly argued. 1 Bowyer's Transcript of the Suppressed Passages. OF KING JAMES II. Ill But it may be easily believed, that those who sat by 1 686. virtue of this illegal commission would maintain their own authority. The other part of the bishop of Lon don's plea was, that he had obeyed the king's orders, as far as he legally could do ; for he had obliged Dr. Sharp to act as a man that was suspended ; but that he could not lay an ecclesiastical censure on any of 677 his clergy without a process, and articles, and some proof brought. This was justified by the constant practice of the ecclesiastical courts, and by the judg ment of all lawyers. But arguments, how strong so ever, are feeble things, when a sentence is resolved on before the cause is heard. So it was proposed that he should be suspended during the king's plea sure. The lord chancellor and the poor spirited bi shop of Duresme were for this : but the earl, and bishop of Rochester, and the lord chief justice Her bert, were for acquitting him. There was not so much as a colour of law to support the sentence : so none could be given. But the king was resolved to carry this point, And was and spoke roundly about it to the earl of Rochester. DySitCT He saw he must either concur in the sentence, or part with the white staff. So he yielded. And the bishop was suspended ab officio. They did not think fit to meddle with his revenues. For the lawyers had settled that point, that benefices were of the nature of freeholds. So, if the sentence had gone to the temporalties, the bishop would have had the matter tried over again in the king's bench, where he was like to find good justice, Herbert not being satisfied with the legality and justice of the sentence. While this matter was in dependance, the princess of Orange thought it became her to 112 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. interpose a little in the bishop's favour. He had confirmed and married her. So she wrote to the king, earnestly begging him to be gentle to the bi shop, who she could not think would offend will ingly. She also wrote to the bishop, expressing the great share she took in the trouble he was fallen into. The prince wrote to him to the same pur pose. The king wrote an answer to the princess, reflecting severely on the bishop, not without some sharpness on her for meddling in such matters. Yet the court seemed uneasy, when they saw they had gained so poor a victory: for now the bishop was more considered than ever. His clergy, for all the suspension, were really more governed by the secret intimations of his pleasure, than they had been by his authority before. So they resolved to come off as well as they could. Dr. Sharp was admitted to offer a general petition, importing how sorry he was to find himself under the king's displeasure : upon which he was dismissed with a gentle reprimand, and suffered to return to the exercise of his func tion. According to the form of the ecclesiastical courts, a person under such a suspension must make a submission within six months : otherwise he may 678 be proceeded against as obstinate. So, six months after the sentence, the bishop sent a petition to the king, desiring to be restored to the exercise of his episcopal function. But he made no acknowledg ment of any fault. So this had no other effect, but that it stopped all further proceedings: only the sus pension lay still on him. I have laid all this matter together, though the progress of it ran into the year eighty-seven. scShmd" Affairs in Scotland went on much at the same OF KING JAMES II. 113 rate as they did in England. Some few proselytes \ 686. were gained. But as they were very few, so they could do little service to the side to which they joined themselves. The earl of Perth prevailed with his lady, as she was dying, to change her reli gion. And in a very few weeks after her death he married very indecently a sister of the duke of Gor don's ; [with whom he had lived in a very scandal ous manner for many years.] They were first cou sins: and yet without staying for a dispensation from Rome, they ventured on a marriage, upon the assurances that they said their confessor gave them, that it would be easily obtained. But pope Inno cent was a stiff man, and did not grant those things easily : so that cardinal Howard could not at first obtain it. The pope said, these were strange con verts, that would venture on such a thing without first obtaining a dispensation. The cardinal pre tended, that new converts did not so soon under stand the laws of the church : but he laid before the pope the ill consequences of offending converts of such importance. So he prevailed at last, not with out great difficulty. The earl of Perth set up a pri vate chapel in the court for mass, which was not kept so private, but that many frequented it. The town of Edenburgh was much alarmed at a tumult at this. And the rabble broke in with such fury, that they defaced every thing in the chapel. And if the earl of Perth had not been conveyed away in dis guise, he had very probably fallen a sacrifice to po pular rage. The guards upon the alarm came, and dispersed the rabble. Some were taken : and one that was a ringleader in the tumult was executed for it. When he was at the place of execution, he VOL. III. i 114 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. told one of the ministers of the town, that was with him assisting him with his prayers, that he was offered his life, if he would accuse the duke of Queensborough, as the person that had set on the tumult, but he would not save his life by so false a calumny. Mr. Macom, the minister, was an honest but weak man. So, when the criminal charged him 679 to make this discovery, he did not call any of those who were present to bear witness of it : but in the simplicity of his heart he went from the execution to the archbishop of St. Andrew's, and told him what had passed The archbishop acquainted the duke of Queensborough with it. And he writ to court, and complained of it. The king ordered the matter to be examined. So the poor minister, hav ing no witness to attest what the criminal had said to him, was declared the forger of that calumny. And upon that he was turned out. But how se verely soever those in authority may handle a poor incautious man, yet the public is apt to judge true. And, in this case, as the minister's Weakness and misfortune was pitied, so the earl of Perth's malice and treachery was as much detested. A pariia- In summer this year, the earl of Murray, another there. "' new convert, was sent the king's commissioner to hold a parliament in Scotland, and to try if it would be more compliant than the English parliament had been. The king did by his letter recommend to them in very earnest words the taking off all penal laws and tests relating to religion. And all possible methods were used to prevail on a majority. But two accidents happened before the opening the par liament, which made great impression on the minds of many. OF KING JAMES II. 115 Whitford, son to one of their bishops before the 1686. wars, had turned a papist. He was the person that killed Dorislaus in Holland. And, that he might get out of Cromwell's reach, he had gone into the duke of Savoy's service ; and was there when the last massacre was committed on the Vaudois. He had committed many barbarous murders with his own hands, and had a small pension given him after the restoration. He died a few days before the par liament met ; and called for some ministers, and to them declared his forsaking of popery, and his ab horrence of it for its cruelty. He said, he had been guilty of some execrable murders in Piedmont, both of women and children, which had pursued him with an intolerable horror of mind ever after that. He had gone to priests of all sorts, the strictest as well as the easiest : and they had justified him in what he had done, and had given him absolution. But his conscience pursued him so, that he died as in despair, crying out against that bloody religion. The other was more solemn. Sir Robert Sib- bald, a doctor of physic, and the most learned anti quary in Scotland, who had lived in a course of phi- 680 losophical virtue, but in great doubts as to revealed religion, was prevailed on by the earl of Perth to turn papist, in hopes to find that certainty among them, which he could not arrive at upon his own principles. But he had no sooner done this, than he began to be ashamed that he had made such a step upon so little inquiry. So he went to London, and retired for some months from all company, and went into a deep course of study, by which he came to see into the errors of popery with so full a convic tion, that he came down to Scotland some weeks I 2 116 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 686. before the parliament, and could not be at quiet till he had published his recantation openly in a church. The bishop of Edenburgh was so much a courtier, that, apprehending many might go to hear it, and that it might give offence at court, he sent him to do it in a church in the country. But the recanta tion of so learned a man, upon so much study, had a great effect upon many. Rosse and Paterson, the two governing bishops, resolved to let the king see how compliant they would be. And they procured an address to be signed by several of their bench, offering to concur with the king in all that he desired with relation to those of his own religion, (for the courtly style now was not to name popery any other way than by calling it the king's religion,) provided the laws might still continue in force and be executed against the presbyterians. With this Paterson was sent up. He communicated the matter to the earl of Middle- ton, who advised him never to shew that paper : it would be made use of against them, and render them odious : and the king and all his priests were so sensible that it was an indecent thing for them to pretend to any special favour, that they were re solved to move for nothing but a general toleration. And so he persuaded him to go back without pre senting it. This was told me by one who had it from the earl himself. which re- When the session of parliament was opened, duke comply" Hamilton was silent in the debate. He promised Jft he would not oppose the motion : but he would not sires. be active to promote it. The duke of Queensbo rough was also silent : but the king was made be lieve that he managed the opposition under hand. OF KING JAMES II. 117 Rosse and Paterson did so entirely forget what be- 1686. came their characters, that they used their utmost endeavours to persuade the parliament to comply with the king's desire. The archbishop of Glasgow opposed it, but fearfully. The bishop of Dunkeld, 681 Bruce, did it openly and resolutely : and so did the bishop of Galloway. The rest were silent, but were resolved to vote for the continuance of the laws. Such was the meanness of most of the nobility, and of the other members, that few did hope that a re sistance to the court could be maintained. Yet the parliament would consent to nothing, further than to a suspension of those laws during the king's life. The king despised this. So the session was put off, and the parliament was quickly dissolved. And, soon after that, both the archbishop of Glasgow and the bishop of Dunkeld were turned out by an ex press command from the king. And Paterson was made archbishop of Glasgow. And one Hamilton, noted for profaneness and impiety, that sometimes broke out into blasphemy, was made bishop of Dun keld. No reason was assigned for turning out those bishops, but the king's pleasure. The nation, which was become very corrupt, and a zeal aP both ignorant and insensible in the matters of reli- J^re a- gion, began now to return to its old zeal against &£^ p0" popery. Few proselytes were made after this. The episcopal clergy were in many places so sunk into sloth and ignorance, that they were not capable of conducting this zeal. Some of them about Eden burgh, and in divers other places, began to mind those matters, and recovered some degrees of credit by the opposition they made to popery. But the presbyterians, though they were now freed from the 13 118 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. great severities they had long smarted under, yet expressed on all occasions their unconquerable aver sion to poperyK So the court was soon convinced, that they were not to be depended on. Affairs in But, what opposition soever the king met with in the isle of Britain, things went on more to his mind in Ireland. The earl of Clarendon, upon his first coming over, gave public and positive assurances, that the king would maintain their act of settle ment. This he did very often, and very solemnly; and proceeded accordingly. In the mean while the earl of Tirconnell went on more roundly. He not only put Irish papists in such posts in the army as became void, but upon the slightest pretences he broke the English protestant officers, to make room for the others : and in conclusion, without so much as pretending a colour for it, he turned them all out. And now an army, paid by virtue of the act of set tlement to secure it, was wrested out of legal hands, 682 and put in the hands of those who were engaged both in religion and interest to destroy the settle ment, and those concerned in it ; which was too gross a violation of law to be in any sort palliated. So the English protestants of Ireland looked on themselves as at mercy, since the army was now made up of their enemies. And all that the lord lieutenant or the lord chancellor could say did not k Partial dog. S. (" It was " knew this was the design at " repeatedly observed at the " the bottom, were generally " time, that while the church- " silent upon that delicate " men, who were the only suf- " point, not choosing to give " ferers by this indulgence, " offence to those on whose ac- " were in their station vigilant " count they had met with so " and zealous againstthe threat- " much favour." Skinner's Ec- " ening increase of popery, the clesiastical History of Scotland, "presbyterians, though they vol. I. p. 510. OF KING JAMES II. 119 quiet their fears: good words could not give secu- 1686. rity against such deeds as they saw every day. Upon this the earl of Clarendon and the earl of Tir- connell fell into perpetual jarrings, and were making such complaints one of another, that the king re solved to put an end to those disorders by recalling both the earl of Clarendon and Porter. He made the earl of Tirconnell lord lieutenant1, and Fitton lord chancellor, who were both not only professed but zealous papists. Fitton knew no other law but the king's pleasure. This struck all people there with great terror, when a man of Tirconnell's temper, so entirely trusted and depended on by the Irish, capable of the boldest undertakings, and of the cruelest execu tion, had now the government put so entirely in his hands. The papists of England either dissembled very artificially, or they were much troubled at this, which gave so great an alarm every where. It was visible, that father Petre and the Jesuits were resolved to engage the king so far, that matters should be put past all retreating and compounding ; that so the king might think no more of governing by parliament, but by a military force ; and, if that should not stick firm to him, by assistance from France, and by an Irish armym. 1 Lord deputy. S. " the Enghsh throne; but the m (" It had been given in " lord deputy had a further " charge to Tyrconnel to raise " and more national object in " the Irish to a decided supe- " view, to render his native " riority over the Enghsh in- " country independent of Eng- " terest, to the end that Ire- " land, if James should die " land might offer a secure asy- " without male issue, and the " lum to James and his friends, " prince and princess of Orange " if by any subsequent revolu- " should inherit the crown. For " tion he should be driven from " this purpose he employed the 1 4 120 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 686. An accident happened at this time, that gave the The ki queen great offence, and put the priests much out of made his countenance. The king continued to go still to Mrs. mistress ° ° countess of Sidley. And she gained so much on him, that at last she prevailed to be made countess of Dorchester. As soon as the queen heard of this, she gave order to bring all the priests, that were admitted to a par ticular confidence, into her closet. And, when she had them about her, she sent to desire the king to come and speak to her. When he came, he was surprised to see such a company about her, but much more when they fell all on their knees before him. And the queen broke out into a bitter mourn ing for this new honour, which they expected would be followed with the setting her up openly as mis tress. The queen was then in an ill habit of body ; and had an illness that, as was thought, would end 683 in a consumption. And it was believed that her sickness was of such a nature, that it gave a very melancholy presage, that, if she should live, she " agency of Bonrepaus in Eng- " was said that Tyrconnel was " land, and of Seignelay in " bound to pay the yearly sum " France, to acquaint Louis " of 4000Z. out of his emolu- " XIV. with his intention, and " ments, but also from that of "to solicit his powerful aid. " Barillon, whose intimacy with " The French monarch, who " Sunderland exposed him to " looked on the prince of " the suspicion of betraying " Orange as the most formi- " every secret to that minis- " dable of his enemies, receiv- " ter. For this interesting fact " ed the overture with plea- " we are indebted to the in- " sure, and gave to Tyrconnel " dustry of Mazure, who dis- " strong assurances of support; " covered it in the despatches " and it was mutually agreed, " of Bonrepaus. Mazure, II. " that the project, and aU " 287. (Histoire de la Revo- " the subsequent proceedings, " lution de 1688.)" Lingard's " should be carefully withheld, Hist, of England, vol. VIII. ch. " not only from the knowledge 8. p. 395.) " of Sunderland, to whom it OF KING JAMES II. 121 could have no children » The priests said to the 1686. king, that a blemish in his life blasted their designs: and the more it appeared, and the longer it was continued, the more ineffectual all their endeavours would prove. The king was much moved with this, and was out of countenance for what he had done. But, to quiet them all, he promised them, that he would see the lady no more; and pretended, that he gave her this title in order to the breaking with her the more decently. And, when the queen did not seem to believe this, he promised that he would send her to Ireland, which was done accordingly. But, after a stay there for some months, she came over again; and that ill commerce was still con tinued. The priests were no doubt the more appre hensive of this, because she was bold and lively, and was always treating them and their proceedings with great contempt0. The court was now much set on making of con verts ; which failed in most instances, and produced repartees, that, whether true or false, were much re peated, and were heard with great satisfaction. The earl of Mulgrave was lord chamberlain. He Attempts was apt to comply in every thing that he thought many °o n First insinuation against with him, her majesty had made the birth of the king's son. no scruple of breaking another ; Cole. therefore thought they were 0 Her wit was rather sur- very even upon his score. But prising than pleasing, for there most of her remarkable sayings was no restraint in what she were what nobody else would said of, or to, any body. She in modesty or discretion have told king William's queen, who said: the best excuse that could she observed looked coldly up- be made for her was, that her on her, that if it was upon her mother, lady Catherine Sidley, father's account, she hoped she had been locked up in a mad- would remember that as she house many years before she had broke one commandment died. D. 122 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. might be acceptable ; for he went with the king to chl^ mass, and kneeled at it. And, being looked on as ^„nr.reU" indifferent to all religions, the priests made an at tack on him. He heard them gravely arguing for transubstantiation. He told them, he was willing to receive instruction : he had taken much pains to bring himself to believe in God, who made the world and all men in it : but it must not be an or dinary force of argument, that could make him be lieve, that man was quits with God, and made God again. The earl of Middleton had married into a popish family, and was a man of great parts and a generous temper, but of loose principles in religion. So a priest was sent to instruct him. He began with transubstantiation, of which he said he would con vince him immediately: and began thus, You be lieve the Trinity. Middleton stopt him, and said, Who told you so ? at which he seemed amazed. So the earl said, he expected he should convince him of his belief, but not question him of his own. With this the priest was so disordered, that he could pro ceed no further. One day the king gave the duke 684 of Norfolk the sword of state to carry before him to the chapel : and he stood at the door. Upon which the king said to him, My lord, your father would have gone further: to which the duke answered, Your majesty's father was the better man, and he would not have gone so far. Kirk was also spoken to, to change his religion ; and replied briskly, that he was already pre-engaged, for he had promised the king of Morocco, that, if ever he changed his religion, he would turn Mahometan. iP^n'ther" "^ut t^xe Person tnat was the most considered, was OF KING JAMES II. 123 the earl of Rochester. He told me, that upon the 1 686. duke of Monmouth's defeat, the king did so imme-eariof Ro_ diately turn to other measures, that, though before chester- that the king talked to1' him of all his affairs with great freedom, and commonly every morning of the business that was to #e done that day, yet the very day after his execution the king changed his me thod, and never talked more to him of any business, but what concerned the treasury: so that he saw he had now no nWe the root he formerly had. He was looked on as so much united to the clergy, that the papists were all set against him. He had, in a want of money, procured a considerable loan, by which he was kejbt in his post longer than was in tended. At last, as he related the matter to me, the king spoke to him, and desired he would suffer himself to be instructed in religion. He answered, he was fully satisfied about his religion. But upon the king's pressing it, that he would hear his priests, he said, he desired them to have some of the English clergy present, to which the king consented : only he excepted to Tillotson and Stillingfleet. Lord Rochester said, he would take those who should happen to be in waiting ; for the forms of the cha pel were still kept up. And doctor Patrick and Jane were the men. Upon this a day was set for the conference. But his enemies had another story. He had no tice given him, that he would shortly lose the white staff: upon which his lady, who was then sick, wrote to the queen, and begged she would honour her so far as to come, and let her have some dis course with her. The queen came, and stayed above two hours with her. She complained of the ill of- 124 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. fices that were done them. The queen said, all the protestants were now turning against them, so that they knew not how they could trust any of them. Upon which that lady said, her lord was not so wedded to any opinion, as not to be ready to be bet ter instructed. And it was said, that this gave the 685 rise to the king's proposing a conference : for it has been observed to be a common method of making proselytes, with the more pomp, to propose a confer ence : but this was generally done, after they were well assured, that, let the conference go which way it might, the person's decision for whom it was ap pointed should be on their side. The earl denied he knew any thing of all this to me : and his lady died not long after?. It was further said by his enemies, that the day before the conference he had an advertisement from a sure hand, that nothing he could do would maintain him in his post, and that the king had engaged himself to put the treasury in commission, and to bring some of the popish lords into it. Patrick told me, that at the conference there was no occasion for them to say much. The priests began the attack. And when they had done, the earl said, if they had nothing strong er to urge, he would not trouble those learned gen tlemen to say any thing : for he was sure he could answer all that he had heard. And so answer ed it all with much heat and spirit, not without P (In the Life of king James of removing lord Rochester, II. lately published from the " was to persuade the king, Stuart Papers, the attempt to " that he had great disposi- convert lord Rochester is said " tions to change his rehgion ; to have been first suggested by " and when once that was lord Sunderland, who wished " done, he might be more free- to get rid of him; the method " ly consulted with." Vol. I. he took to execute this design p. ioo.) OF KING JAMES II. 125 some scorn, saying, were these grounds to persuade 1686. men to change their religion? This he urged over and over again with great vehemence 1. The king, seeing in what temper he was, broke off the confer ence, charging all that were present to say nothing of it. Soon after that he lost his white staff*; but hadH«was turned out. * A * ° and over powers had been reserved in the new charters that England. had been given, for the king to put in and to put out at pleasure : but it was said at the granting them, that these clauses were put in only to keep them in a due dependance on the court, but that they should not be made use of, unless great provocation was given. Now all this was executed with great seve rity and contempt. Those who had stood up for the king during the debates about the exclusion, were now turned out with disgrace ; and those who had appeared most violently against him were put in the magistracy, who took liberties now in their turn to insult their neighbours. All this turned upon the king, who was so given up to the humours of his priests, that he sacrificed both his honour and grati tude as they dictated. The new men, who were brought in, saw this too visibly to be much wrought on by it. The king threw off his old party in too outrageous a manner ever to return to them again. But he was much surprised to find that the new mayor and al dermen took the test, and ordered the observation of gunpowder-treason day to be continued. When the sheriffs came according to custom to invite the king to the lord mayor's feast, he commanded them to go and invite the nuncio; which they did. And he went upon the invitation, to the surprise of all who saw it. But the mayor and aldermen disowned the invitation ; and made an entry of it in their books, that the nuncio came without their knowledge. This 192 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. the king took very ill. And upon it he said, he saw the dissenters were an ill-natured sort of people, that could not be gained. The king signified to the lord mayor, that he might use what form of worship he liked best in Guildhall chapel. The design in this was to engage the dissenters to make the first change from the established worship : and, if a presbyterian mayor should do this in one year, a popish mayor might do it in another. But the mayor put the de cision of this upon persons against whom the court could have no exception. He sent to those to whom the governing of the diocese of London was com mitted during the suspension, and asked their opin ion in it; which they could not but give in behalf of the established worship : and they added, that the changing it was against law. So this project mis carried : and the mayor, though he went sometimes 719 to the meetings of the dissenters, yet he came often to church, and behaved himself more decently than was expected of him. This change in the city not succeeding as the court had expected, did not discourage them from appointing a committee to examine the magistracy in the other cities, and to put in or out as they saw cause for it. Some were putting the nation in hope that the old charters were to be restored. But the king was so far from that, that he was making every day a very arbitrary use of the power of changing the magistracy that was reserved in the new char ters. These regulators, who were for most part dis senters gained by the court, went on very boldly; and turned men out upon every story that was made of them, and put such men in their room as they confided in. And in these they took their measures OF KING JAMES II. 193 often so hastily, that men were put in in one week, 1687. and turned out in another S. After this, the king sent orders to the lords lieu- Questions tenants of the counties, to examine the gentlemen Sections1 of and freeholders upon three questions. The first was, i>arUament' whether, in case they should be chosen to serve in parliament, they would consent to repeal the penal laws, and those for the tests. The second was, whe ther they would give their vote for choosing such men as would engage to do that. And the third was, whether they would maintain the king's decla ration. In most of the counties the lords lieutenants put those questions in so careless a manner, that it was plain they did not desire they should be an swered in the affirmative. Some went further, and declared themselves against them11. And a few of the more resolute refused to put them. They said, this was the prelimiting and the packing of a par- e (" As to the regulating of see what is said, vol. II. pp. 23. " corporations, the king gave 35. 36. 61 — 63. folio edit.) " his opinion against it to the n The earl of Northampton, " very last ; and I dare appeal who was then lord lieutenant of " to the earl of Bath, whose Warwickshire, told the gentle- " testimony is not to be sus- men, he had received the king's " pected by this government, if commands to lay some pro- " in his access to the king posals before them; which he "about the regulations in thought it was his duty to obey: " those counties where he was but at the same time thought " lieutenant, he did not dis- himself obliged to acquaint "cover the truth of what I them, that he did not design to " here assert, from the king's comply with any one of them " own complaint to his lord- himself, but would make a " ship, How greatly he was im- faithful report to his majesty of " portuned to give way to those those that would, (as sir Charles " measures, from which in his Holte, who was present, told " own judgment he was so a- me,) upon which, lord North - " verse." Great Britain's Just ampton was turned out, and Complaint for her late Measures, lord Sunderland put in his &c. a tract attributed to sir place. D. James Montgomery; of whom VOL. III. O 194 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. liament, which in its nature was to be free, and un- der no previous engagement. Many counties an swered very boldly in the negative ; and others re fused to give any answer, which was understood to be equivalent to a negative. The mayor and most of the new aldermen of London refused to answer. Upon this many were turned out of all commissions. This, as all the other artifices of the priests, had an effect quite contrary to what they promised them selves from it : for those who had resolved to op pose the court were more encouraged than ever, by the discovery now made of the sense of the whole nation in those matters. Yet such care was taken in naming the sheriffs and mayors that were ap pointed for the next year, that it was believed that the king was resolved to hold a parliament within that time, and to have such a house of commons re turned, whether regularly chosen or not, as should serve his ends. 720 It was concluded, that the king would make use both of his power and of his troops, either to force elections, or to put the parliament under a force when it should meet : for it was so positively said, that the king would carry his point, and there was so little appearance of his being able to do it in a fair and regular way, that it was generally believed some very desperate resolution was now taken up. His ministers were now so deeply engaged in illegal things, that they were very uneasy, and were endea vouring either to carry on his designs with success, so as to get all settled in a body that should carry the face and appearance of a parliament, or at least to bring him to let all fall, and to come into terms of agreement with his people ; in which case, they OF KING JAMES II. 195 reckoned, one article would be an indemnity for all 1687. that had been done. The king was every day saying, that he was king, and he would be obeyed, and would make those who opposed him feel that he was their king: and he had both priests and flatterers about him, that were still pushing him forward. All men grew melancholy with this sad prospect. The hope of the true pro testants was in the king's two daughters; chiefly on the eldest, who was out of his reach, and was known to be well instructed, and very zealous in matters of religion. The princess Anne was still very steadfast and regular in her devotions, and was very exem plary in the course of her life. But, as care had been taken to put very ordinary divines about her for her chaplains, so she had never pursued any study in those points with much application i. And, all her court being put about her by the king and queen, she was beset with spies. It was therefore much apprehended, that she would be strongly as saulted, when all other designs should so far succeed as to make that seasonable. In the mean while she was let alone by the king, who was indeed a very kind and indulgent father to her. Now he resolved 1 Both the sisters were ex- cient they are upon any other. tremely possessed with king D. (The sentiments of this lord Charles the First's notions, for respecting the possessions of promoting the authority and the church of England, which wealth of churchmen ; which remain to her after the spolia- may reasonably be imputed to tion ofthe bishoprics and taking their conversing so much with away the third part ofthe tithes, the clergy, who never fail to may be seen at page 370 of instil that doctrine, wherever vol. II. folio edit, where an ac- they find it will gain admit- count is given of queen Anne's tance : and the meanest of pious restitution of the first- them are always very able upon fruits.) that subject, however insuffi- 02 196 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. to make his first attack on the princess of Orange. The king D'Aibeviiie went over to England in the summer, wrote to the an(j jj^ not come Dack before the twenty-fourth of princess of Orange December, Christmas eve. And then he gave the ligion.™ princess a letter from the king, bearing date the fourth of November. He was to carry this letter : and his despatches being put off longer than was in tended, that made this letter come so late to her. The king took the rise of his letter from a ques tion she had put to D'Aibeviiie, desiring to know what were the grounds upon which the king himself had changed his religion. The king told her, he was bred up in the doctrine of the church of Eng land by Dr. Stewart, whom the king his father had put about him ; in which he was so zealous, that 721 when he perceived the queen his mother had a de sign upon the duke of Glocester, though he preserved still the respect that he owed her, yet he took care to prevent it. All the while that he was beyond sea, no catholic, but one nun, had ever spoken one word to persuade him to change his religion : and he continued for the most part of that time firm to the doctrine of the church of England. He did not then mind those matters much : and, as all young people are apt to do, he thought it a point of honour not to change his religion. The first thing that raised scruples in him was, the great devotion that he had observed among catholics : he saw they had great helps for it: they had their churches better adorned, and did greater acts of charity, than he had ever seen among protestants. He also observed, that many of them changed their course of life, and be came good Christians, even though they continued to live still in the world. This made him first begin OF KING JAMES II. 197 to examine both religions. He could see nothing in ] 687. the three reigns in which religion was changed in England, to incline him to believe that they who did it were sent of God. He read the history of that time, as it was writ in the Chronicle. He read both Dr. Heylin, and Hooker's preface to his Ecclesiasti cal Policy, which confirmed him in the same opin ion. He saw clearly, that Christ had left an infal libility in his church, against which the gates of hell cahnot prevail: and it appeared that this was lodged with St. Peter, from our Saviour's words to him, St. Matt. xvi. 18. Upon this the certainty of the scriptures, and even of Christianity it self, was founded. The apostles acknowledged this to be in St. Peter, Acts xv. when they said, It seemed good to ihe Holy Ghost and to us k. It was the authority of the church that declared the scriptures to be ca nonical : and certainly they who declared them could only interpret them : and wherever this infallibility was, there must be a clear succession. The point of the infallibility being once settled, all other contro versies must needs fall. Now the Roman church was the only church that either has infallibility, or that pretended to it. And they who threw off this authority did open a door to atheism and infidelity, and took people off from true devotion, and set even Christianity it self loose to all that would question it, and to Socinians and Latitudinarians, who doubted of every thing. He had discoursed of these things with some divines of the church of England ; but k (How this text confines in- sides, St. James appears to have fallibility to St. Peter, it is dif- been at least as much the au- ficult to see; as the apostolic thor of the decision as St. Pe- decree was made in common ter.) by St. Peter and the others. Be- O 3 198 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 687. had received no satisfaction from them. The Chris- tian religion gained its credit by the miracles which the apostles wrought, and by the holy lives and suf ferings of the martyrs, whose blood was the seed of the church. Whereas Luther and Calvin, and those 722 who had set up the church of England, had their heads fuller of temporal matters than of spiritual, and had let the world loose to great disorders. Sub mission was necessary to the peace of the church: and when every man will expound the scriptures, this makes way to all sects, who pretend to build upon it. It was also plain, that the church of Eng land did not pretend to infallibility; yet she acted as if she did : for ever since the reformation she had persecuted those who differed from her, dissenters as well as papists, more than was generally known. And he could not see why dissenters might not se parate from the church of England, as well as she had done from the church of Rome. Nor could the church of England separate her self from the ca tholic church, any more than a county of England could separate it self from the rest of the kingdom. This, he said, was all that his leisure allowed him to write. But he thought that these things, together with the king his brother's papers, and the duchess's papers, might serve, if not to justify the catholic religion to an unbiassed judgment, yet at least to create a favourable opinion of it. I read this letter in the original : for the prince sent it to me, together with the princess's answer, but with a charge not to take a copy of either, but to read them over as often as I pleased; which I did till I had fixed both pretty well in my memory. And, as soon as I had sent them back, I sat down OF KING JAMES II. 199 immediately to write out all that I remembered, 1687. which the princess owned to me afterwards, when she read the abstracts I made, were punctual almost to a tittle. It was easy for me to believe that this letter was all the king's enditing; for I had heard it almost in the very same words from his own mouth. The letter was writ very decently, and concluded very modestly. The princess received this letter, as was told me, on the twenty-fourth of December at night. Next day being Christmas day, she received the sacrament, and was during the greatest part of the day in public devotions : yet she found time to draw first an answer, and then to write it out fair : and she sent it by the post on the twenty-sixth of December. Her draught, which the prince sent me, was very little blotted or altered. It was long, about two sheets of paper: for as an answer runs generally out into more length than the paper that is to be answered, so the strains of respect, with which her letter was full, drew it out to a greater length. She began with answering another letter that which she she had received by the post; in which the king had made an excuse for failing to write the former post day. She was very sensible of the happiness of hearing so constantly from him : for no difference in 723 religion could hinder her from desiring both his blessing and his prayers, though she was ever so far from him. As for the paper that M.Albeville de livered her, he told her, that his majesty would not be offended, if she wrote her thoughts freely to him upon it. She hoped, he would not look on that as want of respect in her. She was far from sticking to the re ligion in which she was bred out of a point of ho- 0 4 200 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. nour ; for she had taken much pains to be settled in it upon better grounds. Those of the church of England who had instructed her, had freely laid be fore her that which was good in the Romish reli gion, that so, seeing the good and the bad of both, she might judge impartially ; according to the Apostle's rule of proving all things, and holding fast that which was good. Though she had come young out of England, yet she had not left behind her either the desire of being well informed, or the means for it. She had furnished her self with books, and had those about her who might clear any doubts to her. She saw clearly in the Scriptures, that she must work her own salvation with fear and trembling, and that she must not believe by the faith of another, but ac cording as things appeared to herself. It ought to be no prejudice against the reformation, if many of those who professed it led ill lives. If any of them lived ill, none of the principles of their religion al lowed them in it. Many of them led good lives, and more might do it by the grace of God. But there were many devotions in the church of Rome, on which the reformed could set no value. She acknowledged, that, if there was an infallibi lity in the church, all other controversies must fall to the ground. But she could never yet be informed where that infallibility was lodged : whether in the Pope alone, or in a general council, or in both. And she desired to know in whom the infallibility rested, when there were two or three popes at a time, acting one against another, with the assistance of councils, which they called general : and at least the succes sion was then much disordered. As for the author ity that is pretended to have been given to St. Pe- OF KING JAMES II. 201 ter over the rest, that place which was chiefly al- 1687. leged for it was otherwise interpreted by those of the church of England, as importing only the con firmation of him in the office of an apostle, when in answer to that question, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? he had by a triple confession washed off his triple denial. The words that the king had cited were spoken to the other apostles as well as to him. It was agreed by all, tha,t the apostles were infallible, who were guided by God's Holy Spirit. But that gift, as well as many others, had ceased long ago. 724 Yet in that St. Peter had no authority over the other apostles : otherwise St. Paul understood our Sa viour's words ill, who withstood him to his face, be cause he was to be blamed. And if St. Peter him self could not maintain that authority, she could not see how it could be given to his successors, whose bad lives agreed ill with his doctrine. Nor did she see, why the ill use that some made of the Scriptures ought to deprive others of them. It is true, all sects made use of them, and find some what in them that they draw in to support their opinions : yet for all this our Saviour said to the Jews, Search the Scriptures; and St. Paul ordered his Epistles to be read to all the saints in the churches ; and he says in one place, I write as to wise men, judge what I say. And if they might judge an apostle, much more any other teacher. Under the law of Moses, the Old Testament was to be read, not only in the hearing of the scribes and the doctors of the law, but likewise in the hearing of the wo men and children. And since God had made us reasonable creatures, it seemed necessary to employ our reason chiefly in the matters of the greatest 202 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. concern. Though faith was above our reason, yet it proposed nothing to us that was contradictory to it. Every one ought to satisfy himself in these things : as our Saviour convinced Thomas, by making him to thrust his own hand into the print of the nails, not leaving him to the testimony of the other apostles, who were already convinced. She was confident, that, if the king would hear many of his own subjects, they would fully satisfy him as to all those prejudices that he had at the reformation ; in which nothing was acted tumultuously, but all was done according to law. The design of it was only to separate from the Roman church, in so far as it had separated from the primitive church: in which they had brought things to as great a degree of perfection as those corrupt ages were capable of. She did not see how the church of England could be blamed for the per secution of the dissenters : for the laws made against them were made by the state, and not by the church: and they were made for crimes against the state. Their enemies had taken great care to foment the division, in which they had been but too successful. But, if he would reflect on the grounds upon which the church of England had separated from the church of Rome, he would find them to be of a very different nature from those for which the dissenters had left it. Thus, she concluded, she gave him the trouble of a long account of the grounds upon which she was persuaded of the truth of her religion : in which she was so fully satisfied, that she trusted by the grace of 725 God that she should spend the rest of her days in it: and she was so well assured of the truth of our Sa viour's words, that she was confident the gates OF KING JAMES II. 203 of hell should not prevail against it, but that he 1687. would be with it to the end of the world. All ended thus, that the religion which she professed taught her her duty to him, so that she should ever be his most obedient daughter and servant. To this the next return of the post brought an answer from the king, which I saw not. But the account that was sent me of it was : the king took notice of the great progress he saw the princess had made in her inquiries after those matters : the king's business did not allow him the time that was necessary to enter into the detail of her letter: he desired, she would read those books that he had men tioned to her in his former letters, and some others that he intended to send her : and, if she desired to be more fully satisfied, he proposed to her to dis course about them with F. Morgan, an English Je suit, then at the Hague. I have set down very minutely every particular Reflections that was in those letters, and very near in the same J^tersT words. It must be confessed, that persons of this quality seldom enter into such a discussion. The king's letter contained a studied account of the change of his religion, which he had repeated often: and it was perhaps prepared for him by some others. There were some things in it, which, if he had made a little more reflection on them, it may be supposed he would not have mentioned. The course of his own life was not so strict, as to make it likely that the good lives of some papists had made such im pressions upon him. The easy absolutions that are granted in that church are a much juster prejudice in this respect against it, than the good lives of a few can be supposed to be an argument for it. The 204 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. adorning their churches was a reflection that did no great honour to him that made it. The severities used by the church of England against the dissenters were urged with a very ill grace by one of the church of Rome, that has delighted herself so often by being, as it were, bathed with the blood of those they call heretics : and, if it had not been for the re spect that a daughter paid her father, here greater advantages might have been taken. I had a high opinion of the princess's good understanding, and of her knowledge in those matters, before I saw this letter: but this surprised me. It gave me an asto nishing joy, to see so young a person all of the sud den, without consulting any one person, to be able to write so solid and learned a letter, in which she mixed with the respect that she paid a father so great a firmness, that by it she cut off all further 726 treaty. And her repulsing the attack, that the king made upon her, with so much resolution and force, did let the popish party see, that she understood her religion as well as she loved it. A prosecu- But now I must say somewhat of my self: after I against me. had stayed a year in Holland, I heard from many hands, that the king seemed to forget his own great ness when he spoke of me, which he took occasion to do very often. I had published some account of the short tour I had made in several letters ; in which my chief design was to expose both popery and ty ranny. The book was well received, and was much read : and it raised the king's displeasure very high. My continuing at the Hague made him conclude, that I was managing designs against him. And some papers in single sheets came out, reflecting on the proceedings of England, which [were thought so OF KING JAMES II. 205 well writ that they] seemed to have a considerable 1687. effect on those who read them. These were printed in Holland: and many copies of them were sent into all the parts of England. All which inflamed the king the more against me; for he believed they were writ by me, as indeed most of them were. But that which gave the crisis to the king's- anger was, that he heard I was to be married to a considerable for tune! at the Hague. So a project was formed to break this, by charging me with high treason for corre sponding with lord Argile, and for conversing with some that were outlawed for high treason. The king ordered a letter to be writ in his name to his advocate in Scotland to prosecute me for some probable thing or other ; which was intended only to make a noise, not doubting but this would break the intended marriage. A ship coming from Scotland the day in which this prosecution was or dered, that had a quick passage, brought me the first news of it, long before it was sent to D'Aibeviiie. So I petitioned the States, who were then sitting, to be naturalized in order to my intended marriage. And this passed in course, without the least diffi culty; which perhaps might have been made, if this prosecution, now begun in Scotland, had been known. Now I was legally under the protection of the States of Holland. Yet I writ a full justification of my self, as to all particulars laid to my charge, in some let ters that I sent to the earl of Middleton. But in one of these I said, that, being now naturalized in Holland, my allegiance was, during my stay in these parts, transferred from his majesty to the States111. 1 A phrase of the rabble. S. m Civilians deny that, but I agree with him. S. 206 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. I also said in another letter, that, if upon my non- appearance a sentence should pass against me, I might be perhaps forced to justify myself, and to give an account of the share that I had in affairs these twenty years past : in which I might be led to 727 mention some things, that I was afraid would dis please the king : and therefore I should be sorry, if I were driven to it. Now the court thought they had somewhat against me : for they knew they had nothing before. So the first citation was let fall, and a new one was ordered on these two accounts. It was pretended to be high treason, to say my allegiance was now transferred : and it was set forth, as a high indig nity to the king, to threaten him with writing a history of the transactions passed these last twenty years. The first of these struck at a great point, which was a part of the law of nations. Every man that was naturalized took an oath of allegiance to the prince or state that naturalized him. And, since no man can serve two masters, or be under a double allegiance, it is certain, that there must be a transfer of allegiance, at least during the stay in the country where one is so naturalized. This matter was kept up against me for some time, the court delaying proceeding to any sentence for several months. At last a sentence of outlawry was given : and upon that Albeville said, that, if the States would not deliver me up, he would find such instruments as should seize on me, and carry me away forcibly. The methods he named of doing this were very ridiculous. And he spoke of it to so many persons, that I believe his design was rather to frighten me, than that he could think to effect OF KING JAMES II. 207 them. Many overtures were made to some of my 1687. friends in London, not only to let this prosecution fall, but to promote me, if I would make my self capable of it. I entertained none of these. I had many stories brought me of the discourses among some of the brutal Irish, then in the Dutch service. But, I thank God, I was not moved with them. I re solved to go on, and to do my duty, and to do what service I could to the public and to my country: and resigned my self up entirely to that Providence that had watched over me to that time with an indulgent care, and had made all the designs of my enemies against me turn to my great advantage. I come now to the year 1688, which proved me- 1688. morable, and produced an extraordinary and un heard of revolution11. The year in this century made all people reflect on the same year in the for mer century, in which the power of Spain received so great a check, that the decline of that monarchy began then ; and England was saved from an inva sion, that, if it had succeeded as happily as it was well laid, must have ended in the absolute conquest and utter ruin of the nation. Our books are so full of all that related to that armada, boasted to be in vincible, that I need add no more of so known and so remarkable a piece of our history. A new eighty- 728 eight raised new expectations, in which the surpris ing events did far exceed all that could have been looked for. I begin the year with Albeville's negotiation after Aibeviiie's his coming to the Hague. He had before his going "heStates.0 over given in a threatening memorial upon the busi- n The Devil's in that, sure all Europe heard of it. S. 208 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. ness of Bantam, that looked like a prelude of a de- claration of war ; for he demanded a present an swer, since the king could no longer bear the in justice done him in that matter, which was set forth in very high words. He sent this memorial to be printed at Amsterdam, before he had communicated it to the States. The chief effect that this had was, that the actions of the company did sink for some days. But they rose soon again : and by this it was said, that Albeville himself made the greatest gain. The East India fleet was then expected home every day. So the merchants, who remem bered well the business of the Smirna fleet in the year seventy-two, did apprehend that the king had sent a fleet to intercept them, and that this memo rial was intended only to prepare an apology for that breach, when it should happen : but nothing of that sort followed upon it. The States did answer this memorial with another, that was firm, but more decently expressed : by their last treaty with Eng land it was provided, that in case any disputes should arise between the merchants of either side, commissioners should be named of both sides to hear and judge the matter : the king had not yet named any of his side : so that the delay lay at his door : they were therefore amazed to receive a me morial in so high a strain, since they had done all that by the treaty was incumbent on them. Albe ville after this gave in another memorial, in which he desired them to send over commissioners for ending that dispute. But, though this was a great fall from the height in which the former memorial was conceived, yet in this the thing was so ill ap prehended, that the Dutch had reason to believe OF KING JAMES II. 209 that the king's ministers did not know the treaty, 1688. or were not at leisure to read it : for, according to the treaty, and the present posture of that business, the king was obliged to send over commissioners to the Hague to judge of that affair. When this me morial was answered, and the treaty was examined, the matter was let fall. Albeville's next negotiation related to my self. I had printed a paper in justification of my self, toge ther with my letters to the earl of Middleton. And he in a memorial complained of two passages in that paper. One was, that I said it was yet too early to persecute men for religion, and therefore crimes against the state were pretended by my enemies : this, he said, did insinuate, that the king did in time intend to persecute for religion. The other 729 was, that I had put in it an intimation, that I was in danger by some of the Irish papists. This, he said, was a reflection on the king, who hated all such practices. And to this he added, that by the laws of England all the king's subjects were bound to seize on any person that was condemned in his courts, in what manner soever they could : and therefore he desired, that both I and the printer of that paper might be punished. But now upon his return to the Haguej I being outlawed by that time, he demanded, that, in pursuance of an article of the treaty that related to rebels or fugitives, I might be banished the Provinces. And to this he craved once and again a speedy answer. I was called before the deputies of the States of Holland, that I might answer the two memorials that lay before them relating to my self. I ob served the difference between them. The one de- VOL. III. v 210 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. sired, that the States would punish me, which did acknowledge me to be their subject. The other, in contradiction to that, laid claim to me as the king's rebel. As to the particulars complained of, I had made no reflection on the king ; but to the contrary. I said, my enemies found it was not yet time to persecute for religion. This insinuated, that the king could not be brought to it. And no person could be offended with this, but he who thought it was now not too early to persecute. As to that of the danger in which I apprehended my self to be in, I had now more reason than before to complain of it, since the envoy had so publicly affirmed, that every one of the king's subjects might seize on any one that was condemned, in what manner soever they could, which was either dead or alive. I was now the subject of the States of Holland, naturalized in order to a marriage among them, as they all knew : and therefore I claimed their protection. So, if I was charged with any thing that was not according to law, I submitted my self to their jus tice. I should decline no trial, nor the utmost seve rity, if I had offended in any thing. As for the two memorials that claimed me as a fugitive and a re bel, I could not be looked on as a fugitive from Scotland. It was now fourteen years since I had left that kingdom, and three since I came out of England with the king's leave. I had lived a year in the Hague openly : and nothing was laid to my charge. As for the sentence that was pretended to be passed upon me, I could say nothing to it, till I saw a copy of it. The states' The States were fully satisfied with my answers ; answer to J J whatreiat- and ordered a memorial to be drawn according to ed to me. ° OF KING JAMES II. 211 them. They also ordered their ambassador to re- 1688. present to the king, that he himself knew how sa- cred a thing naturalization was. The faith and honour of every state was concerned in it. I had 730 been naturalized upon marrying one of their sub jects, which was the justest of all reasons. If the king had any thing to lay to my charge, justice should be done in their courts. The king took the matter very ill ; and said, it was an affront to him, and a just cause of war0. Yet, after much passion, he said, he did not intend to make war upon it ; for he was not then in condition to do it. But he knew there were designs against him, to make war on him, against which he should take care to secure himself : and he should be on his guard. The am bassador asked him, of whom he meant that. But he did not think fit to explain himself further. He ordered a third memorial to be put in against me, in which the article of the treaty was set forth : but no notice was taken of the answers made to that by the States: but it was insisted on, that, since the States were bound not to give sanctuary to fugitives and rebels, they ought not to examine the grounds on which such judgments were given, but were bound to execute the treaty. Upon this it was ob served, that the words in treaties ought to be ex plained according to their common acceptation, or the sense given them in the civil law, and not ac cording to any particular forms of courts, where for non-appearance a writ of outlawry or rebellion might lie : the sense of the word rebel in common use was, a man that had borne arms, or had plotted against his prince : and a fugitive was a man that fled from ° Vain fop. S. p 2 212 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. justice. The heat with which the king seemed in- flamed against me, carried him to say and do many things that were very little to his honour, [and shew ed too much of unjust and impotent passion.] other de- I had advertisements sent me of a further pro- against me. gress in his designs against me. He had it suggested to him, that, since a sentence was passed against me for non-appearance, and the States refused to deliver me up, he might order private persons to execute the sentence as they could: and it was writ over very positively, that 5000/. would be given to any one that should murder me. A gentleman of an unblemished reputation writ me word, that he him self by accident saw an order drawn in the secreta ries' office, but not yet signed, for 3000/. to a blank person that was to seize or destroy me. And he also affirmed, that prince George had heard of the same thing, and had desired the person to whom he trusted it to convoy the notice of it to me : and my author was employed by that person to send the notice to me p. The king asked Jefferies, what he might do against me in a private way, now that he could not get me into his hands. Jef feries answered, he did not see how the king could 731 do any more than he had done. He told this to Mr. Kirk to send it to me : for he concluded, the king was resolved to proceed to extremities, and only wanted the opinion of a man of the law to justify a more violent method. I had so many P (The person intended is of the Ormond estate. The lord Ossory, afterwards duke letter, dated from the Hague, of Ormond, as appears in the March 14, 1688, is inserted in letter from the bishop's corre- the Bishop's Life written by spondent, captain Baxter, whose his son, p. 695.) father was at that time steward OF KING JAMES II. 213 different advertisements sent me of this, that I 1688. concluded a whisper of such a design might have been set about, on design to frighten me into some mean submission, or into silence at least. But it had no other effect on me, but that I thought it fit to stay more within doors, and to use a little more than ordinary caution. I thank God, I was very little concerned at it. I resigned up my life very freely to God. I knew my own innocence, and the root of all the malice that was against me. And I never possessed my own soul in a more perfect calm, and in a clearer cheerfulness of spirit, than I did during all those threatenings, and the apprehensions that others were in concerning mei. Soon after this, a letter writ by Fagell the pen- Pensioner sioner of Holland was printed : which leads me to ie^r. s look back a little into a transaction that passed the former year. There was one Steward, a lawyer of Scotland, a man of great parts, and of as great am bition. He had given over the practice of the law, because all that were admitted to the bar in Scot land were required to renounce the covenant, which he would not do. This recommended him to the confidence of that whole party. They had made great use of him, and trusted him entirely. Pen had engaged him, who had been long considered by the king as the chief manager of all the rebellions and plots that had been on foot these twenty years past, more particularly of Argile's, to come over: and he undertook, that he should not only be re ceived into favour, but into confidence. He came, before he crossed the seas, to the prince, and pro mised an inviolable fidelity to him, and to the com- 1 A modest account of his own magnanimity. S. p3 214 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. mon interests of religion and liberty. He had been oft with the pensioner, and had a great measure of his confidence. Upon his coming to court, he was caressed to a degree that amazed all who knew him. He either believed, that the king was sincere in the professions he made, and that his designs went no further than to settle a full liberty of conscience : or he thought, that it became a man who had been so long in disgrace, not to shew any jealousies at first, when the king was so gracious to him. He under took to do all that lay in his power to advance his designs in Scotland, and to represent his intentions so at the Hague, as might incline the prince to a better opinion of themr. He opened all this in several letters to the pen sioner. And in these he pressed him vehemently, r (In the earl of Balcarras's Account of the Affairs of Scot land, addressed to king James II. when in France, the follow ing passage occurs respecting this Mr. Stewart : "It was " thought very hard even by " the loyalest of your subjects " to be paying for such remis- " sions," (namely, pardons for taking offices, without taking the test, as they had done by theking'sown command,) "and " especially to be giving so '* much to Mr. Stuart, that had " but some months before got " a remission for plotting and " contriving against your ma- " jesty and government, and " was generaUy believed at " that time, by all that wished " well to your majesty's go- " vernment, to be underhand " betraying it ; nor has their " apprehensions been false, for " since the revolution he has " bragged to hundreds, that he " gave several advices, design - " edly to ruin it, and to ad- " vance the interests of his " friends." P. 1 1 . Mr. Stewart was knighted, and made lord advocate of Scotland by king William. The character given him by Lockhart of Carnwarth in his Commentaries, is, that he was a great man, profound lawyer, the chief support of presbytery, and a most virulent enemy of the royal house of Stuart. Vol. I. p. 458. The fate and curse of this house was, to be betrayed by those they most trusted. Dr. Calamy, who in after-hfe had an inter view with him, observes, that he shewed an extraordinary knowledge of men and of things. Calamy's Life, vol. II. p. 172.) OF KING JAMES II. 215 in the king's name, and by his direction, to persuade 1 688. the prince to concur with the king in procuring the noa laws to be repealed. He laid before him the incon siderable number of the papists : so that there was no reason to apprehend much from them. He also enlarged on the severities that the penal laws had brought on the dissenters. The king was resolved not to consent to the repealing them, unless the tests were taken away with them : so that the re fusing to consent to this might at another time bring them under another severe prosecution. Steward, after he had writ many letters to this pur pose without receiving any answers, tried if he could serve the king in Scotland with more success, than it seemed he was like to have at the Hague. But he found there, that his old friends were now much alienated from him, looking on him as a per son entirely gained by the court. The pensioner laid all his letters before the prince. They were also brought to me. The prince upon this thought, that a full answer made by Fagell, in such a manner as that it might be published as a declaration of his intentions, might be of service to him in many respects ; chiefly in popish courts, that were on civil accounts inclined to an alliance against France, but were now pos sessed with an opinion of the prince, and of his party in England, as designing nothing but the ruin and extirpation of all the papists in those kingdoms. So the pensioner wrote a long answer to Steward, which was put in English by me. He began it with great assurances of the prince and princess's duty to the king. They were both of them much against all persecution on the account p 4 216 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. of religion. They freely consented to the covering papists from the severities of the laws made against them on the account of their religion, and also that they might have the free exercise of it in private. They also consented to grant a full liberty to dis senters. But they could not consent to the repeal of those laws that tended only to the securing the protestant religion ; such as those concerning the tests, which imported no punishment, but only an incapacity of being in public employments, which could not be complained of as great severities. This was a caution observed in all nations, and was now necessary, both for securing the public peace and the established religions, jf the numbers of the papists were so small as to make them inconsider able, then it was not reasonable to make such a change for the sake of a few. And if those few, that pretended to public employments, would do all their own party so great a prejudice, as not to suf fer the king to be content with the repeal of the penal laws, unless they could get into the offices of trust, then their ambition was only to be blamed, if 733 the offers now made were not accepted. The mat ter was very strongly argued through the whole let ter : and the prince and princess's zeal for the pro testant religion was set out in terms that could not be very acceptable to the king. The letter was carried by Steward to the king, and was brought by him into the cabinet council. But nothing followed then upon it. The king ordered Steward to write s (The abandonment of this established in the kingdom was security, adopted after the ex- recommended by the prince to ample of other nations, for the his parhament, soon after he public peace and the religion became king.) OF KING JAMES II. 217 back, that he would either have all or nothing. All 1 688. the lay-papists of England, who were not engaged in the intrigues of the priests, pressed earnestly that the king would accept of the repeal of the penal laws ; which was offered, and would have made them both easy and safe for the future. The em peror was fully satisfied with what was offered ; and promised to use his interest at Rome, to get the pope to write to the king to accept of this, as a step to the other : but I could not learn whether he did it, or not. If he did, it had no effect. The king was in all points governed by the Jesuits and the French ambassador. Father Petre, as he had been long in the confi- Father Pe- dence, was now brought to the council board, and a privy made a privy counsellor * : and it was given out, that counseUor- the king was resolved to get a cardinal's cap for him, and to make him archbishop of York. The pope was still firm to his resolution against it. But it was hoped, that the king would conquer it, if not in the present, yet at furthest in the next pontifi cate. The king resolved at the same time not to disgust the secular priests : so bishop Leyburn, whom cardinal Howard had sent over with the episcopal character, was made much use of in appearance, though he had no great share in the counsels. There was a faction formed between the seculars and the Jesuits, which was sometimes near breaking out into an open rupture. But the king was so par tial to the Jesuits, that the others found they were not on equal terms with them. There were three * And to gratify the dissent- (afterwards created lord Bar- ers, Christopher Vane, son to nard by king William,) was the famous sir Henry Vane, sworn at the same time. D. 218 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. other bishops consecrated for England. And these four were ordered to make a progress and circuit over England, confirming, and doing other episcopal offices, in all the parts of England. Great numbers gathered about them, wheresoever they went. The confi- The Jesuits thought all was sure, and that their the Jesuits, scheme was so well laid that it could not miscarry. And they had so possessed that contemptible tool of theirs, Albeville, with this, that he seemed upon his return to the Hague to be so sanguine, that he did not stick to speak out what a wiser man would have suppressed, though he had believed it. One day, when the prince was speaking of the promises the king had made, and the oath that he had sworn to maintain the laws and the established church, he, instead of pretending that the king still kept his 734 word, said, Upon some occasions princes must forget their promises. And, when the prince said that the king ought to have more regard to the church of England, which was the main body of the nation, Albeville answered, that the body which he called the church of England would not have a being two years to an end. Thus he spoke out the designs of the court both too early and too openly. But at the same time he behaved himself in all other re spects so poorly, that he became the jest of the Hague. The foreign ministers, Mr. D' A vaux the French ambassador not excepted, did not know how to excuse or bear with his weakness, which appeared on all occasions and in all companies. The pen- What he wrote to England upon his first audi- ter was ences was not known. But it was soon after spread printed. ^ an(j ,jown the kingdom, very artificially and with much industry, that the prince and princess had OF KING JAMES II. 219 now consented to the repeal of the tests, as well as 1 688. of the penal laws. This was writ over by many hands to the Hague. The prince, to prevent the ill effects that might follow on such reports, gave orders to print the pensioner's letter to Steward; which was sent to all the parts of England, and was received with an universal joy. The dissenters saw themselves now safe in his intentions towards them. The church party was confirmed in their zeal for maintaining the tests. And the lay-papists seemed likewise to be so well pleased with it, that they com plained of those ambitious priests, and hungry cour tiers, who were resolved, rather than lay down their aspirings and other projects, to leave them still ex posed to the severities of the laws, though a freedom from these was now offered to them. But it was not easy to judge whether this was sincerely meant by them, or if it was only a popular art, to recom mend themselves under such a moderate appearance. The court saw the hurt that this letter did them. At first they hoped to have stifled it by calling it an imposture. But when they were driven from thatu, the king began to speak severely and indecently of the prince, not only to all about him, but even to foreign ministers : and resolved to put such marks of his indignation upon him, as should let all the world see how deep it was. There were six regiments of the king's subjects, The king three English and three Scotish, in the service of regents the States. Some of them were old regiments, that °efJ^uthe had continued in their service during the two wars states' ser- ° vice. " (By the pensionary's letter in England. See Ralph's Hist. of complaint to Albeville, which of England, vol. I. p. 979 ) was taken care to be published 220 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. in the late king's reign. Others were raised since the peace in seventy-three. But these came not into their service under any capitulation, that had reserved an authority to the king to call for them at 735 his pleasure. When Argile and Monmouth made their invasion, the king desired that the States would lend them to him. Some of the towns of Holland were so jealous of the king, and wished Monmouth's success so much, that the prince found some diffi culty in obtaining the consent of the States to send them over. There was no distinction made among them between papists and protestants, according to a maxim of the States with relation to their armies : so there were several papists in those regiments. And the king had shewed such particular kindness to these, while they were in England, that at their return they formed a faction which was breeding great distractions among them. This was very un easy to the prince, who began to see that he might have occasion to make use of those bodies, if things should be carried to a rupture between the king and him : and yet he did not know how he could trust them, while such officers were in command. He did not see neither how he could get rid of them well. But the king helped him out of that difficulty : he wrote to the States, that he had occasion for the six regiments of his subjects that were in their service, and desired that they should be sent over to him. Which was This demand was made all of the sudden, without T-pf 1 1 1 r*(\ nut the officers any previous application to any of the States, to dis- toto^6 Pose them to grant it, or to many of the officers to persuade them to ask their conge to go over. The States pretended the regiments were theirs : they had paid levy money for them, and had them un- OF KING JAMES II. 221 der no capitulation: so they excused themselves, 1688. that they could not part with them. But they gave orders, that all the officers that should ask their conge should have it. Thirty or forty came and asked, and had their conge. So now the prince was delivered from some troublesome men by this ma nagement of the king's. Upon that, these bodies were so modelled, that the prince knew that he might de pend entirely on them : and he was no more dis turbed by those insolent officers, who had for some years behaved themselves rather as enemies, than as persons in the States' pay. The discourse of a parliament was often taken up, and as often let fall : and it was not easy to judge in what such fluctuating counsels would end. Father Petre had gained such an ascendant, that he was considered as the first minister of state x. The nun- tio had moved the king to interpose, and mediate a reconciliation between the court of Rome and France. But he answered, that since the pope would not gra tify him in the promotion of father Petre, he would leave him to free himself of the trouble into which he had involved himself the best way he could. And our court reckoned, that as soon as the pope felt 736 himself pressed, he would fly to the king for protec tion, and grant him every thing that he asked of x (The minister, who appears treachery. See also note below in every act and transaction at at p. 755, fol. ed. and at vol. II. this time, and was addressed p. 207. But compare the earl's on all occasions by the king's vindication of himself in a let- subjects, was the earl of Sun- ter inserted both in the History derland, he and Petre only be- of the Desertion, p. 27, and in ing of the secret council ; nor the third vol. of Cogan's Tracts, did the king break with him till which letter is noticed in the all was in confusion, and he note refered to.) found himself ruined by his tion. THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. him in order to obtain it. That Jesuit gave daily new proofs of a weak and ill governed passion, and discovered all the ill qualities of one, that seemed raised up to be the common incendiary, and to drive the king and his party to the precipice. a new de- Towards the end of April the king thought fit to forrtoiera- renew the declaration that he had set out the former year for liberty of conscience ; with an addition, de claring that he would adhere firmly to it, and that he would put none in any public employments, but such as would concur with him in maintaining it. He also promised, that he would hold a parliament in the November following. This promise of a par liament so long beforehand was somewhat extraor dinary. Both father Petre and Pen engaged the king to it, but with a different prospect. Pen, and all the tools who were employed by him, had still some hopes of carrying a parliament to agree with the king, if too much time was not lost : whereas the delaying a parliament raised jealousies, as if none were intended, but that it was only talked of to amuse the nation, till other designs were ripe. On the other hand, father Petre and his cabal saw that the king was kept off from many things that they proposed, with the expectation of the con currence of a parliament: and the fear of giving new disgusts, which might obstruct that, had begot a caution that was very uneasy to them. They thought that much time was already lost, and that they made but a small progress. They began to ap prehend, that the regulators, who were still feeding them with hopes, and were asking more time and more money, did intend only to amuse them, and to wear out the business into more length, and to keep OF KING JAMES II. 223 themselves the longer in credit and in pay; but that I68S. they did not in their hearts wish well to the main design, and therefore acted but an insincere part with the king. Therefore they resolved to put that matter to the last trial, reckoning that, if the king saw it was in vain to hope for any thing in a parlia mentary way, he might be more easily carried to extreme and violent methods. The king was not satisfied with the publishing his which the declaration : but he resolved to oblige the clergy to ortoeTto* read it in all their churches in the time of divine read- service. And now it appeared what bad effects were like to follow on that officious motion that San croft had made, for obliging the clergy to read the declaration that king Charles set out in the year 1681, after the dissolution of the Oxford parlia ment y. An order passed in council, requiring the 737 bishops to send copies of the declaration to all their clergy, and to order them to read it on two several Sundays in time of divine service. This put the clergy under great difficulties. And they were at first much divided about it. Even many of the best and worthiest of them were under some distraction of thought. They had many meet ings, and argued the point long among themselves y (" It is certain that such same time to the Continuation " an order was made, and the of Baker's Chron. and to the " clergy complied with it ; but third vol. of the complete Hist. " that it was made at the ex- of England. Probably the bi- " press instance of archbishop shop had good grounds for his " Sancroft, seems to rest on no repeated assertion; and although " other authority than that of the archbishop's intention was "Burnet." D'Oyly's Life of loyal and praiseworthy, yet per- Sancroft, vol. I. p. 252. Mac- haps the less the church has to pherson, in his History of Eng- do with pohtics, except in cases land, vol. I. p. 35 1, mentions the where fundamental points are circumstance, referring at the concerned, the better.) 224 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. in and about London. On the one hand it was said, that if they refused to read it, the king would pro ceed against them for disobedience. It did not seem reasonable to run so great a hazard upon such a point, that was not strong enough to bear the conse quences that might follow on a breach. Their read ing it did not import their approving it: but was only a publication of an act of their king's. So it was proposed, to save the whole by making some declaration, that their reading it was a mere act of obedience, and did not import any assent and appro bation of theirs. Others thought, that the publishing this in such manner was only imposed on them to make them odious and contemptible to the whole nation, for reading that which was intended for their ruin. If they carried their compliance so far, that might provoke the nobility and gentry to carry theirs much further. If they once yielded the point, that they were bound to read every declaration, with this salvo, that it did not import their approving it, they would be then bound to read every thing that should be sent to them : the king might make declarations in favour of all the points of popery, and require them to read them : and they could not see where they must make their stops, if they did it not now. So it seemed necessary to fix on this, as a rule, that they ought to publish nothing in time of divine ser vice, but that which they approved of. The point at present was not, whether a toleration was a law ful or an expedient thing. The declaration was founded on the claim of a dispensing power, which the king did now assume, that tended to the total subversion of the government, and the making it ar bitrary ; whereas by the constitution it was a legal OF KING JAMES II. 225 administration. It also allowed such an infinite li- 1 688. berty, with the suspension of all penal laws, and that without any limitation, that paganism it self might be now publicly professed. It was visible, that the design in imposing the reading of it on them, was only to make them ridiculous, and to make them contribute to their own ruin. As for the danger that they might incur, they saw their ruin was resolved on : and nothing they could do was like to prevent it, unless they would basely sacrifice their religion to their worldly interests. It would be per haps a year sooner or later by any other manage- 738 ment : it was therefore fit, that they should prepare themselves for suffering ; and not endeavour to pre vent it by doing that which would draw on them the hatred of their friends and the scorn of their enemies. These reasons prevailed : and they resolved not T° which * they would to read the declaration. They saw of what import- not give ance it was, that they should be unanimous in this. Nothing could be of more fatal consequence than their being divided in their practice. For, if any considerable body of the clergy, such as could carry the name of the church of England, could have been prevailed on to give obedience, and only some num ber, how valuable soever the men might be, should refuse to obey; then the court might still pretend that they would maintain the church of England, and single out all those who had not given obedi ence, and fall on them, and so break the church within it self upon this point, and then destroy the one half by the means of the rest. The most emi nent resolved not to obey : and those who might be prevailed on to comply would by that means fall VOL. III. Q 226 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. under such contempt, that they could not have the credit or strength to support the established religion. The court depended upon this, that the greater part would obey : and so they would be furnished with a point of state, to give a colour for turning out the disobedient, who were like to be the men that stood most in their way, and crossed their designs most, both with their learning and credit. Those few bishops that were engaged in the de sign of betraying the church, were persuaded that this would be the event of the matter: and they possessed the king with the hope of it so positively, that he seemed to depend upon it. The correspond ence over England was managed with that secrecy, that these resolutions were so communicated to the clergy in the country, that they were generally en gaged to agree in their conduct, before the court came to apprehend that they would be so unani mous, as it proved in conclusion that they were. The arch- The archbishop of Canterbury, Sancroft, resolved six bishops vipon this occasion to act suitably to his post and king. " character. He wrote round his province, and de sired that such of the bishops as were able would come up, and consult together in a matter of this great concern : and he asked the opinion of those whom their age and infirmities disabled from taking the journey. He found, that eighteen of the bishops, and the main body of the clergy, concurred in the resolution against reading the declaration. So he, with six of the bishops that came up to London, re solved in a petition to the king to lay before him the reasons that determined them not to obey the 739 order of council that had been sent them: this flowed from no want of respect to his majesty's authority, OF KING JAMES II. 227 nor from any unwillingness to let favour be shewed 1 688. to dissenters ; in relation to whom they were willing " to come to such a temper, as should be thought fit, when that matter should be considered and settled in parliament and convocation : but this declaration being founded on such a dispensing power, as had been often declared illegal in parliament, both in the year 1662, and in the year 1672, and in the begin ning of his own reign ; and was a matter of so great consequence to the whole nation, both in church and state ; they could not in prudence, honour, and con science, make themselves so far parties to it, as the publication of it once and again in God's house; and in the time of divine service, must amount to. The archbishop was then in an ill state of health. So he sent over the six bishops with the petition to the king, signed by himself and the rest z. The king was much surprised with this, being flattered and deceived by his spies. Cartwright, bishop of Ches ter, was possessed with a story that was too easily believed by him, and was by him carried to the king, who was very apt to believe every thing that suited with his own designs. The story was, that the bi shops intended by a petition to the king to let him understand that orders of this kind used to be ad dressed to their chancellors, but not to themselves; and to pray him to continue that method : and that by this means they hoped to get out of this diffi culty. This was very acceptable to the court, and procured the bishops a quick admittance. And they had proceeded so carefully, that nothing concerted z (He had been forbidden the cited below. See also Dr. D'Oy- court almost two years before ; ly's Life of the Archbishop, according to the Sancroft MSS. vol. I. p. 265.) Q 2 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. among them had broken out; for they had been very secret and cautious. The king, when he heard their petition, and saw his mistake, spoke roughly to them. He said, he was their king, and he would ' be obeyed : and they should be made to feel what it was to disobey hima. The six bishops were St. Asaph, Ely, Bath and Wells, Peterborough, Chi chester, and Bristol0. The answer they made the king was in these words : The will of God be done. And they came from the court in a sort of triumph. Now matters were brought to a crisis. The king was engaged on his part, as the bishops were on theirs. So all people looked on with great expec tations, reckoning that upon the issue of this busi ness a great decision would be made, both of the de signs of the court, and of the temper of the nation. The king consulted for some days with all that were now employed by him, what he should do upon this emergent ; and talked with people of all 740 persuasions. Lob, an eminent man among the dis senters, who was entirely gained to the court, ad vised the king to send the bishops to the tower. Fa ther Petre seemed now as one transported with joy : for he thought the king was engaged to break with the church of England. And it was reported, that he broke out into that indecent expression upon it, that they should be made to eat their own dung. » (His strongest expressions Trelawney, of an ancient fa- were, " This is a standard of mily in Cornwall. The burden "rebellion," and, " I will be of a song composed at that time " obeyed in publishing my de- is still remembered : " claration." Archbishop San- „.,,„„,, ... . . jw hjoct • .1 a j- * "And shall Trelawney die! And croft s MSS. in the Appendix to shaU Treiawney di88. them in awe and order by his own presence. ~ The court sat again next day. And then the jury To the came in with their verdict. Upon which there were oTthV°y such shoutings, so long continued, and as it were^"nand echoed into the city, that all people were struck with it. Every man seemed transported with joy. Bonfires were made all about the streets. And the news going over the nation, produced the like re joicings and bonfires all England over. The king's presence kept the army in some order. But he was no sooner gone out of the camp, than he was fol lowed with an universal shouting, as if it had been a victory obtained. And so fatally was the king pushed on to his ruin, that he seemed not to be by all this enough convinced of the folly of those violent counsels. He intended still to pursue them. It was therefore resolved on, to bring this matter of the contempt of the order of council, in not reading the declaration, before the ecclesiastical commissioners. They did not think fit to cite the archbishop and bi shops before them : for they did not doubt they would plead to their jurisdiction, and refuse to ac knowledge their authority ; which they hoped their chancellors, and the inferior clergy, would not ven ture on. Citations were sent out requiring the chancellors The clergy and archdeacons to send in the lists of all the clergy, digued* both of such as had obeyed, and of those who had3^"18'- not obeyed the order of council1. Some of these were now so much animated with the sense that the 1 (The commissioners had ac- tion ofthe bishops was pending. tually suspended doctor Haw- See Caveat against the Whigs, kins for refusing to read the p. 51.) declaration, whilst the prosecu- THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. nation had expressed of the bishops' imprisonment and trial, that they declared they would not obey this order : and others excused themselves in softer terms. When the day came to which they were cited, the bishop of Rochester, though he himself had obeyed the order, and had hitherto gone along, sitting with the other commissioners, but had always voted on the milder side, yet now, when he saw matters were running so fast to the ruin of the church, he not only would sit no longer with them, but wrote a letter to them ; in which he said, it was impossible for him to go on with them any longer ; for though he himself had obeyed the order of coun cil, which he protested he did because he thought he was bound in conscience to do it, yet he did not doubt but that those who had not obeyed it had gone upon the same principle of following their con- 745 science, and he would much rather choose to suffer with them, than to concur in making them suffer. This stopped proceedings for that day, and put the court to a stand. So they adjourned themselves till December ; and they never sat any more. The effect This was the progress of that transaction, which every was considered all Europe over as the trial whether where. ^e king or the church were like to prevail. The decision was as favourable as was possible. The king did assume to himself a power to make laws void, and to qualify men for employments, whom the law had put under such incapacities, that all they did was null and void. The sheriffs and mayors of towns were no legal officers : judges, (one of them being a professed papist, Alibon,) who took not the test, were no judges : so that the government, and the legal administration of it, was broken. A par- OF KING JAMES II. liament returned by such men was no legal pariia- 1688. ment. All this was done by virtue of the dispensing ~~ power, which changed the whole frame of our go vernment, and subjected all the laws to the king's pleasure : for, upon the same pretence of that power, other declarations might have come out, voiding any other laws that the court found stood in their way ; since we had scarce any law that was fortified with such clauses to force the execution of it, as those that were laid aside had in them m. And when the king pretended, that this was such a sacred point of government, that a petition, offered in the modestest terms, and in the humblest manner possible, calling it in question, was made so great a crime, and car ried so far against men of such eminence ; this, I confess, satisfied me, that here was a total destruc tion of our constitution, avowedly began, and vio lently prosecuted. Here was not jealousies nor fears : the thing was open and avowed. This was not a single act of illegal violence, but a declared design against the whole of our constitution. It was not only the judgment of a court of law : the king had now by two public acts of state, renewed in two suc cessive years, openly published his design". This appeared such a total subversion, that, according to the principles that some of the highest assertors of m Kings, of all men, are any right he has by it; and most interested that the law when he has cut the bough he should be supported ; for take sat upon, has little reason to away that, and one man has as be surprised if he falls to the good right as another. Force ground. D. equally entitles every body that n (The first and second de- can get it: therefore a solemn claration of liberty of con- declaration, that a king will not science are here intended. See govern according to law, seems p. 736.) to me a formal renouncing of 240 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. submission and obedience, Barklay and Grotius, had laid down, it was now lawful for the nation to look to itself, and see to its own preservation. And, as soon as any man was convinced that this was lawful, there remained nothing but to look to the prince of Orange, who was the only person that either could save them, or had a right to it : since by all the laws in the world, even private as well as public, he that has in him the reversion of any estate, has a right to hinder the possessor, if he goes about to destroy that which is to come to him after the possessor's death. 746 Upon all this disorder that England was falling Kussei mt0 admiral Russel came to the Hague. He had a pressed ° the prince, good pretence for coming over to Holland, for he had a sister then living in it. He was desired by many of great power and interest in England to speak very freely to the prince, and to know posi tively of him what might be expected from him. All people were now in a gaze : those who had little or no religion had no mind to turn papists, if they could see any probable way of resisting the fury with which the court was now driving : but men of fortune, if they saw no visible prospect, would be governed by their present interest: they were at present united : but, if a breaking should once hap pen, and some men of figure should be prevailed on to change, that might go far; especially in a corrupt and dissolute army, that was as it were let loose to commit crimes and violences every where, in which they were rather encouraged than punished11; for it seemed to be set up as a maxim, that the army by n (It appears, that the sol- Diary complains more than diers were kept under too loose once of their murders and in- a discipline, for Evelyn in his solence.J OF KING JAMES II. 241 rendering it self odious to the nation would become 1688. thereby entirely devoted to the court : but after all, though soldiers were bad Englishmen, and worse Christians, yet the court found them too good pro testants to trust much to them °. So Russel put the prince to explain himself what he intended to do. The prince answered, that, if he was invited by Theprince's /.,,,,. , . answer. some men ot the best interest, and the most valued in the nation, who should both in their own name, and in the name of others who trusted them, invite him to come and rescue the nation and the religion, he believed he could be ready by the end of Septem ber to come over. The main confidence we had was in the electoral prince of Brandenburg ; for the old elector was then dying. And I told Russel at part ing, that, unless he died, there would be great diffi culties, not easily mastered, in the design of the prince's expedition to England p. He was then ill of a dropsy, which, coming after The elector a gout of a long continuance, seemed to threaten a burgh's speedy end of his life. I had the honour to see him deat " at Cleve ; and was admitted to two long audiences, in which he was pleased to speak to me with great freedom. He was a prince of great courage. He both understood military matters well, and loved them much. He had a very perfect view of the 0 Special doctrine. S. " England against the king, P (Ralph, in his Hist, of Eng- " and embraced in Holland, be- land, makes the following acute "fore the second declaration remark on this passage: " The " of indulgence was pubhshed, " elector died on the last day " or the order of council, which " of April, O. S. ; whence it fol- " was founded thereon ; or the " lows, that Russel had received "prosecution of the bishops " his audience, and taken his " was thought of; which his " leave, before that event took " lordship holds of such weight " place; and consequently, that " for the justification of those " measures were forming in " measures." Vol. I. p. 998.) VOL. III. E. THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. state Europe had been in for fifty years, in which he had borne a great share in all affairs, having directed his own counsels himself. He had a wonderful me mory, even in the smallest matters ; for every thing passed under his eye. He had a quick apprehension and a choleric temper. The heat of his spirits was apt to kindle too quick, till his interest cooled him : and that fetched him back, which brought him 747unaer the censure of changing sides too soon and too often. He was a very zealous man in all the concerns of religion. His own life was regular, and free of all blemishes. He tried all that was possible to bring the Lutherans and Calvinists to some terms of reconciliation. He complained much of the ri gidity of the Lutherans, more particularly of those in Prussia : nor was he well pleased with the stiff ness of the Calvinists : and he inveighed against the synod of Dort, as that which had set all on fire, and made matters almost past reconciling. He thought, all positive decisions in those matters ought to be laid aside by both parties, without which nothing could bring them to a better temper. He had a very splendid court: and to maintain that, and his great armies, his subjects were pressed hard by many uneasy taxes. He seemed not to have a just sense of the miseries of his people. His ministers had great power over him in all lesser matters, while he directed the greater : and he suf fered them to enrich themselves excessively. In the end of his life the electoress had gained great credit, and governed his counsels too much. He had set it up for a maxim, that the electoral fa milies in Germany had weakened themselves so much, that they would not be able to maintain the OF KING JAMES II. 243 liberty of the empire against the Austrian family, 1688. which was now rising by their victories in Hungary: the houses of Saxe, and the Palatine, and of Bruns wick, and Hesse, had done this so much, by the dis membering some of their dominions to their younger children, that they were mouldering to nothing : he therefore resolved to keep all his dominions entire in one hand : this would make his family the balance to the house of Austria, on whom the rest of the empire must depend : and he suffered his electoress to provide for her children, and to enrich herself by all the ways she could think on, since he would not give them any share of his dominions. This she did not fail to do. And the elector, having just cause of complaint for being abandoned by the allies in the peace of Nimeguen, and so forced to restore what he had got from the Swedes, the French upon that gave him a great pension, and made the electoress such presents, that he was prevailed on to enter into their interests : and in this he made some ill steps in the decline of his life. But nothing could soften him with relation to that court, after they broke the edict of Nantes, and began the persecution of the protestants. He took great care of all the refugees. He set men on the frontier of France to receive and defray them ; and gave them all the marks of Chris tian compassion, and of a bounty becoming so great a prince. But his age and infirmities, he being 748 crippled with the gout, and the ill understanding that was between the prince electoral and electoress, had so disjointed his court, that little was to be ex pected from him. Death came upon him quicker than was looked for. He received the intimations of it with the firm- it 2 244 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. ness that became both a Christian and a hero. He gave his last advices to his son, and to his ministers, with a greatness and a tenderness that both sur prised and melted them all: and above all other things he recommended to them the concerns of the protestant religion, then in such an universal dan ger. His son had not his genius. He had not a strength of body nor a force of mind capable of great matters i. But he was filled with zeal for the re formed religion: and he was at that time so entirely possessed with a confidence in the prince of Orangey and with a high esteem of him, as he was his cousin- german, that we had a much better prospect of all our affairs by his succeeding his father. And this was increased by the great credit that Dankelman, who had been his governor, continued to have with him : for he had true notions of the affairs of Eu rope, and was a zealous protestant, and was like to prove a very good minister, though he was too abso lute in his favour, and was too much set on raising his own family. All at the Hague were looking with great concern on the affairs of Europe ; these being, in many respects, and in many different places, brought to a very critical state. The queen I must now look back to England, where the thaTghe queen's delivery was the subject of all men's dis- ^dwlth course. And since so much depends on this, I will give as full and as distinct an account of all that re lated to that matter, as I could gather up either at q After the revolution, he Monsr. Buys told me ;) upon bore a secret grudge to king which the French envoy told William, till by his means he him that all ships were ships, was declared king of Prussia, but there was great difference and then he talked of nothing in their strength and rate. D. but the equality of kings, (as OF KING JAMES II. 245 that time or afterwards1*. The queen had been for 1688. six or seven years in such an ill state of health, that every winter brought her very near death. Those about her seemed well assured that she, who had buried all her children soon after they were born, and had now for several years ceased bearing, would have no more children. Her own priests appre hended it, and seemed to wish for her death. She had great and frequent [loosenesses, with some other] distempers, that returned often, which put all peo ple out of their hopes or fears of her having any children. Her spirits were now much on the fret. She was eager in the prosecution of all the king's designs. It was believed, that she had a main hand in driving him to them all. And he, perhaps to make her gentler to him in his vagrant amours, was more easy to her in every thing else. The lady Dorchester was come back from Ireland : and the king went oft to her. But it was visible, she 749 was not like to gain that credit in affairs, to which she had aspired : and therefore this was less con sidered. She had another mortification, when Fitz-James, the king's son, was made duke of Berwick. He was a soft and harmless young man, and was much be loved by the king : but the queen's dislike kept him from making any great figure. He made two cam paigns in Hungary, that were little to his honour : for, as his governor diverted the allowance that was given for keeping a table, and sent him always to eat at other tables, so, though in the siege of Buda there were many occasions given him to have dis tinguished himself, yet he had appeared in none of r All coffee-house chat. S. II 3 246 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. them. There was more care taken of his person than became his age and condition5. Yet his gover nor's brother was a Jesuit, and in the secret: so every thing was ventured on by him, and all was forgiven him. In September, the former year, the queen went to the Bath, where, as was already told, the king came and saw her, and stayed a few days with her. She after that pursued a full course of bathing: and, having resolved to return in the end of September, an accident took her to which the sex is subject: and that made her stay there a week longer. She came to Windsor on the sixth of October. It was said, that, at the very time of her coming to the king, her mother, the duchess of Modena, made a vow to the lady Loretto, that her daughter might by her means have a son *. And it went current, that the queen believed herself to be with child in that very instant in which her mother made her vow : of which, some travellers have assured me, there was a solemn record made at Loretto. A con ception said to be thus begun looked suspicious. It was now fixed to the sixth of October : so the nine months were to run to the sixth of July u. She was (s The duke of Berwick " on the 6th of October." was afterwards a marechal of Ralph's Hist, of England, vol. I. France, and conquered for the p. 980. The reason for adopt- French in Spain, whilst they ing the tale is obvious.) were vanquished by his mother's u (" It appears" from au- brother, the duke of Marlbo- thentic documents " that the rough, in Germany and Flan- " queen was herself uncertain ders.) " as to her time, reckoning oc- * " (Surely if his lordship " casionally from the begin- " had recollected, thattheduch- " ning of September, and oc- " ess died July the 19th, O. S. " casionally from the begin- " as she certainly did, he had " ning of October." Lingard's " never adopted this idle tale of History of England, vol. VIII. " her highness's vowing vows ch. 9. p. 436, note.) OF KING JAMES II. 247 in the progress of her big belly let blood several 1688. times : and the most astringent things that could be proposed were used [to bind up nature. Yet it was said she had several returns of that which happens to women when they are not with child. J It was soon observed, that all things about her person were managed with a mysterious secrecy, into which none were admitted but a few papists. She was not dressed nor undressed with the usual cere mony. Prince George told me, that the princess went as far in desiring to be satisfied by feeling the motion, after she said she was quick, as she could go without breaking with her : and she had sometimes stayed by her even indecently long in mornings, to see her rise, and to give her her shift: but she never did either x. She never offered any satisfaction in that matter by letter to the princess of Orange, nor to any of the ladies of quality, in whose word the world would have acquiesced. The thing upon this began to be suspected : and some libels were writ, treating the whole as an imposture. The use the queen made of this was, to say, that since she saw 750 some were suspecting her as capable of so black a contrivance, she scorned to satisfy those who could entertain such thoughts of her. How just soever this might be with relation to the libellers, yet cer tainly, if she was truly with child, she owed it to the x " (Is it not strange, said " that is true. Why then, ma- " she, (princess Anne,) that the " dam, said I, should you won- " queen should never, as often " der, she did not bid you do " as I am with her, mornings " it this time? Because, said " and evenings, speak to me to " she, of the reports. Possi- " feel her belly? I asked, if the " bly, said I, she did not mind " queen had at other times of " the reports." Henry Earl of " her being with child bid her Clarendon's Diary, p. 7 9. Seebe- " do it? She answered, No, low, notes at p. 751 and 786.) R 4 248 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. king and herself, to the king's daughters, but most of all to the infant she carried in her belly, to give such reasonable satisfaction, as might put an end to jealousy. This was in her power to do every day : and her not doing it gave just grounds of sus picion. Things went thus on till Monday in Easter week. On that day the king went to Rochester, to see some of the naval preparations ; but was soon sent for by the queen, who apprehended she was in danger of miscarrying. Dr. Scarborough was come to Knights- bridge to see bishop Ward, my predecessor, who had been his ancient friend, and was then his patient; but the queen's coach was sent to call him in all haste, since she was near miscarrying. Dr. Winde bank, who knew nothing of this matter, stayed long that morning upon an appointment for Dr. Wall- grave, another of the queen's physicians, who the next time he saw him excused himself, for the queen, he said, was then under the most apparent signs of miscarrying. Of this the doctor made oath: and it is yet extant J". On the same day the countess of Clarendon, being to go out of town for a few days, came to see the queen before she went, knowing nothing of what y (The doctor's certificate is Windebank, that the doctor datedNov. 20,1702; and states, told him that in Whitsun-week that Dr. Waldgrave mentioned just before the queen was de- his apprehensions to him of the livered, he was informed by queen's miscarrying. But the Dr. Waldgrave, that the queen author of an Answer to the went on, or held out ; and that younger Burnet's pamphlet, at the former time, Dr. Wald- ironically entitled, New Proofs grave said to him, notwith- of the Pretender's being truly standing his doubts and fears, James the Third, says, that he he had hopes she would go on had heard from a friend of Dr. to her time. Page 1 8 — 2 1 .) OF KING JAMES II. 249 had happened to her. And she, being a lady of the 1688. bed-chamber to queen dowager, did, according to the rule of the court, go into the queen's bed-cham ber without asking admittance. She saw the queen a bed, bemoaning herself in a most doleful manner, saying often, Undone, Undone: and one that be longed to her carried somewhat out of the bed, which she believed was linen taken from the queen. She was upon this in some confusion: and the countess of Powis coming in, went to her, and said with some sharpness, What do you here? and car ried her to the door. Before she had got out of the court, one of the bed-chamber women followed her, and charged her not to speak of any thing she had seen that day. This matter, whatever was in it, was hushed up: and the queen held on her course. The princess had miscarried in the spring. So, as soon as she had recovered her strength, the king pressed her to go to the Bath, since that had so good an effect on the queen. Some of her physicians, and all her other friends, were against her going. Lower, one of her physicians, told me, he was against it : he thought she was not strong enough for the Bath, though the king pressed it with an unusual vehe mence. Millington, another physician, told the earl of Shrewsbury, from whom I had it, that he was 751 pressed to go to the princess, and advise her to go to the Bath. The person that spoke to him told him, the king was much set on it, and that he expected it of him, that he would persuade her to it. Mil lington answered, he would not advise a patient ac cording to directions, but according to his own rea son : so he would not go. Scarborough and Wi- 250 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. therly took it upon them to advise itz : so she went thither in the end of Maya. Thequeen's As soon as she was gone, those about the queen cha'n^edf did all of the sudden change her reckoning, and began it from the king's being with her at Bath. This came on so quick, that though the queen had set the fourteenth of June for her going to Windsor, where she intended to lie in, and all the preparations for the birth and for the child were ordered to be made ready by the end of June, yet now a resolu tion was taken for the queen's lying in at St. James's b ; and directions were given to have all things quickly ready. The Bath water either did not agree with the princess, or the advices of her friends were so pressing, who thought her absence from the court at that time of such consequence, that in compliance with them she gave it out it did not, and that therefore she would return in a few days. The day after the court had this notice, the z (" It is very well known," "herself towards the end, it writes sir James Montgomery, " was industriously done, as in his GreatBritain's Just Com- " well as her going to the Bath, plaint, published in 1692," that "which it had been impos- " the king was against the " sible for the king to have " journey; that her physicians " forced upon her, had she " in ordinary were against it, " suspected any thing of what " and that pains were taken " was afterwards pretended, " to search about for physi- " and been desirous to see the " cians, who would advise her " truth." Life of King James " going, as expedient for her the Second, vol. II. p. 200. It " health ; so early were they had been before observed, that " contriving pretences for the the princess contrived to go to " calumny." P. 21. Bath, that she might be absent a (" It was falsely asserted, when she knew the queen was " that the princess Anne was to be brought to bed. P. 159 " never permitted to see the and 197.) " queen's belly, whereas she D Windsor would have been " did it frequently in the be- more suspicious. S. " ginning, and if she absented OF KING JAMES II. 251 queen said she would go to St. James's and look 1688. for the good hour. She was often told, that it was impossible upon so short a warning to have things ready. But she was so positive, that she said she would lie there that night, though she should lie upon the boards. And at night, though the shorter and quicker way was to go from White hall to St. James's through the park, and she al ways went that way, yet now, by a sort of affecta tion, she would be carried thither by Charing-cross, through the Pall-Mall c. And it was given out by all her train, that she was going to be delivered. Some said, it would be next morning : and the priests said very confidently, that it would be a boy. The next morning, about nine o'clock, she sent The queen . said to be word to the king, that she was in labour. Ihe in labour. queen dowager was next sent to. But no ladies were sent for : so that no women were in the room, but two dressers and one under dresser, and the midwife. The earl of Arran sent notice to the countess of Sunderland : so she came. The lady Bellasis came also in time. The protestant ladies that belonged to the court were all gone to church before the news was let go abroad : for it happened on Trinity Sunday, it being that year on the tenth of June d. The king brought over with him from Whitehall a great many peers and privy counsellors. And of these eighteen were let into the bed-cham-752 c (" I am assured by one of partial Reflections on Burnet's " her servants, who did go with Posthumous Hist. p. 105, print- " her, that she did go through ed in 1724.) " the park, and he dares make d (Six protestant ladies of " an affidavit thereof, that the high rank were present at the " earl of Godolphin went by birth, as their Depositions " her side in a sedan." Im- shew.) 252 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. ber : but they stood at the furthest end of the room. The ladies stood within the alcove. The curtains of the bed were drawn close, and none came within them but the midwife and an under dresser e. The queen lay all the while a bed : and, in order to the warming one side of it, a warming pan was brought f. But it was not opened, that it might be seen that there was fire and nothing else in it : so here was matter for suspicion, with which all people were filled. A little before ten, the queen cried out as in a strong pain, and immediately after the midwife said e (The feet curtains of the " bed were drawn, and the two " sides were open. When she " was in great pain, the king " called in haste for my lord " chancellor, who came up to " the bed side to shew he was " there; upon which the rest " of the privy counsellers did " the same thing. Then the " queen desired the king to " hide her face with his head " and periwig, which he did ; " for she said she could not be " brought to bed, and have so " many men look on her ; for " all the council stood close " at the bed's feet, and lord " chancellor upon the step." Princess of Denmark's Answers to her sister the princess of Orange's Questions. Appendix to Dalrymple' s Memoirs, vol. II. p. 308.) f This, the ladies say, is foolish. S. (" The warming- " pan is no feasible project, " unless you break the back of " the child to put it in ; more- " over, as this is supposed to " be a tender infant, just reek- " ing and wet from its mo- " ther's womb, in that tender " state, it would either have " cried out in the passage, or " have been stiff and dead, " and in the variety of mo- " tions of tossing it up and " down, it would have been a " perfect jelly." Impartial Re flections 8;c. p. 106. " . . . . " Then it is said, that the wea- " ther being hot there was " no need of a warming-pan, "as if linen were not to be " aired at all times, especiaUy " on such occasions. And Mrs. " Dawson, who was a protest- " ant, deposed, amongst other " things, that she saw fire in " the warming-pan, when it " was brought into the room." King James's Life, vol. II. p. 200. As soon as the child was born, the midwife, who swore she delivered the queen, cut the navel string in the pre sence of several persons, as ap pears by their depositions.) OF KING JAMES II. 253 aloud, she was happily brought to bed 8. When the 1 688. lords all cried out of what, the midwife answered, The queen must not be surprised : only she gave a sign to the countess of Sunderland, who upon that touched her forehead, by which, it being the sign before agreed on, the king said he knew it was a boy. No cries were heard from the child n : nor was it shewed to those in the room. It was pretended, more air was necessary. The under dresser went out with the child, or somewhat else, in her arms to a dressing room, to which there was a door near the queen's bed : but there was another entry to it from other apartments i. The king continued with the lords in the bed- Great chamber for some minutes, which was either a signfSousy0 of much phlegm upon such an occasion ; for it was aPPeared- not known whether the child was alive or dead : or it looked like the giving time for some management. After a little while they went all into the dressing room: and then the news was published. In the mean while, no body was called to lay their hands S (The earl of Middleton, a black, was afraid it was in a protestant, deposed, that he convulsion fit. Deposition viii.) stood near the bed's feet on > ("There was no door into the left side, where he heard " the room but one by which the queen's groans, and pre- " a child could have been con- sently after several loud shrieks; " veyed, and that door was the last the deponent remem- " closed up by a great press bers continued so long, that " which had stood at the back he wondered how any body " for many years before, and could hold their breath so " several months after, and was long.) " seen standing at the time of n (The lady Bellasis, a pro- " the birth by many witnesses, testant, deposed, that after see- " beyond all exception." Ex- ing the infant taken out of the tract from a MS. of sir George bed, with the navel string hang- Mackenzie's, in a collection of ing to it, she opened the re- papers belonging to the reverend ceiver, and not hearing the in- Mr. Fortescue-Knottesford, p. fant cry, and seeing it a little 42.) 254 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. on the queen's belly, in order to a full satisfaction. When the princess came to town three days after, she had as little satisfaction given her. Chamber lain, the man midwife, who was always ordered to attend her labour before, and who brought the plaist- ers for putting back the milk, wondered that he had not been sent tok. He went, according to cus- k " I perceive the Heer " Meuschen was misled, con- " founding my discourse with " him on this matter, together " with the conversation he " might have had with others, " occasioned by pamphlets then " here current, pretending an " account how far I had been " therein engaged ; to which " several falsehoods were add- " ed. One of those papers was " writ by Mr. Burnet, son to " the bishop of Salisbury. — The " matter of fact follows : On " Sunday morning, the day of " the month and year occurs " not at present to my me- " mory, the queen sent early a " footman to fetch me to St. " James's, but late the night " before being gone to Chat- " ham to visit a patient, he " missed me ; a post was im- " mediately dispatched, and I " hastened and found a child " newlyborn.looseandundrest, " in lady Powis her lap, and as " I was informed, brought forth " an hour before I came." Dr. Hugh Chamberlayne's Letter to the princess Sophia, mother of George the First, in the Appendix to Dalrymple 's Memoirs, vol. II. p. 311. The writer of this let ter, after mentioning that the duchess of Monmouth, at that time disobliged by the court, pleaded to him sometime be fore in excuse for making him wait at her house, that she had been with her majesty, and seen her shifted, and her belly very big, goes on to say, " Another " circumstance in this case is, " that my being a noted whig, "and signally oppressed by " king James, they would ne- " ver have hazarded such a se- " cret as a supposititious child, " which, had I been at home to " have immediately followed " the summons, I must have " come time enough to have " discovered, though the queen " had usually very quick la- " hours." . ..." A third ma- " terial circumstance may be " admitted ; that during my " attendance on the child, by " his majesty's directions, I " had frequent discourse with " the necessary woman, who, " being in mighty dread of po- " pery, and confiding in my re- " puted whiggism, would often " complain of the busy prag- " maticalness of the Jesuits, " who placed and displaced " whom they pleased, and for " her part she expected a speedy " remove, for the Jesuits would " endure none but their own " party; such was our common " entertainment; but about a " fortnight after the child was OF KING JAMES II. 255 tom, with the plaisters : but he was told they had no 1688. occasion for him. He fancied, that some other per-- son was put in his place : but he could not find that any had it. All that concerned the milk or the queen's purgations was managed still in the dark1. This made all people inclined more and more to believe, there was a base imposture now put on the nation. That still increased. That night one Hemings, a very worthy man, an apothecary by his trade, who lived in St. Martin's-lane, the very next door to a family of an eminent papist : (Brown, brother to the viscount Montacute, lived there :) the wall between his parlour and theirs being so thin, that he could easily hear any thing that was said with a louder voice, he (Hemings) was reading in his parlour late at night, when he heard one coming into 753 the neighbouring parlour, and say with a doleful voice, The prince of Wales is dead : upon which a great many that lived in the house came down stairs very quick. Upon this confusion he could not hear any thing more; but it was plain they were in a great consternation111. He went with the news next " born, a rumour being spread " (June nth, Monday. In the " through the city, that the " morning there was a strong " child was supposititious, she " rumour, that theyoung prince " cried, Alas! will they not let " was dead : he had been ill in " the poor infant alone? I am " the night, and the king was " certain no such thing as the " called up; but upon giving " bringing a strange child in a " him remedies, God be thank- " warming pan could be prac- " ed, he grew better." Lord " tised without my seeing it, at- Clarendon's Diary, p. 48. "It " tending constantly in and " is true, says a lady of qua- " about all the avenues of the " lity, the prince had once a fit " chamber.") " of phlegm, as other children 1 (See note below at p. 785, " have, and a lady sending to folio edit.) " inquire of his health, one mA most foolish story, hardly " Mrs. Rugee, one of the dry worthy of a coffee-house. S. " nurses, did indiscreetly send 256 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. morning to the bishops in the tower. The countess of Clarendon came thither soon after, and told them, she had been at the young prince's door, but was de nied access: she was amazed at it; and asked, if they knew her : they said, they did ; but that the queen had ordered, that no person whatsoever should be suffered to come in to him. This gave credit to Heming's story, and looked as if all was ordered to be kept shut up close, till another child was found11. One, that saw the child two days after, said to me, that he looked strong, and not like a child so newly born. Windebank met Walgrave the day after this birth, and remembered him of what he had told him eight weeks before. He acknowledged what he had said, but added, that God wrought miracles ; to which no reply could or durst be made by the other: it needed none. So healthy a child being so little like any of those the queen had borne, it was given out, that he had fits, and could not live. But those who saw him every day observed no such thing. On the contrary, the child was in a very prosperous state. None of those fits ever happened when the princess was at court ; for she could not be denied admit tance, though all others were. So this was believed to " word, she beheved he would " much as they can. By all I " be dead, before the messen- " have seen and heard, some- " ger got home. And this oc- " times they refuse almost every " casioned the report of his " body to see it; that is, when " death, but he was well in an " they say it is not well ; and " hour after." Answer to the " methinks there is always a pamphlet mentioned before, en- " mystery in it; 'for one does titled New Proofs, &c. p. 51.) " not know whether it be really n (The princess of Denmark, " sick, and they fear one should in the above cited answer to " know it, or whether it is well, her sister's queries, says, " As " and they would have one " for seeing the child drest or " think it is sick, as the other " undrest, they avoid it as " children used to be." p. 309.) OF KING JAMES II. 257 be given out to make the matter more credible. It is 1 688. true, some weeks after that, the court being gone to Windsor, and the child sent to Richmond, he fell into such fits, that four physicians were sent for. They all looked on him as a dying child0- The The child, king and queen were sent for. The physicians went uered, died, to a dinner prepared for them ; and were often won-™^a™*nr dering that they were not called for. They tookhisroom- it for granted, that the child was dead. But, when they went in after dinner to look on him, they saw a sound healthy child, that seemed to have had no sort of illness on him. It was said, that the child was strangely revived of a sudden. . Some of the physi cians told Lloyd, bishop of St. Asaph, that it was not possible for them to think it was the same child. They looked on one another, but durst not speak what they thought p. 0 (This visit of their majes ties on this occasion is thus noticed in a contemporary letter, lately printed by Mr. Ellis. " At Richmond the " prince of Wales continues to " suck the nurse allowed him, " and it hath that good effect " which is natural and usual " to children, and their majes- " ties returned thence this day " to Windsor." Second Series of Original Letters, vol. IV. p. 120.) p So here are three children. S. (First, the queen is surmis ed not to have been with child. Secondly, to have miscarried. Thirdly, a child in a warming- pan is supposed to have been conveyed into the bedchamber. Fourthly, perhaps no child to have been carried from thence VOL. III. into the next room. Fifthly, the child seen by all in that room to have died. Sixthly, a substituted child to have died. Thus, as Swift observes, we have three children ; the new born infant seen in the next room by all, the substituted child, and the prince of Wales. It is lamentable, that such a man as Burnet should have dis graced himself by the recital of these stupid and inconsistent falsehoods. See further below, at pp. 785, 786. But either the bishop or his son had already, before the publication of this work, communicated to the world the above particulars, together with those remarks which he makes below upon the Depositions proving the birth of the young prince. This 258 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. Thus I have related such particulars as I could gather of this hirth : to which some more shall be added, when I give an account of the proof that the king brought afterwards to put this matter out of doubt ; but by which it became indeed more doubt ful than ever. I took most of these from the in formations that were sent over to the prince and princess of Orange, as I had many from the vouchers 754 themselves. I do not mix with these the various reports that were, both then and afterwards, spread of this matter, of which bishop Lloyd has a great collection, most of them well attested % What truth was done in a pamphlet, twice before cited, entitled, in irony, Some new Proofs, by which it appears that the Pretender is truly James the Third. It was published towards the end of queen Anne's reign, and in it the author professes to have been materially assisted by bishop Lloyd, who is cited particularly for the accounts given by Hemings of the death of the prince, and for that by lady Clarendon of being re fused admittance to him. But these idle stories are either re futed or accounted for in the testimony which lady Went worth gave to the celebrated Dr. Hickes, mentioned below at p. 8 1 7 . The observation of the author of the Answer to the above pamphlet ought to be here added. " To palm one " child upon a nation, is cer- " tainly a thing very difficult; " but to palm three, one after " another, and when the na- " tion was alarmed beforehand, " was, in my apprehension, " next to impossible ; and no " man alive certainly can be- " lieve it, who is not bereaved " of his reason, or else is re- " solved to believe every thing, " right or wrong; possible or "impossible." P. 57.) 1 ("There is a piece printed " in the History of the Stu- " arts, said to be ofthe bishop's " dictating, to a gentleman who " took minutes, and gave it in " as it stands. It goes by the " name of Bishop Lloyd's Ac- " count of the imposture of " the prince of Wales. In " which it is asserted, that the " child sent to Richmond died " there on the fourth or fifth " of August, and was buried at " Chiswick." Salmon' s Lives of the English Bishops, page 156. Oldmixon, the author of the History ofthe Stuarts, calls this letter the very collection men tioned by bishop Burnet, but it rather appears to contain a report of a conversation with Lloyd on the subject of the prince's birth, giving however OF KING JAMES II. 259 soever may be in these, this is certain, that the me- 1688. thod in which this matter was conducted from first to last was very unaccountable. If an imposture had been intended, it could not have been otherwise managed. The pretended excuse that the queen made, that she owed no satisfaction to those who could suspect her capable of such base forgery, was the only excuse that she could have made, if it had been really what it was commonly said to be. She seemed to be soon recovered, and was so little al tered by her labour, either in her looks or voice, that this helped not a little to increase jealousies. The rejoicings over England upon this birth were very cold and forced. Bonfires were made in some places, and a set of congratulatory addresses went round the nation. None durst oppose them. But all was formal, and only to make a shew. The prince and princess of Orange received the The prince news of this birth very decently. The first letters of Orange gave not those grounds of suspicion that were sent^tafeteT" to them afterwards. So they sent over Zuylestein to congratulate : and the princess ordered the prince of Wales to be prayed for in her chapel. Upon this the sum of his collections ; for James to be present, although in it both Heming and lady none of them for various rea- Clarendon's stories are intro- sons accepted the invitation. duced together with that about It is perhaps scarcely worth the child, who is stated to have noticing, that Fuller, who, un- died at Richmond ; together supported by any proof, as- with other relations of equal serted that the prince was the credibility, particularly when son of one Mary Grey by the the queen's delivery of a daugh- duke of Tyrconnel, declares, in ter two years afterwards is his Humble Appeal, printed in taken into consideration; at 1706, that of his own know- whose expected birth persons ledge the account of the child's of the highest quality in Eng- dying at Richmond is unfound- land were solicited by king ed. See p. 36.) s 2 260 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. occasion, it may not be improper to set down what the princess said to my self on this subject two years before. I had asked her, in the freedom of much dis course, if she knew the temper of her own mind, and how she could bear the queen's having a son. She said, she was sure it would give her no concern at all on her own account : God knew best what was fit for her : and, if it was not to serve the great ends of Providence, she was sure that, as to her self, she would rather wish to live and die in the condi tion she was then in. The advertisements formerly mentioned came over from so many hands, that it was impossible not to be shaken by them. It was also taken ill in England, that the princess should have begun so early to pray for the pretended prince : upon which the naming him discontinued. But this was so highly resented by the court of England, that the prince, fearing it might precipi tate a rupture, ordered him to be again named in the prayers r. The prince The prince set himself with great application to designs an »,. , ,.. _ expedition prepare tor the intended expedition : for Zuylestein ng an . bought him such positive advices, and such an as surance of the invitation he had desired, that he was fully fixed in his purpose. It was advised from England, that the prince could never hope for a more favourable conjuncture, nor for better grounds to break on, than he had at that time. The whole r (" Some few hours after the " princess gave immediate or- " Dutch fleet had sailed from " der to leave out the prayer " Helver, a fisher boat arrived " for the prince of Wales in " at Scheveling, and brought " her chapel at evening ser- " word to the Hague, that the " vice," Bevill Higgons's View " fleet was out at sea with a of English History, p. 344. 2d "fair wind; upon which the edit.) OF KING JAMES II. 261 nation v/as in a high fermentation. The proceed- 1688. ings against the bishops, and those that were still ^55 kept on foot against the clergy, made all people think the ruin of the church was resolved on, and that on the first occasion it would be executed, and that the religion would be altered. The pretended birth made them reckon that popery and slavery would be entailed on the nation. And if this heat went off, people would lose heart. It was also visi ble, that the army continued well affected. They spoke openly against popery : they drank the most reproachful healths against them that could be in vented, and treated the few papists that were among them with scorn and aversion. The king saw this so visibly, that he broke up the camp, and sent them to their quarters : and it was believed, that he would bring them no more together, till they were modeled more to his mind. The seamen shewed the same inclinations. The Dutch had set out a fleet of twenty-four men of war, on pretence to se cure their trade : so the king resolved to set out as strong a fleet. Strickland, who was a papist, had the command. He brought some priests aboard with him, who said mass, or at least performed such offices of their religion as are allowed on ships of war : and the chaplain, that was to serve the pro testants in Strickland's ship, was sent away upon a slight pretence. This put the whole fleet into such a disorder, that it was like to end in a mutiny. Strickland punished some for this : and the king came down to accommodate the matter. He spoke very softly to the seamen : yet this made no great impression : for they hated popery in general, and Strickland in particular. When some gained per- S 3 262 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. sons among the seamen tried their affections to the Dutch, it appeared they had no inclinations to make war on them. They said aloud, they were their friends and their brethren; but they would very willingly go against the French. The king saw all this, and was resolved to take other more moderate measures. Sunderland These advices were suggested by the earl of Sun- more mode- derland, who saw the king was running violently to ceedingt ms own rumS- So, as soon as the queen admitted men to audiences, he had some very long ones of s The old earl of Bradford told me he dined in a great deal of company at the earl of Sunderland's.who declared pub licly that they were now sure of their game ; for it would be an easy matter to have a house of commons to their minds, and there was nothing else could re sist them. Lord Bradford asked him, if they were as sure of the house of lords, for he believed they would meet with more opposition there than they ex pected. Lord Sunderland turn ed to lord Churchill, who sat next him, and in a very loud shrill voice, cried, " O Silly, " why your troop of guards " shall be called to the house " of lords." D. (This note of lord Dartmouth's has been al ready published by sir John Dalrymple, in the Appendix to his Memoirs, vol. II. p. 288. Respecting the letter the earl of Sunderland published after wards, in vindication of him self, it is observed, in the Life of King James II. lately pub lished, " that in it he most " falsely pretends to have con- " stantly opposed all those " counsels which were now so "cried out against: whereas " in reality he did not only ap- ' ' prove them, but generally run " before the rest. He would " ofttimes indeed try the ford " by his secret agents, as sir " Nicholas Butler, Mr. Lob, " and even father Petre him- " self, that he might seem only " not to oppose those danger- " ous methods which had their " true origin from him alone." vol. II. p. 284. The earl of Aylesbury, in his letter to Mr. Leigh, of Adlestrop, says of this seducing minister, as he calls him, that he " put the king " upon all false steps, and own- " ed after the revolution to a " friend of mine, that he did all " that in him lay to promote " the entrance of the prince of " Orange." See before, at p. 697. He himself, in a letter still existing, boasts to king WiUiam of having "contributed " what lay in him towards the " advancing of his glorious un- " dertaking." See Dalrymple's Append. P. iii. p. 1.) OF KING JAMES II. 263 her. He represented to her, that the state of her 1 688. affairs was quite changed by her having a son. There was no need of driving things fast, now they had a succession sure : time would bring all about, if matters were but softly managed. He told her, it would become her to set up for the author of gentle counsels, that she might by another admin istration lay the flame that was now kindled. By this she would gain the hearts of the nation, both to her self and to her son : she might be declared re- 756 gent, in case the king should die before her son came to be of age. He found these advices began to be hearkened to. But, that he might have the more credit in pressing them, he, who had but too slight notions of religion, resolved to declare himself a papist. And then, he being in the same interest with her, and most violently hated for this ill step he had made, he gained such an ascendant over her spirit, that things were like to be put in another ma nagement. He made the step to popery all of the sudden, And he .,! , , , . j, turned pa- without any previous instruction or conference : so pjst. that the change he made looked too like a man who, having no religion, took up one, rather for to serve a turn, than that he was truly changed from one religion to another. He has been since accused, as if he had done all this to gain the more credit, that so he might the more effectually ruin the king*. There was a suspicion of another nature, t After the revolution, he and (from whom I had it,) that he his friends for him pleaded, wondered any body would be so that he turned papist for the silly as to dispute with kings ; good of the protestant religion, for if they would not take good and he told Mr. John Danvers, advice, there was no way of S 4 264 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. that stuck with some in England, who thought that Mr. Sidney, who had the secret of all the corre spondence that was between the prince and his party in England, being in particular friendship with the earl of Sunderland, the earl had got into that secret11 : and they fancied he would get into the prince's confidence by Sidney's means. So I was writ to, and desired to put it home to the prince, whether he was in any confidence or corre spondence with the earl of Sunderland, or not? For, till they were satisfied in that matter, they would not go on ; since they believed he would be tray all, when things were ripe for it, and that many were engaged in the design. The prince upon that did say very positively, that he was in no sort of correspondence with him. His counsels lay then another way. And, if time had been given him to follow the scheme then laid down by him, things might have turned fatally: and the nation might have been so laid asleep with new promises, and a different conduct, that in a slow method they might have gained that, which they were so near losing by the violent proceedings in which thay had gone so farx. The judges had orders in their cir- dealing with them, but by run- lords commissioners of the great ning into their measures till seal. O. (The earl of Leices- they had ruined themselves. D. ter, father of this noble lady, u He was brother to the earl's in his Journal lately published mother, Mr. Waller's Sacha- by Mr.Blencowe, p. 136, calls rissa. She was, after the death hisson-in-lawsirRobertSmith.) of the earl's father, married to x See what the want of pro- a private gentleman of Kent, bity will bring the greatest man near Penshurst, Mr. Smythe, to. This able politician had from which marriage is de- the dexterity to draw this di scended a grandson, sir Sydney lemma upon his character^ If Stafford Smythe, a baron of the he was true to his country, he exchequer, and late one of the betrayed his master. If he was OF KING JAMES II. 265 cuits to proceed very gently, and to give new pro- 1 688. mises in the king's name. But they were treated every where with such contempt, that the common decencies were scarce paid them, when they were on the bench. And they now saw that the present ments of grand juries, and the verdicts of other juries, were no more under their direction. Things slept in England, as is usual, during the long vaca tion. But the court had little quiet, having every day fresh alarms from abroad, as well as great mor tifications at home. I must now change the scene, and give a large 757 account of the affairs abroad, they having such aThePrince 0 of Orange connection with all that followed in England. Upon treats with the elector of Brandenburgh's death, the prince sent princes of Mr. Bentink with the compliment to the new elec- the empire' tor : and he was ordered to lay before him the state of affairs, and to communicate the prince's design to him, and to ask him, how much he might depend upon him for his assistance. The answer was full and frank. He offered all that was asked, and more. The prince resolved to carry over to Eng land an army of nine thousand foot and four thou sand horse and dragoons. He intended to choose these out of the whole Dutch army. But for the true to his master, he was false king very ill. See the next vol. to his country. He served king page 163, 171. He was cer- William afterwards, and was tainly a very ill man. I have deemed the best minister he heard one particular of him, ever had. But king William which is pretty extraordinary in should not have made such a this country, where men gene- man his minister. However rally raise themselves by ability good his counsels might be, his of speech, in public assemblies, character did the king more " that he never used to speak hurt ; and in some things his " in parliament." See the next fears, on account of his former vol. pp. 4, 128, 207. O. actings, made him advise the 266 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. security of the States, under such a diminution of their force, it was necessary to have a strength from some other princes. This was soon concerted be tween the prince and the new elector, with the landgrave of Hesse, and the duke of Lunenburg and Zell, who had a particular affection to the prince, and was a cordial friend to him on all occa sions y. His brother, the duke of Hanover, was at that time in some engagements with the court of France. But, since he had married the princess Sophia of the Palatine house, I ventured to send a message to her by one of their court, who was then at the Hague. He was a French refugee, named Mr. Boucour. It was to acquaint her with our design with relation to England, and to let her know, that, if we- succeeded, certainly a perpetual exclusion of all papists from the succession to the crown would be enacted : and, since she was the next protestant heir after the two princesses, and the prince of Orange, of whom at that time there was no issue alive, I was very confident, that, if the duke of Hanover could be disengaged from the interests of France, so that he came into our interests, the suc cession to the crown would be lodged in her person, and in her posterity : though on the other hand, if he continued, as he stood then, engaged with France, I could not answer for this. The gentle man carried the message and delivered it. The duchess entertained it with much warmth : and brought him to the duke to repeat it to him. But y (Ralph asserts, that these which mention is made below. conferences took place after the Hist, of England, p. 1009.) elector of Cologne's death, of OF KING JAMES II. 267 at that time this made no great impression on him. 1688. He looked on it as a remote and a doubtful project. Yet when he saw our success in England, he had other thoughts of it. Some days after this French man was gone, I told the prince what I had done. He approved of it heartily : but was particularly glad that I had done it as of my self, without com municating it to him, or any way engaging him in it : for he said, if it should happen to be known that the proposition was made by him, it might do us hurt in England, as if he had already reckoned 758 himself so far master, as to be forming projects con cerning the succession to the crown z. But while this was in a secret management, the The affa"* ° of Colen. elector of Colen's death came in very luckily to give a good colour to intrigues and preparations. The old elector was brother to Maximilian, duke of Ba varia. He had been long bishop, both of Colen and Liege : he was also elected bishop of Munster : but the pope would never grant his bulls for that see : but he had the temporalties, and that was all he thought on. He had thus a revenue of near four millions of guilders, and four great bishoprics; for he z In this case, as in that mo- not credit, though he is not dest proposal he made to the ashamed to own it ; his vanity princess, (see above, p. 692,) I being very apt to get the better believe he was employed by the of his modesty, .and sometimes prince, as one there was no of his truth, of which there are consequence in disavowing, if many instances in this history he had no success ; and by his that I did not expect. D. (Wil- own account, the prince was liam's connections with and resolved to do so. But that his designs in favour of the thislittle pamphlet writershould princes of the house of Bruns- of his own head propose set- wick Lunenburgh, may be seen tling the succession, either to inD'Avaux'sNegotiations.years the princess of Orange, or the 1680, &c.) princess Sophia, is what I can- 268 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. was likewise bishop of Hildesheim. He could arm and pay twenty thousand men, besides that his do minions lay quite round the Netherlands. Munster lay between them and the northern parts of Ger many; and from thence their best recruits came. Colen commanded twenty leagues of the Rhine ; by which, as an entrance was opened into Holland, which they had felt severely in the year 1672, so the Spanish Netherlands were entirely cut off from all assistance that might be sent them out of Ger many : and Liege was a country full both of people and wealth, by which an entrance is open into Bra bant : and if Maestricht was taken, the Maese was open down to Holland. So it was of great import ance to the States to take care who should succeed him. The old man was a weak prince, much set on chemical processes, in hopes of the philosopher's stone. He had taken one of the princes of Fur- stenberg into his particular confidence, and was en tirely governed by him. He made him one of the canons of Colen : and he came to be dean at last. He made him not only his chief minister, but left the nomination of the canons that were preferred by him wholly to his choice. The bishop and the dean and chapter name those by turns. So what by those the elector named on his motion, what by those he got to be chosen, he reckoned he was sure of succeeding the elector : and nothing but ill ma nagement could have prevented it. He had no hopes of succeeding at Munster. But he had taken much pains to secure Liege. I need not enlarge further on this story, than to remember that he got the elector to deliver his country up to the French in the year 1672, and OF KING JAMES II. 269 that the treaty opened at Colen was broken up on 1688. his being seized by the emperor's order. After he was set at liberty, he was, upon the recommenda tion of the court of France, made a cardinal, though with much difficulty. In the former winter, the emperor had been prevailed on by the Palatine fa mily to consent to the election of a coadjutor in Colen. But this was an artifice of the cardinal's, who deceived that family into the hopes of carrying 759 the election for one of their branches. And they obtained the emperor's consent to it, without which it could not be done. But so ill grounded were the Palatine's hopes, that of twenty-five voices the car dinal had nineteen, and they had only six voices. The contest at Rome about the franchises had now occasioned such a rupture there, that France and Rome seemed to be in a state of war. The count Lavardin was sent ambassador to Rome. But the pope refused to receive him, unless he would re nounce the pretension to the franchises. So he en tered Rome in a hostile manner, with some troops of horse, though not in form of troops : but the force was too great for the pope. He kept guards about his house, and in the franchises, and affronted the pope's authority on all occasions. The pope bore all silently; but would never admit him to an audience, nor receive any message nor intercession from the court of France ; and kept off every thing, in which they concerned themselves : and therefore he would not confirm the election of a coadjutor to Colen. So, that not being done when the elector died, the ca nons were to proceed to a new election, the former being void, because not confirmed : for if it had been confirmed, there would have been no vacancy. 270 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. The cabal against the cardinal grew so strong* that he began to apprehend he might lose it, if he had not leave from the pope to resign the bishopric of Strasburg, which the French had forced him to accept, only to lessen the pension that they paid him by giving him that bishopric. By the rules of the empire, a man that is already a bishop, cannot be chosen to another see, but by a postulation : and to that it is necessary to have a concurrence of two- thirds of the chapter. But it was at the pope's choice, whether he would accept of the resignation of Strasburg, or not: and therefore he refused it. The king of France sent a gentleman to the pope with a letter writ in his own hand, desiring him to accept of that resignation, and promising him upon it all reasonable satisfaction : but the pope would not admit the bearer, nor receive the letter. He said, while the French ambassador lived at Rome like an enemy that had invaded it, he would receive nothing from that court. In the bishoprics of Munster and Hildesheim, the deans were promoted, of whom both the states and the princes of the empire were well assured. But a new management was set up at Colen. The elector of Bavaria had been disgusted at some things in the emperor's court. He complained, that the honour of the success in Hungary was given so entirely to the 760 duke of Lorrain, that he had not the share which belonged to him. The French instruments that were then about him took occasion to alienate him more from the emperor, by representing to him, that, in the management now at Colen, the emperor shewed more regard to the Palatine family than to himself, after all the service he had done him. The emperor, OF KING JAMES II. 271 apprehending the ill consequences of a breach with 1688. him, sent and offered him the supreme command of his armies in Hungary for that year, the duke of Lorrain being taken ill of a fever, just as they were upon opening the campaign. He likewise offered him all the voices that the Palatine had made at Colen, in favour of his brother prince Clement. Upon this they were again reconciled : and the elec tor of Bavaria commanded the emperor's army in Hungary so successfully, that he took Belgrade by storm after a short siege. Prince Clement was then but seventeen, and was not of the chapter of Colen. So he was not eligible, according to their rules, till he obtained a bull from the pope dispensing with these things. That was easily got. With it the emperor sent one to manage the election in his name, with express instructions to offer the chapter the whole revenue and government of the temporal- ties for five years, in case they would choose prince Clement, who wanted all that time to be of age. If he could make nine voices sure for him, he was to stick firm to his interest. But, if he could not gain so many, he was to consent to any person that should be set up in opposition to the cardinal. He was ordered to charge him severely before the chap ter, as one that had been for many years an enemy and traitor to the empire. This was done with all possible aggravations, and in very injurious words. The chapter saw, that this election was like to be attended with a war in their country, and other dis mal consequences : for the cardinal was chosen by the chapter, vicar, or guardian of the temporalties : and he had put garrisons in all their fortified places, that were paid with French money : and they knew, 272 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN i fi88 he would put them all in the king of France's hands, if he was not elected. They had promised not to vote in favour of the Bavarian prince. So they of fered to the emperor's agent to consent to any third person : but ten voices were made sure to prince Clement : so he was fixed to his interests. At the election, the cardinal had fourteen voices, and prince Clement had ten. By this means the cardinal's pos tulation was defective, since he had not two-thirds. And upon that, prince Clement's election was first judged good by the emperor, as to the temporalties; but was transmitted by him to Rome, where a con gregation of cardinals examined it : and it was 761 judged in favour of prince Clement. The cardinal succeeded worse at Liege, where the dean was with out any difficulty chosen bishop : and nothing but the cardinal's purple saved him from the violences of the people of Liege. He met with all sorts of inju rious usage, being hated there, both on the account of his depending so much on the protection of France, and for the effects they had felt of his violent and cruel ministry under the old elector. I will add one circumstance in honour of some of the canons of Liege. They not only would accept of no presents from those whom the States appointed to assist in managing that election, before it was made ; but they refused them after the election was over. This I saw in the letter that the States' deputy wrote to the Hague. I have given a more particular account of this matter ; because I was acquainted with all the steps that were made in it. And it had such an imme diate relation to the peace and safety of Holland, that, if they had miscarried in it, the expedition de- OF KING JAMES II. 273 signed for England would not have been so safe, nor 1 688. could it have been proposed easily in the States. By this it appeared, what an influence the papacy, low as it is, may still have in the matters of the greatest consequence. The foolish pride of the French court, which had affronted the pope, in a point in which, since they allowed him to be the prince of Rome, he certainly could lay down such rules as he thought fit, did now defeat a design that they had been long driving at, and which could not have miscarried by any other means, than those that they had found out. Such great events may and do often rise from inconsiderable beginnings. These things furnished the prince with a good blind for covering all his pre parations ; since here a war in their neighbourhood was unavoidable, and it was necessary to strengthen both their alliances and their troops. For it was vi sible to all the world, that, if the French could have fixed themselves in the territory of Colen, the way was opened to enter Holland, or to seize on Flan ders, when the king pleased ; and he would have the four electors on the Rhine at mercy. It was neces sary to dislodge them, and this could not be done without a war with France. The prince got the States to settle a fund for nine thousand seamen, to be constantly in their service. And orders were given to put the naval preparations in such a case, that they might be ready, to put to sea upon orders. Thus things went on in July and August, with so much secrecy and so little suspicion, that neither the court of England nor the court of France seemed to be alarmed at thema. a (Ralph remarks, that the p. 768, that Albeville came over bishop himself acknowledges, at fully persuaded, that the Dutch VOL. III. T 274 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. In July, admiral Herbert came over to Holland, Z7Z and was received with a particular regard to his Herbert pride and ill humour : for he was upon every occa- toXXnd. sion so sullen and peevish, that it was plain he set a high value on himself, and expected the same of all others. He had got his accounts passed, in which he complained, that the king had used him not only hardly but unjustly. He was a man delivered up to pride and luxury. Yet he had a good understanding: and he had gained so great a reputation by his steady behaviour in England, that the prince under stood that it was expected he should use him as he himself should desire ; in which it was not very easy to him to constrain himself so far as that required. The managing him was in a great measure put on me : and it was no easy thing. It made me often reflect on the providence of God, that makes some men instruments in great things, to which they them selves have no sort of affection or disposition : for his private quarrel with the lord Dartmouth, who he thought had more of the king's confidence than he himself had, was believed the root of all the sullen- ness he fell under towards the king, and of all the firmness that grew out of that. Theadvices I now return to England, to give an account of a land! "e secret management there. The lord MordauntD was the first of all the English nobility that came over openly to see the prince of Orange. He asked the designed the expedition against Sunderland in his letter of England. The same historian apology intimates, that the further observes, that the whole French made an offer in the tenor of James's measures summer of strengthening the shews, that he suspected the in- king's hands with a squadron of tentions of Holland, for when theirs, which was refused. Hist. the Dutch fitted out a fleet, he of England, vol. I. p. 1006.) did the same; and that lord D Now earl of Peterborow. S. OF KING JAMES II. 275 king's leave to do it. He was a man of much heat, 1688. many notions, and full of discourse : he was brave The lord and generous : but had not true judgment, [and less character! * virtue :] his thoughts were crude and indigested : and his secrets were soon known. [He was both vain, passionate, and inconstant.] He was with the prince in the year 1686: and then he pressed him to undertake the business of England : and he repre sented the matter as so easy, that this appeared too romantical to the prince to build upon it. He only promised in general, that he should have an eye on the affairs of England ; and should endeavour to put the affairs of Holland in so good a posture, as to be ready to act when it should be necessary: and he assured him, that, if the king should go about either to change the established religion, or to wrong the princess in her right, or to raise forged plots to de stroy his friends, that he would try what he could possibly do. Next year a man of a far different tem per came over to him : The earl of Shrewsbury. He had been bred a pa- The earl of ... . Shrews- pist, but had forsaken that religion upon a very en- bury's cha- tical and anxious inquiry into matters of contro versy0. Some thought that, though he had forsaken popery, he was too sceptical, and too little fixed in the points of religion. He seemed to be a man of great probity, and to have a high sense of honour d. He had no ordinary measure of learning, a correct 763 " He turned protestant in the venient his son should,) lord time of the popish plot, as did Lumley, since earl of Scarbo- the earl of Arundel, (by the ad- rough, lord Brudenel, eldest son vice, as was said, of his father, to the earl of Cardigan, and se- the duke of Norfolk, who told veral others of lower distinc- him he was too old to change tion. D. his religion, but thought it con- d Quite contrary. S. T 2 276 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. judgment, with a sweetness of temper that charmed all who knew him. He had at that time just notions of government ; and so great a command of himself, that, during all the time that he continued in the ministry, I never heard any one complaint of him, but for his silent and reserved answers, with which his friends were not always well pleased. His mo dest deportment gave him such an interest in the prince, that he never seemed so fond of any of his ministers as he was of him. He had only in general laid the state of affairs before the prince, without pressing him too much. Mussel's But Russel coming over in May, brought the mat- ter nearer a point. He was a cousin-german to the lord Russel. He had been bred at sea, and was bed chamber-man to the king, when he was duke of York : but, upon the lord Russel's death, he retired from the court. He was a man of much honour and great courage. He had good principles, and was firm to them. [He was too lazy, too haughty, and too much given to pleasure.] The prince spoke more positively to him than he had ever done be fore. He said, he must satisfy both his honour and conscience, before he could enter upon so great a design, which, if it miscarried, must bring ruin both on England and Holland : he protested, that no private ambition nor resentment of his own could ever prevail so far with him, as to make him break with so near a relation, or engage in a war, of which the consequences must be of the last import ance both to the interests of Europe and of the pro testant religion : therefore he expected formal and direct invitations. Russel laid before him the danger of trusting such a secret to great numbers. The OF KING JAMES II. 277 prince said, if a considerable number of men, that 1688. might be supposed to understand the sense of the- nation best, should do it, he would acquiesce in it. Russel told me, that, upon his return to England, he communicated the matter, first to the earl of Shrewsbury, and then to the lord Lumly, who was a late convert from popery, and had stood out very firmly all this reign e. He was a man who laid his interest much to heart : and he resolved to embark deep in this design. But the man in whose hands the conduct of the whole design was chiefly deposited, by the prince's own order, was Mr. Sidney, brother to the earl of Leicester and to Algernoon Sidney. He was a grace- Sidney's ful man, and had lived long in the court, where hec aracter- had some adventures that became very public. He was a man of a sweet and caressing temper, had no malice in his heart, but too great a love of pleasured He had been sent envoy to Holland in the year 1679, where he entered into such particular confi- 764 dences with the prince, that he had the highest mea sure of his trust and favour that any Englishman ever had. This was well known over England : so that all who desired to recommend themselves to the prince did it through his hands. He was so ap prehensive of the dangers this might cast him in, that he travelled almost a year round Italy. But now matters ripened faster : so all centered in him. But, because he was lazy, and the business required an active man, who could both run about, and write over long and full accounts of all matters, I recom- e He was a knave and a cow- rake, without sense, truth, or ard. S. honor. S. "Le beau Sidney.'' v. f An idle, drunken, ignorant Memoires de Grammont. Cole. T 3 278 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN I G88. mended a kinsman of my own, Johnstoune S, whom I had formed, and knew to be both faithful and di ligent, [he was indeed hot and eager, too soon pos sessed with jealousy11, and too vehement in all he proposed, but he proved very fit,J and very fit for the employment he was now trusted with. Many en- Sidney tried the marquis of Hallifax, if he would gagedinthe . design. advise the prince's coming over. But, as this mat ter was opened to him at a great distance, he did not encourage a further freedom. He looked on the thing as impracticable : it depended on so many ac cidents, that he thought it was a rash and desperate project, that ventured all upon such a dangerous issue, as might turn on seas and winds. It was next opened to the earl of Danby : and he not only went in heartily to it himself, but drew in the bishop of London to join in it. By their advice it was pro posed to the earl of Nottingham, who had great cre dit with the whole church party: for he was a man possessed with their notions V) and was grave and virtuous in the course of his life. He had some knowledge of the law, and of the records of parlia ment, and was a copious speaker, but too florid and tedious. He [certainly admired himself, and] was much admired by many, [chiefly by those who knew him least.] He had stood at a great distance from the court all this reign : for, though his name was still among the privy counsellors, yet he never went to the board. He upon the first proposition enter tained it, and agreed to it. But at their next meet- S An arrant Scotch rogue. S. n (" He is honest, but some- He was a son of Warriston, " thing too credulous and sus- mentioned before, (p. 203, folio " picious." Carstares's State edit.) and was afterwards secre- Papers, p. 93 .) tary of state for Scotland. O. - i That is, church notions. S. OF KING JAMES II. 279 ing he said, he had considered better of that matter : ] 688. his conscience was so restrained in those points, that — he could not go further with them in it : he said, he had talked with some divines, and named Tillotson and Stillingfleet, in general of the thing ; and they were not satisfied with it: (though they protested to me afterwards, that they remembered no such thing :) he confessed, he should not have suffered them to go so far with him in such a secret, till he had examined it better : they had now, according to Italian notions, a right to murder him k : but, though his principles restrained him, so that he could not go on with them, his affections would make him to wish well to them, and be so far a criminal as concealment could make him one1. The earl of Devonshire was spoke to : and he went into it with great resolution. It was next proposed to three of the chief officers of the army, Trelawny, Kirk, and the lord Churchill. 765 These went all into it. And Trelawny engaged his brother, the bishop of Bristol, into it. But, having now named the lord Churchill, who Churchill's character. k It has been said, that the Danby said, he thought there Spanish minister here, who was was more danger in meddling in the secret, did advise the with him than letting of him putting him to death. O. alone, for he believed, he durst 1 The duke of Shrewsbury as little discover as join with told me, that upon this decla- them: for he must needs think, ration of lord Nottingham, one that any prejudice he did them of the lords (whom he named) would certainly be revenged. said he thought things were Upon which they agreed to brought to a short point, either have nothing more to do with lord Nottingham or they must him, unless their design mis- die, and proposed shooting of carried ; in which case lord him upon Kensington road, Danby thought, they had rea- which he would undertake to son to prevent his claiming any do in such a manner, that it merit to the other side, by any should appear to have been means whatever. D. done by highwaymen. Lord T 4 280 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. is like to be mentioned oft by me in the sequel of " this work, I will say a little more of him. He was a man of a noble and graceful appearance, bred up in the court with no literature : but he had a solid and clear understanding, with a constant presence of mind. He knew the arts of living in a court beyond any man in it. He caressed all people with a soft and obliging deportment, and was always ready to do good offices. He had no fortune to set up on : this put him on all the methods of acquiring one m. And that went so far into him, that he did not shake it off when he was in a much higher eleva tion : nor was his expense suited enough to his posts. But, when allowances are made for that, it must be acknowledged, that he is one of the great est men the age has produced n. He was in high fa- m A composition of perfidi- ousness and avarice. S. Prince Eugene gave a concise charac ter of him upon receiving a let ter from him that he could not well read, therefore gave it to another person to try if he could read it to him, who said one difficulty was, that he never put a tittle upon an i; to which the prince answered, that saved ink. D. (Compare Evelyn's ac count of him, when he was dis missed the service by king Wil liam, vol. II. 30. Numerous in deed are the proofs of the perfidy of this ungrateful man, and his rapacify is the subject of many a satire ; but it is somewhere told, that when his enemies were attacking his character, particularly noticinghis avarice, and appealed to lord Boling broke, who had formerly been connected with him, for the truth of their remarks, his lord ship answered, that the duke of Marlborough was so great a man, that he could remember none of his faults. A fine sen timent in the mouth of a rival statesman ; but it ought not to abridge the freedom of his tory, or to protect the vices of a great bad man.) n He might with truth have added, that he was undoubted ly the most fortunate man that ever lived, having always re ceived the reward before the merit, and the appearance of having deserved it came after wards, for which he expected, and constantly had a second gratification ; till he had pro cured all the honours and wealth his own country could give him, and then obtained OF KING JAMES II. 281 vour with the king. But his lady was much more in princess Anne's favour. She had an ascendant" over her in every thing. She was a woman of little knowledge, but of a clear apprehension and a true judgment, a warm and hearty friend, violent and sudden in her resolutions, and impetuous in her way of speaking. She was thought proud and insolent on her favour, though she used none of the common arts of a court to maintain it : for she did not beset the princess, nor flatter her °. She stayed much at home, and looked very carefully after the education of her children. Having thus opened both their characters, I will now give an account of this lord's engagements in this matter ; for which he has been so severely censured, as guilty both of ingratitude and treachery to a very kind and liberal master. He 1688. leave to be made a prince of the empire, with full liberty to pillage our allies, which he did so effectually, that at his death, no prince in Europe had the command of so much treasure. But he had the misfortune to lose his understanding, some time before he died, which in one sense made good Madam De Croise's prophecy, that he should be the greatest man in England, and then lose his head. D. 0 This she took care to prove in the scandalous memoirs she published, a little before her own death, and had often threatened to do so in the queen's lifetime, but was pre vented, as sir Robert Walpole told me, by his telling her she would be tore in pieces in the streets if she did. But she shewed the queen's letters to every body, till Arthur Man waring, a great favourite of hers, told her she exposed her self more than the queen, for they only confirmed what the world thought before, that her majesty had always been too fond of her. But it seems they were of too sublime a nature to be totally suppressed ; though to her own and mistress's dis grace. D. (" Among other ex- " travagancies she now de- " clares, that she will print the " queen's letters to her; letters " writ whilst her majesty had " the good opinion and fond- " ness for her, which her in- " soient behaviour since that " time has absolutely eradi- " cated." Lord Bolingbroke's Letter in 1710. Letters and Correspondence, vol. I. p. 27.) 282 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. never discovered any of the king's secrets ; nor did he ever push him on to any violent proceedings P. So that he was in no contrivance to ruin or betray him. On the contrary, whensoever he spoke to the king of his affairs, which he did but seldom, because he could not fall in with the king's notions, he al ways suggested moderate counsels. The earl of Gal- way told me, that when he came over with the first compliment upon the king's coming to the crown, he said then to him, that, if the king was ever pre vailed on to alter our religion, he would serve him no longer, but withdraw from him. So early was this resolution fixed in him. When he saw how the king was set, he could not be contented to see all ruined by him. He was also very doubtful as to the pretended birth. So he resolved, when the prince should come over, to go in to him q ; but to betray no post, nor do any thing more than the withdraw ing himself, with such officers as he could trust 766 with such a secret r. He also undertook, that prince P (Lieutenant colonel Beau- 1 What could he do more to mont having been directed by a mortal enemy ? S. the duke of Berwick to admit r (Bishop Burnet, in vol. II. some Irish soldiers for recruits, of this History, p. 92, folio edit. refused to do it, and offered to speaks of the messages, which lay down his commission rather admiral Russel carried to and than comply. Accordingly he fro between Churchill and the and those officers who joined prince. His brother, George with him were tried at a coun- Churchill, went over with his cil of war, and cashiered : ship to the prince at the re- " when my lord Churchill mov- volution; and his brother-in- " ed to have them suffer death law Godfrey, a colonel in the " for their disobedience ; fore- army, who had married his sis- " seeing that such a piece of se- ter, the duke of Berwick's mo- " verity would reflect upon the ther, quitted the king's for the " king, and inflame the peo- prince's service. Of the inten- " pie." Life of King James II. tion attributed to him to seize vol. II. p. 169. See below, p. on the king's person in order 767.) to convey him to the prince of OF KING JAMES II. 283 George and the princess Anne would leave the 1688. court, and come to the prince, as soon as was pos- sible s. With these invitations and letters the earl of Shrewsbury and Russel came over in September t : Orange's quarters, see an ac count by the king himself in his Life lately pubhshed, vol. II. p. 222: who says, that some days after, he had so far in timation of his design, that it was proposed to secure him. See also D'Orleans's Re volutions, p. 311, 312. and sir John Reresby's Memoirs, page 167. Compare Macpherson's Original Papers, vol. I. p. 280 — 284, and Doctor King's Anec dotes, page 125. The further charge against lord Churchill of his intending to assassinate the king in case of a failure of the attempt to seize him, rests on the alleged conversation and deathbed confession of lord Hewit, one of the supposed confederates. Lord Churchill's late biographer, after finding fault with Macpherson, is con tented with making the follow ing observation: "Such tales *' may find a momentary cre- " dit, when the passions of " men are heated ; but at pre- " sent, to mention is to refute " them." See Coxe's Memoirs of John Duke of Marlborough, vol. I. p. 31. As for lord Marl borough's conduct afterwards, when he was imprisoned by William for corresponding with, and giving intelligence to his old master, it only puts him on a level with his versatile and unprincipled contemporaries.) s That Mr. Russel did carry such assurances is most un doubtedly true : but how this is to be reconciled to the ac count given by the duchess of Marlborough, ofthe prince's (princess's) leaving the cock pit, her friends, if she has any, would do well to explain. At present it is made up of so many inconsistencies, that it is impos sible any body should give cre dit to so ill a concerted ro mance. D. (Compare Ralph on this subject at p. 1048 of his History; who mentions a little before, that the earl of Balcar- ras, in his Account of the Af fairs of Scotland, p. 27, speak ing of the earl of Argyle, and his desire to be of the Orange party, tells us, " that he could " not be admitted, till his re- " quest had been made known " to prince George ; that the " condition upon which he was " to be admitted was, the taking " an oath upon the sacrament, " to go in to the prince of O- " range whenever he landed ; " and that he took the said oath " accordingly, in the presence " of the (young) duke of Or- " mond, and a gentleman who " belonged to the princess of " Denmark.") * (In the character of the princess of Denmark, after wards our queen, inscribed on the pedestal of her statue at 284 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. and soon after them came Sidney with Johnstoun. And they brought over a full scheme of advices, to gether with the heads of a declaration, all which were chiefly penned by lord Danby. He, and the earl of Devonshire, and the lord Lumly, undertook for the north : and they all dispersed themselves into their several countries, and among their friends. The thing was in the hands of many thousands, who yet were so true to one another, that none of them made any discovery, no, not by their rashness : though they were so confident, that they did not use so discreet a conduct as was necessary. Matters went on in Holland with great secrecy till Septem ber. Then it was known, that many arms were be spoke. And, though those were bargained for in the name of the king of Sweden, and of some of the princes of Germany, yet there was ground enough for suspicion. All those that were trusted proved both faithful and discreet. And here an eminent difference appeared between the hearty concurrence of those who went into a design upon principles of religion and honour, and the forced compliance of mercenary soldiers, or corrupt ministers, which is neither cordial nor secret. France took the alarm first, and gave it to the court of England. The comt D'Avaux, the French ambassador, could no more gave the give the court of France those advertisements that he was wont to send of all that passed in Holland. He had great allowances for entertaining agents and Blenheim, the duchess of Marl- tingham was never concerted, borough asserts, that it was the but occasioned by the great queen's greatest affliction to be consternation she was under at forced to act against the king the king's sudden return from her father even for security, Salisbury.) and that her journey to Not- alarm. OF KING JAMES II. 285 spies every where. But Louvoy, who hated him, J688. suggested that there was no more need of these : so they were stopped : and the ambassador was not sorry that the court felt their error so sensibly. The king published the advertisements he had from France a little too rashly : for all people were much animated, when they heard it from such a hand. The king soon saw his error : and, to correct it, he said on many occasions, that whatever the designs of the Dutch might be, he was sure they were not against him. It was given out sometimes, that they were against France, and then that they were against Denmark. Yet the king shewed he was not without his fears : for he ordered fourteen more ships to be put to sea with many fireships. He recalled Strick land, and gave the command to the lord Dartmouth ; who was indeed one of the worthiest men of his court : he loved him, and had been long in his ser vice, and in his confidence : but he was much against all the conduct of his affairs : yet he resolved to stick to him at all hazards. The seamen came in 767 slowly : and a heavy backwardness appeared in every thing. A new and unlooked for accident gave the kingKecmits a very sensible trouble. It was resolved, as was told i™^ v^' before, to model the army, and to begin with re-fusec1, cruits from Ireland. Upon which the English army would have become insensibly an Irish one. The king made the first trial on the duke of Berwick's regiment, which being already under an illegal co lonel, it might be supposed they were ready to sub mit to every thing. Five Irishmen were ordered to be put into every company of that regiment, which then lay at Portsmouth. But Beaumont, the lieu- 286 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. tenant colonel, and five- of the captains, refused to receive themu. They said, they had raised their men upon the duke of Monmouth's invasion, by which their zeal for the king's service did evidently ap pear. If the king would order any recruits, they doubted not, but that they should be able to make them. But they found, it would give such an uni versal discontent, if they should receive the Irish among them, that it would put them out of a capa city of serving the king any more. But as the order was positive, so the duke of Berwick was sent down to see it obeyed. Upon which they desired leave to lay down their commissions. The king was pro voked by this to such a degree that he could not go vern his passion. The officers were put in arrest, and brought before a council of war, where they were broken with reproach, and declared incapable to serve the king any morex. But upon this occa sion the whole officers of the army declared so great an unwillingness to mix with those of another na tion and religion, that, as no more attempts were made of this kind, so it was believed that this fixed the king in a point that was then under debate. offersmade The king of France, when he gave the king the French, advertisements of the preparations in Holland, of fered him such a force as he should call for. Twelve or fifteen thousand were named, or as many more as he should desire. It was proposed, that they should u (It is more remarkable, that x (This was a most barefaced this lieutenant colonel should and dangerous attempt, which, have been a Roman catholic, had it succeeded, must have as it is said in the True Briton, endangered the liberty of the N°. XX. than that one of his country ; and would probably captains, according to the same have ended in a bloody contest account, was afterwards a non- between the oppressors and the juror.) oppressed.) OF KING JAMES II. 287 land at Portsmouth, and that they should have that 1 688. place to keep the communication with France open, and in their hands. All the priests were for this : so were most of the popish lords. The earl of Sun derland was the only man in credit that opposed it. He said, the offer of an army of forty thousand men might be a real strength : but then it would depend on the orders that came from France: they might perhaps master England: but they would become the king's masters at the same time : so that he must govern under such orders as they should give: and thus he would quickly become only a viceroy to the king of France : any army less than that 768 would lose the king the affections of his people, and drive his own army to desertion, if not to mutiny. The king did not think matters were yet so near Not enter- a crisis : so he did neither entertain the proposition, thaTtime. nor let it fall quite to the ground. There was a treaty set on foot, and the king was to have an hun dred merchant ships ready for the transportation of such forces as he should desire, which it was pro mised should be ready when called for. It is cer tain, that the French ambassador then at London, who knew the court better than he did the nation, did believe, that the king would have been able to have made a greater division of the nation, than it proved afterwards he was able to do. He believed it would have gone to a civil war; and that then the king would have been forced to have taken as sistance from France on any terms : and so he en couraged the king of France to go on with his de signs that winter, and he believed he might come in good time next year to the king's assistance. These advices proved fatal to the king, and to Barillon 288 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. himself: for when he was sent over to France, he ' was so ill looked on, that it was believed it had an ill effect on his health ; for he died soon after ^. Albeville came over fully persuaded that the Dutch designed the expedition against England, but played the minister so, that he took pains to infuse into all people that they designed no such thing; which made him to be generally laughed at. He was soon sent back : and in a memorial he gave into the States, he asked what was the design of those great and surprising preparations at such a season. The States, according to their slow forms, let this lie long before them, without giving it an answer. The French But the court of France made a greater step. aUiance The French ambassador in a memorial told the with the States, that his master understood their design was king. o against England, and in that case he signified to them, that there was such a strait alliance be tween him and the king of England, that he would look on every thing done against England as an in vasion of his own crown. This put the king and his ministers much out of countenance : for, upon some surmises of an alliance with France, they had very positively denied there was any such thing. Albeville did continue to deny it at the Hague, even after the memorial was put in. The king did like wise deny it to the Dutch ambassador at London. y (Barillon, according to to that minister to leave the Echard, in his Hist, of the Re- kingdom in twenty-four hours. volution, before the meeting of He demanded a longer time, the convention, appeared extra- but being refused, unwiUingly ordinarily active and busy in left London. P. 218. This am- promoting divisions among the bassador of France was sent peers ; upon which the prince away under a Dutch guard as of Orange sent an express order far as Dover.) OF KING JAMES II. 289 And the blame of the putting it into the memorial 1688. was cast on Shelton, the king's envoy at Paris, who was disowned in it, and upon his coming over was put in the tower for it. This was a short disgrace ; for he was soon after made lieutenant of the tower. His rash folly might have procured the order from 769 the court of France to own this alliance : he thought it would terrify the States : and so he pressed this officiously, which they easily granted. That related only to the owning it in so public a manner. But this did clearly prove, that such an alliance was made2: otherwise no instances, how pressing soever, would have prevailed with the court of France to have owned it in so solemn a manner : for what ambassadors say in their master's name, when they are not immediately disowned, passes for authentic. So that it was a vain cavil that some made after wards, when they asked, how was this alliance proved ? The memorial was a full proof of it : and the shew of a disgrace on Shelton did not at all weaken that proof a. z And who can blame him, sions : " I cannot omit saying if in such a necessity he made " something of France, there that alliance? S. " having been so much talk of a (Ralph observes, that what " a league between the two was policy in the prince of O- " kings. I do protest, I never range and the States, passed on " knew of any." Nor that he their dependents as conviction, himself had just before said, The bishop, he adds, did not that the king did neither en- consider, that the words amity tertain the proposition made and alliance, which are the very by Bonrepos, nor let it. fall words of the memorial, are in- quite to the ground. Concern- definite, and seem rather to re- ing the memorial presented by late to a general, than any par- Albeville, in which offers were ticular engagement ; neither made to take measures with did he recollect, that even lord the Dutch for maintaining the Sunderland, in his apology, peace of Nimeguen, the bishop makes use of these expres- is silent. Ralph's Hist, of Eng- VOL. III. U 290 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. But I was more confirmed of this matter by what sir William Trumball, then the English ambassador at Constantinople, told me at his return to England. He was the eminentest of all our civilians, and was by much the best pleader in those courts, and was a learned, a diligent, and a virtuous man. He was sent envoy to Paris upon the lord Preston's being recalled. He was there when the edict that re pealed the edict of Nantes was passed, and saw the violence of the persecution, and acted a great and worthy part in harbouring many, in covering their effects, and in conveying over their jewels and plate to England ; which disgusted the court of France, and was not very acceptable to the court of Eng land, though it was not then thought fit to disown or recall him for it. He had orders to put in me morials, complaining of the invasion of the princi pality of Orange ; which he did in so high a strain, that the last of them was like a denunciation of war. From thence he was sent to Turkey. And, about this time, he was surprised one morning by a visit that the French ambassador made him, without those ceremonies that pass between ambassadors. He told him, there was no ceremony to be between them any more; for their masters were now one. And he shewed him Monsieur de Croissy's letter, which was written in cipher. The deciphering he read to him, importing that now an alliance was concluded between the two kings. So this matter was as evidently proved, as a thing of such a nature could possibly be. land, vol. I. page 1008, ion. the supposed league be entered But Bonrepos' proposal might into afterwards.) be waived for a time, and yet OF KING JAMES II. 291 The conduct of France at that time with relation 1 688. to the States was very unaccountable; and proved Thestrange as favourable to the prince of Orange's designs, as if ^l^f of he had directed it. All the manufacture of Holland, both linen and woollen, was prohibited in France. The importation of herrings was also prohibited, ex cept they were cured with French salt. This was contrary to the treaty of commerce. The manufac ture began to suffer much. And this was sensible 770 to those who were concerned in the herring trade. So the States prohibited the importing of French wine or brandy, till the trade should be set free again of both sides. There was nothing that the prince had more reason to apprehend, than that the French should have given the States some satisfac tion in the point of trade, and offered some assur ances with relation to the territory of Colen. Many of the towns of Holland might have been wrought on by some temper in these things ; great bodies be ing easily deceived, and not easily drawn into wars, which interrupt that trade which they subsist by. But the height the court of France was then in, made them despise all the world. They seemed ra ther to wish for a war, than to fear it. This dis posed the States to an unanimous concurrence in the great resolutions that were now agreed on, of raising ten thousand men more, and of accepting thirteen thousand Germans, for whom the prince had, as was formerly mentioned, agreed with some of the princes of the empire. Amsterdam was at first cold in the matter: but they consented with the rest. Reports were given out, that the French would settle a regulation of commerce, and that they would abandon the cardinal, and leave the af- u2 292 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. fairs of Colen to be settled by the laws of the em- pire. Expedients were also spoke of for accommo dating the matter, by prince Clement's being ad mitted coadjutor, and by his having some of the strong places put in his hands. This was only given out to amuse. a mani- But while these things were discoursed of at the war°against Hague, the world was surprised with a manifesto, the empire. get QU^ m tne ^m^ Qf France's name, against the emperor. In it, the emperor's ill designs against France were set forth. It also complained of the elector palatine's injustice to the duchess of Or leans, in not giving her the succession that fell to her by her brother's death, which consisted in some lands, cannon, furniture, and other moveable goods. It also charged him with the disturbances in Colen, he having intended first to gain that to one of his own sons, and then engaging the Bavarian prince into it ; whose elder brother having no children, he hoped, by bringing him into an ecclesiastical state, to make the succession of Bavaria fall into his own family. It charged the emperor likewise with a de sign to force the electors to choose his son king of the Romans ; and that the elector palatine was pressing him to make peace with the Turks, in order to the turning his arms against France. By their means a great alliance was projected among many protestant princes to disturb cardinal Fur- stemberg in the possession of Colen, to which he was postulated by the majority of the chapter. And 771 this might turn to the prejudice of the catholic reli gion in that territory. Upon all these considerations, the king of France, seeing that his enemies could not enter into France by any other way but by that OF KING JAMES II. 293 of Philipsburg, resolved to possess himself of it, and 1 688. then to demolish it. He resolved also to take Kai- — sarslauter from the palatine, and to keep it, till the duchess of Orleans had justice done her in her pre tensions. And he also resolved to support the car dinal in his possession of Colen. But, to balance this, he offered to the house of Bavaria, that prince Clement should be chosen coadjutor. He offered also to rase Fribourg, and to restore Kaisarslauter, as soon as the elector palatine should pay the duchess of Orleans the just value of her pretensions. He demanded, that the truce between him and the empire should be turned into a peace. He proposed, that the king of England and the republic of Venice should be the mediators of this peace. And he con cluded all, declaring that he would not bind himself to stand to the conditions now offered by him, unless they were accepted of before January. I have given a full abstract of this manifesto : for Reflections upon it did the great war begin, which lasted till it. the peace of Ryswick. And, upon the grounds laid down in this manifesto, it will evidently appear, whether the war was a just one, or not. This de claration was much censured, both for the matter and for the style. It had not the air of greatness, which became crowned heads. The duchess of Or leans's pretensions to old furniture was a strange rise to a war ; especially when it was not alleged, that these had been demanded in the forms of law, and that justice had been denied, which was a course necessarily to be observed in things of that nature. The judging of the secret intentions of the elector palatine, with relation to the house of Ba varia, was absurd. And the complaints of designs to u3 294 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. bring the emperor to a peace with the Turks, that so he might make war on France, and of the emperor's design to force an election of a king of the Romans, was the entering into the secrets of those thoughts which were only known to God. Such conjectures, so remote and uncertain, and that could not be proved, were a strange ground of war. If this was once ad mitted, all treaties of peace were vain things, and were no more to be reckoned or relied on. The rea son given of the intention to take Philipsbourg, be cause it was the properest place by which France could be invaded, was a throwing off all regards to the common decencies observed by princes. All for tified places on frontiers are intended both for re sistance and for magazines ; and are of both sides conveniencies for entering into the neighbouring ter ritory, as there is occasion for it. So here was a pre- 772 tence set up, of beginning a war, that puts an end to all the securities of peace. The business of Colen was judged by the pope, according to the laws of the empire : and his sen tence was final : nor could the postulation of the ma jority of the chapter be valid, unless two-thirds joined in it. The cardinal was commended in the manifesto, for his care in preserving the peace of Europe. This was ridiculous to all, who knew that he had been for many years the great incendiary, who had betrayed the empire, chiefly in the year 1672. The charge that the emperor's agent had laid on him before the chapter was also complained of, as an infraction of the amnesty stipulated by the peace of Nimeguen. He was not indeed to be called to an account, in order to be punished for any thing done before that peace. But that did not bind up OF KING JAMES II. 295 the emperor from endeavouring to exclude him from 1 688. so great a dignity, which was like to prove fatal to ~~ the empire. These were some of the censures that passed on this manifesto ; which was indeed looked on, by all who had considered the rights of peace and the laws of war, as one of the most avowed and solemn declarations, that ever was made, of the per- fidiousness of that court. And it was thought to be some degrees beyond that in the year 1672, in which that king's glory was pretended as the chief motive of that war. For, in that, particulars were not reck oned up : so it might be supposed, he had met with affronts, which he did not think consistent with his greatness to be mentioned. But here all that could be thought on, even the hangings of Heidelberg, were enumerated: and all together amounted to this, that the king of France thought himself tied by no peace ; but that, when he suspected his neigh bours were intending to make war upon him, he might upon such a suspicion begin a war on his part0. This manifesto against the emperor was followed Another by another against the pope, writ in the form of aptpT* letter to cardinal D'Estrees, to be given by him to the pope. In it, he reckoned all the partiality that the pope had shewed during his whole pontificate, both against France and in favour of the house of Austria. He mentioned the business of the regale ; his refusing the bulls to the bishops nominated by him ; the dispute about the franchises, of which his ambassadors had been long in possession ; the deny ing audience, not only to his ambassador, but to a gentleman whom he had sent to Rome without a *> The common maxim of princes. S. IT 4 296 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. character, and with a letter writ in his own hand: in conclusion, he complained of the pope's breaking the canons of the church, in granting bulls in favour of prince Clement, and in denying justice to cardinal Furstemberg : for all these reasons the king was re- 773 solved to separate the character of the most holy fa ther from that of a temporal prince : and therefore he intended to seize on Avignon, as likewise on Castro, until the pope should satisfy the pretensions of the duke of Parma. He complained of the pope's not concurring with him in the concerns of the church, for the extirpation of heresy : in which the pope's behaviour gave great scandal both to the old catholics and to the new converts. It also gave the prince of Orange the boldness to go and invade the king of England, under the pretence of supporting the protestant religion, but indeed to destroy the catholic religion, and to overturn the government0. Upon which his emissaries and the writers in Hol land gave out, that the birth of the prince of Wales was an imposture. Censures This was the first public mention that was made upon^Se of the imposture of that birth : for the author of a book writ to that purpose was punished for it in Holland. It was strange to see the disputes about the franchises made a pretence for a war : for cer tainly all sovereign princes can make such regula tions as they think fit in those matters. If they cut ambassadors short in any privilege, their ambassadors c (It appears from cardinal France ; and that the intended D'Estrees's two letters, pub- alteration of the English go- lished by Dalrymple in the Ap- vernment was spoken of at pendix to his Memoirs, p. 240 Rome near a year before it — 253, that the pope highly took place.) approved of the league against OF KING JAMES II. 297 are to expect the same treatment from other princes : 1 688. and as long as the sacredness of an ambassador's person and of his family was still preserved, which was all that was a part of the law of nations, princes may certainly limit the extent of their other privi leges, and may refuse any ambassadors who will not submit to their regulation. The number of an am bassador's retinue is not a thing that can be well de fined : but if an ambassador comes with an army about him, instead of a retinue, he may be denied admittance. And if he forces it, as Lavardin had done, it was certainly an act of hostility : and, in stead of having a right to the character of an am bassador, he might well be considered and treated as an enemy. The pope had observed the canons in rejecting cardinal Furstemberg's defective postulation. And, whatever might be brought from ancient canons, the practice of that church for many ages allowed of the dispensations that the pope granted to prince Cle ment. It was looked on by all people as a strange reverse of things, to see the king of France, after all his cruelty to the protestants, now go to make war on the pope ; and on the other hand to see the whole protestant body concurring to support the au thority of the pope's bulls in the business of Colen ; and to defend the two houses of Austria and Ba varia, by whom they were laid so low but three score years before this. The French, by the war that they had now begun, had sent their troops to wards Germany and the upper Rhine ; and so had rendered their sending an army over to England im- 774 practicable : nor could they send such a force into the bishopric of Colen as could any ways alarm the 298 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. States. So that the invasion of Germany made the designs that the prince of Orange was engaged in both practicable and safe. Marshal Marshal Schomberg came at this time into the fecnt°£berg country of Cleve. He was a German by birth : so cieve. when the persecution was begun in France, he de sired leave to return into his own country. That was denied him. All the favour he could obtain was leave to go to Portugal. And so cruel is the spirit of popery, that, though he had preserved that kingdom from falling under the yoke of Castille, yet now that he came thither for refuge, the inquisition represented that matter of giving harbour to a he retic so odiously to the king, that he was forced to send him away. He came from thence, first to England; and then he passed through Holland, where he entered into a particular confidence with the prince of Orange. And being invited by the old elector of Brandenburgh, he went to Berlin : where he was made governor of Prussia, and set at the head of all the elector's armies. The son treated him now with the same regard that the father had for him : and sent him to Cleve, to command the troops that were sent from the empire to the defence of Colen. The cardinal offered a neutrality to the town of Colen. But they chose rather to accept a gar rison that Schomberg sent them : by which not only that town was secured, but a stop was put to any progress the French could make, till they could get that great town into their hands. By these means the States were safe on all hands for this winter: and this gave the prince of Orange great quiet in prosecuting his designs upon England. He had often said, that he would never give occasion to any of his OF KING JAMES II. 299 enemies to say, that he had carried away the best 1688. force of the States, and had left them exposed to any impressions that might be made on them in his absence. He had now reason to conclude, that he had no other risk to run in his intended expedition, but that of the seas and the weather. The seas were then very boisterous : and the season of the year was so far spent, that he saw he was to have a campaign in winter. But all other things were now well se cured by this d [too early, therefore very weak] con duct of the French. There was a fleet now set to sea of about fifty The Dutch sail. Most of them were third or fourth rates, com manded by Dutch officers. But Herbert, as repre senting the prince's person, was to command in chief, as lieutenant-general-admiral. This was not very easy to the States, nor indeed to the prince himself; who thought it an absurd thing to set a stranger at the head of their fleet. Nothing less would content 775 Herbert. And it was said, that nothing would pro bably make the English fleet come over, and join with the prince, so much as the seeing one that had lately commanded them at the head of the Dutch fleet e. There was a transport fleet hired for carry ing over the army. And this grew to be about five hundred vessels : for, though the horse and dragoons in pay were not four thousand, yet the horses for officers and volunteers, and for artillery and bag gage, were above seven thousand. There were arms d (The editors substituted the reverse for putting Herbert unexpected.) there, who was the most uni- e This would have been a versally hated by the seamen good reason for setting Russel of any man that ever com- at the head of the fleet, but was manded at sea. D. 300 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. provided for twenty thousand more. And, as (all) things were thus made ready, The prince The declaration that the prince was to publish of Orange's . i t » i l declaration, came to be considered. A great many draughts were sent from England by different hands. All these were put in the pensioner Fagel's hands, who upon that made a long and heavy draught, founded on the grounds of the civil law, and of the law of nations. That was brought to me to be put in English. I saw he was fond of his own draught : and the prince left that matter wholly to him : yet I got it to be much shortened, though it was still too long. It set forth at first a long recital of all the violations of the laws of England, both with relation to religion, to the civil government, and to the administration of jus tice, which have been all opened in the series of the history. It set forth next all remedies that had been tried in a gentler way ; all which had been ineffec tual. Petitioning by the greatest persons, and in the privatest manner, was made a crime. Endea vours were used to pack a parliament, and to pre^ engage both the votes of the electors, and the votes of such as upon the election should be returned to sit in parliament. The writs were to be addressed to unlawful officers, who were disabled by law to execute them : so that no legal parliament could now be brought together. In conclusion, the reasons of suspecting the queen's pretended delivery were set forth in general terms. Upon these grounds the prince, seeing how little hope was left of succeeding in any other method, and being sensible of the ruin both of the protestant religion, and of the constitu tion of England and Ireland, that was imminent, and being earnestly invited by men of all ranks, and OF KING JAMES II. 301 in particular by many of the peers, both spiritual 1688. and temporal, he resolved, according to the obliga- tion he lay under, both on the princess's account and on his own, to go over into England, and to see for proper and effectual remedies for redressing such growing evils in a parliament that should be law fully chosen, and should sit in full freedom, accord ing to the ancient custom and constitution of Eng land, with which he would concur in all things that might tend to the peace and happiness of the na tion. And he promised in particular, that he would 776 preserve the church and the established religion, and that he would endeavour to unite all such as divided from the church to it by the best means that could be thought on, and that he would suffer such as would live peaceably to enjoy all due freedom in their consciences, and that he would refer the in quiry into the queen's delivery to a parliament, and acquiesce in its decision. This the prince signed and sealed on the tenth of October. With this the prince ordered letters to be writ in his name, inviting both the soldiers, seamen, and others, to come and join with him, in order to the securing their religion, laws, and liberties. Another short paper was drawn by me concerning the measures of obedience, justi fying the design, and answering the objections that might be made to it. Of all these many thousand copies were printed, to be dispersed at our landing. The prince desired me to go along with him asiwasde- his chaplain, to which I very readily agreed : for, with theg° being fully satisfied in my conscience that the un-pnnce' dertaking was lawful and just, and having had a considerable hand in advising the whole progress of it, I thought it would have been an unbecoming 302 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. fear in me to have taken care of my own person, when the prince was venturing his, and the whole was now to be put to hazard. It is true, I being a Scotish man by birth, had reason to expect, that, if I had fallen into the enemies hands, I should have been sent to Scotland, and put to the torture there. And, having this in prospect, I took care to know no particulars of any one of those who corresponded with the prince. So that knowing nothing against any, even torture it self could not have drawn from me that by which any person could be hurtf. There was another declaration prepared for Scotland. But I had no other share in that, but that I corrected it in several places, chiefly in that which related to the church : for the Scots at the Hague, who were all presbyterians, had drawn it so, that, by many pas sages in it, the prince by an implication declared in favour of presbytery. He did not see what the con sequences of those were, till I explained them. So he ordered them to be altered. And by the declara tion that matter was still entire 8. Advices As Sidney brought over letters from the persons land1. "S formerly mentioned, both inviting the prince to come over to save and rescue the nation from ruin, and assuring him that they wrote that which was the universal sense of all the wise and good men in the nation : so they also sent over with him a scheme of advices. They advised his having a great fleet, but a small army : they thought, it should not ex- f Well said Scot ! Cole. episcopacy in Scotland, where 8 The more shame for king the bishops would not support William, who changed it. S. king William. See also what is (King William, who was bred mentioned by the author in vol. in Holland a Calvinist, could II. folio edit. p. [357.] after p. scarcely be expected to support 360.) OF KING JAMES II. ceed six or seven thousand men. They apprehended, 1688. that an ill use might be made of it, if he brought „„„ over too great an army of foreigners, to infuse in people a jealousy that he designed a conquest : they advised his landing in the north, either in Burling ton bay, or a little below Hull : Yorkshire abounded in horse : and the gentry were generally well af fected, even to zeal, for the design : the country was plentiful, and the roads were good till within fifty miles of London. The earl of Danby was earnest for this, hoping to have had a share in the whole management by the interest he believed he had in that country. It was confessed, that the western counties were well affected : but it was said, that the miscarriage of Monmouth's invasion, and the executions which followed it, had so dispirited them, that it could not be expected they would be forward to join the prince : above all things they pressed despatch, and all possible haste : the king had then but eighteen ships riding in the Downs : but a much greater fleet was almost ready to come out: they only wanted seamen, who came in very slowly. When these things were laid before the prince, he said, he could by no means resolve to come over with so small a force: he could not believe what they suggested, concerning the king's army's being disposed to come over to him : nor did he reckon, so much as they did, on the people of the country's coming in to him : he said, he could trust to neither of these : he could not undertake so great a design, the miscarriage of which would be the ruin both of England and Holland, without such a force, as he had reason to believe would be superior to the king's own, though his whole army should stick to him. 304 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. Some proposed, that the prince would divide his force, and land himself with the greatest part in the north, and send a detachment to the west under marshal Schomberg. They pressed the prince very earnestly to bring him over with him, both because of the great reputation he was in, and because they thought it was a security to the prince's person, and to the whole design, to have another general with him, to whom all would submit in case of any dis mal accident: for it seemed too much to have all depend on a single life : and they thought that would be the safer, if their enemies saw another person capable of the command, in case they should have a design upon the prince's person. With this the prince complied easily, and obtained the elector's consent to carry him over with him. But he re jected the motion of dividing his fleet and army. He said, such a divided force might be fatal : for if the king should send his chief strength against the detachment, and have the advantage, it might lose the whole business ; since a misfortune in any one part might be the ruin of the whole. 778 When these advices were proposed to Herbert and the other seamen, they opposed the landing in the north vehemently. They said, no seamen had been consulted in that : the north coast was not fit for a fleet to ride in, in an east wind, which it was to be expected in winter might blow so fresh that it would not be possible to preserve the fleet : and if the fleet was left there, the channel was open for such forces as might be sent from France : the channel was the safer sea for the fleet to ride in, as well as to cut off the assistance from France. Yet the advices for this were so positive, and so often OF KING JAMES II. 305 repeated from England, that the prince was resolved 1 688. to have split the matter, and to have landed in the — north, and then to have sent the fleet to lie in the channel. The prince continued still to cover his design, Artifices to cover tlitj and to look towards Colen. He ordered a review design. of his army, and an encampment for two months at Nimeguen. A train of artillery was also ordered. By these orders the officers saw a necessity of fur nishing themselves for so long a time. The main point remained, how money should be found for so chargeable an expedition. The French ambassador had his eye upon this ; and reckoned that, when soever any thing relating to it should be moved, it would be then easy to raise an opposition, or at least to create a delay. But Fagel's great foresight did prevent this. In the July before, it was repre sented to the States, that now by reason of the neighbourhood of Colen, and the war that was like to arise there, it was necessary to repair their places, both on the Rhine and the Issel, which were in a very bad condition. This was agreed to : and the charge was estimated at four millions of guilders. So the States created a fund for the interest of that money, and ordered it to be taken up by a loan. It was all brought in in four days. About the end of September a message was delivered to the States from the elector of Brandenburgh, by which he un dertook to send an army into his country of Cleve, and to secure the States from all danger on that side for this winter. Upon this, it was proposed to lend the prince the four millions. And this passed easily in the States, without any opposition, to the amazement of all VOL. III. x 306 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. that saw it h : for it had never been known, that so great and so dangerous an expedition in such a sea son had been so easily agreed to, without so much as one disagreeing vote, either at the Hague, or in any of the towns of Holland. All people went so cordially into it, that it was not necessary to employ much time in satisfying them, both of the lawfulness and of the necessity of the undertaking. Fagel had sent for all the eminent ministers of the chief towns 779 of Holland : and, as he had a vehemence as well as a tenderness in speaking, he convinced them evi dently, that both their religion and their country were in such imminent danger, that nothing but this expedition could save them : they saw the persecu tion in France : and in that they might see what was to be expected from that religion : they saw the violence with which the king of England was driv ing matters in his country, which, if not stopped, would soon prevail. He sent them thus full of zeal, to dispose the people to a hearty approbation and concurrence in this design. The ministers in Hol land are so watched over by the States, that they have no more authority when they meet in a body, in a synod, or in a classis, than the States think fit to allow them. But I was never in any place, where I thought the clergy had generally so much credit with the people, as they have there : and they employed it all upon this occasion very diligently, and to good purpose. Those who had no regard to religion, yet saw a war begun in the empire by the French. And the publication of the alliance be- n It is well known that the them so ready to furnish him Dutch wanted to get rid of the for his invasion. Cole. prince of Orange ; which made OF KING JAMES II. 307 tween France and England by the French ambassa- 1688. dor, made them conclude that England would join with France. They reckoned they could not stand before such an united force, and that therefore it was necessary to take England out of the hands of a prince who was such a firm ally to France. All the English that lived in Holland, especially the merchants that were settled in Amsterdam, where the opposition was like to be strongest, had such positive advices of the disposition that the nation and even the army were in, that, as this under taking was considered as the only probable means of their preservation, it seemed so well concerted, that little doubt was made of success, except what arose from the season ; which was not only far spent, but the winds were both so contrary and so stormy for many weeks, that a forcible stop seemed put to it by the hand of Heaven. Herbert went to sea with the Dutch fleet: and The Dutch was ordered to stand over to the Downs, and to look on the English fleet, to try if any would come over, of which some hopes were given ; or to engage them, while they were then not above eighteen or twenty ships strong. But the contrary winds made this not only impracticable, but gave great reason to fear that a great part of the fleet would be either lost or disabled. These continued for above a fort night, and gave us at the Hague a melancholy pro spect. Herbert also found, that the fleet was neither so strong nor so well manned as he had expected. All the English that were scattered about the 780 Provinces, or in Germany, came to the Hague. ?.ome fac" . » ' o tious mo- Among these there was one Wildman, who, from be- tions at the Hague. ing an agitator in Cromwell's army, had been a con- x 2 308 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. stant meddler on all occasions in every thing that looked like sedition, and seemed inclined to oppose every thing that was uppermost. He brought his usual ill humour along with him, having a peculiar talent in possessing others by a sort of contagion with jealousy and discontent. To these the prince ordered his declaration to be shewed. Wildman took great exceptions to it, with which he possessed many to such a degree, that they began to say, they would not engage upon those grounds. Wildman had drawn one, in which he had laid down a scheme of the government of England, and then had set forth many particulars in which it had been violated, car rying these a great way into king Charles's reign ; all which he supported by many authorities from law books. He objected to the prince's insisting so much on the dispensing power, and on what had been done to the bishops. He said, there was cer tainly a dispensing power in the crown, practised for some ages: very few patents passed in which there was not a non obstante to one or more acts of parliament : this power had been too far stretched of late : but the stretching of a power that was in the crown could not be a just ground of war: the king had a right to bring any man to a trial : the bishops had a fair trial, and were acquitted, and dis charged upon it: in all which there was nothing done contrary to law. All this seemed mysterious, when a known republican was become an advocate for prerogative. His design in this was deep and spiteful. He saw that, as the declaration was drawn, the church party would come in, and be well re ceived by the prince : so he, who designed to sepa rate the prince and them at the greatest distance OF KING JAMES II. 309 from one another, studied to make the prince de- 1688. clare against those grievances, in which many of them were concerned, and which some among them had promoted. The earl of Macclesfield, with the lord Mordaunt, and many others, joined with him in this '. But the earl of Shrewsbury, together with Sidney, Russel, and some others, were as positive in their opinion, that the prince ought not to look so far back as into king Charles's reign : this would disgust many of the nobility and gentry, and almost all the clergy : so they thought the declaration was to be so conceived, as to draw in the body of the whole nation : they were all alarmed with the dis pensing power : and it would seem very strange to see an invasion, in which this was not set out as the main ground of it : every man could distinguish be tween the dispensing with a special act in a parti cular case, and a total dispensing with laws to se-781 cure the nation and the religion : the ill designs of the court, as well as the affections of the nation, had appeared so evidently in the bishops' trial, that 1 (Ralph remarks on this pas- reports him to have said, " that sage, that he had been assured, " he had one care more, when that in the margin of bishop " he went into France, which Burnet's History, now remain- " was to give a true account ing in the Peterborough family, " to posterity of some parts of there are several direct contra- " historyin queen Anne's reign, dictions, in the broadest terms, " which Burnet had scandal- to several passages of it in the " ously misrepresented, and of late earl's own hand. Hist, of " some others, to justify him- England, page 1023. Perhaps, " self against the imputation however, this passage was not " of intending to bring in the amongst those excepted against " pretender, which to his know- by lord Mordaunt, afterwards " ledge neither of her minis- earl of Peterborough; for Pope, " ters,Oxford and Bolingbroke, in a letter to Miss Blount, giv- " nor she, had any design to ing her an account of a visit " do." Supplementary Volume he had made the earl a little of Pope's Works, 1807, 8vo. p. before that nobleman's death, 395.) x 3 310 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. if no notice was taken of it, it would be made use of to possess all people with an opinion of the prince's ill will to them. Russel said, that any reflections made on king Charles's reign would not only carry over all the high church party, but all the army, entirely to the king. Wildman's declaration was much objected to. The prince could not enter into a discussion of the law and government of England: that was to be left to the parliament: the prince could only set forth the present and public griev ances, as they were transmitted to him by those upon whose invitation he was going over. This was not without some difficulty overcome, by alter ing some few expressions in the first draught, and leaving out some circumstances. So the declaration was printed over again, with some amendments. The army In the beginning of October the troops marched ped. from Nimeguen were put on board in the Zuyder sea, where they lay above ten days before they could get out of the Texel. Never was so great a design executed in so short a time. A transport fleet of five hundred vessels was hired in three days' time. All things, as soon as they were ordered, were got to be so quickly ready, that we were amazed at the despatch. It is true, some things were wanting, and some things had been forgot. But when the greatness of the equipage was considered, together with the secrecy with which it was to be conducted till the whole design was to be avowed, it seemed much more strange that so little was wanting, or that so few things had been forgot. Benthink, Dykvelt, Herbert, and Van Hulst, were for two months constantly at the Hague giving all neces sary orders, with so little noise that nothing broke OF KING JAMES II. 311 out all that while. Even in lesser matters favour- 1688. able circumstances concurred to cover the design. Benthink used to be constantly with the prince, being the person that was most entirely trusted and constantly employed by him : so that his absence from him, being so extraordinary a thing, might have given some umbrage. But all the summer his lady was so very ill, that she was looked on every day as one that could not live three days to an end : so that this was a very just excuse for his attendance at the Hague. I waited on the princess a few days before weTheprfn- left the Hague. She seemed to have a great load oTthlngs1.86 on her spirits, but to have no scruple as to the law fulness of the design. After much other discourse, I said, that if we got safe to England, I made no great doubt of our success in all other things. I only beg ged her pardon to tell her, that if there should hap- 782 pen to be at any time any disjointing between the prince and her, that would ruin all. She answered me, that I needed fear no such thing : if any per son should attempt that, she would treat them so, as to discourage all others from venturing on it for the future. She was very solemn and serious, and prayed God earnestly to bless and direct us. On the sixteenth of October, O. S. the wind that The prince . , . took leave had stood so long m the west, came into the east. ofthe So orders were sent to all to haste to Helvoet-Sluys. That morning the prince went into the assembly of the states general, to take leave of them. He said to them, he was extreme sensible of the kindness they had all shewed him upon many occasions : he took God to witness, he had served them faithfully, ever since they had trusted him with the govern- x 4 312 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. ment, and that he had never any end before his eyes but the good of the country : he had pursued it always : and if at any time he erred in his judg ment, yet his heart was ever set on procuring their safety and prosperity. He took God to witness, he went to England with no other intentions, but those he had set out in his declaration k: he did not know how God might dispose of him : to his providence he committed himself: whatsoever might become of him, he committed to them the care of their coun try, and recommended the princess to them in a most particular manner : he assured them, she loved their country perfectly, and equally with her own: he hoped, that whatever might happen to him, they would still protect her, and use her as she well de served : and so he took leave. It was a sad, but a kind parting. Some of every province offered at an answer to what the prince had said: but they all melted into tears and passion : so that their speeches were much broken, very short, and extreme tender. Only the prince himself continued firm in his usual gravity and phlegm. When he came to Helvoet- Sluys, the transport fleet had consumed so much of their provisions, that three days of the good wind were lost, before all were supplied anew. k Then he was perjured ; for " had protested to them, that he designed to get the crown, " he had not the least inten- which he denied in the declara- " tion to invade or subdue Eng- tion. S. (Not expressly, if im- " land, or remove the king phcitly ; nay, see a preceding " from his throne," &c. See note at p. 631. However, in- Ralph's Hist. p. 1024. In his deed, according to the instruc- letter also to the emperor, in- tions sent by the States of the serted by Dalrymple in his Ap- United Provinces to their min- pendix.II.p. 254,theprincedis- isters at the several courts of avows any design on the crown Europe, " the prince of Orange of England.) OF KING JAMES II. 313 At last, on the nineteenth of October, the prince 1688. went aboard, and the whole fleet sailed out that We sailed ' night. But the next day the wind turned into the "•* of the north, and settled in the north-west. At night a great storm rose. We wrought against it all that night, and the next day. But it was in vain to struggle any longer. And so vast a fleet run no small hazard, being obliged to keep together, and yet not to come too near one another. On the twenty- first in the afternoon the signal was given to go in again : and on the twenty-second the far greater part got safe into port. Many ships were at first want ing, and were believed to be lost. But after a few 783 days all came in. There was not one ship lost ; nor ?ut ^re. * r forced back. so much as any one man, except one that was blown from the shrouds into the sea. Some ships were so shattered, that as soon as they came in, and all was taken out of them, they immediately sunk down. Only five hundred horses died for want of air. Men are upon such occasions apt to flatter themselves upon the points of Providence. In France and England, as it was believed that our loss was much greater than it proved to be, so they triumphed not a little, as if God had fought against us, and de feated the whole design. We on our part, who found our selves delivered out of so great a storm and so vast a danger, looked on it as a mark of God's great care of us, who, though he had not changed the course of the winds and seas in our favour, yet had preserved us while we were in such apparent danger, beyond what could have been ima gined1. The States were not at all discouraged ' 1 Then still it must be a miracle. S. 314 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. with this hard beginning, but gave the necessary orders for supplying us with every thing that we needed. The princess behaved herself at the Hague suitably to what was expected from her. She or dered prayers four times a day, and assisted at them with great devotion. She spoke to nobody of af fairs, but was calm and silent. The States ordered some of their body to give her an account of all their proceedings. She indeed answered little : but in that little she gave them cause often to admire her judgment. Consuita- In England the court saw now, that it was in England, vain to dissemble or disguise their fears any more. Great consultations were held there The earl of Melfort, and all the papists, proposed the seizing on all suspected persons, and the sending them to Portsmouth. The earl of Sunderland opposed this vehemently. He said, it would not be possible to seize on many at the same time : and the seizing on a few would alarm all the rest : it would drive them in to the prince, and furnish them with a pre tence for it: he proposed rather, that the king would do such popular things, as might give some content, and lay that fermentation with which the nation was then, as it were, distracted. This was at that time complied with: but all the popish party continued upon this to charge lord Sunder land, as one that was in the king's counsels only to betray them ; that had before diverted the offer of assistance from France, and now the securing those who were the most likely to join and assist the prince m. By their importunities the king was at m The duke of Shandos told true, that the' king of France me, as a thing he knew to be wrote to king James, to let OF KING JAMES II. 315 last so prevailed on, that he turned him out of all 1688. his places : and lord Preston was made secretary of ~ state. The fleet was now put out, and was so strong, that, if they had met the Dutch fleet, pro bably they would have been too hard for them, especially considering the great transport fleet that 784 they were to cover. All the forces that were in Scotland were ordered into England : and that king dom was left in the hands of their militia. Several regiments came likewise from Ireland. So that the king's army was then about thirty thousand strong. But, in order to lay the heat that was raised in the nation, the king sent for the bishops ; and set out the injustice of this unnatural invasion that the prince was designing : he assured them of his affec tions to the church of England ; and protested, he had never intended to carry things further than to an equal liberty of conscience : he desired they would declare their abhorrence of this invasion, and that they would offer him their advice, what was fit for him to do. They declined the point of abhorrence n, him know that he had certain ingly. King James's answer intelhgence that the design was, that he never told it to was upon England, and that any body but lord Sunderland, he would immediately besiege who, he was very sure, was too Maestricht, which would hinder much in his interest to have the States from parting with discovered it : upon which the any of their force for such an king of France said, he saw expedition ; but the secret must plainly, that king James was a be kept inviolably from any of man cut out for destruction, his ministers. Soon after, the and there was no possibility of States ordered six thousand men helping him. D. (This note to be sent to Maestricht ; upon has been already printed in which the king of France de- sir John Dalrymple's Memoirs, sired to know if king James vol. II. p. 297.) had revealed it to any body, for n (In an Apology for arch- he himself had to none but bishop Sancroft and his de- Louvoy, and if he had betrayed prived brethren, drawn up with him, should treat him accord- their approbation, it is stated, 316 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN j68g and advised the present summoning a parliament; and that in the mean while the ecclesiastical com mission might be broken, the proceedings against the bishop of London ° and Magdalen college might be reversed, and that the law might be again put in its channel. This they delivered with great gravity, and with a courage that recommended them to the whole nation. There was an order sent them from the king afterwards, requiring them to compose an office for the present occasion. The prayers were so well drawn, that even those who wished for the prince might have joined in them. The church party did now shew their approbation of the prince's expedition in such terms, that many were surprised at it, both then and since that time. They spoke openly in favour of it. They expressed their grief to see the wind so cross. They wished for an east wind, which on that occasion was called the protest ant wind. They spoke with great scorn of all that the court was then doing to regain the hearts of the nation. And indeed the proceedings of the court that way were so cold and so forced, that few were that on the 6th of Oct. (Nov.) Vindication of Archbishop San- in this year, when the arch- croft, and the Deprived Bishops, bishop waited on his majesty p. 17. printed in 1717. Com- in company with the bishops pare Appendix to Lord Claren- of London, Rochester, and Pe- don's Diary, p. 32 1 .) terborough; he desired theking, ° (The king had assured the if he thought fit for his interest, bishops, at his first interview tomentiontheirdenial.thatthey with them, of his intention to had any share in the invitation take off the bishop of London's to the prince of Orange, when- suspension, before they offered ever he should publish his in- their ten articles of advice, in tended declaration. In this ad- none of which his case is men- vice he was joined by the bishop tioned. But the author con- of Peterborough ; the two other founds the two interviews. bishops expressing no dissent Consult the earl of Clarendon's from it at the time. See Ex- Diary.) tracts from this Apology in a OF KING JAMES II. 317 like to be deceived by them, but those who had a 1688. mind to be deceived. The writs for a parliament"- were often ordered to be made ready for the seal, and were as often stopped. Some were sealed, and given out : but they were quickly called in again. The old charters were ordered to be restored again. Jefferies himself carried back the charter of the city of London, and put on the appearances of joy and heartiness when he gave it to them. All men saw through that affectation : for he had raised himself chiefly upon the advising or promoting that matter of the surrender, and the forfeiture of the charters. An order was also sent to the bishop of Winchester, to put the president of Magdalen college again in pos session p. Yet, that order not being executed when the news was brought that the prince and his fleet were blown back, it was countermanded; which plainly shewed what it was that drove the court 785 into so much compliance, and how long it was like to last i. P (The king's friends, before reign of James II. p. 425 , speaks the arrival of the prince in of the common belief, that, "as England, affirmed, that it was " intelligence arrived of a great well known to some persons " disaster having befallen the of honour and credit, that the " Dutch fleet, the king re- king had resolved to have *' called for some time the con- granted some of these things " cessions which he had order- before the calling of the future " ed to be made to Magdalen parliament, when he had not " college." But the extracts the least intelligence of the from the papers of Dr. Thomas present Dutch preparations, as Smith, which have been since testimonies that he designed published in the Biographia Bli the protection of the church tannica, vol.VI. p. 3731, and a of England. See a scarce tract letter written by Dr. Finch,war- pubhshed before the revolu- den of All Souls college, at- tion, entitled The Dutch Design tested by Carte, in Macpher- Anatomized, p. 27.) son's Original Papers, vol. I. 1 The bishop of Winchester p. 273, and now preserved in assured meotherwise.S. (Even Worcester collegelibrary, prove, Hume, in his History, in the that the bishop of Winchester, 318 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. The matter of the greatest concern, and that J^~ could not be dropped, but was to be supported, was brought for the bjrth of the pj-ince 0f Wales. And therefore the the birth of r the prince court thought it necessary, now in an after game, to of TVftlflST offer some satisfaction in that pointr. So a great meeting was called, not only of all the privy coun sellors and judges, but of all the nobility then in town. To these the king complained of the great injury that was done both him and the queen by the prince of Orange, who accused them of so black an imposture : he said, he believed there were few princes then alive, who had been born in the pre sence of more witnesses than were at his son's birth : he had therefore called them together, that they might hear the proof of that matter. It was first proved, that the queen was delivered abed, while many were in the room ; and that they saw the child soon after he was taken from the queen by who had arrived in Oxford for ford for the purpose. The col- the purpose of restoring the lege was restored by him on college, was recalled on the the 25th, exactly a year after 20th of October, by an order the president had been ejected. from lord Sunderland to attend Consult also Macpherson's Hist. the privy council on the 22d, of Great Britain, vol. I. p. 518. when the depositions concern- Ralph indeed, at p. 1023 of his ing the birth of the prince of History, assigns as the reason Wales were taken, and ordered of the delay in restoring the to be enrolled. Now the prince college, the news, which arrived of Orange's fleet was driven of the former contrary winds back by a storm on the 21st, and tempestuous weather men- which commenced the night tioned by the bishop at p. 779. of the 20th, as appears from But this news, and the order bishop Burnet's account of it made on the 12th for resettling and from various other docu- the college, are inserted in the ments. The king is said to Gazette, October 15, and the have been much displeased at bishop of Winchester arrived finding that his directions to at Oxford for the purpose of ex- reinstate the society had not eciiting the order on the 20th. been executed, and to have r And this was the proper sent the bishop again to Ox- time. S. OF KING JAMES II. 319 the midwife. But in this the midwife was the sin gle witness s; for none of the ladies had felt the child" in the queen's belly. The countess of Sunderland did indeed depose, that the queen called to her to give her her hand, that she might feel how the child lay, to which she added, which I did; but did not say whether she felt the child or not : and she told the duchess of Hamilton, from whom I had it, that when she put her hand into the bed, the queen held it, and let it go no lower than her breasts. So that really she felt nothing. And this deposition, brought to make a show, was an evidence against the mat ter rather than for it ; and was a violent presump tion of an imposture, and of an artifice to cover it *. 1688. s (It has been also objected, that this was not the midwife who had attended the queen at all her former deliveries. See note on Bishop Burnet and Bishop Lloyd's Account of the Birth of the Pretender, 8vo. 1745, and Oldmixon's Hist, of the Stuarts, p. 736.) * Compare the following de position ofthe countess of Sun derland with the bishop's ac count of it. " The countess of " Sunderland deposeth, that on " the tenth of June, as soon as " she came to her majesty, the " queen told her she believed it " would not be her labour. The " bed was warmed, the queen " went into it, and after some " lingering pains, she feared she " should not be brought to bed " a good while ; the midwife " assured her majesty, that she " would only have one tho- " row pain to bring the child " into the world. The queen " said it was impossible, the " child lies too high, and com- " manded me to lay my hand " on her belly, which I did. " And after the great pain " came, the queen was deli- " vered of a son, and I made *' a sign to the king that it was " a son." Deposition V. Lock hart, of Carnwarth, in his Let ter on the bishop of Salis bury's History, which is insert ed amongst the Lockhart Pa pers, lately published by Mr. Aufrere, asks what credit the bishop imagined could be given to the second part of the coun tesses story, which clashed so diametrically with her oath. In the next place," according to Lockhart, "the duchess of Ha- " milton, although a staunch " presbyterian, and hearty re- " volutioner, at all times con- " tradicted the story of the " queen's false big belly, be- " cause, as she said, the lady " Sunderland, whom she reck- " oned as good a woman as THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. Many ladies deposed, that they had often seen the marks of milk on the queen's linen, near her breasts. Two or three deposed, that they saw it running out at the nipple. All these deposed, that they saw milk before the pretended delivery. But none of them deposed concerning milk after the delivery, though nature sends it then in greater abundance: and the queen had it always in such a plenty, that some weeks passed after her delivery, before she was quite freed from itu. The ladies did not name the time in which they saw the milk, except one, who named the month of May. But, if the particu lars mentioned before, that happened on Easter Monday, are reflected on, and if it appears probable by these that the queen miscarried at that time; then all that the ladies mentioned of milk in her breasts, particularly she that fixed it to the month of May, might have followed upon that miscar riage, and be no proof concerning the late birth. Mrs. Pierce, the laundress, deposed that she took 786 linen from the queen's body once, which carried the " was in England, had often " city; and it cannot enter into " told her, that she found the *' the imagination of any, that " child in the queen's belly, " she would affirm the direct " and was as sure she was with "contrary to the bishop." " child as ever she herself was ; Vol. I. p. 602.) "and that her daughter-in- u " The queen's apothecary, "law, the late countess of "who is still alive (in 17 13), " Arran, (lady Sunderland's " and of as great integrity as " daughter,) had often confirm- "any man of his profession, " ed the same to her. Now " can attest, that the queen " that the duchess hath often " had milk after her delivery, " and often, and always when " and that he made ointments " the conversation was on this " and plasters, as usual, to re- " subject, expressed herself af- " pel it and dry it away." An- " ter this manner, can be at- swer to the younger Burnet's " tested by many persons of Pamphlet, p. 36, cited above. " undoubted honour and vera- OF KING JAMES II. 321 marks of a delivery. But she spoke only to one time. That was a main circumstance. And if it" had been true, it must have been often done, and was capable of a more copious proof, since there is occasion for such things to be often looked on, and well considered. The lady Wentworth was the sin gle witness that deposed, that she had felt the child move in the queen's belly. She was a bedchamber woman, as well as a single witness : and she fixed it on no time. If it was very early, she might have been mistaken : or if it was before Easter Monday, it might be true, and yet have no relation to this birth x. This was the substance of this evidence, 1688. x(Seebefore,p.75o.Thelady Wentworth told dean Hickes, it was about a month before her majesty was delivered. And Mrs. Dawson, of the bed chamber, a protestant as well as lady Wentworth, who heard all her ladyship said, affirmed it was within the month. Her ladyship further said, thatwhen, by the queen's permission, she felt her, she felt the child stir very strongly, " as strongly," said she, " as ever I felt any " of my own." She mention ed also a time after this, when she remarked the motion of the child. Lady Wentworth's Testimony; of which an ac count is given below at p. 817. The prince was born on Trinity Sunday, the 10th of June, consequently the circumstance mentioned by lady Wentworth took place long after Easter. Every suspicion, therefore, of an actual miscarriage on Easter Monday must vanish, if this testimony be true. Rapin, in VOL. III. his History of England, book XXIV. vol. II. p. 774, writes thus: "Let us take the two " depositions, which, next to " that of the midwife, appear " most convincing, namely, " that of the lady, who had " seen milk run from the " queen's breasts ; and that of " the lady Isabella Wentworth, " who had felt the child in the " womb. These two testimo- " nies are sufficient against " those who maintain, that the " queen was not with child " from January, the time of " her declared pregnancy, to " the tenth of June, the time " of her delivery. But they " are insufficient against those " who pretend, that she was " really with child from the " sixth of October to the ninth " of April," (Easter Monday, the time Burnet mentions, fell on the sixteenth of April in that year) " when she had a " miscarriage." Rapin goes on to observe, that the two ladies THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. which was ordered to be enrolled and printed. But, when it was published, it had a quite contrary effect to what the court expected from it. The presump tion of law before this was all in favour of the birth, since the parents owned the child : so that the proof lay on the other side, and ought to be offered by those who called it in question. But, now that this proof was brought, which was so apparently defec tive, it did not lessen but increase the jealousy with which the nation was possessed : for all people con cluded, that, if the thing had been true, it must have been easy to have brought a much more co pious proof than was now published to the world ?. who deposed concerning the milk and the motion of the child, should have fixed the time to the interval between the supposed miscarriage and the delivery, otherwise that their testimony proves nothing against those who maintain that the queen was really with child till Easter- week, and had then a miscarriage. The satisfaction Rapin here requires, is afford ed by the lady Wentworth's full and clear testimony con cerning the time she felt the child.) y (It appears, from the De positions, that twelve ladies of high rank, six of whom were protestants, besides a great ma ny protestant noblemen, physi cians, and female attendants, attested in a very full and most satisfactorymannerthe delivery of the queen : some of them swore, that they saw the navel string of the infant cut just after its separation from the mother. To this authentic do cument lies an appeal from the false representationsheregiven. It was prefaced with this de claration on the part of the king. " The mahcious " endeavours of my enemies " have so poisoned the minds " of some of my subjects, that " by the reports I have from " all hands, I have reason to " believe, that many do think " this son, which God has been " pleased to bless me with, to " be none of mine, but a sup- " posed child. But I may say, " that by a particular provi- " dence, scarce any prince was " ever born, where there were " so many persons present." Further in his majesty's Rea sons for withdrawing himself, he uses this affecting language. " I appeal to all that know " me, nay even to the prince " of Orange himself," (of whom the king complains as having falsely aspersed him in that clause of his Declaration which concerns his son,) '* that in OF KING JAMES II. It was much observed, that princess Anne was 1688. not present. She indeed excused herself. She ' ' ~ thought she was breeding : and all motion was for bidden her. None believed that to be the true rea son ; for it was thought, that the going from one apartment of the court to another could not hurt her. So it was looked on as a colour that shewed she did not believe the thing, and that therefore she would not by her being present seem to give any credit to it z. " pear before the council. This " her ladyship told me, to let " me know how httle time she " had to recollect and prepare " herself; also agreeing to what " Mrs.BridgetH thensaid, " that the deposers had such " short and imperfect notice of " what they were to do, that " they might advise with no- " body, for fear it should be said " they were tampered with, be- " fore they cametobe examined " about the prince's birth.") z I have reason to believe this to be true of the princess Anne. S. (See an account of the conduct of the princess re specting this affair, in Henry earl of Clarendon's Diary, pp. 77, 79, 81, 103. She was act ing an interested part, under the influence of a violent bad wo man, the wife of lord Churchill. '* I told lady Wentworth," (says Dr. Hickes, in his ac count of this lady's testimony, given in the year 1703, and mentioned thrice before,) "how " the bishop of Worcester (Lloyd) gave out, that he had " heard the queen that now is, " I mean queen Ann, express " her dissatisfaction ofthe truth " their conscience neither he " nor they can beheve I am " in the least capable of so " unnatural a villany, nor of so " little common sense, as to be " imposed on in a thing of such " a nature." It is proper to produce in this place what dean Hickes has added to the testi mony of lady Isabella Went worth, before cited. " We " then happened to mention " her printed Deposition, which " gave me occasion to say, that " though it was satisfactory, " yet for the sake of the preju- " diced I wish it had contain- " ed more particulars. Upon " which she said, that when she " was sent to, to appear before " the council, she knew not " why she was summoned to " appear there, almost till the " moment she was ready to go ; "nor had she known it till she " had come thither, but that " notice was sent her when she " was ready to go, that she " must come in a gown : which " made her stay to change her " clothes. While she was do- " ing that, her son, then page " to the queen, came and told "her why she was called to ap- Y 2 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. This was the state of affairs in England, while we lay at Helvoet-Sluys, where we continued till the first of November. Here Wildman created a new disturbance. He plainly had a shew of cou rage, but was, at least then, a coward. He pos sessed some of the English with an opinion, that the design was now irrecoverably lost. This was entertained by many, who were willing to hearken to any proposition that set danger at a distance from themselves. They were still magnifying the English fleet, and undervaluing the Dutch. They went so far in this, that they proposed to the prince, that Herbert should be ordered to go over to the coast of England, and either fight the English fleet, or force them in : and in that case the transport fleet might venture over; which otherwise they thought could not be safely done. This some urged with such earnestness, that nothing but the prince's 787 authority, and Schomberg's credit, could have with stood it. The prince told them, the season was now so far spent, that the losing of more time was the losing the whole design : fleets might lie long in view of one another, before it could be possible for them to come to an engagement, though both sides equally desired it; but much longer, if any one of them avoided it: it was not possible to keep the army, especially the horse, long at sea : and it was no easy matter to take them all out, and to ship them again: after the wind had stood so long in " ofthe prince of Wales's birth, " lady, ' the bishop wrongs her " and give such reasons for it, " majesty, who I am persuaded " as would convince any one " cannot disbelieve theprince's " he was an impostor, except " birth.'" See notes at p. 749 " such as were obstinate. ' I and 751.) '¦' am confident,' replied my OF KING JAMES II. 325 the west, there was reason to hope it would turn to 1688. the east : and when that should come, no time was to be lost: for it would sometimes blow so fresh in a few days as to freeze up the river ; so that it would not be possible to get out all the winter long. With these things he rather silenced than quieted them. All this while the men of war were still riding at sea, it being a continued storm for some weeks. The prince sent out several advice boats with orders to them to come in. But they could not come up to them. On the twenty-seventh of October there was for six hours together a most dreadful storm : so that there were few among us, that did not conclude, that the best part of the fleet, and by consequence that the whole design, was lost. Many, that have passed for heroes, yet shewed then the agonies of fear in their looks and whole deport ment. The prince still retained his usual calmness, and the same tranquillity of spirit, that I had ob- served in him in his happiest days. On the twenty- eighth it calmed a little, and our fleet came all in, to our great joy. The rudder of one third rate was broken : and that was all the hurt that the storm had done. At last the much longed for east wind came. And so hard a thing it was to set so vast a body in motion, that two days of this wind were lost before all could be quite ready. On the first of November, O. S. we sailed out We sailed with the evening tide; but made little way thathappay™ night, that so our fleet might come out, and movej?™e"d in order. We tried next day till noon, if it was possible to sail northward ; but the wind was so strong and full in the east, that we could not move that way. About noon the signal was given to steer Y 3 326 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. westward. This wind not only diverted us from that unhappy course, but it kept the English fleet in the river : so that it was not possible for them to come out, though they were come down as far as to the Gunfleet. By this means we had the sea open to us, with a fair wind and a safe navigation. On the third we passed between Dover and Calais, and before night came in sight of the Isle of Wight. The next day, being the day in which the prince was both born and married, he fancied, if he could land that day, it would look auspicious to the army, 788 and animate the soldiers. But we all, who consi dered, that the day following, being gunpowder treason day, our landing that day might have a good effect on the minds of the English nation, were better pleased to see that we could land no sooner. Torbay was thought the best place for our great fleet to lie in : and it was resolved to land the army, where it could be best done near it; reck oning,' that being at such a distance from London, we could provide ourselves with horses, and put every thing in order before the king could march his army towards us, and that we should lie some time at Exeter for the refreshing our men. I was in the ship, with the prince's other domestics, that went in the van of the whole fleet. At noon on the fourth Russel came on board us with the best of all the English pilots that they had brought over. He gave him the steering of the ship ; and ordered him to be sure to sail so, that next morning we should be short of Dartmouth : for it was intended that some of the ships should land there, and that the rest should sail into Torbay. The pilot thought, he could not be mistaken in measuring our course: OF KING JAMES II. 327 and believed that he certainly kept within orders, 1688. till the morning shewed us we were past Torbay and Dartmouth. The wind, though it had abated much of its first violence, yet was still full in the east : so now it seemed necessary for us to sail on to Plymouth, which must have engaged us in a long and tedious campaign in winter, through a very ill country. Nor were we sure to be received at Ply mouth. The earl of Bath, who was governor, had sent by Russel a promise to the prince to come and join him : yet it was not likely, that he would be so forward as to receive us at our first coming. The delays he made afterwards, pretending that he was managing the garrison, whereas he was indeed stay ing till he saw how the matter was like to be de cided, shewed us how fatal it had proved, if we had been forced to sail on to Plymouth. But while Russel was in no small disorder, after he saw. the pilot's error, (upon which he bade me go to my prayers, for all was lost,) and as he was ordering the boat to be cleared to go aboard the prince, on a sudden, to all our wonder, it calmed a little. And then the wind turned into the south : and a soft and happy gale of wind carried in the whole fleet in four hours time into Torbay. Immediately as many We landed landed as conveniently could. As soon as the prince a and marshal Schomberg got to shore, they were fur nished with such horses as the village of Broxholme could afford; and rode up to view the grounds, which they found as convenient as could be ima gined for the foot in that season. It was not a cold night : otherwise the soldiers, who had been kept warm aboard, might have suffered much by it. As 789 soon as I landed, I made what haste I could to the y 4 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. place where the prince was ; who took me heartily by the hand, and asked me, if I would not now be lieve predestination. I told him, I would never for get that providence of God, which had appeared so signally on this occasion a. He was cheerfuller than ordinary. Yet he returned soon to his usual gra vity. The prince sent for all the fishermen of the place; and asked them, which was the properest place for landing his horse, which all apprehended would be a tedious business, and might hold some days. But next morning he was shewed a place, a quarter of a mile below the village, where the ships could be brought very near the land, against a good shore, and the horses would not be put to swim above twenty yards. This proved to be so happy a (Light is thrown on this passage by the following curi ous account given in M'Cor- mick's Life of Carstares: "Mr. " Carstares set out along with " his highness in quality of his " domestic chaplain, and went " aboard of his own ship. It " is well known, that, upon " their first setting out from " the coast of Holland, the fleet " was in imminent danger by " a violent tempest, which " obliged them to put back for " a few days. Upon that occa- " sion, the vessel which carried " the prince and his retinue " narrowly escaped shipwreck, " a circumstance which some " who were around his person " were disposed to interpret '* into a bad omen of their " success. Among these, Dr. " Burnet happeningto observe, " that it seemed predestined " that they should not set foot " onEnglish ground, the prince " said nothing; but, upon step- " ping a-shore at Torbay, in " the hearing of Mr. Carstares, " he turned about to Dr.Bur- " net, and asked him what he " thought of the doctrine of " predestination now ?" Car- stares's State Papers and Let ters, p. 34. Cunningham, ac cording to the translation of the Latin MS, of his History of England, says, that "Dr.Bur- ' ' net, who understood but little " of military affairs, asked the " prince of Orange, which way "he intended to march, and " when? and desired to be em- " ployed by him in whatever " service he should think fit. " The prince only asked, what " he now thought of predesti- " nation? and advised, if he ' ' had a mind to be busy, to con- " suit the canons." Vol. I. p. 88.) OF KING JAMES II. 329 for our landing, though we came to it by mere acci- 1688. dent, that, if we had ordered the whole island round to be sounded, we could not have found a properer place for it. There was a dead calm all that morn ing : and in three hours' time all our horse were landed, with as much baggage as was necessary till we got to Exeter. The artillery and heavy baggage were left aboard, and ordered to Topsham, the sea port to Exeter. All that belonged to us was so soon and so happily landed, that by the next day at noon we were in full march, and marched four miles that night. We had from thence twenty miles to Exeter : and we resolved to make haste thither. But, as we were now happily landed, and marching, we saw new and unthought of characters of a fa vourable providence of God watching over us. We had no sooner got thus disengaged from our fleet, than a new and great storm blew from the west; from which our fleet, being covered by the land, could receive no prejudice : but the king's fleet had got out as the wind calmed, and in pursuit of us was come as far as the Isle of Wight, when this contrary wind turned upon them. They tried what they could to pursue us : but they were so shattered by some days of this storm, that they were forced to go into Portsmouth, and were no more fit for service that year. This was a greater happiness than we were then aware of: for the lord Dart mouth assured me some time after, that, whatever stories we had heard and believed, either of officers or seamen, he was confident they would all have fought very heartily. But now, by the immediate hand of Heaven, we were masters of the sea without a blow. I never found a disposition to superstition 330 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. in my temper: I was rather inclined to be philoso- phical upon all occasions. Yet I must confess, that this strange ordering of the winds and seasons, just to change as our affairs required it, could not but make deep impressions on me, as well as on all that 790 observed it. Those famous verses of Claudian seemed to be more applicable to the prince, than to him they were made on : O nimium dilecte Deo, cui militat aether, Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti! Heaven's favourite, for whom the skies do fight, And all the winds conspire to guide thee right ! The prince made haste to Exeter, where he stayed ten days, both for refreshing his troops, and for giv ing the country time to shew their affections. Both the clergy and magistrates of Exeter were very fear ful, and very backward. The bishop and the dean ran awayb. And the clergy stood off, though they were sent for, and very gently spoke to by the prince. The truth was, the doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance had been carried so far, and preached so much, that clergymen either could not all on the sudden get out of that entangle ment, into which they had by long thinking and speaking all one way involved themselves, or they were ashamed to make so quick a turn. Yet care was taken to protect them and their houses every where : so that no sort of violence nor rudeness was offered to any of them. The prince gave me full b For which Lamplew (Lam- at the coronation, the bishop of plugh) the bishop, was made London performing the cere- archbishop of York by king monies, as suffragan of Canter- James, and afterwards crowned bury. D. Richard Annesley king William, upon Sandcroft's dean of Exeter. Cole. refusal : that is to say, assisted OF KING JAMES II. 331 authority to do this : and I took so particular a care 1688. of it, that we heard of no complaints. The army- was kept under such an exact discipline, that every thing was paid for where it was demanded ; though the soldiers were contented with such moderate en tertainment, that the people generally asked but lit tle for what they did eat. We stayed a week at Exeter, before any of the gentlemen of the country about came in to the prince c. Every day some per sons of condition came from other parts. The first were the lord Colchester, the eldest son of the earl of Rivers, and the lord Wharton d, Mr. Russel, the lord Russel's brother, and the earl of Abington. The king came down to Salisbury, and sent his The king's . _, . army began troops twenty miles further. Of these, three regi- to come ments of horse and dragoons were drawn on by their prince" officers, the lord Cornburye and colonel Langston, c The duke of Shrewsbury (And for his unblushing men- told me the prince was much dacity, witness his speech at surprised at this backwardness Guildhall, printed at London in joining with him, and began in the same year 1642. But to suspect he was betrayed, and the person mentioned by Bur- had some thoughts of return- net was Mr. Wharton his son, ing; in which case he resolved as speaker Onslow has noted.) to publish the names of all e (On the defection of his son those that had invited him lord Cornbury, (who, as D'Or- over : which, he said, would be leans reports, in his Revolutions but a just return for their of England, p. 302, had been treachery, folly, and cowardice, bred at Geneva, but was, ac- Lord Shrewsbury told him he cording to the Memoirs of the believed the great difficulty a- Affairs of Europe, published in mongst them was who should 1724, a person ofthe meanest run the hazard of being the capacity,) the earl of Claren- first; but if the ice were once don in his Diary, p. 89, thus broken, they would be as much exclaims: "O God, that my afraid of being the last : which " son should be a rebel ! the proved very true. D. (This " Lord in his mercy look upon note has been previously pub- " me, and enable me to sup- lished by Dalrymple in his Me- " port my self under this most moirs, vol. II. p. 342.) "grievous calamity. I made d Famous for his cowardice " haste home, and as soon as I in the rebellion of 1642. S. " could recollect myself a little, 332 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. on design to come over to the prince. Advice was sent to the prince of this. But because these officers were not sure of their subalterns, the prince ordered a body of his men to advance, and assist them in case any resistance was made. They were within twenty miles of Exeter, and within two miles of the body that the prince had sent to join them, when a whisper ran about among them that they were be trayed. Lord Cornbury had not the presence of mind that so critical a thing required. So they fell 791 hi confusion, and many rode back. Yet one regi ment came over in a body, and with them about a hundred of the other two. This gave us great cou rage; and shewed us, that we had not been de ceived in what was told us of the inclinations of the king's army. Yet, on the other hand, those who studied to support the king's spirit by flatteries, told him, that in this he saw that he might trust his army, since these who intended to carry over those regiments, were forced to manage it with so much artifice, and durst not discover their design either to officers or soldiers ; and that, as soon as they per ceived it, the greater part of them had turned back. " I wrote to my lord Middle- " and said, he pitied me with " ton to obtain leave for me " all his heart, and that he " to throw myself at the king's " would still be kind to my fa- " feet. My lord quickly sent " mily." One cannot but feel " me a most obliging answer, for fallen greatness ; at the " that I might wait on the same time we should recol- " king when I would, Nov. 1 6. lect with what ingratitude, " Friday. In the afternoon I harshness, and injustice, the " waited on the king at W.Chif- king would have continued to "finch's: I said what I was treat the conscientious opposers " able upon so melancholy a of his measures, if the prince's " subject, and my son's de- expedition had not been under- " sertion. God knows I was in taken, or had been unsuccess- " confusion enough. The king ful.) " was very gracious to me, OF KING JAMES II. The king wanted support : for his spirits sunk ex- 1 688. tremelyf. His blood was in such fermentation, that- he was bleeding much at the nose, which returned oft upon him every day. He sent many spies over to us. They all took his money, and came and joined themselves to the prince, none of them return ing to him. So that he had no intelligence brought him of what the prince was doing, but what common reports brought him, which magnified our numbers, and made him think we were coming near him. while we were still at Exeter. He heard that the city of London was very unquiet. News were brought him, that the earls of Devonshire and Danby, and the lord Lumley, were drawing great bodies toge ther, and that both York and Newcastle had de clared for the prince. The lord Delamere had raised a regiment in Cheshire. And the body of the nation did every where discover their inclinations for the prince so evidently, that the king saw he had no thing to trust to but his army. And the ill disposi tion among them was so apparent, that he reckoned he could not depend on them. So that he lost both heart and head at once. But that which gave him the last and most confounding stroke was, that the lord Churchill and the duke of Grafton left him, and came and joined the prince at Axminster, twenty miles on that side of Exeter. After this he could not know on whom he could depend. The duke of Grafton was one of king Charles's sons by the duchess of Cleveland. He had been some time at sea, and was a gallant but rough man. He had f That ruined him, for I have upon the occasion, his army been well assured, that had he would have fought the prince shewn any courage and spirit of Orange. O. 334 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. more spirit than any one of the king's sons. He made an answer to the king about this time, that was much talked of. The king took notice of some what in his behaviour that looked factious : and he said, he was sure he could not pretend to act upon principles of conscience; for he had been so ill bred, that, as he knew little of religion, so he regarded it less. But he answered the king, that, though he had little conscience, yet he was of a party that had conscience S. Soon after that, prince George, the duke of Ormond h, and the lord Drumlanerick, the duke of Queensbury's eldest son1, left him, and came g (This young nobleman's attachments, for he had not at that time been refused the com mand of the fleet, did not pre vent him from presenting the papal nuncio at court, when the duke of Somerset had declined doing it, as against law. See above p. 717, and lord Lons dale's Memoir of this Reign, p. 24. Compare the Life of King James II. vol. II. p. 208.) h Yet how has he been since used ? S. i (The previous engagement of these three persons of high quality to join the prince of Orange on his arrival in Eng land, is mentioned by the earl of Balcarras, in his Account of the affairs of Scotland, p. 27. Speke, a man of a good family, and originally in violent oppo sition to the king, was em ployed by him to go over to the prince on his landing in England in order to procure in formation ofthe strength of his forces, and of his future de signs ; but, on the contrary, did all in his power to serve the prince of Orange. This person relates in his tract, entitled the History ofthe Happy Revolution, p. 32, that he "foretold the " king of the desertion of his " friends in order to create a " mistrust and jealousy in his " mind, even of those who " were heartily and sincerely " in his interest." See more of Speke's intrigues in a note be low at p. 794. folio edit. King William completely turned the tables on James for his unwar rantable employment of this man ; as, according to his own account, Speke kept a constant correspondence with the exiled monarch by king William's di rection, from the time of the re volution till the peace of Rys- wick; "and for the defraying " the charge of his correspond- " ence, and for other secret ser- " vices, received several sums " of money from king Wiliam," p. 65 of the above named pam phlet.) OF KING JAMES II. over to the prince, and joined him, when he was 1668. come as far as the earl of Bristol's house at Sher- wgg burn. When the news came to London, the prin cess was so struck with the apprehensions of the king's displeasure, and of the ill effects that it might have, that she said to the lady Churchill, that she could not bear the thoughts of it, and would leap out at window rather than venture on it. The bi shop of London was then lodged very secretly in Suffolk street. So the lady Churchill, who knew where he was, went to him, and concerted with him the method of the princess's withdrawing from the court. The princess went sooner to bed than ordi nary. And about midnight she went down a back stairs from her closet, attended only by the lady Churchill k, in such haste that they carried nothing with them. They were waited for by the bishop of London, who carried them to the earl of Dorset's, whose lady furnished them with every thing. And k And Mrs. Berkeley, after- to hers, and told my mother wards lady Fitzharding. The the princess was murdered by back stairs were made a little the priests ; from thence they before for that purpose. The went to the queen, and old mis- princess pretended she was out tress Buss asked her in a very of order, upon some expostula- rude manner, what she had tions that had passed between done with their mistress. The her and the queen, in a visit queen answered her very grave- she received from her that ly, she supposed their mistress night : therefore said she would was where she liked to be, but not be disturbed till she rang did assure them she knew no- her bell. Next morning, when thing of her, but did not doubt her servants had waited two they would hear of her again hours longer than her usual very soon. Which gave them time of rising, they were afraid little satisfaction, upon which something was the matter with there was a rumour all over her; and finding the bed open, Whitehall, that the queen had and her highness gone, they made away with the princess. ran screaming to my father's D. (See before, note at 766. lodgings, which were the next folio edit.) THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. so they went northward, as far as Northampton; where that earl attended on them with all respect, and quickly brought a body of horse to serve for a guard to the princess. And in a little while a small army was formed about her, who chose to be com manded by the bishop of London ; of which he too easily accepted x. These things put the king in an unexpressible confusion. He saw himself now forsaken, not only by those whom he had trusted and favoured most, but even by his own children. And the army was in such distraction, that there was not any one body that seemed entirely united and firm to him. A foolish ballad was made at that time, treating the papists, and chiefly the Irish, in a very ridiculous manner, which had a burden, said to be Irish words, lero lero lilibulerom, that made an impression on the army, that cannot be well imagined by those who saw it not. The whole army, and at last all people both in city and country, were singing it perpetu ally. And perhaps never had so slight a thing so great an effect. Anassocia- While the prince stayed at Exeter, the rabble of thoseTho8 the people came in to him in great numbers. So came to the tna^. he C0Vl\& have raised many regiments of foot, if pnnce. •> ° there had been any occasion for them. But what he understood of the temper the king's army was in, made him judge it was not necessary to arm greater numbers. After he had stayed eight days at Exeter, Seimour came in with several other gentlemen of 1 And why should he not? S. membered he had made use of m They are not Irish words, to the earl of Dorset, from but better than Scotch. S. whence it was concluded that There was a particular expres- he was the author. D. sion in it which the king re- OF KING JAMES II. 337 quality and estate. As soon as he had been with 1688. the prince, he sent to seek for me. When I came to him, he asked me, why we had not an association signed by all that came to us, since, till we had that done, we were as a rope of sand : men might leave us when they pleased, and we had them under no tie: whereas, if they signed an association, they 793 would reckon themselves bound to stick to us n. I answered, it was because we had not a man of his authority and credit to offer and support such an advice. I went from him to the prince, who ap proved of the motion : as did also the earl of Shrews bury, and all that were with us. So I was ordered to draw it. It was, in few words, an engagement to stick together in pursuing the ends of the prince's declaration ; and that, if any attempt should be made on his person, it should be revenged on all by whom or from whom any such attempt should be made. This was agreed to by all about the prince. So it was engrossed in parchment, and signed by all those that came in to him. The prince put Devonshire and Exeter under Seimour's government, who was recorder of Exeter. And he advanced with his ar my, leaving a small garrison there with his heavy artillery under colonel Gibson, whom he made de puty governor as to the military part. At Crookhorn, Dr. Finch, son to the earl of Win- The heads chelsea, then made warden of All Souls college in sent to him. Oxford, was sent to the prince from some of the heads of colleges ; assuring him, that they would de- n (In Burnet's Speech at they had not an association Sacheverel's trial, it is added, ready by to-morrow, he would that sir Edward threatened, if leave them before night.) VOL. III. Z THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN ] 688. clare for him, and inviting him to come thither, tell- ing him, that their plate should be at his service, if he needed it. This was a sudden turn from those principles that they had carried so high a few years before. The prince had designed to have secured Bristol and Glocester, and so to have gone to Ox ford, the whole west being then in his hands, if there had been any appearance of a stand to be made against him by the king and his army ; for, the king being so much superior to him in horse, it was not advisable to march through the great plains of Dor setshire and Wiltshire. But the king's precipitated return to London put an end to this precaution. The earl of Bath had prevailed with the garrison of Plymouth : and they declared for the prince. So now all behind him was safe. When he came to Sherburn, all Dorsetshire came in a body, and joined him. He resolved to make all the haste he could to London, where things were in a high fermenta tion. Great dis- A bold man ventured to draw and publish another London" declaration in the prince's name. It was penned with great spirit : and it had as great an effect. It set forth the desperate designs of the papists, and the extreme danger the nation was in by their means, and required all persons immediately to fall on such papists as were in any employments, and to turn them out, and to secure all strong places, and to do every thing else that was in their power to execute the laws, and to bring all things again into their proper channels. This set all men at work : for no doubt was made, that it was truly the prince's 794 declaration. But he knew nothing of it. And it OF KING JAMES II. was never known who was the author of so bold a 1688. thing °. No person ever claimed the merit of it : ~~ for, though it had an amazing effect, yet, it seems, he that contrived it apprehended, that the prince would not be well pleased with the author of such an imposture in his name. The king was under such a consternation, that he neither knew what to re solve on, nor whom to trust. This pretended decla ration put the city in such a flame, that it was car ried to the lord mayor, and he was required to exe cute it. The prentices got together, and were fall ing upon all mass houses, and committing many ir regular things. Yet their fury was so well governed, and so little resisted, that no other mischief was done : no blood was shed. The king now sent for all the lords in town, that A trea*y ° ' begun with were known to be firm protestants. And, upon the prince. speaking to some of them in private, they advised him to call a general meeting of all the privy coun- ° But always supposed to have ofthe disbanded army had be- been one much known by the gun a massacre of the protest- name of Julian Johnson. D. ants. But Echard, in his His- (This was Samuel Johnson, the tory of the Revolution, doubts pohtical writer, and author, the truth of Speke's relations, among other books, of one en- pp. 183 and 198. on the ground titled Juhan the Apostate ; but of the lateness of their publica- another person was concerned tion ; yet this man's share in in this forgery, as, according to raising the report of the mas- his own story, the real framer sacre was mentioned in print of the declaration was Hugh before his own accounts were Speke, a little before mention- published. If these are true, it ed, whose brother had been was incumbent on the prince, condemned by Jefferies in Mon- to whom Speke says, he shew- mouth's rebellion. See Dal- ed the pretended declaration, rymple's Memoirs, vol. I. p. 171, soon after its dispersion.to have who says also at p. 177, that takencarethatthenationshould as the same Speke reports in be acquainted with the impos- his pamphlet, he invented the ture.) infamous lie, that the Irish part z 2 340 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. sellors, and peers, to ask their advice, what was fit to be done. All agreed in one opinion, that it was fit to send commissioners to the prince to treat with him. This went much against the king's own in clinations : yet the dejection he was in, and the des perate state of his affairs, forced him to consent to it. So the marquis of Hallifax, the earl of Notting ham, and the lord Godolphin, were ordered to go to the prince, and to ask him what it was that he de manded. The earl of Clarendon reflected the most on the king's former conduct of any in that assem bly, not without some indecent and insolent words, which were generally condemned P. He expected, as was said, to be one of the commissioners : and, upon his not being named, he came and met the prince near Salisbury. Yet he suggested so many peevish and peculiar things, when he came, that some sus pected all this was but collusion, and that he was sent to raise a faction among those that were about the prince. The lords sent to the prince to know where they should wait on him : and he named Hungerford. When they came thither, and had de livered their message, the prince called all the peers and others of chief note about him, and advised with them what answer should be made. A day was taken to consider of an answer "1. The marquis of P He said he had often told Latin, with very pedantic so lum what would be the conse- lemnity. D. quence of his actions, and if he q (Of the various arts used had minded him more, his af- by the prince, during his route fairs had never been in the con- to London, to evade receiving dition they were now brought the king's proposals, which he to ; but flattery was always did not answer before the ninth more agreeable to princes than of December, see a relation in good advice. In confirmation Ralph's History of England, vol. of which he quoted a scrap of I. p. 1055. The king's commis- OF KING JAMES II. 341 Hallifax sent for me. But the prince said, though 1 688. he would suspect nothing from our meeting, others — might. So I did not speak with him in private, but in the hearing of others. Yet he took occasion to ask me, so as no body observed it, if we had a mind to have the king in our hands. I said, by no means; fot we would not hurt his person. He asked next, what if he had a mind to go away. I said, nothing was so much to be wished for. This I told the prince. And he approved of both my answers. 795 The prince ordered the earls of Oxford, Shrewsbury, and Clarendon, to treat with the lords the king had sent1". And they delivered the prince's answer to them on Sunday the eighth of December. He desired a parliament might be presently called, that no men should continue in any employment, who were not qualified by law, and had not taken the tests ; that the tower of London might be put in the keeping of the city ; that the fleet, and all the strong places of the kingdom, might be put in the hands of protestants ; that a proportion of the re venue might be set off for the pay of the prince's army; and that during the sitting of the parliament, the armies of both sides might not come within twenty miles of London ; but, that the prince might come on to London, and have the same number of his guards about him, that the king kept about his person. The lords seemed to be very well satis- sioners had received their pass- his Diary says, the persons or es from the prince, who was dered to treat with the other then between Bath and Salis- lords were, marshal Schomberg, bury, at Reading on the third the earl of Oxford, and himself, ofthe month.) p. 109.) r (The earl of Clarendon in 7, 3 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. fied with this answer. They sent it up by an ex- press, and went back next day to London. l^th™5 -^u* now s*range counsels were suggested to the kingdom, king and queen. The priests, and all the violent papists, saw a treaty was now opened. They knew, that they must be the sacrifice. The whole design of popery must be given up, without any hope of being able in an age to think of bringing it on again. Severe laws would be made against them. And all those who intended to stick to the king, and to pre serve him, would go into those laws with a particu lar zeal : so that they, and their hopes, must be now given up, and sacrificed for ever. They infused all this into the queen. They said, she would certainly be impeached : and witnesses would be set up against her and her son : the king's mother had been im peached in the long parliament: and she was to look for nothing but violence. So the queen took up a sudden resolution of going to France with the child. The midwife, together with all who were assisting at the birth, were also carried over, or so disposed of, that it could never be learned what be came of them afterwards s. The queen prevailed with the king, not only to consent to this, but to promise to go quickly after her *. He was only to s That is strange and incre- " tion — ; and therefore when dible. S. " it was first proposed, her ma- * (A different account is given " jesty absolutely refused it in in the Life of King James " reference to herself, telling II. where it is said, that the " the king she was very willing " queen had a great reluctance " that the prince her son should " to this journey, not so much " be sent to France, or where " for the hazard and inconveni- " it was thought most proper " encies of it, as to leaving the " for his security." It is added, "king in so doubtful a situa- " that the reluctance which the OF KING JAMES II. stay a day or two after her, in hope that the shadow 1 688. of authority that was still left in him might keep things so quiet, that she might have an undisturbed passage. So she went to Portsmouth u. And from thence, in a man of war, she went over to France, the king resolving to follow her in disguise. Care was also taken to send all the priests away. The king stayed long enough to get the prince's answer. And when he had read it, he said, he did not ex pect so good terms. He ordered the lord chancellor to come to him next morning. But he had called 796 secretly for the great seal. And the next morning, being the tenth of December, about three in the " queen had to part from the *' king, made some persons who " wished him well, and thought " his leaving the kingdom too " precipitate, suspect her ma- " jesty to have been the occa- " sion of it, which was the far- " thest thing in the world from " her thoughts; she neither ad- " vised it, nor urged him to it; " on the contrary, it was her " own staying, nothisgoing,her " majesty contended for." Vol. II. p. 244. However, that the queen, on her finally consenting to go away herself, obtained an assurance, that it was the king's intention to follow her, appears to be true.) " The prince of Wales had been sent to Portsmouth and brought back again : but the queen went from Whitehall privately, with the prince, &c. in a barge down the Thames, where a ship lay to receive her. In a letter dated December 1 oth, (to lord Dartmouth,) the king says, " Things having so " very bad a prospect, I could " no longer defer securing the " queen and my son; which I " hope I have done, and that " by to-morrow they will be " out of the reach of my ene- " mies. I am at ease now I " have sent them away. I " have not heard this day from " my commissioners, with the " prince of Orange, who I be- " lieve will hardly be prevailed " with to stop his march, so that " I am in no good condition ; " nay, in as bad a one as is " possible." D. (" The queen " crossed the Thames from " Whitehall to Lambeth, where " she took coach, and went to " Gravesend; here she embark - " ed in a vessel prepared for " this purpose, sailed down the " river, and landed at Calais." Bevill Higgons's Remarks, p. 306. The particulars of her flight are mentioned in D'Or- leans's Revolutions of England, P- 3I5'3'6.) z 4 344 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. morning he went away in disguise with sir Edward Hales, whose servant he seemed to be. They passed the river, and flung the great seal into it ; which was some months after found by a fisherman near Fox-Hall. The king went down to a miserable fisher boat, that Hales had provided for carrying them over to France. He is much Thus a great king, who had a good army and a strong fleet, did choose rather to abandon all, than either to expose himself to any danger with that part of the army that was still firm to him, or td stay and see the issue of a parliament. Some put this mean and unaccountable resolution on a want of courage. Others thought it was the effect of an ill conscience, and of some black thing under which he could not now support himself. And they who censured it the most moderately, said, that it shewed, that his priests had more regard to themselves than to him ; and that he considered their interest more than his own ; and that he chose rather to wander abroad with them, and to try what he could do by a French force to subdue his people, than to stay at homex, and be shut up within the bounds of law, and be brought under an incapacity of doing more mis chief; which they saw was necessary to quiet those fears and jealousies, for which his bad government had given so much occasion. It seemed very unac^ countable, since he was resolved to go, that he did not choose rather to go in one of his yachts or fri gates, than to expose himself in so dangerous and ignominious a manner. It was not possible to put a x He seems to be vexed that and at last served as his father the king did not stay to be in- was. Cole. suited by the prince of Orange, OF KING JAMES II. 345 good construction on any part of the dishonourable scene which he then acted y. With this his reign ended : for this was a plain deserting his people, and the exposing the nation to the pillage of an army, which he had ordered the earl of Feversham to disband z. And the doing this without paying them, was the letting so many armed men loose upon the nation ; who might have done much mischief, if the execution of those orders that he left behind him had not been stopped a. I shall 1688. y Lord Godolphin wrote to him to advise his withdrawing for the present, which, he said, would leave the kingdom in such confusion, that his sub jects would be glad in a year's time to beg for his return upon their knees. D. Perhaps this was really lord Godolphin'sview of things, and perhaps he also feared for the king's hfe ; or it may be, that his counsel, after all, was insidious. D'Avaux, at the conclusion of his Negotia tions, says, that after the arri val of the prince of Orange in England, he repeated the in formation to his master the king of France, which he had given long before, that Go dolphin betrayed the king of England. So the marquis of Halifax is known to have sent a letter to the king, both inform ing him of ill designs against his person, and asserting that a re solution had been taken by the prince's advisers at Windsor to imprison him. See sir John Re resby's Memoirs, pp. 178. 180. and D'Orleans's Revolutions of England, p. 314. Compare also what is mentioned below, p. 800. At the same time this very marquis is said to have afterwards made a merit of frightening the king away. See also what Burnet just before reports of him at p. 794.) z Abominable assertion, and false consequence. S. (This consequence from the king's first attempt to leave the king dom was then drawn by the prince of Orange's friends in general. See lord Clarendon's Diary, p. 115. 117.) a " (Somebody told the " prince (of Orange) how lord " Feversham had disbanded the " king's army ; and that the " soldiers were all running up " and down, not knowing what " course to take : at which the " prince seemed very angry at " lord Feversham, and said, I " am not to be thus dealt with." Lord Clarendon's Diary, p. 1 14. Lord Feversham had acted by the king's order. Some out rages were committed by the disbanded soldiers, for it ap pears from a printed Diary of the Expedition of the Prince of Orange, p. 73. that a party of Irish soldiers robbed, and other- 346 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN But is broughtback. 1688. continue the recital of all that passed in this inter- — fegnum, till the throne, which he now left empty, was filled. He was not got far, when some fishermen of Fe versham, who were watching for such priests, and other delinquents, as they fancied were making their escape, came up to him. And they, knowing sir Edward Hales, took both the king and him, and brought them to Feversham. The king told them who he wasb. And that flying about brought a 797 vast crowd together, to look on that astonishing in- wise ill treated, the rector of Tylehurst, a parish near Read ing, and his family, under pre tence that the king had not paid them.) D And desired they would send to Eastwell for the earl of Winchelsea; which sir Basil Dixwell put a stop to, by tell ing him, sure they were good enough to take care of him. Which occasioned the king's saying, he found there was more civility amongst the common people than some gentlemen, when he was returned to White hall. D. " (The earl of Win- " chelsea, whom he had made " lord lieutenant of the county " of Kent, and constable of " Dover castle, not only waited " on him immediately, with all " the respect he could have " shewn him, when he sat firm- " est on his throne, but wisely " and honestly made use ofthe " opportunity to convince him, " that he ought not to abandon " his dominions, but that he " ought rather to return to " London, to collect his friends " about him, and to open a " negotiation with the prince "of Orange." Ralph's History of England, vol. I. p. 1068. It may be observed on the king's resolution to withdraw himself from the kingdom, that his ap plication through the bishop of Winchester to be received by the bishops, had been declined on the allegation of their being unable to protect him ; which fact the king forcibly urged on the earl of Middleton's con sideration, when he advised bis stay. The king was sen sible, that although he was in the midst of his subjects, he was entirely in the power of his enemies. Besides the let ters addressed to him from various quarters, which coun selled him to leave the king dom, it appears, both from his own and other relations, that he was apprised of lord Church ill's late plan to convey him from his army to the prince of Orange's quarters. See note above at p. 269. And compare Speke's History of the Revolu tion, p. 61 — 63.) OF KING JAMES II. 347 stance of the uncertainty of all worldly greatness ; 1 688. when he who had ruled three kingdoms, and might have been the arbiter of all Europe, was now in such mean hands, and so low an equipage. The people of the town were extremely disordered with this unlooked for accident : and, though for a while they kept him as a prisoner, yet they quickly changed that into as much respect as they could possibly pay him c. Here was an accident that seemed of no great consequence. Yet all the strugglings which that party have made ever since that time to this day, which from him were called afterwards the Jacobites, did rise out of this : for, if he had got clear away, by all that could be judged, he would not have had a party left : all would have agreed, that here was a desertion, and that therefore the nation was free, and at liberty to secure itself. But what followed upon this gave them a colour to say, that he was forced away, and driven out d. Till now, he scarce had a party, but among the papists. But from this incident a party grew up, that has been long very active for his interests. As soon as it was known at London that the king was gone, the prentices and the rabble, who had been a little quieted when they saw a treaty on foot between the king and the prince, now broke out again upon all suspected houses, where they believed there was either priests or papists. They made great havock of many places, not sparing the houses of ambassadors. But none c (He was treated in the most Continuation of Rapin's Hist. disrespectfulmanner, and some- of England, p. xxiii.) times there was considerable d So he certainly was, both danger to his person, as may now and afterwards. S. Was be seen in a letter of an eye- he not as much drove away witness published in Tindal's before? Cole. 348 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. were killed, no houses burnt, nor were any rob- beries committed e. Never was so much fury seen under so much management. Jefferies, finding the king was gone, saw what reason he had to look to himself: and, apprehending that he was now ex posed to the rage of the people, whom he had pro voked with so particular a brutality, he had disguised himself to make his escape f. But he fell into the hands of some who knew him&. He was insulted by them with as much scorn and rudeness as they could invent. And, after many hours tossing him about, he was carried to the lord mayor; whom they charged to commit him to the tower \ which e Don Pedro de Ronquillo's house was plundered and pulled down ; he was Spanish ambas sador. S. (Add the house of the minister ofthe duke of Flo rence, on the credit of a con temporary letter in Ellis's Se cond Series of Original Letters, vol. IV. p. 178. A different ac count is also given by the king himself in his life lately pub lished, vol. II. p. 257. See too sir John Reresby's Memoirs, p. 169, Evelyn's Diary, vol. I. p. 619, and D'Orleans's Revo lutions of England, p. 3 1 8. Yet it appears from Ralph's detail, page 1060, that the bishop is founded in his assertion, that the fury of the mob was under management.) f In a common sailor's ha bit. O. S A scrivener of Wapping, who saw him at a window of an upper chamber in a poor alehouse there. He had been rated and terribly frightened by Jefferies some time before, in the court of chancery, and as the man was coming out of the court, he said, " The fierceness " of Jefferies's countenance on " that occasion had made such " an impression upon his mind, " that he believed he should " never have it out of his " thoughts." And by this it was, that he immediately knew him, although so disguised. This story, with some variation, is mentioned in the Life of the Lord Keeper North, p. 220. O. n He soon after died in the tower by drinking strong li quors. S. (Echard was assured the contrary by a person who was often with Jefferies during. his confinement, and who said that the stone was the only bo dily disorder that troubled him. History of England, p. 1130. He told doctor Sharp, who was afterwards archbishop of Yorky that the report of his giving up himself to hard drinking, was grounded on nothing more than his use of punch, to alleviate OF KING JAMES II. 349 the lord Lucas had then seized, and in it had de- 1688. clared for the prince i. The lord mayor was so struck with the terror of this rude populace, and with the disgrace of a man who had made all people tremble before him, that he fell into fits upon it, of which he died soon after. To prevent the further growth of such disorders, The prince he called a meeting of the privy counsellors and come and peers, who met at Guildhall. The archbishop of ™hen?°" Canterbury was there. They gave a strict charge hna^is for keeping the peace ; and agreed to send an invi tation to the prince, desiring him to come and take the government of the nation into his hands, till a 798 parliament should meet to bring all matters to a just and full settlement. This they all signed k ; and sent it to the prince by the earl of Pembroke, the viscount of Weymouth x, the bishop of Ely, and the pressure of stone or gravel, " his readers by the means." under which he at that time Ralph's History of England, laboured. Life of Archbishop vol. I. p. 1061. Compare Dr. Sharp, by his son, lately pub- D'Oyly's Life of Archbishop lished, p. 97.) Sancroft, vol. I. p. 392 — 398.) 1 He was put in possession 1 Lord Weymouth was a of the tower by an order of the weak, proud man, with a vast lords at Guildhall. D. estate, and exprestgreatwarmth k (" Bishop Burnet takes against king James, and all his " care to remember that the proceedings : but not being so " archbishop was there; and well received by the prince as " to be express that this invi- the earl of Pembroke, which he " tation to the prince they all expected, immediately espoused " signed; but their own decla- king James's interest, with great " ration bears witness, that no zeal; which he continued to " such thing passed atthis meet- do to his death. He was very " ing; and when such a thing liberal to non-jurors, though " did pass, it is but justice to he always took the oaths him- " acknowledge that the arch- self; which occasioned his " bishop was not there. So house being constantly full of " strangely does he jumble dif- people of that sort, who cried " ferent facts together; and him up for a very religious man; " so fatally does he mislead which pleased him extremely, 350 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. the Lord Culpepper. The prince went on from Hungerford to Newbury, and from thence to Abing- ton, resolving to have gone to Oxford to receive the compliments of the university, and to meet the prin cess Anne who was coming thither. At Abington, he was surprised with the news of the strange ca tastrophe of affairs now at London, the king's de sertion, and the disorders which the city and neigh bourhood of London were falling into. One came from London, and brought him the news, which he knew not well how to believe, till he had an express sent him from the lords, who had been with him from the king. Upon this the prince saw how necessary it was to make all possible haste to London. So he sent to Oxford, to excuse his not coming thither, and to offer the association to them, which was signed by almost all the heads, and the chief men of the university: even by those, who, being disap pointed in the preferments they aspired to, became afterwards his most implacable enemies m. Hitherto the expedition had been prosperous, be yond all that could have been expected. There had been but two small engagements, during this unsea sonable campaign. One was at Winkington [Win- canton] in Dorsetshire, where an advanced party of the prince's met one of the king's that was thrice their number : yet they drove them before them into a much greater body, where they were overpowered having affected to be thought his contemporaries; attached, so all his life : which the com- as he was, to the church of panions of his youth would by England, he could not but high- no means allow. D. (Lord ly disapprove of king James's Weymouth appears tohave been measures .) an honester man than most of m Malice. S. OF KING JAMES II. 351 with numbers. Some were killed of both sides11. 1688. But there were more prisoners taken of the prince's men. Yet, though the loss was of his side, the cou rage that his men shewed in so great an inequality as to number, made us reckon that we gained more than we lost on that occasion. Another action hap pened at Reading, where the king had a considera ble body, who, as some of the prince's men advanced, fell into a great disorder, and ran away. One of the prince's officers was shot0. He was a papist: and the prince, in consideration of his religion, was willing to leave him behind him in Holland : but he very earnestly begged he might come over with his company: and he was the only officer that was killed in the whole expedition. Upon the news of the king's desertion, it was Different proposed that the prince should go on with all pos-t0d^glven sible haste to London. But that was not advisable. ^"^ c °£e For the king's army lay so scattered through the kins's Per- road all the way to London, that it was not fit for him to advance faster, than as his troops marched before him : otherwise, any resolute officer might 799 have seized or killed him. Though, if it had not been for that danger, a great deal of mischief, that followed, would have been prevented by his speedy n (" The inhabitants, sent to " about twenty." Diary of the " the advanced part of the Expedition of the Prince of " prince's army, then a few Orange by a Chaplain in his "miles distant, who readily army, p. 69. 4to. 1689.) " came to their assistance, be- ° (" There were about fif- .' ing conducted a byway into " teen tumbled in one grave " the town, and fought so cou- '¦ together, and about eight or " rageously, that in a few mi- " nine of our men, the rest " nutes they put the Irish to " being of the enemy's party." " flight, took some, and killed Diary just cited, p. 59.) 352 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. advance : for now began that turn, to which all the difficulties, that did afterwards disorder our affairs, may be justly imputed. Two gentlemen of Kent came to Windsor the morning after the prince came thither. They were addressed to me. And they told me of the accident at Feversham, and desired to know the prince's pleasure upon it P. I was af fected with this dismal reverse of the fortune of a great prince, more than I think fit to express q. I went immediately to Benthink, and wakened him, and got him to go in to the prince, and let him know what had happened, that some order might be presently given for the security of the king's person, and for taking him out of the hands of a rude mul titude, who said, they would obey no orders but such as came from the prince. The prince ordered Zuylestein to go immediately to Feversham, and to see the king safe, and at full liberty to go whither soever he pleased r. But, as soon as the news of the king's being at Feversham came to London, all the indignation that people had formerly conceived against him was turned to pity and compassion. The privy council met upon it. Some moved, that he should be sent for. Others said, he was king, and might send for his guards and coaches, as he pleased : but it became not them to send for him. It was left to his general, the earl of Feversham, to do what he thought best s. So he went for him P To one of these gentlemen duke of Bucks and father Or- Burnet said, " Why did you leans assert.) " stop him ?" See antea, 794, at s According to the account the bottom of the page. O. ofthe duke of Bucks, the coun- q Or than I will beheve. S. cil was sitting when the news r (But not to come nearer was brought of the king's de- London than Rochester, as the tention by the mob. Works, OF KING JAMES II. 353 with his coaches and guards. And, as he came back through the city, he was welcomed with expres sions of joy by great numbers : so slight and unsta ble a thing is a multitude, and so soon altered. At his coming to Whitehall, he had a great court about him. Even the papists crept out of their lurking holes, and appeared at court with much assurance. The king himself began to take heart. And both at Feversham, and now at Whitehall, he talked in his ordinary high strain, justifying all he had done: only he spoke a little doubtfully of the business of Magdalen college. But when he came to reflect on the state of his affairs, he saw it was so broken, that nothing was now left to deliberate upon. So he sent the earl of Feversham to Windsor, without de manding any passport: and ordered him to desire the prince to come to St. James's, to consult with him of the best way for settling the nation s. 1688. vol. II. p. 7, who adds, that at length the earl of Feversham was sent to rescue the kingfrom all dangers, and afterwards to attend him toward the sea-side if he continued his resolution of retiring. The rudeness of the sailors, and the danger the king was in, even of his life, from them and the other mob, may be seen in the letter said above to be inserted by Tindal in his Continuation of Rapin's His tory of England, as it is also in Ralph's History of England, p. 1067. He was detained from Wednesday till Saturday morning.) s ("The king, when he came " to London, sent a message " to sir Thomas Stamp, now " mayor, and to sir Simon VOL. III. Lewis, two eminent alder men of that city ; desiring them to acquaint their bre thren, and others of the common-council; that he was resolved to put himself into the hands of the city, there to remain, until by a free parliament he had given all satisfaction to his people, by securing their religion, liber ties, and properties to the full ; hoping in the mean time, they would take care to guard and secure his per son. The foresaid persons communicated this message, as they were desired ; but by the influence and interest of sir Robert Clayton the offer was refused, and the security of his person would not be A a 354 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. When the news of what had passed at London came to Windsor, the prince thought the privy council had not used him well, who, after they had sent to him to take the government upon him, had made this step without consulting him. Now the 800 scene was altered, and new counsels were to be taken. The prince heard the opinions, not only of those who had come along with him, but of such of the nobility as were now come to him, among whom the marquis of Hallifax was one. All agreed, that it was not convenient that the king should stay at Whitehall. Neither the king, nor the prince, nor the city, could have been safe, if they had been both near one another. Tumults would probably have arisen out of it. The guards, and the officious flat terers, of the two courts, would have been unquiet neighbours. It was thought necessary to stick to the point of the king's deserting his people, and not to give up that by entering upon any treaty with him. And since the earl of Feversham, who had commanded the army against the prince, was come without a passport, he was for some days put in arrest*. " assured to him." Great Bri- earl was kept a prisoner during tain's Just Complaint,, p. 8, a a fortnight, if the following ac- Tract cited above, which is at- count given by Echard, in his tributed to sir James Montgo- History of the Revolution, be mery, and was first printed in accurate. The prince, on the 1692. The king pubhshed with evening of the 3 ist of Decem- the advice of his privy-coun- ber, made a public visit to the cil an Order against riotous queen dowager, and, among and tumultuous meetings. It other questions, pleasantly ask- was the last act of his govern- ed her majesty, how she passed ment.) her time ; and whether she t Base and villainous. S. (A- played at basset. On which gainst the practice and law of the queen took the opportunity nations, says king James, in his of answering his highness, That Reasons for withdrawing. The shehad notplayed at that game OF KING JAMES II. 355 It was a tender point how to dispose of the king's person. Some proposed rougher methods : the keep- " ing him a prisoner, at least till the nation was set tled, and till Ireland was secured. It was thought, his being kept in custody, would be such a tie on all his party, as would oblige them to submit and be quiet. Ireland was in great danger. And his re straint might oblige the earl of Tyrconnell to deliver up the government, and to disarm the papists, which would preserve that kingdom, and the protestants in it. But, because it might raise too much compassion, and perhaps some disorder, if the king should be kept in restraint within the kingdom, therefore the sending him to Breda was proposed. The earl of Clarendon pressed this vehemently, on the account of the Irish protestants, as the king himself told me11 : 1688. since the absence of her cham berlain, who used to keep the bank. The prince immediately took the hint, and told her, he would by no means interrupt her majesty's diversion, and the next day set the earl at liberty. p. 219. This relation, with all its circumstances, we find con firmed in the Life of James II. collected from memoirs written by himself. Vol. II. p. 272.) u The prince, I suppose, af ter he was king. O. (The earl of Clarendon's own story is this, in order to meet the report, that he had advised the impri soning king James, and send ing him to the tower, that " he " told lord Abingdon a great " part of what had passed at " Windsor, but withal that " they had all promised secrecy " of what was at that time dis- " coursed; and that he further " assured his lordship, that ex- " cept at that time at Windsor, " he had never been present at " any discourse about what " should be done with king " James: but told him, he " was indeed against his be- " ing sent away. That lord " Abingdon was very well sa- " tisfied with what he had told " him : and that they both a- " greed not to speak of what " they had said to each other." Diary, p. 202. It is here as serted, that he satisfied his friend in this point ; but the same report is mentioned in The Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough, p. 18, and is recognised elsewhere. So it should seem that this noble man, like several others, was for king James, because he was not A a 2 356 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. ft>r those that gave their opinions in this matter did it secretly and in confidence to the prince. The prince said, he could not deny but that this might be good and wise advice : but it was that to which he could not hearken : he was so far satisfied with the grounds of this expedition, that he could act against the king in a fair and open war: but for his person, now that he had him in his power, he could not put such a hardship on him, as to make him a prisoner : and he knew the princess's temper so well, that he was sure she would never bear it : nor did he know what disputes it might raise, or what effect it might have upon the parliament that was to be called : he was firmly resolved never to suffer any thing to be done against his person : he saw it was permitted to serve king Wil liam. As it happened after wards, at the accession of the house of Hanover, when many went over to the interests of the old family, because they were not employed by the new. Sir John Hynde Cotton, who was a leading member amongst the tories in the last parliament of queen Anne, used to declare, as a person of undoubted credit long since dead often mention ed, that he had been privy to no design of bringing in the son of king James upon the queen's death, but said, that when he returned to London after that event, he found his old friends turned Jacobites. Respecting the intentions of the tories, see also the earl of Peterborough's declaration to Pope mentioned in a preceding note, p. 780, fo ho edit. And among the Carte papers in the Bodleian library, there is a well attested relation given by Carte himself of lord Bolingbroke's undoubtedly pre paring to send over Mr. Drum mond, a person in his confi dence, to Hanover, to make up the dispute with that court; the execution of which measure was prevented by the sudden ness ofthe queen's death ; but it is added, no credit was vouch safed to the truth of this ac count afterwards. On the other hand, Lockhart of Carn- warth, who managed the in trigues of the Jacobites at this period, professes his opinion, that the restoration of her bro ther was designed by the queen and by her ministry, but retard ed by the discords and divisions of her servants, and at last alto gether obstructed and prevented by her death. See his Commen taries in the Lockhart Papers lately published. Vol. I. p. 483. OF KING JAMES II. 357 necessary to send him out of London : and he would 1688. order a guard to attend upon him, who should only defend and protect his person, but not restrain him in any sort. A resolution was taken of sending the lords Hal- 801 lifax, Shrewsbury, and Delamere, to London, who were first to order the English guards that were about the court to be drawn off, and sent to quarters out of town: and, when that was done, the count of Solms with the Dutch guards was to come and take all the posts about the court. This was obeyed with out any resistance or disorder, but not without much murmuring. It was midnight before all was settled. And then these lords sent to the earl of Middleton, to desire him to let the king know, that they had a message to deliver to him from the prince. He went in to the king ; and sent them word from him, that they might come with it immediately. They came, and found him abed. They told him, the necessity of affairs required that the prince should come pre sently to London : and he thought it would conduce to the safety of the king's person, and the quiet of the town, that he should retire to some house out of town : and they proposed Ham. The king seemed much dejected ; and asked, if it must be done imme diately. They told him, he might take his rest first : and they added, that he should be attended by a guard, who should only guard his person, but should give him no sort of disturbance. Having said this, they withdrew. The earl of Middleton came quickly after them, and asked them, if it would riot do as well, if the king should go to Rochester; for since the prince was not pleased with his coming up from Kent, it might be perhaps acceptable to him, if he a a 3 358 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. should go thither again. It was very visible, that this was proposed in order to a second escape x. The prince They promised to send word immediately to the London, prince of Orange, who lay that night at Sion, within kinVwent eight miles of London. He very readily consented toRoches- iQ jt ^nd ^e king Went next day to Rochester, having ordered all that which is called the moving wardrobe to be sent before him, the count of Solms ordering every thing to be done as the king desired. A guard went with him that left him at full liberty, and paid him rather more respect than his own guards had done of late. Most of that body, as it happened, were papists. So when he went to mass, they went in, and assisted very reverently. And when they were asked how they could serve in an expedition that was intended to destroy their own religion, one of them answered, his soul was God's, but his sword was the prince of Orange's. The king was so much delighted with this answer, that he re peated it to all that came about him. On the same day the prince came to St. James's. It happened to be a very rainy day y. And yet great numbers came to see him. But, after they had stood long in the 802 wet, he disappointed them : for he, who neither loved shews nor shoutings, went through the park. And even this trifle helped to set people's spirits on edge, x And why not? S, " daughter Denmark, with her y ("Tbe king was carried " great favourite, (lady Church- " down the river, in a very " ill,) both covered with O- " tempestuous day, not with- " range ribbonds, in her father's f' out some danger; and while " own coaches, and attended by " the poor old king was thus " his guards, went triumphant " exposed to the mercy of the " to the playhouse." Higgons's " elements, and an actual pri- Short View of English History, '' soner under a guard of Dutch- p. 304, 3d edit.) " men, that very moment his OF KING JAMES II. 359 The revolution was thus brought about, with the 1 688. universal applause of the whole nation : only these last steps began to raise a fermentation. It was said, here was an unnatural thing, to waken the king out of his sleep, in his own palace, and to order him to go out of it, when he was ready to submit to every thing. Some said, he was now a prisoner, and re membered the saying of king Charles the first, that the prisons and the graves of princes lay not far dis tant from one another : the person of the king was now struck at, as well as his government : and this specious undertaking would now appear to be only a disguised and designed usurpation z. These things began to work on great numbers. And the posting the Dutch guards where the English guards had been, gave a general disgust to the whole English army. They indeed hated the Dutch besides, on the account of the good order and strict discipline they were kept under ; which made them to be as much beloved by the nation, as they were hated by the soldiery. The nation had never known such an in offensive march of an army. And the peace and order of the suburbs, and the freedom of markets in and about London, was so carefully maintained, that in no time fewer disorders had been committed than were heard of this winter. None of the papists or Jacobites were insulted in any sort. The prince had ordered me, as we came along, to take care of the papists, and to secure them from all violence. When he came to London, he renewed these orders, which I executed with so much zeal and care, that I saw all the complaints z All this is certainly true. S. A a 4 360 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. that were brought me fully redressed. When we came to London, I procured passports for all that desired to go beyond sea. Two of the popish bishops were put in Newgate. I went thither in the prince's name. I told them, the prince would not take upon him yet to give orders about prisoners : as soon as he did that, they should feel the effects of it. But in the mean while I ordered them to be well used, and to be taken care of, and that their friends might be admitted to come to them. So truly did I pursue the principle of moderation, even towards those,from whom nothing of that sort was to be expected. The prince Now that the prince was come, all the bodies comedVy about the town came to welcome him. The bishops veoV* °{ came ^e next day. Only the archbishop of Canter bury, though he had once agreed to it, yet would not comea. The clergy of London came next. The a (Dr. D'Oyly, in his Life of the archbishop as applying to the Archbishop, observes, that the prince to take upon himself according to bishop Burnet's the government, should be mis statement, " the archbishop had taken in this point also. The " once consented to wait on foUowing passage in the works "the prince," but that this of Sheffield duke of Bucks has fact rests on his sole authority, lately been brought forward by chap. x. p. 409. The archbi- Dr. Lingard in his History of shop appears to have acted con- England. " Halifax was chosen sistently with his principles " chairman in the absence of through these difficult times; " the archbishop of Canterbury, except, perhaps, when he grant- " because after he had signed ed commissions to other bi- " the address to the prince, he shops to execute his metropoli- " never would appear in public tical authority. And it is impro- " affairs, or pay the least sort bable, that he who refused to "of respect to the prince of send his blessing to the princess "Orange, even after he was of Orange, until she had first ob- " elected king of England ; and tained her father's, would visit " yet, on the other side, had her husband, on his taking fore- " been as morose to king James ible possession of the other's " before, in never acknowledg- palace. It is more likely that " ing his son, or shewing him our author, who misrepresents " the least civility. Bucking- OF KING JAMES II. 361 city, and a great many other bodies, came likewise, 1688. and expressed a great deal of joy for the deliverance wrought for them by the prince's means. Old ser- 803 jeant Maynard came with the men of the law. He was then near ninety, and yet he said the liveliest thing that was heard of on that occasion. The prince took notice of his great age, and said, that he had outlived all the men of the law of his time : he answered, he had like to have outlived the law it self, if his highness had not come over b. The first thing to be done after the compliments Consuita- were over, was to consider how the nation was to be the settle- settled. The lawyers were generally of opinion c, ™tion? * e that the prince ought to declare himself king, as Henry the seventh had done. This, they said, would put an end to all disputes, which might otherwise grow very perplexing and tedious : and, they said, he might call a parliament which would be a legal assembly, if summoned by the king in fact, though his title was not yet recognised. This was plainly contrary to his declaration, by which the settlement of the nation was referred to a parliament : such a step would make all that the prince had hitherto " ham, II. p. xiv. xvi. xviii." the privy council, forbade the History of England, VIII. g. court, and tried for a pretended p. 500. With respect to the ad- libel, by his direction. Still he dress, see note before, at p. 798 came forward to offer his ad- of Burnet,folioedit. On the lat- vice and assistance to his so- ter part of this extract it may vereign in his distress, when be observed, that the archbi- they were required of him; and shop might be somewhat stag- finally resigned his archbi- gered by the stories which, it shopric rather than transfer his is well known, were brought to allegiance.) him, impeaching the legitimacy b He was an old rogue for of the young prince. Let the all that. S. treatment also be remembered, c Pollexfen, particularly, as which he had met with from the I have heard. O. king. He had been dismissed 362 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. done pass for an aspiring ambition, only to raise ""himself: and it would disgust those who had been hitherto the best affected to his designs ; and make them less concerned in the quarrel, if, instead of staying till the nation should offer him the crown, he would assume it as a conquest. These reasons determined the prince against that proposition. He called all the peers, and the members of the three last parliaments d, that were in town, together with some of the citizens of London. When these met, it was told them, that, in the present distraction, the prince desired their advice about the best methods of settling the nation. It was agreed in both these houses, such as they were, to make an address to the prince, desiring him to take the administration of the government into his hands in the interim. The next proposition passed not so unanimously: for, it being moved, that the prince should be likewise de sired to write missive letters to the same effect, and for the same persons to whom writs were issued out for calling a parliament, that so there might be an assembly of men in the form of a parliament, though without writs under the great seal, such as that was that had called home king Charles the second. To this the earl of Nottingham objected, that such a convention of the states could be no legal assembly, unless summoned by the king's writ. Therefore he moved, that an address might be made to the king, to order the writs to be issued out. Few were of his mind. The matter was carried the other way: and orders were given for those letters to be sent round the nation. d Of any of the parliaments of king Charles the second. O. OF KING JAMES II. 363 The king continued a week at Rochester. And 1688. both he himself, and every body else, saw that he^Q-^ was at full liberty, and that the guard about himTheag put him under no sort of restraint. Many that were^t" ° zealous for his interests went to him, and pressed France' him to stay, and to see the issue of things : a party would appear for him : good terms would be got for him : and things would be brought to a reasonable agreement. He was much distracted between his own inclinations, and the importunities of his friends. The queen, hearing what had happened, writ a most vehement letter to him, pressing his coming over, remembering him of his promise, which she charged on him in a very earnest, if not in an imperious strain. This letter was intercepted. I had an ac count of it from one that read it. The prince or dered it to be conveyed to the king : and that de termined him. So he gave secret orders to prepare a vessel for him ; and drew a paper, which he left on his table, reproaching the nation for their forsaking him. He declared, that though he was going to seek for foreign aid to restore him to his throne, yet he would not make use of it to overthrow either the re ligion established, or the laws of the land. And so he left Rochester very secretly, on the last day of this memorable year, and got safe over to France. But, before I enter into the next year, I will give The affairs some account of the affairs of Scotland. There was0 no force left there, but a very small one, scarce able to defend the castle of Edenburgh, of which the duke of Gordon was governor. He was a papist; but had neither the spirit nor the courage which such a post required at that time. As soon as the news came to Scotland of the king's desertion, the 364 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. rabble got together there, as they had done in Lon- don. They broke into all popish chapels, and into the church of Holyrood house, which had been adorned at a great charge to be a royal chapel, par ticularly for the order of St. Andrew and the thistle, which the king had resolved to set up in Scotland, in imitation of the order of the garter in. England e. They defaced it quite, and seized on some that were thought great delinquents, in particular on the earl of Perth, who had disguised himself, and had got aboard a small vessel: but he was seized on, and put in prison. The whole kingdom, except only the castle of Edenburgh, declared for the prince, and re ceived his declaration for that kingdom with great joy. This was done in the north very unanimously, by the episcopal, as well as by the presbyterian party. But in the western counties, the presbyterians, who had suffered much in a course of many years, thought that the time was now corne, not only to procure 805 themselves ease and liberty, but to revenge them selves upon others. They generally broke in upon the episcopal clergy with great insolence and much cruelty. They carried them about the parishes in a e It was revived in the reign of Scotland : and every body of queen Anne, with some new knows that gold chains and me- regulations; and (they) styled dais were worn formerly for or- themselves knights of the most naments by persons of quality, ancient order of St. Andrew, and are still given to ambassa- though nobody ever read or dors, and upon other occasions. heard of a knight of St. An- But king Charles the second drew, till king James the second used to tell a story of a Scotch- of England and seventh of Scot- man, that desired a grant for land. All the pretence for an- an old mill, because he under- tiquity, is some old pictures of stood they had some privileges, kings of Scotland, with medals of and were more in esteem than St. Andrew hung in gold chains new. D. (King James's inten- about their necks, who has al- tion to establish this order was ways been esteemed the patron prevented by the revolution.) OF KING JAMES II. 365 mock procession: they tore their gowns, and drove 1688. them from their churches and houses. Nor did they treat those of them, who had appeared very zeal ously against popery, with any distinction f. The bishops of that kingdom had writ a very indecent letter to the king, upon the news of the prince's being blown back by the storm, full of injurious ex pressions towards the prince, expressing their ab horrence of his design : and, in conclusion, they wished that the king might have the necks of his enemies. This was sent up as a pattern to the English bishops, and was printed in the gazette. But they did not think fit to copy after it in Eng land. The episcopal party in Scotland saw them selves under a great cloud : so they resolved all to adhere to the earl of Dundee §, who had served some years in Holland, and was both an able officer, and a man of good parts, and of some very valuable vir tues: but, as he was proud and ambitious, so he had taken up a most violent hatred of the whole presby- terian party, and had executed all the severest or ders against them with great rigour ; even to the shooting many on the highway, that refused the oath required of themh. The presbyterians looked f To reward them for which, of his own house ; but as nei- king William abolished episco- ther of these writers states the pacy. S. interrogatories, which it ap- S He was the best man in pears were previously put to Scotland. S. him, and his death took place n (In Woodrow's and Crook- at the time when lord Dundee shank's Histories of the suffer- was employed on the borders ings of the presbyterians in of Scotland in preventing fur- Scotland, there are relations ther insurrections and stopping somewhat differing from each all communication between Ar- other of Dundee's shooting an gyle and Monmouth, there is innocent person, called the reason to suspect that this per- Christian carrier, at the door son had been concerned in con- 366 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. on him as their most implacable enemy: and the epi- scopal party trusted most entirely to him. Upon the prince's coming to London, the duke of Hamilton called a meeting of all the men of quality of the Scotish nation then in town : and these made an address to the prince with relation to Scotland, al most in the same terms in which the English ad dress was conceived. And now the administration of the government of the whole isle of Britain was put in the prince's hands. The affairs The prospect from Ireland was more dreadful. of re and. Tyrconnel gave out new commissions for levying thirty thousand men. And reports were spread about that island, that a general massacre of the protestants was fixed to be in November. Upon which the protestants began to run together for their common defence, both in Munster and in Ul ster. They had no great strength in Munster. They had been disarmed, and had no store of ammunition for the few arms that were left them. So they de spaired of being able to defend themselves, and came over to England in great numbers, and full of dis- veying intelligence to the in- self by saying, that if terror surgents. Compare Memoirs of ended in preventing crime, it Lord Viscount Dundee, atp.21, was true mercy. Vol. I. part 2. and the preface. Granger, in book ii. p. 344. After all, it his Biographical History of should seem, that the author of England, observes, that Dun- those never perishing tales, in dee was a man of too noble a which the manners and senti- nature to execute his orders a- ments of past ages and of dif- gainst the dissenters in their ferent countries are revived and full rigour. Vol. IV. p. 297. And perpetuated, whilst the affec- sir John Dalrymple, in his Me- tions are touched with a mas- moirs of Great Britain and Ire- ter's hand, had ascertained the land, relates, that during his truth of many of the reports exploits against the covenant- concerning the severities of the ers, lord Dundee being blamed gallant Claverhouse.) for his severities excused him- OF KING JAMES II. 367 mai apprehensions for those they had left behind 1688. them. They moved earnestly, that a speedy as- sistance might be sent to them. In Ulster the pro testants had more strength : but they wanted a head. The lords of Grenard and Mountjoy, who were the chief military men among them, in whom 806 they confided most, kept still such measures with Tyrconnell, that they would not take the conduct of them. Two towns, that had both very little defence about them, and a very small store of provisions within them, were by the rashness or boldness of some brave young men secured : so that they re fused to receive a popish garrison, or to submit to Tyrconnell's orders. These were London-Derry and Iniskilling. Both of them were advantageously si tuated. Tyrconnell sent troops into the north to reduce the country. Upon which great numbers fled into those places, and brought in provisions to them. And so they resolved to defend themselves, with a firmness of courage that cannot be enough admired : for when they were abandoned, both by the gentry and the military men, those two small unfurnished and unfortified places resolved to stand to their own defence, and, at all perils, to stay till supplies should come to them from England1. I will not enlarge more upon the affairs of that kingdom ; both because I had no occasion to be well informed about them, and because Dr. King, now archbishop of Dublin, wrote a copious history of the government of Ire land during this reign, which is so well received, and so universally acknowledged to be as truly as it is finely written, that I refer my reader to the ac- i He should have mentioned doctor Walker, who defended Derry. S. 368 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 688. count of those matters, which is fully and faithfully given by that learned and zealous prelate. 1689. And now I enter upon the year 1689- In which the two first things to be considered, before the con vention could be brought together, were, the settling the English army, and the affairs of Ireland. As for the army, some of the bodies, those chiefly that were full of papists, and of men ill affected, were to be broken. And, in order to that, a loan was set on foot in the city, for raising the money that was to pay their arrears at their disbanding, and for carry ing on the pay of the English and Dutch armies till the convention should meet, and settle the nation. This was the great distinction of those who were well affected to the prince : for, whereas those who were ill affected to him refused to join in the loan, pretending there was no certainty of their being re paid; the others did not doubt but the convention would pay all that was advanced in so great an exi gence, and so they subscribed liberally, as the occa sion required. As for the affairs of Ireland, there was a great va riety of opinions among them. Some thought, that Ireland would certainly follow the fate of England. This was managed by an artifice of Tyrconnell's, who, what by deceiving, what by threatening the eminentest protestants in Dublin, got them to write 807 over to London, and give assurances that he would deliver up Ireland, if he might have good terms for himself and for the Irish. The earl of Clarendon was much depended on by the protestants of Ire land, who made all their applications to the prince by him. Those, who were employed by Tyrconnell OF KING JAMES II. 369 to deceive the prince, made their applications by sir 1 689. William Temple, who had a long and well esta- Wished credit with him k. They said, Tyrconnell would never lay down the government of Ireland, unless he was sure that the earl of Clarendon was not to succeed : he knew his peevishness and spite, and that he would take severe revenges for what he thought had been done to himself, if he had them in his power : and therefore he would not treat, till he was assured of that. Upon this the prince did avoid the speaking to the earl of Clarendon of those mat ters. And then he, who had possessed himself in his expectation of that post, seeing the prince thus shut him out of the hopes of it, became a most violent opposer of the new settlement. He reconciled him self to king James : and has been ever since one of the hottest promoters of his interest of any in the nation. Temple entered into a management with Tyrconnell's agents, who, it is very probable, if things had not taken a great turn in England, would have come to a composition. Others thought, that the leaving Ireland in that dangerous state, might be a mean to bring the convention to a more speedy settlement of England ; and that therefore the prince ought not to make too much haste to re lieve Ireland i. This advice was generally believed k A lie of a Scot ; for sir Wil- 1 That is agreed to be the liam Temple did not know Tyr- true reason, and it was a wicked connell. S. It is not probable one. S. The duke of Leeds that sir William Temple him- told me, that lord Tyrconnell self engaged at all in this mat- sent several messages to king ter. See the account of his William, that he was ready Life, written by his sister, the to deliver up Ireland, if he lady Giffard. It was most likely would but give him a decent to be young Temple, sir Wil- excuse, by sending any thing ham's son. See the two next that looked like a force to de- pages. O. mand it ; but lord Halifax told VOL. III. B b 370 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. to be given by the marquis of Hallifax : and it was like him. The prince did not seem to apprehend enough the consequences of the revolt of Ireland; and was much blamed for his slowness in not pre venting it in time. The prince The truth was, he did not know whom to trust. ^thtihl A general discontent, next to mutiny, began to T^Leii sPread xt self through the whole English army. The turn that they were now making from him, was al most as quick as that which they had made to him. He could not trust them. Probably, if he had sent any of them over, they would have joined with Tyr connell. Nor could he well send over any of his Dutch troops. It was to them that he chiefly trusted, for maintaining the quiet of England. Probably the English army would have become more insolent, if the Dutch force had been considerably diminished. And the king's magazines were so exhausted, that till new stores were provided, there was very little ammunition to spare. The raising new troops was a work of time. There was no ship of war in those 808 seas to secure the transport. And to send a small company of officers with some ammunition, which was all that could be done on the sudden, seemed to be an exposing them to the enemy. These consi derations made him more easy to entertain a propo sition that was made to him, as was believed, by the him, that if Ireland was quiet, ready. D. (This note of lord there would be no pretence for Dartmouth has been commu- keeping up an army, and if nicated to the public by Dal- there was none, he would be rymple, in the Appendix to his turned out as easily as he had Memoirs, p. 342. See observa- been brought in : for it was tions on it by Somerville, in his impossible to please England Hist, of Political Transactions, long, and he might see they vol. I. p. 311.) began to be discontented al- OF KING JAMES II. 371 Temples ; (for sir William had both a brother and a j 689. son that made then a considerable figure;) which was, to send over lieutenant general Hamilton, one of the officers that belonged to Ireland. He was a papist, but was believed to be a man of honour : and he had certainly great credit with the earl of Tyr connell. He had served in France with great im putation, and had a great interest in all the Irish, and was now in the prince's hands ; and had been together with a body of Irish soldiers, whom the prince kept for some time as prisoners in the Isle of Wight ; whom he gave afterwards to the emperor, though, as they passed through Germany, they de serted in great numbers, and got into France. Ha milton was a sort of prisoner of war. So he under took to go over to Ireland, and to prevail with the earl of Tyrconnell to deliver up the government; and promised, that he would either bring him to it, or that he would come back, and give an account of his negotiation. This step had a very ill effect : for before Hamilton came to Dublin, the earl of Tyr connell was in suph despair, looking on all as lost, that he seemed to be very near a full resolution of entering on a treaty, to get the best terms that he could. But Hamilton's coming changed him quite. He represented to him, that things were turning fast in England in favour of the king : so that, if he stood firm, all would come round again. He saw, that he must study to manage this so dexterously, as to gain as much time as he could, that so the prince might not make too much haste, before a fleet and supplies might come from France. So several letters were writ over by the same management, giving as- B b 2 372 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. surances that the earl of Tyrconnell was fully re- solved to treat and submit. And, to carry this fur ther, two commissioners were sent from the council- board to France. The one was a zealous protestant, the other was a papist. Their instructions were, to represent to the king the necessity of Ireland's sub mitting to England. The earl of Tyrconnell pre tended, that in honour he could do no less than dis engage himself to his master, before he laid down the government. Yet he seemed resolved not to stay for an answer, or a consent ; but that, as soon as this message was delivered, he would submit upon good conditions : and for these, he knew, he would have all that he asked. With this management he gained his point, which was much time. And he now fancied, that the honour of restoring the king would belong chiefly to himself. Thus Hamilton, 809 by breaking his own faith, secured the earl of Tyr connell to the king : and this gave the beginning to the war of Ireland. Mountjoy, the protestant lord that was sent to France, instead of being heard to deliver his message, was clapt up in the Bastille ; which, since he was sent in the name of a kingdom, was thought a very dishonourable thing, and con trary to the law of nations. Those who had advised the sending over Hamilton were now much out of countenance : and the earl of Clarendon was a loud declaimer against it. It was believed, that it had a terrible effect on sir William Temple's son, who had raised in the prince a high opinion of Hamilton's honour. Soon after that, he, who had no other vi sible cause of melancholy, besides this, went in a boat on the Thames, near the bridge, where the river OF KING JAMES II. 373 runs most impetuously, and leaped into the river, 1689. and was drowned m. The sitting of the convention was now very near. The con- And all men were forming their schemes, and forti-^.10D fying their party all they could. The elections were managed fairly all England over. The prince did in no sort interpose in any recommendation, directly or indirectly. Three parties were formed about the town. The one was for calling back the king, and treating with him for such securities to religion and the laws, as might put them out of the danger for the future of a dispensing or arbitrary power. These were all of the high church party, who had carried the point of submission and non-resistance so far, that they thought nothing less than this could con sist with their duty and their oaths. When it was objected to them, that, according to those notions that they had been possessed with, they ought to be for calling the king back without conditions : when he came, they might indeed offer him their petitions, which he might grant or reject as he pleased : but that the offering him conditions, before he was re called, was contrary to their former doctrine of un conditioned allegiance. They were at such a stand upon this objection, that it was plain, they spoke of conditions, either in compliance with the humour of m (" He left a paper in the " upon the cover of a letter to " boat; wherein were written " himself; which was the occa- " these words : ' My folly in " sion of the discovery, for the " undertaking what I was not " watermen did notknow him." "able to execute, hath done Lord Clarendon's Diary, p. 183. " the king great prejudice. May He had been made secretary of " his undertakings prosper, and war. Sir John Reresby's Me- " may he have an abler servant moirs, p. 197. See more con- " than I.' This was written in cerning Hamilton, vol. II. of " the boat, with a black lead, Burnet'sHist. p. 59, folio edit.) Bb3 374 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. the nation, or that, with relation to their particular "interest, nature was so strong in them, that it was too hard for their doctrine n. Some are When this notion was tossed and talked of about r^entP.rinCethe town, so few went into it, that the party which supported it went over to the scheme of a second party ; which was, that king James had by his ill administration of the government brought himself into an incapacity of holding the exercise of the so vereign authority any more in his own hand0. But, as in the case of lunatics, the right still remained in 810 him: only the guardianship, or the exercise, of it was to be lodged with a prince regent : so that the right of sovereignty should be owned to remain still in the king, and that the exercise of it should be n (The absurd doctrine of non-resistance in all cases, and unconditional allegiance to any government, or what, if pos sible, is still more absurd, of unlimited obedience to one branch of a constitution, ought never to have been inculcated by any individuals or body of men. Yet there seems to have been a wide difference between driv ing away a prince, who offered to redress, and to prevent in fu ture, all grievances, and the op posing him when he abused his prerogative to the subversion of law; and when he pretended, as his advocates did for him in licensed publications, to a pow er of superadding to the legal ly established rites of religion, such ceremonies as would assi milate the church of England to that of Rome. The opposers of illegal proceedings might, with out the reproach of inconsist ency, propose treating with the king for securities to their reh gion and laws; especially as very many of them had never embraced or inculcated the doctrine of unconditional obe dience.) 0 (The truth of the matter was, that the king had acted so ill in England, and so much worse in Ireland and Scotland, and was at the same time so very prejudiced and positive, that even the friends of mo narchy feared his recall. His despotic notions, and sectarian zeal, well nigh annihilated his sincerity, gratitude, and sense of justice. A pretty fair and true character of this prince is given by bishop Burnet in the second volume of his History, p. 292. foho edit. Such kings, it is to be lamented, involve in their ruin better and honest- er men than themselves.) OF KING JAMES II. 375 vested in the prince of Orange as prince regent. A 1689. third party was for setting king James quite aside, and for setting the prince on the throne. When the convention was opened on the twenty- fourth of January, the archbishop came not to take his place among them. He resolved neither to act for nor against the king's interest ; which, consider ing his high post, was thought very unbecoming. For if he thought, as by his behaviour afterwards it seems he did, that the nation was running into trea son, rebellion, and perjury, it was a strange thing to see one, who was at the head of the church, sit si lent all the while that this was in debate ; and not once so much as declare his opinion by speaking, voting, or protesting, not to mention the other ec clesiastical methods that certainly became his cha racter?. But he was a poor-spirited and fearful man ; and acted a very mean part in all this great transaction % The bishops' bench was very full, as P In a manuscript memoir of that, to depute some of their some passages of the life and body to wait upon the archbi- times of archbishop Wake, writ- shop at Lambeth, to know his ten by himself, (which I have sense of it, and have his con- read,) he mentions a fact of sent to it ; that the archbishop Sancroft, which agrees very received the application with a much with this character of good deal of disorder, and de- him. He says, that upon the clined to give any opinion upon prince of Orange's coming to it : but on their pressing him London, the clergy there met for his opinion, he desired them to consider, among other things to look upon the title of the relating to themselves at that form of prayers, which directed juncture, what they should do it to be used during the time of as to the form of prayers which pubhc apprehensions from the had been appointed and read danger of invasion, and then left in the churches, against the it to them to consider, whether prince's invasion ; and though that time was not over by the all agreed to forbear the further invasion taking place. O. use of the prayers, yet they ** Others think very different- thought it decent, before they ly. S. (See an able discussion came to a formal resolution for ofthe motives which influenced Bb 4 1689. 376 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN were also the benches of the temporal lords. The - earls of Nottingham, Clarendon, and Rochester, were the men that managed the debates in favour of a re gent, in opposition to those who were for setting up another king. They thought this would save the nation, and yet secure the honour of the church of England, and the sacredness of the crown. It was urged, that if, upon any pretence whatsoever, the nation might throw off their king, then the crown must become precarious, and the power of judging the king must be in the people. This must end in a commonwealth. A great deal was brought from both the laws and his tory of England, to prove, that not only the person, but the authority of the king was sacred. The law had indeed provided a remedy of a regency for the infancy of our kings. So, if a king should fall into such errors in his conduct, as shewed that he was as little capable of holding the government as an infant was, then the estates of the kingdom might, upon this parity of the case, seek to the remedy provided for an infant, and lodge the power with a regent. But the right was to remain, and to go on in a li neal succession : for, if that was once put ever so little out of its order, the crown would in a little the archbishop's conduct in Dr. range ; and who appears to have D'Oyly's Life of him, vol.1, insinuated himself into the con- chapter x. p. 430 — 444 : where fidence of many ofthe opposite however a complete justifica- party. Still be it remembered, tion of his inactivity is not at- that Sancroft's election to the tempted. Perhaps the archbi- chancellorship of the university shop paid too much attention to of Cambridge about this time, the information andsuggestions which he declined accepting, of Lloyd, bishop of St. Asaph, a shews the sensejjwhich was en- warm and busy stickler for the tertained by that learned body interests of the prince of O- of the archbishop's high merit.) OF KING JAMES II. 377 time become elective; which might rend the nation 1689. in pieces by a diversity of elections, and by the dif- ferent factions that would adhere to the person whom they had elected. They did not deny, but that great objections lay against the methods that they pro posed. But affairs were brought into so desperate a state by king James's conduct, that it was not pos-811 sible to propose a remedy that might not be justly excepted to. But they thought, their expedient would take in the greatest, as well as the best, part of the nation: whereas all other expedients grati fied a republican party, composed of the dissenters, and of men of no religion, who hoped now to see the church ruined, and the government set upon such a bottom, as that we should have only a titular king ; who, as he had his power from the people, so should be accountable to them for the exercise of it, and should forfeit it at their pleasure. The much greater part of the house of lords was for this, and stuck long to it: and so was about a third part of the house of commons. The greatest part of the clergy declared themselves for it r. But of those who agreed in this expedient, it was visible there were two different parties. Some in tended to bring king James back ; and went into this, as the most probable way for laying the nation asleep, and for overcoming the present aversion that all people had to him. That being once done, they reckoned it would be no hard thing, with the help of some time, to compass the other. Others seemed to mean more sincerely. They said, they could not vote or argue but according to their own principles, as long as the matter was yet entire : but they r And it was certainly much the best expedient. S. 378 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. owned that they had taken up another principle, both from the law and from the history of England; which was, that they would obey and pay allegiance to the king for the time being : they thought a king thus de facto had a right to their obedience, and that they were bound to adhere to him, and to de fend him, even in opposition to him with whom they thought the right did still remain. The earl of Nottingham was the person that owned this doc trine the most during these debates. He said to my self, that though he could not argue nor vote, but according to the scheme and principles he had concerning our laws and constitution, yet he should not be sorry to see his side out voted ; and that, though he could not agree to the making a king as things stood, yet if he found one made, he would be more faithful to him, than those that made him could be according to their own principles. others are The third party was made up of those, who for another ... king. thought that there was an original contract between the kings and the people of England ; by which the kings were bound to defend their people, and to go vern them according to law, in lieu of which the people were bound to obey and serve the kings. The proof of this appeared in the ancient forms of coronations still observed: by which the people were asked, if they would have that person before them 812 to be their king : and, upon their shouts of consent, the coronation was gone about. But, before the king was crowned, he was asked, if he would not defend and protect his people, and govern them ac cording to law : and, upon his promising and swear- s I am of this party, and yet I would have been for a re gency. S. OF KING JAMES II. 379 ing this, he was crowned: and then homage was done 1 689. him. And, though of late the coronation has been considered rather as a solemn instalment, than that which gave the king his authority, so that it was become a maxim in law that the king never died, and that the new king was crowned in the right of his succession, yet these forms, that were still con tinued, shewed what the government was originally*. Many things were brought to support this from the British and Saxon times. It was urged, that Wil liam the conqueror was received upon his promising to keep the laws of Edward the confessor, which was plainly the original contract between him and the nation. This was often renewed by his suc cessors. Edward the second and Richard the se cond were deposed for breaking these laws : and these depositions were still good in law, since they were not reversed, nor was the right of deposing them ever renounced or disowned u. Many things * Anciently the kings of Eng- " IV. as an usurper." Impartial land dated their reign from the Reflections upon Bishop Burnet's day of their coronation: of Posthumous History, p. 108. See later times, from the day of the Parhament Rolls in the first their predecessor's death : but year of Edward IV. quoted by the doctrine of unconditional Salmon in his Review of the allegiance was never heard of Hist, of England, p. 96. Prynne in England till king James the asserts, that the articles drawn first's time, whose arbitrary, il- up against Edward II. and Ri- legal administration could be chard II. were not so much as justified by no former rules of read in parhament, and that government. D. (Compare that they were deposed, upon their administration with the practi- own voluntary confessions only, cal government of the Tudors.) in order to confirm their pre- n (" We have standing re- cedent resignations. Prynne's " cords which express all man- Brief Memento &c. p. 14. But " ner of detestation of king Ri- the bishop himself, in a pam- " chard's deposition and mur- phlet attributed to him, which " der, and which brand Henry is opposed to Sherlock's Letter 380 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. were alleged, from what had passed during the ba- rons' wars, for confirming all this. Upon which I will add one particular circumstance, that the ori ginal of king John's Magna Charta, with his great seal to it, was then given to me by a gentleman that found it among his father's papers, but did not know how he came by it: and it is still in my hands. It was said in this argument, what did all the limitations of the regal power signify, if, upon a king's breaking through them all, the people had not a right to maintain their laws and to preserve their constitution? It was indeed confessed, that this might have ill consequences, and might be car ried too far. But the denying this right in any case whatsoever, did plainly destroy all liberty, and establish tyranny. The present alteration proposed would be no precedent, but to the like case. And it was fit that a precedent should be made for such occasions ; if those of Edward the second and Ri chard the second were not acknowledged to be good ones. It was said, that, if king James had only broken some laws, and done some illegal acts, it might be justly urged, that it was not reasonable on account of these to carry severities too far. But he had broken through the laws in many public and avowed instances : he had set up an open treaty with Rome : he had shaken the whole settlement of Ireland ; and had put that island, and the English and protestants that were there, in the power of the Irish : the dispensing power took away not only those laws to which it was applied, but all other to a Member of the Convention, Ralph's Hist, of England, vol. has made the like use of the II. p. 23.) deposition of both kings. See OF KING JAMES II. 381 laws whatsoever, by the precedent it had set, and 1689. by the consequences that followed upon it : by the g-^g ecclesiastical commission he had invaded the liberty of the church, and subjected the clergy to mere will and pleasure : and all was concluded by his desert ing his people, and flying to a foreign power, rather than stay and submit to the determinations of a free parliament. Upon all which it was inferred, that he had abdicated the government, and had left the throne vacant : which therefore ought now to be filled, that so the nation might be preserved, and the regal government continued in it. As to the proposition for a prince regent, it was Andagainst argued, that this was as much against monarchy, a regency- or rather more, than what they moved for. If a king's ill government did give the people a right in any case to take his power from him, and to lodge it with another, owning that the right to it re mained still with him, this might have every whit as bad consequences as the other seemed to have: for recourse might be had to this violent remedy too often and too rashly. By this proposition of a re gent, here were to be upon the matter two kings at the same time : one with the title, and another with the power of a king. This was both more illegal and more unsafe than the method they proposed. The law of England had settled the point of the subjects' security in obeying the king in possession, in the statute made by Henry the seventh. So every man knew he was safe under a king, and so would act with zeal and courage x. But all such as should act under a prince regent, created by this convention, were upon a bottom that had not the x There is something in this argument. S. 382 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 689. necessary forms of law for it. All that was done by them would be thought null and void in law: so that no man could be safe that acted under it. If the oaths to king James were thought to be still binding, the subjects were by these not only bound to maintain his title to the crown, but all his prero gatives and powers. And therefore it seemed ab surd to continue a government in his name, and to take oaths still to him, when yet all the power was taken out of his hands. This would be an odious thing, both before God and the whole world, and would cast a reproach on us at present, and bring certain ruin for the future on any such mixed and unnatural sort of government. Therefore, if the oaths were still binding, the nation was still bound by them, not by halves, but in their whole extent. It was said, that, if the government should be car ried on in king James's name, but in other hands, the body of the nation would consider him as the person that was truly their king. And if any should 814 plot or act for him, they could not be proceeded against for high treason, as conspiring against the king's person or government ; when it would be vi sible, that they were only designing to preserve his person, and to restore him to his government. To proceed against any, or to take their lives for such practices, would be to add murder to perjury. And it was not to be supposed, that juries would find such men guilty of treason. In the weakness of in fancy, a prince regent was in law the same person with the king, who had not yet a will: and it was to be presumed, the prince regent's will was the king's will. But that could not be applied to the present case ; where the king and the regent must OF KING JAMES II. 383 be presumed to be in a perpetual struggle, the one 1689. to recover his power, the other to preserve his au- thority. These things seemed to be so plainly made out in the debate, that it was generally thought that no man could resist such force of argument, but those who intended to bring back king James. And it was believed, that those of his party, who were looked on as men of conscience, had secret orders from him to act upon this pretence; since otherwise they offered to act clearly in contradiction to their own oaths and principles y. But those who were for continuing the govern ment, and only for changing the persons, were not at all of a mind. Some among them had very different views and ends from the rest. These intended to take advantage from the present conjuncture, to de press the crown, to render it as much precarious and elective as they could, and to raise the power of the people upon the ruin of monarchy. Among those, some went so far as to say, that the whole go vernment was dissolved. But this appeared a bold and dangerous assertion : for that might have been . carried so far, as to infer from it, that all men's pro s' This is malice. S. (Accord- "for life, as one to be sup- ing to a contemporary apologist "ported against the rightful for the deprived bishops, they " king, the party which stood who adhered to the interests of " up against the change ofthe king James were for a regency " government were as willing pro tempore only, "Why should " to be rid of such a regency, " not I tell the world the " and let it fall, as the other " whole truth ? In short then, " party was earnest to vote " when some, whom nothing " the throne vacant, and the " would satisfy but a crowned " filling it up again." Seep. 32. " head, did on purpose to spoil of a Vindication ofthe lateArch- " this expedient of a regency bishop Sancroft and his Brethren, " perplex the motion, and clog #c. in which the Apology is "it so as to offer at a regency cited at large.) 384 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. perties, honours, rights, and franchises, were dis- solved. Therefore it was thought safer to say, that king James had dissolved the tie that was between him and the nation. Others avoided going into new speculations or schemes of government. They thought it was enough to say, that in extreme cases all obligations did cease ; and that in our present circumstances the extremity of affairs, by reason of the late ill government, and by king James's flying over to the enemy of the nation, rather than submit to reasonable terms, had put the people of England on the necessity of securing themselves upon a legal bottom2. It was said, that though the vow of mar riage was made for term of life, and without condi tions expressed, yet a breach in the tie it self sets 815 the innocent party at liberty. So a king, who had his power both given him and defined by the law, and was bound to govern by law, when he set him self to break all laws, and in conclusion deserted his people, did, by so doing, set them at liberty to put themselves in a legal and safe state. There was no need of fearing ill consequences from this. Houses were pulled down or blown up in a fire : and yet men found themselves safe in their houses. In extreme dangers the common sense of mankind would justify extreme remedies ; though there was no special provision that directed to them or allowed of them. Therefore, they said, a nation's securing it self against a king, who was subverting the go vernment, did not expose monarchy, nor raise a po pular authority, as some did tragically represent the matter. There were also great disputes about the original z This was the best reason. S. OF KING JAMES II. 385 contract: some denying there was any such thing, 1689. and asking where it was kept, and how it could be come at. To this others answered, that it was im plied in a legal government : though in a long tract of time, and in dark ages, there was not such an ex plicit proof of it to be found. Yet many hints from law books and histories were brought to shew, that the nation had always submitted and obeyed, in consideration of their laws, which were still stipu lated to them. There were also many debates on the word abdi cate: for the commons came soon to a resolution, that king James, by breaking the original contract, and by withdrawing himself, had abdicated the go vernment ; and that the throne was thereby become vacant. They sent this vote to the lords, and prayed their concurrence. Upon which many debates and conferences arose. At last it came to a free confer ence, in which, according to the sense of the whole nation, the commons had clearly the advantage on their sidea. The lords had some more colour for op posing the word abdicate, since that was often taken in a sense that imported the full purpose and con sent of him that abdicated ; which could not be pre tended in this case. But there were good author ities brought, by which it appeared, that when a person did a thing upon which his leaving any office ought to follow, he was said to abdicate. But this was a critical dispute0 : and it scarce became the a See the debate at the free ing left the kingdom, without conference. It is printed by it- establishing a legal administra- self, (i2mo. 1695,) and I think tion during his absence, was in one of the volumes of the much insisted upon as a formal State Trials. O. abdication. The earl of Pem- *> I remember the king's hav- broke said he thought that was VOL III. C C 386 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 689. greatness of that assembly, or the importance of the matter c ; [and had a meanness in it, because of the dubious sense of it, and as it was used for that rea son.] It was a more important debate, whether, suppos ing king James had abdicated, the throne could be declared vacant. It was urged, that, by the law, the king did never die; but that with the last 816 breath of the dying king the regal authority went to the next heir d. So it was said, that, supposing king James had abdicated, the throne was (ipso facto) filled in that instant by the next heir. This seemed to be proved by the heirs of the king being sworn to in the oath of allegiance ; which oath was not only made personally to the king, but likewise to his heirs and successors. Those who insisted on the abdication said, that, if the king dissolved the tie between him and his subjects to himself, he dis solved their tie likewise to his posterity. An heir was one that came in the room of a person that was dead ; it being a maxim that no man can be the heir of a living man e. If therefore the king had fallen from his own right, as no heir of his could pretend to any inheritance from him, as long as he was alive, so they could succeed to nothing, but to that which was vested in him at the time of his death. And, as in the case of attainder, every right that a man was divested of before his death, was, as it were, annihilated in him ; and by consequence no more than a man's running of his house or goods. D. out of his house when on fire, c It was a very material point. or a seaman's throwing his S. goods overboard in a storm, to d This is certainly true. S. save his life, which could never e This is sophistry. S. be understood as a renunciation OF KING JAMES II. 387 could not pass to his heirs by his death, not being 1689. then in himself : so, if a king did set his people free from any tie to himself, they must be supposed to be put in a state in which they might secure them selves ; and therefore could not be bound to receive one, who they had reason to believe would study to dissolve and revenge all they had done. If the prin ciple of self preservation did justify a nation in se curing it self from a violent invasion, and a total subversion, then it must have its full scope, to give a real, and not a seeming and fraudulent security. They did acknowledge, that upon the grounds of natural equity, and for securing the nation in after times, it was fit to go as near the lineal succession as might be : yet they could not yield that point, that they were strictly bound to it. It was proposed, that the birth of the pretended Some prince might be examined into. Some pressed this, examine not so much from an opinion that they were bound ofeth" to assert his right, if it should appear that he was^es°f born of the queen, as because they thought it would justify the nation, and more particularly the prince and the two princesses, if an imposture in that mat ter could have been proved. And it would have gone far to satisfy many of the weaker sort, as to all the proceeding against king James. Upon which I was ordered to gather together all the presumptive proofs that were formerly mentioned, which were all ready to have been made out. It is true, these did not amount to a full and legal proof : yet they seemed to be such violent presumptions, that, when they were all laid together, they were more convinc ing than plain and downright evidence f: for that f Well said, bishop. S. C c 2 388 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. was liable to the suspicion of subornation : whereas ^the other seemed to carry on them very convincing characters of truth and certainty. But, when this matter was in private debated, some observed, that, as king James by going about to prove the truth of the birth, and yet doing it so defectively, had really made it more suspicious than it was before ; so, if there was no clear and positive proof made of an im posture, the pretending to examine into it, and then the not being able to make it out beyond the possi bility of contradiction, would really give more credit to the thing than it then had, and, instead of weak ening it, would strengthen the pretension of his birthS. But it was When this debate was proposed in the house of iejecte " lords, it was rejected with indignation. He was now sent out of England to be bred up in France*1, an enemy both to the nation and to the established re ligion : it was impossible for the people of England to know, whether he was the same person that had been carried over, or not : if he should die, another might be put in his room, in such a manner that the nation could not be assured concerning him : the English nation ought not to send into another coun try for witnesses to prove that he was their prince ; much less receive one upon the testimony of such as were not only aliens, but ought to be presumed ene- e Wisely done. S. (Leslie, in their power, in case of an in one of his tracts, observes, examination, to make the truth that they would not enter into already clear, still clearer.) the examination of the birth, h (This was the best plea the because they knew the truth convention had for setting him of it, and that no proof could aside, professing, as it did, to be made out against it. The keep, as far as was practicable, opposite part, he adds, had it to the constitution.) OF KING JAMES II. 389 mies : it was also known, that all the persons who had been the confidents in that matter were con-" veyed away : so it was impossible to come at them, by whose means only the truth of that birth could be found out \ But while these things were fairly debated by some, there were others who had deeper and darker designs in this matter. They thought it would be a good security for the nation, to have a dormant title to the crown lie as it were neglected, to oblige our princes to govern well, while they would apprehend the danger of a revolt to a pretender still in their eye K Wildman thought, it was a deep piece of policy to let this lie in the dark, and undecided. Nor did they think it an ill precedent, that they should so neglect the right of J689. ' (In conformity with this as sertion the bishop in the pre face to a volume of his Sermons, says, " The prince of Orange " did by his declaration refer " the inquiry into it (the birth) "to a parhament. The king " upon that did by his sending " the pretender with the queen " out of the kingdom, together " with all those who were more " immediately concerned in " that supposed birth, make it " impossible to examineinto it," p. 10. On the above passage the author of Speculum Saris- buriense, a tract printed in 1 7 1 4, before the bishop's death, makes the following remarks : " It is " well known that king James, " according to the prince's de- " claration, publicly offered to " refer the examination of his " son's birth to the convention, " which was not accepted, his " lordship can tell the reason " why; and several deponents " more immediately concerned in " the knowledge of that birth, " not long after petitioned the " same lords and gentlemen to " be reexamined, in order to " clear their own reputations " from vile perjury, which had " been objected to them. Per- " haps, all those people were in " France when they thus ad- " dressed, and king James " would not suffer them to " come. And I appeal to his " lordship's own memory re- " freshed, whether in all his " life, he is sure, he never ac- " quiesced in certain signs and " tokens of that person's birth." P-97-) k I think this was no ill de sign; yet it hath not succeeded in mending kings. S. cc3 390 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. succession, as not so much as to inquire into this matter. Upon all these considerations no further inquiry was made into it. It is true, this put a plausible objection in the mouth of all king James's party: here, they said, an infant was condemned, and denied his right, without either proof or inquiry. This still takes with many in the present age. And, that it may not take more in the next, I have used more than ordinary care to gather together all the particulars that were then laid before me as to that matter x. Some were The next thing in debate was, who should fill the tSe princef throne. The marquis of Hallifax intended, by his kmg 81 8 Zea^ ^or *ne Prmces interest, to atone for his back wardness in not coming early into it : and, that he might get before lord Danby, who was in great cre dit with the prince, he moved, that the crown should be given to the prince, and to the two princesses after him. Many of the republican party approved 1 And where are they? S. " to Dr. Burnet, now bishop of (Seenotebeforeatp.753.fol.ed. " Sarum, when she told the There is still existing an ac- " doctor, that she was as sure count, cited more than once in " the prince of Wales was the the preceding notes, of the " queen's son, as that any of testimony which Isabella lady " her own children were hers; Wentworth, one of the ladies " and when, out of zeal for the of the bedchamber to king " truth and honour of my mis- James's queen, gave in the year " tress," said she, " I spake in 1 703 to Dr. Hickes, the former " such terms as modesty would dean of Worcester, at the lodg- ' ' scarce let me speak at an- ings of Mrs. Dawson in St. " other time." A copy of the James's palace, who also had original document, which was been of the bedchamber to the signed by lady Wentworth, and same queen. To this testimony attested by doctor Hickes and respectingthe birth of theprince others, has been long in Magda- of Wales, it is added by lady len college Oxford, but belongs Wentworth, " that she had as- to the reverend Mr. Fortescue- " serted the truth of his birth Knottesford. Perhaps the ori- " shortly after the revolution ginal was never printed. ) OF KING JAMES II. 391 of this : for by it they gained another point : the 1 689. people in this case would plainly elect a king, with- out any critical regard to the order of succession. How far the prince himself entertained this, I can not tell. But I saw it made a great impression on Benthink. He spoke of it to me, as asking my opin ion about it, but so, that I plainly saw what was his own: for he gave me all the arguments that were offered for it ; as that it was most natural that the sovereign power should be only in one person ; that a man's wife ought only to be his wife ; that it was a suitable return to the prince for what he had done for the nation ; that a divided sovereignty was liable to great inconveniences ; and, though there was less to be apprehended from the princess of any thing of that kind than from any woman alive, yet all mortals were frail, and might at some time or other of their lives be wrought on. To all this I answered, with some vehemence, that this was a very ill return for the steps the prin cess had made to the prince three years ago: it would be thought both unjust and ungrateful : it would meet with great opposition, and give a gene ral ill impression of the prince, as insatiable and jealous in his ambition : there was an ill humour already spreading it self through the nation and through the clergy : it was not necessary to increase this ; which such a step as was now proposed would do out of measure : it would engage the one sex generally against the prince : and in time they might feel the effects of that very sensibly : and, for my own part, I should think my self bound to oppose it all I could, considering what had passed in Holland on that head. We tallied over the whole thing for c c 4 392 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. many hours, till it was pretty far in the morning. ~ I saw he was well instructed in the argument : and he himself was possessed with it. So next morning I came to him, and desired my conge. I would op pose nothing in which the prince seemed to be con cerned, as long as I was his servant. And therefore I desired to be disengaged, that I might be free to oppose this proposition with all the strength and credit I had. He answered me, that I might desire that when I saw a step made : but till then he 819 wished me to stay where I was m. I heard no more of this ; in which the marquis of Hallifax was single among the peers : for I did not find there was any one of them of his mind ; unless it was the lord Cul pepper, who was a vicious and corrupt man, but made a figure in the debates that were now in the house of lords, and died about the end of them11. Some moved, that the princess of Orange might be put in the throne ; and that it might be left to her, to give the prince such a share either of dignity or power as she should propose, when she was declared queen. The agents of princess Anne began to go about, and to oppose any proposition for the prince to her prejudice. But she thought fit to disown them. Dr. Doughty, one of her chaplains, spoke to me in her room on the subject. But she said to my self, that she knew nothing of it. The proposition, in which all that were for the filling the throne agreed at last, was, that both the prince and princess should be made conjunct sove reigns. But, for the preventing of any distractions, that the administration should be singly in the m Is all this true ? S. done in effect, while the king n Yet was not the same thing had the sole administration? S. OF KING JAMES II. 393 prince0. The princess continued all the while in j 689. Holland, being shut in there, during the east winds, by the freezing of the rivers, and by contrary winds after the thaw came. So that she came not to Eng land till all the debates were over P. The prince's enemies gave it out, that she was kept there by order, on design that she might not come over to England to claim her right. So parties began to be formed, some for the prince, and others for the prin cess. Upon this the earl of Danby sent one over to the princess, and gave her an account of the pre sent state of that debate : and desired to know her own sense of the matter ; for, if she desired it, he did not doubt but he should be able to carry it for setting her alone on the throne. She made him a very sharp answer : she said, she was the prince's wife, and would never be other than what she should be in conjunction with him and under him ; and that she would take it extreme unkindly, if any, under a pretence of their care of her, would set up a divided interest between her and the prince. And, not content with this, she sent both lord Danby's letter and her answer to the prince. Her sending it thus to him was the most effectual dis couragement possible to any attempt for the future to create a misunderstanding or jealousy between them 1. The prince bore this with his usual phlegm : 0 See the establishment made declaration. S. (Compare note on the marriage of Queen Mary at p. 63 1 . folio edit.) with Philip of Spain. O. 1 There was a great meeting P Why was she (not) sent at the earl of Devonshire's, for till the matter was agreed ? where the dispute ran very high This clearly shews the prince's between lord Hallifax and lord original design was to be king, Danby, one for the prince, the against what he professed in his other for the princess : at last 394 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. for he did not expostulate with the earl of Danby upon it, but continued still to employ and to trust him. And afterwards he advanced him, first to be a marquis, and then to be a duke. 820 During all these debates, and the great heat with Sar^his which they were managed, the prince's own beha- mind after viour was very mysterious. He stayed at St. James's : long si- J J J lence. he went little abroad : access to him was not very easy. He heard all that was said to him : but sel dom made any answers. He did not affect to be affable, or popular : nor would he take any pains to gain any one person over to his party. He said, he came over, being invited, to save the nation : he had now brought together a free and true representative of the kingdom : he left it therefore to them to do what they thought best for the good of the kingdom : and, when things were once settled, he should be well satisfied to go back to Holland again r. Those who did not know him well, and who imagined that lord Hallifax said he thought p. 342.) it would be very proper to know r Did he tell truth? S. He the prince's own sentiments, seems to have acted right, con- and desired Fagel would speak, sidering the circumstances he who defended himself a great was then in. If he was sincere while by saying he knew no- in it, it was not only wise, but thing of his mind upon that great. If he had done other- subject, but if they would know wise, it would have hurt him, his own, he believed the prince and brought him into many dif- would not like to be his wife's Acuities. He made a better gentleman usher ; upon which judgment quite through this lord Danby said he hoped they matter than any of the people all knew enough now ; for his about him. His natural tem- part, he knew too much ; and per might contribute to it. But broke up the assembly, as sir with all his errors, he appears, M.Wharton, who was present, in all times of his life, to have told me. D. (This note has been by far the ablest man con- been already published by sir cerned in his affairs, or at that John Dalrymple in the Appen- time in Europe. O. dix to his Memoirs, vol. II. OF KING JAMES II. 395 a crown had charms which human nature was not 1689. strong enough to resist, looked on all this as an af- fectation, and as a disguised threatening, which im ported, that he would leave the nation to perish, unless his method of settling it was followed. After a reservedness, that had continued so close for seve ral weeks, that nobody could certainly tell what he desired, he called for the marquis of Hallifax, and the earls of Shrewsbury and Danby, and some others, to explain himself more distinctly to them. He told them, he had been till then silent, because he would not say or do any thing that might seem in any sort to take from any person the full freedom of deliberating and voting in matters of such import ance : he was resolved neither to court nor threaten any one : and therefore he had declined to give out his own thoughts : some were for putting the go vernment in the hands of a regent : he would say nothing against it, if it was thought the best mean for settling their affairs : only he thought it neces sary to tell them, that he would not be the regent : so, if they continued in that design, they must look out for some other person to be put in that post s : he himself saw what the consequences of it were like to prove : so he would not accept of it : others were for putting the princess singly on the throne, and that he should reign by her courtesy : he said, no man could esteem a woman more than he did the princess: but he was so made, that he could not think of holding any thing by apron-strings : nor could he think it reasonable to have any share in the government, unless it was put in his person, and that for term of life : if they did think it fit to settle s Was not this a plain confession of what he came for? S. 396 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. it otherwise, he would not oppose them in it: but — he would go back to Holland, and meddle no more in their affairs : he assured them, that whatsoever others might think of a crown, it was no such thing 821 in his eyes, but that he could live very well, and be well pleased without it. In the end he said, that he could not resolve to accept of a dignity, so as to hold it only for the life of another : yet he thought, that the issue of princess Anne should be preferred, in the succession, to any issue that he might have by any other wife than the princess *. All this he de livered to them in so cold and unconcerned a man ner, that those, who judged of others by the dispo sitions that they felt in themselves, looked on it all as artifice and contrivance u. it was re- This was presently told about, as it was not in- solved to ttii A-i-iii tt put the tended to be kept secret. And it helped not a little princess" to bring the debates at Westminster to a speedy de- a'LT the termination. Some were still in doubt with relation throne. to the princess. In some it was conscience : for they thought the equitable right was in her. Others might be moved by interest, since, if she should think herself wronged, and ill used in this matter, she, who was like to outlive the prince, being so much younger and healthier than he was, might have it in her power to take her revenges on all that should concur in such a design. Upon this, I, who knew her sense of the matter very perfectly by what * A great concession truly. S. but the marquis of Hallifax told 11 The duke of Leeds told me the prince he might be what he the reasons that prevailed were pleased himself, (the first night the ill state of his health, from he came to St. James's;) for as whencethey concluded he could nobody knew what to do with not last long; and that a man him, so nobody knew -what to of courage was necessary for do without him. D. settling the governmental first; OF KING JAMES II. 397 had passed in Holland, as was formerly told, was in 1689. a great difficulty. I had promised her never to speak of that matter, but by her order. But I pre sumed, in such a case, I was to take orders from the prince. So I asked him, what he would order me to do. He said, he would give me no orders in that matter, but left me to do as I pleased. I looked on this as the allowing me to let the princess's resolu tion in that be known ; by which many, who stood , formerly in suspense, were fully satisfied. Those to whom I gave the account of that matter were indeed amazed at it ; and concluded, that the prin cess was either a very good or a very weak woman. An indifferency for power and rule seemed so extra ordinary a thing, that it was thought a certain cha racter of an excess of goodness or simplicity. At her coming to England, she not only justified me, but approved of my publishing that matter; and spoke particularly of it to her sister princess Anne. There were other differences in the form of the set tlement. The republican party were at first for de posing king .James by a formal sentence, and for giving the crown to the prince and princess by as formal an election. But that was overruled in the beginning. I have not pursued the relation of the debates according to the order in which they passed, which will be found in the Journal of both houses during the convention x. But having had a great share myself in the private managing of those de bates, particularly with many of the clergy, and with the men of the most scrupulous and tender con- 822 x The debates cannot be notes of those in the house of known from the Journals, yet I commons, and they agree with have seen my lord Somers's this author's account. O. 398 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. sciences, I have given a very full account of all the ' reasonings on both sides, as that by which the reader may form and guide his own judgment of the whole affair. Many protestations passed in the house of lords in the progress of the debate. The party for a regency was for some time most prevailing : and then the protestations were made by the lords that were for the new settlement. The house was very full : about a hundred and twenty were present. And things were so near an equality, that it was at last carried by a very small majority, of two or three, to agree with the commons in voting the abdication, and the vacancy of the throne : against which a great protestation was made; as also against the final vote, by which the prince and princess of Orange were desired to accept of the crown, and declared to be king and queen; which went very hardly >*. The poor bishop of Durham, who had ab sconded for some time, and was waiting for a ship to get beyond sea, fearing public affronts, and had offered to compound by resigning his bishopric, was now prevailed on to come, and, by voting the new settlement, to merit at least a pardon for all y I stood behind the wool- tion. The final vote, of which sack in the house of lords, when the bishop here speaks, was it. was carried in a committee carried by a majority of twenty of the whole house, that the voices, sixty-five against forty- throne was not vacant, by king five. And in the next session, James's having abdicated the the minority refused, when ad- kingdom : but it was retrieved vised and urged to it, as Ech- next day in the house, by some ard in his History of the Revo- lords being prevailed upon to lution, pp. 260, 261, reports on absent themselves, from an ap- the authority of the noble ad- prehension that if they had in- viser, either to enter their pro- sisted, it must have ended in a tests against the measure, or to civil war. D. (Compare the quit the house in consequence conclusion of lord Dartmouth's of its being adopted.) last note at page 824, folio edi- OF KING JAMES II. 399 that he had done : which, all things considered, was 1 689. thought very indecent in him, yet not unbecoming- the rest of his life and character z. But, before matters were brought to a full con- They drew elusion, an enumeration was made of the chief heads ment about of king James's ill government. And in opposition lt- to these, the rights and liberties of the people of England were stated. Some officious people studied to hinder this at that time. They thought they had already lost three weeks in their debates : and the doing this, with the exactness that was neces sary, would take up more time : or it would be done too much in a hurry, for matters of so nice a nature. And therefore it was moved, that this should be done more at leisure after the settlement. But that was not hearkened to. It was therefore thought necessary to frame this instrument so, that z This is too hard, though al- " vantage than if you had left most true. S. I have heard " him." The duke of York that he offered to resign his had been his patron, but now bishopric to this author, upon the bishop had got his prefer- an assignation of one thousand ment. O. (Lord Montague, in per annum, but that he was di- his letter applying to king Wil- verted from it by his nephews, liam to be created a duke, Mr. Sidney Wortley Mounta- pleads his bringing the earl of gue, and Mr. Charles Mounta- Huntingdon, the bishop of gue, who were great friends to Durham, and lord Ashley, to the new settlement, and brought vote against the regency, and him into it. He was always a for William's having the crown, very mean man in all respects, which, he says, was carried by but had some court-skill. One those three voices and his own. to whom he was great uncle See Appendix to Dalrymple's told me, that by way of advice Memoirs, p. 340. The ques- to him, he said, " Nephew, do tion had been carried before " as I did when I began the against a regency by a majority " world at court. Stick firm of two voices, fifty-one against " to some one great man there, forty-nine, In the minority " If he falls, fall with him, and were all the bishops, with the " when he rises, you are sure exception of Compton and Tre- " to rise with him, to more ad- lawney.) 400 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 689. it should be like a new Magna Charta. In the stat- ing these grievances and rights, the dispensing power came to be discussed. And then the power of the crown to grant a non-obstante to some statutes was objected a. Upon opening this, the debate was found to be so intricate, that it was let fall at that time only for despatch. But afterwards an act passed condemning it singly. And the power of granting a non-obstante was for the future taken awayb. Yet king James's party took great advantage from this ; and said, that, though the main clamour of the nation was against the dispensing power, yet when the convention brought things to a settlement, 823 that did not appear to be so clear a point as had been pretended: and it was not so much as men tioned in this instrument of government : so that, by the confession of his enemies, it appeared to be no unlawful power : nor was it declared contrary to the liberties of the people of England c. Whereas, a Yet the words continue in not follow from thence, that patents. S. the king may dispense with all t> It is in a clause of the act, the laws at his pleasure. The declaring the rights and liber- case of ship-money was founded ties of the subject, &c. i Gul. upon an undeniable truth, that et Maria?, Sess. 2. cap. 2. See when the whole is at stake, the Journal of the House of Com- chief magistrate may and ought mons, 7th, 8th, nth, 1 2th Feb. to do every thing that can con- 1688. — 25th of Nov. 1689. O. tribute to the preservation of c But see the declaration and the society, though never so the Journal of the House of prejudicial to any of the parti- Commons as mentioned in the culars. Queen Elizabeth did former page, and observe the many things in the year eighty. distinctions. Compare the whole eight, that could not have been with the bill of rights especially justified by the ordinary forms as to this important point of of law; but the danger was im- the dispensing power. O. But minent and apparent, therefore a very irregular use of it. For no man ever complained of granting there is such a trust 'hardships upon that occasion. lodged with the crown, it will But there are many powers OF KING JAMES II. 401 its not being mentioned then was only upon the op- 1689. position that was made, that so more time might- not be lost, nor this instrument be clogged with dis putable points d. The last debate was concerning the oaths that The oaths should be taken to the king and queen. Many argu- tered. ments were taken during the debate from the oaths in the form in which the allegiance was sworn to the crown, to shew that in a new settlement these could not be taken. And to this it was always answered, that care should be taken, when other things were settled, to adjust these oaths, so that they should agree to the new settlement. In the oaths, as they were formerly conceived, a previous title seemed to be asserted, when the king was sworn to, as right- vested in the crown, the abuse of which would overturn the whole frame of government. The king has an undoubted right to call whom he pleases to the house of lords : but the calhng all the people of Eng land would be a very ridiculous, though a very sure way, to de stroy the rest of the constitu tion all at once : as the excus ing every man from being of a jury (which the king may do by law) would be of the whole administration of justice in the kingdom ; but there must al ways be understood to be pow ers trusted with the crown for the benefit of the people : and the king's being judge of the necessity does not hinder the community from judging whe ther they are executed to their prejudice or advantage. D. d (According to Macpherson and others, " when the lower VOL. III. " house hesitated to accede to " the vote of the lords, till the " claims and demands of the " subject were known, the *' prince became apparently " uneasy. He sent to the " leaders of the commons, to " acquaint them, that if the " convention insisted uponnew " limitations, he would leave " them to the mercy of James." History of Great Britain, vol. I. page 567. It is certain, as Ralph in his History, vol. II. page 53, observes, that it was resolved that all such heads of the declaration of rights as were introductory of new laws should be omitted. As the de claration of rights made before William's acceptance of the crown is drawn, it neither al ters nor pretends to alter the constitution of England. What has been done of this nature was done afterwards.) d d 402 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. ful and lawful hing. It was therefore said, that these words could not be said of a king who had not a precedent right, but was set up by the nation. So it was moved, that the oaths should be reduced to the ancient simplicity, of swearing to bear faith and true allegiance to the king and queen. This was agreed to. And upon this began the notion of a king de facto, but not dejure. It was said, that ac cording to the common law, as well as the statute in king Henry the seventh's reign, the subjects might securely obey any king that was in possession, whe ther his title was good or not. This seemed to be a doctrine necessary for the peace and quiet of man kind, that so the subjects may be safe in every go vernment, that bringeth them under a superior force, and that will crush them, if they do not give a se curity for the protection that they enjoy under it. The lawyers had been always of that opinion, that the people were not bound to examine the titles of their princes, but were to submit to him that was in possession. It was therefore judged just and reason able, in the beginning of a new government, to make the oaths as general and comprehensive as might be : for it was thought, that those who once took the oaths to the government would be after that faithful and true to it. This tenderness, which was shewed at this time to a sort of people that had shewed very little tenderness to men of weak or ill informed consciences, was afterwards much abused by a new explanation, or rather a gross equivoca tion, as to the signification of the words in which the oath was conceived. The true meaning of the words, and the express sense of the imposers, was, 824 that, whether men were satisfied or not with the OF KING JAMES II. 403 putting the king and queen on the throne, yet, now 1689. they were on it, they would be true to them, and defend them. But the sense that many put on them The m , . , i,i i sense that was, that they were only to obey them as usurpers, was put on during their usurpation, and that therefore, as long*^"ew as they continued in quiet possession, they were bound to bear them and to submit to them : but that it was still lawful for them to assist king James, if he should come to recover his crown, and that they might act and talk all they could, or durst, in his favour, as being still their king dejure. This was contrary to the plain meaning of the words, faith, and true allegiance ; and was contrary to the express declaration in the act that enjoined them. Yet it became too visible, that many in the nation, and particularly among the clergy, took the oath in this sense, to the great reproach of their profession. The prevarication of too many in so sacred a mat ter contributed not a little to fortify the growing atheism of the present age. The truth was, the greatest part of the clergy had entangled themselves so far with those strange conceits of the divine right of monarchy, and the unlawfulness of resistance in any case e. And they had so engaged themselves, by asserting these things so often and so publicly, that e In all the disputes between claimed) having been executed the houses of York and Lan- for treason, and the last will of caster, legal right was much in- Henry the eighth had excluded sisted upon, divine not so much the Scotch line; which will was as thought of, which was a no- made by the authority of an act tion started in king James the of parhament that was never first's reign, by a set of flatter- repealed. Besides, king James's ing clergymen : there being o- beinganalien born, was thought thers in those days that made by some to be an exclusion by a doubt of the king's legal title; the common law. D. his mother (from whom he D d2 404 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. they did not know how to disengage themselves in honour or conscience. A notion was started, which by its agreement with their other principles had a great effect among them, and brought off the greatest number of those who came in honestly to the new government. This was chiefly managed by Dr. Lloyd, bishop of St. Asaph, now translated to Worcester. It was laid thus : the prince had a just cause of making war on the king. In that most of them agreed. In a just war, in which an appeal is made to God, success is considered as the decision of Heaven. So the prince's success against king James gave him the right of conquest over him. And by it all his rights were transferred to the prince. His success was indeed no conquest .of the nation ; which had neither wronged him nor resisted him. So that, with re lation to the people of England, the prince was no conqueror, but a preserver and a deliverer, well re ceived and gratefully acknowledged. Yet with re lation to king James, and all the right that was be fore vested in him, he was, as they thought, a con queror f* By this notion they explained those pas- f The author wrote a paper the kingdom had not been con- to prove this, and it was burnt quered, he looked upon himself by the hangman, and is a very to be so, having made all the foohsh scheme. S. Bishop Bur- resistance that lay in his power net wrote a pamphlet to en- to his being king, but had been courage this distinction, which overcome : which doctrine was had frequently been made be- so well received at court, that . fore in relation to William the he was made secretary of state, conqueror, and Harold, but the notwithstanding the vigorous house of commons ordered it opposition he had made in the to be burnt at Westminster- house of lords. But lord Wey- hall gate. The earl of Notting- mouth told me, he prevailed ham had better success with a with him and some more to declaration he made, thatthough stay away, that the other side OF KING JAMES II, 405 sages of scripture that speak of God's disposing of 1689. kingdoms, and of pulling down one and setting up another ; and also our Saviour's arguing from the inscription on the coin, that they ought to render to Caesar the things that were Caesar's ; and St. Paul's charging the Romans to obey the powers that then were, who were the emperors that were originally 825 the invaders of public liberty which they had sub dued, and had forced the people and senate of Rome by subsequent acts to confirm an authority that was so ill begun. This might have been made use of more justly, if the prince had assumed the kingship to himself, upon king James's withdrawing; but did not seem to belong to the present case. Yet this had the most universal effect on the far greater part of the clergy. might carry the question ; for fear of a civil war, if they had lost it. D. A false and dan gerous notion, and most justly condemned. The prince of O- range came over by invitation from the body of the nation, expressed or imphed; had no other right to do it, and what ever was done against king James, and for the prince and princess of Orange, was, in fact, (and could have had no other foundation of justice,) done in virtue only of the rights of the people. No act of a king of this country, be the act what it will, can transfer or be the cause of transferring the crown to any other person, no not even to the heir apparent, with out the consent of the people, properly given. The interest of government is theirs. Sove reigns are the trustees of it, and can forfeit only to those who have entrusted them ; nor can conquest of itself give any right to government: there must be a subsequent acquiescence, or composition, on the part of the people for it, and that im plies compact. If this be so with regard to the conquest of a whole nation, it is more strongly that, when the con quest is over the king only of a country, and the war not a- gainst the kingdom. O. (The book ordered to be burnt was one of the bishop's pastoral let ters. Antony Wood, in his Diary, p. 368, says, that Lloyd's book, entitled, " God's way of " disposing of Kingdoms," was proposed to be burnt, but that it was carried in the negative in the house of peers by eleven votes.) D d3 406 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. And now I have stated all the most material parts ~ of these debates, with the fulness that I thought became one of the most important transactions that is in our whole history, and by much the most im portant of our time. Theprin- All things were now made ready for filling the toEngiand. throne. And the very night before it was to be done, the princess arrived safely. It had been given out, that she was not well pleased with the late transaction, both with relation to her father, and to the present settlement. Upon which the prince wrote to her, that it was necessary she should appear at first so cheerful, that nobody might be discouraged by her looks, or be led to apprehend that she was uneasy by reason of what had been done. This made her put on a great air of gaiety when she came to Whitehall, and, as may be imagined, had great crowds of all sorts coining to wait on her. I confess, I was one of those that censured this in my thoughts. I thought a little more seriousness had done as well, when she came into her father's palace, and was to be set on his throne next day. I had never seen the least indecency in any part of her deportment before : which made this appear to me so extraordinary, that some days after I took the liberty to ask her, how it came that what she saw in so sad a revolution, as to her father's person, made not a greater impression on her. She took this freedom with her usual goodness. And she as sured me, she felt the sense of it very lively upon her thoughts. But she told me, that the letters which had been writ to her had obliged her to put on a cheerfulness, in which she might perhaps go too far, because she was obeying directions, and acting a OF KING JAMES II. 407 part which was not very natural to her B. This was 1689. «v, +lia 1 O+k ~C TTI„1 1 ! Ol Tl J part which was not very natural to her B. This was on the 12th of February, being Sh rove-Tuesday ET I 1 Q r On a Tint- r\-r\ vn rtfCk a-iwo "I im in \tic\ TiiowtT manfiAnn +\s r S That she put on more airs of gaiety upon that occasion than became her, or seemed na tural, I was an eyewitness to, having seen her upon her first arrival at Whitehall : but that she behaved in the ridiculous indecent manner the duchess of Marlborough has represented, I do as little believe, as that her grace (which she would in sinuate) had any share in mak ing the countess of Derby groom of the stole, which was entirely owing to her being the duke of Ormond's sister, and Mr.Overquerque's niece; with out any recommendation from the princess of Denmark, which could not have been obtained without lady Churchill's inter position at that time, that was neither wanted or desired. Her grace, out of abundant good will to the countess of Derby, has produced her accounts, to shew how much they exceeded her own, which may easily be accounted for, that queen being of a very generous temper, and was continually presenting the ladies and their children, that were about her, with things of considerable value. Therefore the great articles are to jewel lers, goldsmiths, and East India shops, which her grace took care there should be no call for, during her administration : but has confessed the mean begging of eighteen thousand pounds, after the immense wealth she and her family had extorted from the pubhc during her fa vour with queen Ann. D. (Eve lyn in his Diary mentions the behaviour of the new queen on the above occasion as very unbecoming, vol. II. p. 6, but it is fully accounted for by bi shop Burnet. " The truth of " the matter was this," writes the sensible author of a Review of an Account of the Duchess of Marlborough's Conduct, 8vo. 1742, p. 20 ; " while the con- " fusions continued in Eng- " land, and the king's hfe was " daily in imminent danger, " the princess, then in Hol- " land, shewed deep concern ; " and this being reported in " England, produced an opin- " ion that she was much dis- " satisfied with all that had " been done. This coming to " the ears of the prince of " Orange, he thought fit to " write her a letter, enjoining " her to appear so cheerful at " her first coming over, that " nobody might be discourag- " ed by her looks. And thus " obedience to her husband " subjected this excellent lady " to a suspicion of want of ten- " derness for her father; which " is the less credible, since I " am well assured that there " never was a fonder parent " than he, both to her and to " her sister, insomuch that " Mr. Oldmixon is pleased to " observe, that on the flight ." ofthe princess of Denmark, " the king burst into tears, " and could not help crying " out, ' God help me, my own " children have forsaken me !' " He was less able to bear as a D d 4 408 HIST. OF THE REIGN OF JAMES II. 1 689. The thirteenth was the day set for the two houses to come with the offer of the crown. So here ends the interregnum. And thus I have given the fullest and most parti cular account that I could gather of all that passed during this weak, unactive, violent, and superstitious reign ; in which all regard to the affairs of Europe seemed to be laid aside, and nothing was thought on 826 but the spiteful humours of a revengeful Italian lady, and the ill laid, and worse managed, projects of some hot meddling priests, whose learning and politics were of a piece, the one exposing them to contempt, and the other to ruin ; involving in it a prince, who, if it had not been for his being deli vered up to such counsels, might have made a better figure in history. But they managed both them selves and him so ill, that a reign, whose rise was bright and prosperous, was soon set in darkness and disgrace. But I break off here, lest I should seem to aggravate misfortunes, and load the unfortunate too much. " father, than as a prince." " that I don't believe you The princess was addressed in " could have such a thought the following terms by the " against the worst of fathers, queen her mother-in-law, in a " much less perform it against letter dated about five weeks " the best, that has always before the arrival of the prince " been kind to you, and I be- in England. — "The second part "heve has loved you better " of this news" (ofthe intended " than all the rest of his chil- expedition) " I will never be- " dren." Ellis's First Series of " lieve, that is, that you are to Original Letters, vol. III. page " come over with him; for I 349.) " know you to be too good, END OF KING JAMES THE SECOND'S REIGN. TABLE OF THE CONTENTS OF THE FOREGOING VOLUME3. BOOK IV. Ofthe reign of king James the second. A. REIGN happily begun, but inglorious all over 6 1 7 The king's first education 6 1 8 He learned war under Turenne 619 He was admiral of England ibid. He was proclaimed king 620 His first speech ibid. Well received ibid. Addresses made to him ibid. The earl of Rochester made lord treasurer 621 The earl of Sunderland in fa vour ibid. Customs and excise levied a- gainst law ibid. The king's coldness to those who had been for the exclu sion 622 He seemed to be on equal terms with the French king 623 The king's course of life 624 The prince of Orange sent away the duke of Monmouth ibid. Some in England began to move for him 625 Strange practices in elections of parhament men ibid. Evil prospect from an ill par hament 626 The prince of Orange submits in every thing to the king 627 The king was crowned 628 I went out of England ibid. Argile designed to invade Scot land 629 The duke of Monmouth forced upon an ill-timed invasion 630 These designs were carriedwith secrecy 63 1 Argile landed in Scotland ibid. a {The pages referred to are those of the folio edition, which are inserted in the margin of the present.) 410 A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS. But was defeated, and taken 632 Argile's execution ibid. Rumbold at his death denied the Rye plot 633 A parliament in Scotland 634 Granted all that the king de sired 636 Oates convicted of perjury 637 And cruelly whipt ibid. Dangerfieid killed ibid. A parliament in England 63 8 Grants the revenue for life ibid. And trusts to the king's pro mise ibid. The parliament was violent 639 The lords were more cautious 640 The duke of Monmouth landed at Lime . ibid. An act of attainder passed a- gainst him 641 A rabble came and joined him ibid. Lord Grey's cowardice 642 The earl of Feversham com manded the king's army 643 The duke of Monmouth de feated 644 And taken ibid. Soon after executed 645 He died with great calmness 646 Lord Grey pardoned ibid. The king was lifted up with his successes 647 But it had an ill effect on his affairs ibid. Great cruelties committed by his soldiers ibid. And much greater by Jefferies 648 With which the king was well pleased ibid. The execution of two women ibid. The behaviour of those who suffered 650 The nation was much changed by this management 65 1 Great disputes for and against the tests 652 Some change their religion ibid. The duke of Queensborough disgraced 653 The king declared against the tests 654 Proceedings in Ireland ibid. The persecution in France 655 A fatal year to the protestant religion ibid. Rouvigny's behaviour 656 He came over to England 657 Dragoons sent to live on dis cretion upon the protestants 658 Many of them yielded through fear 659 Great cruelty every where ibid. I went into Italy 660 And was well received at Rome 661 Cardinal Howard's freedom with me ibid. Cruelties in Orange 663 Another session of parhament ibid. The king's speech against the test 664 Jefferies made lord chancellor 665 The house of commons ad dress the king for observing the law 666 The king was much offended with it ibid. The parhament was prorogued 667 The lord de la Meer tried and acquitted 668 1686. A trial upon the act for the test 669 A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS. 411 Many judges turned out 669 Herbert, chief justice, gives judgment for the king's dis pensing power ibid. Admiral Herbert's firmness ibid. Father Petre, a Jesuit, in high favour 672 The king declared for a tolera tion ibid. The clergy managed the points of controversy with great zeal and success 673 The persons who were chiefly engaged in this 674 Dr. Sharp in trouble ibid. The bishop of London requir ed to suspend him 675 Which he could not obey ibid. An ecclesiastical commission set up ibid. The bishop of London brought before it 676 And was suspended by it 677 Affairs in Scotland 678 A tumult at Edinburgh ibid. A parhament held there 679 Which refused to comply with the king's desire 680 A zeal appeared there against popery 681 Affairs in Ireland ibid. The king made his mistress countess of Dorchester 682 Attempts made on many to change their rehgion 683 Particularly on the earl of Ro chester 684 He was turned out 685 Designs talked of against Hol land ibid. I stayed some time at Geneva 686 The state and temper I ob served among the reformed 687 I was invited by the prince of Orange to come to the Hague 688 A character of the prince and princess of Orange 689 I was much trusted by them 691 The prince's sense of our af fairs ibid. The princess's resolution with respect to the prince 692 Penn sent over to treat with the prince 693 Some bishops died in England 694 Cartwright and Parker pro moted 695 The king's letter refused in Cambridge 697 The vice-chancellor turned out by the ecclesiastical com missioners 698 An attempt to impose a popish president on Magdalen col lege 699 They disobey, and are censur ed for it 700 1687. And were all turned out ibid. The dissenters were much courted by the king 701 Debates and resolutions among them 702 The army encamped at Houn- slow heath 703 An ambassador sent to Rome ibid. He managed every thing un happily 704 Pope Innocent's character 705 Disputes about the franchises 706 Queen Christina's character of some popes 707 D'Aibeviiie sent envoy to Hol land ibid. I was upon the king's pressing instances forbid to see the prince and princess of O- range 708 Dykvelt sent to England ibid. 412 A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS. The negotiations between the king and the prince 709 A letter writ by the Jesuits of Liege, that discovers the king's designs 711 Dykveit's conduct in England 712 A proclamation of indulgence sent to Scotland ibid. Which was much censured 713 A declaration for toleration in England 714 Addresses made upon it ibid. The king's indignation against the church party 715 The parliament was dissolved 716 The reception of the pope's nuntio ibid. The king made a progress through many parts of Eng land 7 1 7 A change in the magistracy in London, and over England 718 Questions put about elections of parliament 719 The king wrote to the prin cess of Orange about reli gion 720 Which she answered 722 Reflections on these letters A prosecution set on against me 726 Albeville's memorial to the States 728 The States' answer to what related to me 729 Other designs against me 730 Pensioner Fagel's letter 73 1 Father Petre made a privy counsellor 733 The confidence of the Jesuits ibid. The pensioner's letter was printed 734 The king asked the regiments of his subjects in the States' service 734 Which was refused, but the of ficers had leave to go 735 A new declaration for tolera tion 736 Which the clergy were ordered to read ibid. To which they would not give obedience 738 The archbishop and six bishops petition the king ibid. The king ordered the bishops to be prosecuted for it 741 They were sent to the tower ibid. But soon after discharged 742 They were tried ibid. And acquitted 743 To the great joy of the town and nation 744 The clergy was next designed against ibid. The effect this had every where 745 Russel pressed the prince 746 The prince's answer ibid. The elector of Brandenburgh's death ibid. The queen gave out , that she was with child 748 The queen's reckoning changed The queen said to be in labour ibid. And delivered of a son 752 Great grounds of jealousy ap peared ibid. The child, as was believed, died, and another was put in his room 753 The prince and princess of Orange sent to congratulate 754 The prince designs an expedi tion to England ibid. Sunderland advised more mo derate proceedings 755 And he turned papist 756 A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS. 413 The prince of Orange treats with some of the princes of the empire 757 The affairs of Colen 758 Herbert came over to Holland 762 The advices from England ibid. The lord Mordaunt's charac ter ibid. The earl of Shrewsbury's cha racter ibid. Russel's character 763 Sidney's character ibid. Many engaged in the design 764 Lord Churchill's character 765 The court of France gave the alarm 766 Recruits from Ireland refused 767 Offers made by the French ibid. Not entertained at that time 768 The French own an alliance with the king. ibid. The strange conduct of France 769 A manifesto of war against the empire 770 Reflections made upon it 771 Another against the pope 772 Censures that passed upon it 773 Marshal Schomberg sent to Cleve 774 The Dutch fleet at sea ibid. The prince of Orange's decla ration 775 I was desired to go with the prince 77^ Advices from England ibid. Artifices to cover the design 778 The Dutch put to sea 779 Some factious motions at the Hague 7^° The army was shipped 781 The princess's sense of things 781 The prince took leave of the States 782 We sailed out of the Maes ibid. But were forced back 783 Consultations in England ibid. Proofs brought for the birth of the prince of Wales 785 We sailed out more happily a second time 787 We landed at Torbay 788 The king's army began to come over to the prince 790 An association among those who came to the prince 792 The heads in Oxford sent to him 793 Great disorders in London ibid. A treaty begun with the prince 794 The king left the kingdom 795 He is much censured 796 But is brought back ibid. The prince is desired to come and take the government into his hands 797 Different advice given to the prince concerning the king's person 798 The prince came to London, and the king went to Ro chester 801 The prince was welcomed by all sorts of people 802 Consultations about the settle ment of the nation 803 The king went over to France, 804 The affairs of Scotland ibid. The affairs of Ireland 805 1689. The prince in treaty with the earl of Tyrconnell 807 The convention met 809 Some are for a prince regent ibid. 414 A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS. Others are for another king 811 And against a regency 813 Some moved to examine the birth of the prince of Wales 816 But it was rejected 817 Some were for making the prince king 818 The prince declared his mind after long silence 820 It was resolved to put the prince and princess both in the throne 821 They drew an instrument about it 822 The oaths were altered 823 The ill sense that was put on the new oath 824 The princess came to England 825 The conclusion 826 YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 01762 8968