"•&& YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BISHOP BURNET'S HISTORY OF HIS OWN TIME, rnoM the RESTORATION OF KING CHARLES II. CONCLUSION OF THE TREATY OF PEACE AT UTRECHT, IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. To which is prefixed, A SUMMARY RECAPITULATION OF AFFAIRS IN CHURCH AND STATE, FROM KING JAMES I. TO THE RESTORATION IN THE YEAR 1660. Together with THE AUTHOR'S LIFE, BY THE EDITOR: AND SOME EXPLANATORY NOTES. THE WHOLE REVISED AND CORRECTED BY HIM. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: PKINIED FOR J. NUNN, GREAT QUEEN STREET; R.PRIESTLEY, HOLBORN; AND M. PRIESTLEY, HIGH STREET, BLOOMSBURY. 1818. 1l3vA t, 4- f,.< CONTENTS SECOND VOLUME. Page 1677. A question raised in England about the legality of a prorogation . 1 The lords that moved it sent to the Tower • . . . . 2 ' Proceedings in parliament . . 3 Affairs in Flanders . . .4 The French King declined a battle when offered by the Prince of Orange • • . . .5 Cambray and St. Omer taken . 6 The House of Commons pressed the King to engage in the war • . 7 Danby declared against France . 8 The Prince of Orange came into England ... .9 He married the Duke's daughter • 1 1 1678. Supplies given towards the war . 13 The French take Ghent . . ib. ,The affairs of Scotland ¦ . . 14* Mitchell's trial «. . . ib. And condemnation - . .17 The administration there grew very violent and illegal • . .19 An army af Highlanders sent to the west upon free quarter . . 20 Many of the nobility came up to com plain to the King • - -21 But the King would not see them . 22 A convention of estates gives money, and justifies the administration • 23 Affairs in England • . . ib. The House of Commons grew jealous of the court . . .24 Affairs abroad • • . -25 The popish plot . . . .27 Oates's character . . 28 His discovery • ¦ . -29 Coleman and his papers seized • 30 Coleman's letters confirm it • -31 Godfrey is murdered . . 32 Page His body was found . . .33 Gates' made a new discovery . . 34 Bedlow's evidence • . .36 Othe,r proofs that seemed to support the discovery . . . .37 Carstairs's practices • . ' . ib. Staley's trial . . . .38 The Queen was charged as in the plot 40 A law passed for the test to be taken by both houses • . -41 With a proviso for the Duke . . ib. Coleman's trial • . . .42 And execution • . .43 The King's thoughts of this whole matter • . '. . . ;D Danby's letters to Montague are brought oat . . xt And he was impeached of high treason 47 The parliament was prorogued . 48 The trial of F. Ireland and some others 50 Dugdale's evidence . . .51 Prance discovers Godfrey's murder 52 Some condemned for it, who died denying it . . . . 54 Scroggs was then lord chief justice . 56 Jennison's evidence ¦ . . ;b. Practices with the witnesses disco vered . . . . . jj7 Reflections upon the whole evidence 59 1679. . A new parliament . . .go The Duke sent beyond sea . . ib.' Danby pardoned by the King, but prosecuted by the House of Com mons • . . . . gg A new council . . . -64 Debates concerning the exclusion • 65 Arguments used for and against the exclusion . . . . gg Danby's prosecution . . . ' 71 A great heat raised against the clergy 72 The occasions that fomented that heat ib. CONTENTS. Arguments for and against the bishops voting in the preliminaries, in trials of treason .... Stillingfleet wrote on this point The trial of five Jesuits Langhorn's trial .... And death ¦ Wakeman's trial .• He was acquitted Debates about dissolving the parlia ment ..... The affairs of Scotland • The Archbishop of St. Andrews is murdered .... A rebellion in Scotland • Monmouth sent down to suppress it- They were soon broken The King taken ill, and the Duke comes to court The many false stories spread to raise jealousy A pretended plot discovered, called the meal-tub plot • Greaf jealousies of the King ¦ Monmouth's disgrace • Petitions for a parliament • Great discontents on all sides Godolphin's character • 1680. An alliance projected against France The election of the sheriffs of Lon don • • « The bill of exclusion again taken up Passed by the Commons But rejected by the Lords • The House of Commons proceeded against some with severity An association proposed Expedients offered in the House of Lords ... Dutchess of Portsmouth's conduct in this matter little understood • ib. Stafford's trial .... 101 He was condemned • • • 105 He sent for me, and employed me to do him service • - . 106 His execution .... 107 1681. Motions in favour of the noncon formists .... 108 The parliament was dissolved • 109 A new expedient of a priuce regent ib. Fitzharris was taken • • . no 73 75 ib. 77 ib.. 78 80 ib. 81 8283 84 85 86 ib. 87 8890 ib.ib. 91 ib. 93 94 95 96 98 99 Page The parliament of Oxford was soon dissolved • • • -111 A great change in affairs • • 112 The King's declaration • • 113 Addresses to the King from all parts of England • • • . 1 14 Fitzharris's trial • ¦ • • 115 Plunket, an Irish bishop, condemned and executed • • • • 116 Practices upon Fitzharris at his death 118 A protestant plot • • • ib. Colledge condemned and died uponit 119 Sha'ftsbury sent to the Tower • 120 Practices upon witnesses • • ib. I was then offered preferment • 121 Hallifax carried me to the King • 12* Shaftsbury was acquitted by the grand jury - « • ¦ ib. 1682. Turbervill's death • • • 124 The affairs of Scotland ¦ ¦ 125 A parliament in Scotland • • 127 Several accusations of perjury stifled by the Duke .... 128 A test enacted in" parliament • 130 Objections made to the test • • 13i Many turned out for not taking it 133 Argyle's explanation • • 134 He was committed upon it • . 135 Argyle is tried and condemned . 136 He made his escape • . . 137 The Duke comes to court . . I3g A, new ministry in Scotland . ib. They proceeded with great severity 139 Affairs in England • . . 142 All charters of towns were surren dered to the King . . • ib. The dispute concerning the sheriffs of London .... 143 Carried by the court • . . 145 Changes in the ministry, and quar rels among them . . . 146 The arguments for and against the charter of London ¦ . ' .14$ Judgment given in the matter . 151 Some other severe judgments • ib. 1683. All people possessed with great fears 152 Monmouth and Russel at Shepherd's 153 Monmouth and some others meet often together . . . 154 They treat with some of the Scotch nation ..... 155 CONTENTS. Other conspirators meet at tfle same time on design of assassinating the King • A plot is discovered • A forged story laid by Rumsey and West Russel and some others were put in prison upon it Monmouth and others escaped Howard's confession . The Earl of Essex was sent to the Tower • The Lord Russel's trial He was condemned His preparation for death The trial and execution of Walcot and others Russel's execution Russel's last speech - Prince George of Denmark married the Princess Anne • The siege of Vienna • The author went to the Court of France ' Characters of some he knew there Affairs in England Jefferies and other judges preferred 1684. The calling a parliament proposed, but rejected .... Suspicions of Essex's being murdered Sidney's trial His execution and last paper Monmouth came in and was doned .... But soon after disgraced Hamden's trial • Halloway's execution - Armstrong's death Great severity in Scotland ¦ A breach in the ministry there The Duke governed all affairs The cruelty of the Duke and of his ministers in torturing Proceedings against Baillie • And his execution Leighton's death The promotion of some bishops Danby and the popish lords bailed Some removes made at court The bombarding of Genoa Tangier abandoned Affairs beyond sea The hardships that the author met with ..... Page 158 160 161 163 165 167 168170173 174 175177178179 180 181182 185 ib. par 18G187188 190 191193 194 ib. 195 198 199 201 ib. 203205206 208209 210211 212213 214 Trials for treason of Roswell and Haies 216 Strange -practices, and very unbe coming a King . . . 219 Papists employed in Ireland • . 220 Suspicions of the King's declaring himself a papist • . . 222 1685. A new scheme of government • 224 The King's sickness • • • 225 He received the sacraments from a popish priest ¦ ... 226 His death 229 His character • • . 830 BOOK IV. A reign happily begun, but inglo rious all over .... 237 The King's first education • • ib. He learned war under Turenne • 238 He was admiral of England • • 239 He was proclaimed King • • ib. His first speech - • • ib. Well received • • • • 240 Addresses made to him • ib. The Earl of Rochester made lord treasurer • • ¦ • ib. The Earl of Sunderland in favour • 211 Customs and excise levied against law • ¦ • - • ib. The King's coldness to those who had been for the exclusion . 242 He seemed to be on equal terms with the French King • . ib. The King's course of life • • 243 The Prince of Orange sent away the Duke of Monmouth • ¦ . 2-14 Some in England began to move for him • • • • . ib. Strange practices in elections of par liament men .... 245 Evil prospect from a bad parliament 246 The Prince of Orange submits in every thing to the King • ¦ 247 The King was crowned . • 248 I went out of England • • ¦ ib. Argyle designed to invade Scotland ¦ 249 The Duke of Monmouth forced on an ill-timed invasion - . • 250 These designs were carried on with great secrecy ¦ • • • 2ol Argyle landed in Scotland . - ib. But was defeated and taken • 252 Argyle's execution . • • 253 CONTENTS. Page Rumbold at his death denied the Rye plot • . . 254 A parliament in Scotland ¦ • 255 Granted all that the King desired • 256 Severe laws were passed • • ib. Oates convicted of perjury • • 257 And cruelly whipped • • • 258 Dangerfield killed • ¦ • ib. A parliament in England ¦ ib. Grants the revenue for life • • ib. And trusts to the King's promise • 259 The parliament was violent ¦ • 260 The Lords were more cautious • ib. The Duke of Monmouth landed at Lime 261 An act of attainder passed against him .... ib. A rabble came and joined him ¦ 262 Lord Grey's cowardice ¦ • ib. The Earl of Feversham commanded the King's army ¦ . . 264 The Duke of Monmouth defeated ¦ 265 And taken • . • . • ib. Soon after executed • • ib. He died with great calmness • • 267 Lord Grey pardoned • • ib. The King was lifted up with his suc cesses ..... 268 But it had an ill effect on his affairs ib. Great cruelties committed by his sol diers - ¦ • ¦ ib. And much greater by Jefferies • 269 With which the King was well pleased • • • • • ib. The executions of two women • 270 The behaviour of those who suffered 272 The nation was much changed by this management .... 273 Great disputes for and against the tests • • ¦ • • ib. Some change their religion • • 274 The Duke of Queensberry disgraced ib. The King declared against the tests 275 Proceedings in Ireland ¦ -276 The persecution in France • ¦ ib. A fatal year to the protestant reli gion • • ¦' . . 277 Rouvigny's behaviour • • • 278 . He came over to England • • 279 Dragoons sent to live on discretion upon the protestants • • 280 Many of them yielded through fear ib. Great cruelty every where 281 I went into Italy ... 282 And was well received at Rome 283 Cardinal Howard's freedom with me ib. Page Cruelties uTOrange • - - 285 Another session of parliament ¦ ib. The King's speech against the test 286 Jefferies made lord chancellor • 287 The House of Commons address the King for observing the law • 288 The King was much offended with it ib. The parliament was prorogued • 289 The Lord Delamer tried and ac quitted 290 1686. A trial upon the act for the test , • 29 Many judges turned out • • ib. Herbert, chief justice, gives judg ment for the King's dispensing power • • • • ib. Admiral Herbert's firmness • • 293 Father Petre, a Jesuit, in high fa vour ..... 294 The King declared for a toleration ib. The clergy managed the points of controversy with great zeal and success ..... 295 The persons who were chiefly en gaged in this .... 296 Dr. Sharp in trouble • . . 297 The Bishop of London required to suspend him . - . • ib. Which he could not obey . . ib. An ecclesiastical commission set np 298 The Bishop of London brought be fore it . . . . . 299 And was suspended by it . ib. Affairs in Scotland • . . 300 A tumult at Edinburgh . . 301 A parliament held there ." . 302 Which refused to comply with the King's desires . . . 303 A zeal appeared there against po- Pe,7 • • • -304 Affairs in Ireland • . • ib. The King made his mistress Count ess of Dorchester . . . 305 Attempts made on many to change their religion • 306 Particularly on the Earl of Rochester 307 He was turned out . . 300 Designs talked of against Holland . ib. I staid some time in Geneva ¦ . 309 The state and temper I observed among the reformed ¦ . . 3^0 I was invited by the Prince of Orange to come to the Hague . . 3^^ A character of the Prince and Prin cess of Orange - . . 313 CONTENTS. Page I was much trusted by them • . 314 The Prince's sense of our affairs . 315 The Princess's resolution with respect to the Prince • • . -316 Penn sent over to treat with the Prince ..... 317 Some bishops died in England . 319 Cartwright and Parker promoted • 320 The King's letter refused in Cam bridge - ¦ .' . . . 322 The Vice-Chancellor turned out by the ecclesiastical commissioners . 323 An attempt to impose a popish pre sident on Magdalen- college . ib. They disobey, and are censured for 'it 325 1687. And were all turned out . . 326 The dissenters were much courted by the King .... 327 Debates and resolutions among them ib. The army encamped at Hounslow Heath 328 An ambassador sent to Rome • 329 He managed every thing unhappily ib. Pope Innocent's character . . 331 Disputes about the franchises • • 332 Queen Christina's character of some popes ..... 333 D'Albeville sent envoy to Holland • 334 I was, upon the King's pressing in stances, forbid to see the Prince and Princess of Orange ¦ • ib. Dickvelt sent to England • ¦ ib. The negotiations between the King . and the Prince • . . 335 A letter writ by the Jesuits of Liege that discovers the King's designs 338 Dickvelt's conduct in England ¦ 339 A proclamation of indulgence sent to v Scotland . • . ib. Which was much censured • • ib. A declaration for toleration in Eng land 341 Addresses made upon it • ¦ ib. The King's indignation against the church party .... 342 The parliament was dissolved • 343 The reception of the Pope's nuncio ib. The King made a progress through many parts of England • ¦ 344 A change of the magistracy in Lon don, and over England - • 345 Questions put about elections of par liaments - • • g46 Page The King wrote to the Princess of Orange about religion . . 348 Which she answered . . . 350 Reflections on these letters • . 353 A prosecution set on against me ¦ 354 1688. Albeville's memorial to the states • 356 The states' answer to what related to me . . . .ggg Other designs against me . . 359 Pensioner Fagel's letter . . 360 Father Petre made a privy coun sellor 362 The confidence of the Jesuits • 363 'The pensioner's letter was printed ib. The King asked the regiments of his subjects in the states' service 364 Which was refused, but the officers had leave to go . . . 365 A new declaration for toleration • ib. Which the clergy were ordered to read 366 To which they-would not give obe dience 368 The Archbishop and six bishops pe tition the King ¦ • • ib. The King ordered the bishops to be prosecuted for it . 371 They were sent to the Tower • 372 But soon after discharged • . ib. And acquitted .... 374 To the great joy of the town and na tion • • . . • ib. The clergy was next designed against .... 375 The effect this had every where . 376 Russel pressed the Prince • • 377 The Prince's answer • • • ib. The Elector of Brandenburg's death ib. The Queen gave out that she was with child .... 379 The Queen's reckoning changed • 382 The Queen said to be in labour • 383 And delivered of a son . • 384 Great grounds of jealousy appeared ib. The child, as was believed, died, and another was put in his room 385 The Prince and Princess of Orange sent to congratulate ¦ • • 386 The Prince designs an expedition to England . • • -387 Sunderland advised more moderate proceedings .... 388 And he turned papist ¦ • • ib. CONTENTS. Page The Prince of Orange treats with some princes of the empire • 389 The affairs of Cologne • • 390 Herbert came over to Holland • 395 The advices from England • • ib. The Lord Mordaunt's character ib. The Earl of Shrewsbury's character 396 Russel's character ¦ • • ib. Sidney's character • • • 397 Many engaged in the design - ib. Lord Churchill's character • 398 The court of France gave the alarm 400 Recruits from Ireland refused • ib. Offers made by the French • • 401 Not entertained at that time • 402 The French own an alliance with the King • • • • ¦ ib.^ The strange conduct of France • 404 A manifesto of war against the em pire • • • • • ib. Reflections made upon it • ' 405 Another against the Pope • 407 Censures that passed upon it • 408 Marshal Schomberg sent to Cleve • 409 The Dutch fleet at sea ¦ . ib. The Prince of Orange's declaration 41 0 I was desired to go with the Prince 411 Advices from England ' • 412 Artifices to cover the design . 413 The Dutch put to sea • • 415 Some factious motions at the Hague ib. The army was shipped ¦ ¦ 417 The Princess's sense of things • ib. The Prince took leave of the states 418 We sailed out of the Maes • • ib. But were forced back • • • 41 9 Consultations in England • • ib. Proofs brought for the birth of the Prince of Wales • • -421 We sailed out more happily the se cond time .... 424 We landed at Tofbay • . . 425 The King's army began to come over to the Prince • • . 428 Page An association among those who came to the Prince .... 430 The heads in Oxford sent to him • 431 Great disorders in London • • ib. A treaty begun with the Prince • 432 The King left the kingdom • 433 He is much censured • ¦ • 434 But is brought back • • • 435 The Prince is desired to come and take the government into his hands 436 Different advice given to the Prince concerning the King's person • 437 The Prince came to London. < id the King went to Rochester -lL r ¦ 440 The Prince was welcomed by all sorts of people .... 441 Consultations about the settlement of the nation .... 442 The King went over into France • 443 The affairs of Scotland . • ib. The affairs of Ireland • • -444 1689. The Prince in treaty with the Earl of Tyrconnel • ¦ ¦ 447 The convention met - ¦ • 449 Some are for a prince regent ¦ . ib. Others are for another king • 451 And against a regency • • • ' 453 Some moved to examine the birth of the Prince of Wales • • . 45? But it was rejected • - • ib. Some were for making the Prince king 458 The Prince declared his mind after long silence .... 460 It was resolved to put the Prince and Princess both on the throne . 462 They drew an instrument about it . 463 The oaths were altered . . . 464_ The ill sense that was put on the new oath ..... 465 The Princess came to England • 466 The conclusion . • . 467 THE HISTORY, Sfc. The parliament of England had been prorogued for about 1677. a year6»nd some months, by two different prorogations. A'v^^'n One of these was for more than a year. So upon that, it raised in was made a question, whether by that, the parliament was ^^ not dissolyed. The argument for it was laid thus : by the legality of ancient laws a parliament was to be held " once a year, and *apt-°™" oftener, if need be : " It was said, the words, " if need " be," in one act, which were not in another that enacted an annual parliament without that addition, did not belong to the whole period, by which a session was only to be held once a year if it was needful ; but belonged only to the word " oftener : " so that the law was positive for a parlia ment once a year; and, if so, then any act contrary to that law was an unlawful act: by consequence, it could have no operation : from whence it was inferred, that the proro gation which did run beyond a year, and by consequence made that the parliament could not sit that year, was ille gal; and that therefore the parliament could not sit by virtue of such an illegal act. Lord Shaftsbury laid hold on this with great joy, and he thought to work his point by it. The Duke of Buckingham was for every thing that would embroil matters. The Earl of Salisbury was brought into it, who was a high-spirited man, and had a very ill opinion of the court. Lord Wharton went also into it; and Lord Hollis writ a book for it: but a fit of the gout kept him out of the way. All the rest of the party was against it. They said, it was a subtilty : and it was very dangerous to hang so much weight upon such weak grounds. The words, " if need be," had been understood to belong to the whole act : and the long parliament did not pretend to make annual parliaments necessary, but in sisted only on a triennial parliament : if there had been need of a parliament, during that long prorogation, the vol. ii. ' B 2 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1677. King by proclamation might have dissolved it, and called "*^"*/ a new one. All that knew the temper of the House of Commons were much troubled at this dispute, that was like to rise on such a point. It was very certain the ma jority of both houses, who only could judge it, would be against it : and they thought such an attempt to force a dissolution, would make the Commons do every thing that the court desired. Lord Hallifax set himself much against this; and did it not without expressing great sharpness against Lord Shaftsbury, who could not be managed in this matter. So, upon first opening the session, the debate was brought on: and these lords stood against the whole House. That matter was soon decided by a question. But then a second debate arose, which held for two days, whether these lords were not liable to censure, for offer ing a debate, that might create great distractions in the subjects minds, concerning the legality of parliament. Loxd Hallifax, with the rest of the party, argued against it strongly. They said, if an idle motion was made, and checked at first, he that made it might be censured for it, though it was seldom, if ever, to be practised in a free council, where every man was not bound to be wise, nor to make no impertinent motion: but when the motion was entertained, and a debate followed, and a question was put upon it, it was destructive to the freedom of public The lords councils, to call any one to an account for it : they might that mov «d wjth the same justice call them to an account for their de- Tower, bates and votes : so that no man was safe, unless he could know where the majority would be : here would be a pre cedent to tip down so many lords at a time, and to gar- boil the House, as often as any party should have a great majority. It was said, on the other hand, here was a de sign to put the nation into great disorder, and to brin°- the legality of a parliament into dispute. So it was carried to oblige them to ask pardon as delinquents : otherwise it was resolved to send them to the Tower. They refused to ask pardon, and so were sent thither. The Earl of Salisbury was the first that was called on : for the Duke of Bucking ham went out of the House. He desired he might have his servants to wait on him, and the first he named was his cook; which the King resented highly, a$ carrying in it an insinuation of the w orst sort. The Earl of Shaftsfeury OF KING CHARLES II.- 3, made the same demand. But the Lord Wharton did not 1677* ask for his cook. The Duke of Buckingham came in next '*""vv' day, and was sent after them to the Tower, and they were ordered to continue prisoners during the pleasure pf the House, or during the King's pleasure. They were much visited. So, to check that, though no -complaint was made of their behaviour, they were made close prisoners, not to be visited without leave from the King, or the House : and particular observations were made of all those that asked leave. This was much cried out on: and the Earl of Dan by's long imprisonment afterwards, was thought a just reta liation for the violence with which he drove this on. Three of the lords lay ia the Tower for some months: but they were set at liberty upon their petitioning the King. Lord Shaftsbury would not petition : but he moved in the King's Bench that he might be discharged. The King's justice, he saidj was to be dispensed in that court. The court said, he was committed by an order from the House of Lords, which was a court superior to them : so they could take no cognizance of the matter. Lord Danby censured this motion highly* as done in contempt of the House of Lords ; and said, he would make use of it against him next session of parliament. Yet he was often forced to make the same motion at that bar: and he complained of the in justice of the court for refusing to bail or discharge him, though in that they followed the precedent which at this time was directed by himself. The debate about the dissolution of the parliament, had Proceed- the effect in the House of Commons that was foreseen : J-^ ",.?**" for the Commons were much inflamed against Lord Shafts^ bury and his party. They at first voted 6QO,0Q0l. for the building thirty ships : for they resolved to begin with a popular bill. . A clause was put. in the bill by the country party, that the money should be accounted for to the Com mons, in hope that the Lords would alter that clause, and make it accountable to both houses; which was done by the Lords, and conferences were held upon it The Lords thought, that, since they paid their share of the tax, it was not reasonable to exclude them from the accounts. The Commons adhered to their clause ; and the bill was in great danger of being lost. But the King prevailed with the Lords to recede. An additional excise that had been 4 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1677. formerly given, was now falling: so they continued that ^""^ for three years longer. And they were in all things so compliant, that the court had not for many years had so hopeful a session as this was. But all was changed of a sudden. Affairs in The King of France was then making one of Ms early Flanders, campaigns in Flanders ; in which he at first took Valen ciennes, and then divided his army in two. He with one besieged Cambray :. and the other, commanded by his brother, besieged St. Omer. But, though I intend to say little of foreign affairs, yet where I came to the knowledge of particulars that I have not seen in any printed relations, I will venture to set them down. Turenne's death was a great blow to the King of France ; but not to his ministers, whom he despised, and who hated him. But the King had such a personal regard to him, that they were afraid of opposing him too much. He was both the most cau- 1 tious, and the most obliging general that ever commanded an army. He had the art of m aking every man love him, ex cept those that thought they came in some competition with him : for he was apt to treat them with too much contempt. It was an extraordinary thing that a random cannon shot should have killed him. He sat by the balance of his body a while on the saddle, but fell down dead in the place : and a great design he had, which probably would have been fatal to the German army, died with him.. The Prince of Conde was sent to command the army to his great affliction : for this was a declaration, that he was esteemed inferior to Turenne, which he could not well bear, though he was inferior to him in all that related to the command ; unless it was in a day of battle, in which the presence of mind, and vivacity of thought, which were wonderful in him, gave him some advantage. But he had too much pride to be so obliging as a general ought to be ; and he was too much a slave to pleasure, and gamed too much, to have that constant application to his business that the other had. He was entirely lost in the King's good opinion, not only by reason of his behaviour during his minority; but, after that was forgiven, once when the King was ill, not without apprehensions, he sent for him, and- recomnfended his son to his care, in case he should die at that time. But he, instead of receiving this as a OF KING CHARLES II. 5 great mark of confidence, with due acknowledgments, 1677. expostulated upon the ill usage he had met with. The ^^ King recovered ; but never forgot that treatment, and took all occasions to mortify him, which the ministers knew well, and seconded him in it : so that,- bating the outward respect due to his birth, they treated him very hardly in all his pretensions. The French King came down to Flanders in 76, and The French first took Conde, and then besieged Bouchain. The siege ^ined""^!- went on in form, and the King lay with an army covering tie when it, when on a sudden the Prince of Orange drew his army the6pii Je together, and went up almost to the King's camp, offering of Orange, him battle. All the marshals and generals concluded that battle was to be given, and that the war would be that day ended. The King heard all this coldly. Schom berg was newly made a marshal, and had got great honour the year before against the Prince of Orange, in raising ~ the siege of Maestrickt. He commanded in a quarter at some distance. The King said, he would come to no re solution till he heard his opinion. Louvoy sent for him by a confidential person, whom he ordered to tell him what had happened ; and that, in any opinion he was to give, he must consider the King's person. So, when he came to the King's tent, a council of war was called, and Schom berg was ordered to deliver his opinion first. He said, the King was there on design to cover the siege of Bou chain: a young general was come up on a desperate humour to offer him battle : he did not doubt but it would be a glorious decision of the war ; but the King ought to consider his own designs, and not to be led out of these by any bravado, or even by the great hope of success : the King ought to remain in his post till the place was taken, otherwise he suffered another man to be the master of his counsels and actions. When the place was taken, then he was to come to new counsels : but till then he thought he was to pursue his first design. The King said Schom berg was in the right : and he was applauded that day as a better courtier than a general. I had all this from his own mouth. To this I will add a pleasant passage, that the Prince of Cond£ told young Rouvigny, now Earl of Galloway. The King of France has neyer fought a battle; and has a 6 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1677. mighty notion of that matter : and, it seems, he appre- ^^ hends the danger of it too much. Once he was chiding the Prince of Conti for his being about to fight a combat with a man of quality. The King told him, he ought to consider the dignity of his blood, and not put himself on the level with other subjects; and that his uncle had declined fighting on that very account. The Prince of Conti answered, my uncle might well have done so, after he had won two battles ; but I, who have yet done nothing, must pretend to no such distinction. The King told this answer to the Prince of Conde, who saw he was nettled with it. So he said to him, that his nephew had in that spoke like a young man : for winning of a battle was no great matter ; since, though he who commanded had the glory of it, yet it was the subalterns that did the business : in which he thought he pleased the King ; and for which he laughed heartily at him, when he told the story. The late King told me, that in these campaigns the Spaniards were both so ignorant and so backward, so proud, and yet so weak, that they would never own their feebleness, or their wants, to him. They pretended they had stores* when they had none ; and thousands, when they scarce had hundreds. He had in their councils often desired, that they would give him only a true state of their garrisons and magazines: but they always gave it false. So that for some campaigns all was lost, merely because they deceived him in the strength they pretended they had. At last he believed nothing they said, but sent his own officers to examine every thing. Monterey was a wise man, and a good governor, but was a coward. Villa Hermosa was a brave man, but ignorant and weak. Thus the Prince had a sad time of it every campaign. But none was so unhappy as this : in which, upon the loss of Valenciennes, he looking on St. Omer as more important than Cambrayj went thither, and ventured a battle too rashly. Luxem- bourgh, with a great body of horse, came into the Duke of Orleans' army, just as they were engaging. Some regi ments of marines, on whom the Prince depended much, did basely run away. Yet the other bodies fought so well, that he lost not much, besides the honour of the day. But anTstST ttP°n t*181* St- 0mer did immediately capitulate, as Cam- Omer taken, bray did some days after. It was thought that the King OF KING CHARLES II. 7 was jealous off the honour his brother had got in that action; 16V7. for he never had the command of an army after that time: v"^w' and, courage being the chief good quality that he had, it was thought his having no occasion given him to shew it flowed from some particular reason. These things happening during this session of parlia- The House ment, made great impression on all people's minds. Sir £«™ft0h™ W. Coventry opened the business in the House of Com- King to en- mons, and shewed the danger of all these provinces falling ^ m tb* under the power of France ; which must end in the ruin of the United Provinces, if a timely stop were not put to the progress the French were making. . He demonstrated, that the interest of England made it necessary for the King to withdraw his mediation, and enter into the alliance against France : and the whole House went into this. There were great complaints made of the regiments that the King kept in the French army, and of the great service that was done by them. It is true, the King suffered the Dutch to make levies. But there was another sort of encouragement given to the levies for France, particularly in Scotland ; where it looked Kker a press than a levy. They had not only the public gaols given them to keep their men in ; but, when these were full, they had the castle of Edinburgh assigned them, till ships were ready for their transport. Some, that were put in prison for conventicles, were, by order of council, delivered to their officers. The Spanish ambas sador heard of this, and made great complaints upon it. So a proclamation was ordered, prohibiting any more levies. But Duke Lauderdale kept it up some days, and writ down to hasten the levies away ; for a proclamation" was coming down against them. They were all shipped off, but had not sailed, when the proclamation came down : yet it was kept up till they sailed away. One of the ships was driven back by stress of weather; but no care was taken to execute the proclamation: so apparently was that kingdom in a French management. The House of Commons pressed the King, by repeated addresses, to fall into the interest of Europe, as well as his own. The King was uneasy at this, and sent them several angry messages. Peace and war, he said, were undoubtedly matters within his prerogative, in which they ought not to meddle. And the King in common discourse 8 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1677. remembered the parliament's engaging his father and v*****^ grandfather in the affairs of Germany, and to break the match with Spain, which proved fatal to them; and he resolved not to be served in such a manner. Upon this occasion, Lord Danby saw his error of neglecting the leading men, and reckoning upon a majority, such as could be made : for these leading men did so entangle the debates, and over-reached those on whom he had practised, that they, working on the aversion that the English nation naturally has to a French interest, spoiled the hopefuUest session the court had had of a great while, before the court was well aware of it. The King, who was yet firmly united with France, dismissed them with a very angry speech, checking them for going so far in matters that were above them, and that belonged only to him ; though they brought to him many precedents in the reigns of the highest spirited of all our kings, in which parliaments had not only offered general advices, about the entering into wars, but even special ones, as to the conduct that was to be held in them. The whole nation thought it a great happiness to see a session that Lord Shaftsbury's wilful ness had, as it were, driven in to the court, end with doing so little mischief; far contrary to all men's expec tations. Danby de- When the session was over, Lord Danby saw his ruin was ^"est a" inevitable, if he could not bring the King off from a French France. interest ; upon which he set himself much to it. And, as he talked with an extraordinary zeal against France, on all occasions, so he pressed the King much to follow the ad vices of his parliament. The King seemed to insist upon this, that he would once have a peace made, upon the grounds that he had concerted with France ; and, when that was done, he would enter next day into the alliance. But he stood much upon this; that, having once engaged with France in the war, he could not with honour turn against France till it was at an end. This was such a refining in a point of honour, which that King had not on all other oc casions considered so much, that all men believed there was somewhat else at the bottom. The Earl of Danby con tinued to give, by Sir William Temple, all possible assu; ranees to the Prince of Orange, pressing him likewise to make some compliances on his side. And he gave him OF KING CHARLES II. 9 great hopes of bringing about a marriage with the Duke's 167r- daughter ; which was universally desired by all the pro- testant party, both at home and abroad. Great offers were made to the Duke to draw him into the alliance. He was offered the command of the whole force of the allies ; and he seemed to be wrought on by the prospect of so great an authority. There was a party that were still very jealous of Lord Danby in all this matter. Some thought all this was artifice ; that a war would be offered to the next ses sion, only to draw money from the parliament, and there by to raise an army; and that, when the army was raised, and much money given to support it, all would be sold to France for another great sum, and that the parliament would be brought to give the money to pay an army for some years, till the nation should be subdued to an entire compliance with the court. ' It was given out, that this must be the scheme by which he maintained himself in the King and the Duke's confidence, even when he declared himself an open enemy to that which they were still supporting. This he did with so little decency, that at Sancroft's conse cration dinner, he began a health, to the confusion of all that were not for a war with France. He got the Prince of Orange to ask the King's leave to come over at the end of the campaign, with which the court of France was not pleased ; for they suspected a design for the marriage. But the King assured Barillon, who was lately sent over am bassador in Courtin's place, that there was not a thought of that, and that the Prince of Orange had only a mind to talk with him; and he hoped he should bring him into such measures as should produce a speedy peace. The campaign ended . unsuccessfully to the Prince ; for The Prince he sat down before Charleroy, but was forced to raise the cameTifo3 siege. When that was over, he came to England, and staid England. some time in it, talking with his two uncles about a peace, but they could not bring him up to their terms. After a fruitless stay for some weeks, he intended to go back with out proposing marriage. He had no mind to be denied ; and he saw no hope of succeeding, unless he would enter more entirely into his uncle's measures. Lord Danby press ed his staying a few days longer, and that the management of that matter might be left to him ; so next Monday morn ing, after he had taken care, by all his creatures about the VOL. II. c WW 10 HISTORY OF THE RElGN ^1677.^ King, to put him in a very good humour, he came to the King, and told him, he had received letters froni all the best friends his Majesty had in England, and shewed a bundle. of them, (which he was pretty sure the King would not trouble himself to read ; probably they were written as he had directed). They all agreed, he said, in the same ad^ vice, that the King should make a marriage between the Prince of Orange and the Duke's daughter ; for they all be lieved he came over on that account : and, if he went away without it, nobody would doubt, but that he had proposed it, and had been denied. Upon which the parliament would certainly make addresses to the King for it, and if the mar riage was made upon that, the King would lose the grace and thanks of it ; but if it was .still denied, even after the addresses of both houses, it would raise jealousies that might have very ill consequences : whereas, if the King did it of his own motion, he would have the honour of it ; and by so doing, he would bring the Prince into a greater dependence on himself, and beget in the nation such a good opinion of him, as would lay a foundation for a mutual con fidence. This he enforced with all the topics he could think on. The King said, the Prince had not so much as pro posed it : Lord Danby owned he had spoke of it to himself; and said, that his not moving it to the King, was only be cause he apprehended he was not like to succeed in it. The King said next, my brother will never consent to it. Lord Danby answered, perhaps not, unless the King took it up on him to command it : and he thought it was the Duke's interest to have it done, even more than the King's : all people were now possessed of his being a papist, and were very apprehensive of it : but if they saw his daughter given to one that was at the head of the prOtestant interest, it would very much soften those apprehensions, when it did appear that his religion was only a personal thing, not to be derived to his children after him. With all this the King was'convinced : so he sent for the Duke, Lord Danby stay ing still with him. When the Duke came, the King told him he had sent for him, to desire he would consent to a thing that he was sure was as much for his interest, as it was for his own quiet and satisfaction. The Duke, with out asking what it was, said he would be ready always to comply with the King's pleasure in every thing : so the OF KING CHARLES II. 11 King left it to the Lord Danby to say over all he had said 1677. on that head to himself. The Duke seemedmuch concern* *-*^»»' ed. But the King said to him : brother, I desire it of you for my sake, as well as your own ; and upon that the Duke consented to it : so Lord Danby sent immediately for the Prince, and in the King's name ordered a council to be presently summoned. Upon the Prince's coming, the King, in a very obliging way, said to him : nephew, it is not good for man to be alone, I will give you a help' meet for you ; and so he told him he would bestow his niece on him. And the Duke, with a seeming heartiness, gave his consent in very obliging terms : the King adding, ne phew, remember that love and war do not agree well toge ther. In the meanwhile the news of the intended marriage went over the court and town. All, except the French and the popish party, were much pleased with it. Barillon was amazed. He went to the Dutchess of Portsmouth, and got her to send all her creatures to desire to speak to the King : she writ him likewise several billets to the same pur- He Marrie(j pose. But Lord Danby had ordered the council to be the Dnke's called : and he took care, that neither the King nor the Duke aus " should be spoke to, till the matter was declared in council ; and, when that was done, the King presented the Prince to the young lady, as the person he designed should be her husband. When Barillon saw it was gone so far, he sent a courier to the court of France with the news ; upon whose arrival Montague, that was then our ambassador there, was sent for. When he came to Versailles, he saw the King the most moved that he had ever observed him to be. He asked him, when was the marriage to be made ? Mon* tague understood not what he meant ; so he explained all to him. Montague protested to him that he knew nothing of the whole matter. That King said, he always believed the journey would end in this : and he seemed to think that our court had now forsaken him. He spoke of the King's part in it more decently ; but expostulated severely on the Duke's part, who had now given his daughter to the great est enemy in the world. To all this Montague had no an swer to make. But next night he had a courier with letters from the King, the Duke, and the Prince, to the King of France. The Prince had no mind to this piece of court ship ; but his uncle obliged him to it, as a civility due to WW 12 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1677. kindred and blood. The King assured the King of France that he had made the match on design to engage the Prince to be more tractable in the treaty that was now going on at Nimeguen. The King of France received these letters Civilly ; but did not seem much satisfied with them. Mon tague was called over soon after this to get new instruc tions ; and Lord Danby asked him, how the King of France received the news of the marriage. He answered, as he would have done the loss of an army ; and that he had spoke very hardly of the Duke, for consenting to it, and not at least acquainting him with it. Lord Danby answered, he wronged him ; for he did not know of it an hour before it was published, and the King himself not above two hours. All this relation I had from Montague himself. It was a master-piece indeed, and the chief thing in the Earl of Danby's ministry, for which the Duke never forgave him. 1678. Upon the general satisfaction that this marriage gave the whole nation, a new session of parliament was called in the beginning of the year 1678 ; to which the King declared the sense he had of the dangerous state their neighbours were in, and that it was necessary he should be put in a posture to bring things to a balance : so the House was pressed to supply the King in sa plentiful a manner, as the occasion did require. The court asked money both for an army and a fleet. Sir William Coventry shewed the great inconvenience of raising a land army, the danger that might follow on it, the little use could be made of it, and the great charge it "must put the nation to : he was for hiring bodies from the German princes, and for assisting the Dutch with money ; and he moved to recal our troops from France, and to employ them in the Dutch service : he thought that which did more properly belong to England, was to set out a great fleet, and to cut off the French trade every where ; for they were then very high in their manufactures and trade : their people were ingenious as well as industrious ; they wrought hard, and lived low ; so they sold cheaper than others could do ; and it was found that we sent very near a million of our money in specie every year for the balance of our trade with them. But the King had promised so many commissions to men of quality in both houses, that this carried it for a land; OF KING CHARLES II. 13 army. It was said, what hazard could there be from an 1678. army commanded by men of estates, as this was to be 1 v"vW A severe act passed, prohibiting all importation of the French manufactures or growth for three yeai's, and to the next session of parliament after that. This was made as strict as was possible, and for a year after it was well looked to; but the merchants found ways to evade it, and the court was too much French not to connive at the breach of it. In the preamble of this act it was set forth, that we were in an actual war with France. This was excepted to, as not true in fact : but the ministry affirmed we were already engaged so far with the allies, that it was really a war, and that our troops were already called from France. Coventry in some heat said, the King was engaged, and he would rather be guilty of the murder of forty men, than to do any thing to retard the progress of the war. The oddness of the expression made it to be often objected afterwards to him. A poll bill was granted, together with the continuance of the additional customs that were near falling off. Six hundred thousand pounds was also given Supplies for a land army, and for a fleet. All the court party mag- ^'are(1nstt'j1~e nified the design of raising an army. They said, the war. employing hired troops was neither honourable nor safe. The Spaniards were willing to put Ostend and Newport in our hands; and we could not be answerable for these places, if they were not kept by our own people. At this time the King of France made a step that struck The French terror into the Dutch, and inflamed the English out of take Ghe,!tl measure. Louvoy till then was rather his father's as sistant, than a minister upon his own foot. He at this time gained the credit with the King, which he maintained so long afterwards. He proposed to him the taking of Ghent; and thought, that the King's getting into such a place, so near the Dutch, would immediately dispose them to a peace. But it was not easy to bring their army so soon about it without being observed: so the execution seemed impossible. He therefore laid such a scheme of marches and countermarches, as did amuse all the allies. Sometimes the design seemed to be on the Rhine, some times on Luxemburgh ; and, while their forces were sent to defend those places, where they apprehended the design was laid, and that none of the French generals themselves 14 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. did apprehend what the true design was, all on the suddeu """^ Ghent was invested, and both town and citadel were quickly taken. This was Louvoy's master-piece; and it had the intended effect : it brought the Dutch to resolve on a peace. The French King might have taken Bruges, Ostend, and Newport : but he only took Ypres ; for he had no mind to provoke the English. He was sure of his point by the fright this put the Dutch in. We were much alarmed at it; and the Duke of Monmouth was imme diately sent over with some of the guards. The affairs But the parliament grew jealous, as they had great ' an ' cause given them, both by what was then doing in Scot land, and by the Management they observed at court. And now I must look northward to a very extraordinary scene that opened there. Duke Lauderdale and his Dutchess went to Scotland the former year. Her design was to marry her daughters into two of the great families Mitchell's 0f Scotland, Argyle and Murray, which she did : but things being then in great disorder, by reason of the numbers and desperate tempers *of those who were intercommoned, Sharp pretended he was in great danger of his life ; and that the rather because the person that had made the at tempt on him was let live still. Upon this I must tell what had passed three years before this. Sharp had observed a man that kept shop at his door, who looked very nar rowly at him always as he passed by ; and he fancied he ' was the man that shot at him six years before : so he ordered him to be taken up and examined. It was found he had two pistols by him that were deeply charged, which increased the suspicion, yet the man denied all ; but Sharp got a friend of his to go to him and deal with him to make a full confession, and he made solemn promises that he would procure his pardon. His friend answered, he hoped he did not intend to make use of him to trepan a man to his ruin. Upon that, with uplifted hands, Sharp promised by the living God that no hurt should come to him if he made a full discovery. The person came again to him, and said, if a promise was made in the King's name the prisoner would tell all. So it was brought before the council. Lord Rothes, Halton, and Primrose were ordered to examine him. Primrose said it would be a strange force of eloquence to persuade a man to confess WW OF KING CHARLES II. 15 and be hanged. So Duke Lauderdale, being the King's 1678. commissioner, gave them power to promise him his life : and, as soon as these lords told him this, he immediately kneeled down, and confessed the fact, and told the whole manner of it. There was but one person privy to it, who was then dead. Sharp was troubled to see so small a discovery made : yet they could not draw more from him. So then it was considered what should be done to him. Some moved the cutting off his right hand : others said, he might learn to practise with his left hand, and to take his revenge ; therefore they thought both hands should be eut off. Lord Rothes, who was a pleasant man, said, how shall he wipe his breech then. This is not very decent to be mentioned in such a work, if it were not necessary; for when the truth of the promise now given was afterwards called in question, this jest was called to mind, and made the whole matter to be remem bered., But Primrose moved, that since life was pro mised, which the cutting off a limb might endanger, it was better to keep him prisoner during life in a castle they had in the Bass, a rock in the mouth of the Frith : and thither he was sent. But it was thought necessary to make him repeat his confession in a court of judicature : so he was brought into the Justiciary Court upon an indictment for the crime to which it was expected he should plead guilty. But the judge, who hated Sharp, as he went up to the bench, passing by the prisoner said to him, confess no thing, unless you are sure of your limbs as well as of your life. Upon this hint, he, apprehending the danger, re fused to confess ; which, being reported to the council, an act was passed mentioning the promise and his confession, and adding, that since he had retracted his confession, they likewise recalled the promise of pardon : the meaning of which was this, that if any other evidence was brought against him, the promise should not cover him : but it still was understood, that this promise secured him from any ill effect by his own confession. The thing was almost forgot after four years, the man being in all respects very inconsiderable. But now Sharp would have his life : so Duke Lauderdale gave way to it, and he was brought to Edinburgh in order to his trial. Nisbit, who had been the King's advocate, and was one of the worthiest and 16 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. learnedest men of. the age, was turned out, and Mac- ^-^^ kenzie was put in his place, who was a man of much life and wit, but he was neither equal nor correct in it : he has published many books, some of law, but all full of faults ; for he was a slight and superficial man. Lockhart was assigned counsel for the prisoner : and now that the mat ter came again into people's memory, all were amazed at the proceeding. Primrose was turned out of the place of lord register, and was made justice general. He fan cied orders had been given to raze the act that the council had made : so he turned the books, and he found the act still on record. He took a copy of it, and sent it to Mit chell's counsel : that was the prisoner's name ; and, a day or two before the trial, he went to Duke Lauderdale, who, together with Sharp, Lord Rothes, and Lord Halton, were summoned as the prisoner's witnesses. He told him, many thought there had been a promise of life given. Duke Lauderdale denied it stiffly. Primrose said, he heard there was an act of council made about it, and he wished that might be looked into. Duke Lauderdale said, he was sure it was not possible, and he would not give himself the trouble to turn over the books of council. Primrose, who told me this, said his conscience led him to give Duke Lauderdale this warning of the matter, but that he was not sorry to see him thus reject it. The trial was very solemn. The confession was brought against him, as full evidence : to which Lockhart did plead, to the admiration of all, to shew that no extrajudicial confession could be allowed in a court. The hardships of a prison, the hopes of life, with other practices, might draw confessions from men, when they were perhaps drunk, or out of their senses. He brought upon this a measure of learning, that amazed the audience, out of the lawyers of all civilized nations : and when it was opposed to this, that the council was a court of judicature, he shewed, that it was not the proper court for crimes of this nature, and that it had not pro ceeded in this as a court of judicature. And he brought out likewise a great deal of learning upon those heads : but this was over-ruled by the court, and the confession was found to be judicial. The next thing pleaded for him was, that it was drawn from him upon hope and promise of life : and to this Sharp was examined. The person he OF KING CHARLES II. 17 had sent to Mitchell gave a full evidence of the promises 1678. he had made him : but Sharp denied them all. He also ^*vW denied he heard any promise of life made him by the Council : so did the Lords Lauderdale, Rothes, and Hal- ton, to the astonishment of all that were present. Lock hart upon that produced a copy of the act of council, that made express mention of the promise given, and of his having confessed upon that: and the prisoner prayed that the books of council, which lay in a room over that in which the court sat, might be sent for. Lockhart pleaded, that since the court had judged that the council was a judicature, all people had a right to search into their registers ; and the prisoner, who was like to suffer by a confession made there, ought to have the benefit of those books. Duke Lauderdale, who was in the court only as a witness, and so had no right to speak, stood up, and said, he and those other noble persons were not brought thither to be accused of perjury ; and added, that the books of council were the King's secrets, and that no court should have the perusal of them. The court was terri fied with this, and the judges were divided in opinion. Primrose, and one other, was for calling for the books. But three were of opinion, that they were not to furnish the prisoner with evidence, but to judge of that which he brought. And here was only a bare copy, not attested upon oath, which ought not to have been read. So, this defence being rejected, he was cast and condemned. As soon as the court broke up, the lords went up stairs, And con- and to their shame found the act recorded, and signed by demnatl0n' Lord Rothes, as president of the council. He pretended he signed every thing that the clerk of council put in the book without reading it, and it was intended to throw it on him : but he, to clear himself, searched among his papers, and found a draught of the act in Nisbit's hand. So, he being rich, and one they had turned out, they resolved to put it upon him, and to fine him deeply : but he examined the sederunt in the book, and spoke to all who were there at the board, of whom nine happened to be in town, who were ready to depose upon oath, that when the council had or dered this act to be drawn, the clerk of the council desired the help of the King's advocate in penning it, which he gave him, and his draught was approved by the council: VOL. n. o w*w 18 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. and now Lord Rothes's jest was remembered. Yet Duke Lauderdale still stood to it, that the promise could only be for interceding with the King for his pardon, since the council had not the power of pardoning in them: Lord Kincardin acted in this the part of a Christian to an enemy. Duke Lauderdale had writ to him, he being then serving for him at court, that he referred the account of Mitchell's business to his brother's letters, in which the matter was truly related, that upon promise of life he had confessed the fact ; and he concluded, desiring him to ask the King, that he would be pleased to make good the pro mise : these letters I saw in Lord Kincardin's hand. Be fore the trial he sent a bishop to Duke Lauderdale, de siring him to consider better of that matter, before he would upon oath deny it : for he was sure he had it under his and his brother's hand, though he could not yet fall upon their letters: but Duke Lauderdale despised this. Yet, before the execution, he went to his house in. the coun try, and there found the letters, and brought them in with him, and shewed them to that bishop. All this made some impression on Duke Lauderdale ; and he was willing to grant a reprieve, and to refer the matter to the King : so a petition was offered to the council, and he spoke for it. But Sharp said, that was upon the matter the exposing his person to any man that would attempt to murder him, since favour was to be shewed to such an assassin. Then said Duke Lauderdale, in an impious jest, Let Mitchell glorify God in the grass-market, which was the place where he was to be hanged. This action, and all concerned in it, were looked at by all people with horror ; and it was such a complication of treachery, perjury, and cruelty, as the like had not perhaps been known. Yet Duke Lauderdale had a chaplain, Hickes, afterwards Dean of Worcester, who published a false and.partial relation of this matter, in order to the justifying of it. Primrose not only gave me an account of this matter, but sent me an authentic record of the trial, every page signed by the clerk of the court; Of which I have here given an abstract. This I set down the more fully, to let my readers see to what a height in wickedness men may be carried, after they have once thrown off good principles. What Sharp did now to pre serve himself from such practices was probably that which, OF KING CHARLES II. 19 both in the just judgment of God, and the inflamed fury, of 1678. wicked men, brought him two years after to such a dismal end. v-^fc/ This made way to more desperate undertakings. Con venticles grew in the west to a very unsufferable pitch : they had generally with them a troop of armed and desperate men, that drew up, and sent parties out to secure them- Duke Lauderdale upon this threatened he would extirpate them, and ruin the whole country, if a stop was not put to those meetings. The chief men of those parts upon that went into Edinburgh : they offered to guard and assist any that should be sent to execute the laws against all offenders ; and offered to leave some as hostages, who should be bound body for body for their security : they confessed there were many conventicles held among them in a most scandalous manner ; but, though they met in the fields, and many of them were armed, yet, when their sermons were done, they dispersed themselves, and there was no violent opposition made at any time to the execution of the law : so, they said, there was no danger of the public peace of the country. Those conventicling people were become very giddy and furious, and some hot and hair-brained young preachers were chiefly followed among them, who infused wild prin ciples into their hearers, which were disowned by the chief men of the party. The truth was, the country was in a great distraction, and that was chiefly occasioned by the strange administration they were then under ; many grew The admi- weary of their country, and even of their lives. If Duke Lau- Jhe'regrew derdale, or any of his party, brought a complaint against very violent any of the other side, how false or frivolous soever, they an ' ega * were summoned upon it to appear before the council, as sowers of sedition, and as men that spread lies of the go vernment ; and upon the slightest pretences they were fined and imprisoned. When very illegal things were to be done, the common method was this : a letter was drawn for it to be signed by the King, directing it upon some colour of law or ancient practice : the King signed whatsoever was thus sent to him, and when his letter was read in council, if any of the lawyers or others of the board offered to object to it, he was brow-beaten, as a man that opposed the King's service, and refused to obey his orders, and by these means things were driven to great extremities. Upon one of those letters, a new motion was set on foot. 20 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. that went beyond all that had been yet made. . All the land- "^v~*"'' lords in the western counties were required to enter into bonds for themselves, their wives, children, servants, ten ants, and all that lived upon their estates, that they should not go to conventicles, nor harbour any vagrant teachers, or any intercommuned persons ; and that they should live in all points according to law under the penalties of the laws : this was generally refused by them. They said, the law did not impose it on them; they could not be an swerable for their servants, much less for their tenants : this put it in the power of every servant or tenant to ruin them. Upon their refusing this, Duke Lauderdale writ to the King* that the country was in a state of rebellion, and that it was necessary to proceed to hostilities for reducing them ; so by a letter, such as he sent up, the King left it to him and the council to take care of the public peace in the best way they could. An army of Upon this, all the force the King had was sent into the sent to the8 west country, with some cannon, as if it had been for some west upon dangerous expedition : and letters were writ to the Lords leequar er. jQ ^e nighiands, to send all the strength they could to as sist the King's army. The Marquis of Athol, to shew his greatness, sent 2400 men. The Earl of Braidalbin sent 1700. And, in all, 8000 men were brought into the coun try, and let loose upon free quarter. A committee of council was sent to give necessary orders. Here was an army; but no enemy appeared. The highlanders were very unruly, and stole and robbed every where. The gen tlemen of the country were required to deliver up their arms upon oath, and to keep no horse above four pounds price. The gentlemen looked on, and would do nothing. This put Duke Lauderdale in such a frenzy, that at coun cil table he made bare his arms above his elbow, and swore by Jehovah he would make them enter into those bonds. Duke Hamilton, and others, who were vexed to see such waste made on their estates, in ploughing time es pecially, came to Edinburgh to try if it was possible to mollify him. But a proclamation was issued out, requir ing all the inhabitants of those counties to go to their houses, to be assistant to the King's host, and to obey such orders as should be sent them. And by another pro- clamq,tion, all men were forbidden to "go out of the king- OF KING CHARLES II. 21 dom without leave from the council, on pretence that their !678. stay was necessary for the King's service. These things v*"v'*/ seemed done on design to force a rebellion; which they thought would be soon quashed, and would give a good colour for keeping up an army. And Duke Lauderdale's party depended so much on this, that they began to divide in their hopes the confiscated estates among them : so that on Valentine's day, instead of drawing mistresses, they drew estates ; and great joy appeared in their looks upon a false alarm that was brought them of an .insurrection ; and they were as much dejected, when they knew it was false. It was happy for the public peace, that the people were universally possessed with this opinion : for when they saw a rebellion was desired, they bore the present oppression more quietly, than perhaps they would have done, if it had not been for that. All the chief men of the country were sum moned before the committee of council, and charged with a great many crimes, of which they were required to purge themselves by oath; otherwise they would hold them guilty, and proceed against them as such. It was in vain to pre tend, that this was against all law, and was the practice only of the courts of inquisition : yet the gentlemen, being thus forced to it, did purge themselves by oath ; and, after all the inquiries that were made, there did not appear one single circumstance to prove that any rebellion was intend ed. And when all other things failed so evidently, recourse was had to a writ, which a man who suspects another of ill designs towards him may serve him with ; and it was called law-boroughs, as most used in boroughs. This lay against a whole family : the master was answerable, if any one of his household broke it. So, by a new practice, this writ was served upon the whole country at the King's suit ; and, upon serving the writ, security was to be given, much like the binding men to their good behaviour. Many were put in prison for refusing to give this security. Duke Hamilton had intimation sent him, that it was de- Many of the signed to serve this on him : so he, and ten or twelve of the ""^"p to nobility, with about fifty gentlemen of quality, came up to complain to complain of all this ; which looked like French, or rather ' ie Kl"e' like Turkish government. The Lords of Athol and Perth, who had been two of the committee of council, and had now fallen off from Duke Lauderdale, came up with them to 22 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. give the King an account of the whole progress of this mat- ¦"**v^> ter. The clamour this made was so high, that Duke Lau. derdale saw he could not stand under it ; so the highland- ers were sent home, after they had wasted the country near two months ; and he magnified this as an act of his compassion, that they were so soon dismissed : indeed, all his own party were against him in it. Lord Argile sent none of his men down with the other highlanders; and Lord Stairs pretended that by a fall his hand was out of joint: so he signed none of these wild orders. Butthe When the Scotch nobility came to London, the King !i?oTg«eeOUld would not see them, because they were come out of the them. kingdom in contempt of a proclamation; though they said) that proclamation, being intended to hinder them from bringing their complaints to the King, was one of theif greatest grievances. But it was answered, they ought to have asked leave ; and if it had been denied them, they were next to have asked the King's leave ; and the King insisted still on this : only he saw the Lords of Athol and Perth. The madness of this proceeding made him con clude, that Duke Lauderdale's head was turned ; yet he would not disown, much less punish him for what he had done : but he intended to put Scotland in another manage ment, and to set the Duke of Monmouth at the head of it: so he suffered him to go to the Scotch lords, and be their intercessor with him. They were all much charmed witl the softness of his temper and behaviour ; but, though he assured them the King would put their affairs in othel hands, they looked on that as one of the King's artifices to get rid of them. The matter made great noise ; and it was in the time of the session of parliament here, and all the people said, that by the management in Scotland, it ap peared what was the spirit of the government ; and what would be done here, as soon as the designs of the court were brought to greater perfection. The Earl of Danby, by supporting Duke Lauderdale, heightened the prejudices that himself lay under. The Duke did also justify his con duct, which raised higher jealousies of him, as being pleas ed with that method of government. The chiefs of the Scotch nobility were heard before the cabinet-council, aUd the Earl of Nottingham held them chiefly to the point of coming out Of the kingdom in the face of a proclamation: OF KING CHARLES II. 23 they said, such proclamations were anciently legal, when 1678. we had a King of our own among ourselves : but now it was ^^ manifestly against law, since it barred them from access to the King, which was a right that was never to be denied them. Lord Nottingham objected next to them a practice of making the heads of the families or clans in the high lands to bind for their whole name ; and why, by a parity of reason, might they not be required to bind for their tenants? It was answered, that anciently estates were let so low, that service and the following the landlords was instead of a rent ; and then, in the inroads that were made into Eng land, landlords were required to bring their tenants along with them : but now lands were let at rack, and so an end was put to that service. In the highlands, the feuds among • the families were still so high, that every name came under such a dependence on the head or chief of it for their own security, that he was really the master of them all, and so might be bound for them : but even this was only to re strain depredations and murders; and it was an unheard- ' of stretch, to oblige men to be bound for others in matters of religion and conscience, whether real or pretended. The whole matter was at that time let fall, and Duke a conven- Lauderdale took advantage from their absence to desire tates°gives leave from the King to summon a convention of estates, money, and from whom he might more certainly understand the sense i^minlstra- of the whole kingdom ; and, what by corrupting the nobi- th irty, what by carrying elections, or at least disputes about them, which would be judged as the majority should hap pen to be at first, he hoped to carry his point. So he issued out the" writs, while they were at London, knowing nothing of the design : and these being returnable in three weeks, he laid the matter so, that before they could get home all the elections were over, and he was master of above four parts in five of that assembly. So they granted an assessment for three years, in order to the maintaining a greater force ; and they wrote a letter to the King, not only justifying, but highly magnifying Duke Lauderdale's government. This was so base and so abject a thing, that it brought the whole nation under great contempt, And thus I ieave the affairs of Scotland, which had a Affairs in very ill influence on the minds of the English; chiefly^'"1'"14' on the House of Commons then sitting, who upon it made 24 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. a new address against Duke Lauderdale. And that was •""^ followed by another of a higher strain, representing to the King the ill effects of his not hearkening to their address the former year with relation to foreign affairs; and desiring him to change his ministry, and to dismiss all those that had advised the prorogation at that time, and his delaying The House so long to assist the allies. This was carried only by of Commons a small majority of two or three. So Lord Danby brought ofetheJcour"t up all his creatures, the aged and infirm not excepted, and then the majority lay the other way ; and by short adjourn ments the parliament was kept sitting till Midsummer. Once Lord Danby, thinking he had a clear majority, got the King to send a message to the House, desiring an additional revenue of 300,000Z. during life. This set the House all in a flame. It was said, here was no demand for a war, but for a revenue, which would furnish the court so well, that there would be no more need of parliaments, The court party thought such a gift as this would male them useless : so the thing was upon one debate rejected without a division. Lord Danby was much censured for his rash attempt, which discovered the designs of the court too barefacedly. At the same time he ordered Montague to treat with the court of France for a peace, in case they would engage to pay the King 300,000Z. a year, for three years. So when that came afterwards to be known, it was then generally believed, that the design was to keep up and model the army now raised, reckoning there would be money enough to pay them till the nation should be brought under a military government ; and the opinion of this prevailed so, that Lord Danby became the most hated minister that had ever been about the King. All people said now, they saw the secret of that high favour he had been so long in, and the black designs that he was contriv ing. At this time expresses went very quick between England and France; and the state of foreign affairs varied every post; so that it was visible we were in a secret negotiation, of which Temple has given so particular an account, that I refer my reader wholly to him. But I shall add one particular that he has not mentioned. Montague, who was a man of pleasure, was in an intrigue with the Dutchess of Cleaveland, who was quite cast off by the King, and was then at Paris : the King had ordered him to find OF KING CHARLES It. 25 out an astrologer, of whom it was no wonder he had a good i6?8. opinion; for he had, long before his restoration/foretold he ¦"*N"*"/ should enter London on the 29th of May, 1660. He was yet alive, and Montague found him, and saw he was capable of being corrupted ; so he resolved to prompt him to send the King such hints as should serve his own ends. And he was so bewitched with the Dutchess of Cleveland, that he trusted her with this secret; but she growing jealous of a new amour, took all the ways she could think on to ruin him, reserving this of the astrologer for her last shift ; and by it she compassed her ends ; for Montague was entirely lost upon it with the King, and came over without being recalled. The Earl of Sunderland was sent ambassador in his room. The treaty went on at Nimeguen, where Temple and &fa"* Jenkins were our plenipotentiaries. The states were re- a roa ' solved to have a peace. The Prince, of Orange did all he could to hinder it; but De Wifs party began to gather strength again, and they infused a jealousy in all people, that the Prince intended to keep up the war for his own ends. A peace might be now had by restoring all that belonged to the states, and by a tolerable barrier in Flan ders. It is true the great difficulty was concerning their allies, the King of Denmark and the Elector of Branden- burgh, who had fallen on the Swede, upon the King's de claring for France, and had beat him out of Germany. No peace could be had unless the Swede was restored. Those princes, who had been quite exhausted by that war, would not consent to this. So they who had adhered so faithfully to the states in their extremity, pressed them to stick by them; and this was the Prince of Orange's constant topic: how could they expect any of their allies should stick to them, if they now forsook such faithful friends? But nothing could prevail. It was given out in Holland that they could not depend on England, that court being so entirely in a French interest, that they suspected they would, as they had once done, sell them again to the French ; and this was believed to be let out by the French ministers themselves ; who, to come at their ends, were apt enough to give up even those who sacrificed every thing to them. It was said the court of France would consider both Den mark and Brandenburgh, and repay the charge of the war; VOL. II. E WW 26 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. against Sweden. This, it was said, was to force those princes into a dependence on France, who would not continue those payments so much for past as for future services. In the meanwhile the French had blocked up Mons. So the Prince of Orange went to force them from their posts. Luxemburgh commanded there, and seemed to be in full hope of a peace, when the Prince came and attacked him; and, notwithstanding the advantage of his situation, it appeared how much the Dutch army was now superior to the French, for they beat them out of several posts. The Prince had no order to stop. He indeed knew that the peace was upon the matter concluded ; but no intimation was yet made to him : so it was lawful for him to take all advantages ; and he was not apprehensive of a new embroilment, but rather wished it; The French trea sure was so exhausted, and their King was so weary of the war, that no notice was taken of the business of Mons. The treaty at Nimeguen was finished and ratified ; yet new difficulties arose upon the French king's refusing to eva cuate the places that were to be restored till the Swede was restored to all his dominions. Upon this the English struck in again, and the King talked so high as if he would engage in a new war ; but the French prevented that, and did eva cuate the places ; and then they got Denmark and Bran- denburgh into their dependence, under the pretence of repaying the charge of the war; but it was more truly the engaging them into the interests of France by great pen sions : so a general peace quickly followed ; and there was no more occasion for our troops beyond sea. The French were so apprehensive of them, that Rouvigny, now Earl of Galloway, was sent over to negotiate matters. That which France insisted most on was the disbanding the army ; and the force' of money was so strong; that he had orders to offer six millions of their money, in case the army should be disbanded in August. Rouvigny had such an ill opinion of the designs of our court, if the army was kept up, that he insisted on fixing the day for disbanding it; at which the Duke was very uneasy ; and matters were so managed, that the army was not disbanded by the day prefixed for it ; so the King of France saved his money : and.for this piece of good management Rouvigny was much commended. The troops were brought into England and kept up, under OF KING CHARLES -II. 27 the pretence that there was not money to pay them off; so 1678. all people looked on the next session as very critical. The ^^ party against the court gave all for lost. They believed the Lord Danby, who had so often brought his party to be very near the majority, would now lay, matters so well as to be sure to carry the session ; and many did so despair of being able to balance his numbers, that they resolved to come up no more, and reckoned that all opposition would be fruitless, and serve only to expose themselves to the fury of the court ; but of a sudden an unlooked-for ac cident changed all their measures, and put the kingdom into so great a fermentation, that it well deserves to be opened very particularly. I am so well instructed in all the steps of it, that I am more capable to give a full account of it than any man I know ; and I will do it so impartially that no party shall have cause to censure me for concealing or altering the truth in any one instance. It is the history of that called the Popish Plot. Three days before Michaelmas Dr. Tonge came to me; The popish I had known him at SirRobert Murray's ; he was a garden- plot' er and a chymist, and was full of projects and notions : he had got some credit in Cromwell's time, and that kept him poor ; he was a very mean divine, - and seemed credulous and simple, but I had always looked on him as a sincere man. At this time he told me of strange designs against the King's person, and that Corners, a Benedictine, had pro vided himself of a poniard, with which he. undertook to kill him. I was amazed at all thiB, and did not know whether he was crazed, or had come to me oh design to involve me in a concealing of treason ; so I went to Dr. Lloyd, and sent him to the Secretary's office, with an account of that discourse of Tonge's, since I would not be guilty of misprision of trea son. He found at the office, that Tonge was making disco veries there ; of which they made no other account, but that he intended to get himself to be made a dean. I told this next morning to Littleton and Powel, and they looked on it as a design of Lord Danby's, to be laid before the next ses sion, thereby to dispose them to keep up a greater force, since the papists were plotting against the King's life : this would put an end to all jealousies of the King, now the pa^ pists were conspiring against his life ; but Lord Halifax, when I told him of it, had another apprehension of it. He character. 28 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. said, considering the suspicions all people had of the Duke's v"^w religion, he believed every discovery of that sort would raise a flame, which the court would not be able to manage. Oates-s The day after that, Titus Oates was brought before the council. He was the son of an anabaptist teacher, who af terwards conformed, and got into orders, and took a bene fice, as this his son did ; he was proud and ill-natured, haughty, but ignorant ; he had been complained of for some very indecent expressions concerning the mysteries of the Christian religion. He was once presented for perjury, but he got to be a chaplain in one of the King's ships, from which he was dismissed upon complaint of some unnatural practices, not to be named. He got a qualification from the Duke of Norfolk as one of his chaplains, and there he fell into much discourse with the priests that were about that family ; he seemed inclined to be instructed in the popish religion. One Hutchinson, a Jesuit, had that work put on him : he was a weak and light-headed man, and afterwards came over to the church of England. Hutchinson was a curate about the city near a year, and came oft to me, and preached once for me : he seemed to be a sincere devout man, who did not at all love the order, for he found they were a deceitful and meddling sort of people ; they never trusted him with any secrets, but employed him wholly in making converts ; he went afterwards back to that church, so all this was thought a juggle only to cast an odium upon Oates : he told me that Oates and they were always in ill terms. They did not allow Oates above ninepence a day, of which he complained much, and Hutchinson relieved him often : they wished they could be well rid of him, and sent him be yond sea, being in very ill terms with him : this made Hutch inson conclude, that they had not at that time trusted Oates with their secrets. Oates was kept for some time at St. Omers, and from thence sent through, France into Spain, and was now returned into England. He had been long ac quainted with Tonge, and made his first discovery to him ; and he, by the means of one Kirby, a chymist, that was sometimes in the King's laboratory, signified the thing to the King ; so Tonge had an audience, and told the King a long thread of many passages, all tending to the taking away his life ; which the King, as he afterwards told me, knew not what to make of; yet, among so many particulars, he did not OF KING CHARLES II. 29 know but there might be some tiuth ; so he sent him to 167s. Lord Danby, who intended to make some use of it, but ^^^ could not give much credit to it, and handled the matter too remissly : for if at first the thing had been traced quick, ei ther the truth or the imposture of the whole affair might have been made appear. The King ordered Lord Danby to say nothing of it to the Duke. In the meanwhile some letters of an odd strain, relating to plots and discoveries, were sent by the post to Windsor, directed to Beddingfield, the Duke's confessor ; who, when he had read them, carried them to the Duke, and protested he did not know what they meant, nor from whom they came : the Duke carried them to the King, and he fancied they were writ either by Tonge or Oates, and sent on design to have them intercepted, to give the more credit to the discovery: the Duke's enemies on the other hand gave out, that he had got some hints of the discovery, and brought these as a blind to impose on the King. The matter lay in a secret and remiss management for siix weeks. At last on Michaelmas eve, Oates was brought before the h;« diseo- council, and entertained them with a long relation of many ver*" discourses he had heard among the Jesuits, of their design to kill the King; he named persons, places, and times, al most without number : he said, many Jesuits had disguised themselves, and were gone to Scotland, and held field con venticles, on design to distract the government there : he said, he was sent first to St. Omers, thence to Paris, and from thence to Spain, to negotiate this design ; and that, up on his return, when he brought many letters and directions from beyond sea, there was a great meeting of the Jesuits held in London, in April last, in different rooms in a tavern near St. Clement's, and that he was employed to convey the resolutions of those in one room to those in another, and so to hand them round. The issue of the consultation was, that they came to a resolution to kill the King by shoot ing, stabbing, or poisoning him ; that several attempts were made, all which failed in the execution, as shall be told when the trials are related. While he was going on, wait ing for some certain evidence to accompany his discovery, he perceived they were jealous of him,> and so he durst not trust himself among them any more. In all this there was not a word of Coniers, of whom Tonge had spoke to me ; so 30 HISTORY OF THE REIGN »e78. ' that was dropped : this was the substance of what Oates told" ^¦^ the first day. Many Jesuits were upon this seized on that night and the next day, and their papers were sealed up next day. He accused Coleman of a strict correspondence with P. de la Chaise (whose name he had not right, for he called him Father Lee Shee); and he said in general, that Coleman was acquainted with all their designs. Coleman Coleman had a whole day free to make his escape, if he Mrs^ized thought he was in any danger. And he had conveyed all his papers out of the way : only he forgot a drawer under the table, in which the papers relating to 1674, 75, and a part of 76 were left ; and from these I drew the negotia tions that I have formerly mentioned as directed by him. If he haid either left all his papers, or withdrawn all, it had been happy for his party : nothing had appeared if all his papers had been put out of the way. But, if all had been left, it might have been concluded that the whole secret lay in them : but he left enough to give great jealousy ; and, no more appearing, all was believed that the witnesses had deposed. Coleman went out of the way for a day, hearing that there was a warrant out against him : but he delivered himself the next day to the Secretary of State. When Oates and he were confronted, Oates did not know him at first ; but he named him when he heard him speak : yet he only charged him upon hearsay : so he was put in a messen ger's hands. Oates named Wakeman, the Queen's phy sician ; but did not know him at all. And being asked, if he knew any thing against hini, he answered he did not ; adding, God forbid he should say any thing more than he knew — he would not do that for all the world : nor did he name Langhorn, the famous lawyer, that indeed managed all their concerns. The King found him out in one thing : he said, when he was in Spain, he was carried to Don John, who promised great assistance in the execution of their de signs. The King, who knew Don John well, asked him what sort of a man he was : he answered', he was a tall lean man : now Don John was a little fat man. At first he seemed to design to recommend himself to the Duke and the ministers : for he said, he heard the Jesuits oft say, that the Duke was not sure enough to them ; and they were in doubt whether he would approve of their killing the King : but they were resolved, if they found him stiff in that mat- OF KING CHARLES II. 3i ter, to dispatch him likewise. He said, they had oft made J678- use of his name, and counterfeited his hand and seal, *""""*"' without his knowledge. He said, the Jesuits cherished the faction in Scotland against Duke Lauderdale, and in tended to murder the Duke of Ormond, as a great enemy to all their designs: and he affirmed he had seen many letters^ in which these things were mentioned, and had heard them oft spoke of. He gave a long account of the burning of London, at which they intended to have killed the King : but they relented, when they saw him so ac tive in quenching the fire, which, as he said, they had kindled. The whole town was all over inflamed with this dis- Coleman's covery. It consisted of so many particulars, that it was {„, it. thought to be above invention : but when Coleman's let ters came to be read and examined, it got a great confir mation ; since by these it appeared, that so many years before they thought the design for the converting the nation, and rooting out the pestilent heresy that had reigned so long in these northern kingdoms, was very nfear its being executed : mention was oft made of the Duke's great zeal for it ; and many indecent reflections were made on the King for his inconstancy, and his disposition to be brought to any thing for money : they depended on the French king's assistance, and therefore were earnest in their endeavours" to bring about a general peace, as that which must finish their design. On the second day after this discovery, the King went to Newmarket. This was censured as. a very indecent levity in him, to go and see horse-races, when all people. were so much possessed with this extraordinary discovery, to which Coleman's letters had gained an universal credit. While the King was gone, Tonge desired to speak with me l so I went to him to Whitehall, where both he and Oates were lodged under a guard. I found him so lifted up, that he seemed to have lost the little sense he had. Oates came in, and made me a compliment that I was one that was marked out to be killed ; he had before said the same to Stillingfleet of him : but he made that honour which he did us too cheap, when he said Tonge was to be served in the same manner, because he had translated the Jesuits mcffaja into English : he broke out into great fury 32 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 167S: against the Jesuits, and said he would have their blood ; ^^"^ but I, to divert him from that strain, asked him what were the arguments that prevailed on him to change his re ligion, and to go over to the church of Rome. He upon that stood up, and laid his hands on his breast, and said, God and his holy angels knew that he had never changed, but that he had gone among them on purpose to betray them. This gave me such a character of him, that I could have no regard to any thing he either said or swore after that. Godrmy i» A few days after this, a very extraordinary thing hap- murdered. pene(i, that contributed more than any other thing to the establishing the belief of all this evidence. Sir Edmond- bury Godfrey was an eminent justice of peace, that lived near Whitehall : he had the courage to stay in Lon don, and keep things in order during the plague, which gained him much reputation, and upon which he was knighted. He was esteemed the best justice of peace in England, and kept the quarter where he lived in very good order : he was then entering upon a great design of taking up all beggars and putting them to work : he was thought vain, and apt to take too much upon him. But there are so few men of a public spirit, that small faults, though they lessen them, yet ought to be gently censured. I knew him well, and never had reason to think him faulty that way.* He was a zealous protestant, and loved the church of England ; but had kind thoughts of the nonconformists, and was not forward to execute the laws against them; and he, to avoid being put on doing that, was not apt to search for priests or mass-houses, so that few men of his zeal lived in better terms with the papists than he did. Oates went to him the day before he appeared at the coun cil-board, and made oath of the narrative he intended to make, which he afterwards published. This seemed to be done in distrust of the privy council, as if they might stifle his evidence, which to prevent he put in safe hands. Upon that Godfrey was chid for his presuming to meddle in so tender a matter ; and it was generally believed, that Coleman and he were long in a private conversation, be tween the time of his (Coleman's) being put in the messenr * That is, in taking too much upon him. OF KING CHARLES II. 33 ger's hands, and his being made a close prisoner ; which was 1 678. done as soon as report was made to the council of the con- N^v^ tents of his letters. It is certain Godfrey grew apprehen sive and reserved ; for meeting me in the street, after some discourse of the present state of affairs, he said he believed he himself should be knocked on the head ; yet he took no care of himself, and went about according to his own maxim, still without a servant; for he used to say, that the servants in London were corrupted by the idleness and ill company they fell into, while they attended on their mas ters. On the day fortnight from that in which Oates had made his discovery, being Saturday, he went abroad in the morning, and was seen about one o'clock near St. Clement's church; but was never seen any more. He was a punctual man to good hours ; so his servants were amazed when he did not come home : yet, he having an ancient mother that lived at Hammersmith, they fancied he had heard she was dying, and so was gone to see her. Next morning they sent thither, but heard no news of him ; so his two brothers, who lived in the city, were sent to ; they were not acquainted with his affairs, so they did not know whether he might not have stepped aside for debt ; since, at that time, all people were calling in their money, which broke a great many ; but no creditors coming about the house, they, on Tuesday, published his being thus lost. The council sate upon it, and were going to order a search of all the houses about the town ; but were diverted from it by many stories that were brought them by the Duke of Norfolk. Sometimes it was said he was in decently married ; and the scene was often shifted of the places where it was said he was. The Duke of Norfolk's officiousness in this matter, and the last place he was seen at being near Arundel House, brought him under great suspicion. On Thursday one came into a bookseller's shop after dinner, and said he was found thrust through with a sword ; that was presently brought as news to me, but the reporter of it was not known. That night late, his His body body was found in a ditch, about a mile out of the town, was found- near St. Pancras Church. His sword was thrust through him, but no blood was on his clothes or about him ; his shoes were clean, .his money was in his pocket; but nothing was about his neck, and a mark was all round it VOL. II. f 34 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. an inch broad, which shewed he was strangled ; his breast W^ was likewise all over marked with bruises, and his neck was broken. All this I saw, for Dr. Lloyd and I went to view his body. There were many drops of white wax- lights on his breeches, which he never used himself ; and Since only persons of quality, or priests, use those lights, this made all people conclude in whose hands he must have been ; and it was visible he was first strangled, and then carried to that place, where his sword was run through his dead body. For a while it was given out that he was a hypochondriacal man, and had killed himself; of this the King was possessed, till Dr. Lloyd went and told him what he had seen. The body lay two days exposed, many going to see it, who went away much moved with the sight ; and indeed men's spirits were so sharpened upon it, that we all looked on it as a very great happiness that the people did not vent their fury upon the papists about the town. oates made The session of parliament was to be opened within eoTery."5" three days ; and it may be easily imagined in what a temper they met. The court party were out of coun tenance ; so the country party were masters this session. All Oates's evidence was now so well believed, that it was not safe for any man to seem to doubt of any part of it: he thought he had the nation in his hands, and was swelled up to a high pitch of vanity and insolence ; and now he made a new edition of his discovery at the bar of the House of Commons : he said the pope had declared that England was his kingdom, and that-he had sent over commissions to several persons ; and had by these made Lord Arundel, of Wardour, chancellor ; Lord Powis, treasurer ; Sir Wil liam Godolphin, then in Spain, privy seal ; Coleman, secre tary of state; Bellasis, general; Petre, lieutenant-general; Ratcliffe, major-general; Stafford, paymaster-general; and Langhom, advocate-general; besides many other com missions for subaltern officers : these, he said, he saw in Langhorn's chamber ; and that he had delivered out many of them himself, and saw many more delivered by others • and he now swore, upon his own knowledge, that both Coleman and Wakeman were in the plot, that Coleman had given eighty guineas to four ruffians that went to Windsor last summer to stab the King; that Wakeman had OF KING CHARLES II. 35 Undertaken to poison him, for which 10^000/. was offered 1678. him, but that he got the price raised to 15,000/. He ex- "^"^ cused his not knowing them when confronted with them; and said, that he was then so spent by a long examination, and by not sleeping for two nights, that he was not then master of himself; though it seemed very strange that he should then have forgot that which he made now the main part of his evidence, and should then have objected to them only reports upon hearsay, when he had such matter against them, as he now said, upon his own knowledge ; and it seemed not very congruous that those who went to stab the King had but twenty guineas a-piece, when Wake man was to have 15,000/. for a safer way of killing him : many other things in the discovery made it seem ill di gested, and not credible. — Bellasis was almost perpetually ill of the gout ; Petre was a weak man, and had never any military command; Ratcliffe was a man that lived in great state in the north, and had not stirred from home all the last summer. Oates also swore he delivered a commission to be a colonel, in May last, to Howard, the Earl of Car lisle's brother, that had married the Dutchess of Richmond ; but a friend of mine told me he was all that month at Bath, lodged in the same house with Howard, with whom he was every day engaged at play ; he was then miserably ill of the gout, of which he died soon after. Oates did also charge General Lambert as one engaged in the design, who was to have a great post wheri set at liberty ; but he had been kept in prison ever since the restoration, and by that time had lost his memory and sense ; but it was thought strange that since Oates had so often said, what I once heard him say, that he had gone in among them on design to betray them, that he had not kept any one of all these commissions to be real proof in support of his evi dence. He had also said to the King, that whereas others ventured their lives to serve him, he had ventured his soul to serve him ; and yet he did suffer the four ruffians to go to Windsor to kill him, without giving him any notice of his danger. These were characters strong enough to give suspicion, if Coleman's letters, and Godfrey's murder, had not seemed such authentic confirmations, as left no room to doubt of any thing. Tillotson indeed told me that Laiighorn's wife, who was still as zealous a protestant 36 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. as he was a papist, came oft to him and gave him notice W-w of every thing she could discover among them ; though she continued a faithful and dutiful wife to the last minute of her husband's life. Upon the first breaking out of the plot, before Oates had spoke a word of commissions, or had accused Langhorn, she engaged her son into some discourse upon those matters, who was a hot indiscreet papist. He said their designs were so well laid, it was impossible they could miscarry; and that his father would be one of the greatest men of England; for he had seen a commission from the Pope, constituting him advocate- general ; this he told me in Stillingfleet's hearing* The Earl of Shaftsbury had got out of the tower in the former session, upon his submission, to which it was not easy to bring him ; but when he saw an army raised, he had no mind to lie longer in prison. The matter bore a long debate, the motion he had made in the King's Bench being urged much against him ; but a submission always takes off a contempt, so he got out ; and now the Duke of Buckingham, and he, with the Lords Essex and Hallifax, were the governing men among the lords. Many hard things were said againsttheDuke; yet when they tried to carry an address to be made to the King to send him away from court, the majority was against them. Bediows While things were thus in a ferment at London, Bedlow delivered himself to the magistrates of Bristol, pretending he knew the secret of Godfrey's murder ; so he was sent up to Loudon. The King told me, that when the secretary ex amined him in his presence, at his first coming, he said he knew nothing of the plot, but that he had heard that 40,000 men were to come over frqm Spain, who were to meet as pilgrims at St. Jago's, and were to be shipped for England ; but he knew nothing of any fleet that was to bring them over ; so this was looked on as very extravagant : but he said, he had seen Godfrey's body at Somerset House, and that he was offered 40007. by a servant of the Lord Bellasis, to as sist in carrying it away ; but upon that he had gone out of town to Bristol, where he was so pursued with horror, that it forced him to discover it. Bedlow had led a very vicious life ; he had gone by many false names, by which he had cheated many persons ; he had gone over many parts of France and Spain, as a man of quality ; and he had made evidence. OF KING CHARLES II. 37 a shift to live on his wits, or rather by his cheats ; so a ten- 1678. derness of conscience did not seem to be that to which he ^^ was much subject : but the very next day after this, when he was brought to the bar of the House of Lords, he made a full discovery of his knowledge of the plot, and of the lords in the Tower ; for all those, against whom Oates had informed, were now prisoners. The King was upon this convinced that some had been with Bedlow after he had been before him, who had instructed him in this narration,' of which he had said the night before, that he knew nothing ; and yet he not only confirmed the main parts of Oates's dis coveries, but added a great deal to them : and he now pre tended, that his rambling over so many places of Europe, was all in order to the carrying on this design ; that he was trusted with the secret, and had opened many of the letters which he was employed to carry. Here were now two witnesses to prove the plot, as far as otherprooft swearing could prove it; and among the papers ot the Je- tliatsee,neu suits, that were seized on, when they were clapped up, two the disco- letters were found that seemed to confirm all. One from "'?• Rome mentioned the sending over the patents; of which it was said in the letter, that they guessed the contents, though their patrons there carried their matters so secretly, that nothing was known, but as they thought fit. The Jesuits, when examined upon this, said, these were only patents with relation to the offices in their order. Another letter was writ to a Jesuit in the country, citing him to come to London by the 24th of April, which was the day in which Oates swore they held their consult, and that fifty of them had signed the resolution of killing the King, which was to be executed by Grove and Pickering : in the end of that letter, it was added, I need not enjoin secrecy, for the na ture of the thing requires it. When the Jesuit was examin ed to this, he said, it was a summons for a meeting accord ing to the rule of their order ; and they being to meet during the sitting of the parliament, that was the particular reason for enjoining secrecy. Yet, while men's minds were strong ly possessed, these answers did not satisfy, but were thought only shifts. At this time, Carstairs, of whose behaviour in Scotland Cu-atair'* mention has been made, not having met with those rewards Practlces- that he expected, came up to London, to accuse Duke Lau- \~s~J 38 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. derdale, as designing to keep up the opposition that was made to the laws in Scotland, even at the time that he seem ed to prosecute conventicles with the greatest fury ; for that he had often drawn the chief of their teachers into such snares, that upon the advertisements that he gave, they might have been taken, but that Duke Lauderdale had neg lected it ; so he saw, he had a mind that conventicles should go on, at the same time that he was putting the country in such a flame to punish them. This he undertook to prove, by those witnesses of whom on other occasions he had made use ; he also confessed the false date of that war rant upon which Baillie had been censured : he put all this in writing, and gave it to the Marquis of Athol, and pressed him to carry him to Duke Hamilton, and the Earl of Kin- cardin, that he might beg their pardon, and be assured of their favour. I was against the making use of so vile a man, and would have nothing to do with him ; he made ap plication to Lord Cavendish, and to some of the House of Commons, to whom I gave such a character of him, that they would see him no more. stale j 's While he was thus looking about where he could find a trial. o lucky piece of villany, he happened to go into an eating- house in Covent Garden, that was over against the shop of one Staley, the popish banker, who had been in great cre dit, but was then under some difficulties ; for all his credi tors came to call for their money. Staley happening to be in the next room to Carstairs, Carstairs pretended he heard him say in French, that the King was a rogue, and perse cuted the people of God ; and that he himself would stab him, if nobody else would. The words were writ down, which he resolved to swear against him : so next morning he and one of his witnesses went to him, and told him what they would swear against him, and asked a sum of money of him ; he was in much anxiety, and saw great danger on both hands; yet he chose rather to leave himself to their malice, than be preyed on by them: so he was seized on, and they swore the words against him, and he was appoint ed to be tried within five days. When I heard who the wit nesses were, I thought I was bound to do what I could to stop it ; so I sent both to the Lord Chancellor, and to the Attorney General, to let them know what profligate wretches these witnesses were. Jones, the attorney-general, took it OF KING CHARLES II. 39 ill of me, that I should disparage the King's evidence ; i6?8. the thing grew public, and raised great clamour against W-^ me ; it was said, I was taking this method to get into fa vour at court. I had likewise observed to several persons of weight, how many incredible things there were in the evi dence that was given ; I wished they would make use of the heat the nation was in to secure us effectually from pope ry.; we saw certain evidence to carry us so far, as to graft that upon it ; but I wished they would not run too hastily to the taking men's lives away upon such testimonies : Lord Hollis had more temper, than I expected from a man of his heat ; Lord Hallifax was of the same mind, but the Earl of Shaftsbury could not bear the discourse : he said, we must support the evidence, and that all those who undermined the credit of the witnesses were to be looked on as public enemies ; and so inconstant a thing, is popularity, that I was most bitterly railed at by those who seemed formerly to put some confidence in me : it went so far, that I was ad vised not to stir abroad for fear of public affronts ; but these things did not daunt me. Staley was brought to his trial, which did not hold long ; the witnesses gave a full evi dence against him, and he had nothing to offer to take away their credit ; he only shewed how improbable it was, that in a public-house he should talk such things with so loud a voice as to be heard in the next room, in a quarter of the town, where almost every body understood French. He was cast, and he prepared himself very seriously for death. Dr. Lloyd went to see him in' prison; he was offered his life, if he would discover their plots ; he protested, he knew of none, and that he had not said the words sworn against him, nor any thing to that purpose : and he died, the first of those who suffered on the account of the plot. Duke Lauderdale, having heard how I had moved in this matter, railed at me with open mouth : he said, I had stu died to save Staley, for the liking I had to any one that would murder the King ; and he infused this into the King, so that he repeated it in the House of Lords to a com pany that were standing about him. Yet so soon could the King turn to make use of a man whom he had censured so unmercifully, that two days after this he sent the Earl of Dunbarton, that was a papist, and had been bred in France, and was Duke Hamilton's 40 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. brother, to me, to desire me to come to him seeretly, for he v*""^"/ had a mind to talk with me ; he said, he believed I could do him service, if I had a mind to it, and the see of Chi chester being then void, he said, he would not dispose of it, till he saw whether I would deserve it or not. I asked if he fancied I would be a spy, or betray any body to him, but he undertook to me, that the King should ask me no question, but should in all points leave me to my liberty. Ti,e Queen An accident fell in before I went to him, which took off wa. charged mucn f 0ates's credit. When he was examined by the as in Uie plot. House of Lords, and had made the same narrative to them that he had offered to the Commons, they asked him, if he had now named all the persons whom he knew to be in volved in the plot? He said, there might be some inferior persons whom he had perhaps forgot, but he had named all the persons of note ; yet, it seems, afterwards he bethought himself; and Mrs. Elliot, wife to Elliot of the bedchamber, came to the King, and told him, Oates had somewhat to swear against the Queen, if he would give way to it. The King was willing to give Oates line enough, as he express ed it to me, and seemed to give way to it : so he came out with a new story, that the Queen had sent for some Je suits to Somerset House, and that he went along with them ; but staid at the door, when they went in, where he heard one, in a woman's voice, expressing her resentments of the usage she had met with, and assuring them she would as sist them in taking off the King : upon that he was brought in and presented to her, and there was then no other woman in the room but she. When he was bid describe the room, *.t proved to be one of the public rooms of that court, which are so great, that the Queen, who was a woman of a low voice, could not be heard over it, unless she had strained for it. Oates, to excuse his saying that he could not lay any thing to the charge of any besides those he had already named, pretended, that he thought then it was not lawful to accuse the Queen ; but this did not satisfy people. Bed- low, to support this, swore, that being once at chapel at Somerset House, he saw the Queen, the Duke, and some others very earnest in discourse in the closet above ; and that one came down with much joy, and said, the Queen had yielded at last, and that one explained this to him be yond sea, and said, it was to kill the King ; and besides OF KING CHARLES II. 41 Bedlow's oath, that he saw Godfrey's body in Somerset 1678. House, it was remembered, that at that time the Queen was v*~-~' for some days in so close a retirement, that no person was admitted ; Prince Rupert came then to wait on her, but was denied access. This raised a strange suspicion of her, but the King would not suffer that matter to go any farther. While examinations were going on, and preparation was a. law pas- making for the trial of the prisoners, a bill was brought in- t^/to be* to the House of Commons, requiring all members of either taken by house, and all such as might come into the King's Court, nuuses. or presence, to take a test against popery ; in which, not only transubstantiation was renounced, but the worship of the Virgin Mary and the saints, as it was practised in the church of Rome, was declared to be idolatrous. This pass ed in the House of Commons without any difficulty, but in the House of Lords, Gunning, Bishop of Ely, maintained, that the church of Rome was not idolatrous. He was an swered by Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln. The Lords did not much mind Gunning's arguments, but passed the bill; and, though Gunning had said, that he could not take that test with a good conscience, yet, as soon as the bill was passed, he took it in the crowd with the rest. The Duke got a pro- With a pro viso to be put in it for excepting himself ; he spoke upon D'ute °' " e that occasion with great earnestness, and with tears in his eyes ; he said, he was now to cast himself upon their fa vour in the greatest concern he could have in this world : he spoke much of his duty to the King, and of his zeal for the nation ; and solemnly protested, that, whatever his re ligion might be, it should only be a private thing between God and his own soul, and that no effect of it should ever appear in the government : the proviso was carried for him by a few voices, and, contrary to all men's expectations, it passed in the House of Commons. There was also a proviso put in, excepting nine ladies about the Queen ; and she said, she would have all the ladies of that religion cast lots, who should be comprehended ; only she named the Dutchess of Portsmouth, as one whom she would not expose to the uncertainty of a lot, which was not thought very de cent in her, though her circumstances at that time re quired an extraordinary submission to the King in every thing. VOL. II. G Coleman'strial. 42 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. Coleman was brought to his trial : Oates and Bedlow %^^>-' swore flatly against him, as was mentioned before. He de nied, that he had ever seen either the one or the other of them in his whole life, and defended himself by Oates's not knowing him, when they were first confronted, nor objecting those matters to him for a great while after ; he also press ed Oates to name the day in August, in which he had sent the fourscore guineas to the four ruffians ; but Oates would fix on no day, though he was very punctual in matters of less moment. Coleman had been out of town almost that whole month ; but, no day being named, that served him in no stead. He urged the improbability of his talking to two such men, whom he had by their own confession never seen before ; but they said, he was told they were trusted with the whole secret. His letters to P. de la Chaise was the heaviest part of the evidence ; he did not deny, that there. were many impertinent things in his letters ; but, he said he intended nothing in them, but the King's service and the Duke's : he never intended to bring in the catholic religion, by rebellion, or by blood, but only by a toleration ; and the aid, that was prayed from France, was only meant the as sistance of money, and the interposition of that court. After a long trial, he was convicted, and sentence passed upon him to die as a traitor. He continued to his last breath denying/ every tittle of that which the witnesses had sworn against him. Many were sent to him from both houses, offering to interpose for his pardon, if he would confess ; he still protested his innocence, and took great care to vindicate the Duke. He said, his own heat might make him too forward; for, being persuaded of the truth of his religion, he could not but wish, that all others were not only almost, but altogether, such as' he was, except in that chain, for he was then in irons : he confessed, he had mix ed too much interest for raising himself in all he did, and that he had received 2500 guineas from the French ambas sador, to gain some friends to his master, but that he had kept them to himself ¦: he had acted by order in all that he had done, and he believed the King knew of his employment, particularly that at Brussels ; but though he seemed willing to be questioned concerning the King, the committee did not think fit to do it, nor to report what he said concerning it; only in general they reported, that he spoke of another OF KING CHARLES II. 43 matter, about which they did not think fit to interrogate him, 1678. nor to mention it. Littleton was one of the committee, and ^^ gave me an account of all that passed that very night ; and I found his behaviour made great impression on them all. He suffered with much composedness and devotion, and And execu- died much better than he had lived. It was given out at that time, to make the Duke more odious, that Coleman was kept up from making confessions, by the hopes the Duke sent him of a pardon at Tyburn : but he could not be so ignorant, as not to know that; at that time it was not in the King's power to pardon him, while the tide went so high. The nation was now so much alarmed, that all people were furnishing themselves with arms, which heightened the jealousy of the court. A bill passed in both houses for raising all. the militia, and for keeping it together for six weeks : a third part, if I remember right, being to serve a fortnight, and so round. I found, some of them hoped when that bill passed into a law, they would be more mas ters ; and that the militia would not separate, till all the de mands of the two houses should be granted. The King re jected the bill, when offered to him for his assent. I waited often on him all the month of December. He ™* ^"s"*,. came to me to Chiffinch's, a page of the back stairs ; and thiT'who'i.0. kept the time he assigned me to a minute. He was alone matt«- and talked much, and very freely with me. We agreed in one thing, that the greatest part of the evidence was a contrivance ; but he suspected some had set on Oates and instructed him; and he named the Eari of Shaftsbury: I was of another mind. I thought the many gross things in his narrative shewed there was no abler head than Oates, or Tonge, in the framing it: and Oates, in his first story, had covered the Duke and the ministers so much, that from thence it seemed clear that Lord Shaftsbury had no hand in it, who hated them much more than he did popery. He fancied there was a design of a rebellion on foot. I assured him I saw no appearances of it. I told him there was a report breaking out that he intended to legitimate the Duke of Monmouth. He answered quick, that, as well as he loved him, he had rather see him hanged ; yet he appre hended a rebellion so much, that he seemed not ill pleased that the party should 'flatter themselves with that ima gination, hoping that would keep them quiet in a depend- WW 44 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. ence upon himself; and he suffered the Duke of Monmouth to use all methods to make himself popular, reckoning that he could keep him in his own management. He was surprised when I told him that Coleman had insinuated that he knew of all their foreign negotiations ; or at least he seemed so to me. I pressed him much to oblige the Duke to enter into conferences with some of our divines, and to be present at them himself; this would very much clear him of jealousy, and might have a good effect on his brother : at least it would give the world some hopes ; like what Henry IV. of France, his grandfather, did, which kept a party firm to him for some time before he changed. He answered, that his brother had neither Henry IV/s understanding nor his conscience ; for he believed that King was always indifferent as to those matters. He would not hearken to this, which made me incline to believe a report I had heard, that the Duke had got a solemn promise of the King, that he would never speak to him of religion. The King spoke much to me concerning Oates's accusing the Queen, and acquainted me with the whole progress of it. He said she was a weak woman, and had some disagreeable humours ; but was not capable of a wicked thing ; and, considering his faultiness towards her in other things, he thought it a horrid thing to abandon her. He said he looked on falsehood and cruelty as the greatest crimes in the sight of God ; he knew he had led a bad life, of which he spoke with some sense ; but he, was breaking himself of all his faults : and he would never do a base and a wicked thing. I spoke on all these subjects what I thought became me, which he took well • and I encouraged him much in his resolution of not ex posing the Queen to perish by false swearing, I told him there was no possibility of laying the heat that now was raised but by changing his ministry ; and I told him how odious the Earl of Danby was, and that there was a design against him; but 1 knew not the particulars. He said he knew that lay at bottom ; the army was not yet disbanded, and the King was in great straits for money. The House of Commons gave a money bill for this ; yet they would not trust the court with the disbanding the army but ordered the money to be brought into the chamber of London, and named a committee for paying off and break- OF KING CHARLES II. 45 ing the army. I perceived the King thought I was re- "78, served to him, because I would tell him no particular ^^ stories, nor name persons ; upon which I told him, since he had that' opinion of me, I saw I could do him uo service, and would trouble him no more ; but he should certainly hear from me, if I came to know any thing that might be of any consequence to his person or government, This favour of mine lasted all the month of December, 1678. I acquainted him with Carstairs's practice against Duke Lauderdale, and all that I knew of that matter; which was the ground on which I had gone with relation to Staley. The. King told Duke Lauderdale of it without naming me; and he sent for Carstairs, and charged him with it. Carstairs denied it all ; but said that Duke Ha milton and Lord Kincardin had pressed him to do it : and he went to the King, and affirmed it confidently to him. He did not name Lord Atliol ; hoping that he would be gentle to him for that reasqn. The King spoke of this to Duke Hamilton, who told him the whole story as I had done. Lord Athol upon that sent for Carstairs, and eharged him with all this foul dealing, an4 drew him near a closet, where he had two witnesses.. Carstairs said that somebody had discovered the matter to Duke Lau derdale, that he was now upon the point qf making his fortune, and that if Duke Lauderdale grew to be his enemy, he was undone. He confessed he had charged Duke Hamilton and Lord Kincardin falsely ; but he had no other way to save himself. After the Marquis of Athol had thus drawn every thing from him, he went to the King with his two witnesses, and the paper that Carstairs had formerly put in his hand. Carstairs was then with the King, and was with many imprecations justifying his charge against the two lords ; but he was confounded when he saw Lord Athol ; and upoU that his villany ap peared so evidently, that the part I had acted in that matter was pow well understood and approved of. Car stairs died not long after under great horror ; and ordered himself to be cast into some ditch as a dog ; for he said he was no better : but I could never hear what he said pf Staley's business. While all matters were in this confusion, a new incident D»°y'« happened that embroiled them yet more. The Earl of Dan- el 46 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. by had broke with Montague, but he knew what letters he ^^ had writ to him, and with what secrets he had trusted him. Mebroiigfct He apprehended Montague might accuse him, so he re- ml- solved to prevent him. Jenkins, who was then at Nime guen, writ over, according to a direction sent him, as was believed, that he understood that Montague had been in a secret correspondence, and in dangerous practices with the Pope's nuncio at Paris. This was meant of one Con, whom I knew well, who had been long in Rome ; and most of the letters between England and Rome passed through his hands : he was a crafty man, and knew news well, and loved mo ney ; so Montague made use of him, and gave him money, for such secrets as he could draw from him. Upon Jen kins's letter, the King sent a message to the House of Com? mons, letting them know that he was resolved to bring Montague to a trial, for being a confederate with Rome, and in the plot to bring in popery ; and at the same time he sent to secure his cabinets and papers. This was a device of Lord Danby's to find his own letters, and destroy them; and then to let the prosecution fall : for they knew they had nothing against Montague : but Montague under stood the arts of a court too well to be easily catched ; and had put a box, in which those letters were, in sure hands out of the way. A great debate rose upon this matter in the House of Commons. It was thought a high breach of privilege to seize on the papers of a member of their House, when there was nothing of treason sworn against him. After some hours spent in the debate, during which Montague sat silent very long ; at last, when the box was brought to him, from the person to whom he had trusted it, he opened it, and took out two of Lord Danby's letters, that contained instructions to him to treat with the King of France for 300,000/. a year for three years, if a, peace succeeded^ since it would not be convenient for the King to meet a parliament in all that time, and he was charged to mention no part of this to the Secretary of State. Winnington, who from small beginnings, and from as small a proportion of learning in his profession, in which he was rather bold and ready than able, was now come to be solicitor-general, fell severely upon those letters. He said, here was a minister, who, going out of the affairs of his province, was directing the King's ambassadors, and excluding the Secretary of OF KING CHARLES II. 47 State, whose office it was, from the knowledge of it: here ifi78. was the faith of England to our allies, and our interest, like- ^"*'"**' wise, set to sale for French money, and that to keep off a session of parliament : this was a design to sell the nation, and to subvert the government ; and he concluded, that was high treason: upon which he moved, that Lord Danby should be impeached of high treason. The Earl of Dan by's party was much confounded : they could neither deny nor justify his letters ; but they argued, that they could not be high treason, since no such fact was comprehended in any of the statutes of treason. The letters seemed to be writ by the King's order, who certainly might appoint any person he pleased to send his orders to his ministers abroad : they reflected on the business of the Earl of Straf ford, and on constructive treason, which was a device to condemn a man for a fact, against which no law did lie. Mainard, an ancient and eminent lawyer, explained the words of the statute of 25 Edward III. that the courts of law could not proceed but upon one of the crimes there enumerated: but the parliament had still a power, by the clause in that act, to declare what they thought was trea son: so an act passed, declaring poisoning treason, in King Henry VIII.'s time ; and, though by the statute it was only treason to conspire against the Prince of Wales; yet if one should conspire against the whole royal family, when there was no Prince of Wales, they would without doubt declare that to be high treason. After a long debate it was voted by a majority of above And he »»i seventy voices, that Lord Danby should be impeached of ™Hgh° '«»- high treason ; and the impeachment was next day carried sou. up to the Lords. The Earl of Danby justified himself, that he had served the King faithfully, and according to his own orders : and he produced some of Montague's letters, to shew, that at the court of France he was looked on as an enemy to their interest. He said, they knew him well that judged so of him, for he was indeed an enemy to it : and, among other reasons, he gave this for one, that he knew the French king held both the King's person and government under the. last degree of contempt. These words were thought very strange with relation to both kings. A great debate arose in the House of Lords concerning the im peachment; whether it ought to be received as an im- 48 HISTORY OF THE REIGN i«78. peachtaent Of high treason, only because the Commons ^w added the Word high treason in it. It was said the utmost that could be made of it was to suppose it true ; but even in that case they must needs say plainly that it was not within the statute : to this it was answered, that the House of Commons, that brought up the impeachment, were to be heard to two points : the one was to the nature of the crime ; the other was to the trial of it ; but the Lords could not take upon them to judge of either of these till they heard what the Commons could offer to support the charge : they were bound therefore to receive the charge, and to proceed according to the rules of parliament, which was to commit the person so impeached, and then give a short day for his trial ; so it would be soon over, if the Commons could not prove the matter charged to be high treason- The debate went on with great heat on both sides ; but the majority was against the commitment : upon this it was visible the Commons would have complained that the Lords denied them justice ; so there was no hope The parlia- 0f making up the matter ; and upon that the parliament merit was , prorogued, was prorogued. This was variously Censured: the court condemned Montague for revealing the King's secrets. Others said, that, since Lord Danby had begun to fall on him, it Was reasonable and natural for him to defend himself; The letters did cast a very great blemish, not only on Lord Danby, but on the King ; who, after he had entered into al liances, and had received great supplies from his people to carry on a war, was thus treating with France for money) which could not be asked or obtained from France on any other account, but that of making the confederates accept of lower terms, than otherwise they would have stood on; which was indeed the selling of the allies, and of the public faith. All that the court said in excuse for this was, that, since the King saw a peace was resolved on, after he had put himself to so great a charge to prepare for war, it was reasonable for him to be reimbursed as much as he could from France; this was ordinary in all treaties, where the prince that desired a peace was made to buy it. This, in deed, would have justified the King, if it had been demand ed above board : but such underhand dealing was mean and dishonourable: and it was said, that the states went into OF KING CHARLES II. 49 the peace with such unreasonable earnestness upon Hie 1678. knowledge, or at least the suspicion, that they had of such v,*v*,; practices. This gave a new wound to the King's credit abroad, or rather it opened the old one : for, indeed, after our breaking both the treaty of Breda, and the triple alli ance, we had not much credit to lose abroad. None gain- . ed so much by this discovery, as Secretary Coventry ; since * now it appeared, that he was not trusted with those ill-prac- tiees : he had been severely fallen on for the famed saying of the murder of forty men. Birch aggravated the matter heavily; and said, it seemed he thought the murder of forty men a very small matter, since he would rather be guilty of it, than oppose an alliance made upon such treacherous views. Coventry answered, that he always spoke to them sincerely, and as he thought, and that if an angel from hea ven should come and say otherwise, (at this they were very attentive to see how he could close a period so strangely begun,) he was sure he should never get back to heaven again, but would be a fallen, and a lying .angel. Now the matter was well understood, and his credit was set on a sure foot. After the prorogation, the Earl of Danby saw the King's affairs, and the state of the nation required a speedy ses sion. He saw little hope of recovering himself with that parliament, in which so great a majority were already so deeply engaged ; so he entered into a treaty with some of the country party for a new parliament : he undertook to get the Duke to be sent out of the way against the time of its meeting. Lord Hollis, Littleton, Boscawen, and Hamb- den were spoke to : they were all so apprehensive of the continuance, of that parliament, and that another set of mi nisters would be able to manage them as the court pleased, that they did undertake to save him if he could bring these things about : but it was understood, that he must quit his post, and withdraw from affairs ; upon which they pro mised their assistance to carry off his impeachment with a mild censure. The Duke went into the advice of a dissolu tion upon other grounds : he thought the House of Com mons had engaged with so much heat in the matter of the plot, that they could never be brought off, or be made more gentle in the matter of religion. He thought a new parlia ment would act in a milder strain, and not fly so high ; or that VOL. II. H 50 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. they would give nd money, and so the King and they would W^ break ; for he dreaded nothing so much as the bargains that were made with the present parliament, in which po pery was always to be the sacrifice. Thus, both the Duke and Lord Danby joined in advancing a dissolution, which was not resolved on till the January following. The trial of In December, Ireland, Whitebread, and Fenwick, three and' "some" Jesuits ; and Grove and Pickering, two of the servants in others. the Queen's chapel, were brought to their trial. Oates and Bedlow swore home against Ireland, that in August last he had given particular orders about killing the King. Oates swore the same against the other two Jesuits ; but Bedlow swore only upon hearsay against them. So, though they had pleaded to their indictment, and the jury was sworn, and the witnesses examined ; yet, when the evidence was not found full, their trial was put off to another time, and the jury was not charged with them. This looked as if it was resolved that they must not be acquitted ; I complain- of this to Jones, but he said, they had precedents for it. I always thought, that a precedent against reason signified no more, but that the like injustice had been done before ; and the truth is, the crown has, or at least had, such advantages in trials of treason, that it seems strange how any person was ever acquitted. Ireland, in his own defence, proved by many witnesses, that he went from London on the 2d of Augugt, to Staffordshire, and did not come back till the 12th of September: yet, in opposition to that, a woman swore that she saw him in London about the middle of Au gust. So, since he might have come up post in one day, and gone down in another, this did not satisfy. Oates and Bedlow swore against Grove and Pickering, that they un dertook to shoot the King at Windsor ; that Grove was to have 1500Z. for it ; and that Pickering chose thirty thousand masses, which, at a shilling a mass, amounted to the same sum : they attempted it three several times with a pistol : once the flint was loose; at another time, there was no pow der in the pan ; and the third time, the pistol was charged only with bullets. This was strange stuff; but all was im puted to a special providence of God, and the whole evi dence was believed : so they were convicted, condemned, and executed. But they denied, to the last^ every parti cular that was sworn against them. _OF KING, CHARLES II. 5l This began to shake the credit of the evidence, when a *67B- rriore composed and credible person came in to support it. DuT^^g One Dugdale, that had been the Lord Aston's bailiff, and evidence.. lived in a fair reputation in the country, was put in prison for refusing the oaths of allegiance and supremacy; he did then, with many imprecations on himself, deny that he knew of any plot; but afterwards he made a great dis covery of a correspondence that Evers, the Lord Aston's Jesuit, hield with the Jesuits in London, who had writ to -, Evers of the design of killing the King, and desired him to find out men proper for executing it, whether they were gentlemen or not : this he swore was writ plain in a letter from Whitebread, the provincial, directed to himself; but he knew it was meant for Evers. Evers, and Govan, another Jesuit, pressed this Dugdale to undertake it : they promised he should be canonized for it: and the Lord Stafford offered him 500/. if he would set about it. He was a man of sense and temper, and behaved himself decently; and had somewhat in his air and deportment that disposed people to believe him: so that the King himself began to think there was somewhat in the plot, though he had very little regard either to Oates or Bedlow* Dugdale's evidence was much confirmed by one circum stance. He had talked of a justice of peace in West-1 minster that was killed on the Tuesday after Godfrey was missed; so that the news of this must have been writ from London on the Saturday night's post. He did not think it was a secret ; and so he talked of it as news in an ale house. The two persons he said he spoke it to, remem bered nothing of it ; the one being the minister of the parish: but several others swore they had heard it. He saw this, as he swore, in a fetter writ by Harcourt, the Jesuit, to Evers, in which Godfrey was named ; but he; added a strange story to this, which he said Evers told him afterwards ; that the Duke had sent to Coleman when he was in Newgate, to persuade him to discover nothing, and that he desired to know of him whether he had ever discovered their designs to any other person; and that Coleman sent back answer that he had spoke of them to Godfrey, but to no other man ; upon which the Duke gave order to kill him : this was never made public till the Lord 'Stafford's trial; and I was amazed to see such a 52 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. thing break oUt after so long a silence: it looked like an ^¦^ addition to Dugdale's first evidence ; though he had been noted for having brought out all his discoveries at once. The Earl of Essex told me he swore it in his first exa mination ; but since it was only upon hearsay from Eversy and so was nothing in law, and yet would heighten the fury against the Duke, the King charged Dugdale to say nothing of it. Pranoe At the same time a particular discovery was made of Godfrey™ Godfrey's murder. Prance, a goldsmith, that wrought for murder. the Queen's chapel, had gone from his house for two or three days, the week before the murder ; and one that lodged in his house, calling that to mind, upon Bedlow's swearing he saw the body in Somerset House, fancied that this was the time in which he was from home, and that he might be concerned in that matter ; though it appeared afterwards that his absence was the week before. He said he went from his own house, fearing to be put in prison, as many were, upon suspicion, or on the account of his religion ; yet upon this information he was seized on and carried to Westminster. Bedlow accidentally passed by, not knowing any thing concerning him: and at first sight he charged somebody to seize on him ; for he was one of those whom he saw about Godfrey's body; yet he denied every thing for some days : afterwards, he confessed he was concerned in it ; and he gave this account of it : Girald and Kelly, two priests, engaged him and three others into it; who were Green, that belonged to the Queen's chapel ; Hill, that had served Godden, the most celebrated writer among them; and Berry, the porter of Somerset. House : he said, these all, except Berry, had several meet ings, in which the priests persuaded them it was no sin, but a meritorious action to dispatch Godfrey, who had been a busy man in taking depositions against them, and that the taking him off would terrify others. Prance named an alehouse where they used to meet ; and the people of, that house did confirm this of their meeting there. After they had resolved on it, they followed him for several days. Themorning before they killed him Hill went to his house to see if he was yet gone out, and spoke to his maid; and, finding he was yet at home, they staid for his coming out : this was confirmed by the maid ; who, upon Hill's w«»/ OF KING CHARLES II. 53 being taken, went to Newgate, and in a crowd of prisoners —fai distinguished him, and said he was the person that asked for her master the morning before he was lost. Prance said they dogged him into a place near St. Clement's Church, where he was kept till night. Prance was ap pointed to be at Somerset House at night ; and as Godfrey went by the water-gate, two of them pretended, to be hot in a quarrel ; and one run out to call a justice of peace, and so pressed Godfrey to go in and part them : he was not easily prevailed on to do it ; yet he did at last : Green then got behind him,, and pulled a cravat about his neck, and drew him down to the ground, and strangled him; upon that Girald would have run him through : but the rest di verted him from that by representing the danger of a discovery by the blood's being seen there : upon that they carried his body up to Godden's reom, of which Hill had the key, Godden being then in France. Two days after that they removed it to a room cross the upper court, which Prance could never describe particularly; and that not being found a convenient place, they carried it back to Godden's lodgings: at last it was resolved to carry it out in the night, in a sedan, to the remote parts of the town, and from thence to cast it into some ditch. On Wednesday a sedan was provided ; and one of the sen tinels swore he saw a sedan carried in ; but none saw it brought out. Prance said they carried him out, and that Green had provided a horse, on whose back he laid him when they were got clear of the town : and then he carried him, as he believed, to the place where his body was found. This was a consistent story ; which was supported, in some circumstances, by collateral proofs. He added another particular, that some days after the fact, those who had been concerned in it, and two others, who were in the secret, appointed to meet at Bow, where they talked much of that matter : this was confirmed by a servant of that house, who was coming in and out to them, and heard them often mention Godfrey's name ; upon which he stood at the door out of curiosity to hearken ; but one of them came out and threatened him for it. The priests were not found ; but Green, Hill, and Berry were apprehended upon it : yet some days after this Prance desired to be carried to the King, who would not see him but in council ; and he 54 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. denied all that he had formerly sworn, and said it was all ^^ a fiction ; but as soon as he was carried back to prison, he sent the keeper of Newgate to the King to tell hihi that all he had sworn was true ; but that the horror and confusion he was in put him on denying it ; yet he went off from this again and denied every thing. Dr. Lloyd was upon this sent to him to talk with him : at first he denied eveiy thing to him ; but Dr. Lloyd said to me that he was almost dead through the disorder of his mind, and with cold in his body; but after that Dr. Lloyd had made a fire, and caused him to be put in a bed, and began to discourse the matter with him, he returned to his confession; which he did in such a manner, that Lloyd said to me it was not possible for him to doubt of his sincerity in it. Some con- g0 ne persisting in his first confession, Green, Hill, and it, who died Berry were brought to their trial. Bedlow and Prance, denying ii. wjm ajj tne circumstances formerly mentioned, were the evidence against them. On the other hand they brought witnesses to prove that they came home in a good hour on the nights in which the fact was said to be done. Those that lived in Godden's lodgings deposed, that no dead body could be brought thither, for they were every day in the room that Prance had named ; and the sentinels of that night of the carrying him out said, they saw no sedan brought out. They were, upon a full hearing, convicted and condemned. Green and Hill died, as they had lived, papists ; and with solemn protestations, denied the whole thing. Berry declared himself a protestant ; and that though he had changed his religion for fear of losing his place, yet he had still continued to be one in his heart : he said, he looked on what had now befallen him, as a just judgment of God up'on him for that dissimulation : he denied the whole matter charged on him : he seemed to prepare him self seriously for death, and to the last minute he affirmed he was altogether innocent. Dr. Lloyd attended on him, and was much persuaded of his sincerity. Prance swore nothing against him, but that he assisted in the fact, and in carrying about the dead body. So Lloyd reckoned, that those things being done in the night, Prance might have mistaken him for some other person, who might be like him, considering the confusion that so much guilt might have put him in. He therefore believed, Prance had sworn rash- OF KING CHARLES II. 55 ry with relation to him, butiruly as to the main of the fact. 167& The papists took great advantage from Berry's dying pro- ^"^ testant, and yet denying all that was sworn against him, though he might have had his life if he would have confessed it. They said, this shewed it was not from the doctrine of equivocation, or from the power of absolution, or any other of their tenets, that so many died, denying all that was sworn against them, but from their own conviction. And indeed this matter came to be charged on Dr. Lloyd, as if he had been made a tool for bringing Berry to this seeming conversion, and that all was done on design to cover the Queen : but I saw him then every day, and was well as sured that he acted nothing in it, but what became his pro fession, with all possible sincerity. Prance began after this to enlarge his discoveries: he said, he had often heard them talk of killing the King, and of setting on a gene ral massacre, after they had raised an army : Dugdale al so said, he had heard them discourse of a massacre. The memory of the Irish massacre was yet so fresh, as to raise a particular horror at the very mention of this ; though where the numbers were so great as in Ireland, that might have been executed, yet there seemed to be no occasion to apprehend the like, where the numbers were in so great an inequality, as they were here. Prance did also swear, that a servant of the Lord Powis had told him, that there was one in their family who had undertaken to kill the King ; Jjut that some days after he told him, they were now gone off from that design. It looked very strange, and added no credit to his other evidence, that the papists should be thus talking of killing the King, as if it had been a com mon piece of news. But there are seasons of believing, as well as of disbelieving ; and believing was then so much in season, that improbabilities or inconsistencies were lit tle considered: nor was it safe so much as to make re flections on them. That was called the blasting of the plot, and disparaging the King's evidence ; though indeed Oates and Bedlow did, by their behaviour, detract more from their own credit, than all their enemies could have done. The former talked of all persons with insufferable inso lence : and the other was a scandalous libertine in his whole deportment. The Lord Chief Justice at that time was Sir William Scruggs was 56 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. Scroggs, a man more valued for a good readiness in speak- thenTorf' ing well, than either for learning in his profession, or for chief jus- any moral virtue. His life had been indecently scandal ous, and his fortunes were very low. He was raised by the Earl of Danby's favour, first to be a judge, and then to be the chief justice. And it was a melancholy thing to see so bad, so ignorant, and so poor a man raised up to that great post: yet he, now seeing how the stream run, went into it with so much zeal and heartiness, that he was become the favour ite of the people ; but when he saw the King had an ill opi nion of it, he grew colder in the pursuit of it : he began to neglect and check the witnesses ; upon which, they, who behaved themselves, as if they had been the tribunes of the people, began to rail at him. Yet, in all the trials, he set himself, even with indecent earnestness, to get the prison ers to be always cast. jennison's Another witness came in soon after these things, Jenni- son, the younger brother of a Jesuit, and a gentleman of a family and estate. He, observing that Ireland had defend ed himself against Oates chiefly by this, that he was in Staffordshire from the beginning of August till the 12th of September, and that he had died affirming that to be true, seemed much surprised at it; and, upon that, turned protes- tant : for he said he saw him in London on the 19th of August, on which day he fixed upon this account, that he saw him the day before he went down in the stage-coach to York, which was proved by the books of that office to be the 20th of August. He said he was come to town from Windsor, and hearing that Ireland was in town, he went to see him, and found him drawing off his boots. Ireland asked him news, and in particular, how the King was at tended at Windsor? and when he answered, that he walked about very carelessly, with very few about him, Ireland seemed to wonder at it, and said, it would be easy then to take him off; to which Jennison answered quick, God for bid : but Ireland said, he did not mean that it could be law fully done. Jennison, in the letter in which he writ this up to a friend in London, added, that he remembered an incon siderable passage or two more ; and that, perhaps Smith, (a priest that had lived with his father) could help him to one or two more circumstances relating to those matters: but he protested, as he desired the forgiveness of his sins, OF KING CHARLES II. 57 and the salvation of his soul, that he knew no more ; and 1678. wished he might never see the face of God, if he knew any v>*v^/ more. This letter was printed, and great use was made of it, to shew how little regard was to be had to those denials, with which so many had ended their lives. But this man, in the summer thereafter published a long narrative of his knowledge of the plot: he said, himself had been invited to assist in killing the King : he named the four ruffians that went to Windsor to do it ; and he thought to have recon ciled this to his letter, by pretending these were the circum stances that he had not mentioned in it. Smith did also change his religion ; and deposed, that, when he was at Rome, he was told in general of the design of killing the King. He was afterwards discovered to be a vicious man: yet he went no farther than to swear, that he was acquaint ed with the design in general, but not with the persons that were employed in it; by these witnesses, the credit of the plot was universally established : yet, no real proofs ap pearing, besides Coleman's letters, and Godfrey's murder, the King, by a proclamation, did offer both a pardon, and 2001. to any one that would come in, and make further dis coveries. This was thought too great a hire to purchase witnesses ; money had been offered to those who should bring in criminals : but it was said to be a new and inde cent practice to offer so much money to men, that should merit it by swearing ; and it might be too great an encou ragement to perjury. While the witnesses were weakening their own credit, some Practices practices were discovered, that did very much support it. ^e^g Reading, a lawyer of some subtilty, but of no virtue, was discovered. employed by the lords in the Tower to solicit their affairs. He insinuated himself much into Bedlow's confidence, and was much in his company ; and, in the hearing of others, he was always pressing him to tell all he knew : he lent him money very freely, which the other wanted often, and he seemed at first to design only to find out somewhat that should destroy the credit of his testimony ; but he ventured on other practices, and offered him much money, if he would turn his evidence against the popish lords only into a hearsay, so that it should not come home against them. Reading said, Bedlow began the proposition to him, and employed him to see how much money these lords could VOL. II. i w^ 58 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1678. give him, if he should bring them off: upon which, Read ing, as he pretended afterwards, seeing that innocent blood was like to be shed, was willing, even by indecent means, to endeavour to prevent it : yet he freed the lords in the Tower: he said, they would not promise a farthing; only the Lord Stafford said, he would give Reading two or three hundred pounds, which he might dispose of as he pleased. While Reading was driving the bargain, Bedlow was too hard for him at his own trade of craft; for, as he acquainted both Prince Rupert and the Earl of Essex with the whole negotiation, from.the first step of it, so he placed two wit nesses secretly in his chamber, when Reading was to come to him, and drew him into those discourses, which disco vered the whole practice of that corruption. Reading had likewise drawn a paper, by which he shewed him with how few and small alterations he could soften his deposition, so as not to affect the lords. With these witnesses, and this paper, Bedlow charged Reading': the whole matter was proved beyond contradiction ; and, as this raised his credit, so it laid a heavy load on the popish lords ; though the proofs came home only to Reading, and he was set in the pillory for it. Bedlow made a very ill use of this disco- Very, which happened in March, to cover his having sworn against Whitebread and Fenwick, only upon hearsay, in December: for, being resolved to swear plain matter upon his own knowledge against them, when they should be brought again on their trial, he said, Reading had prevailed on him to be easy to them, as he called it, and that he had said to him, that the lords would take the saving of these Jesuits, as an earnest of what he would do for themselves; though it was not very probable, that these lords would have abandoned Ireland, when they took such care of the other Jesuits. The truth was, he ought to have set aside from being a witness any more, since now, by his own con fession, he had sworn falsely in that trial : he had first Sworn, he knew nothing of his own knowledge against the two Je suits ; and afterwards he swore copiously against them, and upon his own knowledge. Wyld, a worthy and ancient judge, said upon thaj; to him, that he was a perjured man, and ought to come no more into courts, but to go home, and repent : yet all this was passed over, as if it had been of no weight, and the judge was turned out for his plain OF KING CHARLES II. 59 freedom. There was soon after this another practice dis- i67s- covered concerning Oates: some that belonged to the ^ Earl of Danby conversed much with Oates's servants : they told them many odious things that he was daily speaking of to the King, which looked liker one that intended to ruin than to save him. One of these did also affirm, that Oates had made an abominable attempt upon him not fit to be named. Oates smelled this out, and got his servants to deny all that they had said, and to fasten it upon those who had been with them, as a practice of theirs ; and they were upon that likewise set on the pillory; and, to put things of a sort together, though they happened not all at once. One Tasborough, that belonged to the Duke's court, en tered into some correspondence with Dugdale, who was courting a kinswoman of his. It was proposed, that Dug dale should sign a paper, retracting all that he had formerly sworn, and should upon that go beyond sea, for which he was promised, in the Duke's name, a considerable reward. He had written the paper, as was desired ; but he was too cunning for Tasborough, and he proved his practices upon him. He pretended he drew the paper only to draw the other further On, that he might be able to penetrate the deeper into their designs. Tasborough was fined, and set in the pillory for tampering thus with the King's evidence. This was the true state of the plot, and of the witnesses Reflections that proved it ; which I have opened as fully as was pos- "vph°0'jet^e; sible for me, and I had particular occasions to be well dence. instructed in it. Here was matter enough to work on the fears and apprehensions of the nation : so it was not to be wondered at, if parliaments were hot and juries were easy in this prosecution. The visible evidences that appeared made all people conclude there was great plotting among them ; and it was generally believed, that the bulk of what was sworn by the witnesses was true; though they had, by all appearance, dressed it up with incredible circum stances. What the men of learning knew concerning their principles, both of deposing of kings, and of the lawful ness of murdering them, when so deposed, made them easily conclude, that since they saw the Duke was so entirely theirs, and that the King was so little to be de pended on, they might think the present conjuncture was not to be lost ; and since the Duke's eldest daughter was 60 HISTORY OF THE. REIGN 1678- already out of their hands, they might make the more haste *-^"w' to set the Duke on the throne. The tempers, as well as the morals of the Jesuits, made it reasonable to believe, that they were not apt to neglect such advantages, nor to stick at any sort of falsehood in order to their own defence. The doctrine of probability, besides many other maxims that are current among them, made many give little credit to their witnesses, or to their most solemn denials, even at their execution. Many things were brought to shew, that by the casuistical divinity taught among them, and published by them to the world, there was no practice so bad but that the doctrines of probability, and of order ing the intention, might justify it ; yet many thought, that what doctrines soever men might, by a subtilty of specu lation, be carried into, the approaches of death, with the seriousness that appeared in their deportment, must needs work so much on the probity and candour which seemed rooted in human nature, that even immoral opinions, main- ' tained in the way of argument, could not then resist it. Several of our divines went far in this charge, against all regard to their dying speeches; of which some of our own church complained as. inhuman and indecent. 1679. In January a new parliament was summoned. The elec- liamentPar" tions were carried with great heat, and went almost every where against the court. Lord Danby resolved to leave the Treasury at Lady- day ; and in that time he made great advantage by several payments which he got the King to order, that were due upon such slight pretences, that it was believed he had a large share of them to himself: so that he left the Treasury quite empty. He persuaded the King to send the Duke beyond sea, that so there might be no colour for suspecting that the counsels were influenced by him. He endeavoured to persuade the Duke, that it was fit for him to go out of the way. If the King and the par liament came to an agreement, he might depend on the promise the King would make him of recalling him imme diately ; and, if they did not agree, no part of the blame could be cast on him ; which must happen otherwise if he staid still at court : yet no rhetoric would have prevailed on him to go, if the King had not told him positively if was for both their service, and so it must be done. The Duke Before he went away the King gave him all possible OF KING CHARLES II. satisfaction with relation to the Duke of Monmouth, who was become very popular, and his creatures were giving it out, that he was the King's lawful son ; so the King made a sea. solemn declaration in council, and both signed it, and took his oath on it, that he was never married nor contracted to that Duke's mother ; nor to any other woman, except to his present queen. The Duke was sent away upon very short warning ; not without many tears shed by him at parting ; though the King shed none. He went first to Holland, and then to Brussels, where he was but coldly received. At the opening the parliament in March, the parting with an only brother, to remove all jealousy, was mag nified with all the pomp of the Earl of Nottingham's elo quence, i Lord Danby's friends were in some hopes that the great services which he had done would make matters brought against him to be handled gently ; but in the ma nagement he committed some errors that proved very unhappy to him. Seymour and he had fallen into some quarrelings, both being very proud and violent in their tempers. Seymour had in the last session struck in with the heat against popery, that he was become popular upon it ; so he ma naged the matter in this new parliament, that though the court named Meres, yet he was chosen speaker. The nomination of the speaker was understood to come from the King, though he was not named as recommending the person : yet a privy counsellor named one, and it was understood to be done by order ; and the person thus named was put in the chair, and was next day presented to the King, who approved the choice. When Seymour was next • day presented as the speaker, the King refused to confirm the election : he said he had other occasions for him which could not be dispensed with ; upon this great heats arose, with a long and violent debate. It was said the House had the choice of their speaker in them, and that their present ing the speaker was only a solemn shewing him to the King, such as was the presenting* the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London in the exchequer; but that the King was bound to confirm their choice : this debate held a week, and created much anger. A temper was found at last. Seymour's election was let 62 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1679. fall ; but the point was settled, that the right of electing was v*"s'*"' in the House, and that the confirmation was a thing of course : so another was chosen speaker ; and the House immediately fell on Lord Danby. Those who intended to serve him said, the heat this dispute had raised, which was imputed wholly to him, had put it out of their power to do it ; but he committed other errors : he took out a pardon under the great seal. The Earl of Nottingham durst not venture to pass it ; so the King ordered the seal to be put to the pardon in his presence : and thus, according to Lord Nottingham's figure, when he was afterwards questioned about it, it did not pass through the ordinary methods of production, but was an immediate effect of his Majesty's power of creating. He also took out a warrant to be Mar quis of Caermarthen ; and the King, in a speech to the par liament, said, he had done nothing but by his order, and therefore he had pardoned him ; and, if there was any defect in his pardon, he would pass it over and over again, till it should be quite legal. Danby par- IJpon this a great debate was raised : some questioned the king, whether the King's pardon, especially when passed in bar but prose- to an impeachment, was good inlaw: this would encou- Honse of rage ill ministers, who would be always sure of a pardon, Commons. an(j so Would act more boldly, if they saw so easy a way to be secured against the danger of impeachments. The King's pardon did indeed secure one against all prosecu tion at his suit : but, as in the case of murder an appeal lay, from which the King's pardon did not cover the person, since the King could no more pardon the injuries done his people, than he could forgive the debts that were owing to them ; so from a parity of reason it was inferred, that since ' the offences of ministers of state were injuries done the public, the King's pardon could not hinder a prosecution in parliament, which seemed to be one of the chief securi ties and most essential parts of our constitution. Yet on the other hand it was said, that the power of pardoning was a main article of the King's prerogative ; none had ever yet been annulled : the law had made this one of the trusts of the government, without any limitation upon it : all argu ments against it might be good reasons for the limiting it for the future ; but what was already past, was good in law, and could not be broke through. The temper proposed OF KING CHARLES II. 63 was, that, upon Lord Danby's going out of the way, an act 1679. of banishment should pass against him, like that which had ^s*> passed against the Earl of Clarendon. Upon that, when the lords voted that he should be committed, he withdrew: so a bill of banishment passed in the House of Lords, and was sent down to the Commons. Winnington fell on it there in a most furious manner : he said, it was an act to let all ministers see what was the worst thing that could hap pen, to them, after they had been engaged in the blackest designs, and had got great rewards of wealth and honour : all they could suffer was, to be obliged to live beyond sea. This inflamed the House so, that those who intended to have moderated that heat, found they could not stop it. Littleton sent for me that night, to try if it was possible to mollify Winnington. We laid before him, that the King seemed brought near a disposition to grant every thing that could be desired of him : and why must an attainder be brought on, which would create a breach that could not be healed ? The Earl of Danby was resolved to bear a banish ment; but would come in, rather than be attainted, and plead his pardon : and then the King was upon the matter made the party in the prosecution, which might ruin all : we knew how bad a minister he had been, and had felt the ill effects of his power ; but the public was to be preferred to all other considerations. But Winnington was then so entirely in Montague's management, and was so blown up with popularity, and so much provoked by being turned out of the place of solicitor-general, that he could not be prevailed on. It was offered afterwards from the court, as Littleton told me, both that Lord Danby should by act of parliament be degraded from his peerage, as well as ba nished, and that anact should pass declaring, for the future; no pardon should be pleaded in bar to an impeachment : but the fury of the time was such, that all offers were re jected ; and so a very probable appearance of settling the nation was lost : for the bill for banishing Lord Danby was thrown out by the Commons ; and, instead of it, a bill of at tainder was brought in : the treasury was put in commis sion ; the Earl of Essex was put at the head of it, and Hide and Godolphin were two of the commission : the Earl of' Sunderland was brought over from France, and made secretary of state ; and Lord Essex and Lord Sunderland oil. 64 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1679. joined with the Duke of Monmouth, to press the King to v-^-/ change his counsels, and to tu>n to another method of government, and to take the men of the greatest credit into his confidence. Lord Essex was much blamed for going in so early into the court, before the rest were brought in: he said to me, he did it in the prospect of working the ' change that was afterwards effected. Lord Sunderland also told me, that the King was easy in the bringing in Lord Shaftsbury ; for he thought he was only angry in revenge, because he was not employed ; but that he had so ill an opinion of Lord Halifax, that it was not easy to get over that. The Duke of Monmouth told me, that he had as great difficulty in overcoming that, as ever in any thing that he studied to bring the King to. A new coun- At last the King was prevailed on to dismiss the whole council, which was all made up of Lord Danby's creatures ; and the chief men of both houses were brought into it. This was carried with so much secrecy,that it was not so much as suspected, till the day before it was done. The King was weary of the vexation he had been long in, and desired to be set at ease ; and at that time he would have done any thing to get an end put to the plot, and to the fermentation, that was now over the whole nation : so that if the House of Commons would have let the matter of Lord Danby's par don fall, and accepted of limitations on his brother, instead of excluding him, he was willing to have yielded in every thing else : he put likewise the admiralty and ordnance into commissions ; out of all which the Duke's creatures were so excluded, that they gave both him and themselves for lost. But the hatred that Montague bore Lord Danby, and Lord Shaftsbury's hatred to the Duke, spoiled all this. There were also many in the House of Commons, who find ing themselves forgot, while others were preferred to them, resolved to make themselves considerable : and they in fused into a great many, a mistrust of all that was doing. It was said, the King was still what he was before ; no change appeared in him: and alHhis was only an artifice to lay the heat that was in the nation, to gain so many over to him, and so to draw money from the Commons : so they resolved to give no money, till all other things should be first settled. No part of the change that was then made was more acceptable than that of the judges ; for Lord Dan- OF KING , CHARLES' II. 65 fey had brought iri some sad creatures to those important 1679. p^&S: arid Jones had the new modelling of the bench; ^v^ atffl he put in very Worthy men, in the roiom of those' igno rant judges that were now dismissed. The main point in debate was, what security the King Debates a. T . A ..¦. ... , concerning " siitJuld offer to quiet the fears df the AatronupoU the account the exciu- of the Duke's succession. The Eatf Of Shaftsbury pro- sion- posed the excluding him simply and riiaking the1 succession to go on, as if he was dead, as the only mean that was e?tsy and safe both for the crown and the people : this wits' no thing btit the disinheriting the next heir, Which certainty the King and! parliament might dd, as well' as any prtVaTe mail might disinherit his next htif^ if he had" a rh'iiid to it. The King would not consent to this : he had faithfully pro mised the Duke, that he never would ; arid he thought, if acts of exclusion were once begun, it would riot- be easy to stop them ; but that urjbri' any discontent at the next heir, tfiey would be set oti. Religion was now" the pretence; but other pretences would be found out, When there wife need of them-, this insensibly would change tfid riatufefof the E n'glish monarchy; so that from being hereuitary it would beedrite elective. The Lords Of Ekse1* and Hallifait, upon'tliis proposed Such limitations of the5 Duke's author ity,' when the crown should devolve dti hfm, as wbtfTd7 dis able' him from doing any harm, either iri church or" slaW: su'ch as the taking out of his hand" all power in ecclesiasti cal matters, the- disposal Of the public* money; with tire pow er df peace and War, and the lodging these iir both houses of parliament; and that whatever parliament was in being; or the last that had been in being at the King's death, should meet, without a new summorts; upon it, arid assume the ad- mmistratiOri of affairs. Lord Shaftsbury argued agairM this, as much more prejudicial to the crown than the exclu sion of one heir: for this changed the" whole* !goVermneht, and' Set up a democracy instead of a monarchy. Lord-Hal- lifax's arguing now so much, against the danger of turning themonarchyto be elective, was the more extraordinary iri him, because' he had madean hereditary monarchy the' sub ject pf his mirth ; and had often said; who takes a Coach man to drive-him, biefcause hfe father' was a g6bd Cdaeh- rrian ? Yet hfe' was' now jealous' of a small slijr in the* suc cession ; b\it at the'same time he'studfed to'Mtse into some vol. n. k 66 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1679. a zeal for a commonwealth. And to these he pretended, v""v'w' that he preferred limitations to an exclusion : because the one kept up the monarchy still, only passing over one per son ; whereas the other brought us really into a common wealth, as soon as we had a popish king over us : and it Was said by some of his friends, that the limitations pro posed were so advantageous to public liberty, that a man might be tempted to wish for a popish king, to come at them, Upon this, great difference of opinion, a faction was quickly formed in the new council. The Lords Essex, Sun derland and Hallifax, declaring for limitations, and against the exclusion ; while Lord Shaftsbury, now made president of the council, declared highly for it. They took much pains on him to moderate his heat : but he was become so intolerably vain, that he would not mix with them, unless he might govern : so they broke with him ; and the other three were called the triumvirate. Lord Essex applied him self to the business of the Treasury, to the regulating the King's expense, and the improvement of the revenue. His clear, though. slow sense, made him very acceptable to the King. Lord Hallifax studied to manage the King's spirit, and to gain an ascendant there by a lively and libertine conversation. Lord Sunderland managed foreign affairs, and had the greatest credit with the Dutchess of Ports mouth. After it was agreed on to offer the limitations, the Lord Chancellor, by order from the King, made the proposi tion to both houses. The Duke was struck with the news of this, when i,t came to him to Brussels. I saw a letter writ by his Dutchess the next post ; in which she wrote, that as for all the high things that were said by their ene mies they looked for them, but that speech of the Lord Chancellor's was a surprise, and a great mortification to them. Their apprehensions of that did not hang long up on them; the exclusion was become the popular expe dient : so, after much debating, a bill was ordered for ex cluding the Duke of York. 1 will give you here a short abstract of all that was said, both within and without doors, for and against the exclusion. Arguments Those who argued for it laid it down for a foundation, agafnitthe that every person, who had the whole right of any thing in exclusion, him,, had likewise the power of transferring it to whom he OF KING CHARLES IT. 67 pleased ; so the King and parliament, being entirely pos- ^™J sessed of the whole authority of the nation, had a power to limit the succession, and every thing else relating to the nation, as they pleased ; and, by consequence, there was no such thing as a fundamental law, by which the power of parliament Was boimd up ; for no king and parliament, in any former age, had a power over the present King and parliament ; otherwise the government was not entire nor absolute. A father, how much soever determined by nature to provide for his children, yet had certainly a power of disinheriting them; without which, in some cases, the respeet due to him could not be preserved : the life of the King on the throne was not secure unless this was ac knowledged ; for if the next heir was a traitor, and could not be seized on, the King would be ill served in oppo sition to him if he could not bar his succession by an exclusion. Government was appointed for those that were to be governed, and not for the sake of governors them selves ; therefore all things relating to it were to be mea- \ sured by the public interest and the safety of the people. \ In none of God's appointments, in the Old Testament, ) regard was had to the eldest : Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Eph- raim, and more particularly Solomon, were preferred with out any regard to the next in line. In the several kingdoms of Europe the succession went according to particular laws, and not by any general law. In England, Spain, and Sweden, the heir general did succeed ; whereas it was only the heir male in France and Germany : and whereas the oath of allegiance tied us to the King and his heirs, the word heir was a term that imported that person who by law ought to succeed ; and so it fell by law to any person who was declared next in the succession. In England the heir of the king that reigned had been sometimes set aside, and the right of succession transferred to another person. Henry VII. set up his title on his possessing the crown. Henry VIII. got his two daughters, while they were by acts of parliament illegitimated, put in the succession: and he had a power given him to devise it after them, and their issue, at his pleasure. Queen Elizabeth, when she was in danger from the practices of the Queen of Scots, got an act to pass, asserting the power of the parliament to ' limit the succession of the crown. It was high treason to ^v*/ 68 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1679. deny this during her life ; and was still highly penal^o this day: all this was laid down jn general, to assert a power in the parliament tp exclude the next heir, if there was a just qauise for it, Now? as to the present case, the popish religion was so contrary to the whole frame and constitu tion of our government, as well as to that dignity inherent ip the crown, of being the head of the church, that a papist seemed to be brought under a disability to hold the crown. A great part of the property of the nation, the abbey lands, was shaken by the prospect pf such a succession- The perfidy and the cruelty of that religion made (he danger more sensible. Fires, and courts pf inquisition, were that which all must reckon for, who would npt redeem- 'them selves by an early and zealous conversion. The Duke's own temper was much insisted on. It appeared by all their lgtjers how much the papists depended on him ; and his pWU deportment shewed there was good reason for it : he would break through all limitatipns and call in a foreign ppwer rather than submit to them. Some mercenary law yers would give it for law, that the prerogative could not be limited, and tha,t a law limiting it was void of itself. Revenges for past injuries, when joined to a bigotry in religion, would be probably very violent. On the other hand, some argued against the exclusion, that it was unlawful in itself, and against the unalterable law of succession (which came to be the common phrase). Monarchy was said tp be by divine right, so the law could npt Edter what God had settled : yet few went at first so high. Much weight was laid on the oath of allegiance, that ti§4 us to the King's heirs ; and whoso was the heir When any mau took that oath, wag still the heir to him : all lawyers had great regard to fundamental laws ; and it was a maxim among our lawyers, that even an act of parlia ment against Magna Charts was null of itself. There was UP arguing from the changes in the course of the succes sion ; these had been the effects of prosperous rebellions. Nor from Henry VII.'s reigning in the right of his queen, and, yet not owning it tp be sp; nor was it strange, if in so violent a reign as Henry VIII.'s acts were made in pre* judice of the right of bipod : hutthough his daughters were made bastards by two several acts, yet it was notorious that they were both born in a state of marriage ; and when ^-v^ OF KING CHARLES II. 69 unlawful jnarriages were annulled, yet such issue as des- ^7% oended from them bona fide used not tp be illegitimated ; but though that king made a will pursuant to an act of parliament excluding the Scotish line, yet such regard the nation had to the next in blood, that, without examining the will, the Scotish line was received. It is true, Queen Elizabeth, out pf her hatred to the Queen of Scots, got the famed act to pass, that declares the parliament's power of limiting the succession ; but since that whole matter ended so fatally, and was the great blemish of her reign, it was not reasonable to build much on it : these were the argu ments of those who thought the parliament had not the power to enact an exclusipu of the next heir ; of which opinion the Earl of Essex was at this time : others did not go on these grounds ; but they said, that though a father has indeed a power of disinheriting his son, yet he ought never to exert it but upon a just and necessary occasion. It was not yet legally certain that the Duke was a papist : this was a condemning him unheard. A man's conscience was not even in his own power : it seemed therefore to be an unjustifiable severity, to cut off so great a right only for a point of opinion. It is true it might be reasonable to secure the nation from the ill effects that opinion might have upon them, which was fully done by the limitations ; but it was unjust to carry it further. The protestants had charged the church of Rome heavily for the league of France, in order to the excluding the house of Bourbon from the succession to the crown of France because of he resy; and this would make the charge return back upon us to our shame. In the case of infancy, or lunacy, guar dians were assigned; but the right was still in the true heir : a popish prince was considered as in that state ; and these limitations were like the assigning him guardians. The crown had been for several ages limited in the power of raising money ; to which it may be supposed a high- spirited king did not easily submit ; and yet we had long maintained this ; and might it not be hoped the limitations proposed might be maintained in,one reign, chiefly consider ing the zeal and the number of .those who were concerned to support them ? Other princes might think themselves obliged in honour and religion to assist him if he was quite excluded ; and it might be the occasion of a new popish w»/ 70 HISTORY OF THE REIGN a 679. league, that might be fatal to the whole protestant interest ; whereas, if the limitations passed, other princes would not so probably enter into the laws and establishment settled among us. It was said, many in the nation thought the exclusion unlawful ; but all would jointly concur in the limitations : so this was the securest way that compre hended the greatest part of the nation; and probably Scot land would not go into the exclusion ; but merit at the Duke's hands by asserting his title : so here was a foun dation of war round about us, as well as of great distrac tions among ourselves : some regard was to be had to the King's honour, who had so often declared, he would not consent to an exclusion ; but would to any limitations, how hard soever. These were the chief arguments upon which this debate was managed : for my own part, I did always look on it as a wild and extravagant conceit, to deny the lawfulness of an exclusion in any case Whatsoever ; but for a great while I thought the accepting the limitations was the wisest and best method. I saw the driving on the exclusion would probably throw us into great confusions, and therefore I made use of all the credit 1 had with many in both houses, to divert them from pursuing it, as they did, with such ea gerness, that they would hearken to nothing else : yet, when I saw the party so deeply engaged, and so violently set up on it, both Tillotson and I, who thought we had some in terest in Lord Hallifax, took great pains on him, to divert him from opposing it so furiously as he did ; for he became, as it were, the champion against the exclusion : I foresaw a great breach was like to follow, and that was plainly the game of popery, to keep us in such an unsettled state. This was like either to end in a rebellion, or in an abject submission of the nation to the humours of the court. I confess, that which I apprehended most was rebellion, though it turned afterwards quite the other way : but men of more experience, who bad better advantages to make a true judg ment of the temper of the nation, were mistaken as well as myself. All the progress that was made in this matter in the present parliament was, that the bill of exclusion was read twice in the House of Commons : but the parliament was dissolved before it came to a third reading. The Earl of Danby's prosecution was the point on which OF KING CHARLES II. 71 the parliament was broken. The bill of attainder for his 1679. wilful absence was passed by the Commons, and sent up Danb/T' to the Lords : but, when it was brought to the third reading, i>roseo»: he delivered himself, and was upon that sent to the Tower, Uon' upon which he moved for his trial. The man of the law he depended most upon, was Pollexfen, an honest, and learned, but perplexed lawyer : he advised him positively to stand upon his pardon: it was a point of prerogative, never yet judged against the crown, so he might in that case depend upon the House of Lords, and on the King's inter est there. It might perhaps, produce some act against all pardons for the future : but he thought he was secure in his pardon. It was both wiser, and more honourable, for the King, as well as for himself, to stand on this, than to enter into the matter of the letters, which would occasion many indecent reflections on both ; so he settled on this, and plead ed his pardon at the Lords' bar, to which the Commons put in a reply, questioning the validity of the pardon, on the grounds formerly mentioned, and they demanded a trial and judgment. Upon this, a famous debate arose, concerning the bishops' right of voting in any part of a trial for treason. It was said, that, though the bishops did not vote in the final judg ment, yet they had a right to vote in all preliminaries. Now the allowing, or not allowing the pardon to be good, was but a preliminary, and yet the whole matter was concluded by it. The Lords Nottingham and Roberts argued for the bishops voting ; but the Lords Essex, Shaftsbury, and Hol- ]is, were against it : many books were writ on both sides, of which an account shall be given afterwards ; but upon this debate, it was carried by the majority, that the bishops had a right to vote ; upon which the Commons said, they would not proceed, unless the bishops were obliged to with draw during the whole trial ; and, upon that breach, between the two houses, the parliament was prorogued, and soon after it was dissolved ; and the blame of this was cast chiefly on the bishops. The truth was, they desired to have with drawn, but the King would not suffer it: he was so set on maintaining the pardon, that he would not venture -such a point on the votes of the temporal lords; and he told the bishops, they must stick to him, arid to his prerogative, as they would expect that he should stick to them, if they came 72 HISTORY OF THfi REIGN 1679. to be pushed at : by this means they were exposed to the """^ popular fury. a great heat Hot people began every where to censufe them; as a set Ig'ahfst the &f men' that for their own end's, and for every punctilio that ciergj. they pretended to, would expose the nation arid the pro testant religion to mih ; and, in revenge for this, nvaily be gan to declare openly in favour of the nonconformists; arid, upon this, the nonconformists behaved themselves very in decently : for, though many of the more moderate of the clergy were trying if an advantage might be taken from the ill state we were in to heal those breaches that were among us, they on their part fell very Severely upon the body df the clergy. The act that restrained the presis was to last only to the end of the first session of the next parliament that should meet after that was dissolved. So- now, upon the end of the session, the act not being revived, the press was open, and it became very licentious, both against the court and the clergy'; arid in this the nonconformists had so great a hand, that the bishops and elergy, apprehending that a rebellion, and with it the pulling the church to pieces, was designed, set themselves- on the other hand to write against the late times, and to draw a parallel between the present times and them, which was not decently enough managed' by those who undertook the argument, and! who were believed to be set on and' paid by the court for1 it. The occa- The chief manager of all those angry writings; was one Sir fon_.*d Roger- L'Estrange, a man who had lived in all the late that heat, times, and was furnished with mahy passages, and an un exhausted copiousness in writings ; so that for four years he published three or four sheets a week, under the title of " The ObservatOr," all tending to defame the contrary party, and to make the clergy apprehend that their ruin was de» signed. This had all the success he could have wished, as it drew considerable sums that were raised to acknowledge the service he did : upon this, the greater part of the clergy, who were already much prejudiced against that party, be ing now both sharpened and furnished by these papers; de livered thernselvesup to much heat and indiscretion, wMch was vented both in their pulpits and' common conversation, and most particularly, at the elections of parliament men: and this drew much hatred and censure upon them. They seemed now to lay down all fears and apprehensions of OF KING CHARLES II. 73 popery, and nothing was so common in their mouths as 1679. the year 1641, in which the late wars begun, and which ^'*-' seemed now to be near the being acted over again: both city and country were full of many indecencies that broke out on this occasion; but, as there were too many of the clergy, whom the heat of their tempers, and the hope of pre ferment, drove to such extravagancies, so there were still many worthy and eminent men among them, whose Jives and labours did in a great measure rescue the church from those reproaches that the follies of others drew upon it. Such were, besides those whom I have often named, Ten- nison, Sharp, Patrick, Sherlock, Fowler, Scot, Calamy, Claget, Cudworth^two Mores, Williams, and many others, whom though I knew not so particularly as to give all their characters, yet they deserved a high one, and were indeed an honour, both to the church and to the age in which they lived. I return from this digression to give an account of the Arguments arguments by which that debate concerning the bishops °l^^t lhe voting in preliminaries was maintained. It was said, the bishops bishops were one of three estates, of which the parliament J veihnina- 6 was composed, and that therefore they ought to have a lies in l"a's share in all parliamentary matters: that, as the temporal0 lords transmitted their honours and fees to their heirs, so the bishops did transmit theirs to their successors ; and they satin parliament, both as they were the prelates of the church and barons of the realm : but, in the time of popery, when they had a mind to withdraw themselves wholly from the King's courts, and resolved to form themselves into a state apart, upon this attempt of theirs our kings' would not dis pense with their attendance : and then several regulations were made, chiefly the famed ones at Clarendon ; not so much intended as restraints on them in the use of their rights as they were barons, as obligations on them to per form all, but those that in compliance with their desires were then excepted. The clergy, who had a mind to be ex cused from all parliamentary attendance, obtained leave to withdraw in judgments of life and death, as unbecoming their profession and contrary to their canons. Princes were the more inclinable to this, because bishops might be mose apt to lean to the merciful side : and the judgments of par liament in that time were commonly in favour of the crowri VOL. n. l ^v^ 74 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1679. against the barons ; so the bishops had leave given them to withdraw from these : but they had a right to name a proxy for the clergy, or to protest for saving their rights in all other points as peers : so that this was rather a concession in their favour than a restraint imposed on them ; and they did it on design to get out of these courts as much as they could : at the Reformation all such practices as were contrary to the king's prerogative were condemned : so it was said, that the king having a right by his prerogative to demand justice in parliament against such as he should ac cuse there, none of the peers could be excused from that, by any of the constitutions made in the time of popery, which were all condemned at the Reformation : the protest ation they made in their asking leave to withdraw shewed it was a voluntary act of theirs, and not imposed on them by the law of parliament : the words of the article of Cla rendon seemed to import, that they might sit during the trial, till it came to the final judgment and sentence of life or limb ; and, by consequence, that they might vote in the prehmiriaries. On the other hand, it was argued, that bishops could not judge the temporal lords as their peers : for if they were to be tried for high treason, they were to be judged only by a jury °f commoners ; and, since their honour was not he reditary, they could not be the peers of those whose blood was dignified : and, therefore, though they were a part of that house^ with relation to the legislature and judicature, yet the difference between a personal and hereditary peer age made that they could not be the judges of the tempo ral lords, as not being to be tried by them : the custom of parliament was the law of parliament; and, since they had never judged in these cases, they could not pretend to it : their protestation was only in bar to the lords doing any thing besides the trial during the time they were withdrawn : the Words of the article of Clarendon must relate to the whole trial as one complicated thing, though it might run out into many branches : and, since the final sentence did often turn upon, the preliminaries, the voting in these was upon the matter the voting in the final sentence : what ever might be the first inducements to frame those articles of the clergy, which at this distance must be dark and un certain, yet the laws and practice pursuant to them were OF KING CHARLES II. 75 still in force : by the act of Henry the eighth it was pro- ie?9. vided, that, till a new body of canon law should be formed, v>*v*»' that which was then received should be still in force, un less it was contrary to the king's prerogative or the law of the land ; and it was a remote and forced inference to pre tend, that the prerogative was concerned in this matter. Thus the point was argued on both sides : Dr. Stilling- stiiiingfleet fleet gave upon this occasion a great proof of his being able JJ™ p0™t, to make himself the master of any argument which he un- undertook : for, after the lawyers, and others conversant in parliament records, in particular the Lord Hollis, who un dertook the argument with great vehemence, had writ many books about it, he published a treatise, that discovered more skill and exactness in judging those matters than all that had gone before him : and, indeed, he put an end to the controversy in the opinion of all impartial men. He proved the right that the bishops had to vote in those prelimina ries beyond contradiction, in my opinion, both from our records and from our constitution : but now in the interval of parliament other matters come to be related. The King upon the prorogation of the parliament became Th's interest, and re- aii sides, solved to pass that winter without a parliament; upon OF KJNG CHARLES II. 91 which, the Lords Russel and Cavendish, Sir Henry Capel, 1679. and Mr. Powel, four of the new counsellors, desired to be ^^ excused from their attendance in council. Several of those who were put in the Admiralty, and in other commissions desired likewise to be dismissed ; with this, the King was so highly offended, that he became more sullen and intrac table than he had ever been before. The men that governed now, were the Earl of Sunderland, Godoiphins Lord Hyde, and Godolphin ; the last df these was a younger chriTacter brother of an ancient family in Cornwall, that had been bred about the King from a page, and was now considered as one of the ablest men that belonged to the court : he was the silentest and modestest man that was perhaps ever bred in a court. He had a clear apprehension, and dispatched business with great method, and with so much temper, that he had no personal enemies; but his silence begot a jea lousy, which has hung long upon him : his notions were for the court, but his incorrupt and sincere way of managing the concerns of the Treasury, created in all people a very high esteem for him : he loved gaming the most of any man Of business I ever knew, and gave one reason for it — because it delivered him from the obligation to talk much. He had true principles of religion and virtue, and was free from all vanity, and never heaped up wealth ; so that all things be ing laid together, he was one of the worthiest and wisest men that has been employed in our time, and he has had much of the confidence of four of our succeeding princes. In the spring of the year 1680, the Duke had leave to 1680. come to England, and continued about the King till the next winter, that the parliament was to sit. Foreign affairs seemed to be forgot by our court ; the Prince of Orange had projected an alliance against France, and most of the Ger- Ad alliance man princes were much disposed to come into it, for the ^g|*'"tted French had set up a new court at Metz, in which many France. princes were, under the pretence of dependencies, and some old forgot or forged titles, judged to belong to the new French conquests. This was a mean, as well as a perfi dious practice, in which the court of France raised much more jealousy and hatred against themselves, than could ever be balanced by such small accessions as were adjudged by that mock court. The Earl of Sunderland entered into a particular confidence with the Prince of Orange, which 92 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1680. he managed by his uncle, Mr. Sidney, who was sent envoy /"** to Holland : the Prince seemed confident; that if England would come heartily into it, a strong confederacy might then have been formed against France. Van Beuning was then in England, and he wrote to the town of Amsterdam, that they could not depend on the faith or assistance of Eng land : he assured them, the court was still in the French in terest; he also looked on the jealousy between the court and the country party, as then so high, thaj; he did not be lieve it possible to heal matters so as to encourage the King to enter into any alliance that might draw on a war ; for the King seemed to set that up for a maxim, that his going into a war, was the putting himself into the hands of his parlia ment, and was fiimly resolved against it : yet the project of a league was formed, and the King seemed inclined to go into it, as soon as matters could be well adjusted at home. 'I?e ele^on There was this year at Midsummer a new practice begun riff of Lon- in the city of London, that produced very ill consequences. don. rjin£, c^ Qf _onrion has by charter the chrivalry of Mid dlesex, as well as of the city ; and the two sheriffs were to be chosen on Midsummer Day ; but the common method had been for the lord mayor to name one of the sheriffs by drinking to him on a public occasion, and that nomi nation was commonly confirmed by the common hall; and then they named the other sheriff : the truth was, the way in which the sheriffs lived, made it a charge of about 5000/. a year ; so they took little care about it, but only to find men that would bear the charge ; which recommended them to be chosen alderman upon the next vacancy, and to rise up according to their standing to the mayoralty, which generally went in course to the senior alderman : when a person was set up to be sheriff that would not serve, he compounded the matter for 400?. fine. All juries were re turned by the sheriffs, but they commonly left that wholly in the hands of their under-sheriffs ; so it was now pretend ed that it was necessary to look a little more carefully after this matter. The under-sheriffs were generally attorneys, and might be easily brought under the management of the court ; so it was proposed, that the sheriffs should be chosen with more care, not so much that they might keep good ta bles, as that they should return good juries. The person to whom the present mayor had drunk, was set aside ; and OF KING CHARLES II. 93 Bethel and Cornish were chosen sheriffs for the ensuing i°"80. year. Bethel was a man of knowledge, and had wrote a ^^ very judicious book of the interests of princes : but as he was a known republican in principle, so he was a sullen and wilful man ; and turned from the ordinary way of a sheriff's living into the extreme of sordidness, which was very unacceptable to the body of the citizens, and proved a great prejudice to the party. Cornish, the other sheriff, was a plain, warm, honest man ; and lived very nobly all his year. The court was very jealous of this, and under stood it to be done on design to pack juries : so that the party should be always safe, whatever they might engage in. It was said, that the King would not have common justice done him hereafter against any of them, how guilty soever. The setting up Bethel gave a great colour to this jealousy; for it was said, he had expressed his approving the late King's death in very indecent terms. These two persons had never before received the sacrament in the church, being independents ; but they did it now to qualify themselves for this office, which gave great advantages against the whole party : it was said, that the serving an end was a good resolver of all cases of conscience, and purged all scruples. Thus matters went on till the winter 1680, in which the King resolved to hold a session of parliament ; he sent the Duke to Scotland a few days before their meeting : and up on that the Dutchess of Portsmouth declared openly for the exclusion ; and so did Lord Sunderland and Godolphin. Lord Sunderland assured all people, that the King was re solved to settle matters with his parliament on any terms, since the interest of England and the affairs of Europe made a league against France indispensably necessary at that time ; which could not be done without a good understand ing at home. Lord Sunderland sent Lord Arran for me ; I declined this new acquaintance as much as I could, but it could not be avoided : he seemed then very zealous for a happy settlement: and this I owe him injustice, that though he went off from the measures he was in at that time, yet he still continued personally kind to myself. Now the great point was, whether the limitations should be accepted, and The bin of treated about, or the exclusion be pursued : Lord Hallifax ^in t'aken assured me, that any limitations whatsoever, that should np- WW 94 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 168°- leave the title of King to the Duke, though it should be lit tle more than a mere title, might be obtained of the King : but that he was positive and fixed against the exclusion. It is true, this was in a great measure imputed to his ma nagement, and that he had wrought the King up to it. The most specious handle for recommending the limita tions was this — the Duke declared openly against them ; so if the King should have agreed to them, it must have oc casioned a breach between him and the Duke : and it seem ed to be very desirable to have them once fall out ; since, as soon as that was brought about, the King, of his own accord aud for his own security, might be moved to pro mote the exclusion. The tiuth is, Lord Hallifax's hatred of the Earl of Shaftsbury, and his vanity in desiring to have his own notion preferred, sharpened him at that time to much indecency in his whole deportment ; but the party depended on the hopes that Lady Portsmouth and Lord Sunderland gave them : many meetings were appointed be tween Lord Hallifax and some leading men ; in which as , he tried to divert them from the exclusion, so they studied to persuade him to it, both without effect. The majority had engaged themselves to promote "the exclusion ; Lord Russel moved it first in the House of Commons, and was seconded by Capel, Montague, and Winnington : Jones came into the House a few days after this, and went with great zeal into it : Jenkins, now made secretary of state in Coventry's place, was the chief manager for the court. He was a man of an exemplary life, and considerably learned ; but he was dull and slow : he was suspected of leaning to popery, though very unjustly ; but he was set on every punctilio of the church of England to superstition, and was a great assertor of the divine right of monarchy, and was for carrying the prerogative high. He neither spoke nor writ well : but being so eminent for the most courtly qualifications, other matters were the more easily dispensed with. All his speeches and arguments against the exclu sion, were heard with indignation : so the bill was brought into the House. It was moved by those who opposed it, that the Duke's daughters might be named in it, as the next Passed by in the succession : but it was said, that was not necessary ; for sirice the Duke was only personally disabled, as if he had been actually dead, that carried the succession over to the Com mons , OF KING CHARLES II. 95 his daughters : yet this gave ajealousy, as if it was intended 168° to keep that matter still undetermined ; and that upon v"v*'' another occasion it might be pretended, that the disabling the Duke to succeed did likewise disable him to derive that right to others, which was thus cut off in himself; but though they would not name the Duke's daughters, yet they sent such assurances to the Prince of Orange, that nothing thus proposed could be to his prejudice, that he belieyed them, and declared his desire, that the King would fully satisfy his parliament. The States sent over memo rials to the King, pressing him to consent to the exclusion. The Prince did not openly appear in this ; but it being managed by Fagel, it was understood that he approved of it ; and this created a hatred in the Duke to him, which was never to be removed. Lord Sunderland and Sidney's means engaged the States into it; and he fancied it might have some effect: The bill of exclusion was quickly brought up to the lords. The Earls of Essex and Shaftsbury argued most for it ; and the Earl of Hallifax was the champion on the other side. He gained great honour in the debate, and had a visible superiority to Lord Shaftsbury in the opinion of But rejected the whole House ; and that was to him triumph enough : in Lords. conclusion, the bill was thrown out upon the first reading. The country party brought it nearer an equality than was imagined they could do, considering the King's earnestness in it, and that the whole bench of the bishops was against it. The Commons were inflamed when they saw the fate of their bill : they voted an address to the King to remove Lord Hallifax from his counsels and presence for ever ; which was an unparliamentary thing, since it was visible that it was for his arguing as he did in the House of Lords, though they pretended it was for his advising the disso lution of the last parliament ; but that was a thin disguise of their anger : yet without destroying the freedom of de bate, they could not found their address on that which was the true cause of it. Russel and Jones, though formerly Lord Hallifax's friends, thought it was enough not to speak against him in the House of Commons ; but they sat silent: some called him a papist ; others said he was an atheist. Chichely, that had married his mother, moved that I might be sent for to satisfy the House as to the truth of his reli- 96 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1680. gion. I wish I could have said as much as to have per- ^^ suaded them that he was a gqod Christian, as that he was no papist. I was at that time in a very good character in that House. The first volume of the History of the Refor mation was then out ; and was so well received, that I had the thanks of both Houses for it, and was desired by both to prosecute that work. The parliament had made an address to the King for a fast day : — Dr. Sprat and I were ordered to preach before the House of Commons ; my turn was in the morning : I mentioned nothing relating to the plot, but what appeared in Coleman's letters ; yet I laid open the cruelties of the church of Rome, in many instances that happened in Queen Mary's reign, which were not then known : and I aggravated, though very truly, the danger of falling under the power of that religion. I pressed also a mutual forbearance among ourselves in lesser matters ; but I insisted most on the impiety and vices that had worn out all sense of religion, and all regard to it among us. Sprat, in the afternoon, went further into the belief of the plot than I had done ; but he insinuated his fears of their undutiful- ness to the King in such a manner, that they were highly offended at him : so the Commons did not send him thanks, as they did to me ; which raised his merit at court, as it increased the displeasure against mc. Sprat had studied a polite style much; but there was little strength in it: he had the beginnings of learning well laid in him ; but he has allowed himself, in a course of some years, in much sloth, and too many liberties. The King sent many messages to the House of Com mons, pressing for a supply ; first for preserving Tangier, he being then in a war with the King of Fez, which by reason of the distance put him to much charge ; but chiefly for enabling him to go into alliances necessary for the common preservation. The House The House upon that made a long representation to the proceeded"8 King of the dangers that both he and they were in ; and against assured him they would do eveiy thing that he could ex- sCTwitj'. Pect of them, as soon as they were well secured : by which they meant, as soon as the exclusion should pass, and that bad ministers, and ill judges should be removed. They renewed their address against Lord Hallifax; and made addresses both against the Marquis of Worcester, soon ^^ OF KING CHARLES II. 97 after made Duke of Beaufort, and against Lord Clarendon 168°- and Hyde, as men inclined to popery. Hyde spoke so yehementiy to vindicate himself from the suspicions of popery, that he cried in his speech : and Jones, upon the score pf old friendship, got the words relating to popery to be struck out of the address against him. The Commons also impeached several of the judges, and Mr. Seymour : the judges were accused for some illegal charges and judg ments; and Seymour for corruption and male-adminis tration in the office of treasurer of the navy. They im peached Scroggs for high treason; but it was visible that ' the matters objected to him were only misdemeanors : so the Lords rejected the impeachment, which was carried chiefly by the Earl of Danby's party, and in favour to him. The Commons did also assert the right of the people to petition for a parliament; and because some in their coun ter-petitions had expressed their abhorrence of this prac tice, they voted these abhorrers to be betrayers of the liberties of the nation. They expelled one Withins out of their House for signing one of these, though he with great humility confessed his fault, and begged pardon for it. The merit of this raised him soon to be a judge ; for indeed he had no other merit. They fell also on Sir George Jef feries, a furious declaimer at the bar ; but he was raised by that, as well as by this prosecution The House did likewise send their serjeant to many parts of England to bring up abhorrers as delinquents ; upori which the right that they had to imprison any besides their own members, came to be much questioned, since they could not receive an information upon oath, nor proceed against such as refused to appear before them. In many places those for whom they sent their serjeant refused to come up. It was found, that such practices were grounded on no law, and were no older than Queen Elizabeth's time. While the House of Commons used that power gently, it was sub mitted to in respect to it ; but now it grew to be so much extended, that many resolved not to submit to it. The former parliament had passed a very strict act for the due execution of the habeas corpus, which was indeed all they did : it was carried by an odd artifice in the House of Lords. Lord Grey and Lord Norris were named to be the tellers : Lord Norris, being a man subject to vapours, VOL. II. o 98 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1680. was not at all times attentive to what he was doing ; so a l^'w very fat lord coming in, Lord Grey counted him for ten, as a jest at first ; but seeing Lord Norris had not observed it, he went on with this misreckoning of ten ; so it was reported to the House, and declared that they who were for the bill were the majority, though it indeed went" on the other side ; and by this means the bill passed. There was a bold forward man, Sheridan, a native of Ireland, whom the Commons committed ; and he moved for his habeas corpus : some of the judges were afraid of the House, and kept out of the way ; but Baron Weston had the courage to grant it. The session went yet into a higher strain; for they voted, that all anticipations on any branches of the revenue were against law, and that whosoever lent any money upon the credit of those anticipations, were public enemies to the kingdom : upon this it was said, that the parliament would neither supply the King themselves, nor suffer him to make use of his credit, which every private man might do. They said, on the other hand, that they looked on the revenue as a public treasure, that was to be kept clear of all anticipations, and not as a private estate that might be mortgaged : and they thought, when all other means of supply, except by parliament, were stopped, that must certainly bring the King to their terms : yet the cla mour raised on this, as if they had intended to starve the King, and blast his credit, was a great load on them, and. their vote had no effect ; for the King continued to have the same credit that he had before. Another vote went much An associa- higher : it was for an association, copied from that in posed™ Queen Elizabeth's time, for the revenging the King's death upon all papists, if he should happen to be killed. The precedent of that time was a specious colour ; but this dif ference was assigned between the two cases : Queen Eli zabeth was in no danger but from papists ; so that asso ciation struck a terror into that whole party, which did prove a real security to her ; and therefore her ministers set it on ; but now, it was said, there were many repub licans still in the nation, and many of Cromwell's officers were yet alive, who seemed not to repent of what they had done ; so some of these might by this means be encouraged to attempt on the King's life, presuming that both the sus picions and revenges of it would be cast upon the Duke OF KING CHARLES II. 99 and the papists. Great use was made of this to possess all 1680. pepple, that this association was intended to destroy the 1^"*"' King, instead of preserving him. There was not much done in the House of Lords after Expedients they threw out the bill of exclusion. Lord Hallifax indeed ^House pressed them to go on to limitations ; and he began with of Lords. one, that the Duke should be obliged to live five hundred miles out of England during the King's life ; but the House was cold and backward in all that matter. Those that were really the Duke's friends abhorred all those motions ; and Lord Shaftsbury and his party laughed at them : they were resolved to let all lie in confusion, rather than hearken to any thing besides the exclusion. The House of Com mons seemed also to be so set against that project, that very little progress was made in it. Lord Essex made a motion, which was agreed to in a thin house ; but it put an end to all discourses of that nature : he moved that an association should be entered into to maintain those expe- , dients, and that some cautionary towns should be put into the hands of the associators during the King's life to make them good after his death. The King looked on this as a deposing of himself. He had read more in Davila than in any other book of history ; and he had a clear view into the consequences of such things, and looked on this as worse than the exclusion ; so that, as Lord Hallifax often observed to me, this whole management looked like a design to unite the King more entirely to the Duke, instead of separating him from him. The King came to think that he himself was levelled at chiefly, though for decency's sake his brother was only named : the truth was, the lead ing men thought they were sure of the nation, and of all future elections, as long as popery was in view. They fancied the King must have a parliament, and money from it very soon, and that in conclusion he would come into them. He was much beset by all the hungry courtiers, who longed for a bill of money : they studied to persuade him, from his father's misfortunes, that the longer he was in yielding, the terms would grow the higher. They relied much on the Lady Portsmouth's interest, Dutchess of who did openly declare herself for the House of Commons : ^°^>s and they were so careful of her, that when one moved that conduct in an address should be made to the King for sending her this matter 100 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1680. away, he could not be heard, though at another time such "p^ a motion would have been better entertained. Her beha- stood.UD r viour in this matter was unaccountable ; and the Duke's behaviour to her afterwards looked liker an acknowledg ment than a resentment. Many refined upon it, and thought she was set on as a decoy to keep the party up to the exclusion, that they might not hearken to the limitations. The Duke was assured, that the King would not grant the one, and so she was artificially managed to keep them from the other, to which the King would have consented, and .of which the Duke was most afraid; but this was too fine : she was hearty for the exclusion, of which I had this particular account from Montague, who, I believe, might be the person that laid the bait before her. It was proposed to her, that if she could bring the King to the exclusion, and to some other popular things, the parliament would go next to prepare a bill for securing the King's person ; in which a clause might be carried, that the King might de clare the successor to the crown, as had been done in Henry the Eighth's time : this would very much raise the King's authority, and would be no breach with the Prince of Orange ; but would rather oblige him to a greater de pendence on the King. The Duke of Monmouth and his party would certainly be for this clause, since he could have no prospect any other way; and he would please himself with the hopes of being preferred by the King to any other person : but since the Lady Portsmouth found she was so absolutely the mistress of the King's spirit, she might reckon, that if such an act could be carried, the King would be prevailed on to declare her son his successor; and it was suggested to her, that in order to the strengthen ing her son's interest, she ought to treat for a match with the King of France's natural daughter, now the Dutchess of Bourbon ; and thus the Duke of Monmouth and she Were brought to an agreement to carry on the exclusion, and that other act pursuant to it ; and they thought they were making tools of one another, to carry on their owh ends. The nation was possessed with such a distrust of the King, that there was no reason to think they could ever be brought to so entire a confidence in him, as to deliver up themselves and their posterity so blindfold into his hands, Montague assured me, that she not only acted OP KING CHARLES II. 101 heartily in this matter, but she once drew the King to con- 1680. sent to it, if she might have had 800,000Z. for it ; and that s-^*%^ was afterwards brought down to 600,000?.; but the jealou sies upon the King himself were such, that the managers in the House of Commons durst not move for giving money till the bill of exclusion should pass, lest they should have lost their credit by such a motion; and the King would not trust them ; so near was this point brought to an agree ment, if Montague told me true. That which reconciled the Duke to the Dutchess of Portsmouth was, that the King assured him, she did all by his order, that so she might have credit with the party, and see into their designs : upon which the Duke saw it was necessary to believe this, or at least to seem to believe it. The other great business of this parliament was the trial Stafford's of the Viscount of Stafford, who was the younger son of tnal' the old Earl of Arundell, and so was uncle to the Duke of Norfolk. He was a weak, but a fair-conditioned man : he was in ill terms with his nephew's family ; and had been guilty of great vices in his youth, which had almost proved fatal to him ; he married the heiress of the great family of the Staffords. He thought the King had not rewarded him for his former services as he had deserved ; so he often voted against the court, and made great applications always to the Earl of Shaftsbury. He was in no good terms with the Duke ; for the great consideration the court had of his nephew's family, made him to be the most neglected. When Oates deposed first against him, he happened to be out of the way ; and he kept out a day longer ; but the day after he came in and delivered himself; which, considering the feebleness of his temper, and the heat of that time, was thought a sign of innocence. Oates and Bedlow swore, he had a patent to be paymaster-general to the army. Dug dale swore, that he offered him 500Z. to kill the King. Bedlow had died the summer before at Bristol. It was in the time of the assizes ; North, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, being there, he sent for him, and by oath confirmed all that he had sworn formerly, except that which related to the Queen and to the Duke. He also denied, upon oath, that any person had ever practised upon him, or corrupted him. His disowning some of the particulars which he had sworn had an appearance of sincerity, and *-%-*; 102 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1680. gave much credit to his former depositions. I could never hear what sense he expressed of the other ill parts of his life, for he vanished soon out of alj men's thoughts. Another witness appeared against Lord Stafford, one Turbervill, who swore, that in the year 1675, the Lord Stafford had taken much pains to persuade him to kill the King : he began the proposition to him at Paris, and sent him by the way of Dieppe over to England, telling him, that he intended to follow by the same road ; but he wrote after wards to him, that he was to go by Calais : but he said he never went to see him upon his coming to England. Tur bervill swore the year wrong at first ; but, upon recollection, he went and corrected that error. This, at such a distance of time, seemed to be no great matter; it seemed much stranger, that after such discourses once begun, he should never go near the Lord Stafford, and that Lord Stafford should never inquire after him : but there was a much more material objection to him. Turbervill, upon discourse with some in St. Martin's parish, seemed inclined to change his religion : they brought him to Dr. Lloyd, then their minis ter ; and he convinced him so fully, that he changed upon it, and after that he came often to him, and was chiefly sup ported by him : for some months he was constantly at his table. Lloyd had pressed him to recollect all that he had heard among the papists, relating to plots and designs against the King or the nation. He said, that which all the converts at that time said often, that they had it among them, that within a very little while their religion would be set up in England, and that some of them said, a great deal of blood would be shed before it could be brought about ; but he protested that he knew no particulars: after some months' dependence on Lloyd, he withdrew entirely from him, and he saw him no more, till he appeared now an evi dence against Lord Stafford : Lloyd was in great difficul ties upon that pccasion. It had been often declared, that the most solemn denials of witnesses, before they make dis coveries, did not at all invalidate their evidence, and that it imported no more, but that they had been so long firm to their promise of revealing nothing; so that this negative evidence against Turbervill could have done Lord Stafford no service: on the other hand, considering the load that al ready lay on Lloyd, on the account of Berry's business, and OF KING CHARLES II. 103 that his being a little before this time promoted to be Bishop 1680. of St. Asaph was imputed to that, it was visible that his v^'%/ discovering this against Turbervill would have aggravated those censures, and very much blasted him. In opposition to all this here was a justice to be done, and a service to truth, towards the saving a man's life; and the question was very hard to be determined : he advised with all his friends, and with myself in particular. The much greater number were of opinion that he ought to be silent : I said, my own behaviour in Staley's affair shewed what I would do, if I was in that case ; but his circumstances were very different, so I concurred with the rest as to him : he had ano ther load on him ; he had writ a book with very sincere in tentions, but upon a very tender point : he proposed, that a discrimination should be made between the regular priests , that were in a dependence, and under directions from Rome, and, the secular priests that would renounce the pope's de posing power, and his infallibility : he thought this would raise heats among themselves, and draw censures from Rome dn the seculars, which in conclusion might have very good effects. This was very plausibly writ, and de signed with great sincerity ; but angry men said, all this was intended only to take off so much from the apprehen sions that the nation had of popery, and to give a milder idea of a great body among them ; and, as soon as it had that effect, it was probable that all the missionaries would have leave given them to put on that disguise, and to take those discriminating tests till they had once prevailed, and then they would throw them off. Thus the most zealous man against popery that I ever yet knew, and the man of the most entire sincerity, was so heavily censured at this time, that it was not thought fit, nor indeed safe, for him to declare what he knew concerning Turbervill. The trial was very august : the Earl of Nottingham was the Lord High Steward : it continued five days. On the first day the Commons brought only general evidence to prove the plot : Smith swore some things that had been said to him at Rome, of killing the King : an Irish priest, that had been long in Spain, confirmed many particulars in Oates's narrative : then the witnesses deposed all that re lated to the plot in general. To all this Lord Stafford said little, as not being much concerned in it ; only he declared <-N-*/ 1Q4 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1680. that he was always against the Pope's power of deposing princes. He also observed a great difference between the gunpowder plot and that which was now on foot : that in the former, all the chief conspirators died confessing the fact ; but that now all died with the solemnest protestations of their innocence. On the second day, the evidence against himself was brought : he urged against Oates that he swore he had gone in among them, on design to betray them ; so that he had been for some years taking oaths, and receiving sacraments, in so treacherous a manner, that no credit could be given to a man that was so black by his own confession. On the third day he brought his evidence to discredit the witnesses : his servants swore, that while he was at the Lord Aston's Dugdale never was in his chamber but once ; and that was on the account of a foot-race. Some deposed against Dugdale's reputation ; and one said, that he had been practising on himself to swear as he should direct him. The minister of the parish and another gentleman deposed, that they heard nothing from Dugdale concerning the kill ing a justice of peace in Westminster, which, as he had sworn, he had said to them. As to Turbervill, who had said that the Lord Stafford was at that time in a fit of the gout, his servants said, they never knew him in a fit of the gout: and he himself affirmed, he never had one in his whole life. He also proved that he did not intend to come to England by Dieppe ; for he had wrote for a yacht, which met him at Calais : he also proved by several witnesses, that both Dugdale and Turbervill had often said, that they knew no thing of any plot ; and that Turbervill had lately said, he would set up for a witness, for none lived so well as wit nesses did : he- insisted likewise on the mistake of the year, and on Turbervill's never coming near him after he came over to England. The strongest part of his defence was, that he made it out unanswerably, that he was not at the Lord Aston's on one of the times that Dugdale had fixed on ; for at that time he was either at Bath or at Badminton : for Dugdale had once fixed on a day ; though afterwards he said it was about that time : now that day happened to be the Marquis of Worcester's wedding day ; and on that day it was fully proved that he was at Badminton, that Lord's house, not far from the Bath. On the fourth day, proofs were brought to support the credit of the witnesses : OF KING CHARLES II. 105 it was made out, that Dugdale had served the Lord Aston 168°- long, and with great reputation. It was now two full years ^^ since he began to make discoveries ; and in all that time, they had not found any one particular to blemish him with ; though no doubt they had taken pains to examine into his life. His publishing the news of Godfrey's death was well made out, though two persons in the company had not minded it : many proofs were brought, that he was often in Lord Stafford's company, of which many more affidavits were made after that Lord's death. Two women, that were still papists, swore, that upon the breaking out of the plot, he searched into many papers, and burnt them : he gave ma ny of these to one of the women to fling in the fire ; but finding a book of accounts he laid that aside, saying, there is no treason here, which imported that he thought the others were treasonable : he proved that one of the wit nesses brought against him, was so infamous in all respects, that Lord Stafford himself was convinced of it : he said, he had only pressed a man, who now appeared against him, to discover all he knew : he said, at such a distance of time, he might mistake as to time or a day ; but could not be mistaken as to the things themselves. Turbervill described both the street and the room in Paris^ in which he saw Lord Stafford. He found a witness that saw him at Dieppe, to whom he complained, that a lord, for whom he looked, had failed him : and, upon that, he said, he was no good staff to lean on; by which, though he did not name the lord, he believed he meant Lord Stafford. Dugdale and he both confessed they had denied long that they knew any thing of the plot, which was the effect of the resolution they had taken, to which they adhered long, of discovering no thing : it was also proved that Lord Stafford was often lame, Which Turbervill took for the gout. On the fifth day, Lord Stafford resumed all his evidence, and urged every particu lar very strongly. Jones, in the name of the Commons, did on the other hand resume the evidence against him with great force : he said indeed nothing for supporting Oates ; for the objection against him was not to be answered : he made it very clear that Dugdale and Turbervill were two good witnesses* and were not at all discredited by any thing that was brdl^fct against them. When it came to the He was giving of judgment, above fifty of the peers gave it against VOL. II. p service. 106 HISTORY OF THE REIGN isro. Lord Stafford, and above thirty acquitted him: four of the Howards, his kinsmen, condemned him : Lord Arundell, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, though in enmity with him, did acquit him. Duke Lauderdale condemned him: and so did both the Earls of Nottingham and Anglesea. Lord Hal lifax acquitted him. Lord Nottingham when he gave judg ment, delivered it with one of the best speeches he had ever made ; but he committed one great indecency in it : for he said, who can doubt any longer that London was burnt by papists, though there was not one word in the whole trial relating to that matter. Lord Stafford behaved himself -during the whole time, and at the receiving his sentence, with much more constancy than was expected from him. He sent for. Within two days after, he sent a message to the Lords, ployed me desiring that the Bishop of London and I might be appointed to do hnn t0 come to him. We waited on him : his design seemed to be only to. possess us with an opinion of his innocence, of c which he made very solemn protestations. He heard us .speak of the points in differeuce, between us and the church ,of Rome, with great temper and attention. At parting, he desired me to come back to him next day ; for he had a mind to be more particular with me. When 1 came to him, .he repeated the protestations of his innocence ; and said, he was confident the villany of the witnesses would soon appear : he did not doubt I should see it in less than a year. I pressed him in several points of religion; and urged several things, which he said he had never heard be fore. He said, these things on another occasion would have made some impression upon him, but he had now little time, therefore he would lose none in controversy : so I let that discourse fall. I talked to him of those preparations for death, in which all Christians agree ; he entertained , these very seriously. He had a mind to live, if it was pos sible ; he said, he could discover nothing with relation to the King's life, protesting that there was not so much as an •intimation about it that had ever passed among them : but he added, that he could discover many other things, that were more material than any thing that was yet known, and for .which the Duke wpujd never forgive him ; and of these, if that might save his life, he would make a full discovery : I stopped him when he was going on to particulars, for I would not be a confident in any thing in which the public OF KING-CHARLES II. 107 safety was concerned : he knew best the importance of those 1680. secrets, and so he could only judge, whether it would be of ^-*+* that-value as to prevail with the two houses to interpose with the King for his pardon : he seemed to think it would be of great use, chiefly to support what they were then driv ing on with relation to the Duke : he desired me to speak to Lord Essex, Lord Russel, and Sir William Jones ; I brought him their answer the next day, which was, that if he did discover all he knew concerning the papists' designs, and more particularly concerning the Duke, they would en deavour that it should not be insisted on, that he must con fess those particulars for which he was judged : he asked me, what if he should name some who had now great credit, but had once engaged to serve their designs? I said nothing. could be more acceptable than the discovering such dis guised papists, or false protestants : yet, upon this, I charg ed him solemnly not to think of redeeming his own life by accusing any other falsely, but to tell the truth, and all the truth, as far as the common safety was concerned in it. As we were discoursing of these matters, the Earl of Carlisle came in; in his hearing, by Lord Stafford's leave, I went over all that had passed between us, and did again solemnly adjure him to say nothing but the truth : upon this, he de sired the Earl of Carlisle to carry a message from him to the House of Lords, that whensoever they would send for him, he would discover all that he knew : upon that, he was immediately sent for, and he began with a long relation of their first consultations after the restoration about the me thods of bringing in their religion, which they all agreed could only be brought about by a toleration : he told them of the Earl of Bristol's project, and went on to tell who had undertaken to procure the toleration for them, and then he named the Earl of Shaftsbury : when he named him, he was ordered to withdraw, and the Lords would hear no more from him. It was also given out, that in this I was a tool of Lord Hallifax's, to bring him thither to blast Lord Shafts bury : he was sent back to the Tower, and then he com posed himself in the best way he could to suffer, which he did with a constant and undisturbed mind. He supped and His exeeu- slept well the night before his execution, and died without tl0n' any shew of fear or disorder : he denied all that the wit nesses had sworn against him, and .this was the end of the 108 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1680. plot. I was very unjustly censured on both hands : the v*v%'' Earl of Shaftsbury railed so at me, that I went no more near him, and the Duke was made believe, that I had per suaded Lord Stafford to charge him, and to discover all he knew against him, which was the beginning of the implaca ble hatred he shewed on many occasions against me. Thus the innocentest and best meant parts of a man's life may be misunderstood, and highly censured. i68i. The House of Commons had another business before tiiefevou" them in this session : there was a severe act passed in the of the non- enci 0f Queen Elizabeth's reign, when she was highly pro voked with the seditious behaviour of the puritans, by which those who did not conform to the church were re quired to abjure the kingdom under the pain of death, and for some degrees of nonconformity, they were adjudged to die, without the favour of banishment : both houses passed a bill for repealing this act : it went indeed heavily in the House of Lords ; for many of the bishops, though they were not for putting that law in execution, which had never been done, but in one single instance, yet they thought the terror of it was of some use, and that the repealing it might make the party more insolent. On the day of the prorogation, the bill ought to have been offered to the King ; but the clerk of the crown, by the King's particular order, withdrew the bill. The King had no mind openly to deny it, but he had less mind to pass it : so this indiscreet method was taken, which was a high offence in the clerk of the crown. There was a bill of comprehension offered by the episcopal party in the House of Commons, by which the presbyte- rians would have been taken into the church : but, to the amazement of all people, their party in the House did not seem concerned to promote it; on the contrary, they neg lected it: this increased the jealousy, as if they had hoped they were so near the carrying all before them, that they despised a comprehension; there was no great progress made in this bill ; but, in the morning, before they were pro rogued, two votes were carried in the House of a very ex traordinary nature : the one was, that the laws made against recusants ought not to be executed against any but those of the church of Rome. That was, indeed, the primary in tention of the law : yet, all persons who came not to church, and did not receive the sacrament once a year, were within OF KING CHARLES II. 109 the letter of the law: the other vote was, that it was the iesi. opinion of that House, that the laws against dissenters ly^"*/ ought not to be executed: this was thought a great invasion of the legislature, when one House pretended to suspend the execution of laws, which was to act like dictators in the state ; for they meant that courts and juries should govern themselves by the opinion that they now gave, which, in stead of being a kindness to the nonconformists, raised a new storm against them over all the nation. When the King saw no hope of prevailing with the Commons on any other terms, but his granting the exclusion, he resolved to pro rogue the parliament, and it was dissolved in a few days The parik- after, in January, 1681. T"\™a The King resolved to try a parliament once more ; but, ap prehending that they were encouraged, if not inflamed by' the city of London, he summoned the next parliament to meet at Oxford. It was said, men were now very bold about London, by their confidence in the juries that the sheriffs took care to return. Several printers were indicted for scandalous libels that they had printed ; but the grand juries returned an ignoramus upon the bills against them, on this pretence, that the law only condemned the printing such libels maliciously and seditiously, and that it did not appear that the printers had any ill intentions in what they did: whereas, if it was found that they printed such libels, the construction of law made that to be malicious and sedi tious. The elections over England for the new parliament went generally for the same persons that had served in the former parliament ; and in many places it was given as an instruction to the members to stick to the bill of exclusion. The King was now very uneasy : he saw he was despised all Europe over, as a prince that had neither treasure nor power : so one attempt more was to be made, which was . to be managed chiefly by Littleton, who was now brought into the commission of the admiralty. I had once, in a long discourse with him, argued against tlte expedients, because they did really reduce us to the state of a common wealth. I thought a much better way was, that there should be a protector declared, with whom the regal power should be lodged, and that the Prince of Orange should be the a new e*. person. He approved the notion ; but thought that the ti- j^"^ * tie protector was odious, since Cromwell had assumed it, gent. 110 HISTORY OF THE REIGN "si. and that therefore regent would be better : we dressed Up. ^'*"' a scheme of this for near two hours ; 'and I dreamt no more of it. But, some days after, he told me the notion took with some, and that both Lord Hallifax and Seymour liked it : but he wondered to find Lord Sunderland did not go into it. He told me after the parliament was dissolved, but in great secrecy, that the King himself liked it. Lord Notting ham talked in a general and odd strain about it : he gave it out, that the King was resolved to offer one expedient, which was beyond any thing that the parliament could have the confidence to ask. Littleton pressed me to do what I could to promote it ; and said, that as I was the first that had suggested it, so I should have the honour of it, if it proved so successful as to procure the quieting of the na tion. I argued upon it with Jones ; but I found they had laid it down for a maxim, to hearken to nothing but the exclu sion. All the Duke of Monmouth's party looked on this, as that which must put an end to all his hopes : others thought, in point of honour, they must go on as they had done hitherto : Jones stood upon a point of law, of the in- separableness of the prerogative from the person of the King. He said, an infant or a lunatic was in a real inca pacity of struggling with his guardians ; but that if it was not so, the law that constituted their guardians would be of no force: he said, if the Duke came to be King, the preroga tive would by that vest in him ; and the Prince Regent and he must either strike up a bargain, or it must end in a civil war, in which he believed the force of law would give the King the better of it. It was not to be denied, but that there was some danger in this: but in the ill circumstances iri which we were, no remedies could be proposed that were without great inconveniences, and that were not liable to ' much danger. In the meanwhile, both sides were taking all the pains they could to fortify their party : and it was very visible, that the side which was for the exclusion, was like to be the strongest. Fitzhams A few days before the King went to Oxford, Fitzharris, an Irish papist, was taken up for framing a malicious and treasonable libel against the King, and his whole family. He had met with one Everard, who pretended to make disco veries, and as was thought/had mixed a great deal of false hood with some truth : but he held himself in general terms, was taken. OF KING CHARLES II. Ill and did not descend to so many particulars as the witness- «Bt. es had done. Fitzharris and he had been acquainted in Vu^w' France ; so on that confidence he shewed him his libel : and he made an appointment to come to Everard's chamber, who thought he intended to trepan him, and so had placed witnesses tooverhear all that passed.. Fitzharris left the libel with him, all writ in his own hand : Everard went with the paper and with his witnesses, and informed against Fitz harris, who upon that was committed. But seeing the proof against him was like to be full, he said, the libel was drawn by Everard, and only copied by himself: but he had no sort of proof to support this. Cornish the sheriff going to see him,, he desired he would bring him a justice of peace ; for he could make a great discovery of the plot, far beyond all that was yet known. Cornish, in the simplicity of his heart, went and acquainted the King with this ; for which he was much blamed : for it was said, by this means that discovery might have been stopped: but his going first with it to the court, proved afterwards a great happiness both to himself and to many others. The secretaries and some privy Counsellors, were upon that sent to examine Fitzharris ; to whom he gave a long relation of a practice to kill the King, in which the Duke was concerned, with many other parti culars which need not to be mentioned ; for it was all a fiction. The secretaries came to him a second time to ex amine him farther : he boldly stood to all he had said, and he desired that some justices of the city might be brought to him. So Clayton and Treby went to him, and he made the same pretended discovery to them over again ; and in sinuated, that he was glad it was now in safe hands that would not stifle it. The King was highly offended with this, since it plainly shewed a distrust of his ministers : and so Fitzharris was removed to the Tower, which the court re solved to make the prison for all offenders, till there should be sheriffs chosen more at the King's devotion : yet the de- , position made to Clayton and Treby, was in all points the same that he had made to the secretaries ; so that there was no colour for the pretence afterward put on this, as if they had practised on him. The parliamentmet at Oxford in March : the King open- The park ed it with severe reflections on the proceedings of the form- fordVoon *" er parliament. He said,, he was resolved to maintain the dissolved. 112 HISTORY OF THE REIGN i68i. succession of the crown in the right line ; but, for quieting v-"v"*/ his people's fears, he was willing to put the administration of the government into protestants' hands. This was ex plained by Ernley and Littleton, to be meant of a prince regent, with whom the regal prerogative should be lodged during the Duke's life. Jones and Littleton managed the debate on the grounds formerly mentioned ; but in the end the proposition was rejected ; and they resolved to go again to the bill of exclusion, to the great joy of the Duke's party, who declared themselves more against this, than against the exclusion itself. The commons resolved likewise to take the management of Fitzharris's affair out of the hands of the court : so they carried to the Lords' bar an impeachment against him, which was rejected by the Lords'upon a pretence with which Lord Nottingham furnish ed them. It was this: Edward the Third had got some commoners to be condemned by the Lords ; of which, when the House of Commons complained, an order was made, that no such thing should be done for the future. Now that related only to proceedings at the King's suit : but it could not be meant, that an impeachment from the Commons did not lie against a commoner. Judges, secretaries of state, and the lord keeper were often commoners : so if this was good law, here was a certain method offered to the court, to be troubled no more with impeachments, by employing only commoners : in short, the peers saw the design of this impeachment, and were resolved not to receive it ; and so made use of this colour to reject if. Upon that the Commons passed a vote, that justice was denied them by the Lords; and they also voted, that all those, who concurred in any sort, in trying Fitzharris in any other court, were betrayers of the liberties of their country. By these steps, which they had already made, the King saw what might be expected from them ; so very suddenly, and not very decently, he came to the House of Lords, the crown being carried be tween his feet in a sedan : and he put on his robes in haste, without any previous notice, and called up the Commons, and dissolved the parliament ; and went with such haste to Windsor, that it looked as if he was afraid of the crowds that this meeting had brought to Oxford. a great Immediately upon this the court took a new ply, and fairs.8* " things went in another channel ; of which I go next to give OF KING CHARLES II. 115 as impartial an account, as I have hitherto given of the 1681. plot, and of all that related to it. At this time the distin- ^^ guishing names of AVhig and Tory came to be the denomi nations of the parties. I . have given a ffSl account of all errors during this time with the more exactness, to warn posterity from falling into the like excesses, and to make it appear how mad and fatal a thing it is to run violently into a torrent, and in a heat to do. those things which may give a general disgust, and to set, precedents to others, when times turn, to justify their excesses, by saying they do only follow the steps of those who went before them. The shed ding so much blood upon such doubtful evidence was like to have proved fatal to him who drove all these things on with the greatest fury — I mean the Earl of Shaftsbury himself ;- and the strange change that, appeared over the nation, with relation to the Duke, from such an eager prosecution of the exclusion, to an indecent courting and magnifying him, not without a visible coldness towards the King in comparison of him, shewed how little men could build on popular heats, which have their ebbings and flowings, and their hot and cold fits, almost as certainly as seas or fevers have : when such changes happen, those who have been as to the main with the side that is run down, will be charged with all the errors of their side, how much soever they may have opposed them. I, who had been always in distrust of the witnesses, and dissatisfied with the whole method of pro ceedings, yet came to be fallen on, not only in pamphlets and poems, but even in sermons, as if I had been an incen- '; diary, and a main stickler against the court, and in par ticular against the Duke ; so upon this I went into a closer retirement; and, to keep my mind from running after news and affairs, I set myself to the study of philosophy and algebra. I diverted myself with many processes in chy- mistry; and I hope I went into the best exercises, from which I had been much diverted by the bustling of a great , town in so hot a time. I had been much trusted by both j sides, and that is a very dangerous state ; for a man may / come upon that to be hated and suspected by both. I withdrew much from all conversation ; only I lived still in a particular confidence with the Lords Esse^ and RusseL The King set out a deelaratiori for satisfying his people. J lie K'nz's He reckoned up in it all the hard things that had been done VOL. II. Q 114 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1681. by the three last parliaments, and set out their undutiful '"'*"'*"' behaviour to himself in many instances: yet in conclusion he assured his good subjects, that nothing should ever alter his affection^o the protestant religion, as established by law, nor his love to parliaments : for he would have still frequent parliaments. When this passed in council, the Archbishop of Canterbury moved, that an order should be added to it, requiring the clergy to publish it in all the churches of England. This was looked on as a most per nicious precedent, by which the clergy were made the heralds to publish the King's declarations, which, in some instances, might come to be not only indecent but mis chievous. An answer was writ to the King's declaration with great spirit and true judgment. It was at first penned by Sidney ; but a new draught was made by Somers, and corrected by Jones. The spirit of that side was now spent : so that this, though the best writ paper in all that Addresses time, yet had no great effect. The declaration raised over from ail °S England, a humour of making addresses to the King, as it parts of were in answer to it. The grand juries, and the bench of ng an * justices in the counties, the cities, and boroughs, the fran chises and corporations, many manors, the companies in towns, and at last the very apprentices sent up addresses. Of these some were more modestly penned, and only ex pressed their joy at the assurances they saw in the King's declaration ; and concluded, that they upon that dedicated their lives and fortunes to his service : but the greater number, and the most acceptable, were those who declared they would adhere to the unalterable succession of the crown in the lineal and legal descent, and condemned the bill of exclusion. Others went higher, and arraigned the late parliaments as guilty of sedition and treason. Some reflected severely on the nonconformists, and thanked the King for his not repealing that act of the thirty-fifth of Queen Elizabeth, which they prayed might be put in exe cution. Some of the addresses were very high panegyrics, in which the King's person and government were much magnified. Many of those who brought these up were knighted upon it ; and all were well treated at court. Many zealous healths were drank among them ; and in their cups the old valour, and the swaggerings of the cavaliers seemed to be revived: the ministers saw through this, and that it OF KING CHARLES II. 115 was an empty noise, and a false shew ; but it was thought 1681. necessary then to encourage it, though Lord Hallifax. could *WN^/ not restrain himself from shewing his contempt of it in a ! saying that was much repeated. He said the petitioners for a parliament spit in the King's face, but the addressers spit in his mouth. As the country sent up addresses, so the town sent down pamphlets of all sorts, to possess the nation much against the late parliament ; and the clergy struck up to a higher note, with such zeal for the Duke's succession, as if a popish king had been a special blessing from heaven, to be much longed for by a protestant church. They likewise gave themselves such a loose against non conformists, as if nothing was so formidable as that party: sO that in all their sermons popery was quite forgot, and the force of their zeal was turned almost wholly against the dissenters ; who were now, by order from the court, to be proceeded against according to law. There was also a great change made in the commissions all over England. None were left either on the bench or in the militia, that did not with zeal go into the humour of the court ; and such of the clergy as would not engage in that fury, were cried out upon as the betrayers of the church, and as secret fa vourers of the dissenters : the truth is, the numbers of these were not great ; one observed right, that according to the proverb in the gospel, " where the carcase is, the eagles will be gathered together:" the scent of preferment will draw aspiring men after it. Fitzharris's trial came on in Easter term : Scroggs was Fitzharris's turned out, and Pemberton was made chief justice. His rise was so particular, that it is worth the being remem bered. In his youth he mixed with such lewd company, that he quickly spent all he had; and ran so deep in debt, that he was cast into a gaol, where he lay many years: but he followed his studies so close in the gaol, that he became one of the ablest men of his profession. He was not wholly for the court : he had been a judge before, and was turned out by Scroggs's means ; and now he was raised again, and was afterwards made chief justice of the other bench ; but, not being compliant enough, he was turned out a second time, when the court would bfe served by none but by men of a thorough-paced obsequi ousness. Fitzharris pleaded the impeachment in parlia- 116 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1681. ment; but since the Lords had thrown that out it was ^^ over-ruled. He pretended he could discover the secret of Godfrey's minder: he said he heard the Earl of Danby say at Windsor, that it must be done ; but when the judge told the grand jury, that what was said at Windsor did not lie before them, Fitzharris immediately said, he had heard him say *v^/ gave an ill character of the Duke's zeal for justice, and against false swearing ; though that had been the chief to pic of discourse with him, for above three years. He was angry at a supposed practice with witnesses, when it fell upon his own party : but now that there were evident proofs of perjury and subornation, he stopped proceedings, un der pretence of referring it to the King ; who was never made acquainted with it, or at least never inquired after the proof of these allegations, nor ordered any proceed ings upon them. A test The main business of this parliament was the act con- pariiament. cerning the new test that was proposed. It had been pro mised in the beginning of the session, that as soori as an act for maintaining the successiori should pass, they should have all the security that they could desire for the protes tant religion. So, many zealous men began to call for some more effectual security for their religion; upon which a test was proposed, for all that should be capable of any office, in church or state, or of electing, or of being elected mem bers of parliament, that they should adhere firmly to the protestant religion : to which the court party added, the condemning of all resistance in any sort, or under any pretence, the renouncing the covenant, and an obligation to defend all the King's rights and prerogatives, and that they should never meet to treat of any matter civil or ec clesiastical, but by the King's permission, and never en deavour any alteration in the government in church or state : and they were to swear all this according to the literal sense of the words. The test was thus loaded at first to make the other side grow weary of the motion and let it fall, which they would willingly have done ; but the Duke was made to apprehend, that he would find such a test as this prove much for his service : so it seems, that article of the protestant religion was forgiven, for the service that was expected from the other parts of the test. There was a hot debate upon the imposing it on all that might elect, or be elected, members of parliament. It was said, that was the most essential of all the privileges of the subjects, therefore they ought not to be limited in it. The bishops were ear nest for this, which they thought would secure them for ever from a presbyterian parliament : it was carried in the vote, ^f*J OF KING CHARLES II. , 131 and that made many of the court more zealous than ever 1682- for carrying through the act. Some proposed that there should be two tests ; one for papists with higher incapa cities, and another for presbyterians with milder censures : but that was rejected with much scorn, some making their court by saying, that they were more in danger from the presbyterians than from the papists ; and it was reported that Paterspn, then Bishop of Edinburgh, said to the Duke, that he thought the two religions, popish and protestant, were so equally stated in his mind, that a few grains of loyalty, in which the protectants had the better of the papists, turned the balance with him. Another clause in the bill was liable to great objections : all the royal family were excepted out of it. Lord Argyle spoke zealously against this. He said, the only danger we could apprehend as to popery was, if any of the royal family should happen to be perverted, therefore he thought it was better to have no act at all than such a clause in it. Some few seconded him : but it was carried without any considerable oppo sition. The nicest point of all was, what definition or standard should be made for fixing the sense of so general a term as the protestant religion. Dalrymple proposed the confession of faith, agreed on in the year 1559, and en acted in parliament in 1567, which was the only confession of faith that had then the sanction of a law. That was a book so wom out of use, that scarce any one in the whole parliament had ever read it : none of the bishops had, as appeared afterwards. For. these last thirty years, the only confession of faith that was read in Scotland, was that which the assembly of divines at Westminster, anno 1648, had set out, which the Scotch kirk had set up instead of the old one : and the bishops had left it in possession, though the authority that enacted it was annulled ; so here a book Was made the matter of an oath, (for they were to swear, that they would adhere to the protestant religion, as it was declared in the confession of faith enacted in the year 1567, that contained a large system of religion, that was not so much as known to those who enacted it :) yet , the bishops went all into it. Dalrymple, who had read it, thought there were propositions in it, which being better considered, would make the test be let" fall : for in it the repressing of tyranny is reckoned a duty incumbent on 132 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1682. good subjects: and the confession being made after the ;*^w/ Scots had deposed the Queen Regent, and it being ratified in parliament after they had forced their Queen Mary to resign, it was very plain what they, who made and enacted this confession, meant by the repressing of tyranny : but the Duke and his party set it on so earnestly, that upon one day's debate the act passed, though only by a majority of seven voices. There was some appearance of security to the protestant religion by this test ; but the prerogative of the crown in ecclesiastical matters had been raised so high by Duke Lauderdale's act, that the obliging all people to maintain that with the rest of the prerogative, might have made way for every thing. All ecclesiastical courts sub sisted now by this test, only upon the King's permission, and at his discretion. The parliament of Scotland was dissolved soon after this act passed; and Hyde was sent down from the King to the Duke immediately upon it. It was given put that he was sent by the King to press the Duke upon this vic tory to shew, that what ill-usage could not extort from him . he would now do of his own accord, and return to the church of England. I was assured that Lord Hallifax had prevailed with the King to write to him to that purpose : the letter was writ, but was not sent ; but Lord Hyde had it in charge to manage it as a message. How much of this is true I cannot tell : one thing is certain, that if it was true, it had no effect. As soon as the test, with the confession of faith, was printed, there was an universal murmuring among the best of the clergy : many were against the swearing to a system made up of so many propositions, of which some were at least doubtful, though it was found to be much more mode rate in many points, than could have been well expected, considering the heat of that time. There was a limitation put* on the duty of subjects in the article, by which they were required not to resist any whom God had placed in authority in these words : " While they pass not the bounds - of their office ; " and in another they condemned those who objections resist the supreme power, *' Doing that thing which apper- madc to the taineth to his charge." These were propositions now of a very ill sound ; they were also highly offended at the great extent of the prerogative in the point of supremacy, by OF KING CHARLES II. 133 which the King turned bishops out at pleasure by a letter. 1682- It was hard enough to bear this, but it seemed intolerable to oblige men by oath to maintain it. The King might, by a proclamation, put down even episcopacy itself, as the law then stood ; and by this oath, they would be bound to main tain that. All meeting in synods, or for ordinations, were hereafter to be held only by permission ; So that all the vi sible ways of preserving religion, depended now wholly on the King's good pleasure, and they saw that this would be a very feeble tenure under a popish king- : the being tied to all this by oath seemed very hard ; and when a church was yet in so imperfect a state, without liturgy or discipline, it was a strange imposition to make people swear never to en deavour any alteration, either in church or state. Some, or all of these exceptions did run so generally through the whole body of the clergy, that they were all shaking in their resolutions : to prevent this, an explanation was drawn by Bishop Paterson, and passed in council : it was by it de clared, that it was not meant that those who took the test, should be bound to every article in the confession of faith, but only in so far as it contained the doctrine, upon which the protestant churches had settled the Reformation, and that the test did not cut off those rights, which were acknowledged to have been in the primitive church for the first three hun dred years after Christ ; and, an assurance was given, that the King intended never to change the government of the church. By this it was pretended, that the greatest diffi culties were now removed ; but, to this it was answered, that they were to swear they took the oath in the literal sense of the words : so that, if this explanation was not con form to the literal sense, they would be perjured who took it upon this explanation. The imposers of an oath could only declare the sense of it, but that could not be done by any other, much less by a lower authority, such as the privy councils was confessed to be : yet, when men are to be un done, if they do not submit to a hard law, they willingly catch at any thing that seems to resolve their doubts. About eighty of the most learned and pious of their tier- Many turn ery left all rather than comply with the terms of this law, and ed °ut, "or , , , . not taking these were noted to be the best preachers, and the most it. , zealous enemies to popery, that belonged to that church. The bishops, who thought their refusing the test was a re- 134 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1682. prPach to those who took it, treated them with much con- "^""^ tempt, and put them to many hardships ; about twenty of them came up to England. I found them men of excel lent tempers? pious and learned ; and I esteemed it no small happiness, that I had then so much credit by the ill opinion they had of me at court, that by this means I got most of them to be well settled in England, where they have behav ed themselves so worthily, that I have great reason to re joice in being made an instrument to get so many good men, who suffered for their consciences, to be again well employ ed and well provided for : most of them were formed by Charteris, who had been always a great enemy to the impos ing of books and systems, as tests that must be signed and sworn by such as are admitted to serve in the church. He had been for some years divinity professor at Edinburgh, where he had formed the minds of many of the young cler gy, both to an excellent temper, and to a set of very good principles. He, upon this, retired, and lived private for some years : he writ to me, and gave me an account of this breach, that was like to be in the church, and desired, that I would try by all the methods I could think of to stop the proceedings upon the test. But the King had put the af fairs of Scotland so entirely in the Duke's hands, and the bishops here were so pleased with those clauses in the test that renounced the covenant, and all endeavours for any alteration in church and state, that I saw it was in vain to make any attempt at court. Argyie'sex- Upon this matter, an incident of great importance hap- pianation. pene(j . the Earl of Argyle was a privy counsellor, and one of the commissioners of the Treasury ; so, when the time limited was near lapsing, he was forced to declare himself. He had once resolved to retire from all employments, but his engagements with Duke Lauderdale's party, and the en tanglements of his own affairs overcame that. His main objection lay to that part which obliged them to endeavour no alteration in the government, in church or state, which he thought was a limitation of the legislature. He desired leave to explain himself in that point, and he continued al ways to affirm, that the Duke was satisfied with that which he proposed : so being called on the next day at the coun cil table to take the test, he said, he did not think that the parliament did intend an oath that should have any contra- OE KING CHARLES II. 136 dictions in one part of it to another ; therefore he took the 1682. test, as it was consistent with itself ; (this related to the ^~ia' absolute loyalty in the test, and the limitations that were on it in the confession :) and he added, that he did not intend to bind himself up by it, for doing any thing in his station, for the amending of any thing in church or state, so far as was consistent with the protestant religion, and the duty of a good subject : and he took that as a part of his oath. The thing passed, and he sat that day in council, and went next day to the Treasury Chamber, where he repeated the same words. Some officious people upon this came and sug gested to the Duke, that great advantages might be taken against him from these words. So at the Treasury Cham ber he was desired to write them down, and give them to the clerk, which he did, and was immediately made a pri soner in the castle of Edinburgh upon it. It was said, this He was was high treason, and the assuming to himself the legisla-,°°™™fe five power, in his giving a sense of an act of parliament, and making that a part of his oath. It was also said, that his saying that he did not think the parliament intended an oath that did contradict itself, was a tacit way of saying that he did think it, and was a defaming and a spreading lies of the proceedings of parliament, which was capital. The liberty that he reserved to himself was likewise called treasonable, in assuming a power to act against law : these were such apparent stretches, that for some days it was be lieved all this was done, only to affright him to a more ab solute submission, and to surrender up some of those great jurisdictions over the highlands that were in his family. He desired that he might be admitted to speak with the Duke in private ; but that was refused. He had let his old correspondence with me fall for some years ; but I thought it became me in this extremity to serve him all I could, and I prevailed with Lord Hallifax to speak so oft to the King about it, that it came to be known ; and Lord Argyle writ me some letters of thanks upon it. Duke Lauderdale was still in a firm friendship with him, and tried his whole strength with the King to preserve him : but he was sinking both in body and mind, and was like to be cast off in his old age : upon which, I also prevailed with Lord Halli fax to offer him his service, for which Duke Lauderdale sent me very kind messages. I thought these were the only 136 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1682- returns that I ought to make him, for all the injuries he had ^"**^ done me, thus to serve him and his friends in distress. But the Duke of York took this, as he did every thing from me, by the worst handle possible. He said, I would reconcile myself to the greatest enemies I had in opposition to him. Upon this, it was not thought fit, upon many accounts, that I should go and see Duke Lauderdale, which I had intend ed to do. It was well known I had done him acts of friend ship ; so the scandal of being in enmity with him was over : for a Christian is no man's enemy, and he will always study to overcome evil with good. Argyle is Lord Argyle was brought to a trial for the words he had condemned, spoke. The fact was certain : so the debate lay in a point of law, what guilt could be made out of his words. Lock hart pleaded three hours for him, and shewed so manifestly that his words had nothing criminal, much less of treason in them, that, if his cause had not been determined before his trial, no harm could have come to him. The court, that was to judge the point of law (or the relevancy of the libel as it is called in Scotland) consisted of a justice-general, the justice-clerk, and of five judges. The justice-general does not vote, unless the court is equally divided. One of the judges was deaf, and so old, that he could not sit all the while the trial lasted, but went home and to bed : the other four were equally divided; so the old judge was sent for, and he turned it against Lord Argyle. The jury was only to find the fact proved ; but yet they were officious, and found it treason : and, to make a shew of impartiality, whereas in the libel he was charged with perjury, for taking the oath falsely, they acquitted him of the perjury. No sentence in our age was more universally cried out on than this. All people spoke of it, and of the Duke who drove it on, with horror : all that was said to lessen that, was, that Duke Lauderdale had restored the family with such an extended jurisdiction, that he was really the master of all the highlands ; so that it was fit to attaint him, that by a new restoring him, these grants might be better limited. This, as the Duke wrote to the King, was all he intended by it, as Lord Hallifax assured me: but Lord Argyle was made believe, that the Duke intended to proceed to execu tion. Some more of the guards were ordered to come to Edinburgh : rooms were also fitted for him in the common OF KING CHARLES II. 137 jail, to which peers use to' be removed a few days before 1682. their execution : and a person of quality, whom Lord Ar- '^^*J gyle never named, affirmed to him on his honour, that he heard one, who was in great favour, say to the Duke, the thing must be done, and that it would be easier to satisfy the King about it after it was done, than to obtain his leave for doing it; — it is certain, many of the Scotch nobility did believe that it was intended he should die. Upon these reasons, Lord Argyle made his escape out of He made his the castle in a disguise : others suspected those stories were estape" sent to him on purpose to frighten him to make his escape, as that which would justify further severities against him : he -came to London, and lurked for some months there ; it was thought I was in his secret ; but though I knew one that knew it, and saw many papers that he then writ, giving an account of all that matter, yet I abhorred lying, and it was not easy to have kept out of the danger of that, if I had seen him, or known where he was, so I avoided it by not seeing him : one that saw him knew him, and went and told the King of it ; but he would have no search made for him, and retained still very good thoughts of him. In one of Lord Argyle's papers he writ, that if ever he was admitted to speak with the King, he could convince him how much he merited at his hands, by that which had drawn the Duke's indignation on him. He that shewed me this, explained it, that at the Duke's first being in Scotland, when he appre hended that the King might have consented to the exclu sion, he tried to engage Lord Argyle to stick to him in that case ; who told him, he would always be true to the King, and likewise to him, when it should come to his turn to be King, but that he would go no farther, nor engage himself, in case the King and he should quarrel. I had lived many years in great friendship with the Earl of Perth, I lived with him, as a father with a son, for above twelve y^ars, and he had really the submissions of a child to me : so, he having been on Lord Argyle's jury, I writ him a letter about it, with the freedom that I thought became me ; he, to merit at the Duke's hands, shewed it to him, as he himself confessed to me ; I could very easily forgive him, but could not esteem him much after so unworthy an action: he was then aspiring to great preferment, and so sa crificed me to obtain favour, but he made greater sacrifices . VOL. 11. t 138 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1682. afterwards. The Duke now seemed to triumph in Scotland, v-%""' all stooped to him: the presbyterian party was much de pressed; the best of the clergy was turned out; yet, with all this, he was now more hated there than ever : Lord Ar gyle's business made him be looked on as one that would prove a terrible master when all should come into his hands : he had promised to redress all the merchants' grievances with relation to trade, that so he might gain their concur rence in parliament ; but, as soon as that was over, all his promises were forgotten. The accusations of perjury were stifled by him ; and all the complaints of the great abuse Lord Halton was guilty of in the matter of the coin, ended in turning him out of all his employments, and obliging him to compound for his pardon,1 by paying 20,000Z. to two of the Duke's creatures : so, that all the reparation the king dom had for the oppression of so niahy years, and so many acts of injustice, was, that two new oppressors had a share of the spoils, who went into the same tract, or rather in vented new methods of oppression : all these things, togeT ther with a load of age and a vast bulk, sunk Duke Lau derdale so that he died that summer. His heart seemed quite spent, there was not left above the bigness of a wal nut of firm substance, the rest was spungy, liker the lungs than the heart. The Dake r£ne j)n^e had leave given him to come to the Kinar, at rumesto . < oart. Newmarket ; and there he prevailed for leave to come up, and live again at court. As he was going back to bring 1 the Dutchess, the Gloucester frigate, that carried him, struck on a bank of sand ; the Duke got into a boat, and took care of his dogs, and some unknown persons, who weie taken from that earnest care of his to be his priests ; the long-boat went off with very few in her, though she might have carried off above eighty more than she did. One hun dred and fifty persons perished, some of them men of great 1 quality ; but the Duke took no notice of this cruel neglect, which was laid chiefly to Leg's charge. nistr™ i™'" In Scotland, the Duke declared the new ministers : Gor- scotiand. don, now Earl of Aberdeen, was made chancellor ; and Queensbury was made treasurer, and the care of all affairs was committed to them. The Duke, at parting, recom mended to the council, to preserve the pubhc peace; to sup port the church ; and to oblige all men to live regularly in OF KING CHARLES II. 139 obedience to the laws. The bishops made their court to 1682. him with so much zeal, that they wrote a letter to the Arch- '^^*J bishop of Canterbury, to be communicated to the rest of the English bishops, setting forth in a very high strain his affection to the church, and his care of it ; and, lest this piece of merit should have been stifled by Sancroft, they sent a copy of it to the press, which was a greater reproach to them than a service to the Duke, who could not but des pise such abject and indecent flattery. The proceedings against conventicles, were now like to be severer than ever ; all the fines, that were set so high by law, that they were never before levied, but on some particular instances, were now ordered to be levied without exception : all people up on that saw, they must either conform, or be quite undone. The chancellor laid down a method for proceeding against all offenders punctually, and the treasurer was as rigorous in ordering all the fines to be levied. When the people saw this, they came all to church again, They pr<-- and that in some places, where all sermons had been dis- g^aueve- ' continued for many years ; but they came in so awkward a '%• manner, that it was visible they did not mean to worship i God, but only to stay some time within the church walls, and they were either talking or sleeping all the while : yet, most of the clergy seemed to be transported with this change of their condition, and sent up many panegyrics of the glorious services that the Duke had done their church. The enemies of religion observed the ill nature of the one side, and the cowardliness of the other, and pleased them selves in censuring them both ; and by this means an impi ous and atheistical leaven began to corrupt most of the younger sort : this has, since that time, made a great pro gress in that kingdom, which was before the freest from it of any nation in Christendom. The beginnings of it were reckoned from the Duke's stay among them, and from his court, which have been cultivated since with much care, and but too much success. About the end of the year, two trials gave all people sad apprehensions of what they were to look for : — one Home was charged by a kinsman of his own for having been at Bothwell Bridge. All gentlemen of estates were excepted out of the indemnity; so he, having an estate, could have no benefit by that. One swore he saw him go \~V+S 140 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 168?. intp a village, and seize on some arms: another swore" he saw him ride towards the body of the rebels ; but none did swear that they saw him there. He was indeed among' them, but there was no proof of it : and he proved, that he was not in the company where the single witness swore he saw him seize on arms, and did evidently discredit him : yet he was convicted, and condemned on that sin gle evidence, that was so manifestly proved to be infa mous. Many were sensible of the mischievousness of such a precedent; and great applications were made to the Duke for saving his life, but he was not born under a pardoning planet. Lord Aberdeen, the chancellor, prose cuted Home with the more rigour, because his own grand father had suffered in the late times for bearing arms on the King's side, and Home's father was one of the jury that cast him. The day of his execution was set to be on the same day of the year on which Lord Stafford had suffered ; which was thought done in complement to the Duke, as a retaliation for his blood : yet Home's infamous kinsman, who had so basely sworn against him, lived not to see his execution; for he died before it, full of horror for what he had done. Another trial went much deeper, and the con sequences of it struck a terror into the whole country. One Weir, of Blakewood, that managed the Marquis of Douglas's concerns, was accused of treason for having kept company with one that had been in the business of Bothwell Bridge. Blakewood pleaded for himself, that the person, on whose account he was now prosecuted as an abettor of traitors, had never been marked out by the government by process or proclamation : it did not so much as appear that he had ever suspected him upon that account. He had lived in his own house quietly for some years after that rebellion before he employed him ; and if the government seemed to forget his crime, it was no won der if others entered into common dealings with him. . All the lawyers were of opinion, that nothing could be made of this prosecution ; so that Blakewood made use of no secret application, thinking he was in no danger; but the court came to a strange sentence in this matter by these steps — they judged that all men, who suspected any to have been in the rebellion, were bound to discover such their suspicion, and to give no harbour to such persons : \*v^ OF KING CHARLES II. 141 that the bare suspicion made it treason tp harbour the 1682- person suspected, whether he was guilty or not : that if any person was under such a suspicion, it was to be presumed that all the neighbourhood knew it ; so that there was no need of proving that against any particular person, since the presumption of law did prove it: arid it being proved that the person with whom Blakewood had conversed lay under that suspicion, Blakewood was upon that condemned as guilty of high treason. This was such a constructive treason, that went upon so many unreasonable supposi tions, that it shewed the shamelessness of a sort of men, who had been for forty years declaiming against a parlia mentary attainder, for a constructive treason in the case of the Earl of Stafford ; and did nowj in a common court of justice, .condemn a man upon a train of so many infer ences, that it was not possible to make it look even like a constructive treason. The day of his execution was set; and though the Marquis of Douglas writ earnestly to the Duke, for his pardon, that was denied : he only obtained two months reprieve for making up his accounts. The re prieve was renewed once or twice, so Blakewood was not executed. This put all the gentry in a great fright : many knew they were as obnoxious as Blakewood was, and none could have the comfort to know that he was safe. This revived among them a design that Lockhart had set on foot ten years before, of carrying over a plantation to Carolina. All the presbyterian party saw they were now disinherited of a main part of their birth-right — of choosing their representatives in parliament; and upon that they said, they would now seek a country where they might live undisturbed as freemen and as Christians. The Duke en couraged tiie motion;, he was glad to have many untoward people sent far away, who he reckoned would be ready, upon the first favourable conjuncture, to break out into a new rebellion. Some gentlemen were sent up to treat with the patentees of Carolina : they did not like the govern ment of those palatinates, as they were called; yet the prospect of so great a colony obtained to them all the con ditions they proposed. I was made acquainted with all the steps they made ; for those who were sent up were par ticularly recommended to me. In the negotiation this year there was no mixing Avith the malecontents in England : 142 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1682. only they who were sent up went among them, and jri- ,*s' formed them of the oppressions they lay under ; in par ticular of the terror with which this sentence against Blake wood had struck them all. The court resolved to prosecute that farther; for a proclamation was issued out in the beginning of the year 1683, by which the King ordered circuit courts to be sent round the western and southern counties, to inquire after all who had been guilty of har bouring or conversing with those who had been in rebel lion ; even though there had been neither process nor pro clamation issued out against them. He also ordered, that all who were found guilty of such converse with them should be prosecuted as traitors. This inquisition was to last three years, and at the end of that time all was to con clude in a full indemnity to such as should not be then under prosecution ; but the indemnity was to take place immediately to all such as should take the test. This was perhaps such a proclamation as the world had not seen since the days of the Duke of Alva: upon it great numbers run in to take the test, declaring at the same time that they took it against their consciences; but they would do any thing to be safe. Such as resolved not to take it were trying how to settle or sell their estates, and resolved to leave the country, which was now in a very oppressed and desperate state. Affairs in But I must next turn again to the affairs of England. "£an ' The court was every where triumphant. The Duke was highly complimented by all, and seemed to have overcome all difficulties. The court, not content With all their victo ries, resolved to free themselves from the fears of trouble some parliaments for the future. The cities and boroughs of England were invited, and prevailed on, to demonstrate All charters their loyalty, by surrendering up their charters, and taking were™- new ones modelled as the court thought fit. It was much rendered to questioned, whether those surrenders were good in law or °s not : it was said, that those who were in the government in corporations, and had their charters and seals trusted to their keeping, were not the proprietors nor masters of those rights ; they could not extinguish those corporations, nor part with any of their privileges. Others said, that what ever rriight be objected to the reason and equity of the thing, yet, when the seal of a corporation was put to any OF KING CHARLES II. 143 deed, such a deed was good in law. The matter goes 1682. beyond my skill in law to determine it : this is certain, that ^*n-^ whatsoever may be said in law, there is no sort of theft or perfidy more criminal than for a body of men, whom their neighbours have trusted with their concerns, to steal away their charters, and affix their seals to such a deed, betray ing in that their trust and their oaths. In former ages cor porations were jealous of their privileges and customs to excess and superstition ; so that it looked like a strange degeneracy, when all these were now delivered up, and this on design to pack a parliament, that might make way for a popish king : so that, instead of securing us from po pery, under such a prince, these persons were now con triving ways to make all easy to him. Popery, at all times, has looked odious and cruel ; yet, what the emperor had lately done in Hungary, and what the King of France was then doing against protestants in that kingdom, shewed that their religion was as perfidious and cruel in this age, as it had been in the last ; and, by the Duke's government Pf Scot land, all men did see what was to be expected from him. All this laid together, the whole looked like an extravagant fit of madness ; yet, no part of it was so unaccountable, as the high strains to which the universities and most of the clergy were carried. The nonconformists were now prose cuted with much eagerness : this was visibly set on by the papists, and it was wisely done of them, for they knew how much the nonconformists were set against them ; and, there fore, they made use of the indiscreet heat of some angry clergymen to ruin them ; this they knew would render the clergy odious, and give the papists great advantages against them, if ever they should run into an opposition to their designs. At Midsummer, a new contest discovered how little the The dispnie court resolved to regard either justice or decency. The thTsh"^ court had carried the election of Sir John Moore, to be of London. mayor of the city of London, at Michaelmas, 1681 : he was the alderman, on whom the election fell in course ; yet some who knew him well, were for setting him aside, as one whom the court would easily manage : he had been a noncon formist himself, till he grew so rich, that he had a mind to go through the dignities, of the city; but, though he con formed to the church, yet he was still looked on, as one that \^.^J 144 HISTORY OF THE REIGN less. in his heart favoured the sectaries; and, upon this occa sion, he persuaded some of their preachers, to go among their congregations to get votes for him : others, who knew him to be a flexible and faint-hearted man, opposed his election, yet it was earned for him ; the opposition that was made to his election, had sharpened him so much, that he became, in all things, compliant to the court, in particular to Secretary Jenkins, who took him into his own manage ment. When the day came, in which the mayor used to drink to one, and to mark him out for sheriff, he drank to North, a merchant that was brother to the chief justice : upon that it was pretended, that this ceremony was not a bare nomination, which the common hall might receive or refuse, as they had a mind to it ; but that this made the sheriff, and that the common hall was bound to receive and confirm him in course, as the King did the mayor. On the other hand it was said, that the right was to be determined by the charter, which granted the election of the sheriffs to the citizens of London ; and that, whatever customs had crept in among them, the right still lay where -the charter had lodged it among the citizens : but the court was resolv ed to carry this point, and they found orders that had been made in the city concerning this particular, which gave boine colour to this pretension of the mayor's; so he claim ed it on Midsummer day, and said the common hall were to go and elect one sheriff, and to confirm the other that had been declared by him. The hall, on the other hand, said, that the right of choosing both, was in them : the old she riffs put it according to custom, to a poll ; and it was visi ble, the much greater number was against the lord mayor. The sheriffs were always understood to be the officers of that court, so the adjourning it belonged to them ; yet, the mayor adjourned the court, which, they said, he had no power to do, and so went on with the poll. There was no disorder in the whole progress of the matter, if that was not to be called one, that they proceeded after the mayor had adjourned the poll : but though the mayor's party car- vied themselves with great insolence towards the other par- 4y, yet they shewed, on this occasion, more temper than .could have been expected from so great a body, who -thought there rights were now invaded : the mayor, upon this, resolved to take another poll, to which none should be OF KING CHARLES II. 145 admitted, but those who were contented to vote only for 1682- one, and to approve his nomination for the other : and it * ""* was resolved, that his poll should be that, by which the business should be settled; and though the sheriffs poll ex ceeded his by many hundreds, yet order was given to re turn those on the mayor's poll, and that they should be sworn ; and so those of the sheriff's poll should be left to seek their remedy by law where they could find it. Box, who was chosen by the mayor's party and joined to North, had no mind to serve upon so doubtful an election, where so many actions would lie, if it was judged against them at law, and he could not be persuaded to hold it ; so it was necessary to call a new common hall, and to proceed to a new election; and then, without any proclamation made as was usual, one in a corner near the mayor, named Rich, and about thirty more applauded it, the rest of those in the hall, that was full of people and of noise, hearing nothing of it. Upon this, it was said, that Rich was chosen with out any contradiction ; and so North and Rich were re turned, and sworu sheriffs for the ensuing year. The vio lence and the injustice with which this matter was manag ed, shewed that the court was resolved to carry that point Carried by at any rate; and this gave great occasions of jealousy that iecourt- some wicked design was on foot, for which it was neces sary, in the first place to be sure of favourable juries '. Lord Shaftsbury, upon this, knowing how obnoxious h© was, went out of England ; his voyage was fatal to him — he just got to Amsterdam tp die in it : of the last parts of his life I shall have some occasion to make mention afterwards. When Michaelmas day came, those who found how much they had been deceived in Moor, resolved to choose a may or that might be depended on. The poll was closed, when the court thought they had the majority ; but Upon casting it up, it appeared they had lost it, so they fell to canvass it ; and they made such exceptions to those of the other side that they discounted as many voices as gave them the ma jority. This was also managed in so gross a manner, that it was visible the court was resolved, by fair or foul means, to have the government of the city in their own hands : but, because they would not be at this trouble, nor run this ha zard every year, it was resolved that the charter of the city must either be given up 6r be adjudged to the King : the VOL. II. u 146 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1682. former was much the easier way, so great pains was taken v"'^/ to manage the next election of the common council, so as that they might be tractable in this point. There was much injustice complained of in many of the wards of the city, both in the poll and in the returns that were made. In or der to the disabling all the dissenters from having a vote in that election, the Bishop and clergy of London were pressed by the court to prosecute them in the church courts, that so they might excommunicate them, which some lawyers thought would render them incapable to vote, though other lawyers were very positively of another opinion. It is certain, it gave at least a colour to deny their votes. The Bishop of London began to apprehend that things were running too fast, and was backward in the matter. The clergy of the city refused to make presentments ; the law laid that on the churchwardens, and so they would not meddle officiously. The King was displeased with them for their remissness ; but after all the practices of the court, in the returns of the common council of the city, they could not bring it near an equality for delivering up their charter. Jenkins managed the whole business of the city with so ma ny indirect practices, that the reputation he had for pro bity was much blemished by it: he seemed to think it was necessary to bring the city to a dependence on the court, in the fairest methods he could fall on ; and, if these did not succeed, that then he was to take the most effect ual ones, hoping that a good intention would excuse bad practices. Changes in The Earl of Sunderland had been disgraced, after the themimstry, excmsion parliaments, as they were now called, were dis- and quarrels r ** amongthem. solved ; but the King had so entire a confidence in him, and Lady Portsmouth was so much in his interests, that upon great submissions made to the Duke, he was again restored to be secretary this winter. Lord Hyde was the person that disposed the Duke to it ; upon that, Lord Hallifax and he fell to be in ill terms, for he hated Lord Sunderland be yond expression, though he had married his sister. .From Lord Sunderland's returning to his post, all men concluded that his declaring as he did for the exclusion, was certainly done by direction from the King, who naturally loved craft and a double game ; that so he might have proper instru ments to work by, which way soever he had turned himself ^v-*/ OF KING CHARLES II. 147 in that affair. The King was the more desirous to have J68''- Lord Sunderland again near him, that he might have some body about him, who understood foreign affairs. Jenkins understood nothing ; but he had so much credit with the high church party, that he was of great use to the court. Lord Conway was brought in to be the other secretary, who was so very ignorant of foreign affairs, that his; province being the north, when one of the foreign ministers talked to him of the circles of Germany, it amazed him ; he could not imagine what circles had to do with affairs of state ; — he was now dismissed. • Lord Hallifax and Lord Hyde fell to be in an open war, and were both much hated. Lord Hal lifax charged Hyde, who was at this time made Earl of Rochester, with bribery, for having farmed a branch of the revenue much lower than had been proferred for it. Lord Hallifax acquainted the King first with it ; and, as he told me, he desired Lord Rochester himself to examine into it, he being inclined to think it was rather an abuse put pn him, than corruption in himself. But he saw Lord Roches ter was cold in the matter, and instead of prosecuting any for it, protected all concerned in it. He laid the complaint before the King and council ; and to convince the King how ill a bargain he had made, the complainers offered, if he would break the bargain, to give him 40,0007. more than he was to have from the farmers. He looked also into the otoer branches of the revenue, and found cause to suspect much corruption in every one of them ; and he got under takers to offer at a farm of the whole revenue. In this he had all the court on his side : for the King being now re solved to live on his revenue, without putting himself on a parliament, he was forced on a great reduction of expense, so that many payments run in arrear ; and the whole court was so ill paid, that the offering any thing that would raise the revenue, and blemish the management of the Treasury, was very acceptable to all in it. Lord Rochester was also much hated : but the Duke and the Lady Portsmouth, both protected the Earl of Rochester so powerfully, that even propositions to the King's advantage, which blemished him, were not hearkened to. This touched in too tender a place to admit of a reconciliation : the Duke forgot all Lord Hal- lifax's service in the point of the exclusion ; and the dear- ness that was between them, was now turned upon this to 148 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1682. a coldness, and afterwards to a most violent enmity. Upon •"**%"*-' this occasion, Lord Hallifax sent for me, (for I went no more near any that belonged to the court,) and He told me the whole matter. I asked him how he stood with the King : be answered, that neither he nor I had the making of the King ; God had made him of a particular composi tion. He said, he knew what the King said to himself: I asked him, if he knew likewise what he said to others ; for he was apt to say to his several ministers, whatsoever he thought would please them, as long as he intended to make use of them. By the death of the Earl of Nottingham, the seals were given to North, who was made Lord Guilford. He had not the virtues of his predecessor, but he had parts far beyond him — they were turned to craft ; so that, whereas the former seemed to mean well, even when he did ill, this this man was believed to mean ill, even when he did welL The court finding that the city of London could not be wrought on to surrender their charter, resolved to have it condemned by a judgment in the King's Bench. Jones had . died in May : so now Pollexphen and Treby were chiefly relied on by this city in the matter. Sawyer was the at torney-general ; a dull hot man, and forward to serve all the designs of the court. He undertook by the advice of Saun ders, a learned but a very immoral man, to overthrow the charter. The argn- The two points upon which they rested the cause, were, sod against *he common council had petitioned the King, upon a pro- tt^oharter rogation of parliament, that it might meet on the day to which it was prorogued, and had taxed the prorogation as that Which occasioned a delay of justice : this was con strued to be the raising sedition, and the possessing the peo ple with an ill opinion of the King and his government. The other point was, that the city had imposed new taxes on their wharfs and markets, which was an invasion of the liberty of the subject, and contrary to law. It was said, that all that the crown gave, was forfeitable back to the crown again, upori a malversation of the body ; and that as the common council was the body of the city, chosen by all the citizens, so they were all involved, in what the com-, mon couneil did : and they inferred, that since they had both scandalized the King's government, and oppressed their fellow subjects, they had thereupon forfeited their li- o'f Loiidon. v-%-*> OF KING CHARLES II. 149 berties : many precedents were brought of the seizing on 1682- the liberties of towns and other corporations, and of extin guishing them. The arguments against this were made by Treby, then the recorder of London, and Pollexphen, who argued about three hours a-piece. They laid it down for a foundation, that trading corporations were immortal bodies, for the breeding a succession of trading men ; and for perpetuating a fund of public chambers, for the estates of orphans and trusts, and for all pious endowments : that crimes commit ted, by persons entrusted in the government of them, were personal things, which were only chargeable on those who committed them, but could not affect the whole body. The treason of a bishop or a clerk, only forfeited his title, but did not dissolve the bishoprick, or benefice ; so the magis trates only were to be punished for their own crimes : an entailed estate, when a tenant for life was attainted, was not forfeited to the king, but went to the next in remainder, upon his death. The government of a city, which was a temporary administration, vested no property in the magis trates ; and therefore they had nothing to forfeit, but what belonged to themselves. There were also express acts of parliament made in favour of the city, that it should notber punished, for the misdemeandrs of those who bore office in if : they answered the great objection, that was brought from the forfeitures of some abbeys, on the attainder of their abbots in King Henry the Eighth's time, that there were peculiar laws made at that time, upon which those forfei tures were grounded, which had been repealed since that time : all those forfeitures were confirmed in parliament ; and that purged all defects. The common council was a selected body, chosen for particular ends ; and if they went beyond these, they were liable to be punished for it : if the petition they offered the King was seditious, the King might proceed against every man that was concerned in it ; and those upon whom those taxes had been levied, might bring their actions against those who had levied them : but it seemed very strange, that when none of the petitioners were proceeded against for any thing contained in that petition, and when no actions were brought on the account of those taxes, that the whole body should suffer in common for that, , which none of those, who were immediately concerned in 150 HISTORY OF THE REIGN J^62- it, had been so much as brought in question for, in any court of law. If the common council petitioned more ear nestly than was fitting for the sitting of the parliament, that ought to be ascribed to their zeal for the King's safety, and for the established religion : and it ought not to be stramed to any other sense, than to that which they profess, in the body of their petition, much less to be carried so far as to dissolve the whole body on that account : and as for the tolls and taxes, these were things practised in all the cor porations of England, and seemed to be exactly according to law. The city since the fire had, at a vast charge, made their wharfs and markets much more noble and convenient than they were before ; and therefore they might well deny the benefit of them, to those who would not pay a new rate, that they set on them for the payment of the debt contract ed in building them : this was not the imposing a tax, but the raising a rent out of a piece of ground, which the city might as well do, as a man who rebuilds his house may raise the rent of it : all the precedents that were brought, were examined and answered : some corporations were de^ serted, and so upon the matter dissolved themselves : judg ments in such cases, did not tally with this in hand : the seizing on the liberties of a corporation did not dissolve the -body ; for when a bishop dies, the King seizes the tem poralities ; but the corporation still subsists, and they are restored to the next incumbent. There were indeed some very strange precedents made in Richard the Second's time, but they were followed by as strange a reverse ; — the judges were hanged for the judgments they gave. They also insist ed on the effects that would follow on the forfeiting the charter : the custom of London was thereby broken ; all the public endowments and charities, lodged with the city, . must revert to the heirs of the donors. This is the sub stance of the argument, as I had it from Pollexphen. As for the more intricate points of law, I meddle not with them, but leave them to the learned men of that profession. When the matter was brought near judgment, Saunders, who had planned the whole thing, was made chief justice. Pember- ton, who was not satisfied in the point, being removed to the common pleas, upon North's advancement. Dolben, a judge of the King's Bench, was found not to be clear; so- he was turned out, and Withins came in his room. When OF KINS CHARLES II. 151 sentence was to be given, Saunders was struck with an apo- 1682* plexy ; so he could not come into court : but he sent his A^v**/ judgment in writing, and died a few days after. The sen- glU^n'the tence was given without the solemnity that was usual up- matter. on great occasions ; the judges were wont formerly, in de livering their opinions, to make long arguments, in which they set forth the grounds of law on which they went, which were great instructions to the students and barristers ; but that had been laid aside ever since Hale's time. The judgment now given was, that a city might forfeit its charter ; that the malversations of the common council were the acts of the whole city, and that the two points set forth in the pleadings were just grounds for the forfeiting of a charter: upon which premises the proper conclusion seemed to be, that therefore the city of London had forfeited their charter ; but the consequences of that were so much appre hended, that they did not think fit to venture on it : so they judged that the King might seize the liberties of the city. The attorney- general moved, contrary to what is usual in such cases, that the judgment might not be recorded ; and upon that new endeavours were used to bring the common council to deliver up their charter : yet that could not be compassed, though it was brought much nearer in the num bers of the voices, than was imagined could ever be done. There were other very severe proceedings at this time with s.onie °t]ier relation to particular persons. Pilkington was sheriff of mJnts!1"" London the former year ; an honest but an indiscreet man, that gave himself great liberties in discourse. He being desired to go along with the mayor and aldermen to com pliment the Duke upon his return from Scotland, declined going, and reflected on him as one concerned in the burning of the city : two aldermen said they heard that, and swore it against him. Sir Patience Ward, the mayor of the for mer year, seeing him go into that discourse, had diverted him from it, but heard not the words which the others swore to ; and he deposed, that to the best of his remembrance he said not those words. Pilkington was cast in an 100,000?. damages, the most excessive that had ever been given : but the matter did not stop there ; Ward was indicted for perjury, it being said, that since he swore that the words were not spoken, and that the jury had given a Verdict upon the evidence that they were spoken, by consequence he was 152 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1682. guilty of perjury. It was said on the other side, that when ^¦'^ two swear one way, and a third swears another way, a jury may believe the two better than the one ; but it is not cer tain from thence that he is perjured : if that were law, no man would be a witness ; if, because they of the other side were believed, he should be therefore convicted of perjury. A man's swearing tp a negative, that such words were not spoken, did only amount to this, that he did not hear them ; and it would be hard to prove, that he who swore so, had, heard them : but Ward proved, by him that took the trial in short-hand as he had done some others with great appro bation, that he had said : " to the best of his remembrance these words were not spoken by Pilkington," upon which Jefferies had then said, that his invention was better than his memory : and the attorney-general, in summing up the evidence to the jury, had said they ought to have no regard to Ward's evidence, since he had only deposed upon his memory ; yet that jury returned Ward guilty of perjury : and it was intended, if he had not gone out of the way, to have set him in the pillory. The truth is, juries became at that time the shame of the nation, as well as a reproach to religion : for they were packed, and prepared to bring in verdicts as they were directed, and not as matters appealed on the evidence. 1683. Thus affairs were going on all the year 1682, and to the posspee8°ede beginning of 1683. The Earl of Shaftsbury had been for with great making use of the heat the city was in, during the contest about the sheriffs, and thought they might have created a great disturbance, and made themselves masters of the Tower ; and, he believed, the first appearance of the least disorder would have prevailed on the King to yield every thing. The Duke of Monmouth, who understood whatrab- ble was, and what troops were, looked on this as a mad ex» posing of themselves, and of their friends. The Lords Es sex and Russel were of the same mind : so, Lord Shafts bury, seeing they could not be engaged into action, flew out against them ; he said, the Duke of Monmouth was sent into the party by the King, for this end— to keep all things quiet till the court had gained its point : he said, Lord Es sex had also made his bargain, and was to go to Ireland ; and that among them, Lord Russell was deceived. With this, he endeavoured to blast them in the city ; they studied OF KING CHARLES II. 153 to prevent the ill effects, that those jealousies which he was 1683. infusing into the citizens, might have among them : so the ^'^ Duke of Monmouth gave an appointment to Lord Shafts bury or some of his friends to meet him, and some others that he should bring along with him, at Shepherd's, a wine merchant, in whom they had an entire confidence. The Monmouth night before this appointment Lord Russel came to town,.atshep-6e on the account of his uncle's illness. The Duke of Mon- herds. mouth went to him and told him of the appointment, and desired he would go thither with him ; he consented, the ra ther because he intended to taste some of that merchant's wine. At night, they went with Lord Grey, and Sir Tho mas Armstrong ; when they came, they found none there, but Rumsey and Ferguson, two of Shaftsbury's tools that he employed : upon which, they seeing no better company, resolved immediately to go back ; but Lord Russel called for a taste of the wines, and while they were bringing it up, Rumsey and Armstrong fell into a discourse of surprising the guards ; Rumsey fancied it might have been easily done ; Armstrong, that had commanded them, shewed him his mis takes. This was no consultation about what was to be done, but only about what might have been done. Lord Russel spoke nothing upon the subject; but, as soon as he had tasted his wines, they went away. It may seem, that this is too light a passage to be told so copiously, but much depends on it. Lord Shaftsbury had one meeting with the Earls of Essex and Salisbury, before he went out of Eng land. Fear, anger and disappointment, had wrought so much on him, that Lord Essex told me, he was much broken in his thoughts ; his notions were wild and impracticable ; and he was glad that he was gone out of England ; but said, that he had done them already a great deal of mischief, and would have done more if he had stayed : as soon as he was gone, the lords and all the chief men of the party, saw their danger from forward sheriffs, willing juries, merce nary judges, and bold witnesses: so, they resolved to go home and be silent, to speak and to meddle as little as might be in public business ; and to let the present ill tem per the nation was fallen into, wear out : for, they did not doubt but the court, especially as it was now managed by the Duke, would soon bring the nation again into its wits by their ill conduct and proceedings. All that was to be vol. 11. x 154 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1683. done was, to keep up as much as they could, a good spi- v-^w/ rit, with relatien to elections of parliament, if one should be called. The Duke of Monmouth resolved to be advised chiefly Monmouth Dy jj0T& Essex : he would not be alone in that, but named and some ^ . - ... i j i • j others meet Lord Russel, against whom no objection could lie ; and often to- next to mm ne named Algernon Sydney, brother to the getner. . n i . Earl of Leicester ; a man of most extraordinary courage, a steady man, even to obstinacy, sincere, but of a rough and boisterous temper, that could not bear contradiction: he seemed to be a Christian, but in a particular form of his own ; he thought, it was to be like a divine philosophy in the mind ; but he was against all pubhc worship, and every thing that looked like a church : he was stiff to all repub lican principles, and such an enemy to every thing that look ed like monarchy, that he set himself in a high opposition against Cromwell when he was made protector: he had studied the history of government, in all its branches, be yond any man I ever knew : he was ambassador in Den mark, at the time of the Restoration, but did not come back till the year 1678, when the parliament was pressing the King into a war. The court of France obtained leave for him to return ; he did all he could to divert people from that war ; so that some took him for a pensioner of France : but to those to whom he durst speak freely, he said, he knew it was all a juggle ; that our court was in an entire confidence with France, and had no other design in this shew of war, but to raise an army, and keep it beyond sea till it . was trained and modelled. Sidney had a particular way of in sinuating himself into people that would hearken to his no tions and not contradict him ; — he tried me, but I was not so submissive a hearer, so we lived afterwards at a great dis tance : he wrought himself into Lord Essex's confidence to such a degree, that he became the master of his spirit : he had a great kindness for Lord Howard, as was formerly told ; for that Lord hated both the King and monarchy, as much as he himself did. He prevailed on Lord Essex to take Lord Howard into their secrets ; though Lord Essex had expressed such an ill opinion of him a little before to me, as to say, he wondered how any man would trust him self alone with him. Lord Russel, though his cousin-ger- man, had the same ill opinion of him ; yet Sidney overcame OF KING CHARLES II. 155 both their aversions. Lord Howard had made the Duke of 168''' Monmouth enter into confidence with Sidney, who used to v*v*/ speak very slightly of him ; and to say, it was all one to him, whether James, Duke of York, or James, Duke of Mon mouth, was to succeed : yet Lord Howard, perhaps, put a notion into him, which he offered often to me, that a prince, who knew there was a flaw in his title, would always go vern well ; and consider himself as at the mercy of the right heir, if he was not in all things, in the interests and hearts of his people, which was often neglected by princes that re lied on an undoubted title. Lord Howard, by a trick put both on the Duke of Monmouth and Sidney, brought them to be acquainted. He told Sidney, that the Duke of Mon mouth was resolved to come some day alone and dine with him, and he made the Duke of Monmouth believe that Sid ney desired this, that so he might nPt seem to come and court the Duke of Monmouth ; and said that some regard was to be had to his temper and age. Hamden was also taken into their secret; he was the grandson of him that had plead ed the cause of England, in the point of the ship-money, with King Charles the first ; his father was a very eminent man, and had been zealous in the exclusion : he was a young man of great parts, one of the learnedest gentlemen I have ever known, for he was a critic, both in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew ; he was a man of great heat and vivacity, but too unequal in his temper : he had once great principles of religion, but he was much corrupted by P. Simon's conver sation at Paris. With these men the Duke of Monmouth met often. His They treat interest in Scotland, both by the dependance that his wife's 7f\he°seot great estate brought him, but chiefly by the knowledge he ish nation. had of their affairs while he was among them, and by the confidence he knew they had all in him, made him turn his thoughts much towards that kingdom, as the properest scene of action. He had met often with Lord Argyle while he was in London, and had many conferences with him of the state of that kingdom, and of what might be done there ; and he thought the business of Carolina was a very proper blind to bring up some of the Scotch gentlemen, under the appearance of treating about that : they upon this agreed to send one Aaron Smith to Scotland, to desire that some men of absolute confidence might be sent up for that end ; V-vW 156 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1683. so when the proclamation, that was formerly mentioned, was published, it spread such an universal apprehension through all the suspected counties, that they looked on themselves as marked out to destruction ; and it is very natural for people under such impressions, to set them selves to look out for remedies as soon as they can. In the beginning of April some of them came up. The person tliat was most entirely trusted, and to whom the journey proved fatal, was Baillie, of whose unjust treat ment, upon Carstairs's information, an account was for merly given : he was my cousin-german ; so I knew him well. He was in the presbyterian principles, but was a man of great piety and virtue, learned in the law, in ma thematics, and in languages : I went to him, as soon as I heard he was come, in great simplicity of heart, thinking of nothing but of Carolina ; I was only afraid they might go too much into the company of the English, and give true representations of the state of affairs in Scotland; this might be reported about by men that would name them, and that might bring them into trouble : but a few weeks after, I found they came not to me as they were wont to flo ; and I heard they were often with Lord Russel. I was apprehensive of this ; and Lord Essex being in the country, I went to him to warn him of the danger I feared Lord Russel might be brought into, by this conversation with my countrymen. He diverted me from all my apprehen sions, and told me I might depend on it, Lord Russel would be in nothing without acquainting him : and he seemed to agree entirely with me, that a rising in the state in which things were then, would be fatal. I always said, that when the root of the constitution was struck at to be overturned, then I thought subjects might defend them selves ; but I thought jealousies and fears, and particular acts of injustice, could not warrant this. He did agree with me in this ; he thought the obligation between prince and subject was so equally mutual, that upon a breach on the one side the other was free : but though he thought the late injustice in London, and the end that was driven at by it, did set them at liberty to look to themselves ; yet he confessed things were not ripe enough yet, and that an ill- laid, and an ill-managed rising, would be our ruin. I was then newly come from writing my History of the Reforma- OF KING CHARLES II. 157 tion ; and did so evidently see, that the struggle for Lady 1683. Jane Gray, and Wyat's rising, was that which threw the ^v*' nation so quickly into popery after King Edward's days, (for such as had rendered themselves obnoxious in those matters, saw no other way to secure themselves, and found their turning was a sure one,) that I was now very appre hensive of this ; besides that I thought it was yet unlaw ful, What past between the Scots and the English lords I know not; only that Lord Argyle, who was then in Hol land, asked at first 20,000/. for buying a stock of arms and ammunition, which he afterwards brought down to 8000/. and a thousand horse to be sent into Scotland : upon which he undertook the conduct of that matter. I know no fur ther than general hints of their matters; for though Ham- den offered frequently to give me a particular account of it all, knowing that I was writing the history of that time, yet I told him, that till by an indemnity that whole matter was buried, I would know none of those secrets, which I might be obliged to reveal, or to lie and deny my knowledge of them : so to avoid that I put it off at that time : and when I returned to England at the Revolution, we appointed often to meet, in order to a full relation of it all; but by several accidents it went off, as a thing is apt to do which one can recover at any time ; and so his unhappy end came on before I had it from him. I, know this, that no money was raised; but the thing had got some vent — ;for my own brother, a zealous presbyterian, who was come from Scot land, it not being safe for him to live any longer in that kingdom, knowing that he had conversed with many that had been in the rebellion, told me there was certainly somewhat in agitation among them, about which some of their teachers had let out somewhat very freely to himself: how far that matter went, and how the scheme was laid, I cannot tell ; and, so must leave it in the dark. Their con tract for the project of Carolina seemed to go on apace ; they had sent some thither the former year, who were now come back, and brought them a particular account of every thing : they likewise, to cover their negotiations with Lord Argyle, sent some over to him ; but with the blind of in structions for buying ships in Holland, and other things necessary for their transportation.. While this matter was thus in a close management 158 1683. Other con spirators meet at the same time on designs of assassi nating the- King. HISTORY OF THE REIGN among them, there was another company of Lord Shafts- bury's creatures, that met in the Temple, in the chambers of one West, a witty and active man, full of talk, and be lieved to be a determined atheist : Rumsey and Ferguson came constantly thither. The former of these was an offi cer in Cromwell's army, who went into Portugal with the forces that served there under Schomberg. He did a brave action in that service ; and Schomberg writ a particular letter to the King setting it out; upon which he got a place : and he had applied himself to Lord Shaftsbury as his pa tron : he was much trusted by him, and sent often about on messages. Once or twice he came to Lord Russel, but it was upon indifferent things. Lord Russel said to me, that at that very time, he felt such a secret aversion to him, that he was in no danger of trusting him much. He was one of the bold talkers, and kept chiefly among Lord Shaftsbu- ry's creatures. He was in all the secret of his going beyond sea ; which seemed to shew that he was not then a spy of the court's, whieh some suspected he was all along. Fer guson was a hot and a bold man, whose spirit was naturally turned to plotting ; he was always unquiet, and setting peo ple on to some mischief: I knew a private thing of him, by which it appeared he was a profligate knave, and could cheat those that trusted him entirely ; so though he, being a Scotchman, took all the ways he could to be admitted into some acquaintance with me, I would never see him, or speak with him ; and I did not know his face till the Revolution : he was cast out by the presbyterians ; and then went among the independents, where his boldness raised him to some figure, though he was at bottom a very empty man : he had the management of a secret press, and of a purse that maintained it, and he gave about most of the pamphlets writ of that side ; and with some he passed for the author of them : and such was his vanity, because this made him more considerable, that he was not ill-pleased to have that believed ; though it only exposed him so much the more. With these Goodenough, who had been under- sheriff of London in Bethel's year, arid one Halloway of Bristol met often, and had a great deal of rambling dis course, to shew how easy a thing it was on the sudden, to raise four thousand men in the city. Goodenough by rea son of his office, knew the city well, and pretended he knew OF KING CHARLES II. 159 many men of so much credit in every corner of it, and on 1683. whom they might depend, as could raise that number, which ^s+j he reckoned would quickly grow much stronger ; and it is probable, this was the scheme with which Lord Shaftsbury was so possessed, that he thought it might be depended on. They had many discourses of the heads of a declaration proper for such a rising ; and disputed of these with much subtilty, as they thought : and they intended to send Hal loway to Bristol, to try what could be done there, at the same time : but all this was only talk, and went no further than to a few of their own confidents. Rumsey, Ferguson, and West, were often talking of the danger of executing this, andthat the shorter and surer way, was to kill the two brothers. One Rumbold,- who had served in Cromwell's army, came twice among them, and while they were in that wicked discourse, which they expressed by the term lop ping : he upon that told them, he had a farm near Hodsden, in the way to Newmarket ; and there was a moat cast round his house, through which the King sometimes passed in his way thither. He said, once the coach went through quite alone, without any of the guards about it ; and that, if he had laid any thing cross the way to have stppt the coach but a minute, he could have shot them both and have rode away through grounds, that he knew so well, that it would not have been possible to have followed him ; upon which they ran into much wicked talk about the way of executing that : but nothing was ever fixed on, all was but talk. At one time Lord Howard was among them, and they talked over their several schemes of lopping : one of them was to be executed in the play-house ; Lord Howard said, he liked that best, for then they would die in their call ing : this was so like his way of talk, that it was easily believed, though he always denied it. Walcot, an Irish gentleman, that had been of Cromwell's army, was now in . London, and got into that company ; and he was made be lieve, that the thing was so well laid, that many both in city and country were engaged in it. He liked the project of a rising, but declared he would not meddle in their lopping : so this wicked knot of men continued their caballings, from the time that the Earl of Shaftsbury went away ; and these were the subjects of their discourses. The King went con stantly to Newmarket for about a month, both in April and 160 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1683. October. In April, while he was there, the fire broke out, v^<-*>/ and burned part of the town ; upon which, the King came back a week sooner than he intended. a plot is While all these things were thus going pn, there was one Keeling, an anabaptist in London, who Avas sinking in his business, and began to think that of a witness would be the better trade. Goodenough had employed him often to try their strength in the city, and to count on whom they could depend for a sudden rising : he also talked to him of the design of killing the two brothers : so he went and disco vered all he could to Leg, at that time made Lord Dart mouth : Leg made no great account of it, but sent him to Jenkins. Jenkins took his depositions, but told him he could not proceed in it without more witnesses : so he went to his brother, who was a man of heat in his way, but of probity ; who did not incline to ill designs, and less to dis cover them. Keeling carried his brother to Goodenough, and assured him he might be depended on. So Goode nough run out into a rambling discourse of what they both could and would do ; and he also spoke of killing the King and the Duke, which would make their work easy. When they left him, the discoverer pressed his brother to go along with him to Westminster, where he pretended business, but stopped at Whitehall. The- other was uneasy, longing to get out of his company, to go to some friends for advice upon what had happened. But he drew him on ; and at last, he not knowing whether he was going, he drew him into Jenkin's office, and there told the secretary, he had brought another witness, who had heard the substance of the plot from Goodenough's own mouth just then. His- brother was deeply struck with this cheat and surprise, but could not avoid the making oath to Jenkins of all he had heard. The secretary, whose phlegmatic head was not turned for such a work, let them both go, and sent out no warrants, till he had communicated the matter to the rest of the ministry, the King being then at Windsor. So Keelr ing, who had been thus drawn into the snare by his brother, sent advertisements to Goodenough and all the other per sons whom he named, to< go out of the way. Rumsey and West were at this time perpetually together ; and apprehending that they had trusted themselves to too many persons, who might discover them, they laid a story, HISTORY OF THE REIGN 161 in which they resolved 'to agree so well together, that they —83. should not contradict one another. They framed their story, )T^? thus: — that they had laid the design of their rising to be story laid by executed on the 17th of November, the day df Queen Eli- ^Ts'eyan<1 zabeth's coming to the crown, on which the citizens used to run together, and carry about pop'es in procession, and burn them, so that day seemed proper to cover their run ning together, till they met in a body ; others, they said, thought it best to do nothing on that day, the rout being usually at night ; but to lay their rising for the next Sunday at the hour of people's being at church ; this was laid to shew how near the matter was to the being executed : but the part of their story that was the best laid, (for this look ed ridiculous, since they could not name any one person of any condition that was to head this rising,) was, that they pretended that Rumbold had offered them his house in the heath for executing the design ; it was called Rye, and from thence it was called the Rye-plot. He asked forty men,- well armed and mounted, whom Rumsey and Walcot were to command in two parties ; the one was to engage the guards, if they should be near the coach, and the other was to stop the coach and to murder the King and the Duke. Rumsey took the wicked part on himself, saying, that Wal cot had made a scrapie of killing the King, but none of engaging the guards ; so Rumsey was to do the execution ; and they said, they were divided in their minds what to da next ; some were for defending the moat till night, and then to have gone off: others were for riding through grounds in a shorter way towards the Thames : of these forty, they could name but eight; but it was pretended that Walcot, Good- enough, and Rumbold had Undertaken to find both the rest of the men and the horses ; for, though upon such an occa sion, men would have taken care to have had sure and well tried horses, this, also, was said to be trusted to others. As for arms, West had bought some, as on a commission for a plantation, and these were said to be some of the arms with which they were to be furnished ; though, when they were seen, they seemed very improper for such a service. I saw all West's narrative, which was put in Lord Roches ter's hands, and a friend of mine borrowed it of him, and lent it me. They were so Wise at court, that they would VOL. II.' Y v-vw 162 HISTORY OF THE REIGN leas, not suffer it to be printed ; for then it would have appeared too gross to be believed. But the part of it all that seemed the most amazing was, that it was to have been executed on the day, in which the King had intended to return from Newmarket: but the hap py fire that sent him away a week sooner, had quite defeated the whole plot, while it was within a week of its execution, and neither horses, men, nor arms yet provided. This seemed to be so eminent a Providence, that the whole nation was struck with it, and both preachers and poets had a no ble subject to enlarge on, and to shew how much the King and the Duke were under the watchful care of Providence. Within three days after Keeling's discovery, the plot broke out, and became the whole discourse of the town ; many examinations were taken, and several persons were clapped up upon it ; among these, Wildman was one, who had been an agitator in Cromwell's army, and had opposed his protectorship. After the Restoration, he being looked on as a high republican, was kept long in prison, where he had studied law and physic sp much, that he passed as a man very knowing in those matters : he had a way of crea ting in others a great opinion of his sagacity, and had great credit with the Duke of Buckingham, and was now very ac tive under Sidney's conduct : he was seized on, and his house was searched ; in his cellars there happened to be two small field pieces, that belonged to the Duke of Buck ingham, and that lay in York House, when that was sold, and was to be pulled down : Wildman carried those two pieces, which were finely wrought, but pf little use, intp: his cellars, where they were laid on ordinary wooden car riages, and no way fitted for any service ; yet, these were carried to Whitehall, and exposed to view, as an undeniable proof of a rebellion designed, since here was their cannon. Several persons came to me from court, assuring me that there was full proof made of a plot. Lord Howard coming soon after them to see me, talked of the whole. matter in his spiteful way, with so much scorn, that I.real-/ ly thought he knew of nothing, and by consequence I be lieved there was no truth in all these discoveries: he said, the court knew they were sure of juries, and they would fur nish themselves quickly with witnesses ; and he spoke of ; tire Duke as of one that would be worse, not only than OF KING CHARLES IL 163 Qfleen Mary, but than Nero ; and with eyes and hands lifted 1683. to heaven, he vowed to me, that he knew of no plot, and that ^^ he believed nothing of it. Two days after, a proclamation came out for seizing on some who could not be found, and among these Rumsey and West were named. The next day West delivered him self, and Ruinsey came in a day after him : these two brought out their story, which, how incredible soever it was, passed so for certain, that any man that seemed to doubt it was concluded to be in it. That of defending themselves with in mud walls and a moat, looked like the invention of a lawyer, who could not lay a military contrivance with any sort of probability ; nor did it appear where the forty horse were to be lodged, and how they were to be brought toge ther : all these were thought objections that could be made by none but those who either were of it, or wished well to it. These new witnesses had also heard of the conferences that the Duke of Monmouth and the other lords had with those who were come from Scotland, but knew nothing 'of it themselves : Rumsey did likewise remember the discourse at Shepherd's. When the council found the Duke of Monmouth and Lord Russel and Russel were named, they writ to the King to come to Lon- weTe put i" don, they would not venture to go farther without his pre- prison npon > gence and leave. A messenger of the council was sent the u' morning before the King came, to wait at Lord Russel's gate, to have stopped him if he had offered to go out ; this was observed, for he walked many hours there, and it was looked on as done on purpose to frighten him away, for his back gate was not watched, so for several, hours he might have gone away if he had intended it : he heard that Rum sey had named him, but he knew he had not trusted him, and he never reflected on the discourse at Shepherd's. He sent his wife among his frierids for advice; they were of dif ferent minds, but since he said he apprehended nothing from any thing he had said to Rumsey, they thought his going out of the way would give the court too great an ad vantage, and would look like a confessing of guilt ; so, this , agreeing with his own mind, he stayed at home till the King Was come, and then a messenger was sent to carry him be fore the counsel ; he received it very composedly, and went thither. Rumsey had also said, that at Shepherd's there VvW 164 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1683. was some discourse of Trenchard's undertaking to raise a body out of Taunton, and of his failing in it ; so Lord Rus sel was examined upon that, the Kmg telling him that no body suspected him of any design against his person, but that he had good evidence of his being in designs against his government. Lord Russel protested, he had heard no thing relating to Trenchard, and said, to the last, that either it was a fiction of Ruihsey's, or it had passed between him and Armstrong, while he was walking about the room, or tasting the wine's at Shepherd's ; for he had not heard a word of it : — upon all this, he was sent a close prisoner to the Tower. Sidney was brought next before the council ; but his'ex- amination lasted not long : he said, he must make the best defence he could, if they had any proof against him, but he would not fortify their evidence by any thing he should say ; and, indeed, that was the wisest course ; for the answering questions upon such examinations is a very dangerous thing, every word that is said is laid hold on, that can be turned against a man's self or his friends, and no regard is had to what he might say in favour of them : and it had been happy for the rest, especially for Baillie, if they had all held to this maxim. There was at that time no sort of evi dence against Sidney, so that his commitment was against law. Trenchard was also examined, he denied every thing ; but one point of his guilt was well known — he was the first man that had moved the exclusion in the House of Com mons, so he was reckoned a lost man. Baillie, and two other gentlemen of Scotland, both Camp bells, had changed their lodgings while the town was in this fermentation ; and, upon that, they were seized on as sus pected persons, and brought before the King : he himself examined them, and first questioned them about the design against his person, which they very frankly answered, and denied they knew any thing about it : then he asked them, if they had been in any consultations with lords or others in England, in order to an insurrection in Scotland. Baillie faultered at this, for his conscience restrained him from ly ing : he said, he did not know the importance of those ques. tions, nor what use might be made of his answers ; he de sired to see them in writing, and then he would consider how to answer them. Both the King and the Duke threat- OF KING CHARLES II. 165. ened him upon this, and he seemed to neglect that with so 16fj3. much of the air of a philosopher, that it provoked them out 'l°~^ of measure against him; the other two were so lately come from Scotland, that they had seen nobody, and knew no thing. Baillie was loaded by a special direction, with very heavy irons ; so that for some weeks his life was a burden to him. Cochran, another of those who had been cpncern- ed in this treaty, was complained of, as having talked very freely of the Duke's government of Scotland : upon which the Scotch secretary sent a note to him, desiring him to come to him ; for it was intended only to have given him a repri mand, and to have ordered him to go to Scotland ; but he knew his own secret, so he left his lodgings and got be yond sea. This shewed the court had not yet got full evi dence, otherwise he would have been taken up as well as the others were. As soon as the council rose, the King went to the Dutchess Monmouth of Monmouth's, and seemed so much concerned for the escaped!" Duke of Monmouth, that he wept as he spoke to her. That Duke told a strange passage relating to that visit, to the Lord Cutis, from whom I had it. — The King told his lady that some were to come and search her lodgings, but he had given order that no search should be made in her apart ments, so she might conceal him safely in them, but the Duke of Monm'outh added, that he knew him too well to trust him: so he went out of his lodgings, and it seems he judged right, for the place that was first searched for him was her rooms : but he was gone ; and he gave that for the reason why he could never trust the King after that. It is not likely the King meant to proceed to extremities with him, but that he intended to have him in his own hands and in his power. An order was sent to bring up the Lord Grey, which met him coming up. He was brought before the council, where he behaved himself with great presence of mind. He was sent to the Tower ; but the gates were shut, so he staid in the messenger's hands all night, whom he furnished so libe rally with wine," that he was dead drunk. Next morning he went with him to the Tower-gate, the messenger being again fast asleep : he himself called at the Tower-gate, to bring the lieutenant of the Tower to receive a prisoner; but he began to think he might be in danger : he found Rumsey v-\-^ 166 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1683. was one witness ; and if another should come in he was gone : so he called for a pair of oars, and went away, leav ing the drunken messenger fast asleep. Warrants were sent for several other persons ; some went out of the way, and others were dismissed after some months imprison ment. The King shewed some appearance of sincerity in examining the witnesses : he told them he would not have a growing evidence ; and so he charged them to tell out at once all that they knew : he led them into no accusations by asking them any questions. He only asked them, if Oates was in their secret? They answered, that they all looked on him as such a rogue, that they would not trust him. The King also said, he found Lord Howard was not among them, and he believed that was upon the same account. There were many more persons named, and more particulars set down in West's narrative, than the court thought fit to make use of; for they had no appear ance of truth in them. Lord Russel, from the time of his imprisonment, looked upon himself as a dead man, and turned his thoughts wholly to another world ; he read much in the Scriptures, partir cularly in the Psalms, and read Baxter's Dying Thoughts : he was as serene and calm as if he had been in no danger at all. A committee of council came to examine him upon the design of seizing on the guards, and about his treating with the Scots. He answered them civilly ; and said, that. he was now preparing for his trial, where he did not doubt but he should answer every thing that could be objected to him. From him they went to Sydney, who treated them more roughly: he said it seemed they wanted evidence, and therefore they were come to draw it from his own mouth ; but they should have nothing from him. Upon this examination of Lord Russel, in which his, treating with the Scots was so positively charged on him, as a thing of which they were well assured, his lady desired me to see who this could be that had so charged him; but this appeared to be only an artifice, to draw a confession from him. Cochran was gone, and Baillie was a close prisoner, and was very ill used ; none were admitted to him. I sent to the keeper of the prison to let him want for nothing, and that I should see him paid. I also, at his desire, sent him books for his entertainment, for which I was threatened OF KING CHARLES U. 167 with a prison. I said, I was his nearest kinsman in the i^m. place, and this was only to do as I would be done by, v-"»w From what I found among the Scots, I. quieted the fears of Lord Russel's friends. Lord Howard was still going about, and protesting to every person he saw, that there was no plot, and that he knew of none ; yet he seemed to be under a consternation all the while. Lord Russel told me, he was with him when the news was brought that West had delivered himself, upon which he saw him change colour ; and he asked him, if he apprehended any thing from him ? He confessed he had been as free with him as with any man. Hamden saw him afterwards under great fears ; and upon that, he wished him to go out of the way, if he thought there was matter against him, and if he had not a strength of mind to suffer any thing that might happen to him. The King spoke of him with such contempt, that it was not probable that he was all this while in correspondence with the court. At last, four days before Lord Russel's trial, he was: Howard's taken in his own house after a long search, and was found 00,uess'au- standing up within a chimney ; as soon as he was taken, he fell a crying ; and at his first examination, he told, as he said, all that he knew. West and Rumsey had resolved only to charge some of the lower sort, but had not laid. every thing so well together, but that they were found con tradicting one another. So Rumsey charged West for con-' cealing some things ; upon which he was laid in irons; and was threatened with being hanged : for three days he would eat nothing, and seemed resolved to starve himself ; but nature overcame his resolutions, and then he told aline; knew, and perhaps more than he knew ; for I believe it was at this time that he wrote his narrative : and in that, he> told anew story of Lord Howard, which was not very cre dible, that he thought the best way of killing the King and the Duke, was for the Duke of Monmouth to fall into New market, with a body of three or four hundred horse, when they were all asleep, and sp to take them all ; — as if it had heen an easy matter to get such a body together, and to car ry them thither invisibly upon so desperate a service. Up on Lord Howard's examination, he told a long story of Lord Shaftsbury's design of raising the city ; he affirmed, that the Duke of Monmouth bad told him, how Trenchard 168 HISTORY OF THE REIGN a683- had undertaken to bring a body of men from Taunton, but v*^,,/ had failed in it ; he confirmed that of a rising intended in the city, on the 17th, or the 19th of November last; but he knew of nobody that was to be at the head of it : so this was looked on as only talk. But that which came more home, was, that he owned there was a council of six settled, of which he himself was one, and that they had had several debates among them concerning an insurrection, and where it should begin, whether in the city or in the country ; but that they resolved to be first well informed concerning the state Scotland was in, and that Sidney had sent Aaron Smith to Scotland, to bring him a sure information from thence, and that he gave him sixty guineas for his journey : more of that matter he did not know, for he had gone out of town to the bath, and to his estate in the cpuntry. Dur ing his absence, the lords began to apprehend their error in trusting him ; and upon it, Lord Essex said to Lord Russel, as the last told me in prison, that the putting them selves in the power of such a man, would be their reproach, as well as their ruin, for trusting a man of so ill a charao" ter; so they resolved to talk no more to him: but at his next coming to tpwn, they told him, they saw it was neces sary at present to give over all consultations, and to be quiet ; and after that they saw him very little. Hamden was upon Lord Howard's discovery seized on : he, when examined, desired not to be pressed with questions ; so he was sent to the Tower. A party of horse was sent to bring up Lord Essex, who had staid all this while at his house in the country, and seemed so little apprehensive of danger, that his own lady did not imagine he had any concern on his mind. He was offered to be conveyed away very safely, but he would not Stir: his tenderness for Lord Russel was the cause of this, for he thought, his going out of the way might incline the jury to believe the evidence the more for his absconding. He seemed resolved, as soon as he saw how that went, to take care of himself. When the party came to bring him up, he was at first in some disorder, yet he recovered him self; but when he came before the council, he was in much The Earl of confusion. He was sent to the Tower, and there he fell Esse* ™ under a great depression of spirit ; he could not sleep at all. Tower. He had fallen before that twice under great fits of the W^ OF KING CHARLES II. J69 ^spleen, which returned now upon him with more violence. 1683- He sent by a servant, whom he had long trusted, and who was suffered to come to him, a very melancholy message to his wife, that what he was charged with, was true ; he was sorry he had ruined her and her children, but he had sent for the Earl of Clarendon, to talk freely to him, who had married his sister. She immediately sent back the ser vant, to beg of him that he would not think of her or her children, but only study to support his own spirits ; and de sired him to say nothing to Lord Clarendon, nor to any body else, till she should come to him, which she was in hope to obtain leave to do in a day or two. Lord Claren* don came to him upon his message ; but he turned the mat ter so well to him, as if he had been only to explain some what that he had mistaken himself in when he was before the council : but as to that for which he was clapped up, he said there was nothing in it, and it would appear how inno cent he was ; so Lord Clarendon went away in a great mea sure satisfied, as he himself told me. His lady had another message from him, that he was much calmer ; especially when he found how she took his condition to heart, without seeming concerned for her own share in it. He ordered many things to be sent to him ; and among other things^ he called at several times for a penknife, with which he used to pare his nails very mcely : so this was thought intended for an amusement. But it was not brought from his house in the country, though sent for ; and, when it did not come, he called for a razor, and said that would do as well. The King and the Duke came to the Tower that morning, as was given out, to see some invention about the ordnance. As they were going into their barge, the cry came after them of what had happened to Lord Essex ; for his man, thinking he staid longer than ordinary in his closet, said, he looked through the key-hole, and there saw him lying dead : upon which, the door being broke open, he was found dead ; his throat cut, so that both the jugulars and the gul let were cut, a little above the aspera arteria. I shall after wards give an account of the further inquiry into this mat ter, which passed then universally as done by himself. The coroners jury found it self-murder: and when his body was brought home to his own house, and the wound was examined by his own surgeon, he said to me, it was im- VOL. II. z 170 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1683. possible the wound could be as it was, if given by any hand v"'"vw' but his own ; for except he had cast his head back, and stretched up his neck all he could, the aspeja arteria must have been cut. But to go on with this tragical day, in which I lost the two best friends I had in the world. The Lord The Lord Russel's trial was fixed for that day. A jury trw!8 ' was returned that consisted of citizens of London who were bpt freeholders : so the first point argued in law was, whe7 ther this could be a legal jury : the statute was express ; and the reason was, that none but men of certain estates might try a man upon his life. It was answered, that the practice of the city was to the contrary, upon the very rea son of the law ; for the richest men of the city were often no freeholders, but merchants whose wealth lay in their trade and stock : so this was over-ruled, and the jury was sworn. They were picked out with great care, being men of fair reputation in other respects, but so engaged in the party for the court, that they were easy to believe any thing on that side. Rumsey, Shepherd, and Lord Howard, were the witnesses, who deposed according to what was formerly related. Shepherd swore Lord Russel was twice at his house, though he was never there but once ; and when Lord Rus sel sent him word after his sentence, that he forgave him all he had sworn against him, but that he must remember that he was never within his doors but one single time : to which all the answer Shepherd made was, that all the while he was in court, during the trial, he was under such a con fusion, that he scarce knew what he said. Both Rumsey and he swore that Lord Russel had expressed his consent to the seizing on the guards, though they did not swear any one word that he spoke which imported it: so that here a man was convicted of treason, for being present by acci dent, or for some innocent purpose, where treasonable mat ter was discoursed, without bearing a part in that discourse, or giving any assent, by words or otherwise, to what was so discoursed ; which at the most amounts to misprision, or concealment of treason only. As Lord Howard began his evidence, the news of the Earl of Essex's death came to the court ; upon which Lord Howard stopped, and said, he cOuld not go on till he gave vent to his grief in some tears : he soon recovered himself, and told all his story. Lord Russel defended himself by many compurgators, who spoke A*v-^ OF KING CHARLES II. 171 Very fulbj' of his great worth, and that it was not likely he 1683- wtfuld engage in ill designs. Some others besides myself tes tified how soleriinly Lord Howard had denied his knowledge of any plot, upon its first breaking out. Finch, the solicitor- general, said, no regard was to be had to that, for all wit nesses denied at first. It was answered, if these denials had been orily to a magistrate, or at an examination, it might be thought of less moment ; but such solemn denials, with assentations to friends, and officiously offered, showed that such a witness was so bad a man, that no credit was due to his testimony. It was also urged that it was riot sworn by any of the witnesses, that Lord Russel had spoken any such words, or words to that effect ; and, without some such indication, it could not be known that he hearkened to the discourse, or consented to it. Lord Russel also asked, upon what statute he was tried : if upori the old statute of the twenty-fifth of Edward the Third, or if upon the statute made declaring what shall be held treason during the King's feign ? They could not rely on the last, because of the limitation of time in it : six months, and something more, was passed since the time of these discourses ; so they re lied on the old statute ; upon which he asked, where was the overt-act ? for none appeared. It was also said, that by that statute the very imagining the king's death, when proved by an overt-act, was treason : but it was only the levying war, and not the imagining to levy war against the King, that was treason by that statute. Cook and Hale were of this opinion, and gave their reasons for it ; and it seemed that the parliament that passed the act of treason during the present reign, were of that mind, for they enumerated con sultations to raise war among those things which were de clared to be treason during that reign: this showed that they did not look on them as comprehended within the old statute. The King's counsel pretended, that consultations to seize on the guards were an over-act of a design against the King's person: but those forces, that have got the desig- riatiori of guards appropriated tp them, are not the King's guards in law ; they are not so much as allowed of by law; for even the lately dissolved long parliament, that was so careful of the King, and so kind to him, would never take notice of the King's forces, much less call them his guards. The guards were only a company of men in the King's pay; *— ^/ 172 „ISTORY OF THE REltiN 1683. go that a design to seize on them amounted to no more than to a design to seize on a part of the King's army : but the Word guards sounded so like a security to the King's per son, that the design against them was constructed a design against his life : and yet none of the witnesses spoke of any design against the King's person. Lord Howard swore positively, that they had no sUch design : yet the one was constructed to be the natural consequence of the other ; so that after all the declaiming against a constructive treason in the case of Lord Strafford, the court was always rumiing into it, when they had a mind to destroy any that stood in their way. Lord Russel desired, that his counsel might be heard to this point of seizing the guards ; but that was de» hied, unless he would confess the fact ; and he would not do that, because, as the witnesses had sworn it, it was false... He once intended to have related the whole fact, just as it was ; but his counsel advised him against it. Some of his friends were for it, who thought that it could amount to no more than a concealment and misprision of treason : yet the counsel distinguished between a bare knowledge, and a Concealing that, and a joining designedly in council with men that did design treason ; for, in that case, though a man should differ in opinion from a treasonable proposition, yet his mixing in council with such men will, in law, make him a traitor. Lord Russel spoke but little ; yet, in few words, he touched on all the material points of law that had been suggested to him. Finch summed up the evidence against him ; but in that, and in several other trials afterwards, he showed more of a vicious eloquence, in turning matters with some subtlety against the prisoners, than of solid or sincere reasoning. Jefferies would show his zeal, and speak after him ; but it was only an insolent declamation, such as all his were, full of fury and indecent invectives. Pemberton was the head of the court, the other bench not being yet filled. He summed up the evidence at first very fairly ; but in conclusion he told the jury, that a design to seize the guards was surely a design against the King's life: but though he struck upon this, which was the main point, yet it was thought that his stating the whole matter with so little eagerness against Lord Russel, was that which lost- him his place ; for he was turned but soon after. Lord Russel's behaviour during the trial was decent and composed; so OF, KING CHARLES II. 173 (hat he seemed very little- concerned in the issue of the 1683. matter. He was a man of so much candour, that he spoke W^ little as to the fact ; for since he was advised not to tell the whole truth, he could not speak against thatwhich he knew to be true, though in some particulars it had been carried beyond the truth. But he was not allowed to make the difference ; so he left that wholly to the jury, who brought Hewasoon- in their verdict against him, upon which he received sen- emne ' fence. He then composed himself to die with great seriousness. He said, he was sure the day of his trial was more uneasy to him than that of his execution would be. All possible methods were used to have saved his life : money was of fered to the Lady Portsmouth, and to all that had credit, and that without measure. He was pressed to send peti tions and submissions to the King, and to the Duke ; but he left it to his friends to consider how far these might go, and how they were to be worded. All he was brought to was, to offer to live beyond sea in any place that the King should name, and never to meddle any more in English af fairs. But all was in vain : both King and Duke were fix ed in their resolutions ; but with this difference, as Lord Rochester afterwards told me, that the Duke suffered some, among whom he was one, to argue the point with him, but the King could not bear the discourse. Some have said, that the Duke moved that he might be executed in South ampton square, before his own house, but that the King re jected that as indecent; so Lincoln's-inn-fields was the place appointed for his execution. The last week of his life, he was shut up all the mornings, as he himself desired ; and about noon I came to him, and staid with him till night. All the while he expressed a very Christian temper, without sharpness or resentment, vanity or affectation; his whole be haviour looked like a triumph over death. Upon some oc casions, as at table, or when his friends came to see him, he was decently cheerful. I was by him when the sheriffs' came to show him the warrant for his execution. He read it with indifference ; and when they were gone, he told me, it was not decent to be merry with such a matter, otherwise he was near telling Rich, (who though he was now of the other side, yet had been a member of the House of Com mons and had voted for the exclusion,) that they should 174 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1683. never sit together in that house any more, to vote for the' v"*v'*/ bill of exclusion. The day before his death he fell a bleed ing at the nose : upon that, he said to me pleasantly, I shall not now let blood to divert this ; that will be done to-mor row. At night it rained hard and he said, such a rain to morrow will spoil a great shew, which was a dull thing in a rainy day. He said, the sins of his youth lay heavy upon his mind, but he hoped God had forgiven them, for he was sure he had forsaken them, and for many years he had walked before God with a sincere heart : if in his pub lic actings he had committed errors, they were only the" errors of his understanding ; for he had no private ends, nor ill designs of his own in them: he was still of opinion that the King was limited by law, and that when he' broke4 through those limits, his subjects might defend themselves, and restrain him ; he thought a violent death was a very desirable way of ending one's life ; it was only the being exposed to be a little gazed at, and to suffer the pain of one minute, which, he was confident, was not equal to the pain of drawing a tooth. He ¦ said, he felt none of those transports that some good people felt; but he had a full calm in his mind, no palpitation at heart, nor trem bling at the thoughts of death. He was much concerned at the cloud that seemed to be now over his country; but he hoped his death should do more service, than his life' could have done^ His prepa- This was the substance of the discourse between him and death. " me- Tillotson was oft with him that last week. We thought the party had gone too quick in their consultations, and too far ; and that resistance in the conditiori we were then in, was not lawful. He said, he had not leisure to 'enter into discourses of politics, but he thought a government limited by law was only a name, if the subjects might not main tain those limitations by force; otherwise all was at the discretion of the prince : that was contrary to all the no tions he had lived in of our government. But he said, there Was nothing among them but the embrios of things, that Were never like to have any effect, and that were now quite" dissolved. He thought it was necessary for him to leave a paper behind him at his death ; and, because he had not been accustomed to draw such papers, he desired me to give him a scheme of the heads fit to be spoken to, and of OF KING CHARLES II. 175 the order in which they should be laid ; which I did : and 1683- - he was three days employed for some time in the morning ^^ to write out his speech. He ordered four copies to be made of it, all which he signed ; and gave the original, with three of the copies, to his lady, and kept the other to give to the sheriffs on the scaffold. He writ it with great care ; and the passages that were tender he writ in papers apart, and showed them to his lady, and to myself, before he writ them out fair : he was very easy when this was ended. He also writ a letter to the King, in which he asked pardon for every thing he had said or done contrary to his duty, protesting he was innocent as to all designs against his person or go vernment, and that his heart was ever devoted to that which he thought was his true interest. He added, that though he thought he had met with hard measure, yet he forgave all concerned in it from the highest to the lowest ; and end ed, hoping that his Majesty's displeasure at him, would cease with his own life, and that no part of it should fall on his wife and children. The day before his death, he re ceived the sacrament from Tillotson with much devotion; and I preached two short sermons to him, which he heard with great affection : and we were shut up till towards the evening. Then he suffered his children, that were very young, and some few of his friends, to take leave of him ; in which he maintained his constancy of temper, though he was a very fond father. He also parted with his lady with a composed silence ; and, as soon as she was gone, he said to me, the bitterness of death is past ; for he loved and esteemed her beyond expression, as she well deserved it jn all respects. She had the command of herself so much, that at parting she gave him no disturbance. He went into his chamber about midnight, and I staid all night in the outward room : he went not to bed till about two in the morning, and was fast asleep till four, when, according to his order, we called him. He was quickly dresSed, but would lose no time in shaving ; for he said, he was not concerned in his good looks that day. He was not ill pleased with the account he heard that The trial morning of the manner of Walcot's death, who, together.^ ^"j. with one Hone and Rowse, had suffered the day before. <=ot and These were condemned upon the evidence of the witnesses. ° Rumsey and West swore fully against Walcot : he had also 176 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1683. writ a letter to the secretary, offering to make discoveries, ^^ in which he said the plot was laid deep and wide, Wal cot denied, at his death, the whole business of the rye-plot, and of his undertaking to fight the guards, while others should kill the King: he said, West had often spoken of it to him in the phrase of lopping, and that he always said he would not meddle in it, and that he looked on it as an in famous thing, and as that which the Duke of Monmouth would certainly revenge, though West assured him that Duke had engaged under his hand to consent to it. This confession of Walcot's, as it showed himself very guilty, so it made West appear so black, that the court made no more use of him. Hone, a poor tradesman in London, who it seems had some heat, but scarce any sense in him, was drawn in by Keeling and Lee, another witness, whp was also brought in by Keeling to a very wild thing, of killing the King, but sparing the Duke ; upon this conceit, that we would be in less danger in being under a professed papist than under the King. Hone had promised to serve in the execution of it, but neither knew when, where, nor how it was to be done ; so, though he seemed fitter for a bedlam than a trial, yet he was tried the day before the Lord Rus sel, and suffered with the others the day before him : he con fessed his own guilt, but said, these who witnessed against him, had engaged him in that design, for which they now charged him ; but he knew nothing of any other persons, besides himself and the two witnesses. The third, was one Rowse, who had belonged to Player, the Chamberlain of London, against whom Lee and Keeling swore the same things. He was more affected with a sense of the heat and fury with which he had been acted, than the others were, but he denied that he was ever in any design against the King's life : he said, the witnesses had let fall many wicked things of that matter in discourse with him, so that he was resolved to discover them, and was only waiting till he could find out the bottom of their designs, but that now they had prevented him : he vindicated all his acquaint ance from being any way concerned in the matter, or from approving such designs. These men dying as they did, was such a disgrace to the witnesses, that the court saw it was not fit to make any further use of them. Great use was made of the conjunction of these two plots, one for a OF KING CHARLES It4 177 rising, and another for an assassination. It was said, that 4683. the one was that, which gave the heart and hope to the other ^^ black conspiracy ; by which, they were over all England blended together as a plot within a plot, which cast a great load on the whole party. Lord Russel seemed to have some satisfaction to find, Russel's ex- that there was no truth in the whole contrivance of the Rye- ecutu"1- plot, so that he hoped that infamy which now blasted their party would soon go off : he went into his chamber sis; or seven times in the morning, arid prayed by himself, and then came out to Tillotson and me : he drank a little tea and some sherry : he wound up his watch, and said, now he had done with time, and was going to eternity : he asked what he should give the executioner, I told him ten gui neas : he said, with a smile, it was a pretty thing to give a fee to have his head cut off. When the sheriffs called him about ten o'clock, Lord Cavendish was waiting below to take leave of him: they embraced very tenderly. Lord Russel, after he had left him, upon a sudden thought came back to him, and pressed him earnestly to apply himself more to religion, and told him what great comfort and sup port he felt from it now in his extremity. Lord Cavendish had very generously offered to manage his escape, and to stay in prison for him while he should go away in his clothes, but he would not hearken to the motion. The Duke of Monmouth had also sent me word, to let him know, that, if he thought it could do him any service, he would come in, and run fortunes with him: he answered, it would be of no advantage to him to have his friends die with him. Tillotson and I went in the coach with him to the place of execution. Some of the crowd that filled the streets wept, while others insulted : he was touched with a tenderness that the one gave him, but did not seem at all provoked by the other : he was singing psalms a great part -of the way, and said, he hoped to sing better very soon. As he observed the great crowds of people all the way, he said to us, I hope I shall quickly see a much better assem bly. When he came to the scaffold, he walked about it four or five times; then he turned to the sheriffs, and delivered his paper : he protested he had always been far from any designs against the King's life or government : he prayed God would preserve both, and the protestant religion : he yoL. H. 2 a 178 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1683. wished all protestants might love one another, and not make '^^^ way for popery by their animosities. Russel's last The substance of the paper he gave them was, first, a pro- speec i. fession of his religion, and of his sincerity in it ; that he was of the church of England, but wished all would unite to gether against the common enemy ; that churchmen would be less severe, and dissenters less scrupulous. He owned he had a great zeal against popery, which he looked on as an idolatrous and bloody religion ; but that, though he was at all times ready to venture his life for his religion or his country, yet that would never have carried him to a black or wicked design. No man ever had the impudence to move to him any thing with relation to the King's life : he prayed heartily for him, that in his person and government he might be happy, bothinthis world and in the next. He. protested, that in the prosecxition of the popish plot he had gone on in the sincerity of his heart, and that he never knew of any practice with the witnesses : he owned he had been earnest in the matter of the exclusion, as the best way, in his opinion, to secure both the King's life and the pro testant religion; and to that he imputed his present suffer ings ; but he forgave all concerned in them, and charged his friends to think of ho revenges. He thought his sentence was hard ; upon which, he gave an account of all that had passed at Shepherd's. From the heats that appeared in choosing the sheriffs., he concluded that this matter would end as it now did and he was not much surprised to find it fall upon himself ; he wished^t might end in him : killing by forms of law was the worst sort of murder. He concluded with some very devout ejaculations. After he had delivered this paper, he prayed by himself, then Tillotson prayed with him ; after that, he prayed again by himself, and then un dressed himself, and laid his head on the block, without the least change ofcountenance, and it was cut off at two strokes. This was the end of that great and good man, on which I have, perhaps, enlarged too copiously; but the great es teem I had for him, and the share I had in this matter, will I hope excuse it. His speech was so soon printed, that it was selling about the streets an hour after his death ; upon Which. the court was. highly enflamed: so Tillotson and I were appointed to appear before the cabinet council. Til lotson had little to say, but only that Lord Russel had sheAv- OF KING CHARLES II. 179 ed him his speech the day before he suffered, and that he l6s3- spoke to him what he thought was incumbent on him, upon "-'"^ some parts of it, but he was not disposed to alter it. I Was longer before them : I saw they apprehended I had penned the speech. I told the King, that at his lady's desire I writ down a very particular journal of every passage, great and small, that had happened during my attendance on him : I had just ended it, as I received my summons to attend his Majesty : so, if he commanded me, I would read it to him, which, upon his command, I did. I saw they were all as tonished at the many extraordinary things in it : the most important of them are set down in the former relation. The lord keeper asked me if I intended to print that ; I said, it was only intended for his lady's private use. The lord keeper, seeing the King silent, added, you are not to think the King is pleased with this, because he says nothing1. This was very mean. He then asked me, if I had not stu died to dissuade the Lord Russel from putting many thirigk in his speech. I said, I had discharged my conscience to him very freely in every particular ; but he was now gone^ so it was impossible to know, if I should tell any thing of what had passed between us, whether it was true or false : I desired, therefore, to be excused. The Duke asked me if he had said any thing to me in confession ; I answered, that if he had said anything to me iri confidence, that was enough to restrain me from speaking of it : only I offered to take my oath, that the speech was penned by himself, and not by me. The Duke, upon all that passed in this exami nation, expressed himself so highly offended at me, that it was concluded I would be ruined. Lord Hallifax sent me word, that the Duke looked on my reading the journal as a studied thing, to make a panegyric on Lord Russel's me mory. Many pamphlets were writ on that occasion, and I was heavily charged in them all, as the adviser, if not the author of the speech ; but I was advised by all my friends to write no answer, but to bear the malice that was vented upon me with silence, which I resolved to do. At this time, Prince George of Denmark came into Eng- P«nce land to marry the Duke's second daughter. The Prince of Denmark Hanover had come over two years before to make addresses married the • ¦ j Princess to her ; but he was scarce got hither^ when he received Anne. torders from his father not to prbceed in that design, fot he SaV of Vienna. 180 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1683. had agreed a match for him with his brother the Duke of Zell for his daughter, which did at that time more accom modate the family. The marriage that was now made with the brother of Denmark did not at all please the nation, for we knew that the proposition came from France : so it was apprehended that both courts reckoned they were sure that he would change his religion ; in which we have seen, since that time, that our fears were ill grounded. He has lived, in all respects^ the happiest with his Princess that was possible, except in one particular ; for though there was a child born every year, for many years, yet they have all died ; so that the fruitfullest marriage that has been known in our age, has been fatally blasted as to the effect of it. The siege The affairs abroad were now every where in a great fer mentation. The Emperor had governed Hungary so strange ly, as at once to persecute the protestants, and to oppress the papists in their liberties, which disposed both to rebel : upon which the malecontents were now in arms, and had possessed themselves of several places in the upper Hun* gary, which being near Poland, they were managed and as sisted by the French ministers in that kingdom ; in which the Cardinal of Fourbin was the chief instrument. But they, not being able to . maintain themselves against the Empe ror's whole force, Tekeli, who was set at their head, offered all submissions to the Turk, and begged his protection. Upon this that great war broke out, all set on by the prac-r tices of the King of France ; who> white he was persecuting the protestants in his own kingdom, was at the same time en couraging the rebellion of Hungary, and drawing the Turk into Christendom, I need npt enlarge further on a matter so well known as the siege of Vienna ; which, if it had been as well prosecuted* as it was first undertaken, the town would have been certainly taken, and with that the Empe-r ror and his family ruined. The King of France drew a great army together near the frontier of Germany, and seemed to depend upon it that the town would be taken, and that he would be called in by the princes of Germany to protect them, and upon that have been chosen emperor. He at the same time sent Humieres with an army into Flanders, npon a pretension to Alost, that would have seemr ed very strange in any other court but that. He had once possessed himself, during the war, of Alost ; but afterward? OF KING CHARLES II. 181 he drew his troops out of it: so it not being in his hands *<"83- when the peace of Nimeguen was made, no mention was **~^ made of restoring it. But now it was said, that it being once in the King's hands by the right of his arms, it was still his, since he had not expressly renounced it ; there fore he now demanded it, or to have Luxembourg given him as an equivalent for it. Humieres finding no resist ance in the Spanish Netherlands, destroyed and ruined the country, beyond any thing it had felt during the whole war. This was the state of affairs abroad at the time of these trials. All people thought we should see a parliament presently called, from which both the King and the Duke might have expected every thing that they could desire ; for the, body of the nation was yet so possessed with the belief of the plot, that probably all elections would have gone as the court directed, and scarce any of the other party would have had the courage to have stood for an election any where. But the King of France began to apprehend, that the King might grow so much the master at home, that he would be no longer in their management ; and they foresaw that, what success soever the King might have in a parlia ment with relation to his own affairs, it was not to be ima gined but that a House of Commons, at the same time that they showed their submission to the King, would both en able him to resist the progress of the French arms, and ad dress to him to enter into alliances with the Spaniards and the States : so the French made use of all their instruments to divert our court from calling a parliament, and they got the King to consent to their possessing themselves of Lux embourg ; for which, I was told, they gave him 300,0007. But I have no certainty of that. Lord Montague told me of it, and seemed to believe it ; and Lady Portsmouth valued herself on this of Luxembourg as gained by her, and called it the last service she did the court of France. At this time I went over into France, chiefly to be out of The author the way, when I was fallen on almost in every libel ; for court of""" new sets of addresses were now running about the nation, France, with more heat and swelled eloquence in them than the former ones : in all which the providential fire of New market was set off with great pomp ; and in many of them there were hard things said of Lord Russel and his speech, With insinuations that looked towards me. knew there. 182 HISTORY OI THE REIGN less. i„ France, Rouvigny, who was the Lady Russel's uncle, ciiTactos studied to get me to be much visited and known. There of some he my acquaintance with Marshal Schomberg began ; and by him I was acquainted with Marshal Bellefonds, who was a devout man, but very weak : he read the scriptures much, and seemed to practise the virtues of the desert in the midst of that court. I knew the Archbishop of Rheims, who was a rough boisterous man : he seemed to have good notions of the episcopal duty, in all things except that of the set ting a good example to his clergy ; for he allowed himself in liberties of all kinds. The Duke of Montausier was a pattern of virtue and sincerity, if not too synical in it. He was so far from flattering the King, as all the rest did most abjectly, that he could not hold from contradicting him, as often as there was occasion for it; and for that reason chiefly the King made him the Dauphin's governor : to which he told me, he had applied himself with great care, though he very frankly added, without success. The exte- terior of the King was very solemn : the first time I hap pened to see him, was when ¦ the news came of the raising the siege of Vienna; with which, Schomberg told mej he was much struck, for he did not look for it. While I was at court, which was only for four or five days, one of the King's coaches was sent to wait on me, and the King or dered me to be well treated by all about him, which upon that was done, with a great profusion of extraordinary re spects ; at which all people stood amazed. Some thought it was to encourage the side against the court, by this treat ment of one then in disgrace. Others more probably thought, that the King, hearing I was a writer of history, had a mind to engage me to write on his side. I was told a pension would be offered me : but I made no steps towards it ; for though I was offered an audience of the King, I excused it, since I could not have the honour to be presented to that King by the minister of England. I saw the Prince of Conde but once, though he intended to see me oftener; He had a great quickness of apprehension, and was thought the best judge in France both of wit and learning. He had read my history of the Reformation, that was then tran slated into French, and seemed pleased with it : so were many of the great lawyers ; in particular Harlay, then at torney-general, and now first president of the court of par- OF KING CHARLES II. 183 uament of Paris. The contests with Rome were then veiy 1683. high, for the assembly/of the clergy had passed some arti- ^""^ ties, very derogatory to the papal authority ; so many fan cied that matter might go to a rupture ; and Harlay said very publicly, that if that should happen, I had laid before them a good plan to copy from. Bellefonds had so good an opinion1 of me, that he thought instances of devotion might have some effect on me ; so he made the Dutchess La Valiere think, that she might be an instrument in converting me ; and he brought a message from her, desiring me to come to the grate to her. I was twice there ; and she told me the steps of her conversion, and of her coming into that strict order of the Carmelites, with great humility and much devotion. Treville, one of the Dutchess of Orleans' admirers, was so struck with her death, that he had lived in retreat from that time, and was but newly come to appear again : he had great knowledge, with a true sense of religion: he seemed to groan under many of the corruptions of their church. He and some others whom I knew of the Sorbon, chiefly Faur, Pique, and Bray- er, seemed to think, that almost every thing among them was out of order, and wished for a regular reformation ; but their notion of the unity of the church kept them still in a communion that they seemed uneasy in ; and they said very freely, they wondered how any one, that was once out of their communion, should desire to come back into it. They were generally learned only in one point : Faur was the best read in ecclesiastical history of any man I saw among them ; and I never knew any of that church that understood the Scriptures so well as Pique did. They declared themselves for abolishing the papal authority, and for reducing the pope to the old primacy again. They spoke to me of the bishops of France, as men that were both vi cious and ignorant. They seemed now to be against the pope ; but it was only because he was in the interests of the house of Austria, for they would declare him infal lible the next day after he should turn to the interest of France ; so they expected no good, neither from the court nor from the clergy. I saw St. Amour, the author of the journal of what passed at Rome, in the condemnation of the five propositions of Jansenius. He seemed to be a sincere and worthy man, who had more judgment than ei- 184 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1683. ther quickness or learning. He told me, his whole life had ^^ been one campaign against the Jesuits ; and spoke of them as the great plague of the church : he lamented also that sharpness of style, with which his friend Arnauld treated the protestants ; for which, he said, both he and all his friends blamed him. I was carried by a bishop to the Je suits at St. Anthoine's : there I saw P. Bourdalou, esteem ed one of the greatest .preachers of the age, and one of the honours of his order. He was a man of a sweet temper, not at all violent against protestants : on the contrary, he believed good men among them might be saved, which was a pitch of charity that I had never observed in any of the learned of that communion. I was also once with P. de la Chaise, the King's confessor, who was a dry man : he told me, how great a man they would make me, if I would come 9 ver to them. This was my acquaintance on the popish side : I say lit tle of the protestants : they came all to me, so I was well known among them. The method that carried over the men of the finest parts among them to popery was this : they brought themselves to doubt of the whole Christian reli gion : when that was once done, it seemed a more indiffe rent thing of what side or form they Continued to be out wardly. The base practices of buying many over with pensions, and of driving others over with perpetual ill usage and the acts of the highest injustice and violence, and the vile artifices in bringing on and carrying so many processes against most of their churches, as not comprehended within the edict of Nantes, were a reproach, both to the great ness of their King, and to the justice of their courts. Many new edicts were coming out every day against them, which contradicted the edict of Nantes in the most express words possible ; and yet to all these a strange clause was added, that the King did not intend by them to recallj nor to go against any article of the edict of Nantes, which he would maintain inviolable. I knew Spanheim particularly, who was envoy from the elector of Brandenbourg, who is the greatest critic of the age in all ancient learning, and is with that a very able man in all affairs, and a frank cheerful man ; qualities that do not always meet in very learned men. Af ter a few months stay I returned, and found both the King and Duke were highly offended at the reception I had met OF KING CHARLES II. 185 with in France ; they did ndt kriow what to make of it, and 1683. fancied there was something hid under it. ^*v^ The addresses had now gone round England. The grand Affairs in juries made after that high presentments against all that Ensland- were esteemed whigs and nonconformists. Great pains were taken to find out more witnesses : pardons and rewards were offered very freely, but none came in ; which made it evident, that nothing was so well laid, or brought so near execution, as the witnesses had deposed ; otherwise people would have been crowding in for pardons. All people were apprehensive of very black designs when they saw Jeffe- Jefferies ries made lord chief justice, who was scandalously vitious, j^ges er " and was drunk every day; besides a drunkenness of fury in preferred. his temper, that looked like enthusiasm. He did not con sider the decencies of his post, nor did he so much as affect to seem impartial, as became a judge; but run out upon all occasions into declamations, that did not become the bar, much less the bench : he was not learned in his profession ; and his eloquence, though vitiously copious, yet was nei ther correct nor agreeable. Pemberton was turned out of the common pleas, and Jones was put in his place ; and Jefferies had three judges joined with him in the King's Bench, fit to sit by him. The King sent a new message to the city of London, re quiring the common council to deliver up their charter, threatening them, that otherwise he would order the judg ment to be entered. Upon this a great debate arose among them : some were for their compliance, that they might pre vent the prejudice that would otherwise arise ; on the other hand it was said, that all freemen took an oath to maintain the rights of their corporation, so that it was perjury in them to betray these. They said it was better to leave the matter to the King, than by any act of their own to deliver all up : so it was carried not to do it by a few voices ; upon that the judgment was entered, and the King seized on their liberties. Many of the aldermen and other officers were turned out, and others were put in their places: so they continued for some time a city without a charter, or a com mon council ; and the King named the magistrates. New charters were sent to most of the corporations ; in which the King reserved a power to himself, to turn out magis- VOL. II. ^ B 186 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1683. tiates at his pleasure : this was done to make all sure for v-%^/ a new election of parliament, which came now under con sideration. 1684. There was a clause in the act, that repealed the triennial The calling bill, which had passed in the beginning of the troubles, propped!111 whereby it was enacted that a parliament should meet every but rejected, third year; but it had none of those enforcing clauses, in case it did not meet, that were in the other act : and the third year from the parliament of Oxford was now near an end. So, since the King had declared he would govern ac cording to law, and in particular that he would have fre quent parliaments, for which he had special thanks given him in many of the addresses, it was proposed that a par liament should be called. A war seemed like to break out in Flanders ; where the Spaniards, how ill soever they were prepared for it, had declared war, upon the French troops possessing themselves of Dixmuyd and Courtray. The Prince of Orange was pressing the States to go into a new war, rather than let Luxembourg, be taken : but this was much opposed by the town of Amsterdam. The calling a new parliament here, and England's engaging, as all be lieved they might do, would be an effectual restraint on the French : but the King had consented to let Luxembourg fall into their hands ; so it was apprehended that the parlia ment might fall upon that, which was the only point that could occasion any difference between the King and them. It was also said, that it was fit all the charters should be first brought in, and all the corporations new modelled, be fore the parliament should be called. The prerogative law yers pretended, that the prerogative was indeed limited by negative and prohibiting words, but not by affirmative words. Lord Hallifax told me, he pressed this all he could ; but there was a French interest working strongly against it, so the thoughts of a parliament, at that time, were laid aside. The Scotch prisoners were ordered to be sent down to be tried in Scotland : this was sad news to them, for the boots there are a severe torture. Baillie had reason to ex pect the worst usage ; he was carried to Newgate in the morning that Lord Russel was tried, to see if he could be persuaded to be a witness against him ; every thing that could work on him was made use of, but all in yain ; so they were resolved to use him severely. OF KING CHARLES II. \ffl I passed slightly over the suspicions that were raised 1684. upon Lord Essex's death, when I mentioned that matter. W^> This winter the business was brought to a trial : a boy and SusPicion,s a girl did report, that they heard great crying in his lodg- being mur- ings, and that they saw a bloody razor flung out at win- dere'1- dow, which was taken up by a woman that came out of the house where he was lodged. These children reported this confidently that very day, when they went to their several homes : they were both about ten or twelve years old. The boy went backward and forward in his story, sometimes af firming it, and at other times denying it ; but his father had an office in the custom-house ; so it was thought he pre vailed with him to deny it in open court : but the girl stood firmly to her stoiy. The simplicity of the children, together with the ill opinion that was generally had of the court, in clined many to believe this. As soon as his lady had heard of it, she ordered a strict inquiry to be made about it ; and sent what she found to me, to whom she had trusted all the messages that had passed between her lord and her, while he was in the Tower. When I perused all, I thought there was not a colour to found any prosecution on ; which she would have done with all possible zeal, if she had found any ap pearances of truth in the matter. Lord Essex had got into an odd set of extraordinary principles ; and in particular he thought a man was the master of his own life ; and seemed to approve of what his wife's great grandfather, the Earl of Northumberland did, who shot himself in the Tower after he was arraigned. He had also very black fits of the spleen : but at that time one Braddon, whom I had known for some years, for an honest but enthusiastical man, hearing of these stories, resolved to carry the matter as far as it would go ; and he had picked up a great variety of little circumstances, all which laid together seemed to him so convincing, that he thought he was bound to prosecute the matter. I desired him to come no more near me, since he was so positive. He talked of the matter so publicly, that he was taken up for spreading false news, to alienate people's hearts from the King. He was tried upon it. Both the children owned that they had reported the matter as he had talked it ; the boying saying then that it was a lie. Braddon had desired the boy to set it all under his hand, though with that he charged him to write nothing but the truth, This was called 188 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684. a suborning; and he was fined for it in 2000/. : but 1 go y~vJ next to a trial of more importance. Sidney's, Howard was the only evidence against the prisoners of better rank, for they had no communication with the other witnesses ; so other things were to be found out as supple ments to support it. Sidney was next brought to his trial. A jury was returned, consisting for most part of very mean persons. Men's pulses were tried beforehand, to see how tractable they would be. One Parry, a violent man, guilty of several murders, was not only pardoned, but was now made a justice of peace, for his officious meddling arid vio lence. He told one of the Duke's servants, thinking that Such a one was certainly of their party, that he had sent in a great many names of jurors, who were sure men ; that person told me this himself. Sidney excepted to their not being freeholders : but Jefferies said, that had been over ruled in Lord Russel's case ; and therefore he over-ruled it, and would not so much as suffer Sidney to read the sta tute. — This was one of his bold strains. Lord Russel was tried at the Old Bailey, where the jury consisted of Lon doners ; and there indeed the contrary practice had prevail ed, upon the reason before mentioned ; for the merchants are supposed to be rich : but this trial was in Middlesex, where the contrary practice had not prevailed ; for in a county a man who "his no freeholder, is supposed to be poor. But Jefferies said on another occasion, why might not they make precedents to the succeeding times, as well as those who had gone before them had made precedents for them ? The witnesses of the other parts of the plot were now brought out again to make a shew, for they knew nothing of Sidney ; only they said that they had heard of a coun cil of six, and that he was one of them. Yet even in that they contradicted one another ; Rumsey swearing that he had it from West, and West swearing that he had it from him-, which was not observed till the trial came out. If it had been observed sooner, perhaps Jeffries would have or dered it to be struck out ; as he did all that Sidney had ob jected upon the point of the jury, because they were not freeholders. Howard gave his evidence, with a preface that had become a pleader better than a witness : he ob served the uniformity of truth, and that all the parts of his evidence and theirs met together as two tallies, After this OF KING CHARLES II. 189 a book was produfced which Sidney had been writing, and 1684. which was found in his closet, in answer to Filmer's book, ^v*-' entitled Patriarcha : by which Filmer asserted the divine right of monarchy; upon the eldest son's succeeding to the authority of the father. It was a book of some name, but so poorly writ, that it was somewhat strange that Sidney bestowed so much pains in answering it. In this answer, he had asserted, that princes had their power from the people with restrictions and limitations ; and that they were liable to the justice -of the people, if they abused their power to the prejudice of the subjects, and against established laws. This by an innuendo, was said to be an evidence, to prove that he was in a plot against the King's life ; and it was in sisted on, that this ought to stand as a second witness. The Earls of Clare, Anglesey, and some others with myself, deposed what Lord Howard had said, denying there was any plot. Blake, a diaper, deposed, that having asked him when he was to have his pardon, he answered, not till the drudgery of swearing was over. Howard had also gone to Sidney's house, and had assured his servants that there was nothing against him ; and had desired them to bring his goods to his own house. Sidney shewed, how improbable it was that Howard, who could not raise five men, and had not five shillings to pay them, should be taken into, some consultations. As for the book, it was not proved to be writ by him; for it was an adjudged case in capital mat ters, that a similitude of hands was not a legal proof, though it was in civil matters ; that whatever was in those papers, they were his own private thoughts and speculations of go vernment, never communicated to any : it was also evident, that the book had been writ some years ago ; so that could not be pretended to be a proof of a late plot : the book was not finished, so it could not be known how it would end: a man writing against atheism, who sets out the strength of it, if he does not finish his answer, could not be concluded an atheist, because there was such a ehapter in his book. Jefferies interrupted him often very rudely, pro bably to put him in a passion, to which he was subject ; but he maintained his temper to admiration. Finch aggra vated the matter of the book, as a proof of his intentions, pretending it was an overt-act : for he said, " scribere est agere." Jefferies delivered it as law, and said that all the 190 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684. judges were of the same mind, that if there were two wit- Vk-w nesses, the one to the treason, and the other only to a cir cumstance, such as the buying a knife, these made the two witnesses, which the statute required in cases of treason. In conclusion, Sidney was cast; and some days after he was brought to court to receive sentence. He then went over his objections to the evidence against him, in which Judge Withins interrupted him,and by a strange indecency, gave him the lie in open court : but he bore it patiently. He sent to Lord Hallifax, who was his nephew by mar riage, a paper to be laid before the King, containing the main points of his defence : upon which, he appealed to the King, and desired he would review the whole matter. Jef« feries upon that, in his furious way, said either Sidney must die, or he must die. His execution was respited for three weeks, the trial being universally cried out on, as a piece of most enormous injustice. When he saw the warrant of his execution, he expressed no concern atit : and the change that was now in his temper, amazed all that went to him, He told the sheriffs that brought it, he would not exppstu- late upon any thing on his own account, for the world was now nothing to him, but he desired they would con sider how guilty they were of his blood, who had not return ed a fair jury, but one packed, and as they were directed by the King's solicitor; he spoke this to them, not for his own sake, but for their sake : one of the sheriffs was struck with this and wept. He told it to a person, from whom Tillot son had it, who told it me. Sidney wrote a long vindica tion of himself, which I read, and summed up the sub- His execu- stance of it in a paper that he gave the sheriffs : but, sus* last Ter PectmS they might suppress it, he gave a eopy of it to a friend. It was a fortnight before it was printed, though we had all the speeches of those who died for the popish plofj printed the very next day. But when it was understood that written copies of Sidney's speech were going about, it was also printed. In it he shewed his innocence ; that Lord Howard was an infamous person, and that no credit was due to him : yet he did not deny the matter he swore against him. As for his book, he shewed what reason all princes had to abhor Filmer's maxims ; for if primogeniture from Noah was the ground settled by God for monarchy, then all the princes now in the world were usurpers : none claim- OF KING CHARLES II. 191 ing by that pedigree, and this primogeniture being only in 1684. one person. He said, since God did not now by any de- '^^^ claration of his will, as of old by prophets, mark out such or such persons for princes, they could have no title, but what was founded on law and compact ; and this was that in which the difference lay between lawful princes and usurpers. If possession was a donation from God, (which Firmer had substituted to the conceit of primogeniture,) then every prosperous usurper had a good right. He con cluded with a prayer, that the nation might be preserved from idolatry and tyranny ; and he said, he rejoiced that he suffered for the old cause in which he was so early en gaged. These last words furnished much matter to the scribblers of that time. In his imprisonment, he sent for some independent preachers, and expressed to them a deep remorse for his past sins, and great confidence in the mer cies of God ; and indeed he met death with an unconcern- edness, that became one who had set up Marcus Brutus for his pattern. He was but a very few minutes on the scaf fold at Tower Hill ; he spoke little, and prayed very short: and his head was cut off at one blow. At this time an accident happened that surpised both the Monmomh court and city; and which, if well managed, might pro- came io liU,d bably have produced great effects. The Duke of Monmouth doned. had lurked in England all this summer, and was then de signing to go beyond sea, and to engage in the Spanish ser vice. The King still loved him passionately. Lord Hal lifax, seeing matters run so much further than he appre hended, thought that nothing could stop that so effectually as the bringing the Duke of Monmouth again into favour. That Duke writ to the King several letters, penned with an extraordinary force. Lord Hallifax drew them all, as he himself told me, and shewed me his own draughts of them : by these the King was mollified, and resolved to re store him again to his favour. It stuck much at the con fession that he was to make. The King promised that no use should be made of it ; but he stood on it, that he must tell him the whole truth of the matter : upon which he con sented to satisfy the King ; but he would say nothing to the Duke, more than to ask his pardon in a general compli ment. Lord Hallifax had pressed him earnestly, upon his first appearance, to be silent, and for a while to bear the ^^ 192 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684. censures of the town. The last day of the term Was very near, in which all the prisoners were to be discharged ac cording to the habeas corpus act: that would shew he had discovered nothing to their prejudice, so that all dis courses concerning his confession and discoveries would vanish in a few days ; and if he had followed this, probably it would have given a great turn to affairs. The King spoke nothing of the reconciliation to the Duke of York, till the day before it was to be done. He was much struck with it ; but the King was positive : yet the Duke's creatures in the cabinet council moved, that for form's sake he should be for some days put in the Tower. The King cut that off by saying, he had promised to pardon him. The Duke of Monmouth, as was agreed, made an humble confession of his offences in general words to the King ; and made a com pliment to the Duke, and begged that he would intercede with the King to pardon him. The King received him with a fondness that confounded all the Duke's party : he used him more tenderly than he had done formerly. The Duke put on an outward appearance of being very well pleased with it. The King said next day, that James (for so he called him), had confirmed all that- Howard had sworn. This was carried to the Duke of Monmouth, who denied he had ever said any such thing ; adding, that Lord How ard was a liar and a rogue : and this was set round the town by his creatures, who run with it from coffee-house to coffee house. The next gazette mentioned that the King had par doned him upon his confessing the late plot. Lord Hallifax pressed the Duke of Monmouth to pass that over, and to impute it to the importunity of his enemies, and to the King's easiness : but he could not prevail. Yet he said little till his pardon was passed; but then he openly denied that he had confessed the plot : by that he engaged himself in a plain contradiction to what the King had said. Some were brought by the Duke to the King, who confirmed they had heard the Duke of Monmouth say that he had not confessed the plot ; upon which the King ordered him to give a confession of it under his hand. Lord Hallifax pressed him to write a letter to the King, acknowledging he had confessed the plot. Plot was a general word ,'that might signify as much or little as a man pleased : they had certainly dangerous consultations among them, which might be well called plots, OF KING CHARLES II. - 193 He said, the service he might do his friends by such age- 1684. neral letter, and by his gaining the King's heart upon it, '^v*^ wouljd quickly balance the seeming prejudice that such a general acknowledgement would bring them under, which eould do them no hurt : upon that he got him to write a letter to that purpose which he carried to the King ; and the King was satisfied; but the Duke of Monmouth, whether! Of himself, or upon the suggestion of others, reflected on what he had done, and thought it a base thing ; though this was no evidence, yet he thought it might have an influence on juries, to make them believe every thing that might be sworn by other witnesses, when from his confession they were pos sessed with a general belief of the plot: so he went full of uneasiness to the King, and desired he might have his letter again, in the terms of an agony like despair. The King gave it back, but pressed him vehemently to comply with his de sire ; and among other things the Duke of Monmouth said that the King used this expression— if you do not yield.in this you will ruin me. Yet he was firm : so the King for- Bit soon bid him the court, and spoke of him more severely than he g^ea18" had ever done formerly. He was upon this more valued, and trusted by his own party than ever. After some days he went beyond sea ; and after a short concealment, he ap peared publicly in Holland, and was treated by the Prince of Orange with a very particular respect. The Prince had come for a few days to England after the Oxford parliament, and had much private discourse with the King at Windsor. The King assured him that he would keep things quiet, and not give way to the Duke's eagerness, as long as he lived ; and added, he was confident, whenever the Duke should come to reign, he would be so restless and violent, that he could not hold it four years to an end. This I had from the Prince's own mouth. Another passage was told me by the Earl of Portland ; the King shewed, the prince one of his seals, and told him that whatever he might write to him, if the letter was not sealed with that seal, he was to look on it as only drawn from him by im portunity. The reason for which I mention that in this place is, because, though the King wrote some terrible let ters to the Prince against the countenance he gave to the Duke of Monmouth, yet they were net sealed with that seal ; from which the Prince inferred, that the King had a vol. n. 2 c v-%-»> trial execution. 194 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684. mind that he should keep him about him, and use him well 5 and the King gave orders, that in all the entries that were made iri the council books of this whole business, nothing should be left on record that could blemish him. Hamden's Hamden was now the only man of the six that was left; yet there was nothing but Howard's evidence against him, without so much as any circumstance to support it: so since two witnesses were necessary to treason (whereas one was enough for a misdemeanour), he was indicted of a mis demeanour, though the crime was either treason or nothing. Jefferies, upon Howard's evidence, charged the jury to bring him in guilty; otherwise he told them, they would dis credit all that had been done before : so they brought him in guilty ; and the court set 40,000/. fine on him ; the most ex travagant fine that had ever been set for a misdemeanour in that court : it amounted indeed to an imprisonment for life. Haiiowaj's Some time in the spring, 1684, Halloway was taken in the West-Indies, and sent over ; he was under an outlawry for treason. The attorney-general offered him a trial, if he desired it ; but he was prevailed on by the hope of a par don, to submit and confess all he knew : he said, he was drawn into some meetings, in which they consulted how to raise an insurrection, and that he and two more had under taken to manage a design for seizing on Bristol, with the kelp of some that were to come to them from Taunton : but he added, that they had never made any progress in it. He said, at their meetings at London, Rumsey and West were often talking of lopping the King and the Duke ; but that he had never entered into any discourse with them upon that subject, and he did not believe, there were above five persons that approved of it : these were West, Rumsey, Rumbold, and his brother; the fifth person is not named in the printed relation. Some said it was Ferguson ; others said, it was Goodenough. Halloway was thought by the court not to be sincere in his confession ; and so, since what he had acknowledged made himself very guilty, he was ex ecuted, and died with a firm constancy ; he shewed great presence of mind. He observed the partiality that was evi dent in managing this plot, different from what had appear ed in managing the popish plot : the same men who were called rogues, when they swore against papists, were look ed on as honest men, when they turned their evidence OF KING CHARLES II. 195 against protestants. In all his answers to the sheriffs, who 1684- at the place of execution troubled him with many imperti- N*v**' nent questions, he answered them with so much life, and yet with so much temper, that it appeared he was no ordinary man. His speech was suppressed for some days, but it broke out at last : in it he expressed a deep sense of reli gion ; his prayer was an excellent composure. The credit of the Rye plot received a great blow by his confession: all that discourse about an insurrection, in which the day was said to be set, appeared now to be a fiction, since Bris tol had been so Utile taken care of, that three persons had only undertaken to dispose people to that design, but had not yet let it out to any of them. So that it was plain, that after all the story they had made of the plot, it had gone no further, than that a company of seditious and inconsidera ble persons, were framing among themselves some treason able schemes, that were never likely to come to any thing ; and that Rumsey and West had pushed on the execrable design of the assassination, in which, though there were few that agreed to it, yet too many had heard it from them, who were both so foolish and so wicked as not to discover them. But if the court lost much by the death of Halloway, Armstrong's whom they had brought from the West-Indies, they lost deathl much more by their proceedings against Sir Thomas Arm strong, who was surprized at Leyden, by virtue of a war rant, that Chudleigh, the King's envoy had obtained from the States, for seizing on such as should fly out of England on the account of the plot. So the scout at Leyden, for 5000 gilders, seized on him, and delivered him to Chud leigh ; who sent him over in great haste. Armstrong, in that confusion, forgot to claim that he was a native of the States, for he was born at Nimeguen, and that would have obliged the Dutch to have, protected him as one of their natural born subjects. He was trusted in every thing by the Duke of Monmouth; and he having led a very vitious life, the court hoped that he, not being able to bear the thoughts of dying, would discover every thing : he shewed such a de jection of mind, while he was concealing himself before he escaped out of England, that Hamden, who saw him at that time, told me, he believed he would certainly do any tlnhg that would save his life ; yet all were disappointed in him, for when he was examined before the council, he said ^sW 196 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684. he knew of no plot but the popish plot: he desired,' he might have a fair trial for his life, that was all he asked. He was loaded with irons, though that was not ordinary for a man who had served in such posts, -as to be lieutenant of the first-troop of guards, and gentleman of the horse to the King. There was nothing against him, but what Rumsey and Shepherd had sworn of the discourses at Shepherd's; for which Lord Russel had suffered : but by this time the credit of the witnesses was so blasted, that it seems the court was afraid that juries would not now be so easy as they had been. The thing that Rumsey had sworn against him seemed not very credible, for he swore that at thefirst meeting, Armstrong undertook to go and view the guards in order to the seizing them ; and that upon a view he said, at a second meeting, that the thing was very feasible : but, Armstrong, who had commanded the guards so long, knew every thing that related to them so well, that without such a transient view, he could of the sudden have answered every thing relating to them. The court had a mind to pro ceed in a summary way with him, that he should by the hurry of it be deprived of saying any thing that could save him. He was now in an outlawry, but though the statute was express, that if an outlawed person came in at any time within the year, he was to have a trial, notwithstand ing his outlawry ; it was pretended, in answer to this, that he not coming in, but being taken, had not a right to the benefit of the statute : but there were several months of the year yet to run. And since a trial was a demand founded on natural justice, he insisted on it; and when he was brought to the King's Bench bar, and asked what he had to say why sentence should not be executed, he claimed the benefit of the statute : he said, he had yet, when he was taken, several months to deliberate upon his coming in, and the seizing on him before his time was out, ought not to bar him a right that the law gave him : he also mentioned Hal loway, to whom a trial was , offered the former term ; and since it was a point of law, he desired council might be heard to argue it. Jefferies rejected all this ; he said, the King might either offer a trial or not, as he saw cause ; and he refused to hear council; which being demanded upon a point of law, the denying it was thought a very impudent piece of injustice : and when Armstrong insisted, that he asked ^N-^ OF KING CHARLES II. 197 nothing but the law, Jefferies in his bcutal way said, he 1684- should have it to the full, and so ordered his execution within six days ; and the law was executed on him with the utmost rigour, for he was carried to Tyburn on a sledge, and was quartered, and his quarters were set up. His car riage, during his imprisonment and at his death, was far be yond what could have been imagined : he turned himself .wholly to the thoughts of God, and of another state, and was praying continually. He rejoiced, that he was brought to die in such a manner ; he said, it was scarce possible for him to have been awakened into a due sense of his sins by any other method. His pride and his resentments were then so entirely conquered, that one who saw him said to me; that it was not easy to think it was the same person whom he haql known formerly : he received the sacrament, and died in so good a temper, and with so much quiet in his mind, and so serene a deportment, that we have scarce known in our time a more eminent instance of the grace and mercy of God. Armstrong in his last paper denied, that he ever knew of any design against the King's, or the Duke's life, or was in any plot agairist the government. There were no remarks published on his speech, which it was believed the court ordered, for they saw how much ground they had lost by this stretch of law, and how little they had gained by his death. One passage in it, was the occasion of their ordering no such reflections to be made on it, as had been made on the other speeches. The King had published a story all about the court, and had told it to the foreign mi nisters, as the reason of this extreme severity against Arm strong; he said, that he was sent over by Cromwell to mur der him beyond sea, and that he was warned of it, and chal lenged him on it, and that upon his confessing it, he had promised him never to speak of it any more, as long as he lived. So the King, counting him now dead in law, thought he was free from that promise : Armstrong took this hea vily, and in one paper which I saw, writ in his own hand, the resentments upon it were sharper than I thought be came a dying penitent. So, when that was represented to him, he changed it; and in the paper he gave the sheriffs, he had softened it much ; but yet he shewed the falsehood of that report, for he never went beyond sea but once, sent by the Earl of Oxford, and some other cavaliers, with a con- rity in Scot land. 198 HISTORY OF THE REIGN lfi8i siderable present to the King in moriey, which he deliver- *"'*'~ ed, and brought back letters of thanks from the King to those who made the present : but Cromwell having a hint of this clapped him up in prison, where he was "kept almost a year ;¦ and upon the merit of that service, he was made a captain of horse soon after the Restoration. When Jeffe ries came to the King at Windsor soon after this trial, the King took a ring of good value from his finger, and gave it him for these services, the ring upon that was called his blood stone. The King gave him one advice, which was somewhat extraordinary from a King to a judge, but it was not the less necessary to him ; the King said, it was a hot summer, and he was going the circuit, he therefore desired he would not drink too much. With this I leave the affairs of England to look towards Scotland. Great seve- Great pains were taken there to make a further discovery of the negotiation between the English and the Scots. A gentleman, who had been at Bothwell-bridge, was sent over by the Cargillites to some of their friends in Holland ; and he carried with him some letters writ in an odd cant. He was seized at Newcastle together with his letters ; and was so frighted, that he was easily managed to pretend to dis cover any thing that was suggested to him ; but he had never been at London, so he could speak of that nego tiation but upon hearsay. His story was so ill laid toge ther, that the court was ashamed to make any use of it ; but it turned heavily on himself, for he went mad upon it. Two others came in and charged Sir Hugh Campbell, of Cesnock, an antient gentleman of a good estate, that he had set on the rebellion of Bothwell-bridge, and had chid them for deserting it. Upon this he was brought to a trial. In Scotland the law allows of an exculpation, by which the prisoner is suffered, before his trial, to prove the thing to be impossible. This was prayed by that gentleman, who had full proofs of his being elsewhere, and at a great dis tance from the place at that time ; but that is a favour which the court may grant, or not ; so that was denied him. The first witness that was examined at his trial began with a general story : and when he came to that, in which the pri soner was concerned, Cambell charged him to look him full in the face, and to consider well what he was to say of him ; for he took God to witness he never saw his face before, as OF KING CHAKLES II. 199 far as he could remember ; upon that the witness was struck, 1684- and stopped ; and said, he could say nothing of him. The ^^ Earl of Perth was thenjustice-general, and offered to lead him into his story ; but the jury stopped that, and said, that he, upon his oath, had declared he knew nothing of the prisoner, and that after that they could have no regard to any thing that he might say ; upon which some sharp words passed between Lord Perth and them, in which he shewed how ready he was to sacrifice justice and innocent blood to his ambition ; and that was yet grosser in this case, because his brother was promised that gentleman's estate, when it should be confiscated. The second witness said nothing, but seemed confounded ; so Campbell was acquitted by the jury, but was still kept in prison. These witnesses were again examined before the council : and they adhered to their first deposition against the prisoner. The law in Scot land is very severe against false witnesses, and treats them as felons ; but the government there would not discourage such practices ; of which, when they should be more lucky, . they intended to make good use. The circuits went round the country, as was directed by the proclamation of the former year. Those who were most guilty compounded the matter, and paid liberally to a creature of the Lord Chan cellor's, that their names might be left out of the citations : others took the test, and that freed them from all further trouble. They said openly, that it was against their con science ; but they saw that they could not live in Scotland unless they took it. Others observed, that the severity which the presbyterians formerly had used, forcing all people to take their covenant, was now returned back on them in this test, that theyVere thus forced to take. In the mean while a great breach was formed, and ap- A breach in peared on all occasions, between the Earls of Aberdeen ther"'.'n,stry and Queensbury. The latter was very exact in his pay ments, both of the soldiers and of the pensions; so his patty became the strongest. Lord Aberdeen's method was this— he writ up letters to the Duke of all affairs, and offered ex pedients, which he pretended were concerted at Edinburgh ; and sent with them the draughts of such letters as he desired should be sent down from the King ; but these expedients were not concerted, as he said : they were only his own conceits. Lord Queensbury, offended with this, let the 200 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684; Duke understand how he had been deceived ; so ari order ^¦^ was sent down, that all expedients should be concerted by a junto, consisting of Lord Queensbury 's creatures. Lord Aberdeen saw that by this he came to signify little : and seeing he was loosing ground at court, he intended to re cover himself a little with the people : so he resolved for the future to keep to the law, and not to go beyond it ; and such was the fury of that time, that this was called mode ration and popularity. The churches were now all well kept by the men ; but their wives not being named in the act of parliament, none of them went to church. The mat ter was laid before the council ; and a debate arose upon it, whether, man and wife, making one person in law, hus bands should not be fined for their wife's offence, as well as for their own. Lord Aberdeen stood upon this, that the act did not mention the wives. It did indeed make the husbands liable to a fine, if their wives went to conven ticles ; for they had it in their power to restrain them : and since the law provided in the one case, that the husband, should suffer for his wife's fault, but had made no provi sion in the other case as to their going to church, he thought the fining them on that account could not be legally done. Lord Queensbury was for every thing that would bring money into the treasury : so, since in those parts, the ladies had for many years withdrawn wholly from the churches, he reckoned the setting fines on their husbands to the rigour, would make all the estates of the country be at mercy ; for the selling them outright would not have answered this de mand, for the offences of so many years. The Earl of Perth struck in with this, and seemed to set it up for a maxim, that the presbyterians could not be governed, but with the extremity of rigour; and that they were irreconcileable enemies to the King and the Duke, and that therefore they ought to be extirpated. The ministry in Scotland being thus divided, they referred the decision of the point to the King : and Lord Perth came up to have his resolution upon it. The King determined against the ladies ; which was thought very indecent ; for in dubious cases the nobleness of a prince's temper should always turn him to the merci ful side. This was the less expected from the King, who had all his life-time expressed as great a neglect of women's consciences, as regard for their persons. OF KING CHARLES II. 201 But to do him right, he was determined to it by the Duke ; 1684- who since the breaking out of the plot had got the whole ^^ management of affairs, English as well as Scotch, into his governed ail hands. Scotland was so entirely in his dependance, that affairs; the King would seldom ask what the papers imported, which the Duke brought to be signed by him. In England, the application and dependance was visibly on the Duke. The King had scarce company about him to entertain him, when the»Duke's levees and cbuchees were so crowded, that the anti-chambers were full. The King walked about with a small train of the necessary attendants, when the Duke had a vast following ; which drew a lively reflection from Wal ler, the celebrated wit. He said, the House of Commons had resolved that the Duke should not reign after the King's death: but the King, in opposition to them, was resolved lie should reign even during his life. The breach grew to that height between Lord Aberdeen and Lord Queensbury, that both were called up to give an account of it. It ended in dismissing Lord Aberdeen, and making Lord Perth chan cellor, to which he had been long aspiring in a most inde cent manner. He saw into the Duke's temper, that his spirit was turned to an unrelenting severity ; for this had ap peared very indecently in Scotland. When any are to be struck in the boots, it is done in the The cmeity presence of the council : and upon that occasion almost all °^h^f h"^e offer to run away. The sight is so dreadful, that without ministers in an order restraining such a number to stay, the board would lOTWnn£' be forsaken ; but the Duke, while he had been in Scotland, was so far from withdrawing, that he looked on all the while with an unmoved indifference, and with an attention, as if he had been to look on some curipus experiment : this gave a terrible idea of him to all that observed it, as of a man that had no bowels nor humanity in him. Lord Perth, observing this, resolved to let him see how well qualified he was to be an inquisitor-general. The rule about the boots in Scotland was, that upon one witness, and presumptions both together, the question might be given ; but it was never known to be twice given \ or that any other species of tor ture, besides the boots, might be used at pleasure. In the court of inquisition they do upon suspicion, or if a man «refuses;to answer upon oath, as he is required, give him the torture, and repeat it, or vary it, as often as they think fit ; VOL. II. 2 D V.'W 202 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1 684. and do not give over, till they have got out of their mangled prisoners all that they have a mind to know from them. This Lord Perth resolved to make his pattern; and was a little too early in letting the world see what a government we were to expect, under the influence of a prince of that religion : so upon his going to Scotland, one Spence, who was a servant of Lord Argyle's, and was taken up at Lon don, only upon suspicion, and sent down to Scotland, was required to take an oath to answer all the questions that should be put to him. This was done in a direct contradic tion to an express law, against obliging men to swear that they will answer super inquirendis. Spence likewise said, that he himself might be concerned in what he might know : and it was against a very universal law, that excused all men from swearing against themselves, to force him to take such an oath ; so he was struck in the boots, and continued firm in his refusal. Then a new species of torture was in vented : he was kept from sleep eight or nine nights. They grew weary of managing this, so a third species was in vented : little screws of steel were made use of, that screwed the thumbs with so exquisite a torment, that he sunk under this ; for Lord Perth told him, they would screw every joint of his whole body, one after another, till he took the oath. Yet such was the firmness and fidelity of this poor man, that even in that extremity he capitulated, that no new questions should be put to him, but those already agreed on; and that he should not be obliged to be a witness against any person, and that he himself should be par doned: so all he could tell them was, who were Lord Ar gyle's correspondents. The chief of them was Holmes at London, to whom Lord Argyle wrote in a cipher, that had a peculiar curiosity in it: a double key was necessary: the one was, to shew the way of placing the words or cipher, in an order very different from that in which they lay in the paper : the other was, the key of the ciphers themselves, which was found among Holmes's papers, when he absconded. Spence knew only the first of these ; but he putting all in its true order, then by the other key they were deciphered. In these it appeared, what Argyle had demanded, and what he Undertook to do upon the granting his demands : but none of his letters spoke any thing of any agreement then made. OF KING CHARLES II. 203 When the torture had this effect on Spence, they offered i68*- the same oath to Carstairs : and, upon his refusing to take v*v^' it, they pnt his thumbs in the screws ; and drew them so hard, that as they put him to extreme torture, so they could not unscrew them, till the smith that made them was brought with his tools to take them off: so he confessed all he knew, which amounted to little more than some discourses of tak ing off the Duke; to which he said that he answered, his , principles could not come up to that ; yet in this he, who was a preacher among them, was highly to blame, for not revealing such black propositions ; though it cannot be de nied, but that it is a hard thing to discover any thing that is said in confidence^ and therefore I saved myself out Of those difficulties, by saying to all my friends, that I would not be involved in any such confidence ; for as long as I thought our circumstances were such, that resistance was not lawful, I thought the concealing any design in order to it was likewise unlawful : and by this means I had pre served myself ; but Carstairs had, at this time, some secrets of great consequence frqm Holland, trusted to him by Fagel, of which they had no suspicion : and so they asked him no questions 'about them ; yet Fagel saw by that, as he himself told me, how faithful Carstairs was, since he could have saved himself from torture, and merited highly, if he had discovered them. And this was the foundation of his favour with the Prince of Orange, and of the great confidence he put in him to his death. Upon what was thus screwed out of these two persons, Proceedings the Earl of Tarras, who had married the Dutchess of Mon- "J*" j*"^"' mouth's eldest sister, and six or seven gentlemen of quali ty, were clapped up. The ministers of state were still most (earnestly set on Baillie's destruction, though he was now hi so languishing a state ; occasioned chiefly by the bad usage he met with in prison, that if his death would have satisfied the malice of the court, that seemed to be very near. But they knew how acceptable a sacrifice his dying in a more violent way would prove ; so they continued even in that extremity to use him barbarously : they were also trying what could be drawn from those gentlemen against him. Tarras had married his niece, who was his second wife ; so they concluded that their confidence was entire, Baillie's illness increased daily ; apd his wife prayed for 204 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684. leave to attend on him, and if they feared an escape, she **^~J was willing to be put in irons : but that was denied. Nor would they suffer his daughter, a child of twelve years old, to attend him, even when he was so low, thatit was not pro bable he could live many weeks, his legs being much swell ed : but upon these examinations a new method of proceed ing against him was taken. An accusation was sent him, not in the form of an indictment, nor grounded on any law, but on a letter of the King's, in which he charged him not only for a conspiracy to raise rebellion, but for being en gaged in the Rye Plot; of all which he was now required to purge himself by oath, otherwise the council would hold him guilty of it, and proceed accordingly. He was not, as they said, now in a criminal court upon his life, but be fore the council, who did only fine and imprison. It was to no purpose for him to say, that by no law, unless it was in a court of inquisition, a man could be required to swear against himself, the temptation to perjury being so strong, when self-preservation was in the case, that it seemed against all law and religion to lay such a snare in a man's way. But to answer all this, it was pretended he was not now on his life, and that whatsoever he confessed was not to be made use of against his life ; as if the ruin of his fa mily, (which consisted of nine children,) and perpetual im prisonment, were not more terrible, especially to one so near his end as he was, than death itself. But he had to do with inexorable men ; so he was required to take this oath with in two days; and, by that time, he not being able to appear before the council, a committee of council was sent to ten der him the oath, and to take his examination. He told them, he was not able to speak, by reason of the low state of his health, which appeared very evidently to them ; for he had almost died while they were with him. He in gene ral protested his innocence, and his ahhorrence of all de signs against the King, or the Duke's life : for the other in terrogatories, he desired they might be left with him, and he would consider them. They persisted to require him to take his oath ; but he as firmly refused it. So, upon their report, the council construed this refusal to be a confes sion, and fined him 6,0001. and ordered him to lie still in prison till it was paid. After this, it was thought that this matter. was at an end, and that this was a final sentence; OF KING CHARLES II. 205 but he was still kept shut up, and denied all attendance or 1684- assistance. He seemed all the while so composed, and (""v"*"/ even so cheerful, that his behaviour looked like the reviv ing of the spirit of the noblest of the old Greeks or Romans, or rather. of the primitive Christians, and first martyrs, in those best days of the church. But the Duke was not sa tisfied with all this: so the ministry applied their arts to Tarras, and the other prisoners, threatening them with all the extremities of misery, if they would not witness trea sonable matters against Baillie. They also practised on their wives, and frightening them, set them on their hus bands. In conclusion, they gained what had been so much laboured : Tarras, and one Murray, of Philipshaugh, did depose some discourses, that Baillie had with them before he went up to London, disposing them to a rebellion. In these they swelled up the matter beyond the tiuth ; yet all did not amount to a full proof: so the ministers, being afraid that a jury might not be so easy as they expected, ordered Carstairs' confession to be read in court, not as an : evidence, (for that had been promised him should not be done,) but as that which would fully satisfy the jury, and dispose them to believe the witnesses. So Baillie was hur- And ins ex ited on to atrial; and upon the evidence he was found eoatI011' guilty, and condemned to be executed that same day ; so afraid they were, lest death should be too quick for them. He was very little disturbed at all this : his languishing in so solitary a manner made death a very acceptable de liverance to him. He in his last speech shewed, that in se veral particulars the witnesses had wronged him : he still denied all knowledge of any design against the King's life, or the Duke's ; and denied any plot against the government : he thought it was lawful for subjects, being under such pressures, to try how they might be relieved from them ; and their design never went further : but he w6uld enter into no particulars. Thus a learned and a worthy gentleman, after twenty months' hard usage, was brought to such a death, in a way so full in all the steps of it of the spirit and prac tice of the courts of inquisition, that one is tempted to think, that the methods taken in it, were suggested by one well studied, if not practised in them. The only excuse that was ever pretended for this infamous prosecution was, that they were sure he was guilty, and that the whole secret of 206 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684. the negotiation between the two kingdoms was trusted to "***"'**'' him ; and that, since he would not discover it, all methods might be taken to destroy him : not considering what a pre cedent they made on this occasion, by which, if men were once possessed of an ill opinion of a man, they were to spare neither artifice nor violence, but to hunt him down by any means. I have been perhaps too long in this particu lar, but the case was so singular, and my relation to the person was so near, and my value for him was so great, that I hope I need make no apology for it. In this I saw how ambition could corrupt one of the best- tempered men that I had ever known : I mean Lord Perth, who for above ten years together seemed to be incapable of an immoral or cruel action, and yet was now deeply en gaged in the foulest and blackest of crimes. I had not now seen him for two years ; but I hoped, that still some good impressions had been left in him : and now, when he came to London to be made lord chancellor, I had a very earn^ est message from him, desiring by my means to see Leigh* toun. I thought, that angelical man might have awakened in him some of those good principles which he seemed once to have had, and which were now totally extinguished in him. I writ so earnestly to Leightoun, that he came to London. Upon his coming to me, I was amazed to see him at above seventy look so fresh and well, that age seemed as it were to stand still with him ; his hair was still black, and all his motions were lively : he had the same quickness of thought, and strength of memory, but above all the same heat and life of devotion, that I had ever seen him in. When I took notice to him, upon my first seeing him, how well he looked, he told me, he was very near his end for all that, and his work and journey both were now almost done. This at that time made no great impression on me. He was the next day taken with an oppression, and as it seemed with a cold and with stitches, which was indeed a pleurisy. ieijiitoun's The next day Leightoun sunk so, that both speech and sense went away of a sudden, and he continued panting about twelve hours, and then died without pangs or convul- •••• sions : I was by him all the while. Thus I lost him, who had been for so many years the chief guide of my own life. He had lived ten years in Sussex, in great privacy, divid ing his time wholly between study and retirement, and the sfoeaBu. W*/ OF KING CHARLES II. 207 doing of good ; for in the parish where he lived, and in the 1684. parishes, round about, he was always employed in preach ing, and in reading prayers. He distributed all he had in charities, choosing rather to have it go through other peo ple's hands than his own, for I was his almoner in London. He had gathered a well-chosen library of curious, as well as useful books, which he left to the diocess of Dunblane, for the use of the clergy there, that country being ill pro vided with books. He lamented oft to me the stupidity, that he observed among the Commons of England, who seemed to be much more insensible in the matters of religion, than the Commons of Scotland were : he retained still a peculiar inclination to Scotland, and if he had seen any prospect of doing good there, he would have gone and lived and died among them. In the short time that the affairs of Scotland were in the Duke of Monmouth's hands, that Duke had been possessed with such an opinion of him, that he moved the King to write to him to go, and at least live in Scotland, if he would not engage in a bishopric there ; but that fell with that Duke's credit. He was in his last years turned to a greater severity against popery than I had imagined a man of his temper, and of his largeness, in point of opinion, was capable of. He spoke of the corruptions, of the se cular spirit, and of the cruelty that appeared in that church, with an extiaordinary concern, and lamented the shameful advances that we seemed to be making towards popery^ he did this with a tenderness, and an edge, that I did not expect from so recluse and mortified a man. He looked on the state the church of England was in with very me lancholy reflections, and was very uneasy at an expression then much used, that it was the best constituted church in the world : he thought it was truly so, with relation to the doctrine, the worship, and the main part of our govern ment: but as to the administration, both with relation to the ecclesiastical courts, and the pastoral care, he looked on it as one of the most corrupt he had ever seen. He thought, we looked like a fair carcase of a body without a spirit ; without that zeal, that strictness of life, and that laborious- ness in the clergy, that became us. There were two remarkable circumstances in his death. He used often to say, that if he were to choose a place to die in, it should be an inn. ; it looked like a pilgrim's going 208 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684. home, to whom this world was all as an inn, and who was **v"w weary of the noise and confusion in it. He added, that the officious tenderness and care of friends, was an entangle ment to a dying man, and that the unconcerned attendance of those that could be procured in such a place, would give less disturbance : and he obtained what he desired ; for he died at the Bell Inn, in Warwick Lane. Another circum stance was, that while he was bishop in Scotland, he took what his tenants were pleased to pay him, so that there was a great arrear due, which was raised slowly by one whom he left in trust with his affairs there, and the last payment that he could expect from thence was returned up to him about six weeks before his death ; so that his provision and journey failed both at once. And thus in the several parts of this history, I have given a very particular account of every thing relating to this apostolical man, whose life I would have writ, if I had not found proper places to bring the most material parts of it within this work. I reckon, that I owed this to that perfect friendship and fatherly care, with which he had alway treated me. The promo- The mentioning his death leads me to name some other some bi- clergymen -of note, that died in this and in the former year. 5ho|)S. . Burnet died in Scotland ; and Ross, a poor, ignorant, worthless man, but in whom obedience and fury were so eminent, that these supplied all other defects, was raised to be the primate of that church, which was indeed a sad omen, as well as a step to its fall and ruin. Steam, arch bishop of York, died in the eighty-sixth year of his age : he was a sour ill-tempered man, and minded chiefly the en riching his family. He was suspected of popery, because he was more than ordinarily compliant in all things to the court, and was very zealous for the Duke. Dolben, bishop of Rochester, succeeded him, a man of more spirit than discretion, and an excellent preacher, but of a free conver sation, which laid him open to much censure in a vicious court ; and indeed he proved a much better archbishop than he had been a bishop. Gunning, of Ely, died this summer, a man of great reading ; he had in him all the subtilty, and the disputing humour of a schoolman ; and he studied to in fuse that into all those who were formed by him. He was strict in the whole course of his life, but was a dry man, and much inclined to superstition : he had a great confu- OF KING CHARLES II. 209 sion of things in his head, and could bring nothing into me- 1684. thod, so that he was a dark and perplexed preacher; his ^^ sermons were full of Greek and Hebrew, and of the opini- } ons of the fathers ; yet many of the ladies of a high form loved to hear him preach : which the King used to say, was because they did not understand him : Turner succeeded him ; he had been long in the Duke's family, and was in high favour with him : he was a sincere and good-natured man, of too quick an imagination, and too defective a judg ment: he was but moderately learned, having conversed more with men than with books, and so he was not able to do the Duke great service ; but he was so zealous for his succession, that this raised him high upon no great stock of sufficiency. Old Morley, bishop of Winchester, died this winter, in the eighty-seventh year of his age : he was in ma ny respects a very eminent man, zealous against popery, and yet a great enemy to the dissenters : he was considera bly learned, and had a great vivacity of thought, but he was too soon provoked, and too httle master of himself upon those occasions. Mew, bishop of Bath and Wells, suc ceeded him ; he had been a captain during the wars, and had been Midletoun's secretary, when he was sent to com mand the insurrection, that the highlanders of Scotland J made for the King in 1653 : after that he came into orders, and, though he knew very little of divinity, or of any other learning, and- was weak to a childish degree, yet obsequi ousness and zeal raised him through several steps to this great see. Ken succeeded him in Bath and Wells ; a man of an ascetic course of life, and yet of a very lively tem per, but too hot and sudden : he had a very edifying way of preaching, but it was more apt to move the passions, than to instruct ; so that his sermons were rather beautiful than solid, yet his way in them was very taking : the King seemed fond of him ; and by him and Turner the papists hoped, that great progress might be made in gaining, or at least deluding the clergy. It was observed, that all the men in favour among the clergy were unmarried, from Whom, they hoped, they might more probably promise themselves a disposition to come over to them. The prosecution of the dissenters was carried very high Danby and all this year ; they were not only proceeded against for go- lorXiied. ing to conventicles, but for not going to church, and for not VOL. II. 2 E 210 HISTORY OF THE REIGN Uii. receiving the sacrament; the laws made against papists "**»/»> withrelation to those particulars being now applied to them. Many were excommunicated, and ruined by the prosecu tions. The Earl of Danby, for all his severity against Lord Shaftsbury, for moving in the King's Bench to be bailed, though committed by the Lords only for a contempt,, yet had been forced to move often for his being let out upon bail. It was certainly a very great hardship that he lay under ; for he had been now five years in the Tower, and three parliaments had sat : the two last had not mentioned him ; and now a parliament seemed out of sight : yet, though he offered a very long and learned argument for their bail ing him, the judges of the King's Bench, even Saunders himself, were afraid to meddle in it : but Jefferies was bold er; so he bailed him, and upon the same grounds all the popish lords were also bailed. Oates was prosecuted at the Duke's suit for scandalous words ; rogue and trai tor were very freely bestowed on the Duke by him; so 100,000/. was given, which shut him up in a perpetual im prisonment, till they saw a fit opportunity to carry matters further against him. The Duke of Beaufort, Lord Peter borough, and some others, brought actions of scandalum magnatum against those, who in the time of our great heat had spoke foul things pf them, and great damages were given by obsequious and zealous juries. An information of a higher nature was brought against Williams, who, though he was a worthless man, yet was for his zeal chosen speak er of the House of Commons in the two last parliaments. He had licensed the printing the votes, which had in them matters of scandal relating to some lords : so an informa tion was brought against him, and he upon it demurred to the jurisdiction of the court. This was driven on purpose by the Duke's party to cut off the thoughts of another par liament ; since it was not to be supposed, that any House of Commons could bear the. punishing the speaker for obeying their orders. som» ra- Jenkins had now done all the drudgery that the court tt'oourT" ° had occasion for from him ; and, being capable to serve them in nothing else, he was dismissed from being secretary of state : and Godolphin, one of the commissioners of the Treasury, succeeded him. Another commissioner of the Treasury, Deering, dying at the same time, the Earl of Ro- Wfc» OF KING CHARLES II. 211 Chester hoped to have been made lord treasurer. He had i«84. lost much ground with the King : and. the whole court hated him, by reason of the stop of all payments, which was chiefly imputed to him. Lord Hallifax and Lord North joined their interest to bring in two other commissioners upon him, without so much as letting him know of it, till it was resolved on. These were Thynn and North : this last was to be rewarded for his service during his sheriffalty in London. Lord Rochester engaged both the Duke and the Lady Portsmouth to divert this, if it was possible. But the King was not to be shaken : so he resolved to quit the Treasury. The Earl of Radnor was discharged from being lord president of the council, where he had for some years acted a very mean part, in which he had lost the character of a steady cynical Englishman, which he had maintained in the former course pf his life : and Lord Rochester was made lord president ; which, being a post superior in rank, but much inferior both in advantage and credit to that he held formerly, drew a jest from Lord Hallifax that may be worth remembering : he said, he had heard of many kick ed down stairs, but never of any that was kicked up stairs before. Godolphin was weary of the drudgery that lay on a secretary of state. He chose rather to be the first com missioner of the Treasury ; and he was made a baron. The Earl of Midletoun, son to him that had governed Scotland, was made secretary of state ; a man of a generous temper, without much religion, well learned, of a good judgment, and a lively apprehension. If foreign affairs could have awakened the King, the The bom- French did enough this summer in order to it. Besides their ^^ ° possessing themselves of Luxembourgh, they sent a fleet against Genoa, upon no sort of provocation, but because Genoa would not comply with some demands, that were both unjust and unreasonable : the King of France ordered it to be bombarded, hoping that in that confusion he might, by landing a few men, have made himself easily master of that state. This would very probably have succeeded, if the attempt had been made upon the first consternation they were in, when the bombardment began. But the thing was delayed a day or two; and, by that time, the Genoese not only recovered themselves out of their first fright, but, put ting themselves in order, they were animated with that in- 212 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684: dignation and fury, that they beat off the French with a ^v**"'' courage that was not expected from them. Such an as sault, that looked liker the violence of a robber than the attack of one that would observe forms in his conquests, ought to have provoked all princes, especially such as were powerful at sea, to have joined against a prince, who by these practices was become the common enemy of man kind. But we were now pursuing other, designs, from which it was resolved that nothing from beyond sea should divert us. T*ns|<:r After the King had kept Tangier about twenty years, and had been at a vast charge in making a mole before it, in which several sets of undertakers had failed indeed in the main designs, but had succeeded well in the enriching of themselves, and the work was now brought near perfec tion, which seemed to give us the key of the Mediterranean ; he, to deliver himself from that charge, sent Lord Dart mouth with a fleet to destroy all the works, and to bring home all our men. The King, when he communicated this to the cabinet council, charged them to be secret. But it was believed, that he himself spoke of it to the Lord Arling ton, and that Lord Arlington told it to the Portugal ambas sador ; for the ambassador took fire upon it, and desired, that if the King was weary of keeping it, he would restore it to his master : and he undertook to pay a great sum for the charge the King had been at, all these years that he had it. But the King believed, that as the money would never be paid, so the King of Portugal would not be able to main tain that place against the Moors ; so that it would fall in their hands, and by that means prove too important to com mand the Straits. The thing was boldly denied by the mi nisters, when pressed by the ambassador upon that subject. Lord Dartmouth executed the design as he was ordered : so an end was put to our possessing that place. This was done only to save charge, that the court might hold out the longer without a parliament. So the republic of Genoa, seeing that we would not, and that without us the Dutch could not undertake their protection, were forced to make a very abject compliment to the King of France ; if any thing could be abject, that was necessary to save their country. The Doge and some of the senators were sent to Versailles to ask the King pardon, though it was not easy OF KING CHARLES II. 213 to tell for what ; unless it was, because they presumed to 1684. resist his invasion. I happened to be at Paris when the v-^^/ Doge was there. One saying of his was much repeated. When all the glory of Versailles was set open to him, and the flatterers of the court were admiring every thing, he seemed to look at them with the coldness that became a person who was at the head of a free commonwealth : and, when he was asked, if the things he saw were not extraor dinary, he said, — the most extraordinary thing that he saw there was himself. The affairs of Holland were much broken : the Prince AH»i™ i>«- of Orange and the town of Amsterdam were in very ill terms 3 by the French management, to which Chudleigh,the English envoy, joined his strength to such a degree of insolence, that he offered personal affronts to the Prince ; who upon that would see him no more : yet the Prince was not con sidered enough at our court to get Chudleigh to be recalled upon it. The town of Amsterdam went so far, that a mo tion was made of setting up the Prince of Friezeland as their stadtholder ; and he was invited to come to their town in order to it : but the Prince of Orange prevented this by coming to a full agreement with that town. So he and his princess were invited thither ; and that misunderstanding was removed, or at least laid asleep for that time. The war of Hungary went on with slow success on the Empe ror's side : he was poor, and his revenue was exhausted, so that he could not press so hard upon the Turks, as he might have done with advantage ; for they were in great confu sion. The King of Poland had married a French wife ; and she had a great ascendant over him : and, not being able to get her family raised in France, she had turned that King to the Emperor's interests ; so that he had the glory of rais ing the siege of Vienna. The French saw their error, and were now ready to purchase her at any rate : so that all the rest of that poor King's inglorious life, after that great ac tion at Vienna, was a perpetual going backwards and for wards between the interests of France and Vienna ; which depended entirely upon the secret negotiations of the court of France with his Queen, as they came to her terms, or as they did not quite comply with them. The misunderstanding between the court of Rome and France Went on still. The Pope declared openly for the 214 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684. house of Austria against the Turk, and made great returns v-v*/ of money into Germany: he engaged the Venetians into the alliance. He found also fault with many of the pro ceedings in France, with relation to the regale ; and now the tables were turned : the Jesuits, who were wont to value themselves on their dependance on the court of Rome, were now wholly in the interest of France ; for they resolved to be on the stronger side ; and the Jansenists, whom Rome had treated very ill, and who were looked on as the most zealous assertors of the liberties of the Gallican church, were now the men that admired the Pope, and declared ' for him. The persecution of the protestants went on still in France ; and no other care was had of them here, but that we sheltered them, and so had great numbers of them coming over to us. A quarrel was depending between the English and the Dutch East-India Company. The Dutch had a mind to drive us out of Bantam ; for they did not love to see the English settle so near Batavia : so they engaged the old King of Bantam into a war with his son, who was in possession of Bantam ; and the son was supported by the English : but the old King drove out his son by the help that the Dutch gave him ; and he drove out the Eng lish likewise, as having espoused his son's rebellion against him ; though we understood that he had resigned the kingdom to his son ; but that, by the instigation of the Dutch he had ; now invaded him. It is certain, our court laid up this in their heart, as that upon which they would lay the founda tion of a new war with the states, as soon as we should be in a condition to undertake it. The East-India Company saw this, and that the court pressed them to make public remonstrances upon it, which gave a jealousy of an ill design under it: so they resolved to proceed rather in a, very slow negotiation, than in any thing that might give a handle to a rupture. The hard- I must now mix in somewhat with relation to myself, the'autho'r though it may seem too inconsiderable to be put into a met with, series of matters of such importance : but it is necessary to give some account of that, which set me at liberty to go round some parts of Europe, and to stay some years out of England. I preached a lecture at St. Clement's on the Thurdays ; but after the Lord Russel's death the King sent an order to Dr. Hascard, then rector of the parish, to dis.- ^VW1 OF KING CHARLES II. 215 charge me from it. I continued at the Rolls, avoiding very 1684. cautiously every thing that related to the public : for I ab horred the making the pulpit a stage for venting of passion, or for the serving of interests. There was a parish in London vacant, where the election lay in the inhabitants, and it was probable it would have fallen on me ; though London was in so divided a state, that every thing was ma naged by the strength of parties : yet the King, apprehend ing the choice might have fallen on me, sent a message to them, to let them know, he would take it amiss if they chose me. Old Sir Harbotle Grimstone lived still to the great indignation of the. court : when the 5th of November, being gunpowder-treason day, came, in which we had always sermons at the Chapel of the Rolls, I begged the Master of the Rolls to excuse me then from preaching ; for that day led one to preach against popery, and it was indecent not to do it. He said, he would end his life as he had led it all along, in an open detestation of popery: so since I saw this could not be avoided, though I had not meddled with any point of popery for above a year together, I resolved, since I did it so seldom, to do it to purpose. I chose for my text these words : " Save me from the lion's mouth : thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns." I made no reflection in my thoughts on the lion and unicorn, as being the two supporters of the King's scutcheon : (for I had ever hated all points of that sort, as a profanation of Scriptures ;) but I shewed how well popery might be com pared to the lion's mouth, then open to devour us : and I compared our former deliverance from the extremities of danger to the being on the horn of a rhinoceros ; and this leading me to the subject of the day, I mentioned that wish of King James the First against any of his posterity, that should endeavour to bring that religion in among us. This was immediately carried to the court ; but it only raised more anger against me-^for nothing could be made of it. They talked most of the choice of the text, as levelled against the King's coat of arms ; that had never been once in my thoughts. Lord Keeper North diverted the King from doing any thing on the account of my sermon ; and so the matter slept till the end of the term ; and then North writ to the Master of the Rolls, that the King considered the Chapel of the Rolls as one of his Own chapels: and, since 216 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684. ne looked on me as a person disaffected to his government, ^'"^ and had for that reason dismissed me from his own service, he therefore required him not to suffer me to serve any longer in that chapel ; and thus all my service in the church was now stopped : for upon such a public declaration made against me, it was not fit for any clergyman to make use of my assistance any more : and by these means I was set at liberty by the procurement of my enemies ; so that I did not abandon my post, either out of fear, or out of any gid diness to ramble about Europe ; but, being now under such public marks of jealousy, and put out of a capacity of serving God and the church in the way of my function, it seemed a prudent and a decent thing for me to withdraw myself from that fury, which I saw was working so strongly, and in so many repeated instances, against me. These disgraces from the court were the occasion of my going out of England ; which both preserved me from what I had reason to apprehend, when the Duke, by the change that happened soon after, might have had it in his power to make me feel all that displeasure, which had been growing upon him" in a course of so many years against me; and it also put me in a way to do the greatest services 1 was capable of, both to the interest of religion, and of these nations ; so that what was intended as a mischief to me proved my preservation. My employment at the Rolls would have fallen in course within a month, if the court, had delayed the putting me from it in such an open manner; for that worthy man, Sir Harbotle Grimstone, died about Christmas. Nature sunk all at once, he being then eighty- two : he died, as he had lived, with great piety and resig nation to the will of God. Trials for There were two famous trials in Michaelmas term : three treason of WOmen came and deposed against Roswell, a presbyterian Haies. preacher, treasonable words that he had delivered at a conventicle. They svvOre to two or three periods, in which they agreed so exactly together, that there was not the smallest variation in their depositions. Roswell, on the other hand, made a strong defence : he proved, that the witnesses were lewd and infamous persons : he proved that he had always been a loyal man, even in Cromwell's days; that he prayed constantly for the King in his fa mily, and that in his sermons he often insisted on the ob- OF KING CHARLES II. 217 ligations to loyalty. And as for that sermon, in which the 168*- witnesses swore he delivered those words, he shewed what ^"v***^ his text was, which the witnesses could not remember, as they remembered nothing else in his sermon, besides the words they had deposed. That text, and his sermon upon it, had no relation to any such matter. Several witnesses who heard the sermon, and some who writ it in short-hand, de clared he said no such words, nor any thing to that pur pose. He offered his own notes to prove this further, but no regard was had to them. The women could not prove by any circumstance, that they were at his meeting, or that any person saw them there on that day. The words they swore against him were so gross, that it was not to be ima gined any man in his wits could express himself so, were he ever so wickedly set, before a mixed assembly. It was also urged, that it was highly improbable that three women could remember so long a period upon one single hearing ; and that they should all remember it so exactly, as to agree in the same deposition. He offered to put the whole upon this issue : he would pronounce a period, as long as that which they had sworn, with his usual tone of voice with which he preached, and then leave it to them to repeat it, if they could. I set down all this defence more particularly, that it may appear what a spirit was in that time, when a verdict could be brought in upon such an evidence, and against such a defence. Jefferies urged the matter with his ordinary vehemence : he laid it for a foundation, that all preaching at conventicles was treasonable, and that this ought to dispose the jury to believe any evidence what soever upon that head, and that here were three positive concurring witnesses : so the jury brought him in guilty ; and there was a shameful rejoicing upon this. It was thought now conventicles would be all suppressed by it, since any person that would witness that treasonable words were delivered at them would be believed, how improbable soever it might be ; but when the importance of the words came to be examined by men learned in the law, they were found not to be treason by any statute. So Roswell moved in arrest of judgment, till counsel should be heard to that point, whether the words were treason or not. In Sidney's case they refused to grant that, unless he would first con fess the fact; and though that was much censured, yet it VOL II. 2 F V-vW 218 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684. was more doubtful whether counsel ought to be heard after the jury had brought in the verdict. But the King was so put out of countenance, with the many stories that were brought him of his witnesses, that the attorney-general had orders to yield to the arrest of judgment; though it had been more to the King's honour to have put an end to the business by a pardon. It was thought a good point gained, which might turn to the advantage of the subject, to allow that a point of law might be argued after conviction. The impudence of this verdict was the more shameful, since, though we had a popish successor in view, here was a pre cedent made, by which positive witnesses, swearing to any thing as said in a sermon, were to be believed against so many improbabilities, and so much proof to the contrary, which might have been at another time very fatal to the clergy. The other trial was of more importance to the court. In Armstrong's pocket, when he was taken, a letter was found writ by Haies, a banker in London, directed to another name, which was believed a feigned one; in it credit was given him upon Haies's correspondent in Holland for mo ney; he was desired not to be too lavish,, and he was pro mised, that he should be supplied as he needed. Here was an abetting of a man outlawed for treason. Much pains was taken on Haies, both by persuasion and threatening, to induce him to discover that whole cabal of men, that, it seemed, joined in a common purse to supply those, who had fled beyond sea on the account of the plot ; and they hoped to know all Monmouth's friends, and either to have attaint ed them, or at least to have fined them severely for it ; but Haies shewed a fidelity and courage, far beyond what could have been expected from such a man ; so he was brought to a trial : he made a strong defence ; the letter was not exactly like his hand ; it was not addressed to Arm strong, but to another person, from whom he perhaps had it. No entry was made of it in his books,, nor of any sum paid in upon it,: but his main defence was, that a banker examined into no person's concerns, and therefore, when money of good security was brought him, he gave bills of exchange, or letters of credit, as they were desired. Jeffe ries pressed the jury, in his impetuous way, to find Haies guilty of high treason, because, though there was not a wit- OF KING CHARLES II. 219 ness against Haies, but only presumptions appeared upon "84. the proof, yet, Jefferies said, it was proved by two witnesses "*N~>"/ that the letter was found in Armstrong's pocket, and that was sufficient, the rest appearing by circumstances. The little difference between the writing in the letter and his ordi nary hand, was said to be only a feint to hide it, which made him the more guilty : he required the jury to bring him in guilty ; and said, that the King's life and safety depended upon this trial, so that if they did it not, they exposed the King to a new Rye-plot ; with other extravagancies, with which his fury prompted him: but a jury of merchants could not be wrought up to this pitch ; so he was acquitted, which mortified the court a little, for they had reckoned, that now juries were to be only a point of form in a trial, and that they were always to find bills as they were directed. A trial in a matter of blood came on after this : a gentle- strange man of a noble family being at a public supper with much H^l'™' company, some hot words passed between him and another unbecoming gentleman, which raised a sudden quarrel, none but three a ing' persons being engaged in it ; swords were drawn, and one was killed outright, but it was not certain by whose hand he was killed,, so the other two were both indicted upon it. The proof did not carry it beyond manslaughter, no marks of any precedent malice appearing ; yet the young gentle man was prevailed on to confess the indictment, and to let sentence pass on him for murder, a pardon being promised him if he should do so, and he being threatened with the ut most rigour of the law, if he stood upon his defence. Af. ter the sentence had passed, it appeared on what design he had been practised on. It was a rich family, and not well affected to the court ; so he was told that he must pay well for his pardon, and it cost him 16,000Z. of which the King had the one half, the other half being divided between two ladies that were in great favour. It is a very ill thing, for princes to suffer themselves' to be prevailed on by importu nities to pardon blood, which cries for vengeance ; yet an easiness to such importunity is a feebleness of good nature, and so is in itself less criminal : but it is a monstrous per verting of justice, and a destroying the chief end of govern ment, which is the preservation of the people, when their blood is set to sale, and that not as a compensation to the family of the person murdered, but to the prince himself, 220 1684. Papists em- ployed in Ireland. HISTORY OF THE REIGN and to some who are in favour with him upon unworthy ac counts, and it was robbery if the gentleman was innocent. Another thing of a strange nature happened about this time. The Earl of Clancarty in Ireland, when he died, had left his lady the guardian of his children. It was one of the noblest and richest families of the Irish nation, which had always been papists, but the lady was a protestant ; and she, being afraid to trust the education of her son in Ireland, though in protestant hands, considering the danger he might be in from his kindred of that religion, brought him over to Oxford, and put him into Fell's hands, who was both bishop of Oxford, and dean of Christ Church, where she reckoned he would be safe. Lord Clancarty had an uncle, Colonel Maccarty, who was in most things, where his religion was not concerned, a man of honour : so he, both to pervert his nephew, and to make his own court, got the King to write to the bishop of Oxford to let the young lord come up, and see the diversions of the town in the Christmas time, to which the bishop did too easily consent. When he came to town, he being then at the age of con sent, was married to one of the Lord Sunderland's daugh ters ; and so he broke through all his education, and soon after turned papist. Thus the King suffered himself to be made an instrument in one of the greatest of crimes, the taking an infant out of the hand of a guardian, and marry ing him secretly ; against which the laws of all nations have taken care to provide very effectually : but this leads me into a further view of the designs at court. The Earl of Rochester grew weary of the insignificant place of president, which procured him neither confidence nor dependence : and, since the government of Ireland was the greatest post next to the Treasury, he obtained by the Duke's favour to be named lord lieutenant of Ireland. The King seemed to be so uneasy with him, that he was glad to send him away from the court : and the King intended to begin in his person a new method in the government of Ire land. Formerly the lords lieutenants were generals of the army, as well as the governors of the kingdom. Their in terest in recommending to posts in the army, and the giving the commissions for them, brought the army into their de- , pendence, and increased the profits of their secretaries. It was now suggested by Lord Sunderland, that this was too ^v^ OF KING CHARLES II. 221 much in one person, and therefore he proposed, that there l68i- should be a general of the army, independent on the lord lieutenant, and who should be a check upon him ; when there were but a few troops kept up there, it might be more reasonable to leave them in the lord lieutenant's hand's ; but now that an army was kept, it seemed too much to put that, as well as the civil administration of the kingdom, into the power of one man. In this the Earl of Sunderland's design was, to keep that kingdom in a dependance upon himself; and he told the King, that if he thought that was a good maxim for the government of Ireland, he ought to begin it when a creature of his own was sent thither, who ,, had not such a right to dispute points of that kind with him, as ancient noblemen might pretend to. Lord Rochester was much mortified with this ; he said, the chief governor of Ireland could not be answerable for the peace of that kingdom, if the army was not in a dependance on him : yet little regard was had to all that he could object to this new method, for the King seemed to be the more pleased with it, because it afflicted him so much. The first instance, in which the King intended to begin the immediate depen dance of the Irish army on himself, was not so well chosen as to make it generally acceptable ; for it was, that Colo nel Maccarty was to have a regiment there. He had a re giment in the French service for several years, and was called home upon that appearance that we had put on of engaging with the allies in a war with France in the year 1678. The popish plot had kept the King from employing him for some years, in which the court was in some ma nagement with the nation. But now that being at an end, the King intended to employ him, upon this acceptable service he had done with relation to his nephew. The King spoke of it to Lord Hallifax ; and he, as he told me, asked the King if he thought that was to govern according to law. The King answered, he was not tied up by the Jaws of Ireland as he was by the laws of England. Lord Hallifax offered to argue that point with any person that asserted it before him ; he said, that army was raised by a protestant parliament to secure the protestant interest ; and would the King give occasion to any to say, that where his hands were not bound up, he would shew all the favour he could to the papists ? The King answered, he did not trouble papist. 222 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684. himself with what people said, or would say. Lord Halli- "-N**^ fax replied to this, that it was a just piece of greatness in the King not to mind what his enemies said ; but he hoped he would never despise what his friends said, especially when they seemed to have reason on their side ; and he wished the King would choose rather to make up Maccar- ty's losses for his service in pensions and other favours, than in a way that would raise so much clamour and jea lousy. In all this Lord Hallifax only offered his advice to the King upon the King's beginning the discourse with him ; yet the King told it all to Maccarty, Who came and expos tulated the matter with that lord. So he saw by that how little safe a man was who spoke freely to the King, when he crossed the King's own inclinations. Suspicions There was a great expectation in the court of France declaring * that at this time the King would declare himself a papist. ™™!tf * They did not keep the secret very carefully there ; for the Archbishop of Rheims had said to myself, that the King was as much theirs as his brother was, only he had not so much conscience. This I reported to Lord HaHifax to tell the King ; whether he did it or not I know not ; but it was writ ten over at this time from Paris, that the King of France had said at his levee, or at table, that a great thing would quick ly break out in England with relation to religion. The oc casion of that was afterwards better known. One of our East-India ships had brought over one of the missionaries* of Siam, who was a man of a warm imagination, and who talked of his having converted and baptized many thousands in that kingdom. He was well received at court ; and the King diverted himself with hearing him relate the adven tures and other passages of his travels. Upon this encou ragement he desired a private audience, in which in a very inflamed speech, and with great vehemence, he pressed the King to return into the bosom of the church. The King en tertained this civilly, and gave him those answers, that he, not knowing the King's way, took them for such steps and indications as made him conclude the thing was very near done ; and upon that he writ to P. de la Chaise, that they would hear the news of the King's conversion very quickly. The confessor carried the news to the King, who, not doubt ing it, gave the general hint of that great turn, of which he was then full of hopes. OF KING CHARLES II. 223 That priest was directed by some to apply himself to 1684- Lord Hallifax, to try if he could convert him. Lord Hallifax. '**y'**"' told me, he was so vain and so weak a man, that none could be converted by him, but such as were weary of their religion, and wanted only a pretence to throw it off. Lord Hallifax put many questions to him, to which he made such simple answers, as furnished that lord with many very lively sallies upon the conversions so much boasted of, when made by such men. Lord Hallifax asked him, how it came that, since the King of Siam was so favourable to their religion, they had not converted him? The missionary upon that told him, that the king had said, he would not examine into the truth of all that they had told him con cerning Jesus Christ; he thought it was not reasonable to forsake the religion of his fathers, unless he saw good grounds to justify the change : and since they pretended that the author of their religion had left a power of working miracles with his followers, he desired they would apply that to himself: he had a palsy both in his arm, and in his leg; and if they could deliver him from that, he pro mised to them he would change immediately. Upon which the niissionary said, that the bishop, who was the head of that mission, was bold enough (assez hardi, were the priests own words) to undertake it. A day was set for it ; and the bishop, with his priest and some others, came to the King ; and after some prayers, the King told them, he felt some heat and motion in his arm, but the palsy was more rooted in his thigh, so he desired the bishop would go on and finish that which was so happily begun. The bishop thought he had ventured enough, and would engage no further; but told the King, that since their God had made one step towards him, he must make the next to God, and at least meet him half way ; but the King was ob stinate, and would have the miracle finished before he would change. On the other hand the bishop stood his ground; and so the matter went no further. Upon which Lord Hallifax said, since the King was such an infidel, they ought to have prayed the palsy into his arm again, as well as they prayed it out; otherwise here was a miracle lost on an obstinate infidel : and, if the palsy had imme diately returned into his arm, that would perhaps have given him a full conviction. This put the missionary into 224 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1684' some confusion.' And Lord Hallifax repeated it both to the "~*^ King and to the Duke with that air of contempt, that the Duke was highly provoked by it ; and the priest appeared at court no more. 1685. There was at this time a new scheme formed, that very Scheme of probably would have for ever broken the King and the government. Duke. But how it was laid was so great a secret that I could never penetrate into it. It was said at Lady Ports mouth's, Barillon and Lord Sunderland were the chief ma nagers of it. L°rd Godolphin was also in it. The Duke of Monmouth came over secretly ; and though he did not see the King, yet he went back very well pleased with his journey ; but he never told his reason to any that I know of. Mr. May of the privy-purse told me, that he was told there was a design to break out, with which he himself would be well pleased ; and when it was ripe he was to be called on to come and manage the King's temper, which no man understood better than he did ; for he had been bred about the King ever since he was a child : and by his post he was in the secret of all his amours ; but was con trary to his notions in every thing else, both with relation to popery, to France, and to arbitrary government. Yet he was so true to the King, in that lewd confidence in which he employed him, that the King had charged him never to press him in any thing so as to provoke him. By this means he kept all this while much at a distance ; for he would not enter into any discourse with the King on matters of state, till the King began with him. And he told me he knew by the King's way things were not yet quite ripe, nor he tho roughly fixed on the design. That with which they were to begin was, the sending the Duke to Scotland ; and it was generally believed that if the two brothers should be once parted they would never meet again. The King spoke to the Duke concerning his going to Scotland: and he an swered that there was no occasion for it ; upon which the King replied, that either the Duke must go, or that he him self would go thither. The King was observed to be more than ordinarily pen sive ; and his fondness to Lady Portsmouth increased, and broke out in very indecent instances. The grand prior of France, the Duke of Vendome's brother, had made some applications to that lady with which the King was highly OF KING CHARLES II. 225 offended. It was said the King came in on a sudden, and 168S- saw that which provoked him, so he commanded him im- ^ mediately to go out of England. Yet after that the King caressed her in the view of all people, which he had never done on any occasion or to any person formerly. The King was observed to be colder and more reserved to the Duke. than ordinary: but what was under all this was still a deep secret. Lord Hallifax was let into no part of it ; he still went on against Lord Rochester ; he complained in council that there were many razures in the books of the Treasury, and that several leaves were cut out of those books ; and he moved the King tp go to the Treasury cham ber that the books might be laid before him, and that he might judge of the matter upon sight. So the King named the next Monday ; and it was then expected that the Earl of Rochester would have been turned out of all, if not sent to the Tower. And a message was sent to Mr. May, then at Windsor, to desire him to come to court that day, which it was expected would prove a critical day ; and it proved to be so indeed, though in a different way. All this winter the King looked better than he had done The Kings for many years ; he had a humour in his leg, which looked SIcItBess- like the beginning of the gout, so that for some weeks he could not walk, as he used to do generally three or four hours a day in the Park ; which he did commonly so fast, that as it was really an exercise to himself, so it was a trou ble to all about him to hold up with him. In the state the King was in, he not being able to walk, spent much of his time in his laboratory, and was running a process for the fixing of mercury. On the 1st of February, being a Sun day, he eat little all day, and came to Lady Portsmputh's at night, "and called for a porringer of spoon meat : it was made too strong for his stomach, so he eat little of it, and he had an unquiet night. In the morning one Dr, King, a physician and a chemist, came, as had been ordered, to wait on him . All the King's discourse tp him was so broken that he could not understand what he -meant ; and the doc tor concluded he was under some great disorder either in his mind or in his body. The doctor amazed at this went out, and meeting with the Lord Peterborough, he said, the King was in a strange humour, for he did not speak one word of sense, Lprd Peterborough desired he would go in VOL. II. 2 G 226 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. again to the bed-chamber, which he did ; and he was scarce """v'**; come in, when the King, who seemed all the while to be in great confusion, fell down all of a sudden in a fit like an apoplexy ; he looked black, and his eyes turned in his head. The physician, who had been formerly an eminent surgeon, said, it was impossible to save the King's life il one minute was lost : he would rather venture on the rigour of the law than leave the King to perish ; and so he let him blood. The King come out of that fit ; and the physicians approved what Dr. King had done ; upon which the privy council ordered him 1000Z., which yet was never paid him. Though the King came out of that fit, yet the ef fects of it hung still upon him, so that he was much oppressed ; and the physicians did very much apprehend the return of another fit, and that it would carry him off; so they looked on him as a dead man. The Bishop of London spoke a little to him, to dispose him to prepare for whatever might be before him, to which the King answered not a word ; but that was imputed partly to the Bishop's cold way of speaking, and partly to the ill opinion they had of him at court, as too busy in opposition to popery. Sancroft made a veiy weighty exhortation to him ; in which he used a good degree of freedom, which he said was necessary, since he was going to be judged by one who was no re specter of persons. To him the King made no answer nei ther ; nor yet to Ken, though the most in favour with him of all the bishops. Some imputed this to an insensibility ; of which too visible an instance appeared, since Lady Portsmouth sat in the bed taking care of him as a wife of a husband. Others guessed truer, that it would appear he was of another religion. On Thursday a second fit return ed ; and then the physicians told the Duke, that the King was not like to live a day to an end. He received The Duke immediately ordered Hudleston, the priest that menu from had a great hand in saving the King at Worcester fight, (for a popish which he was excepted out of all severe acts that were pnesl made against priests), to be brought to the lodgings under the bed-chamber ; and when he was told what was to be done, he was in great confusion, for he had no hostie about him; but he went to another priest, that lived in the court, who gave him the pix with an hostie in it; but that poor priest was so frighted, that he run out of Whitehall in such OF KING CHARLES II. 227 haste that he struck against a post, and seemed to be in 1685- a fit of madness with fear. As soon as Hudleston had pre- l*~**J pared every thing that was necessary, the Duke whispered the King in the ear. Upon that the King ordered that all who were iri the bed-chamber should withdraw, except the Earls of Bath and Feversham : and the door was double locked. The company was kept out half an hour ; only Lord Feversham opened the door once, and called for a glass of water. Cardinal Howard told me at Rome, that Hudleston, according to the relation that he sent thither, made the King go through some acts of contrition, and, after such a confession as he could then make, he gave him absolution and the other sacraments. The hostie stuck in his throat, and that was the occasion of calling for a glass of water ; he also gave him extreme unction. All must have been performed very superficially, since it was so soon ended : but the King seemed to be at great ease upon it. It was given out that the King said to Hudleston, that he had saved him twice, first his body, and now his soul ; and that he asked him if he would have him declare him self to be of their church. But it seems he was prepared for this, arid so diverted the King from it; and said;- he took it upon him to satisfy the world in that particular. But though by the principles of all religions whatsoever he ought to have obliged him to make open profession of his religion, yet it seems the consequences of that were appre hended; for without doubt that poor priest acted by the directions that were given him. The company was suffered to come in; and the King went through the agonies of death with a calm and a constancy that amazed all who were about- him, and knew how he had lived. This made some conclude that he had made a will, and that his quiet was the effect of that. Ken applied himself much to the awaking the King's conscience. He spoke with a great elevation both of thought and expression, like a man in spired, as those who were present told me. He resumed the matter often, and pronounced many short ejaculations and prayers, which affected all that were present, except him that was the most concerned, who seemed- to take no notice of him, and made no answers to him. He pressed the King six or seven times to receive the sacrament ; but the King always declined it, saying he was very weak. A w^ 228 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. table with the elements upon it ready to be consecrated was brought into the room; which occasioned a report to be then spread about that he had received it. Ken pressed him to declare that he desired it, and that he died in the communion of the church of England. To that he answer ed nothing. Ken asked him if he desired absolution of his sins. It seems the King, if he then thought any thing at all, thought that would do him no hurt ; so Ken pronounced it over him : for which he was blamed, since the King ex pressed no sense of sorrow for his past life, nor any purpose of amendment. It was thought to be a prostitution of the peace of the church, to give it to one, who, after a life led as the King's had been, seemed to harden himself against every thing that could be said to him. Ken was also cen sured for another piece of indecency : he presented the Duke of Richmond, Lady Portsmouth's son, to be blessed by the King : upon this some that were in the room cried out, the King was their common father ; and upon that all kneeled down for his blessing, which he gave them. The King suffered much inwardly, and said he was burnt up within; of which he complained often, but with great de cency. He said once,(he hoped he should climb up to heaven's gates,* which was the only word savouring of reli gion that he was heard to speak. He gathered all his strength to speak his last words to the Duke, to which every one hearkened with great atten tion. He expressed his kindness to him, and that he now' delivered all over to him with great joy. He recommended Lady Portsmouth over and over again to him ; he said he had always loved her, and he loved her now to the last ; and besought the Duke, iri as melting words as he could fetch out, to be very kind to her and to her son. He re commended his other children to him ; and concluded, let not poor Nelly starve : that was Mrs. Gwyn. But he said nothing of the Queen, nor any word of his people, or of his ^ervants ;' nor did he speak orie word of religion, or con cerning the payment of his debts, though he left behind him about ninety thousand guineas, which he had gathered, either out of the privy purse, or out of the money which was sent him from France, or by other methods, and which he had kept so secretly that no person whatsoever knew any thing of it. OF KING CHARLES It. 229 He continued in the agony till Friday at eleven o'clock, 1685- being the 6th ef February, 168f, and then died in the fifty- Hud^tk fourth year of his age, after he had reigried, if we reckon from his father's death, thirty-six years and eight days ; or, if we reckon from his restoration, twenty-four years, eight months, and nine days. There were many very apparent suspicions of his being poisoned ; for though the first ac cess looked like an apoplexy, yet it was plain in the pro gress of it that it was no apoplexy. When his body was opened, the physicians who viewed it were, as it were led, by those who might suspect the truth, to look upon the parts that were certainly sound. But both Lower and Needham, two famous physicians, told me, they plainly discerned two or three blue spots on the outside of the stomach. Needham called twice to have it opened ; but the surgeons seemed not to hear him ; and when he moved it the second time, he, as he told me, heard Lower say to one that stood next him — Needham will undo us, calling thus to have the stomach opened ; for he may see they will not do it. They were diverted to look to somewhat else : and when they returned to look upon the stomach it was carried away ; so that it was never viewed. Le Fevre, a French physician, told me, he saw a blackness in the shoulder: upon which he made an incision, and saw it was all mortified. Short, another physician, who was a papist, but after a form of his own, did very much suspect foul dealing; and he had talked more freely of it than any of the protestants durst do at that time ; but he was not long after taken suddenly ill, upon a large draught of wormwood Wine, which he had drunk in the house of a popish patient, that lived near the Tower, who had sent for him, of which he died ; and, as he said to Lower, Millington, and some Other .physicians, he believed that he himself was poisoned for his having spoken so freely of the King's death. The King's body was indecently neglected ; some parts of his inwards, and some pieces of the fat were left in the water in which they were washed : all which were so carelessly looked after, that the water being poured out a scullery hole that went to a drain, in the mouth of which a grate lay, these were seen lying on the grate many days after. His funeral was very mean. He did not lie in state ; no mournings were given ; and the expense of it was not equal to what 230 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 168S. any ordinary nobleman's funeral will rise to. Many upon v*~ ¦***"' this said, that he deserved better from his brother than to be thus ungratefully treated in ceremonies that are publiq, arid that make an impression on those who see them, and who will make severe observations and inferences upon such omissions. But since I have mentioned the suspicions pf poison as the cause of his death, I must add, that I never heard any lay those • suspicions on his brother. But his dying so critically, as it were in the minute in which he seemed to begin a turn of affairs, made it be generally the more believed, and, that the papists had done it, either by the means of some of Lady Portsmouth's servants, or, as some fancied, by poisoned snuff ; for so many of the small veins of the brain were burst, that the brain was in great disorder, and no judgment could be made concerning it. To this I shall add a very surprising story,* that I had in November 1709, from Mr. Henly of Hampshire. He told me, that when the Dutchess of Portsmouth came over to England in the year 1699, he heard that she had talked as if King Charles had been poisoned ; which he desiring to have from her own mouth, she gave him this account of it. She was always pressing the King to make both himself and his people easy, and to come to a full agreement with his parliament ; and he was come to a final resolution of sending away his brother, and of calling a parliament; which was to be executed the next day after he fell into thai fit of which he died. She was put upon the secret, and spoke of it to no person alive, but to her confessor ; but the confessor, she believed, told it to some, who, seeing what was to follow, took that wicked course to prevent it. Hav ing this from so worthy a person, as I have set it down without adding the least circumstance to it, I thought it too important not to be mentioned in this history. It discovers both the knavery of confessors, and the practices of papists, so evidently, that there is no need of making any further re flections on it. His charac- , Thus lived and died King Charles the Second. He was tir' the greatest instance in history of the various revolutions of which any one man seemed capable. He was bred up, the first twelve years of his life, with'the splendour that became * N. B. This is added to the original in a loose sheet. OF KING CHARLES II. 231 the heir of so great a crown. After that he passed through 1685. eighteen years in great inequalities, unhappy in the war, in ^^ the loss of his father, and of the crown of England. Scot land did not only receive him, though upon terms hard of digestion, but made an attempt upon England for him, though a feeble one. He lost the battle of Worcester with too much indifference : and then he shewed more care of his person than became one who had so much at stake. He wandered about England, for ten weeks after that, hiding from place to ,place ; but, under all the apprehensions he had then uppn him, he shewed a temper so careless, and so much turned to levity, that he was then diverting himself with little household sports, in as unconcerned a manner as if he had made no loss, and had been in no danger at all. He got at last out of England ; but he had been obliged to so many, who had been faithful to him, and careful of him, that he seemed afterwards to resolve to make an equal re turn to them all : and finding it not easy to reward them all as they deserved, he forgot them all alike. Most princes seem to have this pretty deep in them, and to think that they ought never to remember past services, but that their ac ceptance of them is a full reward. He, of all in our age, exerted this piece of prerogative in the amplest manner : for he never seemed to charge his memory, or to trouble his thoughts, with the sense of any of the services that had been done him. While he was abroad at Paris, Colen, or Brus sels, he never seemed to lay any thing to heart. He pur sued all his diversions and irregular pleasures in a free ca reer, and seemed to be as serene under the loss of a crown as the greatest philosopher could have been. Nor did he willingly hearken to any of those projects, with which he often complained that his chancellor persecuted him. That in which he seemed most concerned was, to find money for supporting his expense. And it was often said, that if Cromwell would have compounded the matter, and have given him a good round pension, that he might have been induced to resign his title to him. During his exile he deli vered himself so entirely to his pleasures that he became incapable of application. He spent little of his time in reading or study, and yet less in thinking ; and, in the state his affairs were then in, he accustomed himself to say to every person, and upon all occasions, that which he thought V«-s^ 232 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. would please most : so that Avords or promises went very easily from him. And he had so ill an opinion of mankind, that he thought the great art of living and governing was, to manage all things and all persons with a depth of craft and dissimulation ; and in that few men in the world could put on the appearance of sincerity better than he could : under which so much artifice was usually hid, that in conclusion he could deceive none, for all were become mistiustful of him. He had great vices, but scarce any virtues to correct them ; he had in him some vices that were less hurtful, which corrected his more hurtful ones. He was, during the active part of life given up to sloth and lewdness to such a degree, that he hated business, and could not bear the en gaging in any thing that gave him much trouble, or put him under any constraint ; and though he desired to become ab solute, and to overturn both our religion and our laws, yet he would neither run the risk, nor give himself the trouble, which so great a design required. He had an appearance of gentleness in his outward deportment, but he seemed to have no bowels nor tenderness in his nature, and in the end of his life he became cruel. He was apt to forgive all crimes, even blood itself: yet he never forgave any thing that was done against himself, after his first and general act of indemnity, which was to be reckoned as done rather upon maxims of state than inclinations of mercy. He delivered himself up to a most enormous course of vice without any sort of restraint, even from the consideration of the nearest relations ; the most studied extravagances that way seemed, to the very last, to be much delighted in, and pursued by him. He had the art of making all people grow fond of him at first, by a softness in his whole way of conversation, as he was certainly the best bred man of the age ; but when it appeared how little could be built on his promise, they were cured of the fondness that he was apt to raise in them. When he saw young men of quality who' had something more than ordinary in them, he drew them about him, and set himself to corrupt them both in religion and morality; in which he proved so unhappily successful, that he left England much changed at his death from what he had found it at his restoration. He loved to talk over all the stories of his life to every new man that came about him, His stay in Scotland, and the share he had in the war of Paris, in V-N-*' OF KING CHARLES II. 23$ carrying messages from the one side to the other, were his 16BS- common topics. He went over these in a very graceful manner ; but so often, arid so copiously, that all those who had been long accustomed to them grew weary of them: and when he entered on those stories they usually with drew : so that he often began them in a full audience, and before he had done there were not above four or five left about him ; which drew a severe jest from Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. He said, he wondered to see a man have so good a memory as to repeat the same story without losing the least circumstance, and yet not remember that he had told it to the same persons the very day before. This made him fond of strangers ; for they hearkened to all his often- repeated stories, and went away as in a rapture at such an uncommon condescension in a king. His person and temper, his vices as well as his fortunes, resemble the character that we have given us of Tiberius so much, that it were easy to draw the parallel between them. Tiberius's banishment, and his coming afterwards to reign, makes the comparison in that respect come pretty near. His hating of business, and his love of pleasures ; his raising of favourites, and trusting them entirely; and his pulling them down, and hating them excessively; his art of covering deep designs, particularly of revenge, with an ap pearance of softness, brings them so near a likeness, that I did not wonder much to observe the resemblance of their face and person. At Rome I saw one of the last statues l made for Tiberius, after he had lost his teeth ; but, bating the alteration which that made, it was so like King Charles, that Prince Borghese, and Signior Dominico to whom it be longed, did agree with me in thinking that it looked like a .statue made for him. Few things ever Went near his heart. The Duke of Glou cester's death seemed to touch him much. But those who knew him best, thought it was because he had lost him, by whom only he could have balanced the surviving brother, whom he hated, and yet embroiled all his affairs to preserve the succession to him. His ill conduct in the firs.t Dutch war, and those terrible calamities of the plague, and fire of London, with that loss and reproach which he suffered by the insult at Chatham, made all people cbnelude there was a curse upon his gor VOL. II. 2 H W*' 234 HISTORY OF THE REIGN *685. vernment. His throwing the public hatred at that time upon Lord Clarendon was both unjust and ungrateful. And when his people had brought him out of all his difficulties, upon his entering into the triple alliance, his selling that to France, and his entering on the second Dutch war with as little colour as he had for the first ; his beginning it with the attempt on the Dutch Smyrna fleet; the shutting up the Ex chequer ; and his declaration for toleration, which was a step for the introduction of popery ; make such a chain of black actions, flowing from blacker designs, that it amazed those who had known all this, to see with what impudent strains of flattery addresses were penned during his life, and yet more grossly after his death. His contributing so much to the raising the greatness of France, chiefly at sea, was such an error, that it could not flow from want of thought, or of true sense. Rouvigny told me, he desired that" all the methods the French took iri the increase and conduct of their naval force might be sent him. And, he said, he seem ed to study them with concern and zeal. He shewed what errors they committed, and how they ought to be correctedj as if he had been a viceroy to France, rather than a king that ought to have watched over and prevented the progress they made, as the greatest of all Jhe mischiefs that could happen to him or to his people. They that judged the most favourably of this, thought it was done out of revenge to the Dutch, that, with the assistance of so great a fleet as France could join to his own, he might be able to destroy them. But others put a worse construction on it ; and thought* that seeing he could not quite master or deceive his subjects by his own strength and management, he was willing to help forward the greatness of the French at sea, that by their as sistance he might more certainly subdue his own people ;, according to what was generally believed to have fallen from Lord Clifford, that, if the King must be in a depend ance, it was better to pay it to a great and generous king, than to five hundred of his own insolent subjects. No part of his character looked wickeder, as well as meaner, than that he, all the while that he was professing to be of the church of England, expressing both zeal and af fection to it, was yet secretly reconciled to the church of Rome : thus mocking God, and deceiving the world with so gross a prevarication. And his not having the honestyi v-^-w OF KING CHARLES II. 233 or courage t& own it at the last ; his not shewing any sign 1685. of the least remorse for his ill-led life, or any tenderness either for his subjects in general, or for the Queen and his servants ; and his recommending only his mistresses and their children to his brother's care, would have been a strange conclusion to any other's life, but was well enough -suited to all the other parts of his. The two papers found in his strong box concerning reii-r gion, and afterwards published by his brother, looked like study and reasoning. Tennison told me, he saw the origi nal in Pepy's hand, to whom King James trusted them for some time. They were interlined in several places ; and the interlinings seemed to be writ in a hand different from that in which the papers were writ ; but he was not so well acquainted with the King's hand, as to make any judgment in the matter, whether they were writ by him or not. All that knew him, when they read them, did without any sort of doubting conclude that he never composed them : for he never read the Scriptures, nor laid things together, further than to turn them to a jest, or for some lively expression, These papers were probably writ either by Lord Bristol, or by Lord Aubigny, who knew the secret of his religion, and gave him those papers, as abstracts of some discourses they had with him on those heads, to keep him fixed to them, And it is very probable that they, apprehending their dan ger if any such papers had been found about him, writ in their hand, might prevail with hirh to copy them out himself, though his laziness that way made it certainly no easy thing to bring him to give himself so much trouble. He had talked over a great part of them to myself: so that, as soon as I saw them, I remembered his expressions, and per ceived that he had made himself master of the argument, as far as those papers could carry him. But the publishing them shewed a want of judgment, or of regard to bis me mory, in those Who did it : for the greatest kindness that could be shewn to his memory, would have been, to let both his papers and himself be forgotten : which I should certainly have done, if I had not thought that the laying open of what I knew concerning him and his affairs might be of some use to posterity. And, therefore, how un grateful soever this labour has proved to myself, and how unacceptable soever it may be to some, who are either; w^/ 236 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. obliged to remember him gratefully, or by the engagement of parties and interests are under other biasses, yet I have gone through all that I knew relating to his life and reign with that regard to truth, and what I think may be instruc tive to mankind, which became an impartial writer of his tory, and one who believes that he must give an account to God of what he writes, as well as of what he says and floes. END OF THE REIGN OF KING CHARLES II. -OF KING JAIVIRS II- 237 BOOK IV. Of the reign of King James II. I am now to prosecute this worh, and to give the rela- —85. tion pf an inglorious and unprosperous reign, that was Artig^ap- begun with great advantages: but these were so poorly p»ly began, managed, and so ill improved, that bad designs were ill- 0ns alf over. laid, and worse conducted ; and all came, in conclusion, to one of the strangest catastrophes that is in, any history. A great king, with strong armies, and mighty fleets, a vast treasure, and powerful allies, fell all at once ; and his whole strength, like a spider's web, was so irrecoverably 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 unexpected revolution deserves to be well opened: I will do it as fully as I can : but having been beypnd sea almost all this reign, many small par ticulars, 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 trans actions. I will endeavour to watch over my pen with more than ordinary caution, that I may let no sharpness, from any ill usage I myself met with, any way possess my thoughts, or bias my mind ; on the contrary, the sad fate of this un fortunate Prince will make me the more tender in npt aggravating the errors of his reign. As to my own par ticular, I will remember how much I was once in his fa vour, and how highly I was obliged tp 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, and on those who had the management of his conscience — his priests and his Italian 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 herself. This Prince was much neglected in his childhood, during The Kings the time he was under his father's care : the parliament, ^cduca" 238 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. getting him into their hands, put him under the Earl of v***v^,/ Northumberland's government, 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 he had his father's cipher among his papers, and that he would try to decipher the letter ; but I believe he never did it. I told him I was confident, that as the letter was writ when his escape was under considera tion, 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 because, in such a want of men who stuck then to •the Kmg, 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 arbitrary, 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 campaigns Tmenne.61 nnder M. de Turenne, who took him so particularly under his care, that he instructed him in all that he undertook, and shewed him the reason of every thing he did So mi nutely, 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 eclipsed by him. Yet he quickly ran into amours and vice ; and that, by de- OF KING JAMES II. 239 grees, wore out any courage that had appeared in his 1685. youth ; and, in the end of his life, he came to lose the re- v-"w/ putation 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 un usual 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 Cla rendon's daughter were made at first, on design to dis honour his family, though she had the address to turn it another way. After his brother's restoration he applied himself much He was nd- to the marine, in which he arrived at great skill, and brought ^"jjjjj the fleet so entirely into his dependance, that even after he laid down the command, 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 apprehensions, 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 immedi- Hewaspro- ately and paid their duty to him. Orders were presently "j^™ given for proclaiming him King. It was a heavy solem nity : few tears were shed for the former, nor were there any shouts of joy for the present King. A dead silence, but without any disorder or tumult, followed it through the / streets. 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 occasions. He began with an expostulation for the ill' character that h's «>••<* had been entertained of him : he told them, in very positive ipeeu ' words, that he would never depart from any branch of his prerogative ; but with that he promised, that he would main tain 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 main- 240 1685. Well re ceived. Addresses made to iiu). The Earl of Rochestermade lord treasurer. HISTORY OF THE REIGN tain the church, and would preserve the government in church and state, as it was established by law. This speech was soon printed, and gave great 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 com mon phrase was, we have now the " word of a king, and a word never yet broken." Upon this a new set of addresses went round England, iri which the highest commendations, that flattery could in vent, were given to the late King ; and assurances of loy alty and fidelity were renewed to the King, in terms that shewed there were no jealousies nor fears left. The uni versity of Oxford, in their address, promised to obey the King " without 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 es tablished 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 iri their address, " our reli gion 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 to be re membered against those that used so menacing a form. All employments were ended of course with the life of the former King ; but the King continued all 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 Mar quis of Hallifax had reason to look on himself as in ill terms with the King : so in a private audience he made the best excuses 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 than what was consistent with law. He prepared him for the exaltation of the Earl of Rochester. He said he had served him well, and had suffered on his account, and therefore he would now shew favour to him : and the next day he declared him lord treasurer. His OF KING JAMES II. 241 brother, the Earl of Clarendon, was made lord privy seal : **85. and the Marquis of Hallifax was made. Iprd 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 con fidence, that he was, beyond all people's expectation, not only maintained in his posts, but grew into great degrees of favour. The Queen was made to consider the Earl of Rochester The Earl of as a person that would be in the interest of the King's f,""^^1 daughters, and united to the church party. So she saw it was necessary to have one in a high post, who should de pend wholly on her, and be entirely her's : and the Earl of Sunderland was the only person capable of that. The Earl of Rochester 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 the- other. Lord Godolphin was put in a great post in the Queen's household. But before the Earl of Rochester had the white staff, the Costomaand court engaged the Lord Godolphin, and the other lords of "j^L^j^, the Treasury, to send orders to the commissioners of the 'ac 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 determined with it. It is known how much this matter was contested in King Charles the First's time, and what had passed upon it. The legal method was to have made entries, and to have taken bonds for those duties, to be paid when the parliament .should meet and re new 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 main taining liberty and property, yet it was said in excuse for it, that if the customs should not be levied in this interval, great importations would be made, and the markets would be so stocked, that this would very muqh spoil the King's customs. 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 tany VOL. II. 2 I 242 HISTORY OF THE REIGN i6S5. such opposition would probably be ruined by it ; v*"v'w' 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 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 em powered 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 thonght 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 law : so two proclamations were ordered ; the one for levy ing the 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 consi dered 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 flattery to such a degree, that none durst complain, and few would venture to talk of those matters. The King's Persons of all ranks went in such crowds to pay their u!cfe"wloQ duty to the King, that it was not easy to admit them all. hadbeenfor Most of the whigs that were admitted were received coldly at best : some were sharply reproached for their past be haviour: 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 without reserve, and go through in his business. Many were amazed to see such steps made at first. The second Sun day 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. He seemed In one thing only the King seemed to comply with the equ"ai terms genius of the nation, though it proved in the end to be only witu the a shew. He seemed resolved not to be governed by the exolu- OF KING JAMES II. 243 French counsels, but to act in an equality with that haugh- 1685. ty monarch in all things : and, as he entertained all the n^f"1 other foreign ministers, with assurantes that he would Kins- 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 observe exactly the ceremony and state with which he was received, that he might treat him who should be sent over with the compli ment 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 another spirit, that might be looked for in a reign so be gun; and this made some impression on the court of France, and put them to a stand. But, hot long after this, the French King said to the Duke of Villeroy(who told it to young Rouvigny, now Earl of Galloway, 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 par ticular confidence with the Prince of Orange and the states of Holland.^ And because Chudleigh, the envoy there, had openly broken with the Prince, (for he not only waited no more on him, but acted openly against him ; and once, in the Vorhaut, had affronted him while he was driving the Princess upon the snow in a tiainau, according to the Ger man manner, and pretending they were masked, and that he did not know them, had ordered his coachman to keep his way, as they Were coming towards the place where he drove;) the King recalled him, and sent Shelton in his room, who was the haughtiest, 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 courtiers now said every where, that we had a martial Prince who loved glory, who would bring France into as humble a de pendance on us as we had been formerly pn that court. The King did, some days after his coming to the crown, The King's ~ promise the Queen and his priests, that he would see Mrs. j;°™rse ot Sidley no more, by whom he had some children : and he spoke openly against lewdness, and expressed a detesta tion of drunkenness. He sate many hours a day about 244 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. business with the council, the Treasury, and the Admiralty. v"*v^ It was 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 Whitehall : orders were sent to her to leave them. This was done to mortify her ; for she pretended that she should now govern as absolutely as the Dutchess of Portsmouth 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 pf 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, was with sent awfy relation to the Duke of Monmouth. He knew the King the Duke of WOuld immediately, after the first compliments were over, ask him to dismiss him, if not to deliver him up. And as it was no way decent 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 him self. The Duke of Monmouth seemed surprised at this ; yet, at parting, he made great protestations both to the Prince and Princess of an inviolable fidelity to their inte rests : 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 maintaining the balance of Europe. The Duke was upon that thinking to go to Vienna, or to some court in 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, instead 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 very ill, for their adhering to him and to his interest. some in They sent one over to England to try men's pulses, and England be- t0 see jf n was ye^ a pr0per time to make an attempt. gan to move „T. ._ ~, -, -, , for him. Wildman, Charlton, and some others, went about trying if men were in a disposition to encourage an invasion. They talked of this in so remote a way of speculation, that OF KING JAMES II. 24a though one could not but see what lay at bottom, yet they 1685. 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 seconded 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 persons with whom I had any credit from engaging in such designs. These were for some time carried on 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 pos sessed with the preparations for that solemnity, that all business was laid aside, and nothing but ceremony was thought on. At the same, time a parliament was summoned : and all strange arts were used to manage elections so, that the King 'elects of should have a parliament to his mind. Complaints came parliament up from all the parts of England of the injustice- and vio- men' lence used in elections, " beyond what had ever been prac tised 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 inhabitants, and restrained to the corporation men, all those being left put who were not acceptable at court. In some boroughs they could not find a number of men to be depended on; so the neighbouring 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 himself the groom of the stole's place, which he held all King Charles's time, put the officers of the guards' names in' almost all the charters of that county; which, sending up forty-four members, they were for the 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 said, there _46 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. were not above forty members, but such as he himself Vrfv^ wished for. They were neither men of parts nor estates : so there was no hope left, either of working on their under standings, or of making them see theirinterest, in not giving the King all at once. Most of them were furious and vio lent, and seemed resolved to recommend themselves 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 years. The Earl of Rochester told me, that was what he looked for, though the post he was in made it not so prpper for him to move in it. But there was no prospect pf any strength in opposing any thing that the King should ask of them. Evil pros- This gave all thinking men a melancholy prospect. Eng- £ad f™1™.a land now seemed lost, unless some happy accident should ment. save it. All people saw the way for packing a parliament now laid open. A new set of charters and corporation men, if those now named should not continue to be still as compliant as they were at present, was a certain remedy, to which recourse might be easily had. The boroughs of Eng land saw their privileges now wrested out of their hands, and that their elections, Avhich had made them so const derable 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 Monmouth'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 representa tive of the nation, and therefore was no parliament. So they upon this possessed all people with dreadful appre hensions, 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 pos sible to excuse them : but these were to be judged by a majority of men, who knew their pwn elections to be so faulty, that to secure 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. OF KING JAMES II. 247 All that was offered on the other hand to lay those fears, i68">. which so ill an appearance did raise, was, that it was pro- v*v*'/ bable the Kmg would go into measures against France. All the offers of submission possible were made him by Spain, the empire, and the statesi The King had begun with the Prince of Orange upon a The Prim* hard point. He was not satisfied with his dismissing the °„b(^jl,nsg£ Duke of Monmouth, but wrote to him to break all those everv tiling officers who had waited on him while he was in Holland. In l0 i Ie Kine' this they had only followed the Prince's example : so it was hard to punish them for that, which he himself had encou raged. 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 breaking them could be easily made up by employing them afterwards, and by continuing their ap pointments to them, the Prince complied in this likewise. And the King was so well pleased with it, that when Bishop Turner complained of some things relating to the Prince and Princess, and proposed rougher methods, the King told him, v it was absolutely necessary that the Prince and he should continue in good correspondence. 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 present 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 overthrow him. All peo ple 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 parliament would be so short, that much could not be done in it, but that when the reve nue 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 come under 248 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685- some management, and either see the interest of the nation Wv*"' in general, or their own in particular ; and manage their fa vours to the court in such a manner as to make themselves necessary, and not to give away too much at once, but be sparing 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 haste at their first setting out. So it was resolved not to force 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 King The coronation was set for St. George's day. Turner was crown- wag or(jere(j f-0 preach the sermon: and 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 unlawful with a resolution not to keep it, or he had a re served meaning in his own mind. The crown was not well fitted for the King's head : it came 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 day. The Queen with the peeresses 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 to their religion, and reckoned, that those would be faithful- lest to himself who were truest to their God. I went out I must now say somewhat concerning myself. At this of England. time j went out of England. Upon King Charles's death I had desired leave to come and pay my duty to the King, by the Marquis of Hallifax. 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 confusion ; and were either to be rescued, in a way that I could not approve of, by the Duke of Monmouth'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 OF KING JAMES II. 249 my going, but still refused to see me ; so I was to go be- 1685- yond sea, as to a voluntary exile : this gave me great credit ^^ with all the malcontents ; and I made the best use of it I could. I spoke very earnestly to the Lord Delamar, to Mrs. Hambden, 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 keeping up a standing army, or for bringing over a force from France. I per ceived many thought the constitution 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. The deliberations in Holland, among the English and Argyle de- Scotch that fled thither, came to ripen faster than was ex- vade Scot- pected. Lord Argyle had been quiet ever since the disap- land- pointment in the year 1683. 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 Cochrane ; with these Lord Argyle communicated all the advices that were sent him. He went on still with his first project. He said he wanted only a sum of money to buy arms ; and reckoned, that as soon as he was furnished 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 cc-unties were under such apprehensions, that without 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 Amsterdam, who was full of zeal; so she, hearing at what his designs stuck, sent to him and furnished him with 10>0007. with this money he bought a stock of arms and ammunition, which was very dexterously managed by one that traded to Venice, as in tended for the service of that republic. All was performed with great secrecy, and put on board : they had sharp de bates 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 navi- VOL II. 2 K 250 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1683- gation, and subject to great accidents. Argyle said, the fastnesses of his own country made that to be the safer place to gather men together. He presumed so far on his own power, and on his management "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, and mouth made up all their quarrels. He would willingly have gone forced onan wjth them himself, but Argyle did not offer him the com- vasion. mand ; on the contrary he pressed him to make an impres sion 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, despe rately in love with him ; and both he and she came to fancy, that he being married to his Dutchess, while he was indeed of the age of consent, but not capable of a free one, the marriage was null : so they lived together ; and she had heated both herself and him with such enthusiastical con ceits, that they fancied what they did was approved of God. With this small council he took his measures. Fletcher, a Scotch gentleman of great parts and many virtues, but a most violent republican, and extravagantly passionate, did not like Argyle'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 wPuld be no fighting, 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 disposition to re^ volt, 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 condi tion to seek out the King, and fight him on equal terms." OF KING JAMES II. 251 This appeared a mad and desperate undertaking to the wss. Duke of Monmouth himself; he knew what a weak body w^ a rabble was, and how unable to deal with troops long trained. He had neither money nor officers, and no en- cpuragment 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 pf Monmouth was pushed on to it against his own sense and reason. But he could not refuse to hazard his per'sdii,- when others were so forward. 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 days. Ferguson, in his enthusiastical way, said, it was a good cause, and that God would not leave them, unless they left him. And though the Duke of Monmouth'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 Argyle'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 aside, he pawned a parcel of jewels, and bought up arms ; and they were put aboard a ship freighted for Spain. King James was so intent upon the pomp of his corona- These de- tion, that for some weeks more important matters were not ^""^Jo™ thought on. Both Argyle and Monmouth's people were so with great true to them, that nothing was discovered by any of them. seCT*c7- Yet some days after Argyle had sailed, the King knew of it ; for the night before I left Londori, the Earl of Arran came to me, and told me, the King had an advertisement of it that very day. I saw it was fit for me to make haste, others wise I might have been seized on, if it had been only to put the affront on me, of being suspected of holding cor respondence with traitors. Argyle had a very prosperous voyage : he sent out a Argyle boat at Orkney to get intelligence, and to take prisoners : 1sa"0^eadndn 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 252 HISTORY OF THE REIGN favourable, and turned as his occasions required ; so that in ^^J a very few days he arrived in Argyleshire. The misunder standings between him and Hume grew very high ; for he carried all things with an air of authority, that was not easy tp those who were setting up for liberty. At his landing, he found that the early notice the council had of his designs had spoiled his whole scheme ; for they had brought in all the gentlemen of his country to Edinburgh, 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 he had immediately gone over to the western counties of Air and Renfrew, he might have given the government 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 into his assistance might also have disputed his authority; and he could not bear contradiction. Much time was by this means lost ; and all the country was summoned to come 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, pretending still that he hoped to be joined by more of his highlanders. But was He had left his arms in a castle, with such a guard as he taken!6 a" could spare ; but they were routed by a party 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 almost escaped, but he was taken. A body of gentlemen 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 Cochrane, Ailoffe, and Rumbold. These two last were Englishmen ; but I knew not upon what motive it was that theychose rather to run fortunes with Argyle than with the Duke of Monmouth. Thus was this rebellion brought to a speedy end, with the effusion of very 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 excusable in them to follow their lord. Most of the gentlemen were brought in by order of council to Edinburgh, which pre- OF KING JAMES II. 253 Served them. One of those that were with Argyle, by a i685- great presence of mind, got to Carlisle ; 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. Argyle was brought in to Edinbugh : he expressed even Argyle's a cheerful calm under all his misfortunes : he justified all eMCUtlon- he had done : for, he said, he was unjustly attainted, that had dissolved his allegiance ; so it was justice to himself and his family to endeavour to recover what was so wrong- . fully taken from him. He also thought that no allegiance was due to the King, till he had taken the oath 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 : 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 with any dis course on that subject. The other, after 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 ex pressed an unshaken firmness. 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 happened to come to him as he was ending dinner : he said to him pleasantly, " serb venientihus 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 conduct in this matter was made up of so many errors, that it appeared he was not made for designs of this kind. Ailoffe had a mind to prevent the course of justice, and having got a penknife into his hands gave himself several 254 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. stabs ; and thinking he was certainly a dead man, he cried V-K-'*' out, and said, now he defied his enemies ; yet he had not pierced his guts, so his wounds were not mortal : and, it being believed that he could make great discoveries, he was brought up to London. ftnmnoM at Rumbold was he that dwelt in Bye-house, where it was (us dealli . denied the pretended the plot was laid for murdering the late and the Rve plot, present King : he denied the truth of that conspiracy : he owned, he thought the prince was as much tied to the peo ple, as the people were to the prince ; find 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 propo sitions at West's chambers, about killing the two brothers; and upon that he had said, it could have been easily ex ecuted 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 authority by any divine right, which he expressed in rough, but signi- / ficant words : he said, he did not believe that God had made the greater part of mankind with saddles on their backs; and bridles in their mouths, and some few booted and spur red to ride the rest. Cochrane had a rich father, the Earl of Dundonald, and he offered the priests 5000J. to save his son. They wanted a stock of money for managing their designs, so they inter posed so effectually, that the bargain was made; but to cover it, Cochrane petitioned the council that he might be sent to the King, for he had some secrets of great import ance, which were not fit to be communicated to any but to the King himself: he was upon that, brought up to Lon don, 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 consideration of that the King par doned him. It was said, he had discovered all their nego tiations with the Elector of Brandenburgh, and the Prince of Orange: but this was a pretence only given out to con ceal the bargain, for the Prince told me,, he had never once seen him : the secret, of this came to be known soon after. OF KING JAMES II. 255 r When Ailoffe was brought up to London, the King ex- 1685- amined him, but could draw nothing from him, but one se- <~^/ vere repartee : he being sullen, and refusing 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 de serve 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 marriage, 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 repar tee; but he suffered with the rest. Immediately after Argyle's execution, a parliament was a parfia- held in Scotland : upon King Charles's death, the Marquis Scotland. of Queensbury, soon after made a Duke, and the Earl of Perth came to court. The Duke of Queensbury toid the King, that if he had thoughts of changing the established religion, he could not make any one step with him in that matter. The King seemed to receive this very kindly from him, and assured him, he had no such intention, but that he would have a parliament called, to which he should go his commissioner ; and give all possible assurances in the mat ter of religion, and get the revenue to be settled, and such other laws to be passed as might be necessary for the com mon safety. The Duke of Queensbury pressed the Earl of Perth to speak in the same strain tp the King : but, though he pretended to be still a protestant, yet he could not pre vail 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 : v so he prepared instructions, by which both the revenue and the King's authority were to be carried very high. He has often since that time told me, that the King made those pro- raises to him in so frank and hearty a manner, that he con cluded it was impossible for him to be acting a part ; there fore 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 could be more open and free than his way of expressing himself was; though afterwards he had no sort of regard to any of 256 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. the promises he then made. The test had been the King's <~<~*' own act while he was in Scotland ; so he thought, the put ting that on all persons would be the most acceptable me thod, as well as the most effectual, for securing the protes tant religion ; therefore he proposed an instruction obliging all people to take the test, not only to qualify them for pub lic 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 effectu ally, by being instrumental in setting up an absolute and despotic form of government ; but he found afterwards how he had deceived himself, 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 entrusted with the management of it, and it had almost proved fatal to himself. Granted all _ The parliament of Scotland sat not long ; no opposition Khig de- was made. The Duke of Queensbury gave very full assu- sired. ranees in the point of religion, that the 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 se curity; though it was very probable, that all the use that the council would make of this discretional power 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 parlia ment 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 these 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 were passed. OF KING JAMES II. 257 case ; but it was a crying one, and so deserves to be re- lfi85- membered. "*" ' When Carstairs was put to the torture, and came to ca pitulate, in order to the making a discovery, he got a pro mise from the council, that no use should be made of his deposition against any person whatsoever. He, in his de position, 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 es tate, which was about 10007. 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 with in that time any of the privy council would depose, that any man was proved to be guilty of high treason, he should, upon such proof, be attainted; upon which, as soon as the act was passed, four of the privy council stood up, and af firmed, that the Campbells were proved by Carstairs's depo sition to be guilty : upon this both father and son were brought to the bar, to see what they had to say, why the senterice 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 oppressiou 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 pretended 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 univer sally condemned, that when the news of it was writ to foreign parts, it was not easy to make people believe it possible. But now the sitting of the parliament of England came Oates con- on; and, as a preparation to it, Oates was convicted of™jj^Lof perjury, upon the evidence of the witnesses from St. Omar's, who had been brought over- before to discredit his testi- VOL. II. 2 L 258 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. mony. Now juries were so prepared, as to believe more "*^v^/ 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 cruelly and to be whipped by the common hangman from Aldgafe whippe . ^ jg-eWgaj-e one ^^ an(j tne next fr0m Newgate to Ty burn ; which was executed with so much rigour, that hia back seemed to be all over flead : this was thought too lit tle if he was guilty, and too much if innocent, and was il legal in all 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 whip ping 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. Dangerfield And, that I may join things of the same sort together* though they were transacted at some distance of time, Dan gerfield, another of the witnesses in the popish plot, was also found guilty of perjury, and had the same punishment; but it had a more terrible 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 over the head with his cane, as he got his last lash ; this hit him so fatally, that he died of it immediately. The person was apprehended, and the King left him to the law; and, though great intercession was made for him, the King would not interpose : so he was hanged for it. a parlia- At last the parliament met. The King in his speech re- men m ug- pea^e(i tnat whicn ne naa< sajdjo the 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 fre quent parliaments ; but they should find the contrary, that the using him well would be the best argument to persuade 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. tevZltr The revenue was granted for life, and every thing else life. that was asked, with such a profusion, that the House was OF KING JAMES II. 250 more forward to give, than the King was to ask : to wliich if-85- the Kmg thought fit to put a stop by a message, intimating, ^^ that he desired no more money that session ; and yet this forwardness to give in such a reign, was set on by Mus- grave and others, who pretended afterwards, when mo ney was asked for just and necessary ends, to be frugal patriots, and to be careful managers of the public treasure. As for religion, some began to propose a new and firmer And trusts security to it; but all the courtiers run out into eloquent p"0^i^Dg* harangues on that subject ; aud pressed a vpte, that they took the King's word in that matter, 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 entirely, 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 pf 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 par liament, 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. When this was settled, the petitions concerning the elec tions were presented : upon those Seymour spoke very high, and with much weight. He said, the complaints of the ir- regularities 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 impartially : 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 mo- 260 1685. The parlia ment was vioieht. The Lords Were more cautious. HISTORY OF THE REIGN tion to any ; so all were surprised with it, but none second ed it. This had no effect, not so much as to draw on a debate. The courtiers were projecting many laws to ruin all who opposed their designs. The most important 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 go vernment 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 modelled. This was chiefly opposed by Serjeant Maynard, who in a very grave speech laid open the inconvenience 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 necessaiy 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, " destroy this temple ;" and shewed how near " the temple " was to " this temple," pronouncing it in Syriac ; so that the difference was almost imperceptible. 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. But if the Duke of Monmouth's landing had not brought the session to an early conclusion, that, and every thing else which the officious courtiers were projecting, would have certainly passed. The most important business that was before the House of Lords was the reversing the attainder of the Lord Staf ford. It was said for it, that the witnesses were now con victed of perjury, and therefore the restoring the blood that was tainted by their evidence 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 : 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 OF KING JAMES II. 261 their trial, or be set at liberty. Thi s was sent by the Lords i685- to the House of Commons, who returned answer, that they -^v**' 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 proceedings. But while all these things were in agitation, the Duke of The Duke Monmouth's landing brought the session to a conclusion. mouth land- As soon as Lord Argyle sailed for Scotland, he set about ed at Ume- Ms design with as much haste as was possible. Arms were bought, and a ship was freighted for Bilboa in Spain. The Duke of Monmouth pawned all his jewels : but these could not raise much : and no money was sent him out of Eng land ; so he was hurried into an ill-designed 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. Shel ton 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 magistrates 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 Admiralty at the Hague : but ttiose on board, hearing what he was come for, made all possible haste ; and the wind favouring them, .they got out of the TexeL before the order desired could be brought from the Hague. After a prosperous course, the Duke landed at Lime in Dorsetshire : and he with his small company came ashore with some order, but with too much day-light, which disco vered how few they were. The alarm was brought hot to London ; where, upon the An act qf general report and belief of the thing, an act of attainder p"^"der passed both houses in one day ; some small opposition being against him. made by the Earl of Anglesea, because the evidence did not £eem clear enough for so severe a sentence, which was grounded on the notoriety of the thing. -The sum of 50001. 262 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. was set on hjs 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 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 Fer guson'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 Essex's death : and, to crown all, it was pretended that the late King was poi soned by his orders : it was set forth, that the King's religion made him incapable of the crown ; that three subsequent Houses pf 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 elections of the pre sent parliament were also set forth very odiously, with gi'eat indecency of style: the nation was also appealed to, when met in a free parliament, to judge of the Duke's own pretensions : and all sort of liberty, both in temporals and spirituals, was promised to persons of all persuasions. a rabble Upon the Duke of Monmouth's landing, many of the joined him. 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 Albemarle, as lord lieutenant of Devonshire," was sent down to raise the militia, and with them to make head against him : but their ill affection ap peared 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 hearts as much as was possible. But he quickly found what it was to be at the head of undis ciplined men, that knew nothing of war, and that were not to be used with rigour. Soon after their landing, Lord Grey was sent out with a small party : he saw a few of the Lord Grey's militia, and he ran for it ; but his men stood, and the militia cowardice. ran from them. Lord Grey brought a false alarm, that was **-- soon found to be so; for the men whom their leader had abandoned 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 \—^ OF KING JAMES II. 263 by his cowardice. He intended to joiri Fletcher with him i685- in that command ; but an unhappy accident made it not convenient 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 Flet cher, 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 ordered, as he returned, the owner of the horse he rode on, who was a rough and ill-bred man, reproached 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 ac count of this, who saw it was impossible to keep him longer about him, without disgusting and losing the country-peo ple, 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 enthusiast, 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 reputation by it. But he lingered in exercising his men, and staid too long in the neighbourhood of Lime. By this means the King had time both to bring troops out of Scotland, after Argyle was taken, and to send to Holland for the English and Scotch regiments that were in the ser vice of the states; which the Prince sent over very readily, and offered his own person, and a greater force, if it.was necessary. The King received this with great expressions of acknowledgment and kindness : it was very visible that he Was much distracted in his thoughts, and that what ap pearance of courage soever he might put on, he was in wardly full of apprehensions and fears. He durst not ac- 264 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. cept the offer of assistance that the French made him ; for ^^ by that he would have lost the hearts of the English na tion ; 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 command, how much so ever he might have been bound to the counsels of others, would have given him some lustre ; whereas his staying at home in such a time of danger, brought him under much neglect. The Eari of ^he i_ng could not choose worse than he did, when he commanded gave the command to the Earl of Feversham, who was a the Kings Frenchman by birth, and nephew to M. de Turenne. Both his brothers changing religion, .though he continued still a protestant, made that his religion was not much trusted to. He was an honest, brave, and goodnatured man, but weak to a degree not easy to be conceived : and he conducted 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 ho apprehension, but was abed without any care or order. So that if the.. Duke of Monmouth had got but a very small number of soldiers about him, the King's affairs would have fallen into great disorder. The Duke of Monmouth had almost surprised Lord Fe versham, and all about him, while they were abed: he got in between two bodies, into which the army lay divided : he now saw his error in lingering so long: he began to want bread, and to be so straitened, that there was a ne cessity of pushing for a speedy decision. He was so mis led 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 offi cers 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 horse they had ran upon the first charge, the blame of which was cast on Lord Grey. The foot being thus for saken, and galled by the cannon, did run at last. About a thousand of them were killed on the spot, and fifteen hun- OF KING JAMES II. 265 flred were taken prisoners. Their numbers when fullest t6S$- were between five and six thousand. The Duke of MPn- Tiie"**D,_e mouth left the field tpo soon for a man of courage, who of M?n" had such high pretensions: for a few days before he had feated. suffered himself to be called king, which did him no ser vice, 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 cany 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 shep herd was found by the Lord Lumley in the Duke of Mon- mouth'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 Mon mouth 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 manner that agreed ill with the courage of the former parts of it. He called for pen, ink, and paper, and wrote to' the Earl of Fever sham, and both to the Queen and the Queen Dowager, tp 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 examined him in person, which wa^ thought very indecent, since he was resolved not to , pardon him. He made new and unbecoming submissions, and insinuated a readiness to change his religion ; for he said the King knew what his first education was in religion. There were no discoveries to be got from him ; for the at tempt was. too rash to be well concerted, or to be so deep laid that many 'were involved in the guilt of it. He was examined on Monday, and orders were given for his exe cution on Wednesday. Turner and Ken, the Bishops of Ely and of Bath and Soon after Wells, were ordered to wait on him ; but he called for Dr. exeouted- VOL. II. 2m ^^^ there was any hope, he was too much unsettled in his mind to be capable of any thing. But' when he saw all was to no purpose, and that he must He died die, he complained a little that his death was hurried on so wi.th great x calmness. fast. But all on the sudden he came into a composure of mind that surprised those that saw it. There was no affec tation 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 confi dent 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 undisturbed 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 axe 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 Rus sel's, his man would give him the rest. The executioner was in great disorder, trembling all over : so he gave him two or three strokes without being able to finish the matter, and then flung the axe out of his hand. But the sheriff forced him to take it up ; and at three or four more strokes he severed bis head from his body ; and both were pre sently 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 goodnatiired, and understood war well : but he was too much given to pleasure and to favourites. The Lord Grey it was thought would go next. But he Lord Grey had a great estate that by his death was to go over to his Pardon<,^^,J some judges were raised to it, yet in thes e latter ages, as "there was no example of it, so it was thought inconsistent, with the character of a judge. The execu- Two executions were of such an extraordinary nature, women. W° that they deserve a more particular recital : the King ap prehended 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 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 pardon 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 jails, and looking after the poor, of What persuasion soever they were. 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 criminal part. She was condemned, and burnt, as the law directs, in the case of women convicted 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, hqw unworthy soever the person was that made so ill a return for it. She rejoiced, that God bad honoured her to be the first that suffered by fire in ^/^/ OF KINO JAMES II. , 271 this reign ; and that her suffering was a martyrdom for that *685- religion which was all love. Penn, the quaker, told me he saw her die : she laid the straw about her for burning her speedily ; and behaved herself in such a manner, that all the spectators 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 called the Lord Lisle. He went at the time of the restoration beyond sea, and lived at Lausanne : but three desperate Irishmen, hoping by such a service 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 death, and not easily reconciled to her husband for the share he had in it. She was a woman of great pi ety and charity. The night after the action, Hicks, a violent preacher among the dis senters, and Nelthorp, came to her house. She knew Hicfcs, Und 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 ser vant to send an information concerning them to the next justice of peace, and, in the meanwhile, to suffer them to make their escape. But, before this could be done, a party came about the house, and took them both, and her for har bouring them. Jefferies resolved to make a sacrifice of her, and obtained of the King a promise that he would not pardon her, which the King owned to the Earl of Fever sham, when he, upon the offer of 1,000?., if he could obtain her pardon, went and begged it ; so she was brought to her trial. No legal proof was brought that she knew that they. were rebels. The names of the persons found in her house Were in no proclamation ; so there was no notice given to beware of them. Jefferies affirmed to the jury, upon his honour, that the persons had confessed that they had been with the Duke of Monmouth. This was the turning a wit ness against her, after which he ought not to have judged in the matter: and, though it was insisted on, as a point of law, that till the persons found in her house were convicted, she could not be found guilty, yet Jefferies charged the jury in a most violent manner to bring her in guilty. All the WW The be haviour of 272 HISTORY OF ^HE REIGN 1685. audience was strangely affected with so unusual a beha viour in a judge : only the person most concerned, the lady herself, who was then past seventy, was so little moved at it, that she fell asleep. The jury brought her in not guilty, but the judge in great fury sent them out again. Yet they brought her in a second time not guilty. Then he seemed as in a transport of rage. He upon that threatened them with an attaint of jury ; and they, overcome with fear, brought her in the third time' guilty. The King would shew no other favour, but that he changed the sentence from burn ing to beheading, She died,, with great constancy of mind ; and expressed a joy, that she thus suffered for an act of charity and piety. Most of those that had suffered expressed at their death those who such a calm firmness, and such a zeal for their religion, suffered, which they believed was then in danger, that it made great impressions on the spectators. Some base men among them tried to save themselves by accusing others. Good- enough, who had been under-sheriff of London when Cor nish was sheriff, offered to swear against Cornish ; and also said, that Rumsey had not discovered all he knew. So Rumsey, to save himself, joined with Goodenough to swear Cornish guilty of that which the Lord Russel had suffered. And this was driven on sP fast, that Cornish was seized on, tried and executed within the week. If he had got a little time, the falsehood of the evidence would have been proved from Rumsey's former deposition, which appeared so clear ly soon after his death, that his estate was restored to his family, and the witnesses were lodged in remote prisons for their lives. Cornish, at his death, asserted his innocence with great vehemence ; and with some acrimony complained of the methods taken to destroy him : and so they gave it out, that he died in a fit of fury. But Penn, who saw the execution, said to me, there appeared nothing but a just in dignation that innocence might very naturally give. Penn might be well relied on in such matters, he being so en tirely in the King's interests. He said to me, the King was much to be pitied, who was hurried into all this effu sion of blood by Jefferies' impetuous and cruel temper: but, if his own inclinations had not been biassed that way, and if his priests had not thought it the interest of their party to let that butcher loose, by which so many men that were OP KING JAMES II. 273 like to oppose them were put out of the way, it is not to be i685. imagined, that there would have been such a run of barbar- ^^ ous cruelty, and that in so many instances. It gave a general horror to the body of the nation ; and The natitm it let all people see, what might be expected from a reign oiumgedCbj that seemed to delight in blood. Even some of the fairest this ma\ of tories began to relent a little, and to think they had""i"sen' trusted too much, and gone too far. The King had raised new regiments, and had given commissions to papists. This was overlooked during the time of danger, in which all men's service was to be made use of; and by law they might serve three months. But now, as that time was near laps ing, the King began to say, the laws for the two tests were made on design against himself: the first was made to turn him out of the Admiralty, and the second to make way for the exclusion : and, he added, that it was an affront to him to insist on the observance of those laws. So these persons, notwithstanding that act, Avere continued in Com mission; and the King declared openly, that he must look on all those, who would not consent to the repeal of those laws, in the next session of parliament, as his enemies. The courtiers began every where to declaim against them. Great OF KING JAMES II. 279 pation of heresy, that if the doing it should require, that i*8^. with one hand he should cut off the other, he would submit """"^ to that. After this Rouvigny gave all his friends hints of what they were to look for ; some were for flying out into anew civil war: but, their chief confidence being- in the assistance they expected from England, he, who krtewwhat our princes were, and had reason to believe that King Charles was at least a cold protestant, if not a secret pa pist, 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 being deputy- general for the churches ; and afterwards, at his father's de sire, 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 a letter of He came congratulation to the King, who wrote him such an obliging ^"^j answer, that upon it he wrote to his niece the Lady Russel, that, having such assurances given him by the King of a high sense of his former services, he resolved to come over, and beg the restoring her son's honour. The. Marquis of Hallifax 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' he made to the ministers of the other princes of Europe. So I was order ed to use all endeavours to divert him from coming over : his niece had indeed 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 resolution, I could not hinder myself from suspecting, that -such a high act of friendship 280 HISTORY OF THE REIGN less, in a man some years past fourscore, had somewhat under v-'vs,/ 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 thi9 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 messages 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 proper time. But whether the court of France was satisfied by the con versation 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 repealing the edicts, is not cer tain. M. de Louvoy, 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 loose Dragoons Some bodies of dragoons to live upon the protestants on onndis°creV-e discretion : they were put under no restraint, but only to tion upon avoid rapes, and the killing them. This was begun in Bits!>r°tCSt" Beam ; and the people were so struck with it, that, seeing they were to be eat up first ; and, if that prevailed npt, to be cast in prison, when all was taken from them, till they should change, and being required only to promise to re unite themselves to the church, they, overcome with fear, and having no time for consulting together, did universally comply. This did so animate the court, that upon it the same methods were taken iri most places of Guienne, Lan- Mnny of guedoc, and Dauphine, where the greatest numbers of^the them yield- protestants were. A dismal consternation and feebleness ed through r fear. ran through most of them, so that great numbers yielded : upon which the King now resolved to go through with what had been long projected, published the edict, repealing the< edict of Nantes, in which (though that edict was declared to be a perpetual and irrevocable law) he set forth, that it was only intended to quiet matters by it, till more effectual ways should be taken for the conversion of heretics. He also promised in it, that though all the public exercises of that religion were now suppressed, yet those of that per suasion who lived quietly should not be disturbed on that. account, while at the same time not only the dragoons, but OF KING JAMES II. 281 all the clergy, and the bigots of France, broke out into all i685. the instances of rage and fury, agairist 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. Men and women of all ages, who would not yield, were Great cm- not only stripped of all they had, but kept long from sleep, ^JJe'7 driven about from place to place, and hunted out of their retirements. The women were earned into nunneries ; in many of which they were almost starved, whipped, and bar barously treated. Some few of the bishops, and of the se cular clergy, to make the matter easier, drew formularies, importing that they were resolved tp reunite themselves to the catholic church, and that they renounced the errors of Luther and Calvin. People in such extremities 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 doctriue ; 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 equivocation ; but, how weak and faulty soever they might be in this, it must be acknowledged, here was one of the most violent perse cutions that is to be found in history. In many respects it exceeded them all, -both in the several inventions of cruelty, and in its long continuance. I went over the greatest part of France while it was in its hpttest rage, from Marseilles to Montpelier, and from thence to Lyons, and so to Ge neva. I saw and knew so many instances of their injustice and violence, that it exceeded even what could have been well imagined ; for all men set their thoughts at 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 one Dera- pine seemed to exceed even the furies of inquisitors. One in the' streets cpuld 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 frontier of Frarice,) were, if men, condemned to the gallies; and, if women, to monasteries. To compleat this cruelty, orders vol. n. 2o 282 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. were given, that such of the new converts, as did not at l^v'*/ their death receive the sacrament, should be denied burial ; and that their bodies should be left where other dead car cases were cast out, to be devoured by wolves or dogs ; this was executed in several places with the utmost barba-> rity ; 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 itself 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 gentlemen, and the common impressions of humanity. The greatest part of the clergy, the regulars especially, were so transported with the zeal that their King shawed on this occasion, that their sermons 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 staid at Paris till the beginning of August : Barrillon ta *"¦ Sent to me to look to myself, for the King had let some words fall importing his suspicion of me, as concerned in the Duke of Monmouth's business ; 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 con cealment, resplved riot to stir from Paris till the rebellion was over, and that the prisoners were examined and tried. When that was done, Stoupe, a brigadier general, told me that M. de Louvoy had said to him that the King was re solved to put an end to the business of the Huguenots 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 opposed the King's service : Stoupe told me this in confidence ; so we resolved to make that journey together. Some thought it was too bold an adventure in me after what I had written and acted in the matters of reli-. gion to go to Rome: but others who judged better thought I ran no hazard in going thither ; for, besides the high civi* lity with which all strangers are treated there, they were at OF KING JAMES II. 283 that time in such hopes of gaining England, that it was not i68S- reasonable to think that they would raise the apprehensions ^"v^ of the nation by using any that belonged 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 I was And was the day after I came to Rome, and he ordered the captain ^l/^ of the Swiss guards to tell Stoupe, that he had heard of me, Rome. and would give me a private audience abed, to save me from the ceremony of the pantoufle ; 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 whether they had been brought down to us by men truly ordained or not, for he said they apprehended things would be much more easily brpught about if our orders could be esteemed valid, though given in heresy and schism : I told him I was glad they Were pos sessed with any opinion that made the reconciliation more difficult, but as for the matter of fact, nothing was more certain than that the ordinations in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign were canonical and regular : he seemed tp be persuaded of the truth of this, but lamented that it was impossible to bring the Romans to think so. Cardinal Howard shewed me all his letters from Engr Cardinal land, by which I saw that those who wrote to him reckoned fre°edonf* that their designs were so well laid that they could not mis- with me, carry ; they thought they should certainly carry every thing in the next session of parliament. There was a high strain of insolence 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 Ro mans and Italians were much troubled at all this, for they were under such apprehensions of the growth of the French power, and had conceived such hopes of the King of Eng land's putting a stop to it, that they were sorry to see the King engage himself so in the design of changing the reli gion of his subjects, which they thought would create him so much trouble at home, that he would neither have lei- 284 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. sure 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 mo derate 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 dif ferent from the. counsels of Rome. He also told me that they had not instruments enough to work with, for, though they were sending 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 England : he also spoke with great sense of the proceedings 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 matter. 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 Rome. I staid in Rome till Prince Borghese came to me, and told me it was time for me to go : I had got great acquaint ance there ; and, though I did not provoke any to discourse of points of controversy, yet I defended myself against all those who attacked me, with the same freedom that I had done in other places. This began to be taken notice-of :. OF KING JAMES II. 285! bo, upon the first intimation, I came away, and returned by less.. Marseilles : and then I went through those southern pro- Vv"v vinces of France that were, at that time, a scene of bar barity and cruelty. ' I intended to have gone to Orange ; but Tesse, with a Cruelties in body of dragoons, was then quartered over that small prin- ranse' cipality, and was treating the protestants there in the same manner that the French subjects were treated in other parts f so I went not in, but passed near it, and had this ac count of that matter from some that were the most consi derable 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 dispute 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 danger : but the next morning Tesse marched his dragoons 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 pf the French had done. This was done while that principality was in the possession of the Prince of Orange, pursuant to an 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, complaining of it in very high terms : but nothing followed 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 princi pality. 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 importance. But now the session of parliament drew on ; and there Another was a great expectation of the issue of it. For some weeks ptru'a'ne'nt, before it met there was such a number of refugees coming over every day, whp set about a most dismal recital of the 286 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. persecution in France, and that in so many instances, that . *~*^ were crying and odious, that, though all endeavours were used to lessen the clamour this had raised, yet the King did not stick openly to condemn it, as both unchristian and un- politic. He took pains to clear the Jesuits of it, and laid the blame of it chiefly on the King, on Madame de Mainte- non, and the Archbishop of Paris. He spoke often of it with such vehemence, that there seemed to be an affec tation 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 King also ordered them to be denizened without paying the 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 instance of the cruel and persecuting spirit of popery, whersoever it prevailed, that few could resist 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 critical a conjuncture : for upon this session of parliament all did depend. The King's When it was opened, the King told them how happy his against the forces had been in reducing a dangerous rebellion, in which test. jt had appeared how weak and insignificant the militia was : and therefore he saw the necessity of keeping up an army for all their security. 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 happiness of a good un derstanding between him and his parliament : so he hoped, nothing should be done on their part to interrupt it ; 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 respectthat was always paid. To this some answered, that was done when there were gracious assurances given. Only the Earl of Devonshire said, he wa,s for giving thanks, OF KING JAMES II. 287 because the King had spoken out so plainly, and warned i<585. them of what they might look for. It was carried in "the , ¦**"w House to make an address of thanks-for the speech. The Lord Guildford (North) was now 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 compliance with the pleasure of the court. An appeal against a decree of his had been brought before the Lords in the former session ; 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; father'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 nation. Nothing but his successor made him be remembered Jefferies with regret; for Jefferies had the seals. He had been Xliwita!- made a peer while he was chief justice, which had not been done for some ages ; but he affected 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 indignation, and put an end to that compliment of giving thanks for a speech, when there was no special reason for it. The Lords Hallifax, Nottingham, and Mordaunt, were the chief arguers among the temporal lords. The Bishop of London spoke often likewise ; and twice or thrice he said, he spoke not only his own sense, but the sense of that whole 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 ab solute. Jefferies began to argue in his rough manner ; but be was soon taken down ; it appearing that how furiously soever he raved on the bench, where he played the tyrant, 288 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. yet where others might speak with him on equal terms, he ^v"**'y was a very contemptible man; and he received as great a mortification as such a brutal man was capable of. But as the scene lay in the House of Commons, so the debates there were more important. A project was offered for making the militia more useful in order to the disband- o"fCoHoa,e ™>= t'ie army- -^ut> to oppose that, the court shewed how address the great a danger we had lately escaped, and how much of an Kmg for ob- jjj ieaven vet remained in the nation, so that it was neces- servingthe J ' law. sary 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 op posed 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 begin with the supt ply. This had so great an effect, that it was carried only by one vote to consider the King's speech, 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 argu ment, but the danger of offending the King, and of raising a misunderstanding between him and them. So the whole House went unanimously into a vote for an address 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 intended to give. The King The King expressed his resentments of this with much rinded ¦vehemence, when the address was brought to him. He "'"» »'• said, some men intended to disturb the good correspond ence that was between him and them, which would be a great prejudice to the nation: he had declared his mind so OF KING JAMES II. 28! positively in that matter, that he hoped they would not have i685- meddled with it; yet he said he would still observe all v^^*/ 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 de clared, that he would maintain- that edict, even when the breaches made upon it were the most visible and notorious. The House, upon this rough answer, was in a high fermen tation : yet, when one Cook said that they were English men, 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 assist on their address, and then to proceed upon the petitions concerning elections. And now, those that durst not open their mouths 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 con demned a great many elections ; for an intimation 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 was be lieved that the abject courtiers would have been voted put The Kmg saw, that both houses were now so fixed, that Thepariia- he could carry nothing in either of them, unless he would m/0nrt0waesd depart from his speech, and let the act of the test take place. So he prorogued the parliament, and kept it by repeated pro rogations still on foot for about a year and a half, but with out 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 obsequiousness and much zeal. He called for many of them, and spoke to them very ear nestly 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 prac tice both of threatening and ill usage on the one hand, and vol. n. 2 p 290 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. of promises and corruption on the other, the King saw he could not bring them into a compliance with him, he at last dissolved the parliament'; 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 hundred men, so weak, so poor, and so devoted to the court, as these were. So happily was the nation taken out of their hands, by the precipitated violence of a bigotted court. dT LTd Soon after the prorogation, the Lord Delamer was tried and brought to his trial. Some witnesses swore high treason acquitted, against him only upon report, that he had designed .to make a rebellion in Cheshire, and to join with the Duke of Mon mouth. But, since those swore only upon hear-say, that was no evidence in law. One witness swore home against him, and against two other gentlemen, who, as he said, were in company with him ; and that treasonable messages were then given to him by them all to cany 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 staid 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 single witness was overthrown by many unquestionable proofs, by wliich it appeared that the two gentlemen, 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 cir cumstances to support their evidence as they think will make it more credible, but, 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 evi dence. 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 KING JAMES II. 291 ' of jealousy to go out of the way : and hearing that a child, 1685. of which he was very fond, was sick in Cheshire, he went v""~*/ 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 appearance, that he made such journies 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 presumptions was sufficient to convict one of high treason. The peers did unanimously acquit the Lord : 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 his part in it with his usual vehe mence. He was presently after turned out ; and Powis succeeded him, who was a compliant young aspiring law yer, though in himself he was no ill-natured man. Now the posts in the law began to be again taken care of: for it was resolved to act a piece of pageantry in Westminster Hall, with which the next year began. Sir Edward Hales, a gentleman of a noble family in 1686. Kent, declared himself a papist, though he had long dis- A li ial uP"n guiscd it ; and had once to myself so solemnly denied it,, the test. 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 500<". that the law gave to the informer. When this was to be brought to trial, the judges were se- Many cretly asked their opinions ; and such as were not clear, to 3^^ ,urn" 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 feeble prose cution ; and in Trinity Term judgment was given. There was a new chief justice found out, very different Herbert, indeed from Jefferies, Sir Edward Herbert. He was a well- chief 'ust;ce> 292 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. bre(j and a virtuous man, generous, and good natured. He gives judg- was but an indifferent lawyer ; and had gone to Ireland to Kinnt'sf0d-tbe find Practice and preferment there. He unhappily got into penfing " a set of very high notions with relation to the King's prero- power. gative. His gravity and virtues gave him great advantages, 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 coachman'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 entirely in the King ; that the crown was an imperial crown, the im portance 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 of fences against the law, and forgive the penalties ; and why could not he as well dispense with them ? Acts of parlia ment had been often superseded : the judges had sometimes given directions in their charges at circuits, to inquire after some acts of parliament no more ; of which one late in stance happened during the former reign : an act passed concerning the size of carts and waggons, with many pe nalties upon the transgressors : and yet, when it appeared that the model prescribed in the act was not practicable, the 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 pro clamation, it was reasonable that the power of dispensing should be only in the Xing : but since the prerogative was both constituted 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 overturning 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 pe nalties 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 OF KING JAMES II. 293 on offenders, but not given to the King, but to the informer, 1686. which thereby became his. So that the King could no l-""~w' more pardon that, than he could discharge the debts of the subjects, and take away property : laws of small conse quence, when a visible error not observe/l in making them was afterwards found out, like that of the size of carts, might well be superseded ; for the intention of the legislature be ing the good of the subject, that is always to be presumed foT the repeal of an impracticable law. But it was not rea sonable to infer from thence, that a law made for the secu rity of the government, with the most effectual clauses that could be contrived on design to force the execution of it, even in bar to the power of the prerogative, should be made so precarious a thing, especially when it was so lately asserted 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 without these were feeble things, which tied men only according to their own discretion. Thus was this matter tossed about in the arguments, with which all peoples' 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 judgment that they should give : but they made nothing of it ; and with out any arguing gave judgment for the defendant, as if it had been in a cause of course. Now the matter was as much settled as a decision in the Admiral. King's Bench could settle it : yet so little regard had the f^^' Chief Justice's nearest friends to his opinion in this parti cular, 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 294 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. it either in honour or conscience. The King said, he ''**"' knew he was a man of honour, brit the rest of his life did not look like a man that had great regard to conscience. 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 con duct in sea affairs, so he had been most passionately zea lous 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 dis pensing power. This was done even by some of those who continued still protestants, though the far greater number of them continued to qualify themselves according to law. Father Pe- Many of the papists, that were men of quiet or fearful in high fa- ' tempers, did not like these methods. They thought the vour. priests went too fast, and the King was too eager in pur suing every thing that was suggested by them. One Peter, descended from a noble family, a man of no learning, nor "any way famed for his virtue, but who made all up in bold ness and zeal, was the Jesuit of them all that seemed ani mated 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 fittest 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, arid was for some time chiefly directed by him. The King The maxim that the King set up, and about which he en- a tokration' Pertained all that were about him, was the great happiness of an universal toleration. On this the King used to en large in a great variety of topics. He said nothing was mPre reasonable, more 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 OF KING JAMES II. 295 just soever it might be, yet was strange doctrine in the 1686. mouth of a professed papist, and of a Prince, on whose v*"v*"/ 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 com ply with the design of the court, applications were now made to the dissenters ; and all on a sudden the church men were disgraced, and the dissenters were in high fa vour. Chief Justice Herbert went the western circuit after Jefferies' 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 disconti nued or held very secretly for four or five years : intima tions 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 favour. 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 unexpect ed shew of grace and kindness ; and they took care not to provoke the church party. Many of the clergy acted now a part that made good The clergy amends for past errors. They began to preach generally p^ntsV ° against popery, which the dissenters did not. They set controyeisy themselves to study the points of controversy ; and upon ™ai wT that there followed a great variety of small books that were success. 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 writing, 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 appeared on the protestant side, those they wrote against were certainly among the weakest that had ever appeared on the popish side. Their books were poorly but insolently writ, and had no other learning in them but what was taken out of some French writers, which they 296 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. put mt& very bad English ; so that a victory over them need have been but by a mean performance. This had a mighty effect on the whole nation : even those who could not search things to the bottofn, 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 me thod here in several treatises, which they entitled " Papists represented and misrepresented ;" to which such clear an swers 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 con clusion, yet it succeeded so ill in England, that it gave oc casion 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 authentic a manner,. that popery itself was never so well understood by the nation, as it came to be upon this occasion. The persons The persons who both managed and directed this contro- chieflTen- versial war, were chiefly Tillotson, Stiiiingfleet, Tennison, gaged in and Patrick. Next them were Sherlock, Williams, Claget, Gee, Aldrich, Atterbury, Whitby, Hooper, and, above all these, Wake ; who, having been long in France chaplain to the Lord Preston, brought over with him many curious dis coveries, that were both useful and surprising : besides 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 nation ; and this matter was managed with that concert, 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 inconsider able, that they were rather a reproach than an honour to them. Walker, the head of University College, and five or six more at Oxford, declared themselves to be of that religion ; but with this branch of infamy, that they had con tinued for several years complying with the doctrine and OF KING JAMES II. 297 worship of the church of England after they were recon- 1686, cited to the church of Rome. The popish priests were en- ^-^ raged at this opposition made by the clergy, when they saw their religion so exposed, 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. It was resolved to proceed severely against some of the Dr. sharp preachers, and to try if by that means they might intimi- in trouble' date the rest. Dr. Sharp was the rector of St. Giles's, and was both a very pious man, and one of the most popular preachers of the age, who had a peculiar talent of reading his sermons with much life and zeal. He received one day, as he was coming out of the pulpit, 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 spoken The Bishop by Sharp, was false, as he himself assured me : but, with- of L"^jC° out inquiring into that, the Earl of Sunderland sent an suspend order to the Bishop of London, in the King's name, requir- h""' ing him to suspend Sharp immediately, and then to examine the matter. The Bishop 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 pro ceed to such a censure, as could be warranted by the ec clesiastical law : yet, he said, he would do that which was in his power, and should be upon the matter a suspension, for he desired Sharp to abstain from officiating till the mat ter should be better understood ; but to lay such a censure on a clergyman, as a suspension, without proof, in a judi ciary proceeding, was contrary both to law and justice. Sharp went to court to shew the notes of his sermon, which which he he was ready to swear were those from which he had read c°ul(1 not it, by which the falsehood of the information would appear ; but since he was not suspended, he was not admitted : yet VOL. 11. 2 Q 298 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. he was let alone ; and it was resolved to proceed against the Bishop of London for contempt. airfaTcom"- Jefferies Avas much sunk at court, and Herbert was the mission set most in favour ; but now Jefferies, to recommend himself, up' offered a bold and illegal advice, for setting up an eccle siastical commission, without calling it the high commis sion, 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, be sides the ordinary ecclesiastical courts ; yet, in contempt of that, a court was erected, with full power 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 supremacy, so contrary to law, was as sumed by a King, whose religion made him condemn all that supremacy, 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 Trea surer, and Lord Chief Justice, (the Lord Chancellor being made president in the court) " sine quo non ;" for they would trust' this to no other management. The Bishop of London was marked out to be the first sacrifice, Sancroft lay silent at Lambeth : he seemed zealous against popery in private discourse ; but he was of such a timorous tem per, and so set on the enriching his nephew, that he shewed no sort of courage : he would not go to this court, when it was first opened, and declare against it, and give his rea sons why he could not sit and act in it, judging it to be against law; but he contented himself with his not going to it : the other two bishops were more compliant. Duresme was lifted up with it, and said, now his name would be re corded in history : and,, when some of his friends represented to him the danger of acting in a court so illegally consti tuted, he said he could not live if he should lose the King's gracious smiles : so low, and so fawning was he. Dolben, Archbishop of York, died this year : so, as Sprat had suc ceeded 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 OF KING JAMES II. 299 mind : so he was mistaken in his expectations, if he ever i68^ had them. v^v~' The Bishop of London was the first person that was sum- The Bishop moned to appear before this new court : he was attended by brought be- many persons of great quality which gave a new offence, fore »*• and the Lord Chancellor treated him in that brutal way that was now become as it were natural to him. The Bi shop said here was a new court of which he knew nothing, so he desired 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 ge neral 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 ineffectual : 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 modestly represented to the court than strongly argued ; but it may be easily believed that those who sate by virtue of this illegal commission would maintain their own authority. The other part of the Bishop of London's plea was, that he had obeyed the King's or ders as far as he legally could, 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 his clergy with out a process, and articles, and some proof brought : this was justified by the constant practice of the ecclesiastical courts, and by the judgment of all lawyers ; but arguments how strong soever are feeble things, when a sentence is re solved on before the cause is heard : so it was proposed that he should be suspended during the King's pleasure. The Lord Chancellor and the poor spirited Bishop of Du resme were for this; but the Earl and Bishop of Rochester, and the Lord Chief Justice Herbert 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 spoke ^™A roundly about it to the Earl of Rochester. He saw he must ™ \™ ' 300 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. either concur in the sentence, or part with the white staff 1"~'"**"' 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 tem poralities, the Bisbop 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 depend ence, the Princess of Orange thought it became her, to in terpose a little in the Bishop's favour. He had confirmed, and married her : so she wrote to the King, earnestly beg ging him to be gentle to the Bishop, who she could not think would offend willingly. She also wrote to the Bishop, ex pressing the great share she took in the trouble he was fallen into. The Prince wrote to hini to the same purpose. The King wrote an answer to the Princess, reflecting severely on the Bishop, not without some sharpness on her for med dling 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 in timations of his pleasure, than they had been by his author ity before : so they resolved to come off as well as they could. Dr. Sharp was admitted to offer a general peti tion, 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 function. According to the form of the ecclesiastical courts, a person under such a suspension, must make a sub mission within six months ; otherwise, he may 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 acknowledgement of any fault. So this had no other effect, but that it stopped all further proceedings ; only the sus pension lay still on him. J have laid all this matter toge ther, though the progress of it ran into the year 1687. Affairs in Affairs in Scotland went on much at the same rate as they did in England. Some few proselytes 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 Scotland. OF KING JAMES II. 301 Perth prevailed with his lady, as she was dykig, to change 1686. her religion;, and in a very few weeks after her death, he v-~<*w/ married very indecently a sister of the Duke of Gordon's. They were first cousins : and yet, without staying for a dis pensation 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 Innocent was a stiff man, and did not grant those things easily ; so that Cardi nal Howard could not at first obtain it. The Pope said, these were strange converts, that would venture on such a thing without first obtaining a dispensation. The Cardinal pretended that new converts did not so soon understand 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 without great difficulty. The Earl of Perth set up a private chapel in the court for mass, which was not kept so private, but that many frequented it. The town of Edinburgh was much alarmed at this ; and Att the rabble broke in with such fury, that they defaced every Edi> thing in the chapel : and if the Earl of Perth had not been conveyed away in disguise, he had very probably fallen a sacrifice to popular 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 told one of the minis ters 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 Queensbury, 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 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 ex ecution to the Archbishop of St. Andrews, and told him what had passed. The Archbishop acquainted the Duke of Queensbury with it. And he writ to court, and com plained of it. The King ordered the matter to be exa mined : so the poor minister, having 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 severely soever those in authority may handle a poor incautious man, yet the public is apt to judge true : and in 302. HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. 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 Parlia- Tn summer this year the Earl of Murray, another new Sere. e corivert, was sent the King's commissioner to hold a par liament in Scotland, and to try if it would be more com pliant than the English parliament had been. The King did by his letter recommend to them,.jn very earnest words, the taking off all penal laws and tests relating to religion ; and all possible methods were used to prevail on a ma-. jority. But two accidents happened before the opening the parliament, which made great impression on the minds of many. Whitford, son to one of their bishops before the wars, had turned papist : he was the person that killed Darislaus 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 Vau- dois. 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 parliament met; and called for some ministers, and to them declared his forsaking of popery, and his abhorrence 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. 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 con science pursued him so, that he died as in despair, crying out against that bloody religion. The other was more solemn : Sir Robert Sibbald, a doctor of physic, and the most learned antiquary in Scot land, who had lived in a course of philosophical 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 cer tainty 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 OF KING JAMES II. 303 popery, with so full a conviction, that he came down to i6*6- Scotland some weeks before the parliament, and could not ^^^ be at quiet till he had published his recantation openly in a church. The Bishop of Edinburgh was sp 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 recantation 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 con tinue in force and be executed against the presbyterians. With this Paterson was sent up : he communicated the matter to the Earl of Midleton, who advised him never to shew that paper : it would be made use of against them, und 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 resolved to move for nothing but a general toleration ; and so he per suaded him to go back without presenting it. This was told me by one who had it from the Earl himself. When the session of parliament was opened, Duke which re- Hamilton was silent in the debate : he promised he would fused/0 . , . comply with not oppose the motion ; but he would not be active to pro- the King's mote it. The Duke of Queensbury was also silent ; desires- but the King was made believe, that he managed the oppo sition under hand. Rosse and Paterson did so entirely forget what became their characters, that they used their utmost endeavours to persuade the parliament to comply with the King's desire. The Archbishop of Glasgow op posed it, but fearfully. The Bishop of Dunkeld, Bruce, (fid 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 resistance to the court could be maintained. Yet the parliament would consent to nothing, further than to a suspension pf those laws during the King's life. The 304 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. 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 Dun- keld were turned out by an express 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 Bi shop of Dunkeld. No reason was assigned for turning out those bishops but the King's pleasure. Azealap- The nation, which was become very corrupt, and both against po" ignorant and insensible in the matters of religion, began Per7- now to return to its old zeal against popery. Few prose lytes 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 Edinburgh, 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 great severities they had long smarted under, yet expressed on all occasions their unconquerable aversion to popery. 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 main tain their act of settlement. This he did very often, and very solemnly, and proceeded accordingly. In the mean while the Earl of Tirconnel went on more roundly : he not only put Irish papists into such posts in the army as be came 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 settletment to secure it, was wrested out of legal hands, and put into the hands of those who were engaged, both in religion and interest, to destroy the settlement, and those concerned in it ; which was too gross a violation of law to be in any sort palliated. So the Eng lish 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 OF KING JAMES II. 305 Could say, did not quiet their fears : good words could not 1686. give security against such deeds as they saw every day. v-^y^' Upon this the Earl of Clarendon and the Earl of Tyrcon- nel fell into perpetual jarrings, and were making such complaints one of another, that the King resolved to put an end to those disorders by recalling both the Earl of Clarendon and Porter. He made the Earl of Tyrconnel lord lieutenant, 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 Tyrconnel's temper, so entirely trusted and de pended on by the Irish, capable of the boldest under takings, and of the crudest execution, had now the go vernment 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 Peter 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 army. An accident happened at this time, that gave the Queen The King great offence, and put the priests much out of counte- m^e llis _ mistress nance. The King continued to go still to Mrs. Sidley ; and Countess of she gained so much on him, that at last she prevailed to Doroliesler- 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 particular 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 all fell on their knees before him : and the Queen broke out into a bitter mourning for this new honour, which they expected would be followed with the setting her up openly as mistress, The Queen was then in an ill habit of body ; and had an illness that, as was thought, would end in a consumption : and it was believed that her sickness was of such a nature, that it gave a very me lancholy presage, that if she should live, she could have no children. The priests said to the King, that a blemish in vol. 11. 2 R 306 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. nig iife blasted their designs; and the more it appeared, and "*^v^/ 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 accord ingly. But after a stay there for some months, she came over again; and that ill commerce was still continued. The priests were, no doubt, the more apprehensive of this, because she was bold and lively, and was always treating them and their proceedings with great contempt. The court was noAV much set on making of converts, which failed in most instances, and produced repartees, that whether true or false, were much repeated, and were heard with great satisfaction. Attempts The Earl of Mulgrave was lord chamberlain; he was man6 1" aP* ^° comply in every thing that he thought might be ac- ohange their ceptable ; for he went with the King to mass, and kneeled religion. ^ jj. . an ^ Demg looked on as indifferent to all religions, the priests made an attack on him. He heard them gravely arguing for transubstantiation ; he told them he was willing i to receive instruction ; he had taken much pains to bring himself to believe in God, who had made the world and all men in it ; but it must not be an ordinary force of argu ment, that could make him believe that man was quits with God, and made God again. The Earl of Midletoun 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 in struct him : he began with transubstantiation, of which, he said, he would convince him immediately, and began thus, — You believe the Trinity ? Middleton stopped 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 proceed no further. One day the King gave the Duke 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 OF KING JAMES II. 307 would have gone further : to which the Duke answered,— 1666. Your Majesty's father was the better man, and would not \ v-^^*/ have gone so far. Kirk was also spoken to, to change his J religion ; and replied briskly, that he was already pre- I engaged, for he had promised the King of Morocco, that / if ever he changed his religion, he would turn Mahometan. But the person that was the most considered was the Particularly Earl of Rochester: he told me, that upon the Duke of Mon- 0o"^e^ mouth's defeat the King did so immediately turn to other ter. measures, that, though before that the King talked to him of all his affairs with great freedom, and commonly every morning of the business that was to be 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 more 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 cor»- siderable loan, by wliich he was kept in his post longer Jhan was intended : 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 sa tisfied about his religion : but upon the King's pressing it, that he would hear his priests, he said, he desired then to have some of the English clergy present, to which the King consented, only he excepted to Tillotson and Stiiiingfleet. Lord Rochester said, he would take those who should hap pen to be in waiting, for the forms of the chapel 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 notice 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 discourse with her. • The Queen came and staid above two hours with her ; she complained of the ill offices 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 better instructed ; and it was said that this gave the rise to the King's proposing a conference, for it has been observed 308 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. to be a cpmmori method of making proselytes with the moro pomp to propose a conference ; 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 occa sion for them to say much. The priests began the attack : and when they had done, the Earl Said if they had nothing stronger to urge* he would not trouble those learned gentlemen to say any thing ; for he was sure he could answer all that he had heard. And so answered it all with much heat and spirit, not without some scorn, saying were these grounds to persuade men to change their religion? This he urged over and over again with great vehemence. The King seeing in what temper he was, broke off the conference, charging all that were present to say nothing of it. He was Soon after that he lost his white staff; but had a pension of 4000?. a year for his own life and his son's, besides his grant upon the Lord Grey, and another valued at 20,000Z. So here were great regards had to him : no place having ever been sold, even by a person in favor, to such advan tage. The sum that he had procured to be lent the King being 400,000"*. and it being all ordered to go towards the repair of the fleet, this began to be much talked of. The stores were very ill furnished ; and the vessels themselves were in decay. But now orders were given with great dis patch to put the whole fleet in condition to go to sea, though the King was then in full peace with all his neigh bours. Such preparations seemed to be made upon some great design. Designs The priests said every where, but chiefly at Rome, that agdnstHoi- the desiSn was against the states ; and that both France land. and England would make war on them all of the sudden ; for it was generally known that the Dutch fleet was in no good Condition. The interests of France and pf the priest^ OF KING JAMES II. 309 made this to be the more easily believed. The embroiling 1686. the King with the Prince of Orange was that which the v-^-^/ French desired above all other things, hoping that such, a war, being successful, might put the King on excluding the Prince from the succession to the crown in the right of his wife, which was the thing that both the French and priests desired most ; for they saw that, unless the Queen had a son, all their designs must stand still at present, and turn abortive in conclusion as long as the nation had such a successor in view. This carries me now to open the state off affairs in Hol land, and at the Prince of Orange's court. I must first say somewhat of myself; for this summer, after I had rambled above a year, I came into Holland. I staid three i staid some or four months in Geneva and Switzerland after I came out tnne '" Ge~ neva. , of Italy. I staid also some time among the Lutherans at Strasbourg and Franckfort, and among the Calvinists at Heidelberg, besides the further opportunities I had to know their way in Holland. I made it my business to observe all their methods, and to know all the eminent men among them. I saw the churches of France in their best state, while they were every day looking when this dreadful storm should break out, which has scattered them up and down the world. I was all the winter at Geneva, where we had constantly fresh stories brought us of the miseries of those who were suffering in France. Refu gees were coming over every day, poor and naked, and half starved before they got thither. And that small state was under great apprehensions of being swallowed up, having no strength of their own, and being justly afraid that those at Bern would grow weary of defending them if they should be vigorously attacked. , The rest of Swit zerland was not in such imminent danger. But as they were full of refugees, and all sermons and discourses were much upon the persecution in France, so Ba'sile was ex posed in such a manner that the French could possess themselves of it when they pleased without the least re sistance. Those of Strasbourg, as they had already lost their liberty, so they were every day looking for some fatal edict, like that which the French had fallen under. The churches of the palatinate, as they are now the frontier of the empire exposed to be destroyed by every new war, so 310 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. they are fallen into the hands of a bigotted family. All the '*^/w/ other churches on the Rhine see how near they are to ruin : and as the United Provinces were a few years before this very near being swallowed up, so they were now well as sured that two great kings designed to ruin them. The state Under so cloudy a prospect it should be expected, that a i observed spirit of true devotion and of a real reformation should ap- among the pear more, both among the clergy and laity ; that they should all apprehend that God was highly offended with them, and was therefore punishing some, and threatening others, in a most unusual manner. It might have been ex pected, that those unhappy contests between Lutherans and Calvinists, Arminians and Anti-Arminians, with some minuter disputes that have inflamed Geneva and Switzer land, should have been at least suspended, while they had a common enemy to deal with, against whom their whole force united was scarce, able to stand. But these things were carried on rather with more eagerness and sharpness than ever. It is true, there has appeared much of a primi tive charity towards the French refugees : they have been in all places well received, kindly treated, and bountifully supplied. Yet even among them there did not appear a spirit of piety and devotion suitable to their condition: though persons who have willingly suffered the loss of all things, and have forsaken their country, their houses, estates, and their friends, and some of them their nearest relations, rather than sin against their consciences, must be believed to have a deeper principle in them, than can well be observed by others. I was indeed amazed at the labours and learning of the ministers among the reformed. They understood the Scrips tures well in the original tongues : they had all the points of controversy very ready, and did thoroughly understand the whole body of divinity. In many places they preached every day, and were almost constantly employed in visiting their flock. But they performed their devotions but slightly, and read their prayers, which were too long, with great precipitation and little zeal. Their sermons were too long and too dry ; and they were so strict, even to jealousy, in the smallest points in which they put orthodoxy, that one who could not go into all their notions, but was resolved not to quarrel with them, could not converse much with OF KING JAMES II. 311 them with any freedom. I have, upon all the observation 1686. that I have made, often considered the inward state of the ^-^ reformation, and the decay of the vitals of Christianity in it, as that which gives more melancholy impressions, than all the outward dangers that surround it. In England things were much changed, with relation to the court, in the compass of a year. The terror all people were under from an ill-chosen and an ill- constituted parlia ment, was now almost over ; and the clergy were come to their wits, and were beginning to recover their reputation. The nation was like to prove much firmer than could have been expected, especially in so shprt a time. Yet after all, though many were like to prove themselves better protes tants than was looked for, they were not become much bet ter Christians ; and few were turning to a stricter course of life. Nor were the clergy more diligent in their labours among their people, in which respect it must be confessed, that the English clergy are the most remiss of any. The / .curates in popery, besides their saying mass every day, their exactness to their breviary, their attending on confes sions, and the multiplicity of offices to which they are obliged, do so labour in instructing the youth and visiting the sick, that in all the places in which I could observe them it seemed to be the constant employment of their lives. And in the foreign churches, though the labours of the mi nisters may seem mean, yet they are perpetually in them. All these things lay so much on my thoughts, that I was re solved to retire into some private place, and to spend the rest of my life in a course of stricter piety and devotion, and in writing such books as the state of matters with relation to religion should call for, whether in points of speculation or practice. All my friends advised my coming near Eng land, that I might be easier sent to, and informed of all our affairs, and might accordingly employ my thoughts and time. So I came down the Rhine this summer, and was re solved to have settled in Groning or Frizeland. When I came to Utrecht, I found letters writ to me by i was in- some of the Prince of Orange's court, desiring me to come JJ^Jf"16 first, to the Hague, and wait on the Prince and Princess, Orange to before I should settle any where. Upon my coming to the ™™euel° the Hague, I was admitted to wait on them : I found they had received such characters of me from England, that they re- w^ 312 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. solved to treat me with great confidence ; for at ray first being with them, they entered into much free discourse with me concerning the affairs of England. The Prince, though naturally cold and reserved, yet laid aside a great deal of that with me. He seemed highly dissatisfied with the King's conduct. He apprehended that he would give such jea lousies of himself, and come under such jealousies from his people, that these would throw him into a French ma nagement, and engage him into such desperate designs as would force violent remedies. There was a gravity in his whole deportment that struck me. He seemed very regard less of himself, and not apt to suspect designs upon his person. But I had learned somewhat of the design of a brutal Savoyard, who was capable of the blackest things, and who for a foul murder had fled into the territory of Gej neva, where he lay hid in a very worthy family, to whom he had done some services before. He had formed a scheme of seizing on the prince, who used to go in his chariot often on the sands near Schevelingj with but one person with him, and a page or two on the chariot ; so he offered to go in a small vessel of twenty guns, that should lie at some dis- , tance at sea, and to land in a boat with seven persons be sides himself, and to seize oh the Prince and bring him aboard, and so to Fiance. This he wrote to M. de Lou- voy, who, upon that, wrote to him to come to Paris, and or dered money for his journey. He, being a talking man, spoke of this, and shewed M. de Louvoy's letter, and the copy of his own ; and he went presently to Paris. This was brought me by M. Fatio, the celebrated mathematician; in whose father's house that person had lodged. When I told the Prince this, and had M. Fatio at the Hague to at test it, he was not much moved at if. The Princess was more apprehensive ; and by her direction I acquainted M. Fagel, and some others of the states with it, who were con vinced that the thing was practicable ; and so the states de sired the Prince to suffer himself to be constantly attended on by a guard when he went aboard, with which he was not without some difficulty brought to comply. I fancied his belief of predestination made him. more adventurous than was necessary ; but he said as to that, he firmly be lieved a providence, for if he should let that go, all his re ligion would be much shaken ; and he did not see, how . 6f king james n. 313 providence could be certain, if all things did not arise out i686- of the absolute will of God. I found those who had the *""¦*>"*"* charge of his education, had taken more care to possess him with the Calvinistical notions of absolute decrees, than to guard him against the ill effects of those opinions in practice : for in Holland the main thing the ministers infuse into their people, is an abhorrence of the Arminian doctrine; which spreads so much there, that their jealousies of it make them look after that, more than after the most impor tant matters. The Prince had been much neglected in his education ; A character for all his life long he hated constraint : he spoke little : pr-^e aad he put on some appearance of application — but he hated Princess of business of all sorts ; yet he hated talking, and all house °ran8e- fames, more. This put him on a perpetual course of hunt ing, to which he seemed to give himself up, beyond any man I ever knew ; but I looked on that always as a flying from company and business. The depression of France was the governing passion of his whole life. He had no vice, but of one sort, in which he was very cautious and secret. He had a way that was affable andobliging to the Dutch ; but he could not bring himself to comply enough with the temper of the English, his coldness and slowness being very contrary to the genius of the nation. The Princess possessed all that conversed with her with admiration. Her person was majestic and created respect. She had great knowledge, with a true understanding, and a noble expression. There was a sweetness in her deport ment that charmed, and an exactness in piety and virtue that made her a pattern to all that saw her. The King gave her no appointments to support the dignity of a king's daughter ; nor did he send her any present or jewels, which was thought a very indecent, and certainly was a very ill- advised thing : for the settling an allowance for her and the Prince, would have given such a jealousy of them, that the English would have apprehended a secret correspond ence and confidence between them ; and the not doing it, shewed the contrary very evidently. But though the Prince did not increase her court and state upon this additional dignity, she managed her privy purse so well, that she be came eminent in her charities, and 1he good grace with which she bestowed favours, did always increase their vOl. ii. 2 s 314 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. value. She had read much, both in history, and divinity ; v*v*"' and when a course of humours in her eyes forced her from that, she set herself to work with such a constant diligence, that she made the ladies about her ashamed to be idle : she knew little of our affairs till I was admitted to wait on her; and I began to lay before her the state of our court, and the intrigues in it, ever since the restoration, which she re ceived with great satisfaction, and shewed true judgment and a good mind, in all the reflections that she made. I will only mention one in this place : she asked me, what had sharpened the King so much against Mr. Jurieu, the copiousest; and the most zealous writer of the age, who wrote with great vivacity as well as learning. I told her he mixed all his books with a most virulent acrimony of style ; and, amPng other things, he had writ with great inde cency of Mary Queen of Scots, which cast reflections on them that were descended from her ; and was not very decent in one, that desired' to be considered as zealous for the Prince and herself. She said Jurieu was to support the cause that he defended, and to expose those that per- • secuted it, in the best way he could ; and, if what he said of Mary Queen of Scots was true, he was not to be blamed, who made that use of it ; and, she added, that if princes Would do ill things, they must expect that the world will take revenges on their memory, since they cannot reach their persons — that was but a small suffering, far short of what others suffered at their hands. So far I have given the character of those persons, as it appeared to me upon my first admittance to them ; I shall have occasion to say much more of them in the sequel of this work. i was much j found the Prince was resolved to make use of me. He them. told me, it would not be convenient for me to live any where but at the Hague, for none of the outlawed persons came thither ; so I would keep myself, by staying there, out of the danger that I might legally incur by conversing with them, which would be unavoidable if I lived any where else. He also recommended me both to Fagel, Dykvelt, and Halewyn's confidence, with whom he chiefly Consulted. I had a mind to see a little into the Prince's notions, before I should engage myself deeper into his service. I was afraid lest his struggle with the Louvestein party, as they were called, might have given him ajealousy of liberty and OF KING JAMES II. 355 of a free, government. He, assured me it was quite the 1686. contrary; nothing but such a constitution could resist a ^^^ powerful aggressor long, or have the credit that was neces sary to raise such sums as a great war might require. He condemned all the late proceedings in England, with rela tion to the charters; and expressed his sense of a legal and limited authority very fully. I told him I was such a friend The Prince's to liberty, that I could not be satisfied with the point of s™fofoar religion alone, unless it was accompanied with the secu rities of law. I asked his sense of the church of England. He said he liked our worship well, and our government in the church, as much better than parity ; but he blamed our condemning the foreign churches, as he had observed some of our divines did. I told him, whatever some hotter men might say, all were not of that mind. When he found I was in my opinion for toleration, he said, that was all he would ever desire to bring us to, for quieting our conten tions at home. He also promised to me, that he should never be prevailed with to set up the Calviriistical notions of the decrees of God, to which I did imagine some might drive him. He wished some of our ceremonies, such as the surplice, and the cross in baptism, with our bowing to the altar, might be laid aside. I thought it necessary to enter with him into all these particulars, that so I might be fur nished from his own mouth, to give a full account of his sense to some in England ; who would expect it of me, and were disposed to believe what I should assure them of. This discourse was of some hours continuance; and it passed in the Princess's presence. Great notice came to be taken of the free access, and long conferences I had with them both. I told him it was necessary for his service, to put the fleet of Holland in a good condition ; and this ne pro posed soon after to the states, who gave the luindredth penny for a fund to perfect that. I.moved to them both, the writing to the Bishop of London, and to the King con cerning him ; and though the Princess feared it might irri tate the King too much, in conclusion I persuaded them to it.' The King hearing of this admission I had, began in two or 'three letters to reflect on me as a dangerous man, whom they ought to avoid, and beware of: to this no answer was made. Upon the setting up the ecclesiastical commission, 316 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. some from England pressed them to write over against it, v*v"*,/ and to begin a breach upon that. I told them I thought that was no way advisable. They could not be supposed to understand our laws so well, as to oppose those things on their own knowledge ; so that I thought this could not be expected by them, till some resolute person would dis pute the authority of the court, and bring it to an argu ment, and so to a solemn decision. I likewise said, that I did not think every error in government would warrant a breach ; if the foundations were struck at, that would vary the case : but illegal acts in particular instances could not justify such a conclusion. The Prince seemed surprised at this, for the King made me pass for a rebel in my heart; and he now saw how far I was from it. I continued on this ground to the last. The Prin- That which fixed me in their confidence was, the liberty lation with" I took, in a private conversation with the Princess, to ask respect to aer what she intended the Prince should be if she came to the crown. She, who was new to all matters of that kind, did not understand my meaning, but fancied that whatever accrued to her, would likewise accrue to him in the right of marriage. I told her it was not so ; and I explained King Henry the Seventh's title to her, and what had passed when •Queen Mary married Philip King of Spain. I told her, a titular kingship was no acceptable thing to a man, espe cially if it was to depend on .another's life ; and such a nominal dignity might endanger the real one that the Prince had in Holland. She desired me to propose a remedy : — I told her, the remedy, if she could bring her mind to it, was to be contented to be his wife, and to engage herself to him, that she would give him the real authority as soon as it came into her hands, and endeavour effectually to get it to be legally vested in him during life : this would lay the great est obligation on him. possible,' and lay the foundation of a perfect union between them, which had been of late a little embroiled : this would also give him another sense of all our affairs. I asked pardon for the presumption of moving her in such a tender point ; but I solemnly protested that no person living had moved me in it, or so much as knew of it, or should ever know of it, but as she should order it. I hoped she would consider well of it ; for if she once de clared her mind, I hoped she would never go back or re- OF KING JAMES II. 317 tract it I desired her, therefore, to take time to think of i686- it. She presently answered me, she would take no time v*v^ to consider of any thing by which she could express her regard and affection to the Prince ; and ordered me to give him an account of all that I had laid before her, and to bring him to her, and I should hear what she would say upon it. He was that day a-hunting ; and next day I ac quainted him with all that had passed, and carried him to her; where she in a very frank manner told him, that she did not know that the laws of England were so contrary to the laws of God, as I had informed her : she did not think that the husband was ever to be obedient to the wife : she promised him he should always bear rule ; and she asked, only that he would obey the command of " husbands love your wives," as she should do that, " wives, be obedient to your husbands in all things." From this lively introduc tion we engaged in a long discourse of the affairs of Eng land : both seemed well pleased with me, and with all that I had suggested ; but such was the Prince's cold way, that he said not one word to me upon it that looked like ac knowledgment : yet he spoke of it to some about him in another stain. He said, he had been nine years married, and had never the confidence to press this matter on the Queen, which I had now brought about easily in a day. Ever after that he seemed to trust me entirely. Complaints came daily over from England of all the high Penn sent things that the priests were every where throwing out. "ft^"' Penn the quaker came over to Holland : he was a talking, Prince. vain man, who had been long in the King's favour, he being the vice-admiral's son. He had such an opinion of his own faculty of persuading, that he thought none could stand before it ; though he was singular in that opinion ; for he had a tedious luscious way, that was not apt to overcome a man's reason, though it might tire his patience. He undertook to persuade the Prince to come into the King's measures, and had two or three long audiences of him upon the subject; and he and I spent some hours together on it. The Prince readily consented to a tolera tion of popery, as well as of the dissenters, provided it were proposed and passed in parliament ; and he promised his assistance, if there was need of it, to get it to pass. Brit for the tests he would enter into no treaty about them. V*v-*/ 318 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. He said, it: was a plain betraying the security of the pro testant religion to give them up. Nothing was left unsaid that might move him to agree to this in the way of interest : the King. would enter into an entire confidence with him, and would put his best friends in the chief trusts. Penn undertook for this so positively, that he seemed to believe it himself, or he was a great proficient in the art of dissimu lation. , Many suspected that he was a concealed papist : it is certain he was much with father Peter, and was par ticularly trusted by the Earl of Sutherland. So, though he did not pretend any commission for what he promised, yet we looked on him as a man employed. To all this the Prince answered;, that no man was more for toleration, in principle than he was : he thought the conscience was only subject to God ; and as far as a general toleration, even of papists, would content the King, he would concur in it heartily : but he looked on the tests as such a real security, and indeed the only one, when the King was of another re ligion, that he would join in no counsels with those that intended to repeal those laws that enacted them. Penn said, the King would have all or nothing ; but that, if this was once. done, the King would secure the toleration by a solemn and unalterable law. To this the late repeal of the edict of Nantes, that was declared perpetual and irrevoca ble, furnished an answer that admitted of no reply. So Penh's negotiation with the Prince had no effect. He pressed me to go over to England since I was in prin ciple for toleration, and he assured me the King would pre fer me highly : I told him since the tests must go with this toleration I could never be for it. Among other discourses he told me one thing that was not accomplished in the way in which he had a mind I should believe it would be, but had a more surprising accomplishment : he told me a long series of predictions, which, as he said, he had from a man that pretended a commerce with angels, who had foretold many things that were passed very punctually ; but he added, that in the year 1688, there would such a change hap* pen in the face of affairs as would amaze all the world. And after the revolution which happened that year, I asked him before much company, if that was the event that was predicted ; he was uneasy at the question, but did not deny what he had told me, which he said, he understood of the OF KING JAMES II. full settlement of the nation upon a toleration, by which he believed all men's minds would be perfectly quieted and united. Now I go from this to prosecute the recital of English ^Hdied affairs. Two eminent bishops died this year, Pearson, in England. Bishop of Chester, and Fell, Bishop of Oxford : the first of these was in -all respects the greatest divine of the age ; a man of great learning, strong reason, and of a clear judg ment : he was a judicious and. grave preacher, more instruc tive than affective , and a man of a spotless life, and of an excellent temper: his book on the Creed is among the best that our church has produced : he was not active in his dio cese, but too remiss and easy in his episcopal function, and was a much better divine than a bishop : he was a speaking instance of what a great man could fall to, for his memory went from him so entirely, that he became a child some years before he died. Fell, Bishop of Oxford, was a man of great strictness in the course of his life, and of much devotion. His learn ing appears in that noble edition of St. Cyprian that he published : he had made great beginnings in learning be fore the restoration, but his continued application to his employments after that stopped the progress that otherwise he might have made : he was made soon after dean of Christ-church, and afterwards Bishop of Oxford : he set himself to promote learning in the university, but most par ticularly in his own college, which he governed with great care, and was indeed, in all respects, a most exemplary man, a little too much heated in the matter of our disputes with the dissenters : but, as he was among the first of our clergy that apprehended the design of bringing in popery, so he was one of the most zealous against it : he had much zeal for reforming abuses, and managed it perhaps with too much heat, and in too peremptory a way : but we have so Utile of that among us, that no wonder if such men are cen sured by those who love not such patterns, nor such severe task-masters. Ward, of Salisbury, fell also under a loss of memory and understanding, so, that he, who was both in mathematics and philosophy, and in the strength of judgment and under standing one of the first men of his time, though he came too late into our profession to heeome very eminent in it, 320 HISTORY OF- THE REIGN 1686. was now a great instance of the despicable weakness to which man can fall. The court intended once to have named a coadjutor for him ; but there being no precedent for that since the reformation, they resolved to stay till he should die. Cadpr"kht '^ie ot^er two bishoprics were less considerable; so promoted, they resolved to fill them with the two worst men that could be found out. Cartwright was promoted to Chester. He was a man of good capacity, and had made some progress in learning : he was ambitious and servile, cruel and bois terous ; and, by the great liberties he allowed himself, he fell under much scandal of the worst sort : he had set him self long to raise the King's authority above law, which he said was only a method of goverment to which kings might submit as they pleased ; but their authority was from God- absolute and superior to law ; which they might exert as oft as they found it necessary for the ends of government : so he was looked on as a man that would mpre effectually advance the design of popery, than if he should turn over to it : and indeed, bad as he was, he never made that step, even in the most desperate state of his affairs. . The see of Oxford was given to Dr. Parker, who was a violent independent at the time of the restoration, with a high profession of piety in their way ; but he soon changed, arid struck into the highest form of the church of England ; and wrote many books with a strain of contempt and fury against all the dissenters, that provoked them out of mea sure ; of which an account was given in the history of the former reign. He had exalted the King's authority in mat ters of religion in so indecent a manner, that he condemned the ordinary form of saying the King was under God and Christ, as a crude and profane expression; saying, that though the King was indeed under God, yet he was not under Christ but above him. Yet not being preferred as he expected, he writ after that many books, on design to raise the authority of the church to an independence on the civil power. There was an entertaining liveliness in all his books ; but it was neither grave nor correct. He was a covetous and ambitious man ; and seemed to have no other sense of religion but as a political interest, and a subject of partyand faction : he seldom came to prayers, or to any exercises of devotion ; and was so lifted up with OF KING JAMES II. 321 pride, that he was become insufferable to all that came a6S6- riear him. These two men were pitched on as the fittest v-%"*"/ instruments that could be found among all the clergy to betray and ruin the church. Some of the bishops brought to Archbishop Sancroft articles against them, which they desired he would offer to the King in council, and pray that the mandate for consecrating them might be delayed till time were given to examine particulars. And Bishop Lloyd told me that Sancroft promised to him not to con secrate them till he had examined the truth of the arti cles, of which some were too scandalous to be repeated. Yet when Sancroft saw what danger he might incur if he were sued in a pretnunire, he consented to consecrate » them. The deanery of Christ-church, the most important post in the university was given to Massey, one of the new con verts, though he had neither the gravity, the learning, nor the age that was suitable to such a dignity : but all was supplied by his early conversion ; and it was set up for a maxim to encourage all converts. He at first went to prayers in the chapel ; but soon after he declared himself more openly. Not long after, this the president of Magda len College died. That is esteemed the richest foundation in England, perhaps in Europe ; for though their certain rents are but about 4 or 5000/. yet it is thought that the improved value of the estate belonging to it is about 40,000?. : so it was no wonder that the priests studied to get this endowment into their hands. They had endeavoured to break in upon the university of Cambridge in a matter of less importance, but without success; and now they resolved to attack Oxford by a strange fatality in their counsels. In all nations the privi leges of colleges and universities are esteemed such sacred things, that few will venture to dispute these, much less to disturb them when their title is good, and their possession is of a long continuance ; for in these, not only the present body espouses the matter, but all who have been of it, even those that have only followed their studies in it, think themselves bound in honour and gratitude to assist and support them. The priests began where they ought to have ended, when all other things were brought about to their mind. The Jesuits fancied, that if they could vol.. n. 2 T 322 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. get footing in the university, they would gain such a repu- v*^**' tation by their methods of teaching youth, that they would carry them away from the university tutors, who were cer tainly too remiss. Some of the more moderate among them proposed, that the King should endow a new college in both universities, which needed not. have cost above 2000Z. a year, and in these set his priests to work : but either the King stuck at the charge which this would put him to, or his priests thought it too mean and below his dignity not to lay his hand upon those great bodies ; so rougher methods were resolved on. It was reckoned that by frightening them they might be driven to compound the • matter, and deliver up one or two colleges to them : and then, as the King said sometimes in the circle, they who taught best would be most followed. The icing's They began with Cambridge upon a softer point, which fated in Tet would have made way for all the rest. The King sent Cambridge. nis letter, or mandamus, to order F. Francis, an ignorant Benedictine monk, to be received a master of arts ; once to open the way for letting them into the degrees of the univer sity. The truth is, the King's letters were scarce ever re fused in conferring degrees. And when ambassadors or foreign princes came to those places, they usually gave such degrees to those who belonged to them as were desired. The Morocco ambassador's secretary, that was a Mahome tan, had that degree given him, but a great distinction was made between honorary degrees given to strangers, who in tended not to live among them, and those given to such as intended to settle among them ; for every master of arts having a vote in the convocation, they reckoned, that if they gave this degree, they must give all that should be pre tended to on the like authority; and they knew all the King's priests would be let in upon them, which might oc- • casion at present great distraction and contentions among them ; and in time they might grow to be a majority in the convocation, which is their parliament. They refused the mandamus with great unanimity, and with a firmness that the court had not expected from them. New and repeated orders, full of severe threatenings in case of disobedience, were sent to them : and this piece of raillery was every where set up, that a papist was reckoned worse than a Ma hometan, and that the King's letters were less considered OF KING JAMES II. • 323 than the ambassador from Morocco had been. Some feeble i686- or false men of the university tried to compound the mat- v-%^"' ter, -by granting this degree to F. Francis, but enacting at the same time, that it should not be a precedent for the fu ture for any other of the like nature. This was not given way to ; for it was said, that in all such cases the obedience that was once paid, would be a much stronger argument for continuing to do it, as oft as it should be desired, than any such proviso could be against it. Upon this the Vice Chancellor was summoned before the J^e Yi™- ecclesiastical commission to answer this contempt. He turned out was a very honest, but a very weak man. He made a poor b? *Kyc" defence : and it was no small reflection on that great body, commis- that their chief magistrate was so little able to assert their s'oners- privileges, or to justify their proceedings. He was treated with great contempt by Jefferies; but he having- acted only as the chief person of that body, all that was thought fit to be done against him was, to turn him out of his office. That was but an annual office, and of no profit : so this was a slight censure, chiefly when it was all that followed on such heavy threatenings. The university chose another vice chancellor, who was a man of much spirit ; and in his speech, which in course he made upon his being chosen, he promised, that during his magistracy, neither religion, nor the rights of the body, should suffer by his means. The court did not think fit to insist more upon this matter; which was too plain a confession either of their weakness in. be ginning such an ill-grounded attempt, or of their feebleness in letting it fall, doing so little, after they had talked so much about it. And now all people began to see that they had taken wrong notions of the King, when they thought that it would be easy to engage him into bold things, before he could see into the ill consequences that might attend them, but that being once engaged he would resolve to go through with them at all adventures. When I knew him, he seemed to have set up that for a maxim, that a King when he made a step was never to go back, nor to encourage faction and disobedience by yielding to it. After this unsuccessful attempt upon Cambridge, another An attempt was made upon Oxford, that lasted longer and had greater £jffig£ effects ; which I shall set all down together, though the con- sident on elusion of this affair ran far into the year after this that JJgJJ"1 324 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1686. i now ^rite of. The presidentship of Magdalen's was given by the election of the fellows; so the King sent a mandamus, requiring them to choose one Farmer, an igno rant and vicious person, who had not one qualification that could recommend him to so high a post, besides that of changing his religion. Mandamus letters had no legal au thority in them : but all the great preferments of the church being in the King's disposal, those who did pretend to fa vour, were not apt to refuse his recommendation, lest that should be afterwards remembered to their prejudice. But now, since it was visible in what channel favour was like to run, less regard was had to such a letter. The fellows of that house did upon this choose Dr. Hough, one of their body, who as he was in all respects a statutable man, so he was a worthy and a firm man, not apt to be threatened out of his right. They carried their election, according to their statutes, to the Bishop of Winchester, their visitor ; and he confirmed it : so that matter was legally settled. This was highly resented at court. It was said, that in case of a mandamus for an undeserving man, they ought to have re presented the matter to the King, and staid till they had his pleasure. It was one of the chief services that the univer sities expected from their chancellors, which made them always choose men of great credit at court, that by their interest such letters might be either prevented or recalled. The Duke of Ormond was now their chancellor, but he had little credit in the court, and was declining in his age, which made him retire into the country. It was much observed, that this university, that had asserted the King's preroga tive in the highest strains of the most abject flattery possi ble, both in their addresses, and in a wild decree they had made but three years before this, in which they had laid to gether a set of such high flown maxims as must establish an uncontroulable tyranny, should be the first body of the nation that should feel the effects of it most sensibly. The cause was brought before the ecclesiastical commission. The fellows were first asked, why they had not chosen Farmer in obedience to the King's letter? And to that they answered, by offering a list of many just exceptions against him. The subject was fruitful, and the scandals he had given were very public. The court was ashamed of him, and insisted no more on him ; but they said, that the House OF KING JAMES II. 325 ought to have shewed more respect to the King's letter, i<586. than to have proceeded to an election in contempt of it. v-^^/ The ecclesiastical commission took upon them to de- TheJ de clare Hough's election null, and to put the House under a^cen^red suspension ; and, that the design of the court in this matter/01 '»¦ might be carried on, without the load of recommending a papist, Parker, Bishop of Oxford, was now recommend ed ; and the fellows were commanded to proceed to a new election in his favour. They excused themselves, since they were bound by their oaths to maintain their statutes ; and by these, an election being once made and confirmed, they could not proceed to a new choice, till the former was annulled in some court of law ; church beriefices and col lege preferments were freeholds, and could only be judged in a court of record ; and, since the King was now talking so much of liberty of conscience, it was said, that the forcing men to act against their oaths, seemed not to agree with those professioris. In opposition to this it was said, that the statutes of colleges had been always considered, as things that depended entirely on the King's good pleasure ; so that no oaths to observe them could bind them, when it was in opposition to the King's command. This did not satisfy the fellows : and, though the King, J687- as he went through Oxford in his progress in the year 1687, sent for them, and ordered them to go presently and choose Parker for their president in a strain of language ill suited to the majesty of a crowned head, (for he treated them with foul language pronounced in a very angry tone) yet it had no effect on them. They insisted still on their oaths, though with an humility and submission that they hoped would have mollified him. They continued thus firm : a subaltern commission was sent from the ecclesiastical com mission to finish the matter. Bishop Cartwright was the head of this commission, as Sir Charles Hedges was the King's advocate to manage the matter. Cartwright acted in so rough a manner, that it shewed, he was resolved to Sacrifice all things to the King's pleasure. It was an af flicting thing, which seemed to have a peculiar character of indignity in it, that this first act of violence committed against the legal possessions of the church, was executed by one bishop, and done in favour of another. The new president was turned Put : and because he out, 326 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. could not deliver the keys of his house, the doors were Aird^er*^ broken open, and Parker was put in possession. The fel- aii turned lows were required to make their submission, and to ask pardon for what was past, and to accept of the bishop for their president. They still pleaded their oath ; and were turned uut, except two that submitted. So that it was ex pected to see that house soon stocked with papists. The nation, as well as the university, looked on all this proceed ing with a just indignation : it was thought an open piece of robbery and burglary, when men, authorised by no legal commission, came and forcibly turned men out of their possession and freehold. This agreed ill with the profes sions that the King was still making, that he would main tain the church of England as by law established ; for this struck at the whole estate, and all the temporalities of the church. It did so inflame the church party and the clergy, that they sent over very pressing messages upon it to the Prince of Orange, desiring that he would interpose, and espouse the concerns of the church ; and that he would break upon it if the King would not redress it, This I did not see in their letters ; those were of such importance, since the writing them might be carried to high treason, that the Prince did not think fit to shew them. But he ofteri said, he was pressed by many of those, who were after wards his bitterest enemies, to engage in their quarrel. When that was communicated to me, I was still of opinion, that though this was indeed an act of despotical and arbi-r trary power, yet I did not think it struck at the whole ; so that it was not in my opinion a lawful case of resistance : and I could not concur in a quarrel occasioned by such a single act, though the precedent set by it might go tp every thing. Now the King broke with the church of England ; and, as he was apt to go warmly upon every provocation, he gave himself such liberties in discourse upon that subject, that it was plain all the services they had done him, both in opposing the exclusion, and upon his first accession to the crown, were forgot. Agents were now found out to go among the dissenters, to persuade them to accept of the favour the King intended them, and to concur with him in his designs. The dissenters were divided into four main bodies : the OF KING JAMES II. 327 presbyterians, the independents, the anabaptists, and the i687- quakers; the two former had not the visible distinction of Thedi'^in- different rites; and their depressed condition made that the t«rs*ere . .. . - much court- dispute about the constitution and subordination of churches, ed by the which had broken them when power was in their hands, was Kins- now out of doors; and they were looked on as one body, and were above three parts in four of all the dissenters. ~ The main difference between these was, that the presbyte rians seemed reconcilable to the church, for they loved episcopal ordination and a liturgy, and upon some amend ments seemed disposed to come into the church ; and they liked the civil government, and limited monarchy : but as the independents were for a commonwealth in the state, so they put all the power of the church in the people, and thought that their choice was an ordination : nor did they approve of set forms of worship. Both were enemies to this high prerogative that the King was assuming, and were very averse to popery. They generally were of a mind as to the accepting the King's favour, but were not inclined to take in the papists into a ftdl toleration ; much less could they be prevailed on to concur in taking off the tests. The ana baptists were generally men of virtue, and of an universal charity ; and as they were far from being in any treating terms with the church of England, so nothing but an univer sal toleration could make them capable of favour or em ployments. The quakers had set up such a visible distinc tion in the matter of the hat, and saying thou and thee, that they had all as it were a badge fixed on them; so they were easily known: among these Penn had the greatest cre dit, as he had a free access at court. To all these it was proposed, that the King designed the settling the minds of the different parties in the nation, and the enriching it by enacting a perpetual law, that should be passed with such solemnities as had accompanied the Magna Charta; so that not only penal laws should be for ever repealed, but that public employments should be opened to men of all persuasions, without any tests or oaths limiting them to one sort or party of men. There were many meetings among the leading men of the several sects. It was visible to all men, that the courting them at this Debates and time was not from any kindness or good opinion that the ^^j^. Kino- had of them: they had left the church of England, 328 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. because of some forms in it, that they thought looked too *-%^/ like the church of Rome. They needed not to be told, that all the favour expected from popery was once to bring it in under the colour of a general toleration, till it should be strong enough to set on a general persecution; and there fore, as they could not engage themselves to support such an arbitrary prerogative, as was now made use of, so nei ther should they go into any engagements for popery : yet they resolved to let the points of controversy alone, and leave those to the management of the clergy, who had a legal bottom to support them. They did believe, that this indignation against the church party, and this kindness to them were things too unnatural to last long: so the more considerable among them resolved not to stand at too great a distance from the court, nor to provoke the King so far as to give him cause to think they were irreconcilable to him, lest they should provoke him to make up matters' on any terms with the church party. On the other hand they resolved not to provoke the church party, or by any ill- behaviour of theirs drive them into a reconciliation with the court. It is true, Penn shewed both a scorn of the clergy, and virulent spite against them, in which he had not many followers. The army The King was so fond of his army, that he ordered them arHouDs *° encamP on Hounslow-heath, and to be exercised all the low Heath, summer long. This was done with great magnificence, and at a vast expense ; but that which abated the King's joy in seeing so brave an army about him was, that it appeared visibly, and on many occasions, that his soldiers had as great an aversion to his religion, as his other subjects had expressed. The King had a chapel in his camp, where mass was said ; but so few went to it, and those few were treated by the rest with so much scorn, that it was not easy to bear it. It was very plain, that such an army was not to be trusted in any quarrel in which religion was concerned. The few papists that were in the army were an unequal match for the rest. The heats about religion were like to breed quarrels ; and it was once very near a mutiny. It was, thought that these encampments had a good effect on the army. They encouraged one another, and vowed they would stick together, and never forsake their religion. It was no small comfort to them to see they had so few papists OF KING JAMES II. 329 among them ; which might have been better disguised at a i<">8?. distance, than when they were all in view. A resolution v*v"*'' was formed upon this at court to make recruits in Ireland, • and to fill them up with Irish papists ; which succeeded as ill as all their other designs did, as shall be told in its pro per place. The King had for above a year managed his correspond- An ambas- ence with Rome secretly ; but now the priests resolved to ^Jm'T''' drive the matter past reconciling. The correspondence with that court, while there was none at Rome with a pub lic character, could not be decently managed, but by Car dinal Howard's means. He was no friend to the Jesuits ; nor did he like their over-driving matters ; so they moved the King to send an ambassador to Rome : this was high treason by law. Jefferies was very uneasy at it ; but the King's power of pardoning had been much argued in the , Earl of Danby's case, and was believed to be one of the unquestionable rights of the crown: so he knew a safe way in committing crimes ; which was, to take out pardons as soon as he had done illegal things: The King's choice of Palmer, Earl of Castlemain, was liable to great exceptions : for, as he was believed to be a Jesuit, so he was certainly as hot and eager in all high no tions as any of them could be. The Romans were amazed when they heard that he was to be the person. His mis fortunes were so eminent and public, that they who take their measures much from astrology, and from the charac ters they think are fixed on men, thought it strange to see such a negotiation put in the hands of so unlucky a man. It was managed with great splendour, and at a vast charge. He was unhappy in every step of it : he disputed with a Re m>. race sort of affectation every punctilio pf the ceremonial ; thh^unbap1- and when the day set for his audience came, there happened P%' to be such an extraordinary thunder, and such deluges of rain, as disgraced the show, and heightened the opinion of the ominousness of this embassy. After this was over, he had yet many disputes with relation to the ceremony of visits. The points he pressed were, first the making P. Renaldi, of Este, the Queen's uncle, a cardinal ; in which he prevailed : and it was the only point in which he suc ceeded. He tried, if it was possible, to get Father Petre to be a cardinal ; but the Pope was known to be intractable vol. n. 2 u v*W 330 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. m that point; having fixed it as a maxim, not to raise any of that order tp the purple. Count Mansfield told me, as he came from Spain, that our court had pressed the court pf Spain to join their interest with ours at Rome for his promotion. They gave it out that he was a German by birth, and undertook that he should serve the Austrian in terest. They also promised the court of Madrid great as sistance in other matters of the last importance, if they Would procure this : adding, that this would prove the most effectual means for the conversion of England ; upon which the Count told me, he was asked concerning Father Petre. He, who had gone often to Spain through England, hap pened to know that Jesuit ; and told them he was no Ger man, hut an Englishman. They tried their strength at Rome for his promotion ; but with no success. The ambassador at Rome pressed Cardinal Cibo much, to put an end to the differences between the Pope and the Ring of France, in the matter of the franchises, that it might appear that the Pope had a due regard to a King that had extirpated heresy, and to another King who was endeavour ing to bring other kingdoms into the sheepfold : what must the world say, if two such kings, like whom no ages had produced any, should be neglected and ill used at Rome for gome, punctilios ? he added, that if these matters were set tled, and if the Pope would enter into concert with them; they would set about the destroying heresy every where, and would begin with the Dutch ; upon whom, he said, they would fall without any declaration of war, treating them as? a company of rebels and pirates, who. had not a right, as free states and princes have, to a formal denuntiation of war. Cibo, who was then Cardinal Patron, was amazed at this, and gave notice of it to the imperial cardinals : they sent it to the Emperor,, and he signified it to the Prince of Orange. It is certain, that one prince's treating with another to invade a third, gives a right to that third prince to de fend himself, and to prevent those designs. And, since what an ambassador says, is understood as said by the prince whose character he bears, this gave the states a right to make use of all advantages that might offer themselves ; but they had yet better grounds to justify their; proceedings, as will appear in the sequel. When the ambassador saw that his remonstrances to the cent's cha- acter. OF KING JAMES II. 331 Cardinal Patron Were ineffectual, he demanded an audi- i687-. ence of the Pope ; and there he lamented that so little re- ^^ gard was had to two such great kings : he reflected on the Pope, as shewing more zeal about temporal concerns than the spiritual, which he said gave scandal to all Christen dom : he concluded, that since he saw intercessions made in his master's name were so little considered, he would make haste home : to which the Pope made no other answer, but " lei e padrone," he might do as he pleased : but he, sent one after the ambassador as he withdrew from the au dience, to let him know how much he was offended with his discourses, that he received no such treatment from any per son, and that the ambassador was to expect no other pri vate audience. Cardinal Howard did What he could to sof ten matters; but the ambassador was so entirely in the hands of the Jesuits, that he had little regard to any thing that the Cardinal suggested ; and so he left Rome after a Very ex pensive, but insignificant embassy. The Pope sent in return a nuncio, Dada, now a cardinal : Pope Tnno- he was highly civil, in all his deportment ; but it did not ap- J pear that he was a man of great depth, nor had he power to do much. The Pope was a jealous and fearful man, who had no kno wedge of any sort, but in the matters of the re venue and of money ; for he was descended from a family that was become rich by dealing in banks ; and, in that res pect, it was a happiness to the papacy that he was advanced, for it was so involved in vast debts, by a succession of many wasteful pontificates, that his frugal management came iri good time to set those matters in better order : it was known that he did not so much as understand Latin : I was told at Rome, that when he was made cardinal, he had a master trj teach him to pronounce that little Latin that he had occa sion for at high masses : he understood nothing Pf divinity. I remembered what a Jesuit at Venice had said to me, whom I met sometimes at the French ambassador'^ there, when we were talking of the Pope's infallibility : he said, that being in Rome during Altieri's pontificate, who lived some years in a perfect dotage, he confessed it required a very strong faith to believe him infallible; but he added pleasantly, the harder it was to believe it, the' act of faith was the more meritorious. The submitting to Pope Innocent's infalli bility was a very implicit act of faith when all appearances 332 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. wele so* strongly against it. The Pope hated the Jesuits, and expressed a great esteem for the Jansenists, not that he understood the ground of the difference, but because they were enemies to the Jesuits, and were ill looked on by the court of France : he understood the business of the regale a little better, it relating to the temporalities of the church ; , and therefore he took all those under his protection who refused to submit to it. Things seemed to go far towards a breach between the two courts, especially after the articles which were set out by the assembly of the clergy of France, in the year 1682, in favour of the councils of Constance and Basile, in opposition to the papal pretensions. The King of France, who was not accustomed to be treated in such a manner, sent many threatening messages to Rome, which alarmed the cardinals so much, that they tried to mollify the Pope : but it was reported at Rome, that he made a noble answer to them when they asked him what he could do, if so great a King should send an army to fall upon him ? he said he could suffer martyrdom. Disputes He was so little terrified with all those threatenings, that franchises. ae aa& set on foot a dispute about the franchises. In Rome all those of a nation put themselves under the protection of their ambassador, and are upon occasions of ceremony his cortege. These were usually lodged in his neighbourhood, pretending that they belonged to him : so that they exempt ed themselves from the orders and justice of Rome, as a part of the ambassador's family ; and that extent of houses or streets in which they lodged was called the franchises, for in it they pretended they were not subject to the govern ment of Rome.: this had made these houses to be well filled, not only with those of that nation, but with such Romans as desired to be covered writh that protection. Rome was now much sunk from what it had been, so that these fran chises were become so great a part of the city, that the pri- . vileges of those that lived in them were giving every day new disturbances to the course of justice, and were the common sanctuaries of criminals : so the Pope resolved to reduce the privileges of ambassadors to their own families within their own palaces : he first dealt with the Emperor's and the King of Spain's ambassadors, and brought them to quit their pretensions to the franchises, but with this provi sion, that if the French did not the same, they would return OF KING JAMES II. 333 to them : so now the Pope was upon forcing the French to 1687- submit to the same methods. The Pope said, his nuncio or 1""v">v legate at Paris had no privilege but for his family, and for those that lived in his palace : the French rejected this with great scorn ; they said, the Pope was not to preteud to an equality with so great a King : he was the common father of Christendom ; so those who came thither, as to the centre Of unity, were not to be put on the level with the ambassa dors that passed between sovereign princes : upon this the King of France pretended that he would maintain all the privileges and franchises that his ambassadors were pos sessed of : this was now growing up to be the matter of a new quarrel, and of fresh disputes between those courts. The English ambassador being so entirely in the French interests, and in the confidence of the Jesuits, he was much less considered at Rome than he thought he ought to have been. The truth is, the Romans, as they have very little sense of religion, so they considered the reduction of Eng land as a thing impracticable. They saw no prospect of any profits like to arise in any of their offices by bulls or compositions ; and this was the notion that they had of the conversion of nations, chiefly as it brought wealth and ad vantages to them. I will conclude all that I shall say in this place of the Queen affairs of Rome, with a lively saying of Queen Christina to ^1' 'alter *f myself at Rome. She said, it was certain that the church spmepope, was governed by the immediate care and providence of God ; for none of the four popes that she had known, since she came to Rome, had common sense. She added, they were the first and the last of men. She had given herself entirely for some years to the study of astrology ; and upon that she told me, the King would live yet many years, but would have no son. I come, from the relation of this embassy to Rome, to give an account of other negotiations. The King found S|elton managed his affairs in Holland with so little sense, and gave such an universal distaste, that he resolved to change him. But he had been so servilely addicted to all his interests, that he would not discourage him ; and, be cause all his concerns with the court of France were ma naged with Barillon, the French ambassador at London, he was sent to Paris. 334 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. The King found out one White, an Irishman, who had D-AibeWiie been long a spy of the Spaniards ; and wheri they did not tonHeiiVOd pay his aPPointments well> lie accepted of the title of Mar- quis d'Albeville from them in part of payment. And then he turned to the French, who paid their tools more punc tually. But, though he had learned the little arts of cor rupting Under secretaries, and had found out some se crets by that way, which made him pass for a good spy; yet, when he came to negotiate matters in a higher form, he proved a most contemptible and ridiculous man, who had not the common appearances either of decency or of truth. i was, upon He had orders, before he entered upon business with the pres^in- Prmce or Princess, to ask of them not only to forbid me stances, for- the court, but to promise to see me no more. The King thePrince aa& writ to° violent letters against me to the Princess : she and Princess trusted me so far, that she shewed them tome; and was of Orange, p]£asec[ ^Q answer them according to the hints that I sug gested. But now it was put so home, that this was to be complied with, or a breach was immediately to follow upon it. So this was done ; and they were both so true to their promise, that I saw neither the one nor the other till a few days before the Prince set sail for England. The Prince sent Dickvelt and Halewyn constantly to me with all the ad vertisements that came from England : so I had the whole secret of English affairs still brought to me. Dickvelt That which was first resolved on was to send Dickvelt to wi.t8 E"g England with directions ho w to talk with all sorts of people' ; to the King, to those of the church, and to the dissenters. I was ordered to draw his instructions, which he followed very closely : he was ordered to expostulate decently but firmly with the King upon the methods he was pursuing, both at home and abroad ; and to see if it was possible to bring him to a better understanding with the Prince: he. was also to assure all the church party that the Prince would ever be firm to the church of England, and to all our national interests. The clergy, by the methods in which they corresponded with him, which I suppose was chiefly by the Bishop of London's means, had desired him to use all his credit with the dissenters, to keep them from goirig into the measures of the court, and to send over very posi tive assurances, that in case they stood firm now to the common interest, they would in a better time come into a OF KING JAMES II. 335 comprehension of such, as could be brought into a conjune- }687- tion with the church, and to a toleration of the rest : they ^^ had also desired him to send over some of the preachers, whom the violence of the former years had driven to Hol land, and to prevail effectually with them to oppose any false brethren whom the court might gain to deceive the rest, which the Prince had done ; and to many of them he gave such presents as enabled them to pay their debts, and toMindertake the journey. Diokvelt had orders to press them all to stand off, and not to be drawn in by any promises the court might make them to assist them in the elections of par liament : he was also instructed to assure them of a full to leration, and likewise of a comprehension, if possible, when soever the crown should devolve on the Princess : he was to try all sorts of people, and to remove the ill impressipnS that had been given them of the Prince ; for the church party was made believe he was a presbyterian, and the dis senters were possessed with a conceit of his being arbi trary and imperious : some had even the impudence to give out that he was a papist : but the ill terms in which the King and he lived put an end to those reports at that time : yet they were afterwards taken up and managed with much malice to create a jealousy of him. Dickvelt was not gone off when d'Albeville came to the Hague : he did all he could to divert the journey, for he knew well Dickvelt's way of penetrating into secrets, he himself having been often employed by him, and well paid for several discoveries made by his means. D'Albeville assured the Prince and the states, that the The nego- King was firmlv resolved to maintain his alliance with *iatl0n* be" & J t tween the them : that his naval preparations were only to enable him King and to preserve the peace of Europe; for he seemed much con- tbe Fnnce- cerned to find that the states had such apprehensions of these, that they were putting themselves in a condition not to be surprised by them. In his secret negotiations with the Prince and Princess, he began with very positive as- suraneesy that the King intended never to wrong, them in their right of succession : that all the King was now en gaged in was only to assert- the rights of the crown, of which they would reap the advantage in their turn ; the test was a restraint on the King's liberty, and therefore he wasresolved to have it repealed ; and he was also resolved V-"V^> 336 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. to lay aside all penal laws in matters of religion : they saw too well the advantages that Holland had, by the liberty of conscience that was settled among them, to oppose him in this particular : the King could not abandon men, because they were of his own religion, who had served him well, and had suffered only on his account, and on the account of their conscience. He told them how much the King condemned the proceedings in France ; and that he spoke of that King as a poor bigot, who was governed by the Archbishop of Paris and Madame de Maintenon ; whereas he knew Pere de la Chaise had opposed the persecution as long as lite "could : but the King hated those maxims ; and therefore he received the refugees very kindly, and had given orders for a collection of charity over the kingdom for their relief. This was the substance, both of what d'Albeville said to the Prince or Princess, and of what the King himself said to Dickvelt upori those subjects. At that time the King thought he had made a majority of the House of Commons sure : and so he seemed resolved to have a ses sion of parliament in April. And of this d'Albeville gave the Prince positive assurances. But the King had reckon ed wrong ; for many of those who had been with him in his closet, were either silent or had answered him in such re spectful words that he took these for promises. But when they were more strictly examined the King saw his error ;' and so the sitting of the parliament was put off. To all these propositions the Prince and Princess, and Dickvelt in their name, answered that they were fixed in a principle against persecution in matters of conscience ; but they could not think it reasonable to let papists in to sit in parliament, or to serve in public trusts : the restless ^spirit of some of that religion, and of their clergy in par ticular, shewed they could not be at quiet till they were masters^ and the power they had over, the King's spirit, in making him forget what he had promised upon his coming to the crown, gave but too just a ground of jealousy : it appeared that they could not bear any restraints, nor re member past services longer than those who did them could comply in every thing with that which was desired of them : they thought the prerogative, as limited by law, was great enough : and they desired no such exorbitant power v%-w OF KING JAMES II. , 337 as should break through all laws : they feared that such an J687- attack upon the constitution might rather drive the nation into a commonwealth : they thought the surest, as well as the best way, was to govern according to law : the church of England had given the King signal proofs of their affec tion and fidelity, and had complied with him in every thing till he came to touch them in so tender a point, as the legal security they had for their 'religion : their sticking to that was very natural ; and the King's taking that ill from them was liable to great censure : the King, if he pleased to improve the advantages he had in his hand, might be both easy and great at home, and the arbiter of all affairs abroad : but he was prevailed on, by the importunities of some restless priests, to embroil all his affairs to serve their ends : they could never consent to abolish those laws which were the best, and now the only fence of that reli gion which they themselves bolieved true. This was the substance of their answers to all the pressing messages that were often repeated by d'Albeville. And upon this occasion the Princess spoke so often and with such firm ness to him, that he said she was more intractable on those matters than the Prince himself. Dickvelt told me, he ar gued often with the King on all these topics ; but he found him obstinately fixed in his resolution. He said he was the head of the family, and the Prince ought to comply with him, but that he had always set himself against him. Dickvelt answered, that the Prince could not carry his compliance so far as to give up his religion to his pleasure ; but that in all other things he had shewed a very ready sub mission to his will. The peace of Nimeguen, of which the King was guarantee, was openly violated in the article relating to the principality of Orange : yet since the King did not think fit to espouse his interests in that matter, he had been silent, and had made no protestations upon it; so the King saw that he was ready to he silent under so great an injuryy and to sacrifice his own concerns rather than disturb the King's affairs. To this the King made no an swer. The Earl pf Sunderland, and the rest of the minis try, pressed Dickvelt mightily to endeavour to bring the Prince to concur with the King : and they engaged to him, that, if that were once settled, the King would go into close measures with him against France. But he put an VOL. II. 2x 338 HISTORY OF THE REIGN ifl87. end to all those propositions : he said the Prince could ^^^ never be brought to hearken to them. a letter writ At this time a great discovery was made of the intentions suits ofJe of tae court by the Jesuits of Liege, who in a letter that Liege that they wrote to their brethren at Friburg in Switzerland, gave tiTKing's them a long account of the affairs pf England. They told designs. them, that the King was received into a communication of the merits of their order ; that he expressed great joy at his becoming a son of the society ; and professed he was as much concerned in all their interests as in his own : he wished they could furnish him with many priests to assist him in the conversion of the nation, which he was resolved to bring about, or to die a martyr in endeavouring it; and that he would rather suffer death for carrying on that, than live ever so long and happy without attempting it. He said, he must make haste in this work : otherwise, if he should die before he had compassed it, he would leave them worse than he found them. They added, among many particulars, that when one of them kneeled down to kiss his hand,' he took him up, and said, since he was a priest, he ought rather to kneel to him, and to kiss his hand. And, when one of them was lamenting that his next heir was an heretic, he said, God would provide an heir. The Jesuits at Friburg. shewed this about. And one of the ministers, on whom they were taking some pains, and of whom they had some hopes, had got a sight of it ; and he obtained leave to take a copy of it, pretending that he would make good use of it. He sent a copy of it to Hei degger, the famous professor of divinity at Zurich ; and from him I had it. Other copies of it were likewise sent, both from Geneva and Switzerland. One of those was sent to Dickvelt ; who upon that told the King that his priests had other designs, and were full of those hopes, that gave jealousies which could not be easily removed ; and he named the Liege letter, and gave the King a copy of it. He promised to him he would read it ; and he would soon see whether it was an imposture framed to make them more odious or not ; but he never spoke of it to him afterwards. This Dickvelt thought was a confessing that the letter was no forgery. Thus Dickvelt's negotiation at London, and d'Albeville's at the Hague, ended without any effect on either side. OF KING JAMES II. 339 But, if his treating with the King was without success, i687- his management of his instructions was more prosperous. Dick^uC He desired, that those who wished well to their religion conduct in and their country would meet together, and concert such ngand- advices and advertisements as might be fit for the Prince to know, that he might govern himself by them. The Marquis of Hallifax, and the Earls of Shrewsbury, Devonshire, Danby, and Nottingham, the Lords Mordauht, and Lumley, Herbert and Russel among the admirals, and the Bishop of London, were the persons chiefly trusted. And upon the advices that were sent over by them the Prince go verned all his motions. They met often at the Earl of Shrewsbury's ; and there they concerted matters, and drew the declaration on which they advised the Prince to engage. In this state things lay for some months. But the King A procia- resolved to go on in his design of breaking through the "^j"""* laws. He sent a proclamation of indulgence to Scotland, sent io Scot. iit February. It set forth in the preamble, that the King had iand* an absolute power vested in him, so that all his subjects were bound to obey him without reserve : by virtue of this power, the King repealed all the severe laws that were passed in his grandfather's name during his infancy; he with that took off all disabilities that were by any law laid on his Roman Catholic subjects, and made them capable of all employments and benefices : he also slackened all the laws made against the moderate presbyterians ; and pro mised he would never force his subjects by any invincible necessity to change their religion ; and he repealed all laws imposing tests on those who held any employments; instead of which he set up a new one, by which they should re nounce the principles of rebellion, and should oblige them selves to maintain the King in this his absolute power against all mortals. This was published in Scotland, to make way for that Which was which followed it some months after in England. It was Mred.Cen strangely drawn, and liable to much just censure. The King by this raised his power to a pitch, not only of sus pending, but of repealing laws, and of enacting new ones by his own authority. His claiming an absolute power, which all men were bound to obey without reserve, was an invasion of all that was either legal or sacred. The only v-W 340 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687.^ precedent that could be found for such an extraordinary pretension, was in the declaration that Philip the Second of Spain sent by the Duke of Alva into the Netherlands, in which he founded all the authority that he committed to that bloody man, on the absolute power that rested in him : yet in this the King went further than Philip, who did not pretend that the subjects were bound to obey without re serve. Every prince that believes the truth of religion must confess, that there are reserves in the obedience of their subjects, in case their commands should be contrary to the laws of God. The requiring all persons that should be capable of employments to swear to maintain this, was to make them feel their slavery too sensibly. The King's promising to use " no invincible necessity," to force his subjects to change their religion, shewed that he allowed himself a very large reserve in this grace that he promised his subjects; though he allowed them none in their obe dience. The laws that had passed during King James's minority had been often ratified by himself after he was, of age. And they had received many subsequent confirma tions in the succeeding reigns, and one in the King's own reign. And the test that was now taken away was passed by the present King when he represented his brother. Some took also notice of the word " moderate presbyterians," a# very ambiguous. The court finding that so many objections lay against this proclamation, (as indeed it seemed penned on purpose to raise new jealousies) let it fall ; and sent down another some months after that was more cautiously worded ; only absolute power was so dear to them, that it was still as serted in the new one. By it full liberty was granted to all presbyterians to set up conventicles in their own way. They did all accept of it without pretending any scruples. And they magnified this, as an extraordinary stroke of Pro vidence, that a Prince, from whom they expected an increase of the severities under which the laws had brought them, should thus of a sudden allow them such an unconfined li berty : but they were not so blind as not to see what was aimed at by it. They made addresses upon it full of ac knowledgments and of protestations of loyalty. Yet, when some were sent among them, pressing them to dispose all their party to concur with the King in taking away the tests. OF KING JAMES If. 341 fend penal laws, they answered them only in cold and ge- 1687. neral words. v*s«*/ In April the King set out a declaration of toleration and Adeciara- liberty of conscience for England; but it. was drawn up in tZfai?' much more modest terms than the Scotch proclamation had England. been. In the preamble, the King expressed his aversion to persecution on the account of religion, and the necessity that he found of allowing his subjects liberty of conscience, in which he did not doubt of the concurrence of his parlia ment : he renewed his promise of maintaining the church of England, as it was by law established ; but with this he suspended all penal and sanguinary laws in matters of reli gion ; and, since the service of all his subjects was due to ' him by the laws of nature, he declared them all equally ca pable of employments, and suppressed all oaths or tests that limited this : in conclusion, he promised he would maintain all his subjects in all their properties, and particu larly in the possession of the abhey lands. This gave great offence to all true patriots, as well as to the whole church party. The King did now assume a power of repealing laws by his own authority ; for though he pretended only to suspend them, yet no limitation was set to this suspension : so it amounted to a repeal, the laws being suspended for all time to come. The preamble, that pretended so much love and charity, and that condemned persecution, sounded strangely in the mouth of a popish prince. The King's saying, that he did not doubt of the parliament's concurring with him in this matter seemed ri diculous ; for it was visible by all the prorogations, that the King was but too well assured, that the parliament would not concur with him in it : and the promise to main tain the subjects in their possessions of the abbey lands, looked as if the design of setting up popery was thought very near being effected, since otherwise there was no need of mentioning any such thing. Upon this a new set of addresses went round the dissent- Addresses ers: and they who had so long reproached the church 0f |nacieuP011 England, as too courtly nTtheir submissions and flatteries, seemed now to vie with them in those abject strains. Some of them, being penned by persons whom the court had gained, contained severe reflections on the clergy, and on their proceedings. They magnified the King's mercy and 342 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. favour, and made great protestations of fidelity and grati- "**"v'**/' tude. Many promised to endeavpur that such persons should be chosen to serve in parliament, as should concur , with the King in enacting what he had now granted so gra ciously. Few concurred in those addresses ; and the per sons that brought them up were mean and inconsiderable. Yet the court was lifted up with this : the King and his priests were delighted with these addresses out of measure, and they seemed to think, that they had gained the nation, and had now conquered those who were hitherto their most irreconcilable enemies. The King made the cruelty of the church of England the common subject of discourse : he reproached them for setting on so often a violent persecu tion of the dissenters. He said, he had intended to have set on this toleration sooner ; but that he was restrained by some of them, who had treated with him, and had under taken to shew favour to those of his religion, provided they might be still suffered to vex the dissenters : he named the persons that had made those propositions to him ; in which he suffered much in his honour ; for as the persons denied the whole thing, so the freedom of discourse in any such treaty ought not to have been made use of to defame them. The King's But to carry this further, and to give a public and an arainst th" °dious~ proof of the rigour of the ecclesiastical courts, the church par- King ordered an inquiry to be made into all the vexatious ty' suits into which dissenters had been brought in these courts, and into all the coinpositions that they had been forced to make, to redeem themselves from further trouble ; which, as was said, would have brought a scandalous discovery of all the ill-practices of those courts ; for the use that many that belonged to them had made of the laws, with relation to the dissenters, was to draw presents from such , of them as could make them ; threatening them with a pro cess in rase they failed to do that; and upon their doing it leaving them at full liberty to neglect the laws as much as they pleased. It was hoped at court that this fury against the church would have animated the dissenters to turn upori the clergy with some of that fierceness with which they themselves had been lately treated. Some few of the hot ter of the dissenters answered their expectations. Angry speeches and virulent books were published. Yet these were disowned by the wiser men among them; and the OF KING JAMES II. 343 elergy, by a general agreement, made no answer to them ; 1687. so that the matter was let fall to the great grief of the popish '"w party. Some of the bishops, that were gained by the court, carried their compliance to a shameful pitch ; for they set on addresses of thanks to the King for the promise he had made in the late declaration of maintaining the church of England : though it was visible that the intent of it was to destroy the church. Some few were drawn into this ; but the Bishop of Oxford had so ill success in his diocese, that he got but one single clergyman to concur with him in it Some foolish men retained still their old peevishness ; but the far greater part of the clergy began to open their eyes, and see how they had been engaged by ill-meaning men, Who were now laying by the mask, into all the fury that had been driven on for many years by a popish party : and it was often said, that if ever God should deliver them out of the present distress, they would keep up their domestic quarrels no more, which were so visibly and so artfully ma naged by our enemies to make us devour one another, and so in the end to be consumed one of another. And when some of those, who had been always moderate, told these, who were putting on another temper, that they would per haps forget this as soon as the danger was over, they pro mised the contrary very solemnly. It shall be told after wards how well they remembered this. Now the bed chamber and drawing-room were as full of stories to the prejudice of the clergy, as they were formerly to the preju dice of the dissenters. It was said, they had been loyal as long as the court was in their interests, and was venturing all on their account; but as soon as this changed they changed likewise. The King, seeing no hope of prevailing on his parlia- The parlia ment, dissolved it ; but gave it out, that he would have a ™isLived. new one before winter : and, the Queen being advised to go to the Bath for her health, the Kmg resolved on a great progress through some of the western counties. Before he set out, he resolved to give the Pope's nuncio The recep- a solemn reception at Windsor. He apprehended some p™^^. disorder might have happened, if it had been done in Lon- cio. don. He thought it below both his own dignity and the Pope's, not to give the nuncio a public audience. This was a hard point, for those who were to act a part in this 344 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. ceremony ; for all commerce with the see of Rome beinj ¦***^**'' declared high treason by law, this was believed to fall with in the statute. It was so apprehended by Queen Mary. Cardinal Pool was obliged to stay in Flanders till all those laws were repealed, but the King would not stay for that. The Duke of Somerset, being the lord of the bed-chamber then in waiting, had advised with his lawyers ; and they told him, he could not safely do the part that was expected of him in the audience. So he told the King that he could not serve him upon that occasion, for he was assured it was against the law. The King asked him, if he did not know that he was above the law : the other answered, that, what ever the King might be, he himself was not above the law^ The King expressed a high displeasure, and turned him out of all employments. The ceremony passed very heavily : and the compliment was pronounced with so low a voice, that no person could hear it ; which was believed done by concert. The King When this was over, the King set out for his progress, >rets a pr° and went from Salisbury all round as far as to Chester. In through the places through which the King passed he saw a visible ^England, coldness both in the nobility and gentry, which was not easily born by a man of his temper. In may places they pre tended occasions to go out of their countries. Some staid at home ; and those who waited on the King seemed to do it rather out of duty and respect, than with any cordial af fection. The King, on his part, was very obliging to all that came near him, and most particularly to the dissenters, and to those who had passed long under the notion of com monwealth's men. He looked very graciously on all that had been of the Duke of Monmouth's party : he addressed his discourse generally to all sorts of people : he ran out on the point of liberty of conscience : he said, this was the true secret of the greatness and wealth of Holland. He was well pleased to hear all the ill-natured stories that were brought him of the violences committed of late, either by the justices of peace, or by the clergy. He every where recommended to them the choosing such parliament men, as would concur with him in settling this liberty as firmly as the Magna Charta had been ; and to this he never forgot to add the taking away the tests : but he received such cold and general answers, that he saw he could not depend on OF KING JAMES II. 345 them. The King had designed to go through many more 1687. places ; but the small success he had in those which he vi- ^^ sited, made him shorten his progress. He went and visited the Queen at the Bath, where he staid only a few days, two or three at most ; and she continued on in her course of bathing. Many books were now writ for liberty of con science ; and, since all people saw what security the tests gave, these spoke of an equivalent to be offered, that should give a further security, beyond what could be pretended from the tests. It was never explained what was meant by this ; so it was thought an artificial method to lay men asleep with a high sounding word. Some talked of new laws to secure civil liberty, which had been so much shaken by the practises of these last years, ever since the Oxford parliament. Upon this a very extravagant thing was given out, that the King was resolved to set up a sort of a com monwealth : and the papists began to talk every where very high for public liberty, trying by that to recommend them selves to the nation. When the King came back from his progress, he resolved a change of to change the magistracy in most of the cities of England; ^LmiaLoa- He began with London. He not only changed the court of donandorer aldermen, but the government of many of the companies of Ens,and- the city ; for great powers had been reserved in the new charters that 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 de pendance on the court, but that they should not be made use of, unless great provocation was given. Now all this was executed with great severity and contempt. Those who had stood up for the King during the debates about the ex- elusion, 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 gratitude as they dictated. The new men, who were brought in, saw this top visibly to be much wrought on by it. The King threw off his old party in too outrageous a man ner ever to return to them again. But he was much sur prised to find that the new Mayor and aldermen took the VOL. n. 2 Y 346 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. test, and ordered the observation of gunpowder-treason day v*v^/ to be continued. When the sheriffs came, according to cus tom, to invite the King to the lord mayor's feast, he com manded 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 invita tion, and made an entry of it in their books, that the nun cio came without their knowledge. Thid the King took very ill : and upori 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 decision of this upon per sons against whom the court could have no exception; He sent to those, to whom the governing of the diocese of London was committed during the suspension, and asked their opinion in it ; which they could not give but in behalf of the established worship : and they added, that the chang ing it was against law. So this project miscarried ; and the Mayor, though he went sometimes to the meetings of the dissenters, yet Jie came often to church, and behaved him self more decently than was expected of him. , This change in the city not succeeding as the court had texpected, did not discourage them from appointing a com mittee 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 ma gistracy, that was reserved in the new charters : these regu lators, who Were for most part dissenters gained by the court, went Pn 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 mea sures often so hastily, that men were put in one week, and turned out the other! Questions After this the King sent orders to the lords lieutenants of Sections1 of the counties, to examine the gentlemen and freeholders parliaments, upon three questions : the first was, whether, in case they <~^*J OF KING JAMES II, 347 should be chosen to serve in parliament, they would consent i<>87- to repeal the penal laws, and those for the tests ; the, se cond was, whether they would give their vote for choosing such men as would engage to dp that ; and the third was, whether they would maintain the King's declaration. In jnost of the counties the lord lieutenants put those questions in so careless a manner, that it was plain they did not de sire they should be answered in the affirmative. Some went further, and declared themselves against them ; and a few of the more resolute refused to put them. They said, this was the prelimiting aud packing of a parliament, which in its nature was to be free, and under no previous engage ment. Many counties answered very boldly in the nega tive ; and others refused to give any answer, which was understood to be equivalent tp 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 themselves from it : for those who had resolved to oppose 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 m naming the sheriffs and mayors, that were apr 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 returned, whether regularly chosen or not, as should serve his ends. It was concluded, that the King would make use both of big power and of his troops, either to force elections, or tp 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 be lieved 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 endeavouring 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 pepple; in which case they reckoned one article would be an indemnity for all that had been done. 348 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. 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 protestants was m the King's two daugh^ ters ; chiefly on the eldest, who was out of his reach, and was known to be well instructed, and very zealous in mat ters of religion. The Princess Anne was still very stedfast and regular in her devotions, and was very exemplary in the course of her life ; but as care had been taken to put very ordinary divines about her for her chaplains, so she never pursued any study in those points with much appli cation; 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 assaulted, when all other designs should so far succeed as to make that season able. In the meanwhile she was let alone by the King, who was indeed a very kind and indulgent father to her. The King ]Vow he resolved to make his first attack on the Princess of Princess of Orange. D'Albeville went over to England iri the summer, orange and did not come back before the 24th of December, gion. (Christmas eve) ; and then he gave the Princess a letter from the King, bearing date the 4th of November. He was to carry this letter ; and his dispatches being put off longer than was intended, that made this letter come so late to her. The King took the rise of his letter from a question she put to d'Albeville, 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 England by Dr. Stewart, whom the King, his father, had put about him ; in which he was so zealous, that when he perceived the Queen, his mother, had a design upon the Duke of Gloucester, 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 OF KING JAMES II. 349 the great devotion that he had observed among catholics. 1687. He saw they had great helps for it : they had their churches •"w 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 became good Christians, even though they continued to live still in the world : this made him first begin to examine both religions. He could see nothing in 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 Ecclesiastical Policy, which confirmed him in the same opinion. He saw clearly that Christ had left an infallibility in his church, against which " the gates of hell cannot prevail :" and it appeared that this was lodged with St. Peter from our Saviour's words to him, St. Matt. xvi. ver. 18 ; upon this the certainty of the Scriptures, and even of Christianity itself, was founded. The apostles acknowledged this to be in St. Peter, Acts xv. when they said, " It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us." It was the authority of the church that declared the Scriptures to be canonical: and certainly they who de clared 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 con troversies 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 de votion, and set even Christianity itself loose to all that would question it, and to Socinians and latitudinarians, who doubt ed of every thing. He had discoursed of these things with some divines of the church of England ; but had received no satisfaction from them. The Christian religion gained its credit by the miracles which the apostles wrought, and by the holy lives and sufferings of the martyrs, whose blood was the seed of the church ; whereas Luther and Calvin, and those 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. Submission was necessary to the peace of the church ; and when every man will expound the Scriptures, this makes way to all sects, v-v-*/ 350 HISTORY OF THE REIGN ^1687. wno pj-etend to build upon it. It was also plain, that the church of England 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 plight not separate from the church of England, as well as she had done from the church of Rome. Nor could the church of England sepa rate herself from -the catholic church, any more than a county of England could separate itself 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 Dutchess's papers, might serve, if not tp justify the catholic religion to an un biassed judgment, yet at least to create a favourable opiV nion 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 immediately to write out all that I remembered, 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 de cently, and concluded very modestly: the Princess re ceived this letter, as was told me, on the 24th of De cember, at night. Next day being Christmas day, she re ceived 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 26th 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. w^ch <*e She began with answering another letter that she had re ceived by the post, in which the King had made an excuse for failing to write the former post day. She was very sen-. answered. w*/ OF KING JAMES II. 351 jsible of the happiness of hearing so constantly from him ; 1697, for no difference in religion could hinder her from desiring both his blessing and his prayers, thqugh she was ever so far from him. A.s for the paper that d'Albeville delivered 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 5 she was fat from sticking to the religion in which she was bred out of a point of honour, 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 free* ly laid before 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.'r Though she had come young out of England, yet she had riot left behind her either the desire of being well informed, or the means for it. She had furnished herself 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 according as things appeared to herself. It ought to be no prejudice against the reformation, if any of those who professed it led ill lives : if any of them lived ill, none of the princi ples of their religion allowed 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 infallibility 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 suc cession was then much disordered. As, for the authority that is pretended to have been given to St. Peter over the rest, that place which was chiefly alleged for it was other-r Wise interpreted by those of the church of England, as im- orting only the confirmation of him in the office of an 352 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. apostle, when in an answer to that question, " Simon, son ^^ of Jonas, lovest thou me," he had by a tiiple confession washed off his tiiple denial. The words that the King had cited were spoken to the other apostles, as well as to him. It was agreed by all, that the apostles were infallible, who were guided by God's holy Spirit. But that gift, as well as many others, had ceased long ago. Yet in that St. Peter had no authority over the other apostles; otherwise St. Paul understood our Saviour's words ill, who " withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed." And if St, Peter 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 somewhat 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 dther 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 women and children ; and, since God had made us reasonable creatures, it seemed ne cessary to employ our reason chiefly in matters of the greatest 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 con vinced. 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 OF KING JAMES II. ' 353 rould be blamed for the persecution of the dissenters; for 1687. 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 na ture 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 satis fied, that she trusted by the grace of God that she should spend the rest of her days in it ; and she was so well as sured of the truth of our Saviour's words, that she was confident the gates of hell should not prevail against it, but that he 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 pro gress 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 let ter ; he desired she would read those books that he had mentioned 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 discourse about them with F. Morgan, an English Jesuit then at the Hague. I have set down very minutely every particular, that was Reflections in those letters, and very near in the same words. If must on these 'et" J ters. 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 re peated 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 sup posed he would not have mentioned. The course of his own life was not so strict, as to make it likely that the good VOL. ll. 2z 354 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. lives of some papists had made such impressions upon l^N^/ 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 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 respect that a daughter paid her fa ther, 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 tetter ; but this surprised me. It gave me an astonishing joy to see so young a person, all on the sudden, 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 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 re ligion as well as she loved it. A prosecn- But now I must say somewhat of myself. After I had staid a year in Holland, I heard from many hands that the Kmg seemed to forget his own greatness when he spoke of me, which he took occasion to do very often. I had pub lished some account of the short tour I had made in seve ral letters ; in which my chief design was to expose both popery, and tyranny. 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 seemed to have a considerable 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 consi- t inn set on against me, W^> OF KING JAMES II. 355 derable fortune at the Hague. So a project was formed to 16%7- break this, by charging me with high treason for correspond ing with Lord Argyle, 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 prose cution was ordered, that had a quick passage, brought me the, first news of it, long before it was sent to d'Albeville : so I petitioned the states, who were then sitting, to be na turalized in order to my intended marriage ; and this passed of course, without the least difficulty, which perhaps might have been made, if this prosecution, now begun in Scot land, had been known. Now I was legally under the pro tection of the states of Holland. Yet I writ a full justi fication of myself as ito all particulars laid to my charge, in some letters that I sent to the Earl of Midleton. But in one of these I said, that, being now naturalized in Hol land, my allegiance was, during my stay in these parts, transferred from his Majesty to the states. I also said, in another letter, that if upon my non-appearance a sentence should pass against me, I might be perhaps forced to jus tify 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 mention some things, that I was afraid would displease 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 ac counts. It was pretended to be high treason, to say my allegiance was now transferred : and it was set forth as a high indignity to the King, to threaten him with writing a history of the transactions past 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 natu ralised 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. 356 " HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1687. 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 believed his design was rather to frighten me, than that he could think to effect them. Many overtures were made to some of my friends in London, not only to let this prosecution fall, but to promote me, if I Would make myself 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 resolved to go on, and to do my duty, and to do what service I could to the public and to my country; and resigned myself up entirely to that Providence that had watched over me tP that time with an indulgent care, and had made all the de signs of my enemies against me turn to my great advantage. J688. I come now to the year 1(588, which proved memorable, and produced an extraordinary and unheard of revolution. The year in this century made all people reflect on the same year in the former 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 in vasion, 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 re lated to that armada, boasted to be invincible, that I need add no more to so known and to so remarkable a piece of our history. A new 88 raised new expectations, in which the surprising events did far exceed all that could have been looked for. Aibeviiie's I begin the year with Albeville's negotiation after his, the^tet*0 coming to the Hague. He had, before his going over, given in a threatening memorial upon the business of Bantam, that looked like a prelude to a declaration of war ; for he demanded a present answer, since the King could no longer bear the injustice 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 OF KING JAMES II. 357 it to the states. ¦ The chief effect that this had was, that isss; the actions of the company did sink for some days. But ¦"~"v they rose soon again: and by this it was said that Albe- ville himself made the greatest gain. The East India fleet was then expected home every day : so the merchants, who remembered well the business of the Smyrna fleet in the year 1672, did apprehend that the King had sent a fleet to intercept them, and that this memorial was intended only to prepare an apology for that breach when it should hap pen ; but nothing of that sort followed upon it. The states did answer this memorial with another, that was firm, but i more decently expressed. By their last treaty with Eng- I land it was provided, that in case any disputes should I arise between the merchants of either side, commissioners should be named on both sides to hear and judge the mat ter : 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 memorial in so high a strain, since they had done all that by the treaty was incumbent on them. Albeville 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 apprehended that the Dutch had reason to be- jlieve that the King's ministers did not know the treaty, 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 memorial was answered, and the (treaty was examined, the matter was let fall. I Albeville's next negotiation related to myself. I had rorinted a paper in justification of myself, together with my letters to the Earl of Midleton ; and he, in a memorial, Complained of two passages in that paper. One was, that I kid it was yet too early to persecute men for religion, and leiefore crimes against the state were pretended by my temies. This, he said, did insinuate, that the King did in me intend to persecute for religion. The other was, that had put in it an intimation, that I was in danger by some Bf the Irish papists. This, he said, was a reflection on the ling, who hated all such practices. And to this he added, fat by the laws of England all the King's subjects were *-\-W 358 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. 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 Hague, 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 myself. I observed the difference between them ; the one desired that the states would punish me, which did acknowledge me to be their subject; the other, in contra diction 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 insinu ated that the King could not be brought to it ; and no per son 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 myself 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 man ner 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 myself to their justice. T should decline no trial, nor the utmost severity, if I had offended in any thing. As for the two memorials that claimed me as a fugitive and a rebel, 1 could not be looked on as a fugitive from Scotland. It was now fourteen years since I had left that kingdom, and three years since I came out of England with the King's leave. I i had lived a year in the Hague openly, and nothing was laid i to my charge. As for the sentence that was pretended to \ be passed against me, I could say nothing to it till I saw a i copy of it. The states The states were fully satisfied with my answers, and or- t whaTreiated &eTe& a memorial to be drawn according to them. They j to me. also ordered their ambassador to represent to the King that OF KING JAMES II. 359 he himself knew how sacred a thing naturalization was. 1688. The faith and honour of every state was concerned in it. I •"*'v*/ had been naturalized upon marrying one of their subjects, 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 offered him, and a just cause of war. Yet, after much passion, he said, he did not intend to make war upon it ; for he was not then in a 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 ambassador 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 observed, that the words in trea ties ought to be explained according to their common ac ceptation, or the sense given them in the civil law, and not according 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 born arms, or had plotted against his prince ; and a - fugitive was a man that fled from justice. The heat with which the King seemed inflamed against me, carried him to say and do many things that were very little to his honour. I had advertisements sent me of a further progress in his other Ae- designs against me. He had it suggested to hiin, that *^s agaiast since a sentence was passed against me for non-appearance, and the states refused to deliver me up, he might order pri vate persons to execute the sentence as they could ; and it was writ over very positively, that 5000Z. would be given to any one that should murder me. A gentleman of an un blemished reputation writ me word, that he himself by ap- - cident saw an order drawn in the Secretary's 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 3(>0 HISTORY OF THE REIGN lose, whom he trusted it to convey the notice of it to me ; and ^¦^ my author was employed by that person to send the notice to me. The King asked Jefferies, what he might do against me in a private way, now that he could not get me into his hands. Jefferies answered, he did not see how the King could do any more than he had done. He told this to Mr. Kirk to send it to me ; for he concluded the King was re solved to proceed to extremities, and only wanted the opi nion of a man of the law to justify a more violent method. I had so many different advertisements sent me of this, that I 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 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 cheerful ness of spirit, than I did during all those threatenings, and the apprehensions that others were in concerning me. Pensioner Soon after this a letter writ by Fagel, the pensioner of Holland, was printed, which leads me to 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 gre at ambition : 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. Penn 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 Argyle's, to come over; and he undertook, that he should not only be received into fa vour, but into confidence. He came, before he crossed the seas, to the Prince, and promised an inviolable fidelity to him, and to the common interests of religion and liberty. He had been oft with the pensioner, and had a great mea sure 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, Fasrel's let ter. *^vO OF KING JAMES II. 3f>l he made, and that his designs went no further than to settle 1 688- * a full liberty of conscience ; or he thought that it became a man, who had been so long in disgrace, not to shew any jea lousies at first, when the King was so gracious to him : he undertook to do all that lay in his power to advance his de signs in Scotland, and to represent his intentions so at the Hague, as might incline the Prince to a better opiriion of them. He opened all this in several letters to the pensioner; and in these he pressed him vehemently in the King's name, and by his direction to persuade the Prince to concur with the King in procuring the laws to be repealed : he laid be fore him the inconsiderable 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 refusing to consent to this might at ano ther time Wring them under another severe prosecution. Steward, after he had writ many letters to this purpose 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 person 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 Fagel, 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 possessed with an opinion of the Prince, and of his party in England, as designing no thing but the ruin and extirpation of all the papists in those kingdoms : so the pensioner wrote a long answer to Stew ard, which was put in English by me. He began it with great assurances of the Prince and Prin cess's duty to the King : they were both of them much against all persecution on the account of religion : they freely consented to the covering papists from the severities of the laws made against 1hem on the account of their reli gion,- and also that they might have the free exercise of it in VOL. II. 3 v 362 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. private : they also consented to grant a full liberty to dis- '"¦*VV senters ; but they could not consent to the- repeal of those laws that tended only to the securing the protestant reli gion, such as those concerning the tests, which imported no punishment, but only an incapacity of being in public employments, wliich 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 religion. If the numbers of the papists were so small as to make them inconsiderable, then it was riot 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 suffer, 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 not only to be blamed, if the offers now made were not accepted. The matter was very strongly argiied through the whole letter, and the Prince and Prin cess's zeal for the protestant religion was. set out in terms that could not be very acceptable to the King. The letteT 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 back that he would either have all or nothing. All 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 Emperor was fully satisfied with what was offered, and promised to use his in terest at Rome to get the Pope to write to the Kmg to ac cept 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 Pe- Father Petre, as he had been long in the confidence, was pri^coun- now brought to the council-board, and made a privy-coun- seiior. sellor : and it was given out, that 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 if : but it was hoped, that the King would conquer it, if not in the present, yet at furthest in the next pontificate. The King resolved at the same time not to disgust the secular OF KING JAMES II. ' 363 .priests; so Bishop Leyburn, whom Cardinal Howard had iebs. 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 partial to the Jesuits, that the others found they were not on equal terms with them. There were three other bishops consecrated for England ; and these four were ordered to make a pro gress and circuit over England, confirming, and doing other episcopal offices, in all the parts of England. Great num bers gathered about them, wheresoever they went. The Jesuits thought all was sure, and that their scheme The confi- was so well laid, that it could not miscarry : and they had je"™L" 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 main tain the laws and the established church, he, instead Pf pre tending that the King still kept his word, said, upon some occasions princes must forget their promises : arid^ 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 be haved himself in all other respects so poPrly, that he be came the jest of the Hague. The foreign ministers, Mr. d'Avaux the French ambassador not excepted, did not know how to excuse or bear with his weakness, which ap peared on all occasions, and in all companies. What he wrote to England upon his first audiences was The pen- not known : but it was soon after spread np and down the "™°^ lel" kingdom, very artificially and with much industry, that the printed. Prince and Princess had now consented to the repeal of the tests, as well as 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 364 HISTORY OF THE REIGN ™®*\ all the parts of England, and was received with universal joy. The dissenters saw themselves now safe in his inten tions 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 complained of those ambitious priests, and hungry cour tiers, who were resolved, rather than lay down their aspir ings and other projects, to leave them still exposed 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 popu lar art, to recommend 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 that, 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 indignation upon him, as should let all the world see how deep it was. The Ring There were six regiments of the King's subjects, three {Islet-1 (1 ttlCTC- i giments of English, and three Scotch, in the service of the states : Us subjects some 0f them were old regiments, that had continued in service. their service during the two wars in the late King's reign. Others were raised since the peace of 1673. But these came not into their service under any capitulation, that had reserved an authority to the King to call for them at his pleasure. When Argyle 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 difficulty in obtaining the consent of the states to send them over. There was no distinction made among them between papists and protestants, ac cording to a maxim of the states with relation to their ar mies; so there were several papists in these 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 uneasy to the Prince, who began tp see that he might have occasion to make use of those bodies, if things should be carried to a rupture be tween the King and him ; and yet he did not know how he, OF KING JAMES II. 305 could trust them, while such officers were in command : he 1688- 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. This demand was made all of the sudden, without any which was previous application to any of the states, to dispose them ^""officer" * to grant it, or to many of the officers to persuade them to had leave i.« ask their conge to go over. The states pretended the regi- s°" ments were theirs ; they had paid levy money for them, and had them under no capitulation; so they excused them selves, 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 Pririce was delivered from some troublesome men by this management of the King's. Upon that, these bodies were so modelled, that the Prince knew that he might depend entirely on them; and he was no more disturbed by those insolent officers, who had for some years behaved themselves rather as enemies, than as per sons 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 mi nister of state. The nuncio had moved the King to inter pose, and mediate a reconciliation between the courts of Rome and France. But he answered, that since the Pope would not gratify hiin 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 asthePPpe felt himself press ed, he would fly to the King for protection, and grant him everything that he asked of 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 lo drive the King and his party to the precipice. Towards the end "of April the King thought fit to renew Anew dc- the declaration, that he had set out the former year for li- tderatbn!" berfy of conscience ; with an addition, declaring that he v-^ 366 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. 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 pro mise of a parliament so long before hand was somewhat ex traordinary. Both Father Petre and Penn engaged the King to it, but with a different prospect. Penn, and all the tools who were employed by him, had still some hopes of carry ing a parliament to agree with the King, if too much time was not lost ; whereas the delaying a parliament raised jea lousies, as if none were intended, but that it was only talk ed 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 concurrence 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 apprehend, 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 themselves the longer in credit and in pay ; but that 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 parliamentary way, he might be more easily carried to extreme and violent methods. which the The King was not satisfied with the publishing his decla- orderedto6 ration, but he resolved to oblige the clergy to read it in all read. their churches in the time of divine service; and now it appeared what bad effects were like to follow on that offi cious motion that Sancroft 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 parliament. An order passed in council, requiring the bishops to send copies of the declaration to all their clergy, and to or der 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 ^^/ OF KING JAMES II. 307 best and worthiest of them were under some distraction of 1688. thought. They had many meetings, and argued the point long among themselves, in and about London. On the one hand it was said, that if they refused to read it, the King would proceed 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 consequences that might follow on a breach. Their reading it did not im port 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 a 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 then 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 decla ration, 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 fa vour 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 service, but that which they approved of. The point at present was not, whether a toleration was a lawful 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 govern ment, and the making it arbitrary ; whereas, by the constitu tion, it was a legal administration. It also allowed such an infinite liberty, with the suspension of all penal laws, and that without any limitation, that paganism itself 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 dariger 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 perhaps a year 368 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. sooner or later by any other management ; it was therefore ^"^ fit that they should prepare themselves for suffering ; and not endeavour to prevent it by doing that, which would draw on them the hatred of their friends, arid the scorn of their enemies. To which These reasons prevailed, and they resolved not to read nowTvT the declaration. They saw of what importance it was, that obeuience. 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 Pf England, could have been prevailed on to give obedience, and only some number, how valuable soever the men might be, should re fuse 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 obedience, and fall on them, and so break the church within itself upon this point, and then destroy the one half by the means of the rest. The most eminent were resolved not to obey ; and those who might be prevailed on to comply would by that means fall under such contempt, that they could not have the credit or strength to support the established religion. The court de pended upon this, that the greater part would obey ; and so they would be furnished with a point of state, to give a co lour 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 design 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 correspondence 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 unanimous, as it proved in conclusion that they were. The Arch- The Archbishop of Canterbury, Sancroft, resolved upon bishop and fljjg occasion to act suitably to his post and character. He six bishops - -t petition the wrote round his province, and desired that such of the Kmg- bishops-as were able would come up, and consult together in a matter of this great concern ; and he asked the opinion of wv OF KING JAMES II. 369 , those, whom their age and infirmites disabled from taking 1688- 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 bi shops that came up to London, resolved in a petitiori to the King, to lay before him the reasons that determined them not to obey the order of council that had been sent them : this flowed from no want of respect to his Majesty's autho rity, nor from any unwillingness to let favour be shewed to dissenters ; in relation to whom they were willing to come to such a temper, as should be thought fit, when that mat ter should be considered and settled in parliament and con vocation : but, this declaration being founded on such a dispensing power, as had been often declared illegal in par liament, both in the year 1662, and in the year 1672, and in the beginning 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 conscience, 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. The King was much sur prised with this, being flattered and deceived by his spies. Cartwright, Bishop of Chester, was possessed with a story that was too easily believed by him, and was by him car ried to the King, who was very apt to believe every thing that suited with his own designs. The story was, that the bishops intended, by a petition to the King, to let him un derstand, that orders of this kind used to be addressed to their chancellors, but not to themselves, and to pray him to continue that method : and that by this means they hoped to get put of this difficulty. This was very acceptable to the court, and procured the bishops a quick admittance ; and they had proceeded so carefully, that nothing concerted 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 hun. The six bishops were St. Asaph, Ely, Bath and Wells, Peterborough, Chi- vot,. II. 3 B \~y^J 370 HISTORY OF THE REIGN ^B8. Chester, and Bristol. The answer they made the King was in these wprds ; " The will, of God be done;" and they came frpm 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 expectations, reckoning, that upon the issue of this business a great decision would be made, both of thei designs 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 persuasions. Lob, an emi nent man among the dissenters, who was entirely gained to the court, advised the King to send the bishops to the Tower. Father 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 put into that indecent expression upon it, that they should be made, to eat their own dung. The King was long in doubt. Some of the popish nobility pressed him earnestly to let the matter fall : for now it appeared, that the body of the clergy were resolved nottp read the declaration. Those who did obey, were few and inconsiderable. Only seven obeyed in the city of London, and not above two hundred all England over ; and of these some read it the first Sun day, but changed their minds before the second : others de clared in their sermons, that though they obeyed the order, ; they did not approve of the declaration : and one, more pleasantly than gravely, told his people, that though he was obliged to read it, they were not obliged to hear it ; and he stopped till they all went out, and then he read it to the walls. In many places, as soon as the minister began to read it, all the people rose and went out. The King did what he could toencourage those that did obey his order. Parker, Bishop of Oxford, died about this. time. He wrote a book against the tests full of petulant scurrility, of wliich I shall only give one instance. He had reflected much pn the whole popish plot, and on Oate's evi dence ; and upon that he called the test, the sacrament of the Oatesian villany. He treated the parliament that en acted the tests, with a scorn that no popish writer had yet ventured on ; and he said much to excuse transubstantia tion, and to free the church of Rome from the charge of OF KING JAMES II. 371 idolatry. This raised such a disgust at him, even in those less. that had been formerly but too much influenced by him, ^^ that when he could not help seeing that, he sunk upon it! I was desired to answer his book with the severity that he deserved : and I did it with an acrimony of style, that no thing but such a time, and such a man, could in any sort excuse. It was said, the Kirig sent him my papers, hear ing that nobody else durst put them iri his hands, hoping that it would raise his indignation/ and engage him to an swer them. One Hall, a conformist in London, who was looked on as half a presbyterian, yet, because he read the declaration, was made Bishop of Oxford. One of the popish bishops was, upon the King's mandamus chosen, by the illegal fellows of Magdalen's College, their president. The sense of the nation, as well as of the clergy, had ap peared so signally on this occasion, that it was visible that the King had not only the seven petitioning bishops to deal with, but the body of the whole nation, both clergy and laity. ~"~" The violent advices of Father Petre, and the Jesuit party, The King were so fatally suited to the King's own temper and pas- %j^^ tthe sion, that they prevailed over the wiser counsels of almost be prose- all that were advised with. But the King, before he would cuted for ''' bring the matter to the council, secretly engaged all the privy counsellors to concur with him ; and, after a fort night's" consultation, the bishops were cited to appear be fore the council. The petition was offered to them, and they were asked, if they owried it to be their petition. They answered, it seemed they were% to be proceeded against upon that account ; so they hoped the King would not press .them to a confession, and then make use of it agairist them : after they had offered this, they owned the petition. They were next charged with the publication of it, for it was then printed ; but they absolutely denied that was done by their means. The Archbishop had written the petition all in his own hand, without employing any person to copy it out : and, though there was one draught written of the petition, as it was agreed on, from which he had written out the origi nal which they had all signed, yet he had kept that still in his own possession, and had never shewn it to any person ; so it was not published by them : that must have been done by some of those to whom the King had shewed it. 372 1688. They were sent lo the Tower. Bin soon after dis charged. They were tried. HISTORY OF THE REIGN They were in the next place required to enter into bonds to appear in the Court of the King's Bench, and answer to an information of misdemeanour. They excepted to this ; and said, that by their peerage they were not bound to do it. Upon their insisting on this, they were sent to the Tower, by a warrant signed by the whole board, except Father Petre, who was passed over by the King's order: this set all the whole city into the highest fermentation that was ever known in the memory of man. The bishops were sent by water to the Tower ; and all along as they passed, the banks of the river were full of people, who kneeled down and asked their blessing, and with loud shouts expressed their good wishes for them, and their concern in their pre servation. The soldiers, and other officers in the Tower, did the same. An universal consternation appeared in all people's looks ; but the King was not moved with all this ; and though two days after, upon the Queen's pretended de livery, the King had a fair occasion to have granted a ge neral pardon, to celebrate the joy of that birth (and it was given out by those papists that had always affected to pass for moderate men, that they had all pressed this vehement-. ly), the King was inflexible : he said, his authority would become contemptible, if he suffered such-an affront to pass, unpunished. A week after their commitment, they were brought upon a habeas corpus to the King's Bench bar, where their coun sel offered to make it appear to be an illegal commitment ; but the court allowed it good in law.. They were required to enter into bonds for small sums, to answer to the infor mation that day fortnight. The bishops were discharged of their imprisonment ; and people of all sorts ran to visit them as confessors, one com pany going in as another went out. The appearance in Westminster Hall was very solemn : about thirty of the no bility accompanying them. All the streets were full of shoutings the rest of the day, and with bonfires at night. When the day fixed for their trial came, there was a vast concourse. Westminster Hall, and all the places about, were full of people, who were strangely affected with the, matter ; even the army, that was then encamped on Houns- low Heath, shewed such a disposition to mutiny, that it gave the King no small uneasiness. The trial came on, *— >,v OF KING JAMES II. 373 which was chiefly managed against the bishops by Sir Wil- 1688- liam Williams. He had been speaker in two successive parliaments, and was a zealous promoter of the exclusion ; and he had continued many years a bold pleader in all causes against the court ; but he was a corrupt and vicious man, who had no principles, but followed his own interests. Sawyer, the attorney-general, who had for many years served the ends of the court in a most abject and obsequious man ner, would not support the. dispensing power ; so he was turned out, Powis being advanced to be attorney-general, and Williams was made solicitor-general. Powis acted his part in this trial as fairly as his post could admit of ; but Williams took very indecent liberties, and he had great ad vantages over Sawyer and Finch,v who were among the bishops' counsel, by reflecting on the precedents and pro- , ceedings during their being the King's counsel. The King's counsel could not have full proof that the bishops' hands were truly theirs, and were forced to have recourse to the confession they had made at the council board ; which was thought very dishonourable, since they had made that con fession in confidence, trusting to the King's honour, though it did not appear that any promise was made, that no ad vantage should be taken of that confession. No proof was brought of their publishing it, which was the main point : the presenting it to the King, and afterwards their owning it to be their petition, when it was put to them at the coun cil board, was all that the King's counsel could offer for proof of this ; which was an apparent strain, in which even those judges, that were the surest to the court, .did not seem to be satisfied. It was much urged against them, that this petition was a libel, tending to the defaming the King's go vernment. But to this it was answered, that they having received an order, to which they found they could not give obedience, thought it was incuriibeht on them as bishops and as sub jects, to lay before the King their reasons for it. All -sub jects had a right to petition the King : they, as peers, were of his great council, and so had yet a better claim to that; and that more particularly in matters of religion ; for the act of uniformity, in Queen Elizabeth's time, had required them under a curse to look carefully after those matters. The dispensing power had been often brought into debate 374 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. in parliament, and was always voted to be against law ; v""",»/ and the late King had yielded the point by recalling his de claration ; so they thought they had a right to represent these things to the King ; and occasion was often taken to reflect on the dispensing power. To this the King's counsel replied, that the votes of one or both houses were not laws, till they were enacted by king and parliament ; and the late King's passing once from a point of his prerogative did not give it up, but only waved it for that time : they urged much the sacredness of the King's authority ; that a paper might be true' in fact, and yet be a libel 5 that in parliament the two houses had a right to petition; but it was sedition to do it in a point of government out of parliament, The trial did last long— above ten hours: the crowds continued in expectation all the while, and expressed so great a concern for the bishops, that the witnesses who were brought against them were not only treated with much scorn and loud laughter upon every occasion, but seemed to be in such danger, that they escaped narrowly, going away by a back passage, Two of the judges, Powel and Halloway, delivered their opinion, that there was np seditions matter in the petition, and that it was no libel, Wright was now brought into this court and made chief justice, and Herbert was made chief justice of the Com mon Pleas-: Herbert was with the court in the main of the King's dispensing power, but was against them in most particulars ; so he could not serve their ends in this court. Wright was the properer tool : he in his charge called the petition a libel ; but he did not think the publication was proved. And acquit- The jury was fairly returned : when they were shut up, they were soon agreed upon their verdict, tP acquit the bishops : but it was thought to be both the most solemn, and the safer way, to continue shut up till the morning. The King still flattered himself with the hope, that the bishops would be brought in guilty : he went that morning to the camp ; for the ill humour the army was in the day before, made him think it necessary to go and keep them in awe and order by his own presence. To the great The court sat again the next day, and then the jury townfand came in wit'1 their verdict 5 upon which there were such nation. shoutings, so long continued, and as it were echoed in the OF KING JAMES II. 375 city, that all people were struck with it : every man seemed 1 e8S- transported with joy: bonfires were made all about the v*"*'*/ streets ; and the news going over the nation, produced the like rejoicings and bonfires all England over. The King's presence kept the army in some order ; but he was no sooner gone put of the camp, than he was followed 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 qf those violent counsels. He intended still to pursue them: it was therefore resolved Pn, to bring this matter of the contempt pf the order of council, in not reading the de claration, before the ecclesiastical commissioners. They did not think fit to cite the Archbishop and bishops before them ; for they did not doubt they would plead to their jurisdiction, and refuse to acknowledge their authority; which they hoped their chancellors and the inferior clergy would not, venture on. Citations were sent out, requiring the chancellors and 'I'he clergy ' ' - W3.S HGXt_(lC — archdeacons to send iri the lists of all the clergy, both of signed such as had obeyed, and of those who had not obeyed the "gainst. Older of council. Some of these were now so much ani mated with the sense that the 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 forhim to go on with them any longer ; for though he himself had obeyed the order in council, 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 conscience, 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. 1688. The effect this had every wheve. 376 HISTORY OF THE REIGN This was the progress of that transaction, which was considered all Europe over as the trial whether the King Or the church were like to prevail. The decision was aS favourable as possible : the King did assume to himself a power to make laws void, and to qualify men for employ- riients, whom the law had put under such incapacities, that all they did was null and void. The sheriffs and mayors of towns wCre 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 administra tion of it, was broken. A parliament returned by such men was no legal parliament. All this was done by virtue of the dispensing power, which changed the whole frame of our government,- 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 then 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. 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 destruction of our con stitution avowedly began, and violently 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_pf 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 submission and obe dience, 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 OF KING JAMES IL 377 possessor, if he goes about to destroy that which is to come ie8s. to him after the possessor's death. v-*v*u' Upon all this disorder that England was failing into, Russci Admiral Russel came to the Hague : he had a good p' re- g^ ** tence 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 positively 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 punished ; for it seemed to be set up as a maxim, that the army, by rendering itself odious tp the nation, would become thereby entirely devoted to the court : but, after all, though soldiers were bad English men, and worse Christians, yet the court found them too good protestants 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 some The Prince's men of the best interest, and the most valued in the nation, answer- 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 September to come over. The main confi dence we had was in the electoral Prince of Brandenburg ; for the old elector was then dying. And I told Russel at parting, that unless he died, there would be great difficul ties, not easily mastered, in the desigti of the Prince's ex pedition to England. He was then ill of a dropsy, which, coming after a gout The Elector of long continuance, seemed to threaten a speedy end of burg,sa his life. I had the honour to see him at Cleve, and was death. 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 VOL. ii. 3 c v-v^' 378 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. loved them much : he had a very perfect view of the State Europe had been in for fifty years, iri which he had borne a great share in all affairs, having directed his own counsels himself: he had a wonderful memory, 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 under 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 rigidity of the Lutherans, more particularly of those in Prussia ; nor was he well pleased with the stiffness 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 suffered them to enrich themselves excessively. In the end of his life the Elecforess had gained great credit, and governed his counsels too much. He had set it up for a maxim, that the electoral families in Germany bad weakened themselves so much, that they would not be able to maintain the liberty of the/ empire against the Aus trian family, which was now rising by their victories in Hungary : the houses of Saxe, and the Palatine, and of Brunswick, and Hesse, had done this so much, by the dis membering some of their dominions to their younger chil dren, 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 suf fered his Electoress to provide for her children, and to en rich herself by all the ways she could think on, since he would not give them any share of his dominions. This she OF KING JAMES II. 379 did not fail to do. And the Elector, having just cause of 1688, complaint for being abandoned by the allies in the peace v-vW 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 protes tants. 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 Christian compassion, and of a bounty becoming so great a prince. But his age and in firmities, he being crippled with the gout, and the ill under standing that was between the Prince Electoral and Elec toress 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 firmness 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 tender ness that both surprised and melted them all ; and above all other things he recommended to them the concerns of the protestant religion, then in such an universal danger. His son had not his genius : he had not a strength of body nor a force of mind capable of great matters. But he was filled with zeal for the reformed religion ; and he was at that time so entirely possessed with a confidence in the Prince of Orange, and with a high esteem of him, as he was bis 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 Europe, and was a zealous protestant, and was like to prove a very good minister, though he was too absolute in his favour, and was too much set on raising his own family. All at the Hague were look ing with great concern on the affairs of Europe ; these being in many respects, and in many different places, brought to a very criticalstate. I must now look back to England, where the Queen's de- The Qneen livery Was the subject of all men's discourse ; and since so save oat 380 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. much depends on this, I will give as full and as- distinct an thaVshewas account of all that related to that matter, as I could gather with child. Qp^ either at that time or afterwards. The Queen had been for 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 child ren soon after they were born, and had now for several years ceased bearing, would have no more children : her own priests apprehended it, and seemed to wish for her death : she had great and frequent distempers that returned often, which put all people out of their hopes or fears of her hav ing 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 often to her : but it was visible she was not like to gain that credit in affairs, to which she had aspired, and therefore this was less considered. 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 beloved by the King ; but the Queen's dislike kept him from making any great figure : he made two campaigns 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 distinguished him self, yet he had appeared in none of them : there was more care taken of his person than became his age and condition : yet his governor's brother was a Jesuit, and in the secret; so every thing was ventured on by him, and all was for given him. In September, the former year, the Queen went to the Bath, where, as was already told, the King came and saw her, and staid 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 sub ject, and that made her stay there a week longer : she came to Windsor on the 6th of October ; it was said, that at the very time of her coming to the King, her mother, the Dutch- \^v^ OF KING JAMES II. 381 ess of Modena, made a vow to the Lady Loretto, that her isss- daughter might by her means have a son ; and it went cur rent 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 conception said to be thus begun looked suspicious. It was now fixed to the 6th of October, so the nine months were to run to the 6th of July : she was, in the progress of her big belly, let blood several times, and the most astringent things that could be proposed were used. 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 ceremony. 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 staid by her even indecently long in mornings, to see her rise, and to give her her shift ; but she never did either : 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 some were suspect ing 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 certainly, if she was truly with child, she owed it to the 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 suspicion. 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 he was soon sent for by the Queen, who apprehended she was in danger of miscarrying. Dr. Scarborough was come to Knightsbridge to see Bishop Ward, my predecessor, who had been his antient friend, and was then his patient ; but the Queen's coach was sent to call him in all haste, since she was near miscarrying. 382 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. Dr. Windebank, who knew nothing of this matter, staid v**v,"/ long that morning upon an appointment for Dr. Wallgrave, 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. 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 had happened to her. And she, being a lady of the bed-chamber to Queen-Dow ager, did, according to the rule of the court, go into the Queen's bed-chamber without asking admittance. She saw the Queen abed, bemoaning herself in a most doleful man ner, 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 sharpriess, What do you do here ? and carried her to the door. Before she had got out of the court, one of the bed-chamber women fol lowed 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 un usual vehemence. Millington, another physician, told the Earl of Shrewsbury, from whom I had it, that he was 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 expected it of him, that he would persuade, her to it. Millington answered, he would not ad vise a patient according to direction, but according to his own reason; so he would not go. Scarborough and Witherly took it upon them to advise it : so she went thither in the end of May. The Queen's As soon as she was gone, those about the Queen did all changed.5 ~" the sudden change her reckoning, and began it from the OF KING JAMES II. 383 King's being with her at Bath. This came on so quick, 1688. that though the Queen had set the 14th of June for her go- '^^ ing 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 resolution was taken for tiie Queen's lying in at St. James's ; and di rections 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 Queen said, she Would gp to St. James's, and look 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 Whitehall to St. James's through the Park, and she always went that way ; yet now, by a sort of affectation, she would be carried thither by Charing Cross through the Pall Mall : 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 Word to Ti,e Qaefen the King, that she was iri labour. The Queen-Dowager faid l0 be was next sent to ; but no ladies were sent for; so that no wo men were in the room but two dressers and one undresser, 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 10th of June. The King' 'brought over with him from Whitehall a great many peers and privy- counsellors ; and of these eighteen were let into the bed-chamber; 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. The Queen lay all the while a-bed : and in order to the warming one side of it, a warming-pan 381 HISTORY OF THE REIGNT 1688. was brought, but it was not opened, that it might be seen "**"v"v that there was fire and nothing else in it : so here was mat ter for suspicion, with which all people were filled. And >c« for the intended expedition ; for Zuylestein brought him f^lK such positive advices, and such an assurance of the invita- t0 Errand. tion 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 nation was in a high fermentation. The proceedings against the bishops, and those that were still 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 exe cuted; and that the religion would be altered. The pre tended 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 visible, that the army continued well affected. They spoke only against popery: they drank the most reproachful healths against them that could be invented, 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 modelled 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 secure their trade ; so the King resolved to set out as strong a fleet. Strickland, who was a papist, had a command. He brought some priests aboard with him, who said mass, or at least performed such offices of their religion as are allowed in 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 gene ral, and Strickland in particular, When some gained per- 388 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1685. sons among the seamen tried their affections to the Dutch, "-"v"**/ it appeased 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 mo derate measures. Sunderland These advices were suggested by the Earl of Sunderland, more5 mode- who saw the King was running violently to his own ruin. rate pro- g0j as SOon as the Queen admitted men to audiences, he inss' had some very long ones of her. He represented to her, that the state of her affairs were 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 administration lay the flame that was now kindled. By this she would gain the hearts of the nation, both to herself and to her son : she might, be declared regent, 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 management. And he turn- He made the step to popery all on the sudden, without papist. any prevjous instruction or conference : so that the change he made looked too like a man who, having no religion, took up one rather to serve a turn, than that he was truly changed from one religion to another. He has since been 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, that stuck with some in England, who thought that Mr. Sidney, who had the secret of all the correspondence 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 secret ; 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 OF KING JAMES II. 889 correspondence with the Earl of Sunderland or not? For, 1688: till they were satisfied in that matter, they would not go v-^*"' on ; since they believed that" he would betray 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 differ ent, conduct, that in a slow method they might have gained that, which they were so near losing by the violent pro ceedings in which they had gone so far. The judges had orders in their circuits to proceed very gently, and to give new promises in the King's name : but they were treated every where with such contempt, that the common decen cies were scarce paid them when they were on the bench : and they now saw that the presentments 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 vacation. But the court had little quiet, having every day fresh alarms from abroad,, as well as great mortifica tions at home. I must now change the scene, and give a large account The Prince of the affairs abroad, they having such a connexion with ^"^1, all that followed in England. Upon the Elector of Bran- some denburgh's death, the Prince sent Mr. Bentink with the gj^s £. compliment to the new Elector ; 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 tp carry over to England an army of nine thousand foot, and four thousand horse and dragoons. He intended to choose these i out of the whole Dutch army : but for the 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 between 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 occasions, 90 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. His brother, the Duke of Hanover, was at that time in v-v^/ some engagements with the court of France. But sirice 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 wre suP- ceededj 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 succession to the crown would be lodged in her person and in her posterity1; though, on the other hand, if he continued, as he stood then, engaged with France, I could not answer for this. The gentleman carried the message, and delivered it. The Dutchess entertained it with much warmth ; and brought him to the Duke to repeat it to him. But at that time this made too great impression on him. He looked on it as are- mote and doubtful project ; yet when he saw our success in England, he had other thoughts of it. Some days after this Frenchman 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 myself, without communicat ing 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 himself so far master, as to be forming projects concerning the succession to the crown. he affairs But while this was in a secret management, the Elector Cologne. 0f Cologne's death came in very luckily to give a good co-. lour to intrigues and preparations. The old Elector was brother to Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria. He had been long Bishop, both of "Cologne and Liege : he was also elected Bishop of Munster ; but the Pope would never grant his bulls for that see ; but he had the temporalities, and that was all he thought on. He had thus a revenue of near four millions of guilders, and four great bishoprics, for he was likewise Bishop of Hildesheim. He could arm and pay twenty thousand men, besides that his dominions OF KING JAMES II. 3,91 lay quite round the Netherlands. Munster lay between lfi8&- thtm and the northern parts of Germany, and from thence ****""*"' their best recruits came. Cologne commanded twenty leagues of the Rhine ; by which, as an entrance was open? edinto 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. Germany; and Liege was a country full both of people and wealth, by, which an entrance is operied into Brabant : and if "Maestricht was taken, the Maese was open down to Hol land. So it was of great importance to the states to take care who should succeed him. The old man was a weak prince, much set on by chemical processes in hopes of the philosopher's stone. He had taken one of the princes of Furstenberg into his particular confidence, and was entirely governed by him. He made him one of the canons of Co logne ; and he came to be dean at last. He made him not only his chief minister, but left the nomination of the ca nons 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 suc ceeding the Elector ; and nothing but iU management could have prevented it. He had no hopes of- succeeding at Monster : but he had taken much pains to secure Liege. I need not enlarge further on this stoTy, than to remem ber that he got the Elector to deliver his country up to the French in the year ,1672, and that the treaty opened at Co- lope was broken up on his being seized by the Emperor's order. After he was set at liberty, he was, upon the re commendation 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 family, to consent to the election of a coadjutor in Cologne. But this was an artifice of the cardinal's, who deceived that family into the hopes of carrying] 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 ground- led were the Palatine's hopes, that.of twenty-five voices the cardinal had nineteen,, and they had only six voices. The contest at Rome about the franchises had now oc casioned such a rupture there, that France and Rome \**s*S 392 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. seemed to be in a state of war. . The Count Lavardin was sent ambassador to Rome ; but the Pope refused to receiver him, unless he would renounce the pretension to the fran chises. So he entered Rome in a hostile manner, with some troops of hprse, 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 si lently ; but would never admit him to an audience, nor re ceive 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 elec tion pf a coadjutor to Cologne. So that not being done when the Elector died, the canons 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. 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 gentle man 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 adJ mit the bearer, nor receive the letter. He said, while the French ambassador lived at Rome like an enemy that had invaded it, he would receiye 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 Cologne. The Elector of Bavaria had been disgusted at some things iri the Emperor's court. He com plained, that the honour of the success in Hungary was given so entirely to the Duke of Lorrain, that he had not the share which belonged to him. The French instruments that were then about him topk occasion to alienate him UyW OF KING JAMES II. 393 more from the Emperor, by representing to him, that in the ifi88. management now at Cologne, the Emperor shewed more re gard to the Palatine family than to himself, after all the service he had done him. The Emperor, apprehending the ill consequences of a breach with 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 offer ed him all the voices that the Palatine had made at Cologne, fn favour of his brother, Prince Clement. Upon this they were again reconciled ; and the Elector of Bavaria com manded 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 chap ter of Cologne ; so he was not eligible according td 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 go vernment of the temporalities 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 np in ppposition to the Cardinal. He was ordered to charge him severely before the chapter, 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 attend ed with a war in their country, and other dismal conse- quences^for the Cardinal was chosen by the chapter, vicar, or guardian of the temporalities ; and he had put garrisons in all their fortified places that were paid with French mo ney, and they knew 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 offered 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 bis interests : at the election the Cardinal had four teen voices, and Prince Clement had ten : by this means the Cardinal's postulation was defective, since he had not two- vol. n. 3 B V-^-w' 394 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. thirds ; and, upon that, Prince Clement's electipn was first judged good by the Emperor, as to the temporalities, but was transmitted by him to Rome, where a congregation of cardinals examined it, and it was judged in favour of Prince Clement. The Cardinal succeeded worse at Liege, where the Dean was without any difficulty chosen bishop, and no thing but the Cardinal's purple saved him from the vio lences of the people at 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 npt only would accept of no presents from those whom the states appointed to as sist 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 immediate relation to the peace and safety of Holland, that, if they had miscarried in it, the expedition designed for England would not have been so safe, nor could it have been proposed easily to the states : by this it appeared what an influence the papacy, low as it is, may still have in 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 Pririce 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 frpm such incon siderable beginnings : these things furnished the Prince with a good blind for covering all his preparations, since here a war in their neighbourhood was unavoidable, and it was ne cessary to strengthen both their alliances and their troops : for it was visible to all the world, that if the French could have fixed themselves in the territory of Cologne, the way was open to enter Holland, or to seize on Flanders when that King pleased, and he would have the four electors on the Rhine at mercy : it was necessary to dislodge them, and this could not be done without a war with France. The OF KING JAMES II. 395 Prince got the states to settle a fund for nine thousand spa- 1688. men, to be constantly in their service ; and orders were *^+J 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, arid so little , suspicion, that neither the court of England nor the court of France seemed to be alarmed at them. In July, Admiral Herbert came over to Holland, and Herbert was received with a particular regard tp his pride and ill ct^£hA' humour : for he was upon every occasion so sullen arid 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 be haviour in England, that the Prince understood that it was expected he should use him in the manner he himself should desire ; in which it was not very easy for 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 themselves 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 himself, was believed the root of all the sullenness he fell in to wards the King, and of all the firmness that grew out of that; I now return to England, to give an account of a secret The advices management there. The Lord Mordaunt was the first of[™™Ens- all the English nobility that came over openly, to see the The Lord Prince of Orange. He asked the King's leave to do it ; ^ca™nrt'g he was a man of much heat, many notions, and full of dis course ; he was brave and generous, but had not true judg ment; his thoughts were crude and indigested, and his se crets were soon known. He was with the Prince in the year 1 686 ; and then he pressed him to undertake the busi ness of England ; and he represented the inatter as so easy, that this appeared too romantic 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 396 1688. The Earl of Shrews bury's character. Rnssel's character. HISTORY OF THE REIGN to act when it should be necessary ; and he assured him that if the King should go about either to change the esta blished religion, or to wrong the Princess in her right, or to raise forged plots to destroy his friends, that he would try what he could possibly do. Next year, a man of a far different temper came over to him. The Earl of Shrewsbury ; he had been bred a papist, but had forsaken that religion, upon a very critical and anxious inquiry into matters of controversy. Some thought, that though be 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: he had no ordinary measure of learning, a correct judg ment, with a sweetness of temper that charmed all who knew him. He had at that time just notions of govern ment, 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 modest deportment gave him such an inter est 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. But Russel coming over in May brought the matter nearer to 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. The Prince spoke more positively to him than he had ever done before. He said, he must satisfy both his honour and conscience, be fore he could enter upon so great a design, which, if it mis carried, 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 mnst be of the last importance, both to the interests of Europe and of the protestant religion; therefore he expected formal and direct invitations. Russel laid before him the danger of trusting such a secret to great OF KING JAMES II. 397 numbers. The Prince said, if a considerable number of 1688- men, that 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. He was a man who laid his interest much to heart, and he re solved to embark deep in this design. But the man in whose hands the conduct of the whole de- Sidney's sign was chiefly deposited, by the Prince's owri order, was charaoter- Mr. Sidney, brother to the Earl of Leicester, and to Algernon Sidney. He was a graceful man, and had lived long in the court, where he 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 pleasure. He had been sent envoy to Holland in the year 1679, where he entered into such particular confidences with the Prince, that he had the highest measure 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 appre hensive of the dangers this might cast him in, that he travel led, almost a year round Italy. But now matters ripened faster : so all centred 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 mat ters, I recommended a kinsman of my own, Johnstoun, whom l had formed, and knew to be both faithful and diligent, and very fit for the employment he was now trusted with. Sidney tried the Marquis of Hallifax, if he would advise Many en- the Prince's coming over. But, as this matter was opened 1^?^" lhe to him at a great distance, he did not encourage, a further freedom. He looked on the thing as impracticable : it de pended on so many accidents, that he thought it was a rash and desperate project, that ventured all upon such a dan gerous 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 joiri in it. By their advice it was proposed to the Earl of Nottingham, who had great Gredit with the whole church party ; for he was a man possessed with their notions, and 398 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. was grave and virtuous in the course of his life. He had "***v'"*'/ some knowledge of the law, and of the records of parlia ment, and was a copious speaker, but too florid and tedious. He was much admired by many. 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 entertained it, and agreed to it ; but at their next meeting he said, he had considered better of that matter : his conscience was so re strained 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 Stiiiingfleet, in general of the thing, and they were not satisfied with it, though they pro tested 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 ; 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 cri minal as concealment could make him one. The Earl of Devonshire was spoke to ; and he went into it with great resolution. It was next proposed to three of the chief of ficers of the army, Trelawny, Kirk, and the Lord Churchill. These went all into it. And Trelawny engaged his brother, the Bishop of Bristol, into it. Lord But, having now named the Lord Churchill, who is like Saracter'8 *° ^e 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 litera ture ; 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 setup on: this put him on all the methods of acquiring one. And that went so far into him, that he did not shake it off, when he was in a much higher elevation ; 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 greatest men the age has produced. He was in high favour with the King, but his lady was much more in Princess Anne's fa- v-^w 0*F KING JAMES II. 399 vour. She had an ascendant over her in every thing. She 1688- was a woman of little knowledge, but of a clear apprehen sion, and a true judgment, a warm and hearty friend, vio lent 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 staid much at home, and looked very care fully 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 never dis covered any of the King's secrets, nor did he ever push him on to any violent proceedings ; so that he was in no con trivance to ruin or betray him. On the contrary, whenso ever 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 always suggested moderate counsels: The Earl of Gall- way told me, that when he came over with the first compli ment upon the King's coming to the crown, he said then to him, that, if the King was ever prevailed on to alter our re ligion, 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 eome over, to go in to him ; but to betray no post, nor do any thing more than the withdrawing himself, with such offi cers as he could trust with such a secret. He also under took, that Prince George and the Princess Anne would • leave the court, and come to the Prince, as soon as was possible. With these invitations and letters, the Earl of Shrewsbury and Russel came over in September : and soon after them came Sidney with Johnstoun. And they brought over a full scheme of advices, together with the heads of a declaration, all which were chiefly penned by Lord Danby. He and the Earl of Devonshire, and the Lord Lumley, undertook for the north : and they also 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 400 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. one another, that none of them made any discovery, no, not v"v"*'' by their rashness ; though they were so confident, that they did not use so discreet a conduct as was necessary. Mat ters went on in Holland with great secrecy till September: then it was known, that many arms were bespoke ; and, though thpse were bargained for in the name of the King of Sweden, and of some pf 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 concur rence of those, who went into a design upon principles of religion and honour, and the forced compliance of merce nary soldiers, or corrupt ministers, which is neither cordial nor secret. France took the alarm first, and gave it to the court of England. The court D'Avaux, the French ambassador, could no more give gavethe6 ^lG court of France those advertisements that he was wont a*3™- to send of all that passed in Holland. He had great allow ances for entertaining agents and spies every where ; but Louvoy, who hated him, 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 Franca 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 fire-ships. He recalled Strickland, and gave the conimand to the Lord Dartmouth, who was indeed one of the worthiest men of his court : he loved him, and had been long in his service and in his confidence ; but he was much against all the conduct of his affairs ; yet he re-. solved to stick to him at all hazards. The seamen came in slowly ; and a heavy backwardness appeared in every thing. Recruits A new and unlooked-for accident gave the King a veiy reZed!la"d Sensihle trouble. It was resolved, as was told before, to model the army, and to begin with recruits from Ireland : OF KING JAMES II. 401 upon which the English army would have become insen- wsa, sibly an Irish one. The King made the first trial on the ***"v"'>"/ Duke of Berwick's regiment ; which being already under an illegal colonel, it might be supposed they were ready to Submit to every thing. Five Irishmen were ordered to be put into every company of that regimerit, which then lay at Portsmouth ; but Beaumont, the lieutenant-colonel, arid five of the captains, refused to receive them. They said they had raised their men upon the Duke of Monmouth's invasion, by which their zeal for the King's service did evi* dently appear : 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 universal discontent, - if they should receive the Irish among them, that it would put them out of a capacity 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 provoked by this to such a degree that he could not govern his pas sion. 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 more : but, upon this occasion, 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. The King of France, when he gave the King the ad ver- offers made tisements of the preparations in Holland, offered him such j"^"^ 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 land at Portsmouth, and that they should have that 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 Sunderland 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 Vol. ii. 3 f 402 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. viceroy to the King of France : any army less than that ""^^ would lose the King the affections of his people, and drive his own army to desertion, if not to mutiny. N«st enter- The King did not think matters were yet so near a crisis, t_uime. s<> he did neither entertain the proposition, nor let it fall quite to the ground. There was a treaty set on foot, and the King was to have an hundred merchant ships ready for the transportation of such forces as he should desire, which it was promised 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 assistance from France on any terms, and so he encouraged the King of France to go on with his designs 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 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 de signed the expedition against England, but played the mi nister so, that he took pains to infuse into all people that they designed no such thing, which made him to be gene rally laughed at. He was soon sent back ; and, in a me- morial.he gave in to 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. -The French Mce with-'" am hassador in a memorial told the states, that his master the King, understood their design was against England, and in that case he signified to them, that there was such a straight al liance between him and the King of England, that he would look on every thing done against England, as an invasion 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 ^S*J OF KING JAMES II. 403 did likewise deny it to the Dutch ambassador at London ; , 1688- and the blame of the putting it into the memorial 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 pro cured the order from the court of France, to own this alli ance ; 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 made; 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 mas ter's name, when they are not immediately disowned, passes for authentic. So that it was a vain cavil that some made afterwards, 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. But I was more confirmed of this matter by what Sir William Trumball, then the English ambassador at Con stantinople, told me at his return to England. He was the eminentest of all our civilians, arid 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 repealed 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 tp England ; which disgusted the court of France, and was not very ac ceptable to the court of England, though it was not then thought fit to disown or recal him for it. He had orders to put in memorials, complaining of the invasion of the principality of Orange ; which he did in so high a strain, that the last of them was like a denuntiation of war. From thence he was sent to Turkey ; and, about this time, he was surprised one morning by a visit that the French am bassador made him, without those ceremonies that pass between ambassadors. He told him, there was no cere mony to* be between them any more ; for their masters were now one. And.he shewed him Monsieur de Croissy's let- 404 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. ter, which was wrttten in cipher. The deciphering he read '~V*J to him, importing, that now an alliance was concluded be tween the two kings. So, this matter was as evidently proved, as a thing of such a nature could possibly be. The strange q^ne COnduct of France at that time with relation to the France0.' ° states was very unaccountable ; and proved as favourable to the Prince of Orange's designs, as if he had directed it. All the manufacture of Holland, both linen and woollen, was prohibited in France. The importation of herrings was also prohibited, except they were cured with French salt. This was contrary to the treaty of commerce. The manufacture began to suffer much ; and this was sensible 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, thah that the French should have given the states some sa tisfaction in the point of trade, and offered some assurances with relation to the territory of Cologne. Many of the towns of Holland might have been wrought on by some temper in .these things ; great bodies being 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 seem ed rather to wish for a war, than to fear it. This disposed the states to an unanimous concurrence in the great resolu tions 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 re gulation of commerce, and that they Would abandon the Cardinal, and leave the affairs of Cologne to be settled by the laws of the empire. Expedients were also spoke of for accommodating 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 manifesto Rut while these things were discoursed of at the Hague, against the tae world was surprised with a manifesto set out, in the "ant**- King of France's name, against the Emperor.. In it the Emperor's ill designs against France were set forth. It OF KING JAMES II. 405 also complained of the Elector Palatine's injustice to the 1688. Dutchess of Orleans, 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 Cologne, he hav ing 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 design to force the electors to choose his son King of the Romans ; and that the Elector Palatine was press ing him to make peace with the Turks, in order to the turn ing his arms against France. By their means a great al liance was projected among many protestant princes to disturb Cardinal Furstemberg in the possession of Cologne, to which he was postulated by the majority of the chapter. And 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 Philip sburg, resolved to possess himself of it, and then to demolish it. He resolved also to take Kaisarslauter from the Palatine, and to keep it till the Dutchess of Orleans had justice done her in her pretensions. And he also resolved to support the Cardinal in his possession of Cologne : but, to balance this, he offered to the house of Bavaria that Prince Cle ment should be chosen coadjutor. He offered also to rase Fribourg, and to restore Kaisarslauter, as soon as the Elec tor Palatine should pay the Dutchess of Orleans the just value of her pretensions. He demanded that the truce be tween 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 concluded 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 upon Reflections it did the great war begin, which lasted till the peace ofnia<,enPOB Ryswick. And upon the grounds laid down in this mani festo, it will evidently appear whether the war was a just one or not. This declaration was much censured, both for 406 HISTORY OF THE REIGN wee. the matter and for the style. It had not the air of great- ^^ ness which became crowned heads. The Dutchess of Or leans' 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 Bava ria was absurd : and the complaints Of designs to 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 in to 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 admitted, all treaties of peace were vain things, and were no more to be reckoned or relied on. The reason given of the intention to take Philipsburg, because it was the properest place by which France could be in vaded, was a throwing off all regards to the cemm on de cencies observed by princes. All fortified places on fron tiers are intended both for resistance and for magazines ; and are of both sides conveniences for entering into the neighbouring territory as there is occasion for it. So here was a pretence set up of beginning a war that puts an end to all the securities of peace. The business of Cologne was judged by the Pope ac cording to the laws of the empire ; and his sentence was final : nor could the postulation of the majority of the chapter be valid, unless two-thirds joined in it. The Car dinal 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 in- ceridiary 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 in fraction of the amnesty stipulated by the peace of Nime guen. 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 the Emperor from endeavouring to exclude him from so great a dignity, which was like to prove fatal, to the empire. These were some of the een- OF KING JAMES II. 407 Sures that were passed on this manifesto ; which was indeed 1688. looked on, by all who had considered the rights of peace ^/^ and the laws of war, as one of the most avowed arid solemn declarations that ever was made, of the perfidiousness of that court. And it was thought to be some degrees beyond that in the year 1672, in which the King's glory was pre tended as the chief motive of that war ; for in that particu lars were not reckoned up ; so it might be supjjosed 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 enu merated ; arid all together amounted to this — that' the King of France thought himself tied by no peace ; but that when he suspected his neighbours were intending to make war upon him, he might, upon such a suspicion, begin a war on his part. This manifesto against the Emperor was followed by Another another against the Pope, writ in the form of a letter to p0ap".s" * 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 busi ness of the regale ; his refusing the bulls to the bishops nominated by him ; the disputes about the franchises, of which his ambassadors had been long in possession ; the denying audience, not only to his ambassador, but to a gentleman whom he had sent to Rome without a 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 resolved to separate the character of the most holy father from that of a temporal prince ; and therefore he intended to seize on Avignon, as like wise on Castro, until the Pope should satisfy the pre tensions 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 aad to the new converts. It also gave the Prince pf Orange the boldness to go and invade the King of England, under the pretence of supporting the protestant religion, 408 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. but indeed to destroy the catholic religion, and to overturn the government ; upon which his emissaries and the writers in Holland gave out, that the birth of the Prince of Wales was an imposture. Censures This was the first public mention that was made of the npotnIit.SSe'3 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 certainly all sovereign princes can make such regulations as they think fit in those matters. If they cut ambassadors short in any privilege, their am bassadors are to expect the same treatment from other princes ; 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 cer tainly limit the extent of their other privileges, and may refuse any ambassadors who will not submit to their re gulation. The number of an ambassador's retinue is not a thing that can be well defined : 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, instead of having a right to the character of an ambassador, 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 tp Prince Clement. 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 pro testant body concurring to support the authority of the Pope's bulls in the business of Cologne ; and to defend the two houses of Austria and Bavaria, by wThom they were laid so low but threescore years before this. The French, by the war that they had now begun, had sent their troops towards Germany and the Upper Rhine, and so had rendered their sending an army over to England im practicable; nor could they send such a force into the bishopric of Cologne as could anyways alarm the states; so that the invasion of Germany made the designs that OF KING JAMES II. 409 the Prince of Orange was engaged in both practicable and 1688/ safe. v-^— > Marshal Schomberg came at this time into the country of Marshal Cleve. He was a German by birth ; So when the persecution ^Ht0£bers was begun in France, he desired leave to return into his cieve. 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 king dom from falling under the yoke of Castile, yet now that he came thither for refuge, the inquisition represented that matter of giving harbour to a heretic 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 Hol land, 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 Cologne. The Cardinal offered a neutrality to the town of Cologne ; but they chose rather to accept a garrisori 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 enemies to say, that he had carried away the best force of the states, and had left them exposed to any impressions that might be made on them iri 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 cam paign in winter; but all other things were now well secured by this unexpected conduct of the French. There was a fleet now set to sea of about.fifty sail : most The Dutch of them were third or fourth rates, commanded by Dutch fleet at ?ea' officers ; but Herbert, as representing the Prince's person, was to command-in chief, as lieutenant-general admiral : vol. u. 3g 410 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. this was not very easy to the states, nor indeed to the Prince w^w' himself; who thought it an absurd thing to set a stranger at the head of their fleet. Nothing less would content Her bert ; and it was said, that nothing would probably 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. There was a transport fleet hired for carrying 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 baggage, were above seven thousand. There were arms provided for twenty thousand more ; and, as things were thus made ready, The Prince The declaration, that the Prince was to publish, came to deciS™. be considered. A great many draughts were sent from England by different hands : all these were put in the pen- . sioner 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 re cital of all the violations of the laws of England, both with relation to religion, to the civil government, and to the ad ministration of justice, 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 inef fectual. Petitioning by the greatest persons, and in the privatest manner, was made a crime. Endeavours 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 disa bled 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-lbeing sensible of the ruin both of the protestant reli gion, and of the constitution 0f England and Ireland, that was imminent, and being earnestly invited by men of all. ranks, and in particular by many of the peers, both spiri- OF KING JAMES II. 411 teal and temporal, he resolved, according to the obligation .1688. he lay under, both on the Princess's account, and on his v,*v*,/ own, to go over into England, and to see for proper and , effectual remedies for redressing such groAving evils, in a -parliament that should be lawfully chosen, and should sit in full freedom, according to the ancient custom and con stitution of England, with which he would concur in all things that might tend to the peace and happiness of the nation ; and he promised in particular, that he would pre serve 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 inquiry into the Queen's delivery to a par liament, and acquiesce in its decision : this the Prince signed and sealed on the 10th 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 mea sures of obedience, justifyirtg the design, and answering the objections that might be made to it. Of all these many thou sand copies were printed, to be dispersed at our landing. The Prince desired me to go along with him as his chap- 1 *as de- lain, to which I very readily agreed : for, being fully sa- ^jf^/0 tisfied in my conscience that the undertaking was lawful Prince. and just, and having had a considerable hand in advising the whole progress of it, I thought it would have been an unbecoming fear in me to have taken care of my own per son when the Prince was venturing his, and the whole was now put to hazard. It is true, I being a Scotchman by birth, had reason to expect, that if I had fallen into the enemy's 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 of those who cor responded with the Prince. So that knowing nothing against any, even torture itself could not have drawn from me that by which any person could be hurt. 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 v—,W tl2 HISTORY OF THE RRIGN 1688- the Hague, who were all presbyterians, had drawn it so, that by many passages in it, the Prince by an implication declared in favour of presbytery. He did not see what the consequences of those were till I "explained them ; so he ordered them tp be altered : and by the declaration that matter was still entire. Advices • As Sidney brought over letters from the.persons formerly from Eng- mentione(i, 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 exceed six or seven thousand men. They apprehended that an ill use might be made of it if he brought over too great an army of foreigners to infuse into people a jealousy that he designed a conquest : they advised his landing in the north, either in Burlington Bay, or a little below Hull : Yorkshire abound ed in horse, and the gentry were generally well affected, 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 countries were well affected ; but it was said, that the mis carriage of Monmouth's invasion, and the executions which followed it, had so dispirited them, that it could not be ex pected they would be forward^ to join the Prince: abqve all things they pressed dispatch and all possible haste : the King had then but eighteen ships riding in the Downs ; but a much greater fleet was almost ready tp come out; they only wanted seamen, who came in very slowly. When these things were laid before the Prince, he said lie 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 being disposed to come over to him ; ' nor 0" 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 nei ther 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 be lieve would he superior to the King's own, though his whole OF KING JAMES II. 413 army should stick to him : some proposed that the Prince \*f ®f\ would divide his force, and land himself with the greatest part in the north, and send a detachment to the west un der 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 sub mit in case of any dismal 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 ca pable 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 rejected 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 de tachment, and have the advantage, it might lose the whole business, since a misfortune in any one part might be the ruin of the whole. When these advices were proposed to Herbert, and the other seamen, they opposed the landing in the north vehe mently. They said no seamen had been consulted in that, the north coast was not fit for a fleet to ride in during 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 repeated from England, that the Prince was resolved 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, and to Artifices to look towards Cologne : he ordered a review of his army, 1°™^'* and an encampment for two months at Nimeguen : a train of artillery was also ordered : by these orders the officers saw a necessity of furnishing 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 whensoever any thing *-NW 414 HISTORY OF THE RElGN 1688. relating to it should be moved,1 it would be then easy io raise an opposition, or at least to create a delay ; but Fa- gel's great foresight did prevent this. In the July before it was represented to the states, that now by reason of the neighbourhood of Cologne, 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 condi tion : 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 undertook 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 that saw it ; for it had never been known, that so great and so dangerous an expe dition in such a, season had been so easily agreed to, with out 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 of Holland ; and, as he had a vehemence as well as a tenderness in speaking, he convinced them evidently, 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 driving matters in his coun try, which if not stopped would soon prevail. He sent them thus full of zeal, to dispose the people to a hearty appro bation and concurrence in this design. The ministers in Holland 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 ge nerally so .much credit with the people, as they have there ; and they employed it all upon this occasion very diligently, : OF KING JAMES II. 415 andto good purpose. Those who had no regard to religion, 1688- yet saw a war begun in the empire by the French ; and the publication of the alliance between France and England by the French ambassador, 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 Princer 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 strong est, had such positive advices of the disposition that the nation, and even the army were in ; that, as this undertak ing was considered as the only probable means of their pre servation, 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 was or- The D«idi dered to stand over to the Downs, and to look on the Eng- put l" 'se '"" lish 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 con- 'trary 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 fortnight, and gave us at the Hague a melancholy prospect. Herbert also found, that the fleet was neither so strong, nor so well managed, as he expected. . All the English, that were scattered about the Provinces, s»me u<-- or in Germany, came to the Hague. Among these there ,-","!! "j"a„» was one Wildman, who, from being an agitator in Crom- Hague. well's army, had been a constant 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 ta lent in possessing others by a sort of contagion with jea lousy and discontent. To these the Prince ordered his de claration 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 W-v-^ 416 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. down a scheme of the government of England, and then had set forth many particulars in which it had been violated, carrying 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 dis pensing power, and on what had been done to the bishops. He said, there was certainly 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 trial : the bishops had a fair trial, and were acquitted, and discharged upon it : in all which there was nothing done contrary to law. All this seemed mys terious, 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 received by the Prince : so he, who designed to separate the Prince and them at the great est distance from one another, studied to make the Prince- declare s against those grievances, in which many of them were concerned, and which some among them had pro moted. 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 con ceived, as to draw in the body of the whole nation. They were all alarmed with the dispensing 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 distin guish between the dispensing with a special act in a parti cular case, and a total dispensing with laws to secure 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 if no notice was taken of it, it would be made use of to possess all people with an opi nion of the Prince's ill will to them. Russel said, that any reflections made on King Charles's reign would not only carry OP KING JAMES II. • 417 over all the high church party, but all the army, entirely to is88- the King. Wildman's declaration was much objected to. v-"v"w' The Prince could not enter into a discussion of the law and government of England ; that was to be left to the parlia ment : the Prince could only set forth the present and pub lic grievances, as they were transmitted to him by those, upon whose invitation he was going over. This was not without some difficulty overcome, by altering some few ex pressions in the first draught, and leaving out some circum stances : so the declaration was printed over again, with some amendments. In the beginning of October, the troops marched from The army Nimeguen were put on board in the Zuyder Sea, where was shippe ' 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 or dered, were got to be so quickly ready, that we were amazed at the dispatch. It is true, some things were want ing, and some things had been forgot : but when the great ness of the equipage was considered, together with the se crecy with which it was to be conducted, till the whole design was to be avowed, it seemed much more strange that so little was wariting, or that so few things had been forgot. Benthink, Dickvelt, Herbert, and Van Hulst, were for two months constantly at the Hague, giving all neces sary orders, with so little noise, that nothing broke out all that while. Even in lesser matters favourable circum stances 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 we left the The Prin- i . i ' i i j i. • -i cess's sense Hague; she seemed to have a great load on her spirits, of th;ngs_ but to have no scrapie as to the lawfulness 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 begged her pardon to tell her, that if there vot,. n. 3 H 418 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. should happen 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 person should at tempt 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. The Prince On the 16th of October O. S. the wind had that stood so took leave of the long in the west, came into the east ; so orders were sent to states aj] ^Q naste 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 government, 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 judgment, yet his heart was ever set on pro curing their safety and prosperity. He took God to wit ness, he went to England with no other.intentions, but those he had set out in his declaration ; 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 country, 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 deserved ; 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, be fore all were supplied anew. We sailed At last, on the 19th of October, the Prince went aboard, ljl°s * ' and the whole fleet sailed out that night : but the next day the wind turned into the north, and settled in the north west. At night a great storm arose. We wrought against it all that night, and the next day : but it was in vain to OF KING JAMES II. 419 struggle any longer. And so vast a fleet run no small 1688- hazard, being obliged to keep together, and yet not to come ***"*"'*''*' too near one another. On the 21st in the afternoon the signal was made to go in again: and on the 22d the far greater part got safe into port. Many ships were at first wanting, and were believed to be lost ; but after a few days all came in. There was not one ship lost ; nor so much as But were any one man, except one that was blown from the shrouds forcedback into the sea. Some ships were so shattered, that as soon as they came in, and alf was taken out of them, they im mediately 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 defeated the whole design. We, on our part, who found ourselves 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 changed the course of the winds and seas in our favour, yet had pre served us while we were in such apparent danger, beyond what could have been imagined. The states were not at all discouraged with this hard beginning, but gave the neces sary orders for supplying us with every thing that we need ed. The Princess behaved herself at the Hague suitably to what was expected from her. She ordered prayers four times a day, and assisted at them with great devotion : she spoke to nobody of affairs, 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. In England the court saw now that it was in vain to dis- Consnita- semble or disguise their fears any more. Great consulta- f^mE"s' tions 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 pos sible 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 pretence for it : he proposed rather, that the King would do such popular ^s+J 420 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. things, as might give some content, and lay that fermenta tion 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 Sunderland, 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. By their importunities the King was at last so prevailed on, that he turned him out of all 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, probably they would have been too hard for them, especially considering the great transport fleet that they were to cover. All the forces that were in Scotland were ordered into England; and that - kingdom was left in the hands of their militia : several regi ments 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 af fections to the church of England; and protested he had never intended to carry things further than to an equal li- . berty 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, and advised the present summoning a parliament ; and that in the meanwhile the ecclesiastical commission 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 re commended 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 a pro- OF KING JAMES II. 421 testant wind : they spoke with great scorn of all that the 1688. court was then doing to regain the hearts of the nation, v'p",'*"' And indeed the proceedings of the court that way were so cold and so forced, that few were like to be deceived by them, but those who had a mind to be deceived. The writs for a parliament were often ordered to be made ready for the seal, aud 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 ot pro moting 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 possession : 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 into so much com pliance, and how long it was like to last. The matter of the greatest concern, and that could not Proofs be dropped, but was to be' supported, was the birth of the thTifirthof Prince of Wales : and therefore the court thought it neces- the Prince sary, now in an after-game, to offer some satisfaction in ° that point.. So a great meeting was called not only of all the privy counsellors 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 presence 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 the midwife. But in this the midwife was the single witness ; 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, ^-^-w' 422 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. whether she felt the child or not ; and she told the Dutchess 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 shew, was an evidence against the matter, rather than for it ; and was a violent presumption of an imposture, and of an artifice to cover it. 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 abund ance ; and the Queen had it always in such a plenty, that some weeks passed after her delivery, before she was quite freed from it. The ladies did not name the time in which they saw the milk, except one, who named the month of May. But, if the particulars mentioned before, that hap pened on Easter Monday, are reflected on, and if it ap pears 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 miscarriage, and be no proof concerning the late birth. Mrs. Pierce, the laundress, deposed, that she took linen from the Queen's body once^ which carried the 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 oc casion for such things to be often looked on, and well considered. The Lady Wentworth was the single wit ness that deposed, that she had felt the child move in the Queen's belly: she was a bed-chamber 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. This was the substance of this evidence, 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 presumption 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 OF KING JAMES II. 423 side, and ought to be ofl'ered by those who called it in ques- - 1688- tion. But, now that this proof was brought, which was so ^^^ apparently defective, it did not lessen but increase the jea lousy with which the nation was possessed : for all people concluded, that if any thing had been true, it must have been easy to have brought a much more copious proof than was now published to the world. It was much observed, that Princess Anne was not present ; she indeed excused herself; she thought she was breeding, and all motion was forbidden her : none believed that to be the true reason, 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. This was the state of affairs in England, white we lay at Helvoet-Sluys, where we continued till the 1st of November. Here Wildman created a new disturbance : he plainly had a shew of courage, but was, at least, then a coward. He possessed some of the English with an opinion, that the design was now irrecoverably lost : this was entertained by jnany, 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 iri 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 authority, and Schomberg's credit, could have withstood 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 engage ment, 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 the west, there was reason to hope it would turn to the east ; and when that should come no time was to be lost ; for it would some- 424 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688- times blow so fresh in a few days as to freeze up the river ; "**"v'"**,/ 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 27th 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 conse quence that the whole design, was lost. Many that have passed for heroes, yet shewed then the agonies of fear in their looks and whole deportment. The Prince still re tained his usual calmness, and the same tranquillity of spirit, that I had observed in him in his happiest days. On the 28th 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. We sailed On the 1st of November, O. S. we sailed out with the happily the evening tide, but made little way that night, that so our second time. fleet might come out and move 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 westward. This wind not only diverted us from that un happy 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 3d we passed between Dover and Calais, and before night came in sight of the Isle of Wight. The next dayj 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, and animate the sol diers. But we all, who considered 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. Tor- bay was thought the best place for our great fleet to lie in ; OF KING JAMES II. 425 and it was resolved to land the army where it could be best «88- done near it ; reckoning 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 meri. I was in the ship, with the Prince's other domestics, that went in the van of the whole fleet. At noon, on the 4th, 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, and believed that he certainly kept within orders, till the morning shewed us we were past Torbay and Dartmouth. The wind, though it had abated much of its violence, yet was still full in the east ; so now it seemed necessary for us to sail on to Plymouth, which must have en gaged us in a long and tedious campaign in winter, through a very ill country: nor were we sure to be received at Plymouth. 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 re ceive us at our first coming. The delays he made after wards, pretending that he was managing the garrison, whereas he was indeed staying till, he saw how the matter was like to be decided, 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 bid 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 and at To,ba''- Marshal Schomberg got to shore, they were furnished with such horses as the village of Broxholm could afford, and rode up to view the grounds, which they found as conve nient as could be imagined for the foot in that season. It was not a cold night, otherwise the soldiers, who had VOL. II. 3 1 426 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. been kept warm aboard, might have suffered much by it <^*/ As soon as I landed, I made what haste I could to the place where the Prince was ; who took me heartily by the ha$fd, and asked me, if I would not now believe predesti nation. I told him, I would never forget that providence of God, which had appeared so signally on this occasion. He was cheerfuller than ordinary ; yet he returned soon to his usual gravity. The Prince sent for all the fishermen pf 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 for our landing, though we came to it by mere ac cident, 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 morning ; and in three hours' time all our horses were landed, with as much bag gage as was necessary till we got to Exeter. The artiUery and heavy baggage were left aboard, and ordered to Top- sham, 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 favourable 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 shat tered 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 Dartmouth assured me, some time after, that whatever stories we had heard and believed, either of officers or seamen, he was confident they all would V-N-*/ OF KING JAMES II. 427 have fought very heartily. But now, by the immediate "a8- hand of Heaven, we were masters of the sea without a blow. I never found a disposition to superstition in my temper : I was rather inclined to be philosophical upon all occasions : yet I must confess, that this strange ordering of the winds and seasons, just to change as our affairs re quired it, could not but make deep impressions on me, as well as on all that 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 staid ten days, both for refreshing his troops, and for giving the country time to shew their affections. Both the clergy and magistrates of Exeter were very fearful, and very back ward : the Bishop and the Dean ran away ;¦ 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 entanglement, 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 authority to do this ; and I took so particular a care 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 de manded, though the soldiers wer,e contented with such mo derate entertainment, that the people generally asked but little for what they did eat. We staid a week at Exeter be fore any of the gentlemen of the country about came in to the Prince. Every day some persons of condition came from other parts : the first were the Lord Colchester, the eldest sonof the Earl of Rivers, and the Lord Wharton, Mr. Rus sel, the Lord Russel's brother, and the Earl of Abington. c The King came down to Salisbury, and sent his troops 428 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. twenty miles further : of these, three regiments of horse and ti^Ki^'s dragoons were drawn on by their oflicers, the Lord Corn- army began bury and Colonel Langston, on design to come over to the overTthe Prince. Advice was sent to the Prince of this ; but because Prince. 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 betrayed. Lord Cornbury had not the presence of mind that so critical a thing required ; so they fell in confusion, and many rode back : yet one re giment came over in a body, and with them about a hund red of the other two. This gave us great courage, and shewed Us that we had not been deceived 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 flat teries, 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 perceived it, the greater part of them had turned back. The King wanted support, for his spirits sunk extremely ; his blood was in such fermentation, that he was bleeding much at the nose, which returned upon him often 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 returning to him ; so that he had no intelligence brought him of what the Prince was doing, but what com mon reports furnished, 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 was brought him that the Earls of Devon shire and Danby, and the .Lord Lumley, were drawing great bodies together, and that both York and Newcastle had de clared for the Prince. The Lord Delamere had raised a re giment in Cheshire, and the body of the nation did every where discover their inclinations for the Prince so evidently, (hat the King saw he had nothing to trust to but his army ; and the ill disposition 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 w-^ OF KING JAMES II. 429 last and most confounding stroke was, the Lord Churchill ,1688- 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 Dutchess of Cleveland : he had been some time at sea, arid was a gallant but rough man: he had 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 no tice of somewhat in his behaviour that looked factious ; and he said, he was sure he could not pretend to act upon prin ciples of conscience, for he had been so ill bred, that as he knew little of religion, so he regarded it less : but he an swered the King, that though he had little conscience, yet he was of a party that had a great deal. Soon after that, Prince George, the Duke of Ormond, and the Lord Drum- lanerick, the Duke of Queensbury's eldest son, left him, and came over to the Prince, and joined him, when he was come as far as the Earl of Bristol's house at Sherburn. When the news came to London, the Princess 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 Bishop 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 ordinary, and about midnight she went down a back stairs from her closet, attended only by the Lady Churchill, 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 fur nished them* with every thing ; and 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 >er, who chose to be com manded by the Bishop of London, of which he too easily accepted. These things put the King in an expressible confusion : he saw himself now forsaken, not oniy by those wL„u. he 430 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. had trusted and favoured most, but even by his own child ren ; 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, " Iero lero lili- bulero," 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 sing ing it perpetually ; and perhaps never had so slight a thing so great an effect. An associa- While the Prince staid at Exeter, the rabble of the peo- tion among pje came jn to him in great numbers ; so that he could have those who r ° 7 came to the raised many regiments of foot, if there had been any occa- Prmce. sjon 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 staid eight days at Exeter, Seymour came in with several other gentlemen of quality and estate. As soon as he had been with 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 would reckon themselves bound to stick to us. I answer ed, 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 approved of the motion; as did also the Earl of Shrewsbury, and all that were with us. So I was ordered to draw it. It wras, in few words, an engage ment 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 parch ment, and signed by all those that came in to him. The Prince put Devonshire and Exeter under Seymour's go vernment, who was Recorder of Exeter ; and he advanced with his army, leaving a small garrison there with his heavy artillery under Colonel Gibson, whom he made deputy go vernor as to the military part. At Crookhorn, Dr. Finch, son of the Earl of Winchelsea, OF KING JAMES II. 431 and warden of All-Souls College in Oxford, was sent to is88- the Prince from some of the heads of colleges; assuring Thehe^ in him, that they would declare for him,. and inviting him to Oxford ser* come thither, telling him, that their plate should be at his toIum' service, if he needed it. This was a sudden turn from those principles that they had carried so high a few yeare before. The Prince had designed to have secured Bristol and Glou cester, and so to have gone to Oxford, the whole West being then in his hands, if there had been any appearance of a stand to be made against him by the Kirig and his army ; for, the Kmg being so much superior to him in horse, it was not advisable to march through the great plains of Dorset shire and Wiltshire. But the King's precipitate return to London put an end to this precaution. The Earl of Bath had prevailed with the garrison of Plymouth, and they de clared 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 fermentation. A bold man ventured to draw and publish another decla- Great diso-- ration in the Prince's name. It was penned with great 'jers in L"*f" spirit, and it had as great an effect. It set forth the des perate designs of the papists, and the extreme danger the nation was in by their means, and required all persons im mediately to fall on such papists as were in any employ ments, and to turn them out, and to secure all strong places, and to do every thing else that was in their power in order 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 declaration ; but he knew nothing of it. And it was never known who was the author of so bold a 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 weU pleased with the author of such an im posture in his name. The King was under such a conster nation, that he neither knew what to resolve on, nor whom to trust. This pretended declaration put the city in such a flame, that it was carried to the Lord Mayor, and he was required to execute it. The apprentices got together, and were falling upon all mass-houses, and committing many irregular things : yet their fury was so well governed, and 432 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. So little resisted, that no other mischief was done. No ^"v~*/ blood was shed. A treaty be- The King now sent for all the lords in town that were the^Prince. known to be firm protestants ; and, upon speaking to some of them in private, they advised him to call a general meeting of all the privy counsellors 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 inclina tions ; yet the dejection he was in, and the desperate state of his affairs, forced him to consent to it. So the Marquis of Hallifax, the Earl of Nottingham, and the Lord Godol phin, were ordered to go to the Prince, and to ask him, what it was that he demanded. The Earl of Clarendon re flected the most on the King's former conduct, of any in that assembly, not without some indecent and insolent words, which were generally condemned. He expected, as was said, to be one of the commissioners ; and, upon his not being named, he came and met the Prince near Sa lisbury. Yet he suggested so many peevish and peculiar things, when he oame, that some suspected 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 alj 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. The Marquis of Hallifax sent for me. But the Prince said, though 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 nobody observed it, if we had a mind to have the King in our hands ? I said, by no means ; for 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. The Prince ordered the Earls of Oxford, Shrewsbury, arid Clarendon, to treat with the lords the King had sent : and they delivered the Prince's answer to them on Sunday the 8th of December. He desired a parliament might be presently called, that OF KING JAMES II. 433 no men should continue in any employment, who were not 1683- 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 the protestants ; that a pro portion of the revenue might be set off for the pay of the Prince's army ; and that, during the sitting of the parlia ment, 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 satisfied with this answer. They sent it up by an express, and went back next day to London. But now strange counsels were suggested to the King and The King Queen. The priests, and all the violent papists, saw a J^ l^m 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 bring ing 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 particular 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 wit nesses would be set up against her and her son. The King's mother had been impeached 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 tfie 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 became of them afterwards. The Queen prevailed with the King, not only to consent to this, but to promise to go quickly after her. He was only to stay a day or two after her, in hope that the shadow 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 ; 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 staid long enough to get the Prince's answer ; and when he had read it, he said, he did not expect so good terms. He VOL. n. 3 K 434 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. ordered the Lord Chancellor to come to him next morning : ^^ but he had caUed secretly for the great seal ; and the next morning, being the 10th of December, about three in the 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 Foxhall. The King went down to a miserable fisher boat, that Hales had provided for car rying them over to France. "n urT0"* ThUS * gieat tin£' Wh° had a S°°d army aild a StlOI1S 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 to stay and see the issue of a parliament. Some attributed this mean and unaccountable resolution to 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 home> and be shut up within the bounds of law, and be brought under an incapacity of doing more mischief, which they saw was necessary to quiet those fears and jealousies for which his bad government had given so much occa sion. It seemed very unaccountable, since he was re solved to go, that he did not choose rather to go in one of his yachts or frigates, than to expose himself in so danger ous and ignominious a manner. It was riot possible to put a good construction on any part of the dishonourable scene which he then acted. 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 dis band : and the doing this without paying them, was the let ting so many armed men loose upon the nation, who might have done much mischief, if the execution of those orders that he had left behind him had not been stopped. I shall continue the recital of all that passed in this interregnum, tiU the throne, which he now left empty, was filled. He was not gone far, when some fishermen of Feversham, OF KING JAMES II. 435 who were watching for such priests, and other delinquents, 1688- as they fancied were making their escape, came up to him; But is1*"""" and they, knowing Sir Edward Hales, took both the King j>ro"Sbt and him, and brought them to Feversham. The King told them who he was; and that flying about brought a vast .crowd together, to look on that astonishing instance of the uncertainty of all worldly greatness, 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 dis ordered 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. Here was an accident that seemed of no great consequence ; yet all the stragglings wliich 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 deser tion, 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. 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 Lon don that the King was gone, the apprentices 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 were kill ed, no houses burnt, nor were any robberies committed. 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 exposed to the rage of the people, whom he had provoked with so particular a brutality, he had disguised himself to make his escape ; 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 the Lord 436 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 16R8. Lucas had then seized, and in it had declared for the Prince. ^-^ 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. The Prince To prevent the further growth of such disorders, he called comeTnd ° a meeting of the privy counsellors and peers, who met at take the go- Guildhall. The Archbishop of Canterbury was there: they into his gave a strict charge for keeping the peace; and agreed to hands. senrj an invitation to the Prince, desiring him to come and take the government of the nation into his hands, till a par liament should meet to bring all matters to a just and full settlement ; this they all signed, and sent it to the Prince, by the Earl of Pembroke, the Viscount Weymouth, the Bishop of Ely, and the Lord Culpepper. The Prince went on from Hungerford to Newbury, and from thence to Abington, resolving to have gone to Oxford to receive the compliments of the University, and to meet the Princess Anne, who was coming thither. At Abington he was sur prised with the news of the strange catastrophe of affairs now at London, the King's desertion, and the disorders which the city and neighbourhood 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 ex press 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 associa tion to them, which was signed by almost all the heads, and the chief men of the University ; even by those who, being disappointed in the preferments they aspired to, became afterwards his most implacable enemies. Hitherto the expedition had been prosperous beyond all that could have been expected. There had been but, two small engagements during this unseasonable campaign. One was at Winkington, in Dorsetshire, where an aSvanced 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 with numbers. Some were killed on both sides ; but there were more pri soners taken of the Prince's men : yet, though the loss was of his side, the courage that his men shewed in so great an OF KING JAMES II. 437 inequality as to number, made us reckon that we gained 1688- more than we lost on that occasion. Another action hap- ^""^^ pened at Reading, where the King had a considerable 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 shot : he was a papist ; and the Prince, in consideration of his religion, was willing to leave him behind him in Hol land ; 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 proposed Different that the Prince should go on with all possible haste to Lon- tofoe28'™ don; but that was not advisable : for the King's army lay Prin?e con- so scattered through the road all the way to London, that King's Per- it was not fit for him to advance faster than as his troops son- marched before him, otherwise any resolute officer might 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 advance ; for now began that turn, to which all the difficulties, that did afterwards disorder our affairs, may be justly imputed. Two gentle men 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. I was affected with this dismal reverse of the fortune of a great prince more than I think fit to express. 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 multitude, who said, they would obey no orders but such as came from the Prince. The Prince ordered Zuylestein to go immediately to Fever sham, and to see the King safe, and at full liberty to go whithersoever he pleased ; but, as soon as the news of the King's being at Feversham came to London, all the indig nation 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 hp 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 433 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688 he thought best : so he went for him, with his coaches and ^-^ guards ; and, as he came back through the city, he was welcomed with expressions of joy by great numbers : so slight and unstable a thing is a multitude, and so soon al tered. 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 brokeri, that nothing was now left to deliberate upon; so he sent the Earl of Feversham to Windsor, without demanding 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. When the news of what had past at London came to Windsor, the Prince thought the privy council had riot used him well ; who, after they had sent to him to take the go vernment upon him, had made this step without consulting him. Now the scene was altered, and hew 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 no bility as were now come to him, among whom the Marquis of Hallifax was one. All agreed that it was not conve nient 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 pro bably have arisen out of it. The guards, and the officious flatterers of the two courts, would have been unquiet neigh bours. 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. It was a tender point how to dispose of the King's per son. Some proposed rougher methods : the keeping him a prisoner at least till the nation was settled, and till Ire land was secured. It was thought his being kept in custody would be such a tie on all his party, as would oblige them V*v%/ OF KING JAMES II. 439 to submit and be quiet. Ireland was in great danger ; and 11^- bis restraint might oblige the Earl of Tyrconnel to deliver up the government, and to disarm the papists, which would preserve that kingdom, and the protestants in it; but be cause 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 pro posed. The Earl of Clarendon pressed this vehemently on the account of the Irish protestants, as the King himself told me: for 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 ad vice, 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 parlia ment that was to be called. He was firmly resolved never to suffer any thing to be done against his person: he saw it was necessary te send him out of London ; and he would 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 Hallifax, Shrewsbury, and Delamere, to London, who were first to order the English guards that were about the court to be drawn off, and sent tp 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 without 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 Midletoun, to de sire 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, aind found him a-bed. They told him, the necessity of affairs required that the Prince should come presently 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 440 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. town- and they proposed Ham. The King seemed much '*'"*''***' dejected, and asked if it must be done immediately. They told him, he might take his rest first ; and they added, that he might 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 Midletoun came quickly after them, and asked them if it would not 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 should go thither again. It was very visible that this was proposed in order to a second escape. They promised to send word immediately to the Prince of Orange, who lay that night at Sion, within eight miles The Prince of London. He very readily consented to it ; and the King London went next day to Rochester, having ordered all that which and the is called the moving wardrobe to be sent before him, the toRochts'- Count of Solms ordering every thing to be done as the ter. 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 hap pened, 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 repeated 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, and yet great numbers came to see him; but after they had stood long in the wet, he disappointed them ; for he, whon either loved shews nor shoutings, went through the Park. And even this trifle helped to set people's spi rits on the fret. The Revolution was thus brought about with the univer sal 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 remembered the saying of King Charles the First, that the prisons and the graves of princes lay not OF KING JAMES II. 441 far distant from one another : the person of the King was 1688. now struck at, as well as his government ; and this specious v**^"*,; Undertaking would now appear to be only a disguised and designed usurpation. 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 be sides, on the account of the good order and strict disci pline they were kept under ; which made them be as much beloved by the nation, as they were hated by the soldiery. The nation had never known such an inoffensive march of an army ; and the peace and order of the suburbs, and the freedom of the 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 vio lence. When he came to London, he renewed these orders, which I executed with so much zeal and care, that I saw all the complaints 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. t 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 meanwhile 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. Npw that the Prince was come, all the bodies about the The Prince town came to welcome him. The bishops came the next was T?" coined by only the archbishop of Canterbury, though he had ail sorts of once agreed to it, yet would not CPme. The clergy of Lon- Pe°Ple- don came next.- The city, and a great many other bodies, came likewise, and expressed a great deal of joy for the deliverance wrought for them by the Prince's means. Old. Serjeant Maynard came with the men of the law : he was then near ninety, arid 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 believed he had outlived all the VOL. 11. 3 L 442 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1688. men of the law of his time. He answered, he should have "*^^ outlived the law itself, if his Highness had not come over. Gtmsuita- The first thing to be done after the compliments were tions about over was to consider how the nation was to be settled. the SBttlc- ment of the The lawyers were generally of opinion, that the Prince nation. 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 recognized. This was plainly con trary to his declaration, by which the settlement of the na tion was referred to a parliament : such a step would make all that the Prince had hitherto 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, 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, de siring him to take the administration of the government into Ms hands in the interim. The next proposition passed not so unanimously ; for it being moved, that the Prince should be likewise desired 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. The Earl of Nottingham objected to this, that such a convention of the states would 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. OF KING JAMES II. 443 The King continued a week at Rochester ; and both he "i<>88- himself, and every body else, saw that he was at full TnTkl^ liberty, and that the guard about him put him under no .went over sort of restraint. Many that were zealous for his interests Int° *™ce' went to him, and pressed 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 vehe ment letter to him, pressing his coming over, remembering him of his promise, which she charged on him in a very earnest, if not an imperious strain. This letter was inter cepted. I had an account of it from one who read it. The Prince ordered 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, re proaching the nation for their forsaking him. He declared, that though he was going to seek foreign aid, to restore him to his throne, yet he would not make use of it to overthrow either the religion 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 some The affairs account of the affairs of Scotland. There was no force 0^Scotl— *• left there, but a very small one, scarce able to defend the Castle of Edinburgh, 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 deser tion, the rabble got together there, as they had done in London. They broke into all popish chapels, and into the Church of Holy-Rood-House, which had been adorned at a great charge to be a royal chapel, particularly 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. They defaced it quite, and seized on some that were thought great delinquents, m particular on the Earl of Perth, who had disguised himself, and got on board a small vessel; but he was seized on, and "put in prison. The whole kingdom, except only the Castle of Edinburgh, declared for the Prince, and received his decla- <-v*/ 444 HISTORY OF THE REIGN i688^ ration for that kingdom with great joy. This was dorie in the North very unanimously, by the episcopal, as well as 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 come, not only to pro cure themselves ease and liberty, but to revenge themselves upon others. They generally broke in upon the episcopal clergy with great insolence and much cruelty : they carried them about the parishes in a mock procession : they tore their gowns, and drove them from their churches and houses. Nor did they treat those of them who had ap peared very zealously against popery with any distinction. 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 expressions to wards the Prince, expressing their abhorrence of his de* sign ; and, in conclusion, they wished that the King might have the necks of his enemies. This was sent up as a pat tern to the English bishops, and was printed in the Gazette. But they did not think fit to copy after it in England. The episcopal party in Scotland saw themselves 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 virtues : 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 orders against them with great rigour, even to the shooting many on the highway, that refused the oath required of them. The presbyterians looked on him as their most implacable enemy, and the episcopal party trusted most entirely to him. Upon the Prince's coming to London, the Duke of Hamilton called a meeting pf all the men of quality of the Scotch nation then in town ; and these made an address to the Prince with relation to Scotland, almost in the same terms in which the English address 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. Tyr- connel gave out new commissions for levying thirty thou sand men ; and reports were spread about that island, that a general massacre of the protestants was fixed to be in of Ireland. OF KING JAMES II. 445 November; upon which the protestants began to run to- lfi88- gether for their common defence, both In Munster and ^^^ in Ulster. 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 despaired of • being able to defend themselves, and came over to England in great numbers, and full of dismal apprehensions for those they had left behind them. They moved earnestly, that a speedy assistance might be sent to them. In Ulster the protestants had more strength ; but they wanted a head. The Lords of Grenard and Mountjoy, who were the chief military men among them, in whom they confided most, kept still such measures with Tyrconnel, 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 refused to receive a popish garrison, or to submit to Tyrconnel's orders. These were Londonderry and Iniskilling. Both of them were advantageously situated. Tyrconnel 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, ooth 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 Eng land. I will not enlarge more upon the affairs of that kingdom ; both because I had no occasion to be well in formed of 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 account of those mat ters, which is fully and faithfully given by that learned and zealous prelate. And now I enter upon the year 1689 ; in which the two 1689. first things to be considered, before the convention 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 V— <*J 446 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. 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 carrying on the pay of the English and Dutch armies till the conven tion 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 repaid, the others did not doubt but the convention would pay all that was advanced in so great an exigence, and so they subscribed liberally, as the occasion required. As for the affairs of Ireland, there was a great variety of opinions among them. Some thought that Ireland would certainly follow the fate of England. This was managed by an artifice of Tyrconnel's, who, what by deceiving, what by threatening the eminentest protestants in Dublin, got them to write over to London, and give assurances that he would del,iver 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* Ireland, who made all their applications to the Prince by him. Those who were employed by Tyrconnel to deceive the Prince, made their applications by Sir William Temple, who had a long and well-established credit with him. They said, Tyrcon nel 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 injuries he thought had been done to himsejf. 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 matters ; and then he, who had pos sessed 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. Tem ple entered into a management with Tyrconnel'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 OF KING JAMES II. 447 settlement in England, and that therefore the Prince ought ltm not to make too much haste to relieve Ireland. This ad- " '"~ vice was generally believed 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 Ire land, and was much blamed for his slowness in not pre venting it in time. The truth was, he did not know whom to trust : a general The Prince discontent, next to mutiny, began to spread itself through Z^hthl the whole Enghsh army. The turn that they were now Earl of Tyr- making from him was almost as quick as that which they co,mel" had made to him. He Could not trust them. Probably, if he had sent any of them over, they would have joined with Tyrconnel: nor could he well send over any of his Dutch troops : it was to them that he chiefly trusted for maintain ing the quiet of England. Probably the English army would have become insolent, if the Dutch force had been consi derably diminished ; and the King's magazines were so ex hausted, 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 seas to se cure the transport ; and to send a small company of offi cers with some ammunition, which was all that could be done on the sudden, seemed to be an exposing them to the enemy. These considerations made him more easy to en tertain a proposition that was made to him, as was believ ed by the Temples, (for Sir William had both a brother and a 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 Tyrconnel. Pie had served in France with great reputation, 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 deserted in great numbers, and got into France. Hamilton was a sort of prisoner of war; so he undertook to go over to Ireland, and to prevail with the Earl of Tyrconnel to deliver up the government, and. pro mised that he would either bring him to it, or that he would <*^-%J 448 HISTORY OF THE REIGN is8?- 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 Tyrconnel was in such despair, look ing on all as lost, that he seemed to be very near a full re solution 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 Eng land in favour of the King ; so that if he stood firm, all would come round again : he saw that he must study to ma nage 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 assurances that the Earl of Tyrconnel was fully re solved to treat and submit ; and, to carry this further, 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 neces sity of Ireland's submitting to England. The Earl of Tyr connel pretended, that in honour he could do no less than disengage himself to his master, before he laid down the government : yet he seemed resolved not to stay for an an swer or a consent ; but as soon as this message was deli vered, he would submit upon good conditions, and for these he knew he would have all that he asked : with this ma nagement 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, by breaking his own faith, secured the Earl of Tyrconnel 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 clapped up in the Bas tille, which, since he was sent in the name of a kingdom, was thought a very dishonourable thing, and contrary 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 visible cause of melancholy besides this, went in a boat on the Thames, near the bridge, where the river runs OF KING JAMES II. 449 most impetuously, and leaped into the river and was 1689- drowned. W*^ The sitting of the convention was now very near, and all The con- men were forming their schemes, and fortifying their party ventl°niIiet- 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 our reli gion and 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 sub mission and non-resistance so far, that they thought no thing less than this could consist 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 recalled, was con trary to their former doctrine of unconditional 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 the nation ; or that, with relation to their par ticular interest, nature was so strong in them, that it was too hard for their principle. When this notion was tossed and talked of about the Some are town, so few went into it, that the party which supported regent!"16 it went oyer to the scheme of a second party : which was, that King James had, by his ill administration of the go vernment, brought himself into an incapacity of holding the exercise of the sovereign authority any more in his own hand ; but, as in the case of lunatics, the right still re mained in 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 vested in the Prince of Orange as prince regent. A third party was for setting King James quite aside, and for setting the Prince on the throne. When the convention was opened on the 24th of January, the Archbishop came not to take his place among them : ^ ol. n. 3 m V— v*J 450 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. he resolved neither to act for nor against the King's in terest ; which, considering his high post, was thought very unbecoming ; for if he thought, as by his behaviour after- wards it seems he did, that the nation was running into treason, rebellion, and perjury, it was a strange thing to see one, who was at the head of the church, sit silent 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 ecclesiastical methods that certainly became his character. 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 were also the benches of the temporal lords. The Earls of Not tingham, Clarendon, and Rochester, were the men that managed the debates in favour of a regent, in opposition to those who were for setting up another king. They thought this would save the nation, and yet secure the honour 6f 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 com monwealth. A great deal was brought from both the laws and history 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 he was as little capable of holding the government as an infant was, then the estates of the king dom 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 lineal suc cession ; for if that was once put ever so little out of its order, the crown would in a little time become elective ; which might rend the nation in pieces by a diversity of elections, and by the different 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 proposed ; but affairs were brought into so desperate a state by King James's conduct, that it was not possible to propose a remedy that might not be justly excepted to. But they thought their expedient would take in the greatest, OF KING JAMES II. 451 as well as the best, part of the nation ; whereas all other 16S9- expedients gratified 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 ac countable 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 great est part of the clergy declared themselves for it. But of those who agreed in this expedient, it was visible there were two different parties : some intended 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 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 defend 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 doctrine the most during these de bates. He said to myself, 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 lie found one made, he would be more faithful to him, than those that made him could be according to their own prin ciples. The third party was made up of those who thought that others are there was an original contract between the kings and the £? another people of England; by which the kings were bound to defend their people, and to govern them according to law, jn lieu pf which the, people were bound to obey and serve ^S^W1 452 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. the king. 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 to be their king ; and, upon their shouts of consent, the corona tion was gone about ; bnt before the king was crowned he was asked if he would not defend and protect his people, and govern them according to law ; and upon his promising and swearing this he was crowned, and then homage was done him; and though of late the coronation has been con sidered 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 continued, shewed what the government was ori ginally. Many things were brought to support this from the British and Saxon times. It was urged, that William the Conqueror was received upon his promising to keep the laws of Edward the Confessor, which was plainly the origi nal contract between him and .the nation. This was often re newed by his successors. Edward the Second, and Richard the Second, 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 re nounced or disowned. Many things were alleged from what had passed during the Barons' wars, for confirming all this : upon which I will add one particular circumstance, that the original 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 peo ple 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 carried 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 Rich ard the Second, were not acknowledged to be good ones. It was said, that if King James had only broken some laws, OF KING JAMES II. 453 and done some illegal acts, it might be justly urged, that it 1<"89. was not reasonable on account of these to carry severities "*"v*"' too far; but he had brokeri through the laws in many pub lic 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 disperising power took away not only those laws to which it was ap plied, but all other laws whatsoever by the precedent it had get, and by the consequences that followed upon it: by the 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 deserting his people, and fly ing 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 argued, And against that this was as much against monarchy, or rather more, a resonry' 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 still remained with him, this might have every whit as bad consequences as the other seemed to have ; for re course might be had to this violent remedy too often, and too rashly : by this proposition of a regent 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 pro posed. 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., But all such as should act under a prince re gent, created by this convention, were upon a bottom that had not the 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 454 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. to the crown, but all his prerogatives and powers ; and v-~^ therefore it seemed absurd 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 the whole extent. It was said, that if the government should be carried 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 plot or act for him, they could not be proceeded against for high treason, as con spiring against the King's person or government ; when it would be visible, that they were only designing to preserve his person, and to restore him to his government. To pro ceed against any, or to take their lives for sueh 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 infancy, 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 be presumed to be in a perpetual struggle ; the one to recover his power, the other to preserve his authority. 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 be lieved, 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. But those who were for continuing the government, 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 pre sent conjuncture, to depress 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 government WJ OF KtNG JAMES II. 455 Was dissolved : but this appeared a bold and dangerous 1689. assertion ; for that might have been carried so far, as to in fer from it, that all men's properties, honours, rights, and franchises, were dissolved : therefore it was, thought safer to say, that King James had dissolved the tie that was be tween 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 ex tremity of affairs, by reason of the late ill government, and by King James's flying over to the enemy of the nation, ra ther than submit to reasonable terms, had put the people of England on the necessity of securing themselves upon a legal bottom. It was said, that though the vow pf mar riage was made for term of life, and without conditions ex pressed, yet a breach in the tie itself sets 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 himself to break all laws, and in conclusion deserted his people, did, by so doing, set them at liberty to put them selves 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 itself against a king, who was subverting the government, did not expose monarchy, nor raise a popular authority, as some, did tragically represent the matter. There were also great disputes about the original con tract ; some denying there was any such thing, and asking where it was kept, and how it could be come at. To this others answered, that it was implied in a legal government ; though in a long tract of time, and in dark ages, there was not such an explicit 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 con sideration of their laws, which were still stipulated to them. There were also many debates on the word " abdicate ;" for the Commons came soon to a resolution, that King James by breaking the original contract, and by withdraw- ^r\^*J 466 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. ing himself, had abdicated the government, 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 conference, in which, according to the sense of the whole nation, the Commons had clearly the advantage on their side. The Lords had some more colour for opposing the word " abdicate," since that was often taken in a sense that imported the full purpose and consent of him that ab dicated ; which could not be pretended in this case : but there were good authorities brought, by which it appeared, that when a person did a thing upon wrhich his leaving any office ought to follow, he was said to abdicate. But this was a critical dispute ; and it scarce became the greatness of that assembly, or the importance of the matter. It was a more important debate, whether, supposing 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 breath of the dying King the regal author ity went to the next heir : 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 alle giance ; 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 dissolved 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. 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 could not pass to his heirs by his death, not being 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 themselves ; and therefore could not be bound to receive one, who they had reason to believe would study to dissolve and revenge all OF KING JAMES II. 457 they had done. If the principle of self-preservation did 1°S9- justify a nation in securing itself from a violent invasion, "-"v"*"' 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; y»t they could not yield that point, that they were strictly bound to it. It was proposed that the birth of the pretended Prince Somemoved might be examined into. Some pressed this, not so much thebirth"^ from an opinion that they were bound to assert his right if the Prince ••* „u u Ai x i • /.., ^. - of Wales. it should appear that he was born of the Queen, as Decause they thought it would justify the nation, and more particu larly the Prince and the two Princesses, if an imposture in that matter 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 or dered 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 riot amount to a full and legal proof ; yet they seemed to be such violent pre sumptions, that when they were all laid together, they were more convincing than plain and downright evidence ; for that was liable to the suspicion of subornation : whereas the other seemed to carry on them very convincing charac ters 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 imposture, the pretending to examine into it, and then the not being able to make it out, beyond the pos sibility of contradiction, would really give more credit to the thing than it then had, and instead of weakening it, would strengthen the pretension of his birth. When this debate was proposed in the House of Lords, Bat it —«. it was rejected with indignation. He was now sent out reJec,ed- of England to be .bred up in France, an enemy both to the nation and to the established religion : 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 vol. n. 3 N 458 HISTORY OF THE REIGN 1689. die, another might be put in his room, in such a manner, v*-^*/ that the nation could not be assured concerning him : the English nation ought not to send into another country for witnesses to prove that he was their Prince : much less re ceive one uppn the testimony of such, as were not only aliens, but ought to be presumed enemies., It was also knowri, that all the persons, who had been the confidents in that matter, were conveyed away : so it was impossible to come at them, by whose means only the truth of that birth could be found put. 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 neglect ed, to oblige our princes to govern well, while they would apprehend the danger of a revolt to a pretender still in their eye. 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 succession, as not so much as to inquire into this matter. Uppn 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. Some were The next thing in debate was, who should fill the throne. the Erin'ce The Marquis of Hallifax intended, by his zeal for the king. Prince's interest, to atone for his backwardness in not-com ing early into it: and, that he might get before Lord Dan by, who was in great credit 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 ap proved of this : for by it they gained another point : the 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 cannot tell. But I saw it made a great impression on Benthink. He spoke of it to me as asking my opinion about it ; but so, ^