Page 248  
248 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. profligates were sent over to that kingdom, with a 
commission to seek out evidence
against the Catholics. Under pretence of searching for arms or papers, they 
broke into houses, and plundered them: they
threw innocent men into prison, and took bribes for their release: and after all 
their diligence, it was with difficulty that that
country, commonly fertile enough in witnesses, could furnish them with any fit 
for their purpose. At last, one Fitzgerald
appeared, followed by Ivey, Sanson, Dennis, Bourke, two Macnamaras, and some 
others. These men were immediately
sent over to England; and though they possessed neither character sufficient to 
gain belief even for truth, nor sense to invent
a credible falsehood, they were caressed, rewarded, supported, and recommended 
by the earl of Shaftesbury. Oliver
Plunket, the titular primate of Ireland, a man of peaceable dispositions, was 
condemned and executed upon such testimony.
And the Oxford parliament entered so far into the matter, as to vote that they 
were entirely satisfied in the reality of the
horrid and damnable Irish plot. But such decisions, though at first regarded as 
infallible, had now lost much of their authority;
and the public still remained somewhat indifferent and incredulous. After the 
dissolution of the parliament, and the
subsequent victory of the royalists, Shaftesbury's evidences, with Turberville, 
Smith, and others, addressed themselves to the
ministers, and gave information of high treason against their former patron. It 
is sufficiently scandalous, that intelligence
conveyed by such men should have been attended to; but there is some reason to 
think, that the court agents, nay, the
ministers, nay, the king hirnself,* went further, and were active in 
endeavoring, though in vain, to find more reputable persons
to support the blasted credit of the Irish witnesses. Shaftesbury was committed 
to fJrison, and his indictment was presented
to the grand jury. The new sheriffs of London, Shute aund Pil. kington, were 
engaged as deeply as their predecessors in the
country party; and they took care to name a jury devoted to the same cause; a 
precaution quite necessary, when it was
scarcely possible to find men indifferent or attached to neither party. As far 
as swearing could go, the treason was clearly
proved against Shaftesbury; or rather so clearly as to merit no kind of credit 
or attention. That veteran leader of a party,
inured from his early youth to faction and intrigue, to * See Captain 
Wilkinson's Narrative. 

Page 249 
cabals and conspiracyie was representede as pening, without reserve, his 
treasonable intentions to these obscure btnditti,
and throwing out suchl violent and outrageous reproaches upon the king, as none 
but men of low education, like
thenmselves, could be supposed to employ. The draught of an association, it is 
true, against Popery and the duke, was found
in Shaftesbun!y's cabinet; and dangerous inferences might be drawn from many 
clauses of that paper. But it did not appear,
that it hlad been framed by Shaftesbury, or so much as approved by him. And as 
projects of an association had been
proposed in parliament, it was very natural for this nobleman, or his 
corrtcs)ondents, to be thinking of some plan which it
might be proper to lay before that assembly. The grand jury, therefore, after 
weighing all these circumstances, rejected the
indictment; and the people who attended the hall testified their joy by the 
loudest acclamations, which were echoed
throughout the whole city. About this time, a scheme of oppression was laid in 
Scotland, after a manner still more flagrant,
against a nobleman much less obno: ious than Shaftesbury; and as that country 
was reduced to a state of almost total
subjection, the poject had the good fortune to succeed. The earl of Argyle, from 
his youth, had distinguished him; self by his
loyalty, and his attachment to the royal family Though his father was head of 
the Covenanters, he himself refused to concur in
any of their measures; and when a commission of colonel was given him by the 
convention of states, he forbore to act upon
it till it should be ratified by the king. By his respectful behavior, as well 
as by his services, he made himself acceptable to
Charles when that prince was in Scotland: and even after the battle of 
Worcester, all the misfortunes which attended the
royal cause could not'engage him to desert it. Under Middleton, he obstinately 
persevered to harass and infest the victorious
English; and it was not till he received orders from that general, that he would 
submit to accept of a capitulation. Such
jealousy of his loyal attachments was entertained by the commonwealth and 
protector, that a pretence was soon after fallen
upon to commit him to prison; and hisconfinement was rigorously continued till 
the restoration. The king, sensible of his
services, had remitted to him his father's forfeiture, and created himl earl of 
Argyle: and when a most unjust sentence was
passed upon him by the Scottish parliament, Charles had anew remitted it. In the 


Page 250 
250 HISTORY OFP EIGLND. subsequent part of this reign, Argyle behaved himself 
dutiful. ly; and though he seemed not
disposed to go all lengths with the court, he always appeared, even in his 
opposition, to be a man of mild dispositions and
peaceable deportment. A parliament was summoned at Edinburgh this summer, and 
the duke was appointed commissioner.
Besides granting money to the king and voting the indefeasible right of 
succession, this parliament enacted a test, which all
persons possessed of offices, civil, mititary, or ecclesiastical, were bound to 
take. In this test the king's supremacy was
asserted, the covenant renounced, passive obedience assented to, and all 
obligations disclaimed of endeavoring any
alteration in civil or ecclesiastical establishments. This was the state of the 
test, as proposed by the courtiers; but the country
party proposed also to insert a clause, which could not with decency be refused, 
expressing the person's adherence to the
Protestant religion. The whole was of an enormous length, considered as an oath; 
and what was worse, a confession of faith
was there ratified, which had been imposed a little after the reformation, and 
which contained many articles altogether
forgotten by the parliament and nation. Among others, the doctrine of resistance 
was inculcated; so that the test, being voted
in a hurry, was found on examination to be a medley of contradiction and 
absurdity. Several persons, the most attached to
the crown, scrupled to take it: the bishops and many of the clergy remonstrated: 
the,arl of Queensberry refused to swear,
except he might be allowed to add- an explanation: and even the privy council 
thought it necessary to publish, for general
satisfaction, a solution of some difficulties attending the test. Though the 
courtiers could not reject the clause of adher. ing to
the Protestant religion,-they proposed, as a necessary mark of respect,that all 
princes of the blood should be exempted from
taking the oath. This exception was zealously opposed by Argyle; who observed, 
that the sole danger to be dreaded for the
Protestant religion must proceed from the perversion of the royal family. By 
insisting on such topics, he drew on himself the
secret indignation of the duke, of which he soon felt the fatal consequences. 
When Argyle took the test as a privy counsellor,
he sub. joined, in the duke's presence, an explanation, which he had beforehand 
communicated to that prince, and which he
believed,.o have been approved by him. It was in these worY" -"' 

Page 251 
CHARLES II. 251 have considered the test, and am very desirous of giving 
obe-ience as far as I can. I am confident that
the parliament nei,r intended to impose contradictory oaths: therefore I thinl 
no man can explain it but for himself.
Accordingly, I take i as far as it is consistent with itself and the Protestant 
religion Ant I do declare, that I mean not to bind
myself, in my sto ion, and in a lawful way, from wishing and endeavoring any 
alteration which I think to the advantage of
church oi state, and not repugnant to the Protestant religion and my loyalty: 
and this I understand as a part of my oath." The
duke, as was natural, heard these words with great tranquillity: no one took the 
least offence: Argyle was admitted to sit that
day in council: and it was impossible to imagine, that a capital offence had 
been committed, where occasion seemed not to
have been given so much as for a frown or reprimand. Argyle was much surprised, 
a few days after, to find that a warrant
was issued for committing him to prison; that he was indicted for high treason, 
leasing-making, and perjury; and that from
these innocent words an accusation was extracted, by which he was to forfeit 
honors, life, and fortune. It is needless to enter
into particulars where the'inity of the whole is so apparent. Though the sword 
of jutilce was displayed, even her semblance
was not put on; and the forms alone of law were preserved, in order to sanctify, 
or rather aggravate, the oppression. Of five
judges, three did not scruple to find the guilt of treason and leasing-making to 
have been incurred by the prisoner: a jury of
fifteen noblemen gave verdict against him: and the king, being consulted, 
ordered the sentence to be pronounced, but the
execution of it to-be suspended till further orders. It was pretended by the 
duke and his creatures, that Argyle's life and
fortune were not in any danger, and that the sole reason for pushing the trial 
to such extremities against him was, in order to
make him renounce some hereditary jurisdictions, which gave his family a 
dangerous authority in the highlands, and
obstructed the course of public justice. But allowing the end to be justifiable, 
the means were infamous; and such as were
incompatible, not only with a free, but a civilized government. Argyle had 
therefore no reason to trust any longer to the
justice or mercy of such enemies: he made his escape from prison; and till he 
should find a ship for Holland, he concealed
himself during some time in London. The king heard of his lurking-place, but 
would not allow him to be 

Page 252 
2i2 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. arrested.* - All the parts, however, of his sentence, as 
far as the government in Scotland
had power, were rigorously exe. cured; his estate confiscated, his arms reversed 
and torn. It would seem, that the genuine
passion for liberty was at this time totally extinguished in Scotland: there was 
only preserved a spirit of mutiny and sedition,
encouraged by a mistaken zeal for religion. Cameron and Cargil, two furious 
preachers, went a step beyond all their
brethren: they publicly excommnunicated the king for his tyranny and his breach 
of the covenant; and they renounced all
allegiance to him. Cameron was killed by the troops in an action at Airs MAoss; 
Cargil was taken and hanged. Many of
their followers were tried and convicted. Their lives were offered them if they 
would say," God save the king:" but they
would only agree to pray for his repentance. This obstinacy was much insisted on 
as an apology for the rigors of the
administration: but if duly considered, it will rather afford reason for a 
contrary inference. Such unhappy delusion is an object
rather of commiseration than of anger: and it is almost impossible that men 
could have been carried to such a degree of
frenzy, unless provoked:!y a long train of violence and oppression. [1682.] As 
the king was master in England, and no
longer dreaded the clamors of the country party, he permitted the duke to pay 
him a visit; and was soon after prevailed on to
allow of his return to England, and of his bearing a part in the administration. 
The duke went to Scotland, in order to bring up
his family, and settle the government of that country; and he chose to take his 
passage by sea. The ship struck on a
sand-bank, and was losi: the duke escaped in the barge; and it is pretended 
that; while many persons of rank and quality
were drowned, and among the rest Hyde, his brotherin-law, he was very careful to 
save several of his dogs and priests; for
these two species of favorites are coupled together by some writers. It has 
likewise been asserted, that the barge might
safely have held more persons, and that some who swam to it were thrust off, and 
even their hands cut, in order to
disengage them. But every action of every eminent person, during this period, is 
so liable to be misinterpreted and
misrep)resented by faction, that we ought to be very cautious in passing 
judgment on too slight evidence. It is remarkable,
that the sailors on board the ship, though they felt themselves * Burnet, vol. 
i. p. 522. 

Page 253 
CHARLES It. sinking, and saw inevitable death before their eyes, yet, as soon as 
they observed the duke to be in safety,
gave a loud shout in testimony of their joy and satisfaction. The duke, during 
his abode in Scotland, had behaved with great
civility towards the gentry and nobility; and by his courtly demeanor had much 
won upon their affections: but his treatment of
the enthusiasts was still somewhat rigorous; and in many instances he appeared 
to be a man of a severe, if not an unrelenting
temper. It is even asserted, that he sometimes assisted at the torture of 
criminals, and looked on with tranquillity, as if he
were considering some curious experiment.* He left the authority in the hands of 
the earl of Aberdeen, chancellor, and the
earl of Queensberry, treasurer: a very arbitrary spirit appeared in their 
administration. A gentleman of the name of Weir was
tried, because he had kept company with one who had been in rebellion; though 
that person had never been marked out by
process or proclamation. The inferences upon which Weir was condemned, (for a 
prosecution by the government and a
condemnation were in Scotland the same thing,) hung upon each other after the 
following manner. No man, it was supposl
could have been in a rebellion without being exposed to Slicion in the 
neighborhood: if the neighborhood had suspected him,
it was to be presumed that each individual had likewise heard of the grounds of 
suspicion: every man was bound to declare
to the government his suspicion against every man, and to avoid the company of 
traitors: to fail in this duty was to participate
in the treason: the conclusion, on the whole, was, You have conversed with a 
rebel; therefore you are yourself a rebel. A
reprieve was with some difficulty procured for Weir; but it was seriously 
determined to make use of the precedent. Courts
of judicature were erected in the southern and western counties, and a strict 
inquisition carried on against this new species of
crime. The term of three years was appointed for the continuance of these 
courts; after which an indemnity was promised.
Whoever would take the test, was instantly entitled to the benefit of this 
indemnity. The Presbyterians, alarmed with such
tyranny, from which no man could deemn himself safe, began to think of leaving 
the coun * Burnet, vol. i. p. 583.
~Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 169. This last author, who is much the better authority, 
mentions only one instance, thea of Spreul,
which seems to have been an extraordinary one. VOL. VI, 22 H 

Page 254 
254 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. try; and some of their agents were sent to England, in 
order to treat with the proprietors
of Carolina for a settlement in that colony. Any condition seemed preferable to 
the living in their native count:r, which, by the
prevalence of persecution and violence, was become as insecure to them as a den 
of robbers. Above two thousand persons
were outlawed on pretence of their conversing or having intercourse with 
rebels,* and they were continually hunted in their
retreat by soldiers, spies, in. formers, and oppressive magistrates. It was 
usual to put insnaring questions to people living
peaceably in their own houses, such as, " Will you renounce the covenant? Do you 
esteem the rising at Bothwel to be
rebellion? Was the killing of the archbishop of St. Andrews murder?" And when 
the poor deluded creatures refused to
answer, capital punishments were inflicted on them.t Even women were brought to 
the gibbet for this pretended crime. A
number of fugitives, rendered frantic by oppression, had published a seditious 
declaration, renouncing allegiance to Charles
Stuart, whom they called, as they, for their parts, had indeed some reason to 
esteem him, a tyrant. This incident afforded the
privy council a pretence for an unual kind of oppression. Soldiers were 
dispersed over the country, and power was given to
all commission officers, even the lowest, to oblige every one they met with to 
abjure the declaration; and, upon refusal,
instantly, without further questions, to shoot the delinquent.4 It were endless, 
as well as shocking, to enumerate all the
instances of persecution, or, in other words, of absurd tyranny, which at that 
time prevailed in Scotland. One of them,
however, is so singular, that I cannot forbear relating it. Three women were 
seized; ~ and the customary oath was tendered
to them, by which they were to abjure the seditious declaration above mentioned. 
They all refused, and were condemned to
a capital punishment by drowning. One of them was an elderly woman: the other 
two were young; one eighteen years of age,
the other only thirteen. Even these violent perse(utors were ashamed to put the 
youngest to death: but the other two were
conducted to the place of execution, and were tied to stakes within the sea mark 
at low water; a contrivance which rendered
their death lingering and direadful. The elderly woman was placed farthest in, 
and by the rising of the ~ Wodrow, vol. ii.
appendix, 94. t Wodrow, vol. ii. passim. f Wodrow, p. 434. ~ Wodrow, p. 605. 

Page 255 
CHaRLEs II. 2t5 waters was first suffocated. The younger, partly terrified with 
the view of her companion's death, partly
subdued by the entreaty of her friends, was prevailed with to say, " God save 
the king." Immediately the spectators called
out, that she had submitted; nd she was loosened from the stake. Major Winram, 
the of. ficer who guarded the execution,
again required her to sign the abjuration; and upon her refusal, he ordered her 
instantly to be plunged in the water, where she
was suffocated. The severity of the administration in Scotland is in part to be 
ascribed to the duke's temper, to whom the
king had consigned over the government of that country, and who gave such 
attention to affairs as to allow nothing of
moment to escape him. Even the government of England, from the same cause, began 
to be somewhat infected with the
same severity. The duke's credit was great at court. Though neither so much 
beloved nor esteemed as the king, he was more
dreaded'; and thence an attendance more exact, as well as a submission more 
obsequious, was paid to him. The saying of
Waller was remarked, that Charles, in spite to the parliament, who had 
determined that the duke should not succeed him,
was resolved that he should reign even in his lifetimne The king, however, who 
loved to maintain -a balance in his councils,
still supported Halifax, whom he created a marquis, and made privy seal; though 
ever in opposition to the duke. This man,
who possessed the finest genius and most extensive capacity of all employed in 
public affairs during the present reign,
affected a species of neutrality between the parties, and was esteemed the head 
of that small body known by the
denomination of" trimmers." This conduct, which is more natural to men of 
integrity than of ambition, could not, however,
procure him the former character; and he was always, with reason, regarded as an 
intriguer rather than a patriot.
Sunderland, who had promoted the exclusion bill, and who had been displaced on 
that account, was again, with the duke's
consent, brought into the administration. The extreme duplicity, at least 
variableness, of this man's conduct, through the
whole course of his life, made it be suspected, that it was by, the king's 
direction he had- mixed with the country party.
Hyde, created earl of Rochester, was first commissioner of the treasury, and was 
entirely in the duke's interests. The king
himself was obliged to act as the head of a party; a disagreeable situation for 
a prince, and always the source of much
injustice and oppression. He knew how obnoxious the 

Page 256 
~ HfItSTOHTsoY' 0- o PT LAND. dissenters were to the church; and he: resolved, 
contrary to-the maxims of toleration,
which he had hitherto supported in England, to gratify his friends by the 
persecution of hiis enemies. The laws against
conventicles were now rigorously executed, an expedient which, the king knew, 
would diminish neither the numbers nor
influence of the nonconformists; and whlich is therefore to be deemed more the 
result of passion than of policy. Scarcely any
persecution serves the intended purpose but such as amounts to a total 
extermination. Though the king's authority made
every day great advances it still met with considerable obstacles, chiefly from 
the city which was entirely in the hands of the
mnalecontents. The juries, in particular, named by the sheriffs, were not likely 
to be impartial judges between the crown and
the people; and after the experiments already made in the case of Shaftesbury, 
and that of College, treason, it was
apprehended, might there be committed with impunity. There could not, therefore, 
be a more important service to the court
than to put affairs upon a different footing. SitrJohn Moore, the mayor, was 
gained by Secretary Jenkins, and encouraged to
insist upon the customary privilege of his office, of namiiig one of the 
sheriffrs. Accordingly, when the time of election came,
he drank to North, a Levant merchant, who accepted of that expensive off ie. The 
country party said, that, being lately
returned from Turkey, he was, on account of his recent experience, better 
qualified to serve the purposes of the court. A
poll was opened for the election of another sheriff; and here began the contest. 
The majority of the common hall, headed by
the two sheriffs of the former year, refused to acknowledge the mayor's right of 
appointing one sheriff, but insisted that both
must be elected -by the livery. Papillon and Dubois were the persons whom the 
country party agreed to elect: Box was
pointed out by the courtiers. The poll was opened; but as the mayor would not 
allow' the election to proceed for two
vacancies, the sheriffs and he separated, and each carried on the poll apart. 
The country party, who voted with the sheriffs
for Papillon and Dubois, were much more numerous than those'lo voted with the 
mavor for Box: but as the mayor insisted
that his poll was the only legal one, he declared Box to be duly elected. All 
difficulties, however, were not surmounted; Box,
apprehensive of the consequences which might attend so dubious an election, 
fined off; and the mayor found it necessary to
proceed to a new choice. When the matter was proposed to 

Page 257 
CHARLES II. 257 the common hall, a loud cry was raised, " No election! No 
election!" The two sheriffs already elected,
Papillon and Diibois, were insisted on as the only legal magistrates. But as the 
mayor still maintained, that Box alone had
been legally chosen, and that it was now requisite to supply his place, he 
opened books anew; and during the tumult and
confusion of the citizens, a few of the mayor's partisans elected Rich, 
unknown'to and unheeded by the rest of the livery.
North and Rich were accordingly sworn in sheriffs for the ensuing year; but it 
was necessary to send a guard of the train
bands to protect them in entering upon their office. A new mayor of tile court 
party nvas soon after chosen, by means, as is
pretended, still more violent and irregular. Thus the country party were 
dislodged from their stronghold in the city; where,
ever since the commencement of factions in the English government, they had, 
without interruption, almost without
molestation, maintained a superiority. It had been happy, had the 
partialities,ehitherto objected to juries, been corrected,
without giving place to partialities of an opposite kind: but in the present 
distracted state of the nation, an equitable neutrality
was almost impossible to be attained. The court and church party, who were now 
named -on juries, made justice
subservient to their factious views; and the king had a prospect of obtaining 
full revenge on his enemies. It was not long
before the effects of these alterations were seen. When it was first reported 
that the duke intended to leave Scotland,
Pilkington, at that time sheriff, a very violent man, had broken out in these 
terms: "i He has already burned the city; and he is
now coming to cut all our throats!" For these scandalous expressions, the duke 
sued Pilkington; and enormous damages, to
the amount of one hundred thousand pounds, were decreed him. By the law of 
England, ratified in the Great Charter, no fine
or damages ought to ex'end to the total ruin of a criminal. Sir Patience Ward, 
formerly mayor, who gave evidence for
Pilkington, was sued for perjury, and condemnned to the pillory; a severe 
sentence, and sufficient to deter all w:tnesses froin
appearing in favor of those who were prosecuted by the court. [1683.1 But though 
the crown had obtained so great a
victorv in the city, it was not quite decisive; and the contest might be renewed 
every year at the election of magistrates. An
important project, therefore, was formed, not only to make the king master of 
the city, but by that precedent to 

Page 258 
,2Q58 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. gain him uncontrolled influence in all the 
corporations of England, and thereby give the
greatest wound to the legal constitution, which the most powerful and most 
arbitrary monarchs had ever yet been able to
inflict. A writ of quo warranto was issued against the city; that is, an inquiry 
into the validity of its charter. It was pretended,
that the city had forfeited all its privileges, and ought to be declared no 
longer a corporation, on account of two offences
which the court of aldermen and common council had committed. After the great 
fire in 1666, all the markets had been
rebuilt, and had been fitted up with many conveniencies; and, in order to defray 
the expense, the magistrates had imposed a
small toll on goods brought to mlarket: in the year 1679, they had addressed the 
king against the prorogation of parliament,
and had employed the following terms: " Your petitioners are greatly surprised 
at the late prorogation, whereby the
prosecution of the public justice of the kingdom, and the making of necessary 
provisions for the preservation of your majesty
End your Protestant subjects, have received interruption." These words were 
pretended to contain a scandalous reflection
on the king and his measures. The cause of the city was defended against the 
attorney and solicitor-generals by Treby and
Pollexfen. These last pleaded, that, since the foundation of the monarchy, no 
corporation had ever yet been exposed to
forfeiture, and. the thing itself implied an absurdity: that a corporation, as 
such, was incapable of all crime or offence; and
none were answerable for any iniquity but the persons themselves who committed 
it: that the members, in choosing
magistrates, had intrusted them with legal powers only; and where the 
magistrates exceeded these powers, their acts were
void, but could never involve the body itself in any criminal imputation: that 
such had ever been the practice of England,
except at the reformation, when the monasteries were abolished; but this was an 
extraordinary case; and it was even thought
necessary to ratify afterwards the whole transaction by act of parliament: that 
corporate bodies, framed for public good, and
calculated for perpetual duration, ought not to be annihilated for the 
temporary- faults of their members, who might
themselves, without hurting the community, be questioned for their offences: 
that even a private estate, if entailed, could not
be forfeited to the crown on account of treason committed by the tenant for 
life; but, upon his demise, went to the next in
remainder: that the offences objected to the city, far from 

Page 259 
CHARLES It. 259 deserving so severe a punishment, were not even worthy of the 
smallest reprehension: that all
corporations were invested with the power of making by-laws; and the smallest 
borough in England had ever been allowed
to carry the exercise of this power further than London had done in the instance 
complained of: that the city having, at its
own expense, repaired the markets, which were built too on its own estate, might 
as lawfully claim a small recompense from
such as brought commodities thither, as a man might require rent for a house of 
which he was possessed: that those who
disliked the condition, mnight abstain from the market; and whoever paid, had 
done It voluntarily: that it was an avowed right
of the subjects to petition; nor had the city in their address abused this 
privilege: that the king himself had often declared, the
parliament often voted, the nation to be in danger from the Popish plot; which, 
it is evident, could not be fully prosecuted but
in a parliament. ary manner: that the impeachment of the Popish lords was 
certainly obstructed by the frequent prorogations;
as was also the enacting of necessary laws, and providing for the defence of the 
nation: that the. loyalty of the city, no less
than their. regard to self-preservation, might prompt them to frame the 
petition; since it was acknowledged, that the king's
life was every moment exposed to the most imminent danger from the Popish 
conspiracy: that the city had not accused the
king of obstructing justice, much less of having any such intention; since it 
was allowed, that evil counsellors were alone
answerable for all the pernicious consequences of any measure: and that it was 
unaccountable, that two public deeds, which
had not, during so long a time, subjected to any, even the smallest penalty, the 
persons' guilty of them, should now be
punished so severely upon the corporation, which always was, and always must be 
innocent. It is evident, that those who
would apologize ftr the measures of the court, must, in this case, found their 
arguments, not on law, but reasons of state. The
judges, therefore, who condemned the city, are inexcusable; since the sole 
object of their determinations must ever be the
pure principles of justice and equity. But the office of judge was at that time 
held during pleasure; and it was impossible that
any cause, where the court bent its force, could ever be carried against it. 
After sentence was pronounced, the city applied
in an humble manner to the king; and he agreed to restore their charter, but in 
return they-were obliged to submit to the
following regulations 

Page 260 
260 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. that no mayor, sheriff, recorder, common serjeant, town 
clerk, or coroner, should be
admitted to the exercise of his office without his majesty's approbation: that 
if the king disapprove twice of the mayor or
sheriffs elected, he may by commission appoint these mnagistrates: that the 
mayor and court of aldermen may, with his
majesty's leave, displace any magistrate: and that no alderman, in case of a 
vacancy, shall be elected without consent of the
court of aldermen, who, if they disapprove twice of the choice, may fill the 
vacancy. All the corporations in England, having
the example of London before their eyes, saw how vain it would prove to contend 
with the court, and were, most of them,
successively induced to surrender their charters into tile king's hands. 
Considerable sums were exacted for restoring the
charters; and all —offices of power and profit were left at the disposal of the 
crown. It seems %trange that the independent
royalists, who never meant to make the crown absolute, should yet be so elated 
with the victory obtained over their
adversaries, as to approve of a precedent which left no national privileges in 
security, but enabled the king, under like
pretences, and by means of like instruments, to recall anew all those charters 
which at present he was pleased to grant. And
every friend to liberty must allow, that the nation, whose constitution was thus 
broken in the shock of faction, had a right, by
every prudent expedient, to recover that.security of which it was so unhappily 
bereaved. While soq great a faction adhered
to the crown, it is apparent that resistance, however justifiable, could never 
be prudent; and all wise men saw no expedient
but peaceably to submit to the present grievances. There was,' however, a party 
ot malecontents, so turbulent in their
disposition, that, even before this last iniquity, which laid the whole 
constitution at the mercy of the king, they had meditated
plans of resistance; at a time when it could be as little justifiable as 
prudent. In the spring of 1681,* a little before the Oxford
parliament, the king * Lord Grev's Secret History of the Rye -house Plot. This 
is the most full and authentic account of all
these transactions; but is in the main confirmed by Bishop Sprat, and even 
Burnet, as well as by the trials and dying
confessions of the conspirators; so that nothing can be more unaccountable than 
that any one should pretend that this
conspiracy was an imposture, like the Popish plot. Monmouth's declaration, 
published in the next reign, confies a coult for
extraoxdinmry r~exedes. 

Page 261 
CRARLES U. 261 was seized with a fit of -sickness "at Windsor, which S'rve great 
alarm to the public. The duke of
Monmouth, Lord Russel, Lord Grey, instigated ty the restless Shaftesbury, had 
agreed, in case the king's sickness should
prove mortal, to rise in arms, and to oppose the succession of the duke. Charles 
recovered; but these dangerous projects
were not laid aside. The same conspirators, together with Essex and Salisbury, 
were determined to continue the Oxford
parliament, after the king, as was daily expected, should dissolve it; and they 
engaged some leaders among the commons in
the same des. perate measure. They went so far as to detain several lords in the 
house, under pretence of signing a protest
against rejecting Fitzharris's impeachment; but hearing that the commons had 
broken up in great consternation, they were
likewise obliged at last to separate. Shaftesbury's imprisonment and trial put 
an end for some time to these machinations; and
it was not till the new sheriffs were imposed on the city that they were 
revived. The leaders of the country party began then
to apprehend themselves in imminent danger; and they were well pleased to find 
that the citizens were struck with the same
terror, and were thence inclined to undertake the mos perilous enterprises. 
Besides the city, the gentry and nobilit? in several
counties of England were solicited to rise in arms. Monmouth engaged the earl of 
Macclesfield, Lord Brandon, Sir Gilbert
Gerrard, and other gentlemen in Cheshire; Lord Russel fixed a correspondence 
with Sir William Courtney, Sir Francis
Rowles, Sir Francis Drake, who promised to raise the west; and Trenchard in 
particular, who had interest in the disaffected
town of Taunton, assured him of considerable assistance from that neighborhood. 
Shaftesbury and his emissary Ferguson, an
Independent clergyman and a restless plotter, managed the correspondence in the 
city, upon which the confederates chiefly
relied. The whole train was ready to take fire; but was prevented by the caution 
of Lord Russel, who induced Monmouth to
delay the enterprise. ShafYesbury, in the mean time, was so much affected with 
the sense of his danger, that he had left his
house, and secretly lurked in the city; meditat. ing all those desperate schemes 
which disappointed revenge and ambition
could inspire. He exclaimed loudly against delay, and represented to his 
confederates, that having gone so fAar, and
intrusted the secret into so many hands, there was no safety for them but in a 
bold and desperate prosecution of their
7purpose. The projects were therefore renewed: 

Page 262 
262 HISTOHY OF ENGLAND. meitings of the conspirators were appointed in different 
houses particularly in Shephard's,
an eminent wine-merchant in the city: the plan of an insurrection was laid in 
London, Cheshire Devonshire, and Bristol: the
several places of rendezvous in the city were concerted; and all the operations 
fixed: the state of the guards was even viewed
by Monmouth and Armstrong, and an attack on them pronounced practicable: a 
declaration to justify the enterprise to the
public was read and agreed to: and every circumstance seemed now to render an 
insurrection unavoidable; when a new
delay was procured by Trenchard, who declared that the rising in the west could 
not for some weeks be in sufficient
forwardness. Shaftesbury was enraged at these perpetual cautions and delays in 
an enterprise which, he thought, nothing but
courage and celerity could render effectual: he threatened to commence the 
insurrection with his friends in the city alone; and
he boasted, that he had ten thousand brisk boys, as he called them, who, on a 
motion of his finger, were ready to fly to
arms. Monmouth Russel, and the other conspirators, were during some time in 
apprehensions lest despair should push him
into some dangerous measure; when they heard that, after a long combat between 
fear and rage, he had at last abandoned
all hopes of success, and had retired into Holland. He lived in a private manner 
at Amsterdam; and for greater security
desired to be admitted into the magistracy of that city: but his former vio. 
lent counsels against the Dutch commonwealth
were remembered; and all applications from him were rejected. He died soon 
after, and his end gave neither sorrow to his
friends nor joy to his enemies. His furious temper, notwithstanding his 
capacity, had done great injury to the cause in which
he was engaged. The violences and iniquities which he suggested.and encouraged, 
were greater than even faction itself could
endure; and men could not forbear sometimes recollecting, that the same person 
who had become so zealous a patriot, was
once a most prostitute courtier. It is remarkable, that this man, whose 
principles and conduct were in all other respects so
exceptionable, proved an excellent chancellor; and that all his decrees, while 
he possessed that high office, were equally
remarkable for justness and for integrity: so difficult is it to find in history 
a character either wholly bad or perfectly good;
though the prejudices of party make writers run easily into the extremes both of 
panegyric and of satire. After Shaftesbury's
departure, the conspirators found some 

Page 263 
CHARLES Ii. 263 difficulty in renewing the correspondence with the 
city-malecontents, who had been accustomed to
depend solely. on that nobleman. Their common hopes, however, as well as common 
fears, made them at last have recourse
to each other; and a regular project of an insurrection was again formed. A 
council of six was erected, consisting of
Monmouth, Russel, Essex, Howard, Algernon Sidney, and John Hambden, gland. son 
of the great parliamentary leader.
These men entered into an agreement with Argyle and the Scottish malecontents; 
who engaged, that, upon the payment of
ten thousand pounds for the purchase of arms in Holland, they would bring the 
Covenanters into the field. Insurrections
likewise were anew projected in Cheshire and the west, as well as in the city; 
and some. meetings of the leaders were held,
in order to reduce these projects into form. The conspirators differed extremely 
in their views. Sidney was passionate for a
commonwealth. Essex had embraced the same project. But Monmouth had entertained 
hopes of acquiring the crown for
himself. Russel, as well as Hambden, was much attached to the ancient 
constitution, and intended only the exclusion of the
duke and the redress of grievances. Lord Howard was a man of no principle, and 
was ready to embrace any party which his
immediate interest should recommend to him. But notwithstanding this difference 
of characters-and ofviews, tlibir common
hatred of the duke and the present administration united them in one party; and 
the dangerous experiment of an insurrection
was fully resolved on. While these schemes were concerting among the leaders, 
there was an inferior order of conspirators,
who held frequent meetings, and, together with the insurrection, carried on 
projects quite unknown to Monmouth and the
cabal of six Among these men were Colonel Rumsey, an old republican officer, who 
had distinguished himself in Portugal,
and had been recommended to the king by Mareschal Schomberg; Lieutenant-Colonel 
Walcot, likewise a republican
officer; Goodenough, under-sheriff of London, a zealous and noted partyman; 
West, Tyley, Norton, Ayloffe, lawyers;
Ferguson, Rouse: Hone, Keiling, Holloway, Bourne, Lee, Rumbald Most of these 
last were merchants or tradesmen; and
the only persons of this confederacy who had access to the leaders of the party, 
were Rumsey and Ferguson. When these
men met together, they indulged themselves in the most desperate and most iminal 
discourse; they frequently mentioned the 

Page 264 
264 HISTORY OF ENGLAtID. assassination of.he king and the duke, to which they 
had given the familiar appellation of
lopping: they even went so far as to have thought of a scheme for that purpose. 
Rumbald, who was a maltster, possessed a
farm, called the Ryehouse, which lay on the road to Newmarket, whither the king 
commonly went on:e a year, for the
diversion of the races A plan of this farm had been laid before some of thle 
conspira tors -by Rumbald, who sn )wed them
how easy it would be, by overturning a cart, to'stop at that place the king's 
coach; while they might fire upon him from the
hedges, and be enabled afterwards, through by-lanes and across the fields, to 
make their escape, Put though the plausibility
of this scheme gave great pleasure to the conspirators, no concerted design was 
as yet laid, nor any men, horses, or arms
provided: the whole was little more than loose discourse, the overflowings of 
their zeal and rancor. The house in which the
king lived at Newmarket,, took fire accidentally; and he was obliged to leave 
that place eight days sooner than he intended.
To this circumstance'his safety was afterwards ascribed, when the conspiracy was 
detected; and the court party could not
suffi. ciently admire the wise dispensations of Providence. It is, indeed, 
certain, that as the king had thus unexpectedly left
Newmarket, he was worse attended than usual; and Rumbald informed his 
confederates with regret what a fine opportunity
was thus unfortunately lost. Among the conspirators I have mentioned Keiling, a 
salter in London. This man had been
engaged in a bold measure, of arresting the mayor of London, at the suit of 
Papillon and Dubois, the outed sheriffs; and
being liable to prosecution for that action, he thought it safest to purchase a 
pardon by revealing the conspiracy, in which he
was deeply concerned. He brought to Secretary Jenkins intelligence of the 
assassination plot; but as he was a single
evidence, the secretary, whom many false plots had probably rendered 
incredulous, scrupled to issue warrants for the
commitment of so great a number of persons. Keiling, therefore, in order to 
fortify his testimony, engaged his brother in
treasonable discourse With Goodenough, one of the conspirators; and Jenkins befn 
now to give more attention to the
intelligence. The conspirators had got some hint of the danger in which they 
were involved; and all of them concealed
themselves. One person alone, of the name of Barber, an instrument-maker, was 
seized; and as his confession concurred in
many particulars with Keiling, 

Page 265 
CHARLES II. 265 information, the affair seemed to be put out of all question; 
and a more diligent search was every where
made after the conspirators. West, the lawyer, and Colonel Rumsey, finding the 
perils to which they were exposed in
endeavoring to escape, re. solved to save their own lives at the expense of 
their companions; and they surrendered
themselves with an intention:f becoming evidence. West could do little more than 
con. finn the testimony of Keiling with
regard to the assassination plot; but Rumsey, besides giving additional 
confirmation of the same design, was at last, though
with much difliculty, led to reveal the meetings at Shephard's. Shephard was 
immediately apprehended, and had not courage
to maintain fidelity to his confederates. Upon his information, orders were 
issued for arresting the great men engaged in the
conspiracy. Monmouth absconded: Russel was sent to the Tower: Grey was arrested, 
but escaped from the messenger:
Howard was taken, while he concealed himself in a chimney; and being a man of 
profligate morals, as well as indigent
circunmstances, he scrupled not, in hopes of a pardon and a reward, to reveal 
the whole conspiracy. Essex, Sidney, and
llambden were immediately apprehended upon his evidence. Every day some of the 
conspirators were detected in their
lurking-places, and thrown into prison. Lieutenant-Colonel Walcot was first 
brought to his trial. This man, who was once
noted for bravery, had been so far overcome by the love of life, that he had 
written to Secretary Jenkins, and had offered
upon promise of pardon to turn evidence: but no sooner had he taken this mean 
step, than he felt more generous sentiments
arise in him; and he endeavored, thodgh in vain, to conceal himself. The 
witnesses against him were Rumsey, West,
Shephard, together with Bourne, a brewer. His own letter to the secretary was 
produced, and rendered the testimony of the
witnesses unquestionable. Hone and Rouse were also condemned. These two men, as 
well as Walcot, acknowledged at
their execution the justice of the sentence; and from their trial and confession 
it is sufficiently apparent, that the plan of an
insurrection had been regularly formed, and that even the assassination had been 
often talked of, and not without the
approbation of many Lf the conspirators. The condemnation of these criminals was 
probably intended as a preparative to
the trial of Lord Russel, and served to VOL. VI. 23 H 

Page 266 
266 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. impress the public with a thorough belief of the consp 
racy, as well as a horror against it.
The witnesses produced against the noble prisoner were Rumsey, Shephard, and 
Lord Howard Rumsey swore, that he
himself had been introduced to the cabal at Shephard's, where Russel was 
present; and had delivered them a message from
Shaftesbury, urging them to hasten the intended insurrection; but had received 
for answer, that it was found necessary to
delay the design, and that Shaftesbury must therefore, for some time, rest 
contented. This answer, he said, was delivered by
Ferguson; but was assented to by the prisoner. He added, that some discourse had 
been entered into about taking a surve-
of the guards; and he thought that Monmouth, Grey, and Armstrong undertook to 
view them. Shephard deposed, that his
house had beforehand been bespoken by Ferguson for the secret meeting of the 
conspirators, and that he had been careful
to keep all his servants from approaching them, and had served them himself. 
Their discourse, he said, ran chiefly upon the
means of surprising the guards; and it was agreed, that Monmouth and his two 
friends should take a survey of them. The
report which they brought next meeting was, that the guards were remiss, and 
that the design was practicable: but he did not
affirm that any resolution was taken of executing it. The prisoner, he thought, 
was present at both these meetings; but he was
sure that at least he was present at one of them. A declaration, he added, had 
been read by Ferguson in Russel's presence:
the reasons of the intended insurrection were there set forth, and all the 
public grievances fully displayed. Lord Howard had
been one of the cabal of six, established after Shaftesbury's flight; and two 
meetings had been held by the conspirators, one
at Hambden's, another at Russel's. Howard deposed. that, at the first meeting, 
it was agreed to begin the insurrection in the
country before the city; the places were fixed, the proper quantity and kind of 
arms agreed on, and the whole plan of
operations concerted: that at the second meeting, the conversation chiefly 
turned upon their correspondence with Argyle and
the discontented Scots; and that the principal management of that affair was 
intrusted to Sidney, who had sent one Aaron
Smith into Scotland with proper instructions. He added, that in these 
deliberations no question was put, or votes collected;
but there was no contra. diction; and, as he took it, all of them, and the 
prisoner among the rest, gave their consent. 

Page 267 
CHARLES II. 267 Rimsey and Shephard were very unwilling witnesses against Lord 
Russel; and it appears from Grey's
Secret History,* that, if they had pleased, they could have given a more 
explicit testimony against him. This reluctance,
together with the difficulty in recollecting circumstances of a conversation 
which had passed above eight months before, and
which the persons had not at that time any intention to reveal, may beget some 
slight objection to their evidence. But, on the
whole, it was undoubtedly proved, that the insurrection had been deliberated on 
by the prisoner, and fully resolved; the
surprisal of the guards deliberated on, but not fully resolved; and that an 
assassination had never once been mentioned nor
imagined by him. So far the matter of fact seems certain: but still, with regard 
to law, there remained a difficulty, and that of
an important nature. The English laws of treason, both in the manner of defining 
that crime, and in the proof required, are the
mildest and most indulgent, and consequently the most equitable, that are any 
where to be found. The two chief species of
treason contained in the statute of Edward II. are the compassing and intending 
of the king's death, and the actually levying
of war against him;, and by the law of Mary, the crime must be proved by the 
concurring testimony of two witnesses, to
some overt act, tending to these purposes. Butthe lawyers, partly desirous of 
paying court to the sovereign, partly convinced
of ill consequences which might attend such narrow limitations, had introduced a 
greater latitude both in the proof and
definition of the crime. It was not required that the two witnesses should 
testify the same precise overt act: it was sufficient
that they both testified some overt act of the same treason; and though this 
evasion may seem a subtilty, it had long
prevailec] in the courts of judicature, and had at last been solemnly fixed by 
parliament at the trial of Lord Stafford. The
lawyers had used the same freedom with the law of Edward III. They had observed 
that, by that statute, if a man should
enter into a conspiracy for a rebellion, should even fix a correspondence with 
foreign powers for that purpose, should
provide arms and money, yet, if he were detected, and no rebellion ensued, he 
could not be tried for treason. To prevent
this inconvenience, which it had been better to remedy by a new law, they had 
commonly laid their indictment for intend. ing
the death of the king, and had produced the Intention * Page 43. 

Page 268 
268 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. of rebellion as a proof of that other intention. But 
though this form of indictment and trial
was very frequent, and many criminals had received sentence upon it, it was 
still considered as somewhat irregular, and' was
plainly confounding.-y a sophism two species of treason, whiclh the statute had 
accurately distinguished. VWhat made this
refinement still more exceptionable, was, that a law had passed soon after the 
rettoration, in which the consulting or the
intending of a rebellion was, during Charles's lifetime, declared treason; and 
it was required, that the prosecution should be
commenced within six months after the crime was committed. But notwitlstand(ing 
this statute, the lawyers had persevered,
as they still do p)ersevere, in the old form of indictment; and both Sir -lalrry 
Vane and Oliver Plunket, titular primate of
Ireland, had been trietd bly it. Such was the general horror entertained against 
the old republicans and the Popish
conspirators, tllhat no one had murmured against this interpretation of the 
statute; and the lawyers thought that they might
follow the precedent, even in the case of the popular and beloved Lord Russel. 
Rlissel's crime fell plainly within the statute of
Charles II.; but the facts sworn to by Rumsey and Shephard were beyond the six 
months required by law, and to the other
facts Howard was a single witness. To make the indictment, therefore, more 
extensive, the intention of murdering the king
was comprehended in it; and for proof of this intention the conspiracy for 
raising a rebellion was assigned; and, what seemed
to bring the matter still nearer, the design of attacking the king's guards. 
Russel perceived this irregularity, and desired to
have the point argued by counsel: the chief justice told him, that this favor 
could not be granted, unless he previously
confessed the facts charged upon him. The artificial confounding of the two 
species of treason, though a practice supported
bvy many precedents, is the chief, but not the only hardship of which Russel had 
reason to complain on his trial. His defence
was feeble: and he contented himself with protesting, that he never had 
entertained any design against the life of the king: his
veracity would not allow him to deny the conspiracy for an insurrection. The 
jury were men of fair and reputable characters,
but zealous royalists: after a short deliberation, they brought in the prisoner 
guilty. Applications were made to the king for a
pardon: even mon. ey, to the amount of one hundred thousand pounds, was offered 

Page 269 
CHARLES 11. 269 to the duchess of Portsmouth by the old earl of Bedford, father 
to Russel. The king was inexorable. He
had been extremely harassed with the violence of the country party; and he had 
observed, that the prisoner, besides his
secret designs, had alwavs been carried to the highest extremity of opposition 
in parliament. Russel had even adopted a
sentiment similar to what we meet with in a letter of the younger Brutus. Had 
his father, he said, advised the king to reject the
exclusion bill, he would be the first to move for a parliamentary impeachment 
against him. XWhen such determined
resolution was observed, his popularity, his humanity, his justice, his very 
virtues, became so many crimes, and were used as
arguments against sparing him. Charles, therefore, would go no further than 
remitting the more ignominious part of the
sentence which the law requires to be pronounced against traitors. "Lord 
Russel," said he, " shall find that I aln possessed of
that prerogative which, in the case of Lord Stafford, he thought proper to deny 
me." As the fury of the country party had
rendered it impossible for the king, without the imminent danger of his crown, 
to pardon so many Catholics, whom he firmly
believed innocent, and even affectionate and loyal to him, he probably thought 
that, since the edge of the law was now ready
to fall!,pon that party themselves, they could not reasonably expect tlhat he 
would interpose to save them. Russel's consort,
a woman of virtue, daughter and heir of tile good earl of Southampton, threw 
herself at the king's feet, and pleaded with
many tears the merits and loyalty of her father, as an atonement for those 
errors into which honest, bowever mistaken,
principles had seduced her husband. These suplJ)lications were the last instance 
of female weakness (if thev deserve the
name) which she betrayed. Finding all apl;lications vain, she collcied courage, 
and not only fortified herself against the fatal
blow, but endeavored by her exampie to strenothen the resolution of her 
unfortunate lord. With a tetnder and decent
composure they took leave of each other on the day of his execution. " T'rhe 
bitterness of death is now past," said he, when
he turned from her. Iord Cavendish had lived in the closest intimacy with 
Russel, and deserted not his fitiend in the present
calamity. l[e offered to manlage his escape, by changing clothes with him, and 
rcrlaining at all hazards in his place. Russel
refused to save his own lift by an expedient which might expose his friend to so 
many hardships. When the duke of
Monmouth by message offered to 23 * 

Page 270 
270 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. surrender himself, if Russel thought that this measure 
would anywise contribute to his
safety, " It will be no advantage to me." he said, " to have my friends die with 
me." Some of his expressions discover, not
only composure, but good humor, in this melancholy extremity. The day before his 
execution, he was seized with a bleeding
at the nose. " I shall not now let blood to divert this distemper," said he to 
Dr. Burnet, who attended him; " that will be done
to-morrow." A little before the sheriffs conducted him to the scaffold, he wound 
up his watch: " Now I have- done," said he,
"' with time, and henceforth must think solely of eternity." The scaffold was 
erected in Lincoln's Inn Fields, a place distant
fiom the Tower; and it was probably intended, by conducting Russel through so 
many streets, to show the mutinous city their
beloved leader, once the object of all their confidence, now exposed to the 
utmost rigors of the law. As he was the most
popular among his own party, so was he ever the least obnoxious to the opposite 
faction; and his melancholy fate united
every heart, sensible of humanity, in a tender compassion for him. Without the 
least change of countenance, he laid his head
on the block; and at two strokes, it was severedr from his body. In the speech 
which he delivered to the sheriffs, he was
very anxious to clear his memory from any imputation of ever intending the 
king's death, or any alteration in the government:
he could not explicitly confess the projected insurrection with. out hurting his 
friends, who might still be called in question for
it; but he did not purge himself of that design, which, in the present condition 
of the nation, he regarded as no crime. By
many passages in his speech, he seems to the last to have lain under the 
influence of party zeal; a passion which, being
nourished by a social temper, and clothing itself under the appearance of 
principle, it is almost impossible for a virtuous man,
who has acted in public life, ever thoroughly to eradicate. IHe professed his 
entire belief in the Popish plot: and he said thtit,
though he had often heard the seizure of the guards mentioned, he had ever 
disapproved of that attempt. T'o which he
added, that the massacring of so many innocent men in cool blood was so like a 
Popish practice, that he could not but abhor
it. Upon the whole, the integrity and virtuous intentions, rather than the 
capacity, of this ubfortunate nobleman, seem to have
been the shining parts of his character. Algernon Sidney was next brought to his 
trial. This gallant 

Page 271 
CHARLES II. 271 person, son of the earl of Leicester, had entered deeply into 
the war against the late king; and though
nowise tainted with enthusiasm, he had so far shared in all the counsels of the 
Independent republican party, as to have been
named on the high court of justice which tried and condemned that monarch: he 
thought not proper, however, to take his
seat among the judges. He ever opposed Cromwell's usurpation with zeal and 
courage; and after making all efforts against
the restoration, he resolved to take no benefit of the general indemnity, but 
chose voluntary banishment, rather than submit to
a government and family which he abhorred. As long as the republican party had 
any existence, he was active in every
scheme, however unpromising, which tended to promote their cause; but at length, 
in 1677, finding it necessary for his
private affairs to return to England, he had applied for the king's pardon, and 
had obtained it. When the factions arising from
the Popish plot began to run high, Sidney, full of those ideas of liberty which 
he had imbibed from the great examples of
antiquity, joined the popular party; and was even willing to seek a second time, 
through all the horrors of civil war, for his
adored republic. From this imperfect sketch of the character and conduct of this 
singular personage, it may easily be
conceived how obnoxious he was become to the court and ministry: what alone 
renders them blamable was, the illegal
method which they took for effecting their purpose against him. On Sidney's 
trial, they produced a great number of
witnesses, who proved the reality of a plot in general; and when the prisoner 
exclaimed, that all these evidences said nothing
of him, he was answered, that this method of proceeding, however irregular, had 
been practised in the prosecutions of the
Popish conspirators; a topic more fit to condemn one party than to justify the 
other. The only witness who deposed against
Sidney was Lord Howard; but as the law required two witnesses, a strange 
expedient was fallen on to supply this
deficiency. In ransacking the prisoner's closet, some discourses on government 
were found; in which he had maintained
principles, favorable indeed to liberty, but such as the best and most dutiful 
subjects in all ages have been known to
embrace; the original contract, the source of power from a consent of the 
people, the lawfulness of resisting tyrants, the
preference of liberty to the government of a single person. These papers were 
asserted to be equivalent to a second witness,
and even to many witnesses. The prisoner replied, that there was no other reason 
for ascribirg these papers 

Page 272 
272 IISTORY OF ENGLAND. to him as the author, besides a similitude of hand; a 
pr-,f which was never admitted in
criminal prosecutions: that all-wv ing him to be the author, he had composed 
them solely foi his private amusement, and had
never published them to the world, or even communicated them to any single 
person: that, when examined, they appeared
by the color of the ink to have been written many years before, and were in vain 
produced as evi dence of a present
conspiracy against the government: and tha where the law positively requires two 
witnesses, one witness, attended with the
most convincing circumstances, could never suffice; much less, when supported by 
a circumstance so weak and precarious.
All these arguments, though urged by the prisoner with great courage and 
pregnancy of reason, had no influence. The violent
and inhuman Jefferies was now chief justice; and by his direction a partial jury 
was easily prevailed on to give verdict against
Sidney. His execution followed a few days after: he complained, and with reason, 
of the iniquity of the sentence; but he had
too much greatness of Inind to deny those conspiracies with Monmouth and Russel, 
in which he had been engaged. He
rather gloried, that he now suffered for that "good old cause," in which, from 
his earliest youth, he said he had enlisted
himself. The execution of Sidney is regarded as one of the greatest blemishes of 
the present reign. The evidence against him,
it must be confessed, was not legal; and the jury who condemned him were, for 
that reason, very blamable. But that, after
sentence passed by a court of judicature, the king should interpose and pardon a 
man who, though otherwise possessed of
merit, was undoubtedly guilty, who had ever been a most inflexible and most 
inveterate enemy to the royal family, and who
lately had even abused the king's clemency, might be an act of heroic 
generosity, but can never be regarded as a necessary
and indispensable duty. Howard was also the sole evidence against Hambden; and 
his testimony was not supported by any
material circumstance. The crown lawyers therefore found it in vain to try the 
prisoner for treason: they laid the indictment
only for a misdemeanor, and obtained sentence against him. The fine imposed was 
exorbitant; no less than forty thousand
pounds. Holloway, a merchant of Bristol, one of the conspirators, had fled to 
the West Indies, and was now brought over.
He had been outlawed; but the year allowed him for surrendering himself was not 
expired. A trial was therefore offered him; 

Page 273 
CHARLES II. 273 tlnt as he had at first confessed his being engaged in a 
conspiracy for an insurrection, and even allowed
that he had heard somne discourse of an assassination, though he had not 
approved of it, he thought it more expedient to
throw himself on the king's mercy. He was executed, persisting in the same 
confession. Sir Thomas Armstrong, who had
been seized in Holland, and sent over by Chidley, the king's minister, was 
precisely in the same situation with Holloway: but
the same favor, or rather justice, was refused him.'The lawyers pretended, that 
unless he had voluntarily surrendered himself
before the expiration of the time assigned, he could not claim the privilege of 
a trial; not considering that the seizure of his
person ought in equity t6 be supposed the accident which prevented him. The king 
bore a great enmity against
this-gentleman, by whom he believed the duke of Monmouth to have been seduced 
from his duty; he also asserted, that
Armstrong had once promised Cromwell to assassinate him; though it must be 
confessed, that the prisoner justified himself
from this imputation by very strong arguments. These were the reasons of that 
injustice which was now done him. It was
apprelended that sufficient evidence of his guilt could not be produced; and 
that even the partial juries which were now
returned, and which allowed themselves to be entirely directed by Jefferies and 
other violint iudges, would not give sentence
against him. On the day that Russel was tried, Essex, a man eminent both for 
virtues and abilities, was found in the Tower
with his throat cut. The coroner's inquest brought in their verdict, 
sel:'-murder; yet because two children ten years old (one of
whom, too, departed from his evidence) had affirmed, that they heard a great 
noise from his window, and that they saw a
hand throw out a bloody razor, these circumstances were laid hold of, and the 
murder was ascribed to the king and the
duke, who happened that morning to pay a visit to the'Tower. Essex was subject 
to fits of deep melancholy, and had been
seized with one immnediately upon his commitlnent: he was accustomed to maintain 
the lawfulness of suicide: and his
countess, upon a strict inquiry, which was committed to the care of I)r. Burnet, 
found no reason to confirm the suspicion:yet
could riot all these circumstances, joined to many others, entirely remove the 
imputation. It is no wonder, that faction is so
productive of vices of all kinds; for, besides that it inflames aJl the 
passions, it tends much to remove those great restraints, 

Page 274 
274 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. honor and shame; when men find that no iniquity can lose 
them the applause of their own
party, and no innocence secure them against the calumnies of the opposite. But 
thiough there is no reason.to think that Essex
had been murdered by any orders from court, it must be acknowledged that an 
unjustifiable use in Russel's trial was made of
that incident. The king's counsel mentioned it in their pleadings as a strong 
proof of the conspiracy; and it is said to have had
great weight with the jury. It was insisted on in Sidney's trial for the salie 
purpose. Some memorable causes, tried about this
time, though they have no relation to the Rye-house conspiracy, show the temper 
of the bench and of the juries. Oates was
convicted of having called the duke a Popish traitor; was condemned in damages 
to the amount of one hundred thousand
pounds; and was adjuldged to remain in prison till he should-make payment. A 
like sentence was passed upon Dutton-Colt,
for a like offence. Sir Samuel Barnardiston was fined ten thousand pounds, 
because, in some private letters which had been
intercepted, he had reflected on the government. This gentleman was obnoxious, 
because he had been foreman of that jury
which rejected the bill against Shaftesbury. A pretence was therefore fallen 
upon for punishing him; though such a precedent
may justly be deemed a very unusual act of severity, and sufficient to destroy 
all confide(nce in private friendship and
correspondence. There is another remarkable trial, which shows the disposi tion 
of the courts of judicature, and which,
though it passed in the ensuing year, it may not be improper to relate in this 
place. One Rosewel, a Presbyterian preacher,
was accused by three women of having spoken treasonable words in a sermon. They 
swore to two or three periods, and
agreed so exactly together, that there was not the smallest variation in their 
depositions. Rosewel, on the other hand, made
avery good defence. He proved that the witnesses were lewd and infamous persons. 
He proved that, even during
Cromwell's usurpation, he had always been a royalist; that he prayed constantly 
for the king in his family; and that in his
sermons he often inculcated the obligations of loyalty. And as to the sermon of 
which he was accused, several witnesses
who heard it, and some who wrote it in shorthand, deposed that he had used no 
such expressions as those which were
imputed to him. He offered his own notes as a further proof. The women could not 
show by any clrcumstance or witness
that they were at his meeting. And the 

Page 275 
CHARLeS II. 275 expressions to which they deposed were so gross, that no man in 
his senses could be supposed to
employ them before a mixed audience. It was also urged, that it appeared next to 
impossible for three women to remember
so long a period upon one single hearing, and to remember it so exactly, as to 
agree to a tittle in their depositions with regard
to it. The prisoner offered to put the whole upon this issue: he would 
pronounce, with his usual tone of voice, a period as
long as that to which they had sworn; and then let, them try to repeat it, if 
they could. What was more unaccountable, they
had forgotten even the text of his sermon; nor did they remember any single 
passage but the words to which they gave
evidence. After so strong a defence, the solicitor-general thought not proper to 
make any reply: even Jefferies went no
further than some general declamations against conventicles and Presbyterians: 
yet so violent were party prejudices, that the
jury gave a verdict against the prisoner; which, however, appeared so palpably 
unjust, that it was not carried into execution.
The duke of Monmouth had absconded on the first discovery of the conspiracy; and 
the court could get no intelligence of
him. At length, Halifax, who began to apprehend the too great prevalence of the 
royal party, and who thought that
Monmouth's interest would prove the best counterpoise to the duke's, discovered 
his retreat, and prevailed on him to write
twe leotters to the king, full of the tenderest and most submissive expressions. 
The king's fondness was revived; and he
permitted Monmouth to come to court. He even endeavored to mediate a 
reconciliation between his son and his brother;
and having promised Monmouth, that his testimony should never be employed 
against any of his friends, he engaged him to
give a full account of the plot. But, in order to put the country party to 
silence, he called next day an extraordinary council,
and informed them, that Monmouth had showed great penitence for the share which 
he had had in the late conspiracy, and
had expressed his resolutions never more to engage in such criminal enterprises. 
He went so far as to give orders, that a
paragraph to the Ilke purpose should be inserted in the gazette. Monmouth kept 
silence till he had obtained his pardon in
form: but finding that, by taking this step, he was entirely disgraced with his 
party, and that, even though he should not be
produced in court as an evidence, his testimony, being so publicly known might 
have weight with juries on any future trial, he
resolved at all hazards to retrieve his honor. His emissaries, thepedre, 

Page 276 
276 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. received orders to deny that he had ever made any such 
confession as that which was
imputed to him; and the party exclaimed that the whole was an imposture of the 
court. The king, provoked at this conduct,
banished Monmouth his pres. ence, and afterwards ordered him to depart the 
kingdom. The court was aware, that the
malecontents in England had held a correspondence with those of Scotland; and 
that Baillie of Jerviswood, a man of merit
and learning, with two gentlemen of the name of Campbel, had come to London, 
finder pretence of negotiating the
settlement of the Scottish Presbyterians in Carolina, but really with a view of 
concerting measures with the English
conspirators. Baillie was sent prisoner to Edinburgh; but as no evidence 
appeared against him, the council required him to
swear, that he would answer all questions which should be propounded to him. He 
refused to submit to so iniquitous a
condition; and a fine of six thousand pounds was imposed upon him. At length two 
persons, Spence and Carstares, being
put to the torture, gave evidence which. involved the earl of Tarras and some 
others, who, in order to save them. selves,
were reduced to accuse Baillie. He was brought to trial; and being in so 
languishing a condition from the treatment which he
had met with in prison, that it was feared he would not survive that night, he 
was ordered to be executed the very afternoon
on which he received. sentence. The severities exercised during this part of the 
present reign, were much contrary to the
usual tenor of the king's conduct; and though those who studied his character 
more narrowly, have pronounced, that
towards great offences he was rigid and inexorable, the nation were more 
inclined to ascribe every unjust or hard measure to
the- prevalence of the duke, into whose hands the king had, from indolence, not 
from any oDinion of his brother's -uperior
capacity, resigned the reins of government. The crown, indeed, gained great 
advantage from the detection of the conspiracy,
and lost none by the rigorous execution of the conspirators: the horror 
entertained aaainst the assassination plot, which was
generally confounded with the project for an insurrection, rendered the whole 
party unpop. lar, and reconciled the nation to
the measures of the court. The most loyal addresses came from all parts; and the 
doctrine of submission to the civil
magistrate, and even of an unlimitea passive obedience, became the reigning 
principle of the times. The university of Oxford
passed a solemn decree, condemning some doc.xines which they termed republican, 
but which indeed 

Page 277 
CHARLES II. 277 are, most of them, the only tenets on which liberty and a 
limited constitution can be founded. The faction
of the exclusionists, lately so numerous, powerful, and zealous, were at the 
king's feet; and were as much fallen in their spirit
as in their credit with the nation. Nothing that had the least appearance of 
opposition to the court could be hearkened to by
the public.* [1684.] The king endeavored to increase his present pop. ularitv by 
every art; and knowing that the suspicion of
Popery was of all others the most dangerous, he judged it proper to marry his 
niece, the Lady Anne, to Prince George,
brother to the king of Denmark. All the credit, however, and persuasion of 
Halifax could not engage him to call a parliament,
or trust the nation with the election of a new representative. Though his 
revenues were extremely burdened, he rather chose
to struggle with the present difficulties, than try an experiment which, by 
raising afresh so many malignant humors, might
prove dangerous to his repose. The duke likewise zealously opposed this 
proposal, and even engaged the king in measures
which could have no tendency, but to render any accommodation with a parliament 
altogether impracticable. Williams, who
had been speaker during the two last parliaments, was prosecuted for warrants 
issued by him in obedience to orders of the
house: a breach of privilege which it seemed not likely any future house of 
commons would leave unquestioned. Danby and
the Popish lords, who had so long been confined in the Tower, and who saw no 
prospect of a trial in parliament, applied by
petition, and were admitted to bail; a.measure just in itself; but deemed a 
great encroachment on the privileges of that
assembly. The duke, contrary to law, was restored to the office of high admiral 
without taking the test. Had the least grain of
jealousy or emulation been mixed in the king's character; had he been actuated 
by tnat concern for his people's or even for
his own honor, which his high station demanded; he would have hazarded many 
domestic inconveniencies rather than allow
France to domineer in so haughty a manner as that which at present she assumed 
in every nego* In the month of November
this year died Prince Rupert, in the sixty-third year of his age. lie had left 
his own country so early, that he had become an
eatire Englishman; and was even suspected, in his latter days, of at bias to the 
country party. He was for that reason much
neglected at court.. The duke of Lauderdale died also this year. VOL. VI. 24 II 

Page 278 
278 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. tiation. The peace of Nimeguen, imposed by the Dutch on 
their unwilling allies, had
disjointed the whole confederacy; and all the powers engaged in it had disbanded 
their supernumerary troops, which they
found it difficult to subsist. Lewis alone still maintained a powerful army, and 
by his preparations rendered himself every day
wore formidable. He now acted as if he were the sole sovereign in Europe, and as 
if all other princes were soon to become
his vassals. Courts or chambers were erected in Metz and Brisac, for reuniting 
such territories as had ever been members of
any part of his new conquests. They made inquiry into titles buried in the most 
remote antiquity. They cited the neighboring
princes to appear before them, and issued decrees, expelling them the contested 
territories. The important town of
Strashourg, an ancient and a free state, was seized by Lewis: Alost was demanded 
of the Spaniards, on a frivolous and even
ridiculous pretence; and upon their refusal to yield it, Luxembourg was 
blockaded, and soon after taken.* Genoa had been
bombarded, because the Genoese had stipulated to build some galleys for the 
Spaniards; and, in order to avoid more severe
treatment, that republic was obliged to yield to the most mortifying conditions. 
The empire was insulted in its head and
principal members; and used no other expedient for redress, than impotent 
complaints and remonstrances. Spain was so
enraged at the insolent treatment which she met with, that, without considering 
her present weak condition, she declared war
against her haughty enemy: she hoped that the other powers of Europe, sensible 
of the common danger, would fly to her
assistance. The prince of Orange, whose ruling passions were love of war and 
animosity against France,.econded every
where the applications of the Spaniards. In the year 1681, he made a journey to 
England, in order to engage the king into
closer measures with the confederates. He also proposed to the states to make an 
augmentation of their forces; but several
of the provinces, and even the town of Amsterdam, had been gained by the French, 
and the proposal was rejected. The
prince's enemies derived the most plausible reasons of their opposition from the 
situation of England, and the known and
avowed attachments of the English mn,arch. * It appears from Sir John 
Dalrymple's Appendix, that the king received from
France a million of livres for his connivance at the seiz. ure of Luxembourg, 
besides his ordinary pension. 

Page 279 
CHARLES II. 279 No sooner had Charles' dismissed his parliament, and emtraced 
the resolution of governing by
prerogative alone, than he dropped his new alliance with Spain, and returned to 
his former dangerous connections with
Lewis. This prince had even offered to make him arbiter of his differences with 
Spain; and the latter power, sensible of
Charles's partiality, had refused to submit to such a disadvantageous proposal. 
Whether any money was now remitted to
England, we do not certainly know; but we may fairly presume, that the king's 
necessities were in some degree relieved by
France.* And though Charles had reason to apprehend the utmost danger from'the 
great, and still increasing naval power of
that kingdom, joined to the weak con. dition of the English fleet, no 
consideration was able to rouse him from his present
lethargy. It is here we are to fix the point of the highest exaltation which the 
power of Lewis, or that of any European prince
since the age of Charlemagne, had ever attained. The monarch most capable of 
opposing his progress was entirely engaged
in his interests; and the Turks, invited by the malecontents of Hungary, were 
preparing to invade the emperor, and to disable
that prince from making head against the progress of the French power. Lewis may 
even be accused of oversight, in not
making sufficient advantage of such favorable opportunities, which he was never 
afterwards able to recall. But that monarch,
though more governed by motives of ambition than by those of justice or 
moderation, was still more actuated by the
suggestions of vanity. He contented himself with insult* The following passage 
is an extract from M. Barillon's letters kept in
the D6p6t des Affaires 6trang6res at Versailles. It was lately communicated to 
the author while in France. " Convention
verbale arr6t6e le 1 Avril 1681. Charles 2 s'engage a ne rien omettre pour 
pouvoir faire connoitre & sa majest6 qu'elle avoit
raison de prendre confiance en lui; i se d6gager peu-h-peu de l'alliance avec 
1'Espagne, et'i se mettre en 6tat de ne point
etre contraint par son parlement de faire quelque chose d'opposA aux nouveaux 
engagemens qu'il prenoit. En cons6quence,
le roi promet un subside de deux millions la premiere des trois ann6es de cet 
engagement, et 500,000 6cus les deux autres,
se contentant de la parole de sa majest6 Britannique, d'agir a l'6gard de sa 
majest6 conformement aux obligations qu'il lui
avoit. Le Sr. Hyde demanda que le roi s'engagea a ne point attaquer les pays bas 
ct mime Strasbourg, t6moignant que le roi
son maitre ne pourroit s'empecher de secourir les pais bas, quand m6me son 
parlement no seroit point assembl6. M.
Barillon lui r6pondit en termes gencraux par ordre du roi, que sa majest6 
n'avoit point intention de rompre la paix, et qu'ii
n'engageroit pas sa majest6 Britannique en choses contraires & ses v6ritables 
int6erts." 

Page 280 
280 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. ing and domineering over all the princes and free states 
of Europe; and he thereby
provoked their resentment, without subduing their power. While every one who 
approached his person, and behaved with
submission to his authority, was treated with the highest politeness, all the 
neighboring potentates had successively felt the
effects of his haughty, imperious disposition. And by indulging his poets, 
orators, and courtiers in their flatteries, and in their
prognostications of universal enmpire, he conveyed faster, than by the prospect 
of his power alone, the apprehension of
general conquest and subjection. [1685.] The French greatness never, during his 
whole reign, inspired Charles with any
apprehensions; and Clifford, it is said, one of his most favored ministers, went 
so far as to affirin, that it were better for the
king to be viceroy under a great and generous monarch, than a slave to five 
hundred of his own insolent subjects. The
ambition, therefore,and uncontrolled power of Lewis were no diminution of 
Charles's happiness; and in other respects his
condition seemed at present more eligible than it had ever been since his 
restoration. A mighty faction, which had shaken his
throne and menaced his family, was totally subdued; and by their precipitate 
indiscretion had exposed themselves both to the
rigor of the laws and to public hatred. He had recovered his former popularity 
in the nation; and, what probably pleased him
more than having a compliant parliament, he was enabled to govern altogether 
without one. But it is certain that the king,
amidst all these p)romising circumstances, was not happy or satisfied. Whether 
ne fbund himself exposed to difficulties tfor
want of money, or dreaded a recoil of the popular humor from the present 
arbitrary measures, is uncertain. Perhaps the
violent, imprudent temper of the duke, by pushing Charles upon dangerous 
attemrnpts, gave him apprehension and
uneasiness. He wtas overheard one day to say, in opposing some of the auke's 
hasty counsels, " Brother, I am too old to go
again to my travels: you may, if you choose it." Whatever was the cause of the 
king's dissatisfaction, it seems probable that
he was meditating some change of measures, and had formed a new plan of 
administration. He was determined, it is thought,
to send the duke to Scotland, to recall Monmouth, to summon a parliament, to 
dismiss all his unpopular ministers, and to
throw himrn self entirely on the good will and affections of his subjects.* * 
King James's Memoirs confirm this rumor, as also
D'Avaux's Negotiations, 14 Dec. 1684. 

Page 281 
CHARLES 1I. 281 Amidst these truly wise and virtuous designs, he was seized with 
a sudden fit, which resembled an
apoplexy; and though he was recovered from it by bleeding, he languished only 
for a few days, and then expired, in the
fifty-fifth year of Mits age, and twenty-fifth of his reign. He was so happy irn 
a go,d constitution of body, and had ever been
so remarkably c.r,fiull of his health, that his death struck as great a 
surprise;nt., L.s sub.jects as if he had been in the flower
of his -,outh. A.c their great concern for him, owing to their affection for lii 
person, as well as their dread of his successor,
very naturtdl'y, when joined to the critical time of his death, begat the 
suspicion of poison. All circumstances, however,
considered, this suspicion must be allowed to vanish; like nany others, of which 
all histories are full. During the few days of
the king's illness, clergymen of the church of England attended him; but he 
discovered a total indifference towards their
devotions and exhortations. Catholic priests were brought, and he received the 
sacrament from tnum, accompanied with the
other rites of the Romish church. Two papers were found in his cabinet, written 
with his own hand, and containing arguments
in favor of that communion. The duke had the imprudence immediately to publish 
these papers, and thereby both confirmned
all the reproaches of those who had been the greatest enemies to his brother's 
measures, and afforded to the world a
specimen of his own bigotry. If we survey the character of Charles II. in the 
different lights which it will admit of, it will
appear various, and' give rise to different and even opposite sentiments. When 
considered as a companion, he appears the
most amiable and engaging of men; and indeed, in this view, his deportment must 
be allowed altogether unexceptionable. His
love of raillery was so tempered with good breeding, that it was never 
offensive; his propensity to satire was so checked
with discretion, that his friends never dreaded their becoming the object of it: 
his wit, to use the expression of one who knew
him well, and who was himself a good judge,* could not be said so much to be 
very refined or elevated, qualities apt to
beget jealousy and apprehension in company, as to be a plain, gaining, 
well-bred, rec ornlmending kind of wit. Aild though,
perhaps, he talked more than strict rules of behavior Inight permit, men were so 
pleased with the affable, communicative
deportment of the monarch, * Marquis of Halifax. 24* 

Page 282 
282 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. that they always went away contented both with him and 
with themselves. This, indeed, is
the most shining part of the king's character; and he seems to have been 
sensible of it; for he was fond of dropping the
formality of state, and of relapsing every moment into the companion. in the 
duties of private life, his conduct, though not fre
from exception, was, in the main, laudable. He was an easy generous lover, a 
civil, obliging husband, a friendly brother, a
indulgent father, and a good-natured master.* The voluntar friendships, however, 
which this prince contracted, nay, even his
sense of gratitude, were feeble; and he never attached himself to any of his 
ministers or courtiers M ith a sincere affection.
He believed them to have no motive in serving him but self-interest; and he was 
still ready, in his turn, to sacrifice them to
present ease or convenience. MWith a detail of his private character we must set 
bounds to our panegyric on Charles. The
other parts of his conduct may admit of some apology, but can deserve small 
applause. He was indeed so much fitted for
private life, preferably to public, that he even possessed order, frugality, and 
economy in the former; was profuse,
thoughtless, and negligent in the latter. When we consider him as a sovereign, 
his character, though not altogether destitute of
virtue, was in the inain dangerous to his people, and dishonorable to himself. 
Negligent of the interests of the nation, careless
of its glory, averse to its religion, jealous of its liberty, lavish of its 
treasaire, sparing only of its blood, he exposed it by his
measures, though he ever appeared but in sport, to the danger of a furious civil 
war, and even to the ruin and ignominy of a
foreign conquest. Yet may all these enormities, if fairly and candidly examined, 
be imputed, in a great measure, to the
indolence of his temper; a fault which, however unfortunate in a monarch, it is 
impossible for us to regard with great severity.
It has been remarked of Charles, that he never sair., toolish thing nor ever did 
a wise one; a censure which, though too far
carried, seems to have some foundation in his character and deportment. When the 
king was informed of this saying, he
olbserved that the matter was easily accounted for; for that his discourse was 
his own, his actions were the ministry's. If we
reflect on the appetite for power inherent in human nature, and add to it the 
king's education in foreign countries, * Duke of
Buckingham. 

Page 283 
CHARLES I. 283 and among the cavaliers, a party which would naturally exaggerate 
the late usurpations of popular
assemblies upon the rights of monarchy, it is not surprising that civil liberty 
should not find in him a very zealous patron.
Harassed with domes. tic faction, weary of calumnies and complaints, oppressed 
with debts, straitened in his revenue, he
sought, though with feeble efforts, for a form of government more simple in its 
structure and more easy in its management.
But his attachment to France, after all the pains which we have taken by inquiry 
and conjecture to fathom it, contains still
something, it must be confessed, mysterious and inexplicable. The hopes of 
rendering himself absolute by Lewis's assistance
seem so chimerical, that they coul(l scarcely be retained with such obstinacy 
bly a prince of Charles's penetration: and as to
pecuniary subsidies, he surely spent much greater sums in one season during the 
second Dutch war, than were remitted him
fiorn France during the whole course of his reign. I am apt, therefore, to 
imagine, that Charles was in this particular guided
chiefly by inclination, and by a prepossession in favor of the French nation. He 
considered that people as gay, sprightly,
polite, elegant, courteous, devoted to their prince, and attached to the 
Catholic faith; and for these reasons he cordially loved
them. The opposite character of the Dutch had rendered them the objects of his 
aversion; and even the uncourtly humors of
the English made him very indifferent towards them. Our notions of interest are 
much warped by our affections; and it is not
altogether without example, that a man may be guided by national prejudices, who 
has ever been little biased by private and
personal friendship. The character of this prince has been elaborately drawn by 
two great masters, perfectly well acquainted
with him, the duke of Buckingham and the marquis of Halifax; not to mention 
several elegant strokes given by Sir William
Temple. Dr. Welwood, likewise, and Bishop Burnet have employed their pencil on 
the same subject; but the former is
somewhat partial in his favor, as the latter is *by far too harsh and malignant. 
Instead of finding an exact parallel between
Charles 11. and the emperor Tiberius, as asserted by that prelate, it would be 
more just to remark a full contrast and
opposition. The emperor seems as much to have surpassed the king in abilities, 
as he falls short of him in virtue. Provident,
wise, active, jealous, malignant, dark, sullen, unsociable, reserved, cruel, 
unrelenting, unforgiving; these are the lights under 

Page 284 
2Rq4 HISTORY OF 4NGLAND. which the Roman tvrant has been transmitted to us. And 
the onlv circumstance in which
it can justly be pretended he was similar to Charles, is his love of women, a 
passion which is too general to form any striking
resemblance, and which that detestable and detested monster shared also with urn 
atural appetites. 

Page 285 
JAMES 11. 285 CHAPTER LXX. JAMES II. CONTEMPORARY MONARCHS. Lp. o GrA. eKiis OF 
FRCEK.S I
KsINGi SPAI.! O Po.. Leopold 1. Lewis XIV. Charles II. Innocent XI..... 169 
[1685.] THE first act of James's reign was
to asseml)le the privy council; where, after somne praises bestowed on the 
memory of his predecessor, he made professions
of his resolution to maintain the established government, both in church and 
sate.'Though he had been reported, he said, to
have imbibed arbitrary principles, he knew that the laws of England were 
sufficient to make him as great a monarch as he
could wish; and he was determined never to depart from them. And as he had 
heretofore ventured his life in defence of the
nation, he would slill go as far as any man in maintaining all its just rights 
and liberties. This discourse was received with great
applause, not only by the council, but by the nation. The king universally 
passed for a man of great sincerity and great honor;
and as the current of favor ran at that time for the court, men believed that 
his intentions were conformable to his
expressions. " We have now," it was said, "the word of a king, and a word never 
yet broken." Addresses came from all
quarters, full of duty, nay, of the most servile adulation. Every one hastened 
to pay court to the new monarch: * and James
had reason to think, that, notwvithstandingl the violent efforts made by so 
potent a party for his exclusion, no throne in
Europe was better established than that of England. * The Quakers' address was 
esteemed somewhat singular for its
plainness and simplicity. It was conceived in these terms: "' We are come to 
testify our sorrow for the death of our good
friend Charles, and our joy for thy being made our governor. WVe are told thou 
art not of the persuasion of the church of
England, no more than we: w-herefore we hope thou wilt grant us the same liberty 
which thou aflowest thyself. Which doing,
we wish thee all manner of happines.'i 

Page 286 
286 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. The king, however, in the first exercise of his 
authority, showed, that either he was not
sincere in his professions of attachment to the laws, or that he had entertained 
so lofty an idea of his own legal power, that
even his utmost sincerity would tend very little to secure the liberties of the 
people. All the customs and the greater part of
the excise had been settled by parliament on the late king during life, and 
consequently the grant was now expired; nor had
the successor anlly right to levy these branches of revenue. But James issued a 
proclamation, ordering the customs and
excise to be paid as before; ani this exertion of power he would not deign to 
qualify by the least act or even appearance of
condescension. It was proposed to him, that, in order to prevent the ill effects 
of any intermission in levying these duties,
entries should be made,.and bonds for the sums be taken from the merchants and 
brewers; but the payment be suspended
till the parliament should give authority to receive it. This precaution was 
recommended as an expression of deference to
that. assembly, or rather to the laws: but for that very reason, probably, it 
waq rejected by the king; who thought that the
commons would thence be invited to assume more authority, and would regard the 
whole revenue, and consequently the
whole power of the crown, as dependent on their good will and pleasure. The king 
likewise went openly, and with all the
ensigns of his dignity, to mass, an illegal meeting: and by this imprudence he 
displayed at once his arbitrary disposition. and
the bigotry of his principles; these two great characteristics of his reign, and 
bane of his administration. He even sent Caryl as
his agent to Rome, in order to make submissions to the pope, and to pave the way 
for a solemn readmission of England into
the bosom of the Catholic church. The pope, Innocent XI., prudently advised the 
king not to be too precipitate in his
measures, nor rashly attempt what repeated experience might convince him was 
impracticable. The Spanish ambassador,
Ronquillo, deeming the tranquillity of England necessary fbr the sullpport of 
Spain, used the freedom to imake like
remonstrances. I-le observed to the king how busy the priests appeared at court, 
and advised him not to assent with too
-great fileility to their dangerous counnsels. " Is it not the custom in Spain." 
said James, "f;or the king to consult with his
confessor?" "Yes," replied the ambassador; "and it is for that very reason our 
affairs succeed so ill." James gave hopes, on
his accession, that ne would hold Ot!. 

Page 287 
JAMES II. 287 balance of power more steadily than his predecessor; and that 
France, instead of rendering England
subservient to her ambitious-projects, would now meet with strong opposition 
from that kingdom. Besides applying himself
to business with industry, he seemed jealous of national honor; arid expressed 
great care that no more respect should be
paid to the French ambassador at London, than his own received at Paris. But 
these appearances were not sufficiently
supported; and he found himself immediately under the necessity of falling into 
a union with that great monarch, who, by his
power as well as his zeal, seemed alone able to assist him in the projects 
formed for promoting the Catholic religion in
England. Notwithstanding the king's prejudices, all the chief offices of the 
crown continued still in the hands of Protestants.
Rochester was treasurer; his brother Clarendon chamberlain, Godolphin 
chamberlain to the queen; Sunderland secretary of
state; Halifax president of the council. This nobleman had stood in opposition 
to James during the last years of his brother's
reign; and when he attempted, on the accession, to make some apology for his 
late measures, the king told him, that he
would forget every thing past, except his behavior during the bill of exclusion. 
On other occasions, however, James
appeared not of so forgiving a temper. When the principal exclusionists came to 
pay their respects to the new sovereign,
they either were not admitted, or were received very coldly, sometimes even with 
frowns. This conduct might suit the
character which the king so much affected, of sincerity; but by showing that a 
king of England could resent the quarrels of a
duke of York, he gave his people no high idea'either of his lenity or 
magnanimity. On all occasions, the king was open in
declaring, that men must now look for a more active and more vigilant 
government, and that he would retain no ministers
who did not practise an unreserved obedience to his commands. We are not indeed 
to look for the springs of his
administration so much in his council and chief officers of state, as in his own 
temper, and in the character of those persons
with whom he secretly con. sulted. The queen had great influence over him; a 
woman of spirit, whose conduct had been
popular till she arrived a' that high dignity. She was much governed by the 
priests, especially the Jesuits; and as these were
also the king's favorites, all public measures were taken originally from the 
suggestions of these men, and bore evident marks
of their 

Page 288 
288 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. ignorance in government, and of the violence of their 
reli. gious zeal. The king, however,
had another atachment, seemingly not very consistent with this devoted regard to 
his queen and to his priests: it was to Mrs.
Sedley, whom he soon after created countess of Dorchester, and who expected to 
govern him with the same authority which
the duchess of Portsmouth had possessed during the former reign. But 4ames, who 
had entertained ihe ambition of
converting his people, was told, that the regularity of his life ought to 
correspond to the sanctity of his intentions; and he was
prevailed with to remove Mrs. Sedley from court; a resolution in which he had 
not the courage to persevere. Good
agreement between the mistressand the confessor of princes is not commonly a 
difficult matter to'compass: but in the present
case, these two potent engines of command were found very incompatible. Mrs. 
Sedley, who possessed all the wit and
ingenuity of her father, Sir Charles, made the priests and their counsels the 
perpetual objects of her raillery; and it is not to be
doubted but they, on their part, redoubled their exhortations with their 
penitent to break off so criminal an attachment. How
little inclination soever the king, as well as his queen and priests, might bear 
to an English parliament, it was absolutely
necessary, at the beginning of the reign, to summon that assembly. The low 
condition to which the whigs, or country party,
had fallen during the last years of Charles's reign, the odium under which they 
labored on account of the Rye-house
conspiracy; these causes made that party meet with little success in the 
elections. The general resignation, too, of the charters
had made the corporations extremely dependent; and the recommendations of the 
court, though little assisted at that time by
pecuniary influence, were become very prevalent. The new house of commons, 
therefore, consisted almost entirely of
zealous tories and churchmen; and were, of consequence, strongly biased by their 
affections in favor of the measures of the
crown. The discourse which the king made to the parliament was more fitted to 
work on their fears than their affections. IIe
repeated, indeed, and with great solemnity, the promise which he had made before 
the privy council, of governing according
to the laws, and of preserving the established religion: but at the same time, 
he told them, that he positively expected they
would settle his revenue, anl during life too, as in the time of 

Page 289 
JAMES It. 289 his brother. "I might use many arguments," said he," to enforce 
this demand; the benefit of trade, the support
of the navy, the necessities of the crown, and the well-being of the government 
itself, which I must not suffer to be
precarious: but I am confident, that your own consideration, and your sense of 
what is just and reasonable, will suggest to
you whatever on this occasion might be enlarged upon. There is indeed one 
popular argument," added he, "which may be
urged against compliance with my demand: men may think, that by feeding me from 
time to time with such supplies as they
think convenient, they will better secure frequent meetings of parliament: but 
as this is the first time I speak to you from the
throne, I must plainly tell you, that such an expedient would be very improper 
to employ with me; and that the best way to
engage me to meet you often, is always to use me well." It was easy to interpret 
this language of the king's. He plainly
intimated, that he had resources in his prerogative for supporting the 
government independent of their supplies; and that, so
long as they complied with his demands, he would have recourse to them; but that 
any ill usage on their part would set him
free from those measures of government, which he seemed to regard more as 
voluntary than as necessary. It must be
confessed, that no parliament in England was ever placed in a more critical 
situation, nor where more forcible arguments
could be urged, either for their opposition to the court, or their compliance 
with it. It was said on the one hand, that jealousy
of royal power was the very basis of the English constitution, and the princi. 
ple to which the nation was beholden for all that
liberty which they enjoy above the subjects of other monarchies: that this 
jealousy, though at different periods it may be
more' or less intense, can never safely be laid asleep, even under the best and 
wisest princes: that the character of the
present sovereign afforded cause for the highest vigilance, by reason of the 
arbitrary principles which he had imbibed; and
still more, by reason of his religious zeal, which it is impossible for him ever 
to gratify without assuming more authority than
the constitution allows him: that power is to be watched in its very first 
encroachments; nor is any thing ever gained by
timidity and submission: that every concession adds new force to usurpation; and 
at the same time, by discovering the
dastardly dispositions of the people, inspires it with new coumrag VOL. VI. 25 H 


Page 290 
290 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. and enterprise: that as arms were intrusted altogether 
in the hands of the prince, no check
remained upon him but the dependent condition of his revenue; a security, 
therefore, which it would be the most egregious
folly to abandon: that all the other barriers which of late years had been 
erected against arbitrary power, would be found,
without this capital article, to be rather pernicious and destructive: that new 
limitations in the constitution stimulated the
monarch's inclination to surmount the laws, and required frequent meetings of 
par. liament, in order to repair all the breaches
which either time or violence may have made upon that complicated fabric: that 
recent experience during the reign of the late
king, a prince who wanted neither prudence nor moderation, had sufficiently 
proved the solidity of all these maxims: that his
parliament, having rashly fixed his revenue for life, and at the same time 
repealed the triennial bill, found that they themselves
were no longer of importance; and that liberty, not pro. tected by national 
assemblies, was exposed to every outIage and
violation: and that the more openly the king made an unreasonable demand, the 
more obstinately ought it to be refused; since
it is evident, that his purpose in making it cannot possibly be justifiable. On 
the other hand, it was urged, that the rule of
watching the very first encroachments of power could only have place where the 
opposition to it could be regular, peaceful,
and legal: that though the refusal of the king's present demand might seem of 
this nature, yet in reality it involved
consequences which led much further than at first sight might be apprehended: 
that the king in his speech had intimated, that
he had resources in his prerogative, which, in case of opposition from 
parliament, he thought himself fully entitled to employ:
that if the parliament openly discovered an intention of reducing him to 
dependence, matters must presently be brought to a
crisis, at a time the most favorable to his cause which his most sanguine wishes 
could ever have promised him: that if we cast
our eyes abroad to the state of affairs on the continent, and to the situation 
of Scotland and Ireland; or, what is of more
impor. tance, if we consider the disposition of men's minds at home; every 
circumstance would be found adverse to the
cause of liberty: that the country party, during the late reign, by their 
violent, and in many respects unjustifiable measures in
parliament, by their desperate attempts out of parliament, had exposed their 
principles to general hatred, and had excited 

Page 291 
JAMES II. 291 extreme jealousy in all the royalists and zealous churchmen, who 
now formed the bulk of the nation: that it
would not be acceptable to that party to see this king worse treated than his 
brother in point of revenue, or any attempts
made to keep the crown in dependence: that they thought parliaments as liable to 
abuse as courts; and desired not to see
things in a situation where the king could not, if he found it necessary, either 
prorogue or dissolve those assemblies: that if the
present piarliament, by making great concessions, could gain the king's 
confidence, and engage him to observe the promises
now given them, every thing would by gentle methods succeed to their wishes: 
that if, on the contrary, after such instances of
compliance, he formed any designs on the liberty and religion of the nation, he 
would, in the eyes of all mankind, render
himself altogether inexcusable, and the whole people would join in opposition to 
him: that resistance could scarcely be
attempted twice; and there was therefore the greater necessity for waiting till 
time and incidents had fully prepared the nation
for it: that the king's prejudices in favor of Popery, though in the main 
pernicious, were yet so far fortunate, that they
rendered the connection inseparable between the national religion and national 
liberty: and that if any illegal attempts were
afterwards made, the church, which was at present the chief support of the 
crown, would surely catch the alarm, and would
soon dispose the people to an effectual resistance. These last reasons, enforced 
by the prejudices of party, prevailed in
parliament; and the commons, besides giving thanks for the king's speech, voted 
unanimously, that they would settle on his
present majesty during life all the revenue enjoyed by the late king at the time 
of his demise. That they might not detract from
this generosity by any symptoms of distrust, they also voted unanimously, that 
the house entirely relied on his majesty's royal
word and repeated declarations to support the religion of the church of England; 
but they added, that that religion was
dearer to them than their lives. The speaker, in presenting the revenue bill, 
took care to inform.the king of their vote with
regard to religion; but could not, by so signal a proof of confidence, extort 
from- him one word in favor of that religion, on
which, he told his majesty, they set so high a value. Notwithstanding the 
grounds of suspicion which this silence afforded, the
house continued in the same liberal disposition. The king having demanded a 
further supply for the navy and other purposes,
they revived those duties 

Page 292 
H ISTORY OF ENGLAND. M ll Wi,s and vinegar which had once been enjoyed by the 
ate killg; and they added some
impositions on tobacco and,ugal. This grant amounted on the whole to about six 
hunUred thousand pounds a year. The
house of lords were in a humor no less compliant. They even went some lengths 
towards breaking in pieces all the remains
of the Popish plot, that once formidable engine of bigotry and faction. A little 
before the meeting of parliament, Oates had
been tried for perjury on two indictments; one for deposing, that he was present 
at a consult of Jesuits in London the twenty.
fourth of April, 1679; another for deposing, that Father Ireland was in London 
between the eighth and twelfth of August,
and in the beginning of September, in the same year. Never criminal was 
convicted on fuller and more undoubted evidence.
Two and twenty persons, who had been students at St. Omers, most of them men of 
credit and family, gave evidence, that
Oates had entered into that seminary about Christmas in the year 1678, and had 
never been absent but one night till the
month of July following. Forty-seven witnesses, persons also of untainted 
character, deposed that Father Ireland, on the
third of August, 1679, had gone to Staffordshire, where he resided till the 
middle of September; and, what some years
before would have been regarded as a very material circumstance, nine of these 
witnesses were Protestants of the church of
England. Oates's sentence was, to be fined a thousand marks on each indictment, 
to be whipped on two different days from
Aldgate to Newgate, and from Newgate to Tyburn, to be imprisoned during life, 
and to be pilloried five times every year.
The im. pudence of the man supported itself under the conviction, and his 
courage under the punishment. He made solemn
appeals to Heaven, and protestations of the veracity of his testimony: though 
the whipping was so cruel, that it was evidently
the intention of the court to put him to death by that punishment, he was 
enabled, by the care of his friends, to recover; and
he lived to King William's reign, when a pension of four hundred pounds a year 
was settled on him. A considerable number
still adhered to him in his distresses, and regarded him as the martyr of the 
Protestant cause. The populace were affected
with the sight of a punishment more severe than is commonly inflicted in 
England. And the sentence of perpetual
imprisonment was deemed illegal. The conviction of Oates's perjury was taken 
notice of by 

Page 293 
JAMES II. 293 the house of peers. Besides freeing the Popish lords, Powis, 
Arundel, Bellasis, and Tyrone, together with
Danby, from the former impeachment by the commons, they went so far as to vote a 
reversal of Stafford's attainder, on
account of the falsehood,rf that evidence on which he had Leen condemned. This 
bill fixed so deep a reproach on the former
proceedings of the exclusionists, that it met with great opposition among the 
lords; and it was at last, after one reading,
dropped by the commons. Though the reparation of injustice be the second honor 
which a nation can attain, the present
emergence seemed very improper for granting so full a justification to the 
Catholics, and throwing so foul a stain on the
Protestants. The course of parliamentary proceedings was interrupted by the news 
of Monmouth's arrival in the west with
three ships from Holland. No sooner was this intelligence conveyed to the 
parliament, than they voted that they would
adhere to his majesty with their lives and fortunes. They passed a bill of 
attainder against Monmouth; and they granted a
supply of four hundred thousand pounds for suppressing his rebellion. Having 
thus strengthened the hands of the king, they
adjourned themselves. Monmouth, when ordered to depart the kingdom, during the 
late reign, had retired to Holland; and as
it was well known that he still enjoyed the favor of his indulgent father, all 
marks of honor and distinction were bestowed
upon him by the prince of Orange. After the accession of James, the prince 
thought it necessary to dismiss Monmouth and
all his followers; and that illustrious fugitive retired to Brussels. Finding 
himself still pursued by the king's severity, he was
pushed, contrary to his judgment as well as inclination, to make a rash and 
premature attempt upon England. He saw that
James had lately mounted the throne, not only without opposition, but seemingly 
with the good will and affections of his
subjects. A parliament was sitting, which discovered the greatest disposition to 
comply with the king, and whose adherence,
he knew, would give a sanction and authority to all public measures. The 
grievances of this reign were hitherto of small
importance; and the people were not as yet in a disposition to remark them with 
great severity. All these considerations
occurred to Monmouth; but such was the impatience of his followers, and such tho 
precipitate humor of Argyle, who set out
for Scotland a 245 

Page 294 
294 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. little before him, that no reasons could be attended to; 
and this unhappy man was driven
upon his fate. The imprudence, however, of this enterprise did not at first 
appear. Though on his landing at Lime, in
Dorsetshiie, he had scarcely a hundred followers, so popular was his name, that 
in four days he had assembled above two
thousand horse and foot. They were, indeed, almost all of them the lowest of the 
people; and the declaration which he
published was chiefly calculated to suit the prejudices of the vulgar, or the 
most bigoted of the whig party. He called the
king, duke of York; and denominated him a traitor, a tyrant, an assassin, and a 
Popish usurper. He imputed to him the fire of
London, the murder of Godfrey and of Essex, nay, the poisoning of the late king. 
And he invited all the people to join in
opposition to his tyranny. The duke of Albemarle, son to him who had restored 
the royal family, assembled the militia of
Devonshire to the number of four thousand men, and took post at Axminster, in 
order to oppose the rebels; but observing
that his troops bore a great affection to Monmouth, he thought proper to retire. 
Monmouth, though he had formerly given
many proofs of personal courage, had not the vigor of mind requisite for an 
undertaking of this nature. From an ill-grounded
diffidence of his men, he neglected to attack Albemarle; an easy enterprise, by 
which he might both have acquired credit,
and have supplied himself with arms. Lord Gray, who commanded his horse, 
discovered himself to be a notorious coward;
yet such was the softness of Monmouth's nature, that Gray was still continued in 
his command. Fletcher of Salton, a
Scotchman, a man of signal probity and fine genius, had been engaged by his 
republican principles in this enterprise, and
commanded the cavalry together with Gray; but being insulted by one who had 
newly joined the army, and whose horse he
had in a hurry made use of, he was prompted by passion, to which he was much 
subject, to discharge a pistol at the man;
and he killed him on the spot. This incident obliged him immediately to leave 
the camp; and the loss of so gallant an officer
was a great prejudice to Monmouth's enterprise. The next station of the rebels 
was Taunton, a disaffected town, which
gladly and even fondly received them, and reiSn forced them with considerable 
numbers. Twenty young maids of some rank
presented Monmouth with a pair of colors of their handiwork, together with a 
copy of the Bible. Monmouth was 

Page 295 
JAMES II. 295 here persuaded to take upon him the title of king, and assert the 
legitimacy of his birth; a claim which he
advanced in his first declaration, but whose discussion he was determined, he 
then said, during some time to postpone. His
numbers had now increased to six thousand; and he was obliged every day, for 
want of arms, to dismiss a great many who
crowded to his standard. He entered Bridgewater, Wells, Frome; and was 
proclaimed in all these places: but forgetting, that
such desperate enterprises can only be rendered successful by the most 
adventurous courage, he allowed the expectations
of the people to languish, without attempting any considerable undertaking. 
While Monmouth, by his imprudent and
misplaced caution, was'thus wasting time in the west, the king employed himself 
in making preparations to oppose him. Six
regiments of British troops were called over from Holland: the army was 
considerably augmented: and regular forces, to the
number of three thousand men, were despatched under the command of Feversham and 
Churchill, in order to check the
progress of the rebels. Monmouth, observing that no considerable men joined him, 
finding that an insurrection which was
projected in the city had not taken place, and hearing that Argyle, his 
confederate, was already defeated and taken, sunk
into such despondency, that he had once resolved to withdraw himself, and leave 
his unhappy fulluowus to their fate. His
followers expressed more courage than their leader, and seemed determined to 
adhere to him in every fortune. The negligent
disposition made by Feversham, invited Monmouth to attack the king's army at 
Sedgemoor, near Bridgewater; and his men
in this action showed what a native courage and a principle of duty, even when 
unassisted by discipline, is able to perform.
They threw the veteran forces into disorder; drove them from their ground; 
continued the fight till their ammunition failed
them; and would at last have obtained a victory, had not the misconduct of 
Monmouth and the cowardice of Gray prevented
it. After a combat of three hours, the rebels gave way, and were followed with 
great slaughter. About fifteen hundred fell in
the battle and pursuit. And thus was concluded in a few weeks this enterprise, 
rashly undertaken and feebly conducted.
Monmouth fled from the field of battle above twenty miles, till his horse sunk 
under him. He then changed clothes with i
peasant in order to conceal himself. The peasant was dis. 

Page 296 
296 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. covered by the pursuers, who now redoubled the diligence 
or their search. At last, the
unhappy Monmouth was found,lying in the bottom of a ditch, and covered with 
fern; his body de pressed with fatigue and
hunger; his mind by the memory of past misfortunes, by the prospect of future 
disasters. Human nature is unequal to such
calamitous situations; much more the temper of a man softened by early 
prosperity, and accustomed to value himself solely
on military bravery. He burst into tears when seized by his enemies; and he 
seemed still to indulge the fond hope and desire
of life. Though he might have known, from the greatness of his own offences, and 
the severity of James's temper, that no
mercy could be expected, he wrote him the most submissive letters, and conjured 
him to spare the issue of a brother who
had ever been so stropgly attached to his interest. James, finding such symptoms 
of depression and despondency in the
unhappy prisoner, admitted him to his presence, in hopes of extorting a 
discovery of his accomplices; but Monmouth would
not purchase life, however loved, at the price of so much infamy. Finding all 
efforts vain, he assumed courage from despair,
and prepared himself for death, with a spirit better suited to his rank and 
character. This favorite of the people was attended
to the scaffold with a plentiful effusion of tears. He warned the executioner 
not to fall into the error which he had committed
in beheading Russel, where it had been necessary to repeat the blow. This 
precaution served only to dismay the executioner.
He struck a feeble blow on Monmouth, who raised his head from the block, and 
looked him in the face, as if reproaching
him for his failure. He gently laid down his head a second time; and the 
executioner struck him again and again to no
purpose. He then threw aside the axe, and cried out that he was incapable of 
finishing the bloody office. The sheriff obliged
him to renew the attempt; and at two blows more the head was severed from the 
body. Thus perished, in the thirty-sixth
year of his age, a nobleman who, in less turbulent times,'was well qualified to 
be an ornament of the court, even to be
serviceable to his country. The favor of his prince, the caresses of faction, 
and the allurements of popularity, seduced him
into enterprises which exceeded his capacity. The good will of the people still 
followed him in every fortune. Even after his
execution, their fond credulity flattered them with hopes of seeing him once 
more at their head. They believed, that the
person executed was not Mon. 

Page 297 
JAMES IL. 297 mouth. but one, who, having the -fortune to resemble him near. ly, 
was willing to give this proof of his
extreme attachment and to suffer death in his stead.'This victory, obtainoed by 
the king in the commencement of his reign,
would naturally, had it been managed with prudence, have tended much to increase 
his power and authority. B3ut by reason
of the cruelty with which it was prosecuted, and of the temerity with which it 
afterwards inspired him, it was a principal cause
of his sudden ruin and downfall. Such arbitrary principles had the court 
instilled into all its servants, that Feversham,
immediately after the victory, hanged above twenty prisoners; and was proceeding 
in his executions, when the bishop of
Bath and Wells warned him, that these unhappy men were now by. law entitled to a 
trial, and that their execution would be
deemed a real murder. This remonstrance, however, did not stop the savage nature 
of Colonel Kirke, a soldier of fortune,
who had long served at Tangiers, and had contracted, from his intercourse with 
the Moors, an inhumanity less known in
European and in free countries. At his first entry into Bridgewater, he hanged 
nine. teen prisoners without the least inquiry
into the merits of their cause. As if to make sport with death, he ordered a 
certain number to be executed, while he and his
company should drink the king's health, or the queen's, or that of Chief Justice 
Jefferies. Observing their feet to quiver in the
agonies of death, he cried that he would give them music to their dancing; and- 
he immediately commanded the drums to
beat and the trumpets to sound. By way of experiment, he ordered one man to be 
hung up three times, questioning him at
each interval, whether he repented of his crime: but the man obstinately 
asserting, that notwithstanding the past, he still would
willingly engage in the same cause, Kirke ordered him to be hung in chains. One 
story, commonly told of him, is memorable
for the treachery, as well as barbarity, which attended it. A young maid pleaded 
for the life of her brother, and flung herself
at Kirke's feet, armed with all the charms which beauty and innocence, bathed in 
tears, could bestow upon her. rhe tyrant
was inflamed with desire, not softened into love or clemency. He promised to 
grant her request, provided thal sLe, in her
turn, would be equally compliant to him. The maid yielded to the conditions: but 
after she had passed the night with him, the
wanton savage next morning showed her from the window her brother, the darling 
object for whom she 

Page 298 
293 HISTORY Co CELANSD. had sacrificed her virtue, hanging on a gibbet, which; 
he' had secretly ordered to be there
erected for the execution. Rage and despair, and indignation took possession of 
her mind, and deprived her forever of her
senses. All the inhabitants of that country, innocent as well as guilty, were 
exposed to the ravages of this barbarian. The
soldiery were let loose to live at free quarters; and his own regiment, 
instructed by his example, and encouraged by his
exhortations, distinguished themselves in a particular manner by their outrages. 
By way of pleasantry, he used to call them his
lambs; an appellation which was long remembered with horror in the west of 
England. The violent Jefferies succeeded after
some interval; and showed the people, that the rigors of law might equal, if not 
exceed, the ravages of military tyranny. This
man, who wantoned in cruelty, had already given a specimen of his character in 
many trials where he presided; and he now
set out with a savage joy, as to a full harvest of death and destruction. He 
began at Dorchester; and thirty rebels being
arraigned, he exhorted them, but in vain, to save him, by their free confession, 
the trouble of trying them: and when
twentynine were found guilty, he ordered them, as an additional punishment of 
their disobedience, to be led to immediate
execution. Most of the other prisoners, terrified with this example, pleaded 
guilty; and no less-than two hundred and
ninetytwo received sentence at Dorchester. Of these, eighty were executed. 
Exeter was the next stages of his cruelty: two
hundred and forty-three were there tried, of whom a great number were condemned 
and executed. He also opened his
commission at Taunton and Wells; and every where carried consternation along 
with him. The juries were so struck with his
menaces, that they gave their verdict with precipitation; and many innocent 
persons, it is said, were involved with the guilty.
And on the whole, besides those who were butchered by the military commanders, 
two hundred and fifty-one are computed
to have fallen by the- hand of justice. The whole country was strowed with the 
heads and limbs of traitors. Every village
almost beheld the dead carcass of a wretched inhabitant. And all the rigors of 
justice, unabated by any appearance of
clemency, were fully displayed to the people by the inhuman Jefferies. Of all 
the executions, during this dismal period, the
most remarkable were those of Mrs. Gaunt and Lady Lisle, who bhad been accused 
of narboring traitors. Mrs. Gaunt... t 

Page 299 
JAMES II. 299 Anabaptist, noted for her beneficence, which she extended to 
persons of all professions and persuasions.
One of the rebels, knowing her humane disposition, had recourse to her in his 
distress, and was concealed by her. Hearing
of the procla. mation, which offered an indemnity and rewards to such as 
discovered criminals, he betrayed his benefactress,
and bore evidence against her. He received a pardon as a recompense for his 
treachery; she was burned alive for her
charity. Lady Lisle was widow of one of the regicides, who had enjoyed great 
favor and authority under Cromwell, and who
having fled, after the restoration, to Lauzanne, in Switzerland, was there 
assassinated by three Irish ruffians, who hoped to
make their fortune by this piece of service. His widow was now prosecuted for 
harboring two rebels the day after the battle
of Sedgemoor; and Jefferies pushed on the trial with an unrelenting violence. In 
vain did the aged prisoner plead, that these
criminals had been put into no proclamation; had been convicted by no verdict; 
nor could any man be denominated a traitor,
till the sentence of some legal court was passed upon him: that it appeared not 
by any proof, that she was so much as
acquainted with the guilt of the persons, or had heard of their joining the 
rebellion of Monmouth: that though she might be
obnoxious on account of her family, it was well known that her heart was ever 
loyal; and that no person in England had shed
more tears for that tragical event, in which her husband had unfortunately borne 
too great a share: and that the same
principles which she herself had ever embraced, she had carefully instilled into 
her son; and had, at that very time, sent him to
fight against those rebels whom she was now accused of harboring. Though these 
arguments did not move Jefferies, they
had influence on the jury. Twice they seemed inclined to bring in a favorable 
verdict: they were as often sent back with
menaces and reproaches; and at last were constrained to give sentence against 
the prisoner. Notwithstanding all applications
for pardon, the cruel sentence was executed. The king said, that he had given 
Jefferies a promise not to pardon her; an
excuse which could serve only to aggravate the blame against himself. It might 
have been hoped that, by all these bloody
executions, a rebellion so precipitate, so ill supported, and of such short 
duration, would have been sufficiently expiated: bu;
nothing could satiate the spirit of rigor which possessed the administration. 
Even those multitudes who received pardon 

Page 300 
300 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. were obliged to atone for their guilt by fines which re 
duced them to beggary; or where
their fornner poverty made them incapable of paying, they were condemned to 
cruel whippings or severe imprisonments.
Nor could the innocent escape the hands, no less rapacious than cruel, Qf the 
chief justice. Prideaux, a gentleman of
Devonshire, being thrown into prison, and dread. ing the severe and arbitrary 
spirit which at that time met with no control,
was obliged to buy his liberty of Jefferies at the price of fifteen thousand 
pounds; though he could never so much as learn the
crime of' which he was accused. Goodenough, the seditious under sheriff of 
London, who had been engaged in the most
bloody and desperate part of the Rye-house conspiracy, was taken prisoner after 
the battle of Sedgemoor, and resolved to
save his own life by an accusation of Cornish, the sheriff, whom he knew to be 
extremely obnoxious to the court. Colonel
Rumsey joined him in the accusation; and the prosecution was so hastened, that 
the prisoner was tried, condemned, and
executed in the space of a week. The perjury of the witnesses appeared 
immediately after; and the king seemed to regret the
execution of Cornish. He granted his estate to his family, and condemned the 
witnesses to perpetual imprisonment. The
injustice of this sentence against Cornish was not wanted to disgust the nation 
with the court: the continued rigor of the other
executions had already impressed a universal hatred against the ministers of 
justice, attended with compassion for the
unhappy sufferers, who, as they had been seduced into this crime by mistaken 
principles, bore their punishment with the
spirit and zeal of martyrs. The people might have been will. ing on this 
occasion to distinguish between the king and his
ministers: but care was taken to prove, that the latter had done nothing but 
what was agreeable to their master. Jefferies, on
his return, was immediately, for those eminent services, created a peer;and was 
soon after vested with the dignity of
chancellor. It is pretended, however, with some appearance of authority, that 
the king was displeased with these cruelties,
and put a stop to them by orders, as soon as proper information of them was 
conveyed to him.* We must now take a view
of the state of affairs in Scotland; where the fate of Argyle had been decided 
before that of Monmouth. Immediately after the
king's accession, a parliament * Life of Lord Keeper North, p. 260. K. James's 
Memoirs, p. 144. 

Page 301 
JAMES II. 30O had been summoned at Edinburgh; and all affairs were there 
conducted by the duke of Queensberry the
commissioner, and the earl of Perth chancellor. The former had resolved to mnake 
an entire surrender of the liberties of his
country; but was de. termined still to adhere to its religion: the latter 
entertained no scruple of paying court even by the
sacrifice of both. But no courtier, even the most prostitute, could go further 
than the parliament itself towards a resignation of
their liberties. In a vote, which they called an offer of duty, after adopting 
the fabulous history of a hundred and eleven
Scottish monarchs, they acknowledged, that all these princes, by the primary and 
fundamental law of the state, had been
vested with a solid and abso lute authority. They declared their abhorrence of 
all principles and positions derogatory to the
king's sacred, supreme, sovereign, absolute power, of which none, they said, 
whether single persons or collective bodies,
can participate, but in dependence on him, and by commission from him. They 
promised, that the whole nation, between
sixteen and sixty, shall be in readiness for his majesty's service, where and as 
oft as it shall be his royal pleasure to require
them. And they annexed the whole excise, both of inland and foreign commodities, 
forever to the crown. All the other acts
of this assembly savored of the same spirit. They declared it treason for any 
person to refuse the test, if tendered by the
council. To defend the obligation of the covenant, subjected a person to the 
same penalty. To be present at any conventicle,
was made punishable with death and confiscation of movables. Even such as 
refused to give testimony, either in cases of
treason or nonconformity, were declared equally punishable as if guilty of those 
very crimes; an excellent prelude to all the
rigors of an inquisition. It must be confessed, that nothing could equal the 
abject servility of the Scottish nation during this
period but the arbitrary severity of the administration. It was in vain that 
Argyle summoned a people so lost to all sense of
liberty, so degraded by repeated indignities, to rise in vindication of their 
violated laws and privileges. Even those who
declared for him, were, for the greater part, his own vas, sals; men who, if 
possible, were still more sunk in slavery that the
rest of the nation. He arrived, after a prosperous voy. age, in Argyleshire, 
attended by some fugitives from Holland among
the resf, by Sir Patrick Hume, a man of mild disposi tions, who had been driven 
to this extremity by a continuei VOL VI. 26
H 

Page 302 
3e2 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. train of oppression. The privy' council was beforehand 
ap prised of Argyle's intentions.
The whole militia of the king. dom, to the number of twenty-two thousand men, 
were already in arms; and a third part of
them, with the regular forces, were on their march to oppose him. All the 
considerable gentry of his clan were thrown into
prison. And two ships of war were on the coast to watch his motions. Under all 
these discouragements he yet made a shift,
partly from terror, partly from affection, to collect and arm a body of about 
two thousand five hundred men; but soon found
himself surrounded on all sides with insuperable difficulties. His arms and 
ammunition were seized; his provisions cut off: the
marquis of Athole pressed him on one side; Lord Charles Murray on another; the 
duke of Gordon hung upon his rear; the
earl of Dunbarton met him in front. His followers daily fell off from him; but 
Argyle, resolute to persevere, broke at last with
the shattered remains of his troops into the disaffected part of the low 
countries, which he had endeavored to allure to him
by declarations for the covenant. No one showed either courage or inclination to 
join him; and his small and still decreasing
army, after wandering about for a little time, was at last defeated and 
dissipated without an enemy. Argyle himself was seized
and carried to Edinburgh; where, after enduring many indignities with a gallant 
spirit, he was publicly executed. He suffered
on the former unjust sentence which had been passed upon him. The rest of his 
followers- either escapted or were punished
by transportation: Rni-bold' and Ayloffe, two Englishmen who had attended 
Argyle'on this expedition, were executed.
The'king was so elated with this continued tide of prosperity, thatt he began to 
undervalue even an English parliament, at all
times formidable to his family; and from his speech to that assembly, which he 
had assembled early in the winter, he seems to
have thought himself exempted from all rules of prudence or necessity of 
dissimulation. He plainly told the two houses, that
the militia; which had formerly been so much magnified, was now found, by 
experience in the last rebellion, to be altogether
useless; and he required a new supply, in order to maintain those additional 
forces which he had levied. He also took notice,
that he had employed a great many Catholic officers, and that he had, in their 
favor, dispensed with the law requiring the test
to be taken by every one that possessed any public office, And to cut short all 
opposition, he declared, that, having reaped
the benefit of their service during such times of danger, 

Page 303 
JAMES~ I. 303!e?- was determined neither t6oexposi tnem afterwards to dism 
grace; robr himself, in case of another
rebellion, to the want of their assistanre. Such violent aversion did this 
parliament bear to opposition so great dread had been
instilled of the consequences attending any breach with the king, that it is 
probable, had he used his dispensing power
without declaring it, no inquiries would have been made, and time might have 
reconciled the nation to this dangerous exercise
of prerogative. But to invade at once their constitution, to threaten their 
religion, to establish a standing army, and even to
require them, by their concurrence, to contribute towards all these measures, 
exceeded the bounds of their patience; and
they began, for the first time, to display some small remains of English spirit 
and generosity. When the king's speech was
taken into consideration by the commons, many severe reflections were thrown out 
against the present measures; and the
house was with seeming difficulty engaged to promise, in a general vote, that 
they would grant some supply. But instead of
finishing that business, which could alone render them acceptable to the king, 
they proceeded to examine the dispensing
power; and they voted an address to the king against it. Before this address was 
presented, they resumed the consideration
of the supply; and as one million two hundred thousand pounds were demanded by 
the court, and two hundred thousand
proposed by the country party, a middle course was chosen, and seven hundred 
thousand, after some dispute, were at last
voted. The address against the dispensing power was expressed in the most 
respectful and submissive terms; yet was it very
ill received by the king; and his answer contained a flat denial, uttered with 
great warmth and vehemence. The commons
were so daunted with this reply, that they kept silence a long time; and when 
Coke, member for Derby, rose up and said, " I
hope we are all Englishmen, and not to be frightened with a few hard words," so 
little spirit appeared in that assembly, often
so refractory and mutinous, that they sent him to the Tower for bluntly 
expressing a free and generous: sentiment. They
adjourned without fixing a day for the consideration of his majesty's answer: 
and on their next meeting, they submissively
proceeded to the consideration of the supply, and even went so far as to 
establish funds for paying the sum voted in nine
years and a half. The king, therefore, had in effect, almost without contest or 
violence, obtained: a complete victory over the
commons: and 

Page 304 
304 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. that assembly, instead of guarding their liberties, now 
exposed to manifest peril, conferred
an additional revenue on the crown; and, by rendering ihe king in some degree 
independent, contributed to increase those
dangers with which they had so much reason to be alarmed. The next opposition 
came from the house of peers, which has
not commonly taken the lead on these occasions; and even from the bench of 
bishops, where the court usually expects the
greatest complaisance and submission. The upper house had been brought, in the 
first days of the session, to give general
thanks for the king's speech; by which compliment they were understood, 
according to the practice of that time, to have
acquiesced in every part of it: yet notwithstanding that step, Compton, bishop 
of London, in his own name and that of his
brethren, moved that a day should be appointed for taking the speech into 
consideration: he was seconded by Halifax,
Nottingham, and Mordaunt. Jefferies, the chancellor, opposed the motion; and 
seemed inclined to use in that house the same
arrogaice to which on the bench he had so long been accustomed: but he was soon 
taught to know his place; and he proved,
by his behavior, that insolence, when checked, naturally sinks into meanness and 
cowardice. The bishop of London's motion
prevailed. The king might reasonably have presumed, that, even if the peers 
should so far resume courage as to make an
application against his dispensing power, the same steady answer which he had 
given to the commons would make them
relapse into the same timidity; and he might by that means have obtained a 
considerable supply, without making any
concessions in return. But so imperious was his temper, so lofty the idea which 
he had entertained of his own authority, and
so violent the schemes suggested by his own bigotry and that of his priests, 
that, without any delay, without waiting for any
further provocation, he immediately proceeded to a prorogation. He continued the 
parliament during a year and a half by
four more prorogations; but having in vain tried, by separate applications, to 
break the obstinacy of the leading members, he
at last dissolved that assembly. And as it was plainly impossible for him- to 
find among his Protestant subjects a set of men
more devoted to royal authority, it was universally concluded, that he intended 
thenceforth to govern entirely without
parliaments. Never king mounted the throne of England with greater advantages 
than James; nay, possessed greater facility,
if that 

Page 305 
JAMES II. 30X were any advantage, of rendering himself and his posterity 
absolute: but all these fortunate circumstances
tended only. by his own misconduct, to bring more sudden ruin upon him. The 
nation seemed disposed of themselves to
resign -their liberties, had he not, at the same time, made an attempt upon 
their religion: and he might even have succeeded in
surmounting at once their liberties and religion, had he conducted his schemes 
with common prudence and discretion.
Openly to declare to the parliament, so early in his reign, his intention to 
dispense with the tests, struck a universal alarm
throughout the nation; infused terror into the church, which had hitherto been 
the chief support of monarchy; and even
disgusted the army, by whose means alone he could now purpose to govern. The 
former horror against Popery was revived
by polemical books and sermons; and in every dispute the victory seemed to be 
gained by the Protestant divines, who were
heard with more favorable ears, and who managed the controversy with more 
learning and eloquence. But another incident
happened at this time, which tended mightily to excite the animosity of the 
nation against the Catholic communion. Lewis
XIV., having long harassed and molested the Prot estants, at last revoked 
entirely the edict of Nantz; which had been
enacted by Henry IV. for securing them the free exercise of their religion; 
which had been declared irrevocable; and which,
during the experience of near a century, had been attended with no sensible 
inconvenience. All the iniquities inseparable from
persecution were exercised against those unhappy religionists; who became 
obstinate in proportion to the oppressions which
they suffered, and either covered under a feigned conversion a more violent 
abhorrence of the Catholic communion, or
sought among foreign nations for that liberty of which they were bereaved in 
their native country. Above half a million of the
most useful and industrious subjects deserted France; and exported, together 
with immense sums of money, those arts and
manufactures which had chiefly tended to enrich that kingdomi. They propagated 
every where the most tragical accounts of
the tyranny exercised against them; and revived among the Protestants all that 
resentment against the bloody and persecuting
spirit of Popery, to which so many incidents in all ages had given too much 
foundation. Near fifty thousand refugees passed
over into Eng. land; and all men were disposed, from their representations, tc 
tntertain the utmost horror against the projects
which they'215' 

Page 306 
306 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. apprehended to be formed by the king for the abolition 
of the Protestant religion. When a
prince of so much humanity and of such *signal prudence as Lewis could be 
engaged, by the bigotry of his religion alone,
without any provocation, to em. brace such sanguinary and impolitic measures, 
what might be dreaded, they asked, from
James, who was so much inferior in these virtues, and who had already been 
irritated by such obstinate and violent
opposition? In vain did the king affect to throw the highest blame on the 
persecutions in France: in vain did he afford the
most real protection and assistance to the distressed Hugonots. All these 
symptoms of toleration were regarded-as insidious;
opposite to the avowed principles of his sect, and belied by the severe 
administration which he himself had exercised against
the nonconformists in Scotland. The smallest approach towards the introduction 
of Popery, must, in the present disposition
of the people, have afforded reason of jealousy; much more so wide a step as 
that of dispensing with the tests, the sole
security which the nation, being disappointed of the exclusion bill, found 
provided against those dreaded innovations. Yet
was the king resolute to persevere in his purpose; and having failed in bringing 
over the parliament, he made an attempt, with
more success, for establishing his dispensing power by a verdict of the judges. 
Sir Edward Hales, a new proselyte, had
accepted a commission of colonel; and directions were given his coachman to 
prosecute him for the penalty of five hundred
pounds, which the law, establishing the tests, had granted to informers. By this 
feigned action the king hoped, both from the
authority of the decision, and the reason of the thing, to put an end to all 
questions with regard to his dispensing power. It
could not be expected that the lawyers appointed to plead against Hales would 
exert great force on that occasion: but the
cause was regarded with such anxiety by the public, that it has been thoroughly 
canvassed in several elaborate discourses; *
and could men divest themselves of prejudice, there want not sufficient 
materials on which to form a true judgment. The
claim and exercise of the dispensing power is allowed to be very ancient in 
England; and though it seems at first to have been
copied from Papal usurpations, it may plainly be traced up as high as the reign 
of Henry III. In the feudal * Particularly Sir
Edward Herbert's defence in the State Trials, and Sir Robert Atkins's Inquiry 
concerning the Dispensing Power. 

Page 307 
JAMES It. 307 governments, men were more anxiots to secure their private 
property than to share in the public
administration; and provided no innovations were attempted on their rights and 
possessions, the care of executing the laws,
and insuring general safety, was, without jealousy, intrusted to the sovereign. 
Penal statutes were commonly intended to arm
the prince with more authority for that purpose: and being in the main 
calculated for promoting his influence as first
magistrate, there seemed no danger in allowing him to dispense with their 
execution, in such particular cases as might require
an exception or indulgence. That practice had so much prevailed, that the 
parliament itself had more than once
acknowledged this prerogative of the crown; particularly during the reign of 
Henry V., when they enacted the law against
aliens,* and also when they passed the statute of provisors.t But though the 
general tenor of the penal statutes was such as
gave the king a superior interest in their execution beyond any of his subjects, 
it could not but sometimes happen in a mixed
government, that the parliament would desire to enact laws by which the regal 
power, in some particulars, even where
private property was not immediately concerned, might be regulated and 
restrained. In the twenty-third of Henry VI., a law
of this kind was enacted, prohibiting any man-from serving in a county as 
sheriff above a year; and a clause was inserted, by
which the king was disabled from granting a dispensation. Plain reason might 
have taught, that this law, at least, should be
exempted from the king's prerogative: but as the dispensing power still 
prevailed in other cases, it was.soon able, aided by
the servility of the courts of judicature, even to overpower this statute, which 
the legislature had evidently intended to secure
against violation. In the reign of Henry VII., the case was brought to a trial 
before all the judges in the exchequer chamber;
and it was decreed, that, notwithstanding the strict clause above mentioned, the 
king might dispense with the statute: he
could first, it was alleged, dispense with the prohibitory clause, and then with 
the statute itself. This opinion of the judges,
though seemingly absurd, had ever since passed for undoubted * Rot. Parl. 1 Hen. 
V. n. xv. t Ibid. 1 Hen. V. n. xxii. It is
remarkable, however, that in the reign of Richard II. the parliament granted the 
king only a temporary power of dispensing
with the statute of provisors. Rot. Parl. 15 Rich. II. n. i.; a plain 
implication that he had not, of himself, such prerogative. So
uncertain were many of these points at that time. 

Page 308 
308 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.,aw; the practice of continuing the sheriffs had 
prevailed: and most of the property in
England had been fixed by decis. ions which juries, returned by such sheriffs, 
had given in the courts of judicature. Many
other dispensations of a like nature may be produced; not only such as took 
place by intervals but such as were uniformly
continued. Thus the law was dis. pensed with, which prohibited any man from 
going a judge of assize into his own county;
that which rendered all Welshmen incapable of bearing offices in Wales; and that 
which required every one who received a
pardon for felony, to find sureties for his good behavior. In the second of 
James I., a new con. sultation of all the judges had
been held upon a like question; this prerogative of the crown was again 
unanimously affirmed,' and it became an established
principle in English jurispru. dence, that, though the king could not allow of 
what was mor. ally unlawful, he could permit
what was only prohibited by positive statute. Even the jealous house of commons 
who ex torted the petition of right from
Charles I., made no scruple by the mouth of Glanville, their manager, to allow 
of the dis, pensing power in its full extent;t and
in the famous trial of ship money, Holborne, the popular lawyer, had freely, and 
ir the most explicit terms, made the same
concession.] Sir Ed. ward Coke, the great oracle of English law, had not only 
con. curred with all other lawyers in favor of
this prerogative, but seems even to believe it so inherent in the crown, that an 
act of parliament itself could not abolish it. ~
And he particularly observes, that no law can impose such a disability of 
enjoying offices as the king may not dispense with;
because the king, from the law of nature, has a right to the service of all his 
subjects. This particular reason, as well as all the
general principles, is applicable to the question of the tests; nor can the 
dangerous consequence of granting dispensations in
that case be ever allowed to be pleaded before a court of judicature. Every 
prerogative of the crown, it may be said, admits
of abuse: should the king pardon all criminals, law must be totally dissolved: 
should he declare and continue perpetual war
against all nations, inevitable ruin must ensue: yet these powers are intrusted 
to the sovereign; and we must be content, as *
Sir Edward Coke's Reports, seventh report. t State Trials, vol. ii. first edit. 
p. 205. Parl. HIist. vol. viii, p. 132, State Trials,
vol. v. first edit. p. 171. ~ Sir Edward Coke's Reports, twelfth report, p. 18. 

Page 309 
JAMES 11. 309 our ancestors were, to depend upon his prudence and discrehon in 
the exercise of them. Though this
reasoning seems founded on such principles as are usually admitted by lawyers, 
the people had entertained such violent
prepossessions against the use which James here made of his prerogative, that he 
was obliged, before he brought on Hales's
cause, to displace four of the judges, Jones, Montague, Charleton, and Nevil; 
and even Sir Edward Herbert, the chief
justice, though a man of acknowledged virtue, yet, because he here supported the 
pretensions of the crown, was exposed to
great and general reproach. Men deemed a dis. pensing to be in effect the same 
with a repealing power; and they could not
conceive, that less authority was necessary to repeal than to enact any statute. 
If one penal law was dispensed with, any
other might undergo the same fate: and by what principle could even the laws 
which define property be afterwards secured
from violation? The test act had ever been conceived the great barrier of the 
established religion under a Popish successor:
as' such it had been insisted on by the parliament; as such granted by the king; 
as such, during the debates with regard to the
exclusion, recommended by the chancellor. By what magic, what chicane of law, is 
it now annihilated, and rendered of no
validity? These questions were every where asked; and men, straitened by 
precedents and decisions of great authority, were
reduced either to question the antiquity of this prerogative itself, or to 
assert, that even the practice of near five centuries
could not bestow on it sufficient authority.* It was not considered, that the 
present difficulty or seeming absurdity had
proceeded from late innovations introduced into the government. Ever since the 
beginning of this century, the parliament had,
with a laudable zeal, been acquiring powers and establishing principles 
favorable to law and liberty: the authority of the
crown had been limited in many important particulars: and penal statutes were 
often calculated to secure the constitution
against the attempts of ministers, as well as to preserve genes.l peace, and 
repress crimes and immoralities. A prerogative,
however, derived from very ancient and almost uniform practice, the dispensing 
power, still remained, or was supposed to
remain, with the crown; sufficient in an instant to overturn this whole fabric, 
and to throw down all fences of the constitution.
If this prerogative, which * Sir Robert Atkins, p. 21. 

Page 310 
310 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. carries on the face of it such strong symptoms of an 
absolute authority in the prince, had
yet, in ancient times, subsisted with some degree of liberty in the subject, 
this fact only proves, that scarcely any human
government, much less one erected in rude and barbarous times, is entirely 
consistent and uniform in all its parts. But to
expect that the dispensing power could, in any degree, be rendered compatible 
with those accurate and regular limitations
which had of late been established, and which the people were determined to 
maintain, was a vain hope; and though men
knew not upon what principles they could deny that prerogative, they saw that, 
if they would pre. serve their laws and
constitution, there was an absolute necessity for denying, at least for 
abolishing it. The revolution alone, which soon
succeeded, happily put an end to all these disputes: by means of it, a more 
uniform edifice was at last erected: the monstrous
inconsistence, so visible between the ancient Gothic parts of the fabric and the 
recent plans of liberty, was fully corrected;
and, to their mutual felicity, king and people were finally taught to know their 
proper boundaries.* Whatever topics lawyers
might find to defend James's dis. pensing power, the nation thought it 
dangerous, if not fatal, to liberty; and his resolution of
exercising it may on that account be esteemed no less alarming, than if the 
power had been founded on the most recent and
most flagrant usurpation. It was not likely, that an authority which had been 
assumed through so many obstacles, would in his
hands lie long idle and unemployed. Four Catholic lords were brought into the 
privy * It is remarkable, that the,convention,
summoned by the prince of Orange, did not, even when they had the making of 
their own terms in the declaration of rights,
venture to condemn the dispensing power in general, which had been uniformly 
exercised by the former kings of England.
They only condemned it so far, as it had been assumed and exercised of late, 
without being able to tell wherein the
difference lay. But in the bill of rights, which passed about a twelvemonth 
after, the parliament took care to secure
themselves more effectually against a branch of prerogative incompatible with 
all legal liberty and limitations; and they
excluded, in positive terms, all dispensing power in the crown. Yet even then 
the house of lords rejected that clause of the
bill which condemned the exercise of this power in former kings, and obliged the 
commons to rest content with abolishing it
for the future. There needs no other proof of the irregular nature of the old 
English government, than the existence of such a
prerogative, always exercised and never questioned, till the acquisition of real 
liberty discovered, at,ast, the danger of it. See
the Journals. 

Page 311 
JAMIES II. 311 council, Powis, Arundel, Bellasis, and Dover. Halifax, finding 
that, notwithstanding his past merits, he
possessed no real credit or authority, became refractory in his opposition; and 
his office of privy seal was given to Arundel.
The king was open, as well as zealous, in the desire of making converts; and men 
plainly saw, that the only way to acquire
his affection and confidence was by a sacrifice of their religion. Sunderland, 
some time after, scrupled not to gain favor at this
price. Rochester the treasurer, though the king's brother-in-law, yet, because 
he refused to give this instance of
complaisance, was turned out of his office; the treasury was put in commission, 
and Bellasis was placed at the head of it. All
the courtiers were disgusted, even such as had little regard to religion. The 
dishonor, as well as distrust, attending renegades,
made most men resolve, at all hazards, to adhere to their ancient faith. In 
Scotland, James's zeal for proselytism was more
successful. The earls of Murray, Perth, and Melfort were brought over to the 
court religion; and the two latter noblemen
made use of a very courtly reason for their conversion: they pretended, that the 
papers found in the late king's cabinet had
opened their eyes, and had convinced them of the preference due to the Catholic 
religion. Queensberry, who showed not
the same complaisance, fell into total disgrace, notwithstanding his former 
services, and the important sacrifices which he had
made to the measures of the court. These merits c'ould not even insure him of 
safety against the vengeance to which he
stood exposed. His rival, Perth, who had been ready to sink under his superior 
interest, now acquired the ascendant; and all
the complaints exhibited against him were totally obliterated. His faith, 
according to a saying of Halifax, had made him whole.
But it was in Ireland chiefly that the mask was wholly taken off, and that the 
king thought himself at liberty to proceed to the
full extent of his zeal and his violence. The duke of Ormond was recalled; and 
though the primate and Lord Granard, two
Protestants, still possessed the autho ity of justices, the whole power was 
lodged in the hands of Talbot, the general, soon
after created earl of Tyrconnel; a man who, from the blindness of his prejudices 
and fury of his temper, was transported with
the most immeasurable ardor for the Catholic cause. After the suppression of 
Monmouth's rebellion, orders were given by
Tyrconnel to disarm all the Protestants, on pre 

Page 312 
312 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. tence of securing the public peace, and keeping their 
arms in a few magazines for the use
of the militia. Next, the army was new modelled; and a great number of officers 
were dismissed, because it was pretended
that they or their fathers had served under Cromwell and the republic. The 
injustice was not confined to them. Near three
hundred officers more were afterwards broken, though many of them had purchased 
their commissions: about four or five
thousand private soldiers, because they were Protestants, were dismissed; and 
being stripped even of their regimentals, were
turned out to starve in the streets. While these violences were carrying on, 
Clarendon, who had been named lord lieutenant,
came over; but he soon found, that, as he had refused to give the king the 
desired pledge of fidelity by changing his religion,
he possessed no credit or authority. He was even a kind of prisoner in the hands 
of Tyrconnel: and as he gave all opposition
in his power to the precipitate measures of the Catholics, he was soon after 
recalled, and Tyrconnel substituted in his place.
The unhappy Protestants now saw all the civil authority, as well as the military 
force, transferred into the hands of their
inveterate enemies; inflamed with hereditary hatred, and stimulated by every 
motive which the passion either for power,
property, or religion could inspire. Even the barbarous banditti were let loose 
to prey on them in their present defenceless
condition. A renewal of the ancient massacres was apprehended; and great 
multitudes, struck with the best-grounded terror,
deserted the kingdom, and infused into the English nation a dread of those 
violences to which, after some time, they might
justly, from the prevalence of the Catholics, think themselves exposed. All 
judicious persons of the Catholic communion
were disgusted with these violent measures, and could easily foresee the 
consequences. But James was entirely governed by
the rash counsels of the queen and of his confessor, Father Peters, a Jesuit, 
whom he soon after created a privy counsellor.
He thought too, that, as he was now in the decline of life, it was necessary for 
him, by hasty steps, to carry his designs into
execution; lest the succession of the princess of Orange should overturn alf his 
projects. In vain did Arundel, Powis, and
Bellasis, remonstrate, and suggest more moderate and cautious measures. These 
men had seen and felt, during the
prosecutiori of the Popish plot, the extreme antipathy which the nation bore to 
their religion; and though some subsequent
incident, 

Page 313 
JAMES IL. 313 had seemingly allayed that spirit, they knew that the settled 
habits of the people were still the same, and that
the smallest incident was sufficient to renew the former animosity. A ver) 
moderate indulgence, therefore, to the Catholic
religion wou' have satisfied them; and all attempts to acquire power, much more 
to produce a change of the national faith,
they deemed dangerous and destructive.* On the first broaching of the Popish 
plot, the clergy oft' the church of England had
concurred in the prosecution of it, with rne same violence and credulity as the 
rest of the nation: but dreading afterwards the
prevalence of republican and Presby. terian principles, they had been engaged to 
support the measures of the court; and to
their assistance chiefly, James had owed his succession to the crown. Finding 
that all these services were forgotten, and that
the Catholic religion was the king's sole favorite, the church had commenced an 
opposition to court measures; and Popery
was now acknowledged the more immediate danger. In order to prevent inflammatory 
sermons on this popular subject,
James revived some directions to preachers, which had been promulgated by the 
late king, in the beginning of his reign,
when no design against the national religion was yet formed, or at least 
apprehended. But in the present delicate and
interesting situation of the church, there was little reason to expect -that 
orders, founded on no legal authority, wou41 be
rigidly obeyed by preachers, who saw no security to thetaselves but in 
preserving the confidence and' regard of-the people.
Instead of avoiding controversy, according to the king's injunctions, the 
preachers every where declaimed against Popery;
and among the rest, Di. Sharpe, a clergyman of London, particularly 
distinguished himself, and affected to throw great
contempt on those who had been induced to change their religion by such pitiful 
arguments as the Romish missionaries could
suggest. Thtis topic, being supposed to reflect on the king, gave great offence 
at court; and positive orders were issued to
the bishop of London, his diocesan, immediately to suspend Sharpe, till his 
majesty's pleasure should be further known. The
prelate replied, that he could not possibly obey these commands; and that he was 
not empowered, in such a summary
manner to inflict any punishment even upon the greatest delinquent. But neither 
this obvious reason, nor the most dutiful sub*
D'Avaux, January 10,;687. VOL. VI 27 II 

Page 314 
314 HISTORY OF ENGLLAND. missions, both of the prelate and' of Sharpe himself, 
could appease the court. The king
was-determined to proceed with violence in the prosecution of this affair. The 
bishop himself he resolved to punish for
disobedience to his commands; and the expedient which he employed for that 
purpose, was of a nature at once the most
illegal and most alarming. Among all the engines of authority formerly employed 
by the crown, none had been more
dangerous or even destructive to liberty, than the court of high commission, 
which, together with the star chamber, had been
abolished in the reign of Charles I. by act of parliament; in which a clause was 
also inserted, prohibiting the erection, in aN
future times, of that court, or any of a like nature. But this law was deemed by 
James no obstacle; and an ecclesiastical
commission was anew issued, by which seven commissioners* were vested with full 
and unlimited authority over the church
of England. On them were bestowed the same inquisitorial powers pos. sessed by 
the former court of high commission: they
might proceed upon bare suspicion; and the better to set the law at defiance, it 
was expressly inserted in their patent itself,
that they were to exercise their jurisdiction, notwithstanding any law or 
statute to the contrary. The king's design to subdue
the church was now sufficiently known; and had he been able to establish the 
authority of this new-erected court, his success
was infallible. A more sensible blow could not be given both to national liberty 
and religion; and happily the contest could not
be tried in a cause more iniquitous and unpopular than that against Sharpe and 
the bishop of London. The prelate was cited
before the commissioners. After denying the legality of the court, and claiming 
the privilege of all Christian bishops, to be
tried by the metropolitan and his suffragans, he pleaded in his own defence, 
that as he was obliged, if he had suspended
Sharpe, to act in the capacity of a judge, he could not, consistent either with 
law or equity, pro. nounce sentence without a
previous citation and trial: that he had by petition represented this difficulty 
to his majesty; and not receiving any answer, he
had reason to think that his petition had given entire satisfaction: that in 
order to show * The persons named were, the
archbishop of Canterbury, Sancroft; the bishop of Durham, Crew; of Rochester, 
Sprat; the earl of Rochester, Sunderland,
Chancellor Jefferies, and Lord Chief Justice Herbert. The archbishop refused to 
act and the bishop of Chester war
substituted in his place. 

Page 315 
JAMIES II. 3s further his deference, he #ad advised Sharpe to abstain from 
preaching, till he had justified his conduct to the
king; an advice which, coming from a superior, was equivalent to a command, and 
had accordingly met with the proper
obedi. ence: that he had thus, in his apprehension, conformed himself to his 
majesty's pleasure; but if he should still be found
wanting to his duty in any particular, he was now willing to crave pardon, and 
to make reparation. All this submission, both
in Sharpe and the prelate, had no effect: it was determined to have an example: 
orders were accordingly sent to the
commissioners to proceed: and by a majority of votes, the bishop, as well as the 
doctor, was suspended. Aimost the whole
of this short reign consists of attempts, always imprudent, often illegal, 
sometimes both, against wnatever was most loved
and revered by the nation: even such schemes of the king's as might be laudable 
in themselves, were so disgraced by his
intentions, that they serve only to aggravate the charge against him. James was 
become a great patron of toleration, and an
enemy to -all those persecuting laws which, from the influence of the church, 
had been enacted both against the dissenters
and Catholics. Not content with granting dispensations to particular -persons, 
he assumed a power of issuing a declaration
of general-indulgence, and of suspending at once all the penal statutes by which 
a conformity was required to the established
religion. This was a strain' of authority, it must be confessed, quite 
inconsistent with law and a limited Constitution; yet was it
supported by many strong precedents in the history of England. Even after the 
principles of liberty were become more
prevalent, and began to be well understood, the late king had, oftener than 
once, and without giving much umbrage, exerted
this dangerous power: he had, in 1662, suspended the execution of a law, which 
regulated carriages: during the two Dutch
wars, he had twice suspended the act of navigation: -and the comrmons, in 1666, 
being resolved, contrary,to the king's
judgment, to enact that iniquitous law against the importation of Irish cattle, 
found it necessary, in or/or to obviate the
exercise of this prerogative, which they desired not at that time entirely to 
deny or abrogate, to call that importation a
nuisanee. Though the former authority of the sovereign was great in civil 
affairs, it was still greater in ecclesiastical; and the
whole despotic power of the popes was often believed4 ia virtue of 

Page 316 
1B RHISTORY OF ENGLAND. the suplemncy, to have devolved tohe crown. The last 
pare liament of Charles.,.by
abolishing the power of the king and convocation to frame canons without consent 
of parliament, had somewhat diminished
the supposed extent of the supremacy; but still very considerable remains of it, 
at least very important claims, were
preserved, and were occasionally made use of by the sovereign. In 1G662, 
Charles, pleading tbotl the,rights of his
supremacy and his suspending power, had granted a general indulgence or 
toleration; and, in 1672, he renewed the same
edict: though the remonstrances of his parliament obliged him, on both 
occasions, to retract; and, in the last instance, the
triumph of law over prerogative was deemed very great and -memorable. In 
general, we may remark tihat, where the
exercise of the suspending power was agreeable and useful, the power itself was 
little questioned: where the exercise was
thought liable to exceptions, men not only opposed it, but proceeded to deny 
altogether the legality of the prerogative on
which it was founded. James, more imprudent and arbitrary than his predecessor, 
issued his proclamation, suspending all the
penal laws in ecclesiastical affairs, and granting a general liberty of 
conscience to all his subjects. He' was not deterred by the
reflection, both that this scheme of indulgence was already blasted by two 
fruitless attempts; and that in such a government
as that of England, it was not sufficient that a prerogative be approved of by 
some lawyers and antiquaries: if it was
condemned by the general voice: of the nation, and yet was still exerted, the 
victory over national liberty was no less signal
thanlif obtained by the most fliagrant injustice and usurpation. These two 
considerations, indeed, would rather serve to
recommend this project to James; who deemed himself supe rior in vigor and 
activity to his brother, and who probably
thought that his people enjoyed no liberties but by his royal concession and 
indulgence. In order to procure a
better'reception for his edict oftoleiation, the king, finding himself opposed 
by the church, began to pay court to the
dissenters; apd -he imagined that, by play. ing one party against another, he 
should easily obtain the vic. tory over both: a
refined policy which it much exceeded his capacity to conduct. His intentions 
weie so obvious, that it was impossible for
him-. ever to gain the sincere confidence and regard of the nonconformists., 
They knew that the genius of their religion,was.
diamtrically opposite to that.of he Cathb 

Page 317 
A9tS it. SW olics, -he sole object of theking's affection. They were sninsb ble, 
that both the violenc:'of his temper, and the
maxims of his religion, were repugnant to the principles of toleration. They had 
seen that, on his accession, as well as during
his brother's reign, he had courted the church at their expense; and it was not 
till his dangerous schemes were rejected by the
prelates, that he had recourse to the nonconformists. All his favors, therei.re, 
must, to every man of judgment among the
sectaries, have appeared insidious: yet such was the pleasure reaped from 
present ease, such the animosity of the dissenters
against the church, who had so long subjected them to the rigors of persecution, 
that they every where expressed the most
entire duty to the king, and compliance with his measures; and could not forbear 
rejoicing extremely in the present
depression of their adversaries. But had the dissenters been ever so much 
inclined to shut their eyes with regard to the king's
intentions, the manner of conducting his scheme in Scotland was sufficient to 
discover the secret. The king first applied to the
Scottish parliament, and desired atn indulgence for the Catholics alone, without 
comprehending the Presbyterians: but that
assembly, though more disposed than even the parliament of England td sacrifice 
their civil liberities, resolved likewine to
adhere pertinaciously to their religion; and they rejected, for the first time, 
the king's application. James therefore found
himself obliged to exert his prerogative and he now thought it prudent to 
interest a party among- his subjects, besides the
Catholics, in supporting this act of authority. To the surprise of the harassed 
and persecuted Presbyterians, they heard the
principles of toleration every where extolled, and found that full permission 
was granted to attend conventicles; an offence
which, even during this reign, had been declared no less than a capital 
enormity. The king's declaration, however, of
indulgence, contained clauses sufficient to depress their joy. As if Popery were 
already predominant, he declared, " that he
never would use force or invincible necessity against any man on account of his 
persuasion of the Protestant religion;" a
promise surely of toleration given to the Protestants with great precaution, and 
admitting a considerable latitude for
persecution and violence. It is likewise remarkable, that the king declared in 
express,erms, "that he had thought fit, by his
sovereign authority, prerogative royal, and absolute power, which all his 
subjects rte to bys, without reserve, to grant this
royal toleration' 27 * 

Page 318 
g* MHISTORY OP ENGLAND. The dangerous designs of other princes are to be 
collected by a comparison of their
several actions, or by a discovery of their niore secret counsels: but so 
blinded was James with zeal, so transported by his
imperious temper, that even h's proclamationps and public edicts contain 
expressions which, without further inquiry, may
suffice to his condemnation. The English well knew that the king, by the 
constitution of their government, thought himself
entitled, as indeed he was, to as ample authority in his southern as in his 
northern kingdom; and therefore, though the
declaration of indulgence published for England was more cautiously expressed, 
they could not but be alarmed by the
arbitrary treatment to which their neighbors were exposed. It is even 
remarkable, that the English declaration contained
clauses of a strange import. The king there promised, that he wauld maintain his 
loving subjects in all their properties and
possessions, as well of church and abbey lands as of any other. Men thought 
that, if the full establishment of Popery were
not at hand, this promise was quite superfluous; and they concluded, that the 
king was so replete with joy on the prospect of
that glorious event, that he could not, even for a moment, refrain from 
expressing it. But what afforded the most alarming
prospect, was the continuance and even increase of the violent and precipitate 
conduct of affairs in Ireland. Tyrconnel was
now vested with full authority; and carried over with him as chancellor one 
Fitton, a man who was taken from ajail, and who
had been convicted of forgery and other crimes, but who compensated for all his 
enormities by a headlong zeal for the
Catholic religion. He was even heard to say from the bench, that the Protestants 
were all rogues, and that there was not one
among forty thousand that was not a traitor, a rebel, and a villain. The whole 
strain of the administration was suitable to such
sentiments. The Catholics were put in possession of the council table, of the 
courts of judicature, and of the bench of
justices. In order to make them masters of the parliament, the same violence was 
exercised that had been practised in
England. The charters of Dublin and of all the corporations were annulled; and 
new charters were granted, subjecting the
corporations to the will of the sovereign. The Protestant freemen were expelled, 
Catholics introduced; and the latter sect, as
they always were the majority in number, were now invested with the whole power 
of the kingdom. The act of settlement
was the. only obstacle to their enjoying the whole pioperty; and 

Page 319 
JAMES 11. 319 Tyrconnel had formed a scheme for calling a parliament, in order 
to reverse that act, and empower the k
ng to bestow all the lands of Ireland on his Catholic subjects. But in this 
scheme he met with opposition from the moderate
Catholics in the king's council. Lord Bellasis went even so far as to affirm 
with an oath, " that that fellow in Ireland was fool
and madman enough to ruin ten kingdoms." The decay of trade, from the desertion 
of the Protestants, was represented; the
sinking of the revenue; the alarm communicated to England: and by these 
considerations the king's resolutions were for some
time suspended; though it was easy to foresee, from the usual tenor of his 
conduct, which side would at last preponderate.
But the king was not content with discovering in his own kingdoms the imprudence 
of his conduct: he was resolved that all
Europe should -be witness to it. He publicly sent the earl of Castelmaine 
ambassador extraordinary to Rome, in order to
express his obeisance to the pope, and to make advances for reconciling his 
kingdoms, in form, to the Catholic communion.
Never man, who came on so important an errand, met with so many neglects, and 
even affronts, as Castelmaine. The
pontiff, instead of being pleased with this forward step, concluded, that a 
scheme conducted with so much indiscretion,
could never possibly be- successful. And as be was. engaged in a violent quarrel 
with the French monarch, a quarrel which
interested him more nearly than the conversion of England, he bore little regard 
to James, whom he believed too closely
connected with his capital enemy. The only proof of complaisance which James 
received from the pontiff, was his pending a
nuncio to England, in return for the embassy. By act of parliament, any communi. 
cation with the pope was made treason:
yet so little regard did the king pay to the laws, that he, gave the nuncio a 
public and solemn reception at Windsor. The duke
of Somerset, one of the bed-chamber, because he refused to assist at this 
ceremony, was dismissed from his employment.
The nuncio resided openly in London during the rest of this reign. Four Catholic 
bishops were publicly consecrated in the
king's chapel, and sent out, under the title of vicars apostolical, to exercise 
the episcopal function in their respective dioceses.
Their pastoral letters, directed to the lay Catholics of England, were printed 
and dispersed by the express allowance
andpermission of the king, The regular clergy of that communion appeared at 
court in the habits of their order; and some of
them were 

Page 320 
M820 HISTORY OF ZIGLAND so indiscreet as to boast, that, in a little time, they 
hoped to walk in procession through
the capital. While the king shocked in the most open manner all the principles 
and prejudices of his Protestant subjects, he
could not sometimes but be sensible, that he stood in need of their assistance 
for the execution of his designs. He had hilnstlf,
by virtue of his prerogative, suspended the penal laws, and Jispensed with the 
test; but he would gladly have obtained the
sanction of parliament to these acts of power; and he knew that, without this 
authority, his edicts alone would never afford a
durable security to the Catholics. He had employed, therefore, with the members 
of parliament many private con. ferlences,
which were then called "closetings;" and he used every expedient of reasons, 
menaces, and promises to break their
obstinacy in this particular. Finding all his efforts fruit. less, he had 
dissolved the parliament, and was determined to call a
new one, from which he expected more complaisance and submission. By the 
practice of annulling the charters, the king was
become master of all the corporations, and could at pleasure change every where 
the whole magistracy. The church party,
therefore, by whom the crown had been hitherto so remarkably supported; and to 
whom the king visibly owed his safety
from all the efforts of his enemies, was deprived of authority; and the 
dissenters, those very enewies, were first in Londoi,
and afte'twards in every other corporation, *substituted in their place. - Not 
content with this violent and dangerous
innovation, the king appointed certain regulators to examine the qualifications 
of electors; and directions were given them to
exclude all such, as adhered to the test and penal statutes.* Queries to this 
purpose were openly proposed in all places, in
Order to try the sentiments of men, and enable the king to judge of the 
proceedings of the future parliament.. The pomwer of
1he crown was at this time so great.. and the revenue, managed by James's 
frugality, so considerable and independ. ent,
that, if he had embraced any. national party, he had been insured of success, 
and.-might have carried his authority to what
length he pleased. But the Catholics, to whom he had *The elections in sanie 
places, partieularly i York, weree trans-.ferred
fronm:tht people to the magistrates, who, by the new charter, wsre all W0aed by 
the crown. S4ir Johun Reresby's Memoirs,
p. 272. hi-s- was ini reaityr n~iithn dift'-fit ftoti th n'is naming the uieekl 
hi He F act o ai'if i t1 hl beftl imployed in al thi
WOoughs f S otiittd 

Page 321 
JAMES II. 321 entirely devoted himself, were scarcely the hundredth part of the 
people. Even the Protestant
nonconformists, whom he-so much courted, were little more than the twentieth; 
and, what was worse, reposed no
confidence in the unnatural alliance contracted with the Catholics, and in the 
principles of toleration, which, contrary to their
usual practice in all ages, seemed at present to be adopted by that sect. The 
king, therefore, finding little hopes of success,
delayed the summoning of a parliament, and proceeded still in the' exercise of 
his illegal and arbitrary authority. The whole
power in Ireland had been committed to Catholies. In Scotland, all the ministers 
whom the king chiefly trusted, we're
converts to that religion. Every great office in England, civil and military, 
was gradually transferred from the Protestants.
Rochester and Clarendon, the king's brothers. in-law, though they had ever been 
faithful to his interests, could not, by all
their services, atone for their adherence to the national religion; and had been 
dismissed firom their employments. - The
violent Jefferies himself, though he had sacrificed justice and humanity to the 
court, yet, because he refilsed also to give up
his religion, was declining in favor and interest. Nothing now remained but to 
open the door in the church and universities to
the intrusion of the Cathol;cs. It was not long before the king made this rash 
effort; and by constraining the prelacy and
established church to seek protection in the principles of liberty, he at last 
left himself entirely without friends and adherents.
Father Francis, a Benedictine, was recommended by the king's mandate to the 
university of Cambridge for the degree of
master of arts; and as it was usual for the university to confer that degree on 
persons eminent for learning, without regard to
their religion; and as they had even admitted lately the secretary to the 
ambassador of Morocco; the king on that account
thought himself the better entitled to compliance. But the university 
-considered, that there was a great diffference between a
compliment bestowed on foreigners, and degrees which gave a title to vote in all 
the elections and statutes of the university,
and which, if conferred on the Catholics, would infallibly in time render that 
sect entirely superior. They therefore refused to
obey the king's mandate, and were cited to appear before the court of 
ecclesiastical commission. The vice-chancellorwas
suspended by that court; but as the university chose a man of spirit to succeed 

Page 322 
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. him, the'king thought proper for'the present to drop nis pm. 
tensions. Tlie attempt upon the
university of Oxford was prosecuted with more inflexible obstinacy, and was 
attended with more important consequences.
This university had lately, in their famous decree, made a solemn profession of 
passive obedience; and the court, probably,
expected that they would show their sincerity when their turn came to practise 
that doctrine; which, though, if carried to the
utmost extent it be contrary both to reason and to nature, is apt to meet with 
the more effectual opposition from the latter
principle. The president of Magdalen College, one of the richest foundations in 
Europe, dying about this time, a mandate was
sent in favor of Farmer, a new convert, but one-who, besides his being a 
Catholic, had not in other respects the
qualifications required by the statutes for enjoying that office. The fellows of 
the college made submissive applications to the
king for recalling his mandate; but before they received an answer, the day came 
on which, by their statutes, they were
obliged to proceed to an election. They chose Dr. Hough, a man of virtue, as 
well as of the firmness and vigor requisite for
maintaining his own rights and those of the university. In order to punish the 
college for this contumacy, as it was called, an
inferior ecclesiastical commission was sent down, and the new president and the 
fellows were cited before it. So little regard
had been paid to any consideration besides -religion, that Farmer, on inquiry, 
was found guilty of the lowest and most
scandaloas vices; insomuch that even the ecclesiastical commissioners were 
ashamed to insist on his election. A
new,mandate, therefore, was issued in favor of Parker, lately created bishop of 
Oxford, a man of a prostitute character, but
who,. like'Farmer, atoned for all his vices by his avowed willingness to embrace 
the Catholic religion. The college
represented, that all presidents had ever been appointed by election, and there 
were few insitances of the king's interposing
by his recommendation in favor of any candidate: that, having already made a 
regular election of a president, they could not
deprive him of his office, and, during his lifetime, sub. stitute any other in 
his place: that, even if there were a vacancy,
Parker, by the statutes of their founder,:could not be chosen: that they had all 
of them bound themselves by oath to observe
these statutes, and never:on any account to accept of a -dispensation and that 
the oollege.had at aUll.time, sl 

Page 323 
much distinguished itself by its loyalty, that nothing but the most invincible 
necessity could now oblige them to oppose his
majesty's inclinations. All these reasons availed them nothing. The president 
and all the fellows, except two who complied,
were expelled the college; and Parker was put in possession of the office. This 
act of violence, of all those which were
committed during the reign of James, is perhaps the most illegal and arbitrary. 
When the dispensing power was the most
strenuously insisted on by court lawyers, it had still been allowed, that the 
statutes which regard private property could not
legally be infringed by that prerogative: yet in this instance it appeared, that 
even these,were not now secure from inva. sion.
The privileges of a college are attacked: men are illegally dispossessed of 
their property, for adhering to their duty, to their
oaths, and to their religion: the fountains of the church are attempted to be 
poisoned; nor would it be long; it was concluded,
ere all ecclesiastical, as well as civil preferments, would be bestowed on such 
as, negligent of honor, virtue, and sincerity,
basely sacrificed their faith to the reigning supersti. tion.''Such were the 
general sentiments; and as the universities have an
intimate connection with the ecclesiastical establishments, and mightily 
interest all those who have there received their
education, this arbitrary proceeding begat a universal discontent against the 
king's administration. The next measure of the
court was an insult still more open on the ecclesiastics, and rendered the 
breach between the king and that powerful body
fatal as well as incurable. It is strange that James, when he felt, from the 
sentiments of his own heart, whata mighty influence
religious zeal had over him, should yet be so infatuated as never once to 
suspect, that it might possibly have a proportionable
authority over his sub. jects. Could he have profited by repeated experience, he 
had seen instances enough of their strong
aversion to that communion, which, from a violent, imperious temper, he was 
determined, by every possible expedient, to
introduce into his kingdoms. [1688.] The king published a second declaration of 
indulgence, almost in the same terms with
th6 former; and he subjoined an order, that, immediately after divine service, 
it should be read by the clergy in all the
churches. As they were known universally to disapprove of the use made of the 
suspending power, this clause, they thought,
could be meant only as an insult upon them; and they.were sensible, that, 

Page 324 
A824 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. by their compliance, they should expose themselves both 
to public contempt, on
account of their tame behavior, and to public hatred, by their indirectly 
patronizing so obnoxious a prerogative.* They were
determined, therefore, almost uni versally, to preserve the regard of the 
people; their only pro. tection, while the laws were
become of so little validity, and while the court was so deeply engaged in 
opposite interests. In order to encourage them in
this resolution, six prelates, namely, Lloyde bishop of St. Asaph, Ken of Bath 
and Wells, Turner of Ely, Lake of Chichester,
White of Peterborough, and Trelawney of Bristol, met privately with the primate, 
and concerted the form of a petition to
the'-king. They there represent, in few words, that, though possessed of the 
highest sense of loyalty, a virtue of which the
church of England had given such eminent testimonies-; and though desirous of 
affording ease in a legal way to all Protestant
dissenters; yet, because the declaration of indulgence was founded on a 
prerogative formerly declared illegal by parliament,
they could not, in prudence, honor, or conscience, so far make themselves 
parties, as the distribution of it all over the
kingdom would be interpreted to amount to. They therefore besought the king, 
that he would not insist upon their reading
that declaration.t * When Charles dissolved his last parliament, he set forth a 
declaration, giving his reasons for that measure,
and this declaration the clergy had been ordered to read to the people after 
divine service. These orders were agreeable to
their party prejudices, and they willingly submitted to them. The contrary was 
now the case. ~1' The words of the petition
were: That the great averseness found in themselves to their distributing and 
publishing in all their churches your majesty's
late declaration for liberty of conscience, proceeds neither from any want of 
duty and obedience to your majesty, (our holy
mother the church of England, being both in her priilciples and her constant 
practice unquestionably loyal, and having to her
great honor been more than once publicly acknowledged to: be so by your gracious 
majesty,) nor yet from any want of
tenderness to dissenters, in relation to whom we are willing to come to such a 
temper as shall be thought fit, when the matter
shall be considered and settled in parliament and convocation; but, among many 
other c nsiderations, from this especially,
because that declaration is founded upon such a dispensing power as hath been 
often declared illegal in parliament, and
particularly in the years 1662 and 1672,; and in the beginning of your majesty's 
reign, and is a matter of so great moment
and consequence to the whole nation both in church and state, that your 
petitioners cannot, in prudence, honor, or
conscionce, s) far gske themselves parties to it as a distribution 

Page 325 
JAMES II. 25 The king was incapable, not only of yielding to the greatest 
opposition, but of allowing the slightest'and most
respectful contradiction to pass uncensured. He inmmediately embraced a 
resolution (and his resolutions, when once
embraced, were inflexible) of punishing the bishops, for a petition so popular 
in its matter, and so prudent and cautious in the
expression. As the petition was delivered him in private, he summoned 
theombefore the council; and questioned them
whether they would acknowledge it. The bishops saw his intention, and seemed 
long desirous to decline answering; but beilri
pushed by the chancellor. they at last avowed the petition. On their refusal to 
give bail. an order was immediately drawn for
their comnlMtment to the Tower; and the crown lawve receivared directions to 
prosecute them for the seditious fibti wilicn,
it was pretended, they had composed and uttered. The people were already aware 
of the danger to which the prelates were
exposed; and were raised to the higilust pitch of anxiety and attention with 
regard to the ishs,,t ot this extraordinary affair.
But when they beheld these iaumers of the church brought from court under the 
custody.t at guard, when they saw them
embark in vessels on the rive,, and con. veyed towards the Tower, all their 
affection for iwverty, all their zeal for religion,
blazed up at once; and tlley flew to behold this affecting spectacle. The whole 
shore was covered with crowds of prostrate
spectators, who at once iximplored the blessing of those holy pastors, and 
addressed their petitions towards heaven for
protection during this extreme danger to which their country and their religion 
stood exposed. Even the soldiers, seized with
the contagion of the name spirit, flung themselves on their knees before the 
distLessed prel. ates and craved the benediction
of those criminals whom they were appointed to guard. Some persons ran into the 
water, that they might participate more
nearly in those blessings which the prelates were distributing on all around 
them. The bishops themselves, during this
triumphant suffering, augmented the general favor, by the most lowly, submissive 
deport. ment; and they still exhorted the
people to fear God, honce' the king, and maintain their loyalty; expressions 
more. animating than the most inflammatory
speeches. And no of it all over the nation, and the solemn publication of it 
once and again, even in God's house, and in the
time of divine service, must amount to in common and reasonable construction. 
VOL. VI. 28 M 

Page 326 
126 HISTORBY:Oa 0 GLAND. sooner had they catered the precincts of the Tower than 
they hurried to chapel, in order to
return thanks for those afllictiolis which heaven, in defence of its holy cause, 
had thiought them worthy to endure. Their
passage, when conducted to their trial, was, if possible, attended by greater 
crowds of anxious spectators. All men saw tile
dangerous crisis to which affairs were reduced, and were sensible, that the king 
could not have put the issue or. a cause
more unfavorable for himself than that in which he had so imprudently engaged. 
Twenty-nine temporal peers (for the other
prelates kept aloof) attended the prisoners to Westminster Hall; and such crowds 
of gentry followed the procession, that
scarcely was any room left for the populace to enter. The lawyers for the 
bishops were, Sir Robert Sawyer, Sir Francis
Pemberton, Pollexfen, Treby, and Sommers. No cause, even during the prosecution 
bf the Popish plot, was ever heard with
so much zeal and attention. The popular torrent, which of itself ran fierce and 
strong, was now further irritated by the
opposition of government. The council for the bishops pleaded, that the law 
allowed subjects, if they thought themselves
aggrieved in any par. tioular, to apply by petition to the king, provided they 
kept within certain bounds, which the same law
prescribed to them, and which, in the present petition, the prelates -had 
strictly observed: that an active obedience in cases
which were contrary to conscience, was never pretended to be due to government; 
and law was allowed to be the great
measure of the compliance and submission of subjects: that when any person found 
commands to be imposed upon him
which he could not obey, it was more respectful in him to offer his reasons for 
refusal, than to remain in a sullen and
refractory silence: that it was no breach of duty in subjects, even though not 
called upon, to discover their sense of public
measures, in which every one had so intimate a concern: that the bishops in the 
present case were called upon, and must
either express their approbatioa by compliance, or their disapprobation by 
petition: that it could be no sedition to deny the
prerogative'of suspending the laws; because there really.was no such 
prerogative, nor ever could be, in a legal and iimited
government: that even if this prerogative were real, it had yet been frequently 
controverted before the whole nation, both in
Westminster Hall and in both houses of parliament; and no one had e;er dreamed 
of punishing the denial of it 

Page 327 
JhaXS'. as criminal: that the prelates, instead of making an appeal to the 
people, had applied in private to his majesty, and
had even delivered their petition so secretly,.that, except by the confession 
extorted from them before the council,' it was
found imnpossible to prove them the authors: and that though the petition was 
afterwards printed and dispersed, it was not
so much as attempted to be proved that -they liad the least knowledge of the 
publication. These arguments were convincing
in themselves, and were heard with a favorable disposition by the audience. Even 
some of the judges, though their seats
were held during pleasure, declared themselves in favor of the prisoners. The 
jury, however, from what cause is unknown,
took several hours to deliberate, and kept, during so long a time, the people in 
the most anxious expectation. But when the
wishedfor verdict, not guilty, was at last pronounced, the intelligence was 
echoed through the hall, was conveyed to the
crowds without, was carried into the city, and was propagated with infinite joy 
throughout the kingdom. Ever since
Monmouth's rebellion, theking had every summer encamped his army on Hounslow 
Heath, that he might both improve their
discipline, and by so unusual a spectacle overawe the mutinous people. A Popish 
chapel was openly erected in the midst of
the camp; and great pains were taken, though in vain, to bring over the soldiers 
to that communion. The few converts whom
the priests had made, were treated with such contempt and ignominy, as deterred 
every one from following the example.
Even the Irish officers, whom the king intro. duced into the army, served 
rather, from the aversion borne them, to weaken his
interest among them. It happened, that the very daywon which the trial of the 
bishops was finished, James had reviewed the
troops, and had retired into the tent of Lord Feversham, the general; when he- 
was surprised to hear a great uproar in the
camp, attended with the most extravagant symptoms of tumultuary joy. He suddenly 
inquired the cause, anid was told by
Feversham, " It was nothing but the rejoicing of the soldiers for the acquittal 
of the bishops." " Do you call that nothing?"
replied he: " but so mnuch the worse for them." The king was still determined to 
rush forward in the same course in which he
was already, by his precipitate career, so fatally advanced. Though he knew that 
every order of men, except a handful of
Catholics, were enraged at his past measures, and still more terrified with the 
future Ipr.oj.; though 

Page 328 
328 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. he saw that the same discontents had reached the army, 
his sole resource during the
general disaffection; yet was he incapable of changing his measures, or even of 
remitting his violence in the prosecution of
tlern. He struck out two of the'judges, Powel and Holloway, who had alppeared to 
favor tire bishops: he issued orders to
prosecute all those clergymen who had not read his declaration; that is, the 
whole church of England, two hundred excepted:
he sent a mandate to the new fellows whom he had obtruded on Magdalen College, 
to elect for'president, in the room of
Parker, lately deceased, one Gitlord, a doctor of the Sorbonne, and titular 
bishop of Madura: and he is even said to have
nominated the same person to the see of Oxford. So great an infatuation is 
perhaps an object of compassion rather than of
anger; and is really surprising in a man who, in other respects, was not wholly 
deficient in sense and accomplishments. A few
davs -before the acquittal of the bishops, an event happened which, in the 
king's sentiments, much overbalanced all the
mortifications received on that occasion. The queen was delivered of a son, who 
was baptized by the nanme of James. This
blessing was impatiently longed for, not only by the king and queen, but by all 
the zealous Catholics both abroad and at
home. They saw, that the king was past middle age; and that on his death the 
succession must devolve to the prince and
princess of Orange, two zealous Protestants, who would soon replace every thing 
on ancient foundations. Vows, therefore,
were oflered at every shrine for a male successor: pilgrimages were undertaken, 
particularly one to Loretto, by the duchess
of Modena; and success was chiefly attributed to that pious journey. But in 
proportion as this event was agreeable to the
Catholics, it increased the disgust of the Protestants, by depriving themn of 
that pleasing though somewhat distant prospect,
in which at present they flattered them. 3elves. Calumny even went so faras to 
ascribe to the king the d.sign of imposing on
the world a supposititious child, who might be educated in his principles, and 
after his death support the Catholic religion in
his dominions. The nation almost universally believed him capable, from bigotry, 
of committing any rimne; as they had seen
that, from like motives, he was guilty of every imprudence: and the affections 
of nature, they thought would be easily sacrified
to the superior motive of propagating a Catholic and orthodox faith. The present 
occasion was not the first wohw that
calumny had been invented. In the year 

Page 329 
1682, the queen, then duchess of York, had been pregnant; and rumors were spread 
that an imposture would at that time be
obtruded upon the nation: but happily, the infant proved a female, and thereby 
spared the party all the trouble of supporting
their improbable fiction.* * This story is taken notice of in a weekly paper, 
the Observator, published at that very time, 23d
of August, 1682. Party zeal is capable of swallowing the most incredible story; 
but it is surely singular, that the same
calumny, when ance baffled, should yet be renewed with such success. 

Page 330 
JO RHISTORY OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER LXXI. JAMES II. [1688.] WHILE every motive, 
civil and religious,
concurred to alienate from the king every rank and denomination of men, it might 
be expected that his throne would, without
delay fall to pieces by its own weight: but such is the influence of established 
goverrnment, so averse are men from beginning
hazardous enterprises, that, had not an attack been made from abroad, affairs 
might long have remained in their present
delicate situation, and James might at last have prevailed in his rash and 
ill-concerted projects. The prince of Orange, ever
since his marriage with the lady Mary, had maintained a very prudent conduct; 
agreeably to that sound understanding with
which he was so eminentlv endowed. He made it a maxim to concern himself little 
in English affairs, and never by any
measure to disgust any of the factions, or give umbrage to the prince who filled 
the throne. His natural inclination, as well as
his interest, led him to employ himself with assiduous industry in the 
transactions on the continent, and to oppose the
grandeur of the French monarch, against whom he had long, both from personal and 
political considerations, conceived a
violent animosity. By this conduct he gratified the prejudices of the whole 
English nation: but, as he crossed the inclinations of
Charles, who sought peace by compliance with France, he had much declined in the 
favor and affections of that monarch.
James, on his accession, found it so much his interest to live on good terms 
with the heir apparent, that he showed the prince
some demonstrations of friendship; and the prince, on his part, was not wanting 
in every instance of duty and regard towards
the king. On Monmouth's invasion, he immediately despatched over six regiments 
of British troops, which were in the Dutch
service; and he offered to take the command of the king's forces against the 
rebels. How little soever he might approve of
James's administration, he always 

Page 331 
rAMES IU. 83t kept a total silence on the subject, and gave no countenance to 
those discontents which were propagated
with such industry throughout the nation. It was from the application of James 
himself that the prince first ope'nly took any
part in English affairs. Notwithstanding the lofty ideas which the king had 
entertained ot his prerogative, he found that the
edicts emitted from it still wanted much of the authority of laws, and that the 
continuance of them might in the issue become
dangerous both to himself and to the Catholics, whom he desired to favor. An act 
of parliament alone could insure the
indulgence or toleration which he had labored to establish; and he hoped that, 
if the prince would declare in favor of that
scheme, the members who had hitherto resisted all his own applications, would at 
last be prevailed with to adopt it. The
consent, therefore, of the prince to the repeal of the penal statutes and of the 
test was strongly solicited by the king; and in
order to engage him to agree to that measure, hopes were given,* that England 
would second him in all those enterprises
which his active and extensive genius had with such success planned on the 
continent. He was at this time the centre of all the
negotiations of Christendom. The emperor and the king oflpain, as the prince 
well knew, were enraged by the repeated
injuries which they had suffered from the ambition of Lewis, and still more by 
the frequent insults which his pride had made
them undergo. He was ap. prised of the influence of these monarchs over the 
Catholic princes of the empire: he had himself
acquired great authority with the Protestant: and he formed a project of uniting 
Europe in one general league against the
encroachments of France, which seemed so nearly to threaten the independence of 
all its neighbors. No characters are more
incompatible than those of a conqueror and a persecutor; and Lewis soon found, 
that besides his weakening France by the
banishment of so many useful subjects, the refugees had inflamed all the 
Protestant nations against him, and had raised him
enemies, who, in defence of their religion as well as liberty, were obstinately 
resolved to oppose his progress. The city of
Amsterdam and other towns in Holland, which had before fallen into a dependence 
Dn France, being terrified with the
accounts wv:'.ch they every * Burnet, vol. i. p. 711. D'Avaux, April 15, 1,88. 

Page 332 
" Wrs~o IJSTORf 6s ENGLAND. moment received of the furious persecutions against 
the Hugo, nots, had now dropped
all domestic faction, and had entered into an entire confidpnce with the prince 
of Orange.* The Protestant princes of the
empire formed a separate league at Magdebourg for the defence of their religion. 
The English were anew enraged at the
blind bigotry of their sovereign, and were disposed to embrace the most 
desperate resolutions against. him. From a view of
the state of Europe during this period, it appears that Lewis, besides sullying 
an illustrious reign, had wantonly, by this
persecution, raised invincible barriers to his arms, which otherwise it had been 
difficult, if not impossible, to resist. The prince
of Orange knew how to avail himself of all these advantages. By his intrigues 
and influence, there was formed at Augsbourg
a league, in vwhich the whole empire united for its defence against the French 
monarch. Spain and Holland became parties in
the alliance. The accession of Savoy was afterwards obtained. Sweden and Denmark 
seemed to favor the same cause. But
though these numerous states composed the greater part of Europe, the league was 
still deemed imperfect and unequal to its
end, so long as England maintained that neutrality in which she had hitherto 
persevered. James,though more prone.Wbigotry,
was more sensible to his own and to national honor than his brother; and had he 
not been restrained by the former motive,
he would have main. tained with, more Spirit tlie interests and independence of 
his kingdoms. When a prospect, therefore,
apeared of effecting his religious schermes by opposing the progress of France, 
he was not averse to that measure; and he
gave his son-in-law room to hope, that, by concurring with his views in England, 
he might prevail with him to second those
projects which the prince was so ambitious of promoting. A more tempting offer 
could not be made to a person of his
enterprising character: but the objections to that measure, upon deliberation, 
appeared to him unsurmountable. The king, he
observed, had incurred the hatred of his own subjects. great apprehensions were 
entertained of his designs: the only
resource which the nation saw, was in the future succession of the prince and 
princess: should he concur in those dreaded
measures, he should draw on himself all the odium under 8 * D'Aiii, JiAdy 24' 
1681; June 10, October 15, November 11,
1688; vol. iv p. 3'. 

Page 333 
YAMES. 833 which the king labored; the nation might even refuse to bear the 
expentse of' alliances, which,,would in that
case become so suspiciotus: and he might himself incur danoger of losingu a 
succession which was axvwaiting hin,anl which
the egregious indiscretion of the king seemied, even to give him hopes of 
reaping beoire it should devolve to him by the
course of natulre. The prince, tllerefore, would go no further than to promise 
his consent to the repeal of the penal statutes,
by which the nonconformnists as well as-Catholics were exposed to punishment:' 
the test he deemed a security absolutely
neces sarv for the established religion. Tlhe kingr did not remain satisfied 
with a single trial. There was one Stuart, a Scotch
lawyer, who had been banished for -pre etided trea1sonable practices; but who 
Lad afterwards obtained a pardon, and had
been recalled. By the king's directions, Stuart wrote several letters to 
Pensionary Fagel, with whom he had contracted an
acquaintance in Holland; and besides urging all the motives for an unlimited 
toleration, he desired that his reasons should, in
the king's name, be communicated to the prince and princess of Orange. Fagel 
dtlring a Jong time made no reply; but finding
that his silence was construed into an assent, he at last expressed his own 
sentiments and those of their highnesses. He said,
that it was their fixed opinion, that no man, merely because he differed from 
the established faith, should ever, while he
remained a peace. able subject, be exposed to any punishment, or even vexation: 
that the prince and princess gave heartily
their consent for repealing legally all the penal statutes, as well -those which 
had been enacted against the Catholics as
against the Protestant nonconformists; and would concur with the king in any 
measure for that purpose: that the test was not
to be considered as a penalty inflicted on the professors of any religion, but 
as a secu rity provided for the established
worship: -that it was no punishment on men to be excluded from public offices, 
and to live peaceably on their own revenues
or industry: that eve,! in the United Provinces, which were so often cited as 
modets of toleration, though all sects were
admitted, yet civil offices were enjoyed by the professors of the established 
religion alone: that military commands, indeed,
were sometimes bestowed on Catholics; but as they were conferred with great 
precaution, and still lay- under the control of
the magistrate, they could give no just reason for umbrage: and that their 
highnesses, however desirous of gratifying the king,
and of endeavoring 

Page 334 
334 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. by every means to render his reign peaceable and happy 
could not agree to any measure
which would expose their religion to such immin'ent danger. When this letter was 
published, as it soon was, it inspired great
courage into the Protestants of all denominations, and served to keep them 
united in their opposition to the encroach ments
of the Catholics. On the other hand, the king, whe was not content with a simple 
toleration for his own religion, but was
resolved that it should enjoy great credit, if not an absolute superiority, was 
extremely disgusted, and took every occasion to
express his displeasure, as well against the prince of Orange as the United 
Provinces. He gave the Algerine pirates, who
preyed on the Dutch, a reception in his harbors, and, liberty to dispose of 
their prizes. He revived some complaints of the
East India Company with regard to the affair of Bantam.* He required the six 
British regiments in the Dutch service to be
sent over. He-began to put his navy in a formidable condition. And from all his 
movements, the Hollanders entertained
apprehensions that he sought only an occasion and pretence for making war upon 
them. The prince, in his turn, resolved to
push affairs with more vigor, and to preserve all the English Protestants in his 
interests, as well as maintain them firm in their
present union against the Catholics. He knew that men of education in England 
were, many of them, retained in their religion
more by honor than by principle;t and that, though every one was ashamed to be 
the first proselyte, yet if the example were
once set by some eminent persons, interest would every day make considerable 
conversions to a communion which was so
zealously encouraged by the sovereign. Dykvelt therefore was sent over as envoy 
to England; and the prince gave him
instructions, besides publicly remonstrating on the conduct of affairs both at 
home and abroad, to apply in his name, after a
proper manner, to every sect and denomination. To the church party he sent 
assurances of favor and regard, and protested,
that his education in Holland had nowise prejudiced him against Episcopal 
government. The nonconformists were exhorted
not to be deceived by the fallacious caresses of a Popish court, but to wait 
patiently till, in the fulness of time, laws enacted
by Protestants should give them that toleration which, with so much reason, they 
had long demanded. Dyk* D'Avaux, 21st
of January, 1687. t Burnet 

Page 335 
JAMriS Il. 335 velt executed his commission with such dexterity, that all orders 
of men cast their eyes towards Holland, and
expected thence a deliverance from those dangers with which their religion and 
liberty were so nearly threatened. Many of
the most considerable persons, both in church and state, made secret 
applications to Dykvelt, and through him to the prince
of Orange. Admiral Herbert too, though a man of great expense, and seemingly of 
little religion, had thrown up his
employments, and had retired to the Hague, where he assured the prince of the 
disaffection of the seamen, by whom that
admiral was extremely beloved. Admiral Russel, cousin german to the unfortunate 
lord of that name, passed frequently
between England and Holland, and kept the communication open with all the great 
men of the Protestant party. Henry
Sidney, brother to Algernon, and uncle to the earl of Sun. derland, came over 
under pretence of drinking the waters at
Spaw, and conveyed still stronger assurances of a universal combination against 
the measures of the king. Lord Dumblaine,
son of the earl of Danby, being master of a frigate, made several voyages to 
Holland, and carried from many of the nobility
tenders of duty, and even considerable sums of money,* to the prince of Orange. 
There remained, however, some reasons
which retained all parties in awe, and kept them from breaking out into immedi. 
ate hostility. The prince, on the one hand,
was afraid of hazarding, by violent measures, an inheritance which the laws 
insured to the princess; and the English
Protestants, on the other, from the prospect of her succession, still 
entertained hopes of obtaining at last a peaceable and a
safe redress of all their grievances. But when a son was born to the king, both 
the prince and the English nation were
reduced to despair, and saw no resource but in a confederacy for their mutual 
interests. And thus the event which James had
so long made the object of his most ardent prayers, and from which he expected 
the firm establishment of his throne, proved
the im. mediate cause of his ruin and downfall. Zuylestein, who had been sent 
over to congratulate the king on the birth of his
son, brought back to the prince invitations from most of the great men in 
England, to assist them by his arms in the recovery
of their laws and liberties. The * D'Avaux, 1 ith and 24th of September, 8th and 
15th of October, 1688. 

Page 336 
336 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. bishop of London, the earls of Danby, Nottingham, Devon 
shire, Dorset, the dduke of
Norfolk, the loids Lovelace, Delamere, LPaulet, Elund, Mr. Hambden, Powle, 
Lester, besides many eminent citizens of
London; all these persons, though of opposite parties, concurred in their 
applications to the prince. The whigs, suitably to
their ancietlt principles of liberty, which had led them to attempt the 
exclusion bill, easily agreed to oppose a king, whose
conduct had justified whatever his worst enemies had prognosticated concerning 
his succession. The tories and the -church
party, finding their past services forgotten, their rights invaded, their 
religion threatened, agreed to drop for the present all
overstrained doctrines of submission, and attend to the great and powerful 
dictates of nature. The nonconformists, dreading
the caresses of known and inveterate enemies, deemed the offers of toleration 
more secure from a prince educated in those
principles, and accustomed to that practice. And thus all faction was for a time 
laid asleep in England; and rival parties,
forgetting their animosity, had secretly concurred ina design of resisting their 
unhappy and misguided sovereign. The earl of
Shrewsbury, who had acquired great popularity by deserting, at this time, the 
Catholic religion, in'which he had been
educated, left his regiment, mortgaged his estate for forty thousand pounds, and 
made a tender of his sword and purse to the
prince of, Orange. Lord Wharton, notwithstanding his age and infirmities, had 
taken a journey for the same purpose. Lord
Mordaunt was at the Hague, and pushed on the enterprise with that ardent and 
courageous spirit for which he was so
eminent. Even Sunderland, the king's favorite minister, is believed to haye 
entered into a correspondence with the prince;
and, at the expense of his own honor and his master's interests, to have 
secretly favored a cause which, he foresaw, was
likely soon to predominate.* The — prince was easily engaged to yield to the 
applications of the English,'and to emibrace
the defence of a nation which, during its present fears and distresses, regarded 
him as its sole protector. The great object of
his ambition was to be placed at the head of a confederate army, and by his 
valor to avenge the injuries which he himself, his
country, * D'Avaux was always of that opinion. See his Negotiations, 6th and 
20th of May, 18th, 27th of September, 22d
of November, 1688. On -the whole, that opinion is the most probable. 

Page 337 
JAMES II. 337 and his allies, had sustained-from the haughty Lewis., But while 
England remained under the present
government, he despaired of ever forming a league which would be able, with any 
probability of success, to make
opposition.against that powerful hmonarch. The ties of affinity could -not be 
supposed to have great influence over a person
of the prince's rank and temper. much more as he knew that. they were at first 
unwillingly contracted by the king, and had
never since been cultivated by any essential favors or good offices. Or should 
any reproach remain upon him for violating the
duties of private life, the glory of delivering oppressed nations would, he 
hoped, be able, in the eyes of reasonable men, to
make ample compensation. He could not well expect, on the commencement of his 
enterprise, that it would lead him to
mount the throne of England: but he undoubtedly foresaw, that its success would 
establish his authority in that kingdom. And
so egregious was James's temerity, that there was no advantage so great -or 
obvious, which that prince's indiscretion might
not afford his enemies. The prince pf Orange, throughout his whole life, was 
peculiarly happy in the situations in which he
was placed. He saved his own country from ruin, he restored the liberties of 
these kingdoms, he supported the general
independency of Europe. And thus, though his virtue, it is confessed, be not the 
purest which' we meet with in history, it will
be difficult to find any person whose actions and conduct have contributed: 
-more eminently to the general interestss of
society and of mankind. The time when the prince entered on his enterprise was 
well chosen; as the people were then in the
highest.ferment on account of the insult which the imprisonment and trial of the 
bishops had put' upon the church, and indeed
upon all the Protestants of the nation. His method of conducting- his 
preparations was no less wise and politic. Under other.
pretences he had beforehand made considerable augmentations to the Dutch navy; 
and the ships were at that time lying in
harbor. Some additional troops were also levied; and sums of money, raised for 
other purposes, were diverted by the prince
to the use of this expedition. The states had given him their entire confidence; 
and partly from: terror of the. power: of
France, partly from disgust at sone restraints laid. on their commerce in that 
kingdom, were sensible how nec.es, sary
success in this enterprise was become to their domestic VOL. VI. 29 H 

Page 338 
338 HISTORY OF LNGLANDI happiness and security. Many of the neighboring princes 
regarded him as their guardian
and protector, and were guided by him in all their counsels. He held conferences 
with Castanaga, governor of the-Spanish
Netherlands, with the electors of Brandenburgh and Saxony, with the landgrave of 
Hesse-Cassel, and with the whole house
of Lunenbourg. It was agreed, that these princes should replace the troops 
employed against England, and should protect
the United Provinces during the absence of the prince of Orange. Their forces 
were already on their march for that purpose:
a considerable encampment of the Dutch army was formed at Nimeguen: every place 
was in movement: and though the
roots of this conspiracy reached from one end of Europe to the other, so secret 
were the prince's counsels, and so fortunate
was the situation of affairs, that he could still cover his preparations under 
other pretences; and little suspicion was
entertained of his real intentions. The king of France, menaced by the league of 
Augsbourg, had resolved to strike the first
blow against the allies; and having sought a quarrel with the emperor and the 
elector Palatine, he had invaded Germany with
a great army, and had laid siege to Philipsbourg. The elector of Cologne, who 
was also bishop of Liege and Munster, and
whose territories almost entirely surrounded the United Provinces, had died 
about this time; and the candidates for that rich
succession were Prince Clement of Bavaria, supported by the house of Austria, 
and the cardinal of Furstemberg, a prelate
dependent on France. The pope, who favored the allies, was able to throw the 
balance between the parties, and Prince
Clement was chosen; a circumstance which contributed extremely to the security 
of the states. But as the cardinal kept
possession of many of the fortresseb, and had applied to France for succor, the 
neighboring territories were full of troops;
and by this means the preparations of the Dutch and their allies seemed intended 
merely for their own defence against the
different enterprises of Lewis. All the artifices, however, of the prince could 
not entirely conceal his real intentions from the
sagacity of the French court. D'Avaux, Lewis's envoy at the Hague, had been 
able, by a comparison of circumstances, to
trace the purposes of the preparations in Holland; and he instantly informed his 
master of the discovery. Lewis conveyed the
intelligence to James, and accompanied the-information with an important 

Page 339 
AMIES II. 339 offer. -He was willing to join a squadron of Frert ch hips to the 
English fleet; and to send over any number
of troops which James should judge requisite for his security. When this 
proposal was rejected, he again offered to raise the
siege of Philipsbourg, to march his army into the Netherlands, and by the terror 
of his arms to detain the Dutch forces in their
ow n country. This proposal met with no better reception. James was not, as yet, 
entirely convinced that his son-inlaw
intended an invasion upon England. Fully persuaded himself of the sacredness of 
his own authority, he fancied that a like
belief had made deep impression on his subjects: and notwithstanding the strong 
symptoms of discontent which broke out
every where, such a universal combination in rebellion appeared to him nowise 
credible. His army, in which he trusted, and
which he had considerably augmented, would easily be able, he thought, to repel 
foreign force, and to suppress any sedition
among the populace. A small number of French troops, joined to these, might tend 
only to breed discontent; and afford them
a pretence for mutinying against foreigners, so much feared and hated by the 
nation. A great body of auxiliaries might indeed
secure him both against an invasion from Holland, and against the rebellion of 
his own subjects; but would be able
afterwards to reduce him to dependence, and render his authority entirely 
precarious. Even the French invasion of the Low
Countries might be attended with dangerous consequences; and would suffice, in 
these jealous times, to revive the old
suspicion of a combination against Holland, and against the Protestant religion; 
a suspicion which had already produced such
discontents in England. These were the views suggested by Sunderland; and it 
must be confessed, that the reasons on which
they were founded were sufficiently plausible; as indeed the situation to, which 
the king had reduced hirmself was, to the last
degree, delicate and perplexing. Still Lewis was unwilling to abandon a friend 
and ally, whose interests he regarded as
closely connected with his own. By the suggestion of Skelton, the king's 
minister at Paris orders were sent to D'Avaux to
remonstrate with the states, in Lewis's name, against those preparations which 
they were making to invade England. The
strict amity, said the French minister, which subsists between the two monarchs, 
will make Lewis regard every attempt
against his ally as an act of hostility agatnst himself, This remonstrance had a 
bad effect 

Page 340 
340 HISTORY OF ENGLAIND. and put the states in a flame. What is this alliance, 
they asked, between France and
England, which has been so carefully concealed from us Is it of the same nature 
with the former; meant for our destruction,
and for the extirpation of the Protestant religion? If so, it is high time for 
us to provide for our own defence, and to anticipate
those: projects which are forming against us. Even James was displeased with the 
officious step taken by Lewis for his
service. He was not reduced, he said, to the condition of the cardinal of 
Furstemberg, and obliged to seek the protection of
France. He recalled Skelton, and threw him into the Tower for his rash conduct. 
He solemnly disavowed D'Avaux's
memorial; and: protested that no alliance subsisted between him and Lewis, but 
what was public and known to all the world.
The states, however, still affected to appear incredulous on that head;* and the 
English, prepossessed against their
sovereign, firmly believed, that he had concerted a project with Lewis for their 
entire subjection. Portsmouth, it was said,
was to be put into the hands of that ambitious monarch: England was to be, 
filled with French and Irish troops: and every
man who refused to embrace the Romish superstition, was by. these.bigoted 
princes devoted to certain destruction. These
suggestions were every where spread abroad, and tended to augment the 
discontents of which both the fleet and army, as
well as the people, betrayed every day the most evident symptoms. The fleet had 
begun to mutiny; because Stricland, the
admiral, a Roman Catholic, introduced the mass aboard his ship, and dismissed 
the Protestant chaplain. It was with some
difficulty the seamen could be appeased; and they still persisted in declaring 
that they would not fight against the Dutch,
whom they called friends and brethren; but would willingly give battle to the 
French, whom they regarded as national
enemies. The king had intended to augment his army with Irish recruits; and. he 
resolved to try the experiment on the
regiment of the duke of Berwick, his natural son: * That there really was no new 
alliance formed betwixt France and
England, appears both from Sunderland's Apology, and from D'Avaux's 
Negotiations, lately published: see vol. iv. p. 18.
En,. translation, 27th of September,. 1687; 16th of March, 6th of May, 10th of 
August,_ 2d, 23d, and 24th of September,
5th and 7th of Octo. ber,. 11th of Novembar, 1688. 

Page 341 
JAMES li. 341 but Beaumont, the lieutenant-colonel, refused to admit them; and 
to this opposition five captains steadily
adhered. They were all cashelred; and had not the discontents of' the army on 
this occasion become very apparent, it was
resolved to have punished those officers for mutiny. The king made a trial of 
the dispositions of his army, in a man ner still
more undisguised. Finding opposition fiom all the civil and ecclesiastical 
orders of the kingdom, he resolved to appeal to the
military, who, if unanimous, were able alone to serve all his purposes, and to 
enforce universal obedience. His intention was
to engage all the regiments, one after another, to give their consent to the 
repeal of the test and penal statutes; and
accordingly, the major of Litchfield's drew out the bautalion before the king, 
and told them, that they were required either to
enter into his majesty's views in these particulars, or to lay down their arms. 
James was surprised to find that, two captains
and a few Popish soldiers excepted, the whole battalion immediately embraced'the 
latter part of the alternative. For some
time he remained speechless; but having recovered from his astonishment, he come 
manded them to take up their arms;
adding with a sullen, discontented air, "T'hat for the future, he would not do 
them the honor to apply for their approbation."
While the king was dismayed with these symptoms of general disaffection, he 
received a letter from the marquis of Albeviile,
his minister at the Hague, which infortned hini with ceriainty, that he was soon 
to look for a powerful invasion from Holland;
and that Pensionary Fagel had at length acknowledged, that the scope of all the 
Dutch naval preparations was to transport
forces into England. Though James could reasonably expect no other intelligence, 
he was astonished at the news: he grew
pale, and the: letter dropped from his hand: his eyes were now opened, and he 
found-himself on the brink of a frightful
precipice, which his delusions had hitherto concealed from him. His ministers 
and counsellors, equally astonished, saw no
resource but in a sudden and precipitate retraction of all those fatal measures 
by which he had created to himself so many
enemies, foreign and domestic. He paid court to the Dutch, and offered to enter 
into any alliance with them for common
security: he replaced in all the counties the deputy lieutenants and justices 
who had been deprived of their commnissions for
their adherence to the test and, the penallaws-: he restored. the charters of 
London-, and 29* 

Page 342 
3432 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. of all the corporations: he annulled the court of 
ecclesiasti cal commission: he took off
the bishop of L6ndon's suspension: he reinstated the expelled president and 
fellows of Magdalen College: and he was even
reduced to caress those bishops whom he had so lately prosecuted and insulted. 
All these measures were regarded as
symptoms of fear, not of repentance. The bishops, instead of promising succor or 
suggesting comfort, recapitulated to him all
the instances of his maleadministration, and advised him thenceforwards to 
follow more salutary counsel. And as intelligence
arrived of a great disaster which had befallen the Dutch fleet, it is commonly 
believed, that the king recalled, for some time,
the concessions which he had made to Magdalen College; a bad sign of his 
sincerity in his other concessions. Nay, so
prevalent were his unfortunate prepossessions, that amidst all his present 
distresses, he could not forbear, at the baptism of
the young prince, appointing the pope to be one of the godfathers. The report 
that a supposititious child was to be imposed
on the nation, had been widely spread, and greedily received, before the birth 
of the prince of Wales: but the king, who,
without seeming to take notice of the matter, might easily have quashed that 
ridiculous rumor, had, from an ill-timed
haughtiness, totally neglected it. He disdained, he said, to satisfy those " who 
could deem him capable of so base and
villanous an action. Finding that the calumny gained ground, and had made deep 
impression on his'subjects, he was now
obliged to submit to the mortifying task of ascertaining the reality of the 
birth. Though no particular attention had been
beforehand given to insure proof, the evidence both of the queen's pregnancy and 
delivery was rendered indisputable; and
so much the more, as no argument or proof of any importance, nothing but popular 
rumor and surmise, c'ould be thrown into
the opposite scale. Meanwhile the prince of Orange's declaration was dispersed 
over the kingdom, and met with universal
approbation. All the grievances of the nation were there enumerated:'the 
dispensing and suspending power; the court of
ecclesiastical commission; the filling of all offices- with Catholics, and the 
raising of a Jesuit to be privy counsellor; the open
encouragement given to Popery, by building every where churches colleges, and 
seminaries for that sect; the displacing
ofjudges, -f they refutped to give sentence according to orders received 

Page 343 
JAMES iJ. 343 from court; the annulling of the charters of all the corpoiations, 
and the subjecting of elections to arbitrary
will and pleasure; the treating of petitions, even the most modest, and from 
per. sons of the highest rank, as criminal and
seditious; the com. mitting of the whole authority of Ireland, civil and 
military, into the hands of Papists; the assuming of an
absolute power over the religion and laws of Scotland, and openly exacting in 
that kingdom an obedience without reserve;
and the violent presumptions against the legitimacy of the prince of Wales. In 
order to redress all these grievances, the prince
said, that he intended to come over to England with an armed force, which might 
protect him from tnhe king's evil
counsellors; and that his sole aim was to have a legal and free parliament 
assembled, who might provide for the safety and
liberty of the nation, as well as examine the proofs of the prince of Wales's 
legitimacy. No one, he added, could entertain
such hard thoughts of him as to imagine, that he had formed any other design 
than to procure the full and lasting settlement of
reli. gion,liberty, and property. The force which he meant to bring with him, 
was totally disproportioned to any views of
conquest; and it were absurd to suspect, that so many persons of high rank, both 
in church and state, would have given him
so many solemn invitations for such a pernicious purpose. Though the Engllsh 
lministers, terrified with his enterprise, had
pretenrded to redress sotne of the grievances complained of, there still 
remaineil the ioundation of all grievances, that upon
which they could in an instant be again -erected, an arbitrary and 
despotic-power in the crown. And for this usurpation there
wasnro possible remedy, but by a full declaration of all the rights of the 
subject in a free parliament..So well concerted were
the prince's measures, that, in three days, above four hundred transports were 
hired; the army quickly fell down the rivers
and canals from Nimeguen; the artillery, arms, stores, and horses, were 
embarked; and the prince set sail from
Helvoet-Sluice, with a fleet of near five hundred vessels, and an army of above 
fourteen thousand men. He first encountered
a storm, which drove him back: but his' loss being soon repaired, the fleet put 
to sea under the command of Admiral
Herbert, and made sail with a fair wind towards the west of England. The same 
wind detained the king's fleet in their station
near Harwich, and enabled the Dutch to pass the Straits of Dover without 
opposition. Both shores were covered with
multitudes of people, who, besides 

Page 344 
344 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. admiring the grandeur of the spectacle, were held in 
anxious suspense by the prospect of
an enterprise, the most important whieh, during some ages, had been undertaken 
in Europe. The prince had a prosperous
voyage, and landed his army safely in Torbay on the fifth of November, the 
anniversary of the gunpowder treason. The
Dutch army marched first to Exeter; and the prince's declaration was there 
published. That whole county was so terrified
with the executions which had ensued upon Monmouth's rebellion; that no one for 
several days joined the prince. The bishop
of Exeter in a fright fled to London and carried to court intelligence of the 
invasion. As a re ward of his zeal, he received the
archbishopric of York, which had long been kept vacant, with an intention, as 
was universally believed, of bestowing it on
some Catholic. The first person who joined the prince, was Major Burrington; and 
lie was quickly followed by the gentry of
the counties of Devon and Somerset. Sir Edward Seymour made proposals for an 
association, which every one signed. By
degrees, the earl of Abingdon, Mr. Russel, son of the earl of Bedford, Mr. 
Wharton, Godfrey, Howe, came to Exeter. All
England was in commotion. Lord Delamere took arms in Cheshire, the:earl of 
Danby, seized York, the earl of Bath,
governor of Plymouth, declared for the prince, the earl of Devonshire made a 
like declaration in Derby. The nobility and
gentry of Nottinghamshire embraced the same cause; and every day there appeared 
some effect of that universal
combination into which the nation had entered against the measures of the king. 
Even those who took not the field against
him,. were able to embarrass and confound his counsels. A petition for a free 
parliament wvas signed by twenty-four
bishops and peers of the greatest distinction, and was presented to the king. No 
one thought of opposing or resisting the
invader. But the most dangerous symptom was the disaffection which, from the 
general spirit of the nation, not from any
particular reason, had crept into the army. The officers seemed all disposed to 
prefer the interests of their country and of
their religion, to those principles of honor and fidelity which are commonly 
esteemed the most sacred ties by men of that
profession. Lord Colchester, son of the earl of Rivers, was the first officer 
that deserted to the prince:; and he was attended
by a few of his troops. Lord Lovelace made a like effort: Dut-was; intercepted 
by the militia under the duke of Beaufort, 

Page 345 
J-AMES -n. 345 and taken prisoner; Lord Cornbury, son of the earl of Claren. 
don, was more successful. He attempted to
carry over three regiments of cavalry; and he actually brought a considerable 
part of them to the prince's quarters. Several
officers of distinction informed Feversham, the general, that they could not in 
conscience fight against the prince of Orange.
Lord Churchill had been raised from the rank of a page, had been invested with a 
high command in the army, had been
created a peer, and had owed his whole fortune to the king's favor: yet even he 
could resolve, during the present extremity,
to desert his unhappy master, who had ever reposed entire confidence in him. He 
carried with him the duke of Grafton,
natural son of the late king, Colonel Berkeley, and somb troops of dragoons. 
This conduct was a signal sacrifice to public
virtue of every duty in private life; and required, ever after, the most 
upright, disinterested, and public-spirited behavior to
render it justifiable. The king had arrived at Salisbury, the head-quarters of 
his army, when he received this fatal intelligence.
That prince, though a severe enemy, had ever appeared a warm, steady, and 
sincere friend; and he was extremely shocked
with this, as with many other instances of ingratitude to which he was now 
exposed. There remained none in whom he could
confide. As the whole army had discovered symllptoms of discontent, he concluded 
it full of treachery; and being deserted
by those whom he had most favored and obliged, he no longer expected that others 
would hazard their lives in his service.
During this distraction and perplexity, he embraced a sudden resolution of 
drawing off his army, and retiring towards
London; a measure which could only serve to betray his fears, and provoke 
further treachery. But Churchill had prepared a
still more mortal blow for his distressed benefactor. His lady and he had an 
entire ascendant over the family of Prince
George of Denmark; and the tine now appeared seasonable for overwhelming the 
unhappy king, who was already
staggering with the violent shocks which he had received. Andover was the first 
stage of James's retreat towards London;
and there Prince George, together with the young duke of Ormond,* Sir George 
Huet, and some other persons of
distinction, deserted him in the * His grandfather, the first duke of Ormond, 
had died this year July 21. 

Page 346 
346 HISTOr 8 OF ENGLAND. night-time, and retired to the prince's camp. No sooner 
had this news reached London,
than the princess Anne, pretending fear of the king's displeasure, withdrew 
herself in company with the bishop of London
and ITrdy Churchill. She fled to Nottingham; where the earl of Dorset received 
her with great respect, and the gentry of the
county quickly formed a troop for her protection. The late king, in order to 
gratify the nation, had intrusted he education of
his nieces entirely to Protestants; and as these princesses were deemed the 
chief resource of the established religion after
their father's defection, great care had been taken to instil into them, from 
their earliest infancy, the strongest prejudices
against Popery. During the violence too of such popular currents as now 
prevailed in England, all private considerations are
commonly lost in the general passion; and the more principle any person 
possesses, the more apt is he, on such occasions,
to negiect and abandon his domestic duties. Though these causes may account for 
the behavior of the princess, they had
nowise prepared the king to expect so astonishing an event. He burst into tears 
when the first intelligence of it was conveyed
to him. Undoubtedly he foresaw in this incident the total expiration of his 
royal authority: but the nearer and more intimate
concern of a parent laid hold of his heart, when he found himself abandoned in 
his uttermost distress by a child, and a
virtuous child, whom he had ever regarded with the most tender affection. "God 
help me," cried he, in the extremity of his
agony; "my own children have forsaken me!" It is indeed singular, that a prince, 
whose chief blame consisted in imprudencies
and misguided principles; should be exposed, from religious antipathy, to such 
treatment as even Nero, Domitian, or the
most enormous tyrants that have disgraced the records of history, never met with 
from their friends and family. So violent
were the prejudices which at this time prevailed, that this unhappy father, who 
had been deserted by his favorite child, was
believed, upon her disappearing, to have put her to death: and it was fortunate 
that the truth was timely discovered,
otherwise the populace, even the king's guards themselves, might have been 
engaged, in revenge, to commence a massacre
of the priests and Catholics. The king's fortune now exposed him to the contempt 
of his enemies; and his behavior was not
such as could gain him the esteem of his frientis and adherents. Unable to X-~'. 
-' 

Page 347 
JAMES mI. 347 torrent, he preserved not presence of mind in yielding to it; but 
seemed in this emergence as much
depressed with adversity, as he had before been vainly elated by prosperity. He 
called a council of all the peers and prelates
who were in London; and followed their advice in issuing writs for a new 
parliament, and in sending Halifax, Nottingham,
and Godol. phin as commissioners to treat with the prince of Orange. But these 
were the last acts of royal authority which he
exerted. He even hearkened to imprudent counsel, by which he was prompted to 
desert the throne, and to gratify his
enemies beyond what their fondest hopes could have promised them. The queen, 
observing the fury of the people, and
knowing how much she was the object of general hatred, was struck with the 
deepest terror, and began to apprehend a
parliamentary impeachment, from which, she was told, the queens of England were 
not exempted. The Popish courtiers, and
above all the priests, were aware that they should be the first sacrifice, and 
that their perpetual banishment was the smallest
penalty which they must expect from national resentment. They were, therefore, 
desirous of carrying the king along with
them; whose presence, they knew, would still be some resource and protection to 
them in foreign countries, and whose
restoration, if it ever happened, would again reinstate them in power and 
authority. The general defection of the Protestants
made the king regard the Catholics as his only subjects on whose counsel he 
could rely; and the fatal catastrophe of his
father afforded them a plavusible reason for making him apprehend a like fate. 
The great difference of circumstances was
not, during men's present diotractions, sufficiently weighed. Even after the 
people were inilamed by a long civil war, the
execution of Charles I. could not be deemed a national deed: it was perpetrated 
by a fanatical army pushed on by a daring
and enthusiastical letder; and the whole kingdom had ever entertained, and did 
ptlll -entertain, a violent abhorrence against
that enormity.' Tha situation of public affairs, therefore, no more resembled 
what it was forty years before, than the prince of
Orangz, either in birth, character, fortune, or connections, could he f. upposed 
a parallel to Cromwell. The emissaries of
-tarace, and among the rest Barillon, thhe French ambassador, were busy about the 
king, and they had entertained a very filse
notion, which they instilled into him, that nothing would more certainly retard 
the public settlement, and beget universal
confusion, than his deserting the kingdom. 

Page 348 
348 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. The prince of Orange had with good reason embraced a 
con. trary opinion; and he
deemed,. it extremely difficult to find expedients for securing the nation, so 
long as the king kept possession of the crown.
Actuated, therefore, by this public motive, and no less, we may well presume, by 
private ambition, he was determined to use
every expedient which might intimidate the king, and make him quit that throne 
which he himself was alone enabled to fill. He
declined a personal conference with James's commissioners, and- sent the earls 
of Clarendon and Oxford to treat with them:
the terms which he proposed implied almost a present participation of the 
sovereignty: and he stopped not a moment the
march of his army towards London. The news which the king received from all 
quarters, served to comninue the panic into
which he was fallen, and which his enemies expected to improve to their 
advantage. Colonel Copel, deputy governor of
Hull, made himself master of that important fortress; and threw into prison Lord 
Langdale, the governor, a Catholic; together
with Lord Montgomery, a nobleman of the same religion. The town of Newcastle 
received Lord Lumley, and declared for
the prince of Orange and a free parliament. The duke of Norfolk, lord lieutenant 
of the county of that name, engaged it in the
same measure. The prince's declaration was read at Oxford by the duke of Ormond, 
and was received with great applause
by that loyal university, who also made an offer of their plate to the prince. 
Ev~ery day some person of quality or distinction,
and among the rest the duke of Somerset, went over to the enemy. A violent 
declaration was dispersed in the prince's name,
but without his participation; in which every one was commanded to seize and 
punish all Papists, who, contrary to law,
pretended either to carry arms or exercise any act of authority. It may not be 
unworthy of notice, that n merry ballad, called
Lillibullero, being at this time published in deri-ion of the Papists and the 
Irish, it was greedily received by hhe people, and
was sung by all ranks of men, even by the king's army, who were. strongly seized 
with the national spirit. This incident both
discovered and served to increase the general discontent of the kingdom. The 
contagion of mutiny and disobedience had
also reached scotland, whence the regular forces, contrary to the advice of 
Balcarras, the treasurer, were withdrawn, in
order to re/nforce the English army. The marquis of Athole, together witl 

Page 349 
JYAIES II. 34 Viscount Tarbat and others, finding the opportunity favorable, 
began to form intrigues against Perth, the
chancellor; and the Presbyterians and other malecontents flocked from all 
quarters to Edinburgh. The chancellor,
apprehensive of the consequences, found it expedient to abscond; and the 
populace, as if that event were a signal for their
insurrection, immediately rose in arms, and rifled the Popish chapel In the 
king's palace. All the Catholics, even all the
zealous royalists, were obliged to conceal themselves; and the privy council, 
instead of their former submissive strains of
address to the king, and violent edicts against their fellow-subjects, now made 
applications to the prince of Orange, as the
restorer of law and liberty. The king, every moment alarmed more and more by 
these proofs of a general disaffection, not
daring to repose trust in any but those who were exposed to more danger than 
himself, agitated by disdain towards
ingratitude, by indignation against disloyalty, impelled by his own fears and 
those of others, precipitately embraced the
resolution of escaping into France; and he sent off beforehand the queen and the 
infant prince, under the conduct of Count
Lauzun, an old favorite of the French monarch. He himself disappeared in the 
nighttime, attended only by Sir Edward Hales;
and made the best of his way to a ship which waited for him near the mouth of 
the river. As if this measure had not been the
most grateful to his enemies of any that he could adopt, he had carefully 
concealed his intention from all the world; and
nothing could equal the surprise which seized the city, the court, and the 
kingdom, upon the discovery of this strange event.
Men beheld, all of a sudden, the reins of government thrown up by the hand which 
held them; and saw none who had alny
right, or even pretension, to take possession of them. The more effectually to 
involve every thing in confusion, the king
appointed not any one who should, in his absence, exercise any part of the 
administration; he threw the great seal into the
river; and he recalled all those writs which had been issued for the election of 
the new parliament. It is often supposed, that
the sole motive which impelled him to this sudden desertion, was his reluctance 
to meet a free parliament~ and his resolution
not to submit to those terms which his subl jects would deem requisite for the 
security of their libertiel and their religion. But
it must be considered, that his subjectt had first deserted him, and entirely 
lost his confidence; that hi might reasonably be
supposed to entertain fears for his liberty VOL. VI. 30 H 

Page 350 
350 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. if not for his life; and that the conditions would not 
probably be moderate, which the
nation, sensible of his inflexible temrn. per, enraged with the violation of 
their laws and the danger of their religion, and
foreseeing his resentment on account of their past resistance, would, in his 
present circumstances, exact from him. By this
temporary dissolution of government, the populace were masters; and there was no 
disorder which, during their present
ferment, might not be dreaded from them. They rose in a tumult and destroyed all 
the mass-houses. They even attacked and
rifled the houses of the Florentine envoy and Spanish ambassador, where many of 
the Catholics had lodged their most
valuable effects. Jefferies, the chancellor, who had disguised himself in order 
to fly the kingdom, was discovered by them,
and so abused, that he died a little after. Even the army, which should have 
surpressed those tumults, would, it was
apprehended, serve rather to increase the general dis. order. Feversham had no 
sooner heard of the king's flight, than he
disbanded the troops in the neighborhood, and without either disarming or paying 
them, let them loose to prey upon the
country. In this extremity, the bishops and- peers who were in town, being the 
only remaining authority of the state, (for the
privy council, composed of the king's creatures, was totally disregarded,) 
thought proper to assemble, and to interpose for
the preservation of the community. They chose the marquis of Halifax speaker: 
they gave directions to the mayor and alder.
men for keeping the peace of the city: they issued orders, which were readily 
obeyed, to the fleet, the army, and all the
garrisons: and they made applications to the prince of Orange, whose enterprise 
they highly applauded, and whose success
they joyfully congratulated. The prince on his part was not wanting to the tide 
of success which flowed in upon him, nor
backward in assuming that authority which the present exigency had put into his 
hands. B-,sides the general popularity
attending his cause, a new incident made his approach to London still more 
grateful. In the present trepidation of the people,
a rumor arose, either from chance or design, that the disbanded Irish had taken 
arms, and had commenced a universal
massacre of the Protestants. This ridiculous belief was spread all over the 
kingdom in one day; and begat every where the
deepest consternation. The alarum bells were rung; the beacons fired; men 
fancied that they saw 

Page 351 
-AMES Ids 351 at a distance the smoke off the burning cities, and heard the 
groans of those who were slaughtered in their
neighhorhood. It is surprising that the Catholics did not all perish in the rage 
which naturally succeeds to such popular panics.
While every one, from principle, interest, or animosity, turned his back on the 
unhappy king, who had abandoned his own
cause, the unwelcome news arrived, that he had been seized by the populace at 
Feversham, as he was making his escape in
disguise; that he had been much abused, till he was known; but that the gentry 
had then interposed and protected him,
though they still refused to consent to his escape. This intelligence threw all 
parties into confusion. The prince sent Zuylestein
with orders that the king should approach no nearer than Rochester; but the 
message came too late. He was already arrived
in London, where the populace, moved by compassion for his unhappy fate, and 
actuated by their own levity, had received
him with shouts and acclamations.* During the king's abode at Whitehall, little 
attention was paid to him by the nobility or
any persons of distinction. They had all of them been previously disgusted on 
account of his blind partiality to the Catholics;
and they knew that they were now become criminal in his eyes by their late 
public applications to the prince of Orange. He
himself showed not any symptom of spirit, nor discovered any intention of 
resuming the reins of government which he had
once thrown aside. His authority was now plainly expired; and as he had exer. 
cised his power, while possessed of it, with
very precipitate and haughty counsels, he relinquished it by a- despair equally 
precipitate and pusillanimous. Nothing
remained for the now ruling powers but to deliberate how they should dispose of 
his person. Besides that the prince may
justly be supposed to have possessed more gen. erosity than to think of offering 
violence to an unhappy monarch, so nearly
related to him, he knew that nothing would so effectually promote his own views 
as the king's retiring into France, a country
at all times obnoxious to the English. It was determined, therefore, to push him 
into that measure, which of himself he seemed
sufficiently inclined to embrace. The king having sent Lord Feversham on a civil 
message to the prince, desiring a conference
for an accommodation in order to the public settlement, that nobleman was put in 
arrest, under pretence of his coming
without a passport: the Dutch guards were ordered to take possession of 
Whitehall, where 

Page 352 
3052 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. James then resided, and to displace the English: and 
Halifax, Shrewsbury, and
Delamere, brought a message from the prince, which they delivered to the king in 
bed after midnight, ordering him to leave
his palace next morning, and to depart for Ham, a seat of the duchess of 
Lauderdale's. He desired permission, which was
easily granted, of retiring to Rochester, a town near the sea-coast. It was 
perceived, that the artifice had taken effect; and
that the king, terrified with this harsh treatment, had renewed his former 
resolution of leaving the kingdom. He lingered,
however, some days at Rochester, under the protection of a Dutch guard, and 
seemed desirous of an invitation still to keep
possession of the throne. He was undoubtedly sensible, that as he had at first 
trusted too much to his people's loyalty, and, in
confidence of their submission, had offered the greatest violence to their 
principles and prejudices, so had he, at last, on
finding his disappointment, gone too far in the other extreme, and had hastily 
supposed them destitute of all sense of duty or
allegiance. But observing that the church, the nobility, the city, the country, 
all concurred in neglecting him, and leaving him to
his own counsels, he submitted to his melancholy fate; and being urged by 
earnest letters from the queen, he privately
embarked on board a frigate which waited for him; and he arrived safely at 
Ambleteuse, in Picardy, whence he hastened to
St. Germains. Lewis received him with the highest generosity, sympathy, and 
regard: a conduct which, more than his most
signal victories, contributes to the honor of that great monarch. Thus ended the 
reign of a prince, whom if we consider his
personal character rather than his public conduct, we may safely pronounce more 
unfortunate than criminal. He had many of
those qualities which form a good citizen: even some of those which, had they 
not been swallowed up in bigotry and
arbitrary principles, serve to compose a good sovereign. In domestic life, his 
conduct was irreproachable, and is entitled to
our approbation. Severe, but- open in his enrnities, steady in his counsels, 
diligent in his schemes, brave In his enterprises,
faithful, sincere, and honorable in his dealings with all men; such was the 
character with which tile duke of York mounted the
throne of England. In that high station, his frugality of public money was 
remarkable, his industry exemplary, his application
to naval affairs successful, his encouragement of trade judicious, his jealousy 
of national honor 

Page 353 
JAMES II. 353 audable: what then was wanting to make him an excellent sovereign? 
A due regard and affection to the
religion and constitution of his country. Hiad he been possessed of this 
essential quality, even his middling talents, aided by
so many virtues, would have rendered his reign honorable and happy. When it was 
wanting, every excellency which he
possessed bacame dangerous and pernicious to his kingdoms. The sincerity of this 
prince (a virtue on which he highly valued
himself) has been much questioned in those reiterated promises which he had made 
of preserving the liberties and religion of
the nation. It must be confessed, that his reign was almost one continued 
invasion of both; yet it is known, that, to his last
breath, he persisted in asserting, that he never meant to subvert the laws, or 
procure more than a toleration and an equality
of privileges to his Catholic subjects. This question can only affect the 
personal character of the king, not our judgment of his
public conduct. Though by a stretch of candor we should admit of his sincerity 
in these professions, the people were equally
justifiable in their resistance of him. So lofty was the idea which he had 
entertained of his legal authority, that it left his
subjects little or no right to liberty, but what was dependent on his sovereign 
will and pleasure. And such was his zeal for
proselytism, that, whatever he might at first have intended, he plainly stopped 
not at toleration and equality: he confined all
power, encouragement, and favor to the Catholics: converts'from interest would 
soon have multiplied upon him: if not the
greater, at least the better part of the people, he would have flattered 
himself, was brought over to his religion: and he would
in a little time have thought it just, as well as pious, to bestow on them all 
the' public establishments. Rigors and persecutions
against heretics would speedily have followed: and thus liberty and the 
Protestant religion would in the issue have been totally
subverted; though we should not suppose that James, in the commencement of -his 
reign, had formally fixed a plan for that
purpose. And on the whole, allowing this king to have possessed good qualities 
and good intentions, his conduct serves
only, on that very account, as a stronger proof how dan. gerous it is to allow 
any prince, infected with the Catholic
sunerstition, to wear the crown of these kingdoms. After this manner, the 
courage and abilities of the prince of Orange,
seconded by surprising fortune, had effected the de. liverance of this island; 
and with very little effusion of blood'for only one
officer of the Dutch army and a few private soldielr 30 * 

Page 354 
354 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. fell in an accidental skirmish) had dethroned a great 
prince supported by a formidable
fleet and a numerous army. Still the more difficult task remained, and what 
perhaps the prince regarded as not the least
important: the obtaining for himself that crown which had fallen from the head 
of his father-inlaw. Some lawyers, entangled in
the subtleties and forms of their profession, could think of no expedient, but 
that the prince should claim the crown by right
of conquest; should immediately assume the title of sovereign; and should call a 
parliament, which, being thus legally
summoned by a king in possession, could ratify whatever had been transacted 
before they assembled. But this measure,
being destructive of the principles of liberty, the only principles on which his 
future throne could be established, was
prudently rejected by the prince; who, finding himself possessed of the good 
will of the nation, resolved to leave them
entirely to their own guidance and direction. The peers and bishops, to the 
number of near ninety, made an address, desiring
him to summon a convention by circular letters; to assume, in the mean time, the 
management of public affairs; and to
cqncert measures for the security of Ireland. At the same time, they refused 
reading a letter which the king had left, in order
to apologize for his late desertion by the violence which had been put upon him. 
This step was a sufficient indication of their
intentions with regard to that unhappy monarch. The prince seemed still 
unwilling to act upon an authority which might be
deemed so imperfect: he was desirous of obtailing a more express declaration of 
the public consent. A judicious expedient
was fallen on for that purpose. All the members who had sitten in the house of 
commons during any parliament of Charles
II., (the only parliaments whose election was regarded as free,) were invited to 
meet; and to them were added the mayor,
aldermen, and fifty of the common council. -This was regarded as the most proper 
representative of the people that could be
summoned during the present emergence. They unanimously voted the same address 
with the lords: and the prince, being
thus supported by all the legal authority which could possibly be obtained in 
this critical juncture, wrote circular letters to the
counties and corporations of England; and his orders were universally complied 
with. A profound tranquillity prevailed
throughout the kingdom; and the prince's administration was submitted to, as if 
ne had succeeded in the most regular manner
to the vacant 

Page 355 
JAMIES I. 355 throne. The fleet received his orders: the army, without murmur or 
opposition, allowed him to new model
them: and the city supplied him with a loan of two hundred thousand pounds. 
[1689.] The conduct of the prince with regard
to Scotland, was founded on the same prudent and moderate maxims. Finding that 
there were many Scotchmen of rank at
that time in London, he summoned them together, laid before them his intentions, 
and asked their advice in the present
emergency. This assembly, consisting of thirty noblemen and about fourscore 
gentlemen, chose Duke Hamilton president; a
man who, being of a temporizing character, was determined to pay court to the 
present authority. His eldest son, the earl of
Arran, professed an adherence to King James; a usual policy in Scotland, where 
the father and son, during civil commotions,
were often observed to take opposite sides, in order to secure in all events the 
family from attainder. Arran proposed to
invite back the king upon conditions; but as he was vehemently opposed in this 
motion by Sir Patrick Hume, and seconded
by nobody, the assembly made an offer to the prince of the present 
administration, which he willingly accepted. To anticipate
a little in our narration; a convention, by circular letters from the prince, 
was summoned at Edinburgh on the twenty-second
of March, where it was soon visible that the interest of the malecontents would 
entirely prevail. The more zealous royalists,
regarding this assembly as illegal,. had forborne to appear at elections; and 
the other party were returned for most places.
The revolution was not in Scotland, as in England, effected by a coalition of 
whig and tory: the former party alone had
overpowered the-government, and were too much enraged, by the past injuries 
which they ha] suffered, to admit of any
composition with their former masters. As soon as the purpose of the convention 
was discovered, the earl of Balcarras and
Viscount Dundee, leaders of the tories, withdrew from Edinburgh; and the 
convention having passed a bold and decisive
vote, that King James, by his maleadministration, and his abuse of power, had 
forfeited all title to the crown, they made a
tender of the royal dignity to the prince and princess of Orange. The English 
convention was assembled; and it immediately
appeared, that the house of commons, both from the prevailing humor of the 
people, and from the influence of present
authority, were mostly chosen from among the whig party. 

Page 356 
356 HISTORY OF -ENGLAND. After thanks were unanimously:given by both houses to 
the prince of Orange for the
deliverance which he had brought them, a less decisive vote than that of the 
Scottish convention was in a few days passed
by a great majority of the commons, and sent up to the peers for their 
concurrence. It was contained in these words: "That
King James II., having endeavored to subvert the constitution of the kingdorn by 
breaking the original contract between king
and people; and having, by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked nersons. 
violated the fundamental laws, and withdrawn
himself out of the kingdom; has abdicated the government, and that the throne:is 
thereby vacant." This vote, when carried to
the upper house, met with great opposition; of' which it is here necessary for 
us to explain the causes. The tbries and the high
church party, finding themselves at once menaced with a subversion of the laws 
and of their religion, had zealously promoted
the national revolt, and had on this occasion departed from those principles of 
non-resistance, of which, while the king
favored them, they had formerly made such loud professions. Their present 
apprehensions had prevailed over their political
tenets; and the unfortunate James, who had too much trusted to those general 
declarations, which never will be reduced to
practice, found, in the issue, that both parties were secretly united against 
him. But no sooner was the danger past, and the
general fears somewhat allayed, than party prejudices resumed, in some degree, 
their former authority; and the tories were
abashed at that victory which their antagonists, during the late transactions, 
had obtained over them. They were inclined,
therefore, to steer a middle course; and, though generally determined to oppose 
the king's return, they resolved not
to-consent to dethroning him, or altering the line of succession. A regent with 
kingly power was the expedient which they
proposed; and a late instance in Portugal seemed to gite some authority and 
precedent to that plan of government. In favor
of this scheme, the tories urged that, by the uniform tenor of the English laws 
the title to the crown was ever regarded as
sacred, and could on no account, and by no maleadministration, be forfeited by 
the sovereign: that to dethrone a king, and to
elect his successor, was a practice quite unknown to the constitution,. and- had 
a tendency to render kingly power entirely
uependent and precarious: that where the sovereign, from his tender years, from 
lunacy, or from 

Page 357 
YAMES II. 35'7 other natural infirmity, was incapacitated to hold the reins of 
government, both the laws and former
practice agreed in appointing a regent, who, during the interval, was invested 
with the whole power of the administration: that
the inveterate and dangerous prejudices of King James had rendered him as unfit 
to sway the English sceptre, as if he had
fallen into lunacy; and it was: therefore natural for the people to have 
recourse-to the same remedy: that the election of one
king was a precedent for the election of another; and the government, by. that 
means, would either degenerate: into a
republic, or, what was worse, into a turbulent and seditious monarchy: that the 
case was still more dangerous, if there
remained a prince who claimed the crown by right of succession, and disputed, on 
so plausible -a ground, the title of the
present sovereign: that though the doctrine of non-resistance might not, in 
every possible circumstance; be: absolutely true,
yet was the belief of it very expedient; and to establish a government which 
should have the contrary principle for its basis,
was to lay a foundation for perpetual revolutions and convulsions: that the 
appointment of a regent was indeed exposed to
many inconveniencies; but so long as the line of succession was preserved 
entire, there was still a prospect of putting an end,
some time- or other, to the public disorders: and that scarcely an instance 
occurred in history, especially in the English,
history, where a disputed title had- not, in the issue, been attended with much 
greater ills, than all those which the people had
sought to shun by departing from the lineal sue-.,essor. The leaders of the whig 
party, on the other hand, asserted that if
there were any ill in the piecedent, that ill would result as much from 
establishing a regent, as from dethroning one king and
appointing his successor; nor would the one expedient, if wantonly and rashly 
embraced by the people, be less the source of
public convulsions than the other: that if the laws gave no express permission 
to depose the sovereign, neither di i they
authorize resisting his authority, or separating the power from the title: that 
a regent was unknown, except where the king, by
reason of his tender age or his infirmi. ties, was incapable of a will; and in 
that case, his will was supposed to be involved in
that of the regent; that it would be the height of absurdity to try a man for 
acting upon a commission received from a prince
Whom we ourselves-acknowledge to be the lawful sovereign; and no jury would 
decide-sc 

Page 358 
358 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. contrary both to law and common sense, as to condemn 
such a pretended criminal: that
even the prospect of being delivered from this monstrous inconvenience was, in 
the present situation of affairs, more distant,
than that of putting an end to a disputed succession: that allowing the young 
prince to be the legitimate heir, he had been
carried abroad; he would be educated in principles destructive of the 
constitution and established religion: and he would
probably leave a son liable to the same insuperable objection: that if the whole 
line were cut off by law, the people would in
time forget or neglect their claim; an advantage which could not be hoped for 
while the administration was conducted in their
name, and while they were still acknowledged to possess the legal title: and 
that a nation thus perpetually governed by
regents or proectors, approached much nearer to a republic, than one subject to 
monarchs whose hereditary regtar
succession, as well as present authority, was fixed and appointed by the people. 
This question was agitated with great zeal
by the opposite parties in the house of peers. The chief speakers among the 
tories were Clarendon, Rochester, and
Nottingham; among the whigs, Halifax and Danby. The question was carried,or a 
king by two voices only, fifty-one against
forty-nine. All the prelates, except two, the bishops of London and' Bristol, 
voted for a regent. The primate, a disinterested
but pusillanimous man, kept at a distance both from the prince's court and from 
parliament. The house of peers proceeded
next to examine piecemeal the votes sent up to them by the commons. They 
debated, "Whether. there were an original
contract between king and people?" and the affirmative was carried by 
fifty-three against forty-six: a proof that the tories
were already losing ground. The next question was, "Whether King James had 
broken that original contract?" and, after a
slight opposition, the affirmative prevailed. The lords proceeded to take into 
consideration the word abdicated; and it was
carried that deserted was more proper. The concluding question was, "Whether 
King James having broken the original
contract, and deserted'the government, the throne was thereby vacant?" This 
question was debated with more heat and
contention than any of the former; and upon a division, the tories prevailed by 
eleven voices, and it was carried to omit the
last article with regard to the vacancy of the throne. The vote was sent back to 
the commonswith these amendments. 

Page 359 
JAMES i1. 359 The ear' of Danby had entertained the project of bestow. mng the 
crown solely upon the princess of'
Orange, and of admitting her as hereditary legal successor to King James; 
passing by the infant prince, as illegitimate or
supposititious. His change of party in the last question gave the tories so 
considerable a majority in the number of voices.
The commons still insisted on their own vote, and sent up reasons why the lords 
should depart from thein. amendments. The
lords were not convinced; and it was necessary to have a free conference, in 
order to settle this controversy. Never surely
was national debate more important, or managed by more able speakers; yet is one 
surprised to find the topics insisted on
by both sides so frivolous; more resembling the verbal disputes of the schools, 
than the solid reasonings of statesmen and
legislators. In public transactions of such consequence, the true motives which 
produce any measure are seldom avowed.
The whigs, now the ruling party, having united with the tories in order to bring 
about the revolution, had so much deference
for their new allies, as not to insist that the crown should be declared 
forfeited on account of the king's maleadministration:
such a declaration, they thought, would imply too express a censure of the old 
tory principles, and too open a preference of
their own. They agfeed, therefore, to confound together the king's abusing his 
power, and his withdrawing from the kingdom;
and they called the whole an abdication; as if he had given a virtual, though 
not a verbal, consent to dethroning himself. The
tories took advantage of this obvious impropriety, which had been occasioned 
merely by the complaisance or prudence of
the whigs; and they insisted upon the word desertion, as more significant and 
intelligible. It was retorted on them, that,
however' that expression might be justly applied to the king's withdrawing 
himself, it could not with any propriety be
extended to his violation of the fundamental laws. And thus both parties, while 
they warped their principles from regard to
their antagonists, and from prudential considerations, lost the praise of 
consistence and uniformity. The managers for the
lords next insisted, that even allowing the king's abuse of power to be 
equivalent to an abdication, or, in other words, to a
civil death, it could operate no otherwise than his voluntary resignation, or 
his natural death; and could only make way for the
next successor. It was a maxim of English law, that the throne was never vacant; 
bu' 

Page 360 
360 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. instantly, upon the demise of one king, was filled with 
his legal hleir, who was entitled to
all the authority of his pred. ecessor. And however young or unfit for 
government the successor, however unfortunate in his
situation, though he were even a captive in the hands of public enemies, yet no 
just reason, they thought; could be assigned
why, without any default of his own, he should lose a crown, to which by birth 
he was frully entitled. The managers for the
commons might have opposed this reasoning by many specious and even solid 
arguments. They might have said, that the
great security for allegiance being merely opinion, any scheme of settlement 
should be adopted in which it was most
probable the people would acquiesce and persevere: that though, upon the natural 
death of a king whose administration had
been agreeable to the laws, many and great inconveniencies would be endured, 
rather than exclude his lineal successor, yet
the case was not the same when the people had been obliged, by their revolt, to 
dethrone a prince whose illegal measures
had, in every circumstance, violated the constitution:: that in these 
extraordinary revolutions, the government reverted, in
some degree, to its first principles, and the community acquired a right of 
providing for the public interest by expedients
which, on other occasions, might be deemed violent and irregular: that the 
recent use of one extraordinary remedy reconciled
the people to the practice of another, and more familiarized their minds to such 
licenses, than if the government had run on in
its usual tenor: and that King James, having carried abroad his son, as well as 
withdrawn himself, had given such just
provocation to the kingdomm, had voluntarily involved it in such difficulties, 
that the interests of his family were justly
sacrificed to the public settlement and tranquillity. Though these topics seem 
reasonable, they were entirely forborne by the
whig managers; both because' they implied an acknowledgment of the infant 
prince's legitimacy, which it was agreed to keep
in obscurity, and because they contained too express a condemnation of tory 
principles. They were content to maintain the
vote of the commons br shifts and evasions; and both sides parted at last 
without coming to any agreement. But it was
impossible for the public to remain long in the present situation. The 
perseverance, therefore, of the lower house obliged the
lords to comply; and, by the desertion of some peers fo the whig party, the vote 
of the comm^& — 

Page 361 
JAMES It. 261 without any alteration, passed by a majority of fifteen in the 
upper hlouse, and received the sanction of every
part of the legislature which then subsisted. It happens unluckily for those who 
maintain an original contract between the
magistrate and people, that great revolutions of government, and new settlements 
of cvlt corstitutions, are commonly
coriducted with such violence t umtllts and disorder, that the public voice can 
scarcely ever be >eard; and the opinions of the
citizens are at that time less attended to than- even in the common course of 
administration. The present transactions in
England, it must be confessed, are a singular exception to this observation. The 
new elections had been carried on with great
tranquillity and freedom: the prince had ordered the troops -to depart from all 
the towns where the voters assembled: a
tumultuary petition to the two houses having been promoted, he took care, though 
the petition was calculated -for his
advantage, effectually to suppress it: he entered into no intrigues, either with 
the electors or the members: he kept himself in a
total silence, as if he had been nowise concerned in these transactions: and so 
far from forming cabals with the leaders of
parties, he disdained even to bestow caresses on those whose assistance might be 
useful to him. This conduct was highly
meritorious, and discovered great moderation and - magnanimitX; even though the 
prince unfortunately, through the whole
course of his lifle, and on every occasion, was noted for an address so cold, 
dry, and distant, that it was very difficult for
him, on account of any interest, to soften or familiarize it. At length the 
prince deigned to break silence, and to express,
though in a private manner, his sentiments on the present situation of affairs. 
He called together Halhfax, Shrewsbryv, Danby,
and a few more; and he told them, that. having been invited over to restore 
their liberty, he had engaged in this en. terprise,
and had at'last happily effected his purpose: that it belonged to the 
parliament, now chosen and assembled with freedom, to
concert measures for the public settlement; and he pretended not to interpose in 
their determinations: that he heard of several
schemes proposed for establishing the government: some insisted on a regent; 
others were desirous of bestowing the crown
on the princess: it was their concern alone to choose the plan of administration 
most agreeable or advawageous to them: that
if they judged it proper to settle a regent, he had no objection: he only 
thought it incumbent on him to inform VOL. Vha 31
H 

Page 362 
362 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. them, that he was determined not to be the regent, not 
ever to engage in a scheme which,
he knew, would be exposed to such insuperable difficulties: that no man could 
have a juster or deeper sense of the princess's
merit than he was impressed with; but he would rather remain a private person, 
than enjoy.icrown which must depend on the
will or life of another: and that they must therefore make~ account, if they 
were incliled to either of these two plans of
settlement, that it would -be totally out bf his power to assist them in 
carrying it into execution: his affairs abroad were too
important to be abandoned for so precarious a dignity, or even to allow hint so 
much leisure as would be requisite to
introduce order into their disjointed government. These views of the prince were 
seconded by the princess herself; who, as
she possessed many virtues, was a most obsequious wife to a husband who, in the 
judgment of the generality of her sex,
would have appeared so little attractive and amiable. All considerations were 
neglected, when they came in competition with
what she deemed her duty to the prince. When Danby and others of her partisans 
wrote her an account of their schemes and
proceedings, she expressed great displeasure; and even transmitted their letters 
to her husband, as a sacrifice to conjugal
fidelity. The princess Anne also concurred in the same plan for the public 
settlement; and being promised an ample revenue,
was content to be postponed in the succession to the crown. And as the title of 
her infant brother was, in the present
establishment, entirely neglected, she might, on the whole, deem herself, in 
point of interest, a gainer by this revolution. The
chief parties, therefore, being agreed, the convention passed a bill, in which 
they settled the crown on the prince and princess
of Orange, the sole administration to remain in the prince: the princess of 
Denmark to succeed after the death of the prince
and princess of Orange; her posterity after those of the princess, but before 
those of the prince by any other wife. The
convention annexed to this settlement of the crown a declaration of rights, 
where all the points which had of late years been
disputed between the king and pecple, were finally determined; and the powers of 
royal prerogative were more narrowly
circumscribed and more exactly defined, thati in any former period of the 
English government. Il * # * # * * # # * 

Page 363 
JtAMES IS. 363 Thus have we seen, through the course of four reigns, a 
contillual struggle maintained between the crown
and thie people: privilege and prerogative were ever at variance: (and 
both.parties, beside the present object of dispute,.
huad many latent claims, which, on a favorable occasion, they prodllced against 
their adversaries. Governments too steady
and unifoorm, as they are seldom free, so are they, in the judgment of some, 
attended with another sensible inconvenience:
they abate the active powers of men; depress courage, invention, and genius; and 
produce a universal lethargy in the people.
Though this opinion may be just, the fluctuation and contest, it must be 
allowed, of the English government, were, during
these reigns, much too violent both for the repose and safiety of the peolple. 
Foreign aflhirs, at that time, were either entirely
neglected, or managed to pernicious purposes: and in the domn-estic 
administration there was felt a continued fever, either
secret or manifest, sometimes the most furious convulsions and disorders. The 
revolution forms a new epoch in the
constitution; and was probably attended with consequences more advantageous to 
the people, than barely freeing them from
an exceptionable administration. By deciding many important questions in favor 
of liberty, and still more by thatgreat
precedent of deposing one king, and establishing a new family, it gave such an 
ascendant to popular principles, as has put
the nature of the English constitution beyond all controversy. And it may justly 
be affirmed, without any danger of
exaggeration, that we in this island have ever since enjoyed, if not the best 
system of government, at least the most entire
system of liberty, that ever was known amongst mankind. To decry with such 
violence, as is affected by some, the whole
line of Stuart; to maintain, that their administration was one continued 
encroachment on the incontestable rights of the people;
is not giving due honor to that.great event, which not only put a period to 
their hereditary succession, but made a new
settlement of the whole constitution. The inconveniencies suffered by the people 
under the two first reigns of that family, (for
in the main they were fortunate,) proceeded in a great measure from the 
unavoidable situation of affairs; and scarcely any
thing could have prevented those events, but such vigor of genius in the 
sovereign, attended with such good fortune, as might
have enabled him entirely to overpower the liberties of his. people. While the 
parliaments in those reigns were taking
advantage of the necessities of the prince, and attempting 

Page 364 
364 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. every session to abolish, or circumscribe, or define, 
some pre rogative of the crown, and
innovate in the usual tenor of government, what could be expected, but that the 
prince woultd exert himself in defending,
against such inveterate enemies, an authority which, during the most regular 
course of the former English government, had
been exercised without dispute or controversy? And though Charles 11., in 1672, 
may with reason be deemed the
aggressor, nor is it possible to justify his conduct, yet were there some 
motives, surely, whic. h could engage a prince so soft
and indolent, and at the same, time so judicious, to attempt such hazardous 
enterprises. He felt that'public affairs had
reached a situation at which they could not possibly remain without sorme 
further innovation. Frequent parliaments were
become almost absolutely neces. sary to the conducting of public business; yet 
these assemblies were still, in'the judgment of
the royalists, much infiet:ior in dignity to the sovereign, whom they seemed 
better calculated to counsel than control.: The
crown still possessed considerable power of opposing parliaments; and had not as 
yet acquired the means of influencing
them. Hence a continual jealousy between these parts of the legislature: hence 
the inclination mutually to take advantage of
each other's necessities: hence the impossibility, under which the king lay, of 
finding ministers who could at once be
serviceable and faithful to him. If he followed his own choice in appointing his 
servants, without regard to their parliamentary
interest, a refractory session was instantly to be expected: if he chose them 
from among the leaders of populariassemblies,
they either lost their influence with the people by adhering to the crown, or 
they be. trayed the crown in order to preserve
their influence. Neither Hambden, whom Charles I. was willing to gain at any 
price; nor Shaftesbury, whom Charles II., after
the, Popish plot, attempted to engage in his counsels, would - renounce their 
popularity for the precarious, and, as they
esteemed it, deceitful flavor of the prince. The root of their authority they 
still thought to lie in the parliament; and as the
power of that assembly was not yet uncontrollable, they still resolved to 
augment it, though at the expense of the royal
prerogatives. It is no wonder that these events have long, by the 
representations of faction, been extremely clouded and
obscured. No man has yet arisen, who has paid an entire regard to truth, Und has 
dared to expose her, without covering or
disguise, to the eyes of the prejudiced public.- Even that party amongsi 

Page 365 
us which bbasts of the highest regard to liberty, has not pos, sessed sufficient 
liberty of thought in this particular; nor has
been -table to (lecide imlpartially of their own merit, comparled w,;th that of 
their antaonnists. More noble perihaps in: tleir
ends, anld tiigly beeneficial to manki-:l, th-ey mrust also be allowc d to have 
often been less justiiabl)e in the imeais, anitd ita
Inlly of t1heilr eIntc:11ises to have paid mrole egtard to politic al than to 
moiral considerations. Obliged to court the tfvot of'
the pocp iace, they found it necessary to comlply w*it th their rag e actlt 
ftlly;,ntd hl~ve ev.en, on many occasions byv
propagatitl catlunllies, and by promoting violence, served to infltLuatc! as 
well as cotrrtpt ttlat people to wlhomr they madee
a tender of liberty and justice. Charles 1. was a tyrant, a, Papist, and a 
co.lltriver of the Irish miassacre: the church of
England was relalp)sig flst into idolatry: PLuritanism was the on:ly true 
religionl, and the cov(nant t the favorite oblject of
heavenly regalrd.'1hrough! these delusions the party proceeded, and, what. may 
seem wonderful, still to the increase of' law
aLnd liberty; till they reached the imposture of the Popish plot, a fiction 
which exceeds the ordinary bounds: of vulgar
credlulity, But- however singular these events may appear, there is really 
nothing altogether new in any period of modern
history: and it is remarkable, that tribunitian arts, though, somletimes useful 
in a free constitution, have usually been such as
men, of prob. ity and honor could not bring themselves either to practise or 
approve. The other'faction, which, since the
revolution, has been obliged to cultivate popularity, sometimes found it 
necessary to employ like artifices. The whig party, for
a course of near seventy years, has, almost without interruption, enjoyed the 
whole authority of government; and no honors
or offices could be obtained but by their countenance and protection. But this 
event, which in some ptarticulars has been
advantageous to the state, has proved destructive to the truth of history, and: 
has established many gross falsehoods, which it
is unaccountable how any civilized nation could have embraced with regard to its 
domestic occurrences. Compositions the
most despicable, both for style and matter, have been extol-led, and propagated, 
and read-; as if they had equalled the most
celebrated remains of antiquity.* And forgetting that a regard to liberty, 
though a laudable pas. sion, ouLght commonly to be
subordinate to a re'erence for......... * Such as Rapin Thoyras, Locke, Sidney, 
Hoadley, etc. 31 - 

Page 366 
366 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. established government, the prevailing faction has 
celebrated only the partisans of the
former, who pursued as their object the perfection of civil society, and has 
extolled them at the expense of their antagonists,
who maintained those maxims that are essential to its very existence. But 
extremes of all kinds are to be avoided; and though
no one will ever please either faction by moderate opinions, it is there we are 
most likely to meet with truth and certainty.
We shall subjoin to this general view of the English government some account of 
the state of the finances, arms, trade,
manners, arts, between the restoration and revolution. The revenue of Charles 
II., as settled by the long parliament, was put
upon a very bad footing. It was too small, if they intended to make him 
independent in the common course of his
administration: it was too large, and settled during too long a period, if they 
resolved to keep him in entire depend. ence. The
great debts of the republic, which were thrown upon that prince; the necessity 
of supplying the naval and military stores,
which were entirely exhausted; * that of repairing and furnishing his palaces: 
all these causes involved the king in great
difficulties immediately after his restoration; and the parliament was not 
sufficiently liberal in supplying him. Perhaps, too, he
had contracted some debts abroad; and his bounty to the distressed cavaliers, 
though it did not correspond either to their
services or expectations, could not fail, in some degree, to exhaust his 
treasury. The extraordinary sums granted the king
during the first years did not suffice for these extraordinary expenses; and the 
excise and customs, the only constant revenue,
amounted not to nine hundred thousand pounds a year, and fell much short of the 
ordinary burdens of government. The
addition of hearth money in 1662, and of other two branches in 1669 and 1670, 
brought up the revenue to one million three
hundred and fifty-eigh, thousand ppunds, as we learn from Lord Danby's account: 
but the same authority informs us, that the
yearly expense ef govern. ment was at that time one million three hundred mnd 
eightyseven-thousand seven hundred and
seventy pounds;t without * Lord Clarendon's speech to the parliament, Oct. 9, 
1665. t Ralph's History, vol. i. p. 288. We
learn from that lord's Memoirs, (p. 12,) that the _ ecciptj oe' t i etche.quer, 
daring six years, from 1673 to 167.9, were alo
tP e&'g, -I lti.i.s' re undred thousand pounds, or one million three imu'rJM 
~.ndr izty-!.ix tlousand pounds a year. See
likewise p 169. 

Page 367 
JAMES II. 367 mentioning contingencies, which are always considerable, even 
under the most prudent administration.
Those branches of revenue granted in 1669 and 1670, expired in 1680, and were 
never renewed by parliament: they were
computed to be above two hundred thousand pounds a year. It must be allowed, 
because asserted by all contemporary
authors of both parties, and even confessed by himself, that King Charles was 
somewhat profuse and negligent. But it is
likewise certain, that a very rigid frugality was requisite to support the 
government under such difficulties. It is a familiar rule
in all business, that every man should be paid in proportion to the trust 
reposed in him, and to the power which he enjoys;
and the nation soon found reason, from Charles's dangerous connections with 
France, to repent their departure from that
prudential maxim. Indeed, could the parliaments in the reign of Charles I. have 
been induced to relinquish so far their old
habits, as to grant that prince the same revenue which was voted to his 
successor, or had those in the reign of Charles II.
conferred on him as large a revenue as was enjoyed by his brother, all the 
disorders in both reigns might easily have been
prevented, and probably all reasonable concessions to liberty might peaceably 
have been obtained from both monarchs. But
these assemblies, unacquainted with public business, and often actuated by 
faction and fanaticism, could never be made
sensible, but too late and by fatal experience, of the incessant change of times 
and situations. The French am. bassador
informs his court, that Charles was very well satisfied with his share of power, 
could the parliament have been induced to
make him tolerable easy in his'revenue.* If we estimate the ordinary revenue of 
Charles II. at one million two hundred
thousand pounds a year during his whole reign, the computation will rather 
exceed than fall below the true value. The
convention parliament, after all the sums which they had granted the king 
towards the payment of old debts, threw, the last
day of their meeting, a debt upon him amounting to one million seven hundred and 
forty-three thousand two hundred and
sixty-three pounds.t All the extraordinary sums which were afterwards voted him 
by parliament, amounted to eleven millions
four hundred and forty-three thouaand four hundred and seven pounds; which, 
divided by D* alrymple's Appbndix, p. 142.
t Journals, 29th of December, 1660 

Page 368 
368 HISTOR~Y OF ENGLAND. twentv four, the number of years which that king 
reigned make four hundred and
seventy-six thousand eight hundres and eight polnds a year. )uring that tine, he 
had two violent wars to sustain with the
Dutch; antd in 1678, he made expensive preparations for a war with France. In 
the first Dlutch wvar, both France- and
I)enmark were allies to the United Provinces, and the naval armaments in England 
were very great; so that it is impossible he
could have secreted any part, at least any considerable part, of the sums which 
were then oted him b)y parliament. To these
sums we must add about one million two hundred;iousand pounds, which 1had been 
detained from the ban~kers 1) shutting
up the exchequer in 1672. The king,paid six per cent. for this money during the 
rest of his reign.* It is remarkable that,
notwiithstanding this violent breach of faith, the king, two years after, 
borrovwedl money at eight per cent.; the same rate-of
interest which he had,paid: before that event; t a proof that public credit, 
instead of being of so delicate a nature as we are
apt to imagine, is, in reality, so hardy and robust, that it is very difficult 
to destroy it. The revenue of James was raised by the
parliament to about one million eight hundred and fifty thousand pounds;t. and 
his income as duke of York being added,
made the whole amount to two millions a year; a sum well proportioned to the 
public necessities, but enjoyed by him in too,
independent a manner. The national debt at the revolution amounted to one 
million fifty-four thousand nine hundred and
twenty-five pounds. ~ The militia fell much to decay during: these two reigns, 
partly by the policy of the kings, who had
entertained a diffidence of their subjects, partly by that ill-judged law which 
limited the king's power of mustering and
arraying them. In the beginning, however, of Charles's reign, the miliCta was 
still deemed formidable. De Wit having
proposed to the French king an invasion of England during the first Dutch war, 
that monarch replied, that such an attempt
would be entirely fruitless, and would tend only to unite the English. In a few 
days, said he,' after our landing, there will be
fifty thou..ind men at least upon us.l{ * Danby's Memoirs, p. 7.' Danby's 
Memoirs, p. 65. $ Journ. tst of March, 1689. ~
ourn. 20th of March, 1689. II D'!strades, 20th of October, 1666' 

Page 369 
JAMES'II. 36g Charles in the beginning of his reign had in pay near five 
Jiousand men, of guards and garrisons. At the end
of his reign, he augnmented this number to near eight thousand, Jamies, on 
Monnmouth's rebellion, had on foot about fifteen
thoulsand menl; and when the prince of Orange invaded himn, fliete were no fewer 
than thirty thousand regular troops in
Ellgland. The English navy, during' the greater part of Charles's reign, made a 
considerable'figure, for'numberof ships, valor
of the men, and conduct of the commanders. Even in 1678, the fleet consisted of 
eighty-three sliips; * besides thirty which
were at that time on the stocks. On the, king's'estoration, he found only 
sixty-three vessels of all'sizes.' During the latter part
of Charles's reign, the navy fell somewhat to decay, by reason'of the narrowness 
of the king's revenue: but James, soon after
his accession, restored it to its:former power' and glory; and before he left 
the throne, carried it much fur. ther. The
administration of the admiralty under Pepys, is still regarded'as a model for 
order and economy. The fleet at the revolution
consisted of one hundred and seventy-three vessels of all sizes, and required 
forty-two thousand seamen to man it.: That
king, when duke of York, had been the first inventor of sea signals. The 
military -genius during.these two reigns had not
totally decayed among the young nobility. Dorset, Mulgrave, Rochester, not to 
mention Ossory, served on board the
fleet,'and were present in the most furious engagementts against the Dutch. The 
commerce and riches of England did never,
during any period, increase so fast as from the restoration to the revolution. 
The two Dutch wars, by disturbing the trade of
that republic, promoted the navigation of:tiis island; and after Charles had 
made a separate peace with the states, his subjects
enjoyed unmolested the trade-of Europe. The only. disturbance which they met 
with, was'from a few French pri. vateers,
who infested the channel; and Charles interposed not in behalf of his subjects 
with sufficient spirit and vigor. The recovery or
conquest of New York and the Jerseys was a considerable accession to the 
strength and security of the English colonies;
and, together with the settlement of'Pennsylvania * Pepys's Memoirs, p. 4. t 
Memoirs of English Affairs, chiefly naval. +
Lives of the Admirals,'vol. ii. p. 476. 

Page 370 
'370 HISTORY OF-ENGLAND. and Carolina, which was effected during that reign, 
extended the English empire in
America. The persecutions of the dis senters, or, more properly speaking, the 
restraints imposed upon them, contributed to
augment and people these colonies. Dr. Davenant affirms,* that the shipping of 
England more than doubled during these
twenty-eight years. Several new manufactures were established; in iron, brass, 
silk, hats, glass, paper, etc. One Brewer,
leaving the' Low Countries when they were threatened with a French conquest, 
brought the art of dying woollen cloth into
England, and by that improvement saved the nation great sums of' money. The 
increase of coinage during these two reigns
was ten millions two hundred and sixty-one thousand pounds. A board of trade 
waserected in 1670; and the earl of
Sandwich was made president. Charles revived and supported the' charter of the 
East India Company; a measure whose
utility is by some thought doubtful: he granted a charter to the Hudson's Bay 
Company; a measure probably hurtful. WVe
learn from Sir Josiah Child, t that in 1688 there were on the Change more men 
worth ten thousand pounds than there were
in 1650 worth a thousand; that five hundred pounds with a daughter was, in the 
latter period, deemed a larger portion than
two thousand in the former; that gentlewomen, in those earlier times, thought 
themselves well clothed in a serge gown, which
a chambermaid would, in 1688, be ashamed to be seen in; and that, besides the 
great increase of rich clothes, plate, jewels,
and household'urniture, coaches were in that time augmented a hundred fold. The 
duke of' Buckingham introduced from
Venice the man. ufacture of glass and crystal into England. Prince Rupert was 
also an encourager of usefu! arts and
manufactures: he himself was the inventor of etching. The first law for erecting 
Jurnpikes was passed in 1662: the places of
the turnpikes were Wadesmrnill, Caxton, and S.tilt6n: but the general and. great 
improvement of highways took not place till
the reign of George.I. In 1663 was passed the first law for allowing the 
exportaion of foreign coin and bullion. In 1667 was
concluded the first American treaty'between England and Spain: this treaty was 
made more general and * Discourse on the
Public Revenues, part ii. p. 29, 33, 36., t Brief Observations, etc. 

Page 371 
sAMES II. 371 complete in 1670. The two states then renounced all right of 
trading with each other's colonies; and the title
of England was acknowledged to all the territories in America of which she was 
then possessed.'T'he French king, about the
beginning of Charles's reign, laid some impositions on English commodities: and 
the English, partly displeased swith this
innovation, partly moved by their animosity against France, retaliated, by 
laying such restraints on the commerce with that
kingdom as amounted almost to a prohibition. They formed calculations, by which 
they persuaded themselves that they were
losers a million and a half or near two millions a year by the French trade. But 
no good effects were found to result from
these restraints; and in King James's reign they were taken off by parliam ent. 
Lord Clarendon tells us, that, in 1665, when
money, in consequence of a treaty, was to be remitted to the bishop of Munster, 
it was found, that the whole trade of
England could not supply above a thousand poundsa month to Frankfort and 
Cologne, nor above twenty thousand pounds a
month to Hamburgh: these sumns appear surprisingly small.* At the same time that 
the boroughs of England were deprived
of their privileges,:a like attempt was made on the colonies. King James 
recalled the charters, by which their liberties were
secured; and he sent over governors invested with absolute power. The arbitrary 
principles of that monarch appear in every
part of his administration. The people, during these two reigns, were in a great 
measure cured of that wild fanaticism by
which they had formerly been so much agitated. Whatever new vices they 
might,acquire, it may be questioned, whether by
this change they were, in the main, much losers in point of morals. By the 
example of Charles II. and the cavaliers,
licentiousness and debauchery became prevalent in the nation. The pleasures of 
the table were much pursued. Love was
treated more as an appetite than a passion. The one sex began to abate of the 
national character of chastity, without being
able to inspire the other with sentiment or delicacy. The abuses in the former 
age, arising from overstrained pretensions to
piety, had much propagated the spirit of irreligion; and many of the ingenious 
men of this period lie under * Life of
Clarendon, p. 237. 

Page 372 
'B*"372 JISTORY OF ENGLAND. the imputation ofDeism'. Besides wits and scholars 
by profes. sion, Saiftesbuly,
Halifax, Buckintgham, M ulgrave, Sunderland,.Essex, Rochester, Sidney, Temple, 
are supposed to hiave adopted these
pri.nciples....'.'he same factions which formerly distracted the nation were 
revived, and exerted themselves in the most,
ungenerus and unmanly enterprises. against each other. King Charles, being in 
his xyhole deportment a model of easy
and'gentleman-like behavior, imnproved the politeness of the nation; as much as 
i faction, which of all things is most
destructive to that virtue, could possibly permit. His courtiers were k ng 
distinguishable in England by their obliging and
agreeable manners. Till the revolution, the liberty of the press was very imper. 
fectly enjoyed in England, and during a very
short period. The star chamber, while that court subsisted, put effectual 
restraints upon printing On the supression of that
tribunal in 1641, the long parliament, after their rupture with the king, 
assumed the same power with regard to the licensing
of books; and this authority was continued during all the period of the republic 
and Iowtectorship.* Two years after the
restoration, an act was passed reviving the republican ordinances. This act 
expired in 1679; but was revived in the first of
King James.. The liberty of the press did not even commence with the revolution. 
It was not till 1694 that the restraints were
taken off; to the great displeasure of the king and his ministers, who, seeing 
nowhere, in any government, during present or
past ages, any example of such unlimited freedom, doubted much of its salutary 
effects; and probably thought, that no books
or writings would ever so much improve the general understanding of men, as to 
render it safe to intrust, them with an
indulgence- so easily abused. In 1677, the old law for burning heretics 
was-repealed;'a prudent measure, while the nation
was in continual dread of the return of Popery. Amidst the thick cloud of 
bigotry and ignorance which overspread the nation
during the commonwealth and pro. tectorship, there were a' few'sedate 
philosophers, who, in the retirement of Ox'ord,
cultivated their reason, and established conferences for the mutual 
communication of their discoveries in physics and
geometry..Wilkins,'a clergyman, w!ho had - * Scobbl i. 44, 134; X. 88, 230. 

Page 373 
3AMES t. 373 married Cromwell's sister, and was afierwards bishop of Ches. ter, 
promotcd these philosophiccal
colivelrsitions. Ilm-nediately after the restoratioli, tliese imenl j)rtilred a 
patelit, and litvinig enlarlged thteir number, were
dellolllinated ttli Royal Society. Biut this Latent was all tlihey bltaied from 
the kingr. Thitgh Charles w'as a lover of thie
sciences, ipaiticillarly clihetnistry and nleclianics, he animate'd them b)y his 
exainmle alone, not by his bounty. His craving
coulrtiers mind mlisllresses, by wl.otn lie was perpetually surrounded, 
engrossed al, his e'xpense, and left him tneitier money
ilor attention for literary merit. His contemporary Lewis, vho fell sshort of 
the king's genius and knowledge in this particular,
much exceeded him in liberality. Besides pensions conferred on learned Ien 
throughout all Europe, his academies were
directed by rules and:rupported by salaries; a generosity which does:great honor 
to his memory; and, in the e f all the
ingenious part of mainkitnd, will be esteemed an atonement for many of 
the:errors of his reign. aWe may be surprised that
this exampie should not be more followed by. princes; since it is certain that 
that bounty, so extensive, so beneficial, and so
much celebrated, cost not this monarch so gre e a sumn as is otten conferred on 
one useless, overgrown favorite or courtier.
But though the French Academy of Sciences was directed, ercouraged, and 
supported by the sovereign, there arose in
England some men of superior genius, Wvho were more than sufficient to cast the 
balance, and who drew on tlem. selves
and on their native country the regard and attention of Europe. Besides Wilkins, 
Wren, Wallis, eminent mathlematicians,
Hooke, an accurate observer by microscopes, and Sydenham, the restorer of trite 
physic, there flourished during this period
a Boyle and a Newton; men who trod with cautious, and therefore the more secure 
steps, the only road which leads to true
philosophy. Boyle improved the pneumatic engine, invented by Otto Guericke, and 
was thereby enabled to make
several:new and curious experiments on the air, as well as on other bodies: his 
chemistry is much admired by those who are
acquainted with that art: his hydrostatics contain a greater mixture of 
reasoning and invention with experiment than any other
of his works; but his reasoning is still remote from that boldness and ternmeity 
whllich had led astray so many philosophers.
Boyle was a great partisan of the mechanical philosophy; a theory which, by 
discovering some of the secrets of nature, and
allowing us VOL VI. 32 H 

Page 374 
374 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. to imagine the rest, is so agreeable to the natural 
vanity and curiosity of men. He died in
1691, aged sixty-five. In Newton this island may boast of having produced the 
greatest adri rarest genius that ever arose for
the ornainellt and instru'tion of the species. Cautious in adinitting no 
principles Flvt such as were founded on experiment, but
iesow lute to adont every such principle, however new or ulllnlsal; from 
modesty, ignorant of his superiority above the rest of
mankind, Prld thence less careful to accommodate his reason. ings to conmmnon 
apprehensions; more anxious to merit than
acquire firme; he was fromh these causes long unknown to the world; bht ),is 
reputation at last-broke out with a lustre which
scarcely,rav writer, during his own lifetime, had ever before attained. W t-ile 
Newton seemed to draw off the veil firom
some of the mysteries of nature, hd showed at the same time the impe-q'ections 
of the mechanical philosophy; and thereby
restored her ultimate secrets to that obscurity, in which they ever did c.nd 
ever will remain. I-e died in 1727, aged eightyfive.
This avre was far from being so favorable to polite literature as to the 
sciences. Charles, though fond of'wit, though pos.
sessed hiniself of a considerable share of it, though his taste in conversation 
seems to have been sound and just,. served
rather to corrupt than improve the poetry and eloquence of his time. XWhen the 
theatres were opened at the restoration,
and freed4om was again given to pleasantry and ingenuity, men, aftmr so long an 
abstinence, fed on these delicacies with
less tas',I than avidity, and the coarsest and most irregular species of wit was 
received by the court as well as by the l)eopla.
The productions represented at that time on the stage wtnre such monsters of 
extravagance and folly, so utterly dtitut', of all
reason or even common sense, that they woltia be'he disgrace of English 
literature, had not the nation ma le ato:.ement for its
former admiration of them by the total obivion to which they, are now condemned. 
The duke of' Buckinghamn's Rehearsal,
which exposed these wild productions, seems to be a piece of ridicule carried to 
excess; yet in reality, the copy scarcely
equals some of the absurdities which we meet with in the originals.* This severe 
satire, together with the gocd sense of the $
The duke of Buckingham died on the 16th of April, 1688. 

Page 375 
JAMES II. 375 nation, corrected, after some time, the extravagancies of the 
fashionable wit; but the productions of literature
still wanted much of that correctness and delicacy which we so much ad. mire in 
the ancients, and in the French writers, their
judiciolus imitators. It was, indeed, during this period chiefly, that that 
nation left the English'behind them in the productions
of poetry, eloquence, history, and other branches of polite Ieotters; and 
acquired a superiority which the efforts of English
writers, during the subsequent age, did more successfully contest with them. The 
arts and sciences were imported frcom
Italy into this island as early as jnto France; and made at first more sensible 
advances. Spenser, Shakspeare, Bacon, Jonson,
were superior to their contemporaries who flourished in that kingdom. Milton, 
Waller, Denham, Cowley, Harvey, were at
least equal to their contemporaries. The reign of Charles I., which some 
preposterously represent as our Augustan-age,
retarded the progress of polite literature in tlls island; and it was then 
found, that the immeasurable licentiousness, indulged or
rather applauded at court, was more nestructive to the refined arts, than even 
the cant, nonsense, and enthusiasm of the
preceding period. Most of the celebrated writers of this age remain mopuments of 
genius, perverted by indecency and bad
taste; and none more than Dryden, both by reason of the greatness,)f his talents 
and the gross abuse which he made of them.
Dis plays, excepting a few scenes, are utterly disfigured by vice or folly, or 
both. His translations appear too muc h the
offspring of haste and hunger: even his flables are itlchosen tales, conveyed in 
an incorrect, though spirited vers;iication. Yet
amidst this great number of loose productions, the refuse of our language.here 
are found some small pieces, his Odle to St.
Cecilia, the greater part of Absalom and Achitophel, and aifew more, which 
discover so great genius, such richness of
expression, such pomp and variety of numbers, that they leave us equally full of 
regret and indignation, on account of the
inferiority or rather great absurdity of his other writings. -le died in 1701, 
aged sixty-nine. The very name of Rochester is
offensive to modest ears, yet'does his poetry discover such energy of style and 
such poignancy of satire, as give ground to
imagine what so fine a genius, had he fallen in a mhore happy age, and had 
followed better models, was capable of
producing. The ancient satirists often used great liberties in their 
expressicns; but their free. 

Page 376 
376 IISTORtY 0b' ESGLAND. doni v,' more resembles the licentiousness of 
Rochiester, tliin tlie i.; edness of an Indian
does that of a common prostitute. \. -leirley wits almnbitious of' the r 
eputation ot' wit airl iidertinisll and he.attaline(d it: he
was l)rol)ably call)able of reachiiogr tl, uine of' true comedy and instretive 
ridicule. C)t ta ly had a eienius finely turned to the
p)athetic; but lie neitlier,bseilrv;.strictly the rules -of the dralrma, nor 
the'rules, still inore t seintial, of i)ropriety and decorum.
By one single pie"ce, eic duki of Buckinaham did both great service to his age 
tnd honir to himnself. The earls of Mulgrave,
Dorset, and Roe o:mmon wrote in a good taste; but their productions are eitil r 
feeble or ca'ieless. The inarquis of. Halifax
discovers, refined genius; and nothing but leisure and an itiferior stairon seem 
wanting to have -procured him eminence in
literattre.'Of all the c6nsiderable writers of this age, Sir William Temple i's 
almost the oniy one that kept himselfcailtogether
unp)olluted'by that inundation of vice anid licentiousness which overwhlhnmed 
the nation. The style of this -author, though
extreimnely negligent, anrd even infected with foreign idioms, is agreeable and 
interesting. That rmixture of vanity which
appears in his works, is rather a irecomnmendation' to' them. By meaqs of it we 
enter into acquaintance with the character of
the a.'thor, full of'honor and hinmanity; and fancy tllhht we are engt ged, not 
in the perusl' of a book, but in con"versation
with' a c'mpanion. He died in 1698, aged seventy. Thou1 h Hudibmias was 
published, and probably comlrposed during'tne
reign of'Charles II., Butler may justly, as well-as Milton, b-; thouglit 
to-belong to the foregoing period. No cotnposition;
boiunds'so much as HIudibras in strokes of just and inimitabl; wit; yet are 
there many plerformances Whvlich give -as great:r
grenter'entertinment on: the whole perusal. The allusions In Butler are often 
dark and far-fetclied; and though scarcely any
author was ever able to expiress hiIs thiouhts in so few "vords, lie often- 
employs too many thougilts on one subject, a.nd
thereby becomes prolix after an unulsual manner. It is surptising how much 
erudition Butler has introduced with'so good a
grace into a work of pleasantry and hunor: [lu dibras is perhaps one of the most 
learned compositions that is to be found in
any language. The advantage'which the royal cause received finom this poem, in 
exposing the fanaticism and false pretences
of the former parliamentary party, -ws prodi. gious. The king himself had -so 
g6:od:a taste' as to be higLhly 

Page 377  
JAMrES U. 377 pleased with the merit of the work, and had even got a great part 
of it by heart: yet was he either so
careless in his tceptier, or so little endluwed with'the virtue of liberality, 
or, more properly speakirng, of gratitude, that he
allowed the au.hor, a man of' virtue at-d probity, to live in obscurity, and die 
in want.* Dryden is an instance of a negligence
of the same kind. Hlis Absalom sensibly contributed to the victory which the 
tories obtained over the whigs, after the
exclusion parliaments: yet could not this merit, aided by his great genius, 
procure him an establishment which might exempt
him firom the necessity of writing for bread. Otway, though a professed 
royalist, could not even procure bread by his
writings; and he had the singular fate of dying literally of hunger. These 
incidents throw a great stain on the memory of
Charles; who had discernment, loved genius. was liberal of money, but attaimed 
not the praise of trute generosity. * Butler
died in 1680, aged sixty-eight. 

Page 378 

Page 379 
NO TE S NOTE A, p. 58. TnE articles were, that he had advised the king to 
goverr. by military power without parliaments;
that he had affirmed the king to be a Papist, or popishly affected; that he had 
received great sums of money for procuring the
Canary patent and other illegal patents; that he had advised and procured divers 
of his majesty's subjects to be imprisoned
against law, in remote islands and garrisons, thereby to prevent their having 
the benefit of the law; that he had procured the
customs to be farmed at under rates; that he had received great sums fiom the 
vintners' company, for allowing them to
enhance the price of wines; that he had in a short time gained a greater estate 
than could have been supposed to arise from
the profits of his offices; that he had introduced an arbitrary government into 
his majesty's plantations; that he had rejected a
proposal for the preservation of Nevis and St. Christopher's, which was the 
occasion of great losses in those parts; that
when he was in his majesty's service beyond sea, he held a correspondence with 
Cromwell and his accomplices; that he
advised the sale of Dunkirk; that he had unduly altered letters patent under the 
king's seal; that he had unduly decided causes
in council, which should have been brought before chancery; that he had issued 
quo warrantos against corporations, with an
intention of squeezing money from them; that he had taken money for passing the 
bill of settlement in Ireland; that he
betrayed the nation in all foreign treaties, and that he was the principal 
adviser of dividing the fleet in June, 1666. NOTE B,
p. 80. The abstract of the report of the Brook House committee (so that 
committee was called) was first published by Mr.
Ralph, (vol. i. p. 177,) from Lord HeIifax's Collections, to which I refer. If 
we peruse their apology, which we find in the
subsequent page of the same author, we shall find that they acted with some 
malignity towards the king. They would take
notice of no services performed before the first of September, 1664. But all the 
king's preparations preceded that date, and,
as Chancellor Clarendon told the parliament, amounted to eight hundred thousand 
pounds; and the computation is very
probable. This sum, therefore, must be added. The committee likewise charged 
seven hundred thousand pounds to the king
on account of the winter and summer guards, saved during two years and ten 
months that the 

Page 380 
880 NOTES. war lasted. But this seems iniquitous. For thoulgh that was an usual 
b)urden on the revenuee, which was then
saved, would not the diminution of the customs during the war be an equivalent 
to it? Besides, near three hulldred aId forty
thousand )pounds lare charged for prize money, which perhaps the king thought he 
ought not to account for. These sumns
exceed the million and a half. NOTE C, p. 85. Gourville has said in his 
AMemoirs, (vol. ii. p. 14, 67,) that Charles was
never sincere in the triple alliance; and that, having entertained a violent 
animosity, against I)e WV~it, he endeavored by this
artifice to detach hiln from the French alliance, with a view of afterwards 
finding an opplortunity to satiate his vellgtealcle
upion himl. This account, though ery little honorable to the kinl's memnory, 
seenms probable from the events, as well as
froml the authority of the author.