The French were likewise baffled in their attempt upon Catalonia, where the duke de Noailles had taken Campredon in the month of May. Leaving a garrison in this place, he retreated to the frontiers of France, while the duke de Villa Hermosa, at the head of a Spanish army, blocked up the place and laid Rousillon under contribution. He afterwards undertook the siege in form, and Noailles marched to its relief; but he was so hard pressed by the Spaniards that he withdrew the garrison, dismantled the place, and retreated with great precipitation. The French king hoped to derive some considerable advantage from the death of Pope Innocent XL which happened on the twelfth day of August. That pontiff had been an inveterate enemy to Louis ever since the affair of the franchises, and the seizure of Avignon. 016 [See note F, at the end of this Vol.] Cabals were immediately formed at Eome by the French faction against the Spanish and Imperial interest. The French cardinals, de Bouillon and Bonzi, accompanied by Furstemberg, repaired to Eome with a large sum of money. Peter Ottoboni, a Venetian, was elected pope, and assumed the name of Alexander VIII. The duke de Chaulnes, ambassador from France, immediately signified in the name of his master, that Avignon should be restored to the patrimony of the church; and Louis renounced the franchises in a letter written by his own hand to the pontiff. Alexander received these marks of respect with the warmest acknowledgments; but when the ambassador and Furstemberg besought him to re-examine the election of the bishop of Cologne, which had been the source of so much calamity to the empire, he lent a deaf ear to their solicitations. He even confirmed the dispensations granted by his predecessor to the prince of Bavaria, who was thus empowered to take possession of the electorate, though he had not yet attained the age required by the canons. Furstemberg retired in disgust to Paris, where Louis immediately gratified him with the abbey of St. Germains.
WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688—1701.
King William found it an easier task to unite the councils of Europe against the common enemy than to conciliate and preserve the affections of his own subjects, among whom he began visibly to decline in point of popularity. Many were dissatisfied with his measures; and a great number even of those who exerted themselves for his elevation had conceived a disgust from his personal deportment, which was very unsuitable to the manners and disposition of the English people. Instead of mingling with his nobility in social amusements and familiar conversation, he maintained a disagreeable reserve which had all the air of sullen pride; he seldom or never spoke to his courtiers or attendants, he spent his time chiefly in the closet retired from all communication; or among his troops in a camp he had formed at Hounslow; or in the exercise of hunting, to which he was immoderately addicted. This had been prescribed to him by physicians as necessary to improve his constitution, which was naturally weak, and by practice had become so habitual that he could not lay it aside. His ill health co-operating with his natural aversion to society, produced a peevishness which could not fail of being displeasing to those who were near his person: this was increased by the disputes in his cabinet, and the opposition of those who were professed enemies to his government, as well as by the alienation of his former friends. As he could not breathe without difficulty in the air of London, he resided chiefly at Hampton-court, and expended considerable sums in beautifying and enlarging that palace; he likewise purchased the house at Kensington of the earl of Nottingham; and such profusion in the beginning of an expensive war gave umbrage to the nation in general. Whether he was advised by his counsellors, or his own sagacity pointed out the expediency of conforming with the English humour, he now seemed to change his disposition, and in some measure adopt the manners of his predecessors. In imitation of Charles II. he resorted to the races at Newmarket; he accepted an invitation to visit Cambridge, where he behaved himself with remarkable affability to the members of the university; he afterwards dined with the lord-mayor of London, accepted the freedom of the city, and condescended so far as to become sovereign-master of the company of grocers.
While William thus endeavoured to remove the prejudices which had been conceived against his person, the period arrived which the parliament had prescribed for taking the oaths to the new government. Some individuals of the clergy sacrificed their benefices to their scruples of conscience, and absolutely refused to take oaths that were contrary to those they had already sworn in favour of their late sovereign. These were distinguished by the epithet of nonjurors: but their number bore a very small proportion to that of others, who took them with such reservations and distinctions as redounded very little to the honour of their integrity. Many of those who had been the warmest advocates for non-resistance and passive obedience, made no scruple of renouncing their allegiance to king James, and complying with the present act, after having declared that they took the oaths in no other sense than that of a peaceable submission to the powers that were. They even affirmed that the legislature itself had allowed the distinction between a king de facto and a king de jure, as they had dropped the word “rightful” when the form was under debate. They alleged that as prudence obliged them to conform to the letter of the oath, so conscience required them to give it their own interpretation. Nothing could be more infamous and of worse tendency than this practice of equivocating in the most sacred of all obligations. It introduced a general disregard of oaths, which hath been the source of universal perjury and corruption. Though this set of temporizers were bitterly upbraided both by the nonjurors and the papists, they all concurred in representing William as an enemy to the church; as a prince educated in the doctrines of Calvin, which he plainly espoused, by limiting his favour and preferment to such as were latitudinarians in religion, and by his abolishing episcopacy in Scotland. The presbyterians in that kingdom now tyrannized in their turn. They were headed by the earl of Crawford, a nobleman of a violent temper and strong prejudices. He was chosen president of the parliament by the interest of Melvil, and oppressed the episcopalians in such a manner that the greater part of them from resentment became well-wishers to king James. Every circumstance of the hardships they underwent was reported in England; and the earl of Clarendon, as well as the suspended bishops, circulated these particulars with great assiduity. The oaths being rejected by the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of Ely, Chichester, Bath and Wells, Peterborough and Gloucester, they were suspended from their functions, and threatened with deprivation. Lake of Chichester, being seized with a dangerous distemper, signed a solemn declaration, in which he professed his adherence to the doctrine of non-resistance and passive obedience, which he believed to be the distinguishing characteristic of the church of England. After his death this paper was published, industriously circulated, and extolled by the party as an inspired oracle pronounced by a martyr to religious truth and sincerity.
All the clamour that was raised against the king could not divert him from prosecuting the scheme of comprehension. He granted a commission under the great seal to ten bishops and twenty dignitaries of the church, authorizing them to meet from time to time in the Jerusalem chamber, to prepare such alterations of the liturgy and the canons, and such proposals for the reformation of ecclesiastical courts as might most conduce to the good order, edification, and uniting of the church, and tend to reconcile all religious differences among the protestant subjects of the kingdom. A cry was immediately raised against this commission, as an ecclesiastical court illegal and dangerous. At their first meeting the authority of the commission was questioned by Sprat, bishop of Rochester, who retired in disgust, and was followed by Mew of Winchester, and the doctors Jane and Aldrich. These were averse to any alteration of the forms and constitution of the church in favour of an insolent and obstinate party, which ought to have been satisfied with the toleration they enjoyed. They observed that an attempt to make such alteration would divide the clergy, and bring the liturgy into disesteem with the people, as it would be a plain acknowledgment that it wanted correction. They thought they should violate the dignity of the church by condescending to make offers which the dissenters were at liberty to refuse; and they suspected some of their colleagues of a design to give up episcopal ordination—a step inconsistent with their honour, duty, oaths, and subscriptions.
The commissioners, notwithstanding this secession, proceeded to debate with moderation on the abuses of which the dissenters had complained, and corrected every article that seemed liable to any just objection; but the opposite party employed all their art and industry to inflame the minds of the people. The two universities declared against all alterations, and those who promoted them. The king himself was branded as an enemy to the hierarchy; and they bestirred themselves so successfully in the election of members for the convocation, that they procured a very considerable majority. At their first meeting the friends of the comprehension scheme proposed Dr. Tillotson, clerk of the closet to his majesty, as prolocutor; but the other party carried it in favour of Dr. Jane, who was counted the most violent churchman in the whole Assembly. In a Latin speech to the bishop of London as president, he, in the name of the lower house, asserted that the liturgy of England needed no amendment, and concluded with the old declaration of the barons, “Nolumus leges Angliæ mutari. We will not suffer the laws of England to be changed.” The bishop, in his reply, exhorted them to moderation, charity, and indulgence towards their brethren the dissenters, and to make such abatements in things indifferent as might serve to open a door of salvation to multitudes of straying christians. His injunctions, however, produced no favourable effect; the lower house seemed to be animated by a spirit of opposition. Next day the president prorogued them, on pretence that the royal commission, by which they were to act, was defective for want of being sealed, and that a prorogation was necessary until that sanction should be obtained. In this interval means were used to mollify their non-compliant tempers, but all endeavours proved ineffectual. When they met again, the earl of Nottingham delivered the king’s commission to both houses, with a speech of his own, and a message from his majesty, importing that he had summoned them out of a pious zeal to do every thing that might tend to the best establishment of the church of England, which should always enjoy his favour and protection. He exhorted them to lay aside all prejudice, and consider calmly and impartially whatever should be proposed: he assured them he would offer nothing but what should be for the honour, peace, and advantage of the protestant religion in general, and particularly of the church of England.
WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688—1701.
The bishops adjourning to the Jerusalem chamber, prepared a zealous address of thanks to his majesty, which, being sent to the lower house for their concurrence, met with violent opposition. Amendments were proposed; a conference ensued, and, after warm debates, they agreed upon a cold address, which was accordingly presented. The majority of the lower house, far from taking any measures in favour of dissenters, converted all their attention to the relief of their nonjuring brethren. Zealous speeches were made in behalf of the suspended bishops; and Dr. Jane proposed that something might be done to qualify them to sit in the convocation. This, however, was such a dangerous point as they would not venture to discuss; yet, rather than proceed upon the business for which they had been assembled, they began to take cognizance of some pamphlets lately published, which they conceived to be of dangerous consequence to the christian religion. The president and his party, perceiving the disposition of the house, did not think proper to communicate any proposal touching the intended reformation, and the king suffered the session to be discontinued by repeated prorogations.
The parliament meeting on the nineteenth day of October, the king, in a speech of his own composing, explained the necessity of a present supply to carry on the war. He desired that they might be speedy in their determinations on this subject, for these would in a great measure influence the deliberations of the princes and states concerned in the war against France, as a general meeting of them was appointed to be held next month at the Hague, to settle the operations of the ensuing campaign. He concluded with recommending the dispatch of a bill of indemnity, that the minds of his subjects might be quieted, and that they might unanimously concur in promoting the honour and welfare of the kingdom. As several inflammatory bills and disputes, which had produced heats and animosities in the last session, were still depending, the king, after having consulted both houses, resolved to put an end to those disputes by a prorogation. He accordingly went to the house of lords and prorogued the parliament till the twenty-first day of October, by the mouth of the new speaker, sir Robert Atkins; the marquis of Halifax having resigned that office. When they re-assembled, the king referred them to his former speech: then the commons unanimously resolved to assist his majesty in reducing Ireland, and in joining with his allies abroad for a vigorous prosecution of the war against France: for these purposes they voted a supply of two millions.
During this session the whigs employed all their influence and intrigues in obstructing the bill of indemnity, which they knew would open a door for favour and preferment to the opposite party, which began to gain ground in the king’s good graces. With this view they revived the prosecution of the state prisoners. A committee was appointed to prepare a charge against Burton and Graham. The commons resolved to impeach the earls of Peterborough, Salisbury, and Castlemain, sir Edward Hales, and Obadiah Walker, of high treason, for having been reconciled to the church of Rome, contrary to the laws of the realm. A bill was ordered to be brought in to declare the estate of the late lord chancellor Jefferies forfeited to the crown, and attaint his blood; but it met with such opposition that the measure was dropped: the house however agreed, that the pecuniary penalties incurred by those persons who had exercised offices contrary to the laws against popish recusants, should be speedily levied and applied to the public service. The lord Griffin being detected in maintaining a correspondence with king James and his partizans, was committed to the Tower; but as no other evidence appeared against him than written letters, found in the false bottom of a pewter bottle, they could not help consenting to his being released upon bail, as they had lately resolved that Algernon Sidney was unjustly condemned in the reign of Charles II. because nothing but writings had been produced against him at his trial. The two houses concurred in appointing a committee to inquire who were the advisers and prosecutors in taking away the lives of lord Russel, colonel Sydney, sir Thomas Armstrong, alderman Cornish, and others; and who were chiefly concerned in the arbitrary practices touching the writs of quo warranto, and the surrender of charters. This inquiry was levelled at the marquis of Halifax, who had concurred with the ministry of Charles in all these severities. Though no proof appeared upon which votes or addresses could be founded, that nobleman saw it was necessary for him to withdraw himself from the administration; he therefore resigned the privy-seal, which was put in commission, and reconciled himself to the tories, of whom he became the patron and protector.
The commons likewise resumed the examination of the miscarriages in Ireland, and desired the king would appoint commissioners to go over and inquire into the condition of the army in that kingdom. Schomberg, understanding that he had been blamed in the house of commons for his inactivity, transmitted to the king a satisfactory vindication of his own conduct; and it appeared that the miscarriages in Ireland were wholly owing to John Shales, purveyor-general to the army. The commons immediately presented an address to his majesty, praying that Shales might be taken into custody; that all his papers, accounts, and stores, should be secured; and that duke Schomberg might be empowered to fill his place with a more able purveyor. The king gave them to understand that he had already sent orders to the general for that purpose. Nevertheless, they in another petition requested his majesty to name those who had recommended Shales to his service, as he had exercised the same office under king James, and was suspected of treasonable practices against the government. William declined gratifying their request; but he afterwards sent a message to the house, desiring them to recommend a certain number of commissioners to superintend such provisions and preparations as might be necessary for that service, as well as to nominate certain persons to go over and examine the state of the army in Ireland. The commons were so mollified by this instance of his condescension, that they left the whole affair to his own direction, and proceeded to examine other branches of misconduct. Instances of mismanagement appeared so numerous and so flagrant, that they resolved upon a subsequent address, to explain the ill conduct and success of his army and navy; to desire he would find out the author of these miscarriages, and for the future intrust unsuspected persons with the management of affairs. They ordered the victuallers of the fleet to be taken into custody, on suspicion of their having furnished the navy with unwholesome provisions, and new commissioners were appointed. Bitter reproaches were thrown out against the ministry. Mr. Hambden expressed his surprise that the administration should consist of those very persons whom king James had employed, when his affairs were desperate, to treat with the prince of Orange, and moved that the king should be petitioned in an address to remove such persons from his presence and councils. This was a stroke aimed at the earl of Nottingham, whose office of secretary Hambden desired to possess; but his motion was not seconded, the court-members observing that James did not depute these lords to the prince of Orange because they were attached to his own interest, but for a very different reason, namely, that they were well known to disapprove of his measures, and therefore would be the more agreeable to his highness. The house however voted an address to the king, desiring that the authors of the miscarriages might be brought to condign punishment.
WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688—1701.
In the sequel, the question was proposed, Whether a placeman ought to have a seat in the house? and a very warm debate ensued: but it was carried in the affirmative, on the supposition that by such exclusion the commonwealth would be deprived of some of the ablest senators of the kingdom. But what chiefly irritated William against the whigs was their backwardness in promoting the public service, and their disregard of the earnest desire he expressed to see his revenue settled for life. He said his title was no more than a pageant, and the worst of all governments was that of a king without treasure. Nevertheless, they would not grant the civil list for a longer term than one year. They began to think there was something arbitrary in his disposition. His sullen behaviour in all probability first infused this opinion, which was strengthened and confirmed by the insinuations of his enemies. The Scots who had come up to London to give an account of the proceedings in their parliament, were infected with the same notion. One Simpson, a presbyterian of that country, whom the earl of Portland employed as a spy, had insinuated himself into the confidence of Nevil Payne, an active and intelligent partisan and agent of king James; by which means he supplied the earl with such intelligence as raised him to some degree of credit with that minister. This he used in prepossessing the earl against the king’s best friends, and infusing jealousies which were soon kindled into mutual distrust and animosity.
Sir James Montgomery, who had been a warm advocate for the revolution, received advice that the court suspected him and others of disaffection, and was employed in seeking evidence by which they might be prosecuted. They were equally alarmed and incensed at this intimation, and Payne seized the opportunity of seducing them into a correspondence with the exiled king. They demanded the settlement of the presbytery in Scotland, and actually engaged in a treaty for his restoration. They reconciled themselves to the duke of Queensbury, and the other noblemen of the episcopal party: they wrote to James for a supply of money, arms, and ammunition, together with a reinforcement of three thousand men from Dunkirk. Montgomery had acquired great interest among the whigs of England, and this he-employed in animating them against the king and the ministry. He represented them as a set of wicked men, who employed infamous spies to insnare and ruin the fast friends of the government, and found means to alienate them so much from William, that they began to think in earnest of recalling their banished prince The duke of Bolton and the earl of Monmouth were almost persuaded into a conspiracy for this purpose; they seemed to think James was now so well convinced of his former errors, that they might trust him without scruple. Montgomery and Payne were the chief managers of the scheme, and they admitted Ferguson into their councils, as a veteran in the arts of treason. In order to blast William’s credit in the city, they circulated a report that James would grant a full indemnity, separate himself entirely from the French interest, and be contented with a secret connivance in favour of the Roman catholics. Montgomery’s brother assured the bishop of Salisbury that a treaty with king James was absolutely concluded, and an invitation subscribed by the whole cabal. He said this paper would be sent to Ireland by the way of France, as the direct communication was difficult; and he proposed a method for seizing it before it should be conveyed out of the kingdom. Williamson, the supposed bearer of it, had obtained a pass for Flanders, and a messenger being sent in pursuit of him, secured his clothes and portmanteau; but after a very strict examination nothing appeared to justify the intelligence. Williamson had previously delivered the papers to Simpson, who hired a boat at Deal, and arrived in safety at France. He returned with large assurances, and twelve thousand pounds were remitted to the Scottish undertakers. Montgomery the informer seeing his intelligence falsified, lost his credit with the bishop, and dreading the resentment of the other party, retired to the continent. The conspirators loudly complained of the false imputations they had incurred. The pretended discoveries were looked upon as fictions of the ministry, and the king on this occasion suffered greatly in the opinion of his subjects.
WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688—1701.
The tories still continued to carry on a secret negotiation with the court. They took advantage of the ill-humour subsisting between the king and the whigs; and promised large supplies of money provided this parliament should be dissolved and another immediately convoked. The opposite party, being apprized of their intention, brought a bill into the house of commons for restoring corporations to their ancient rights and privileges. They knew their own strength at elections consisted in these corporations; and they inserted two additional severe clauses against those who were in any shape concerned in surrendering charters. The whole power of the tories was exerted against this clause; and now the whigs vied with them in making court to his majesty, promising to manifest the most submissive obedience should this bill be enacted into a law. The strength of the tories was now become so formidable to the house, that they out-voted the other party, and the clauses were rejected; but the bill passed in its original form. The lords debated upon the point, Whether a corporation could be forfeited or surrendered? Lord chief justice Holt and two other judges declared their opinion in the affirmative: the rest thought otherwise, as no precedents could be produced farther back than the reign of Henry VIII. when the abbeys were surrendered; and this instance seemed too violent to authorize such a measure in a regular course of administration. The bill, however, passed by one voice only. Then both parties quickened their applications to the king, who found himself so perplexed and distracted between two factions which he equally feared, that he resolved to leave the government in the queen’s hands and retire to Holland. He communicated this design to the marquis of Carmarthen, the earl of Shrewsbury, and some other noblemen, who pressed him to lay aside his resolution, and even mingled tears with their remonstrances.
He at length complied with their request, and determined to finish the Irish war in person. This design was far from being agreeable to the parliament. His friends dreaded the climate of that country, which might prove fatal to his weak constitution. The well-wishers of James were afraid of that prince’s being hard pressed, should William take the field against him in person.
Both houses, therefore, began to prepare an address against this expedition. In order to prevent this remonstrance, the king went to the parliament, and formally signified his resolution. After his speech they were prorogued to the second day of April. On the sixth day of February they were dissolved by proclamation, and a new parliament was summoned to meet on the twentieth day of March. During this session, the commons, in an address to the king, desired that a revenue of fifty thousand pounds might be settled upon the prince and princess of Denmark, out of the civil list; and his majesty gratified them in this particular: yet the warmth and industry with which the friends of the princess exerted themselves in promoting the settlement, produced a coldness and misunderstanding between the two sisters; and the subsequent disgrace of the earl of Marlborough was imputed to the part which his wife acted on the occasion. She was lady of the bed-chamber, and chief confidant to the princess, whom she strenuously advised to insist upon the settlement rather than depend upon the generosity of the king and queen.
About this period general Ludlow, who at the restoration had been excepted from the act of indemnity, as one of those who sat in judgment upon Charles I. arrived in England, and offered his service in reducing Ireland, where he had formerly commanded. Though a rigid republican, he was reputed a conscientious man, and a good officer. He had received some encouragement to come over, and probably would have been employed had not the commons interposed. Sir Edward Seymour, who enjoyed by grant an estate in Wiltshire which had formerly belonged to Ludlow, began to be in pain for his possession. He observed in the house, that the nation would be disgraced should one of the J parricides be suffered to live in the kingdom. An address was immediately presented to the king, desiring a proclamation might be issued promising a reward for apprehending general Ludlow. This was accordingly published; but not before he had landed in Holland, from whence he returned to Vevay in Switzerland, where he wrote the memoirs of his life, and died after an exile of thirty years.
While king William fluctuated between two parties in England, his interest in Scotland had well nigh given way to a coalition between the original Jacobites and Montgomery’s party of discontented presbyterians. Colonel Cannon, who succeeded the viscount Dundee in command, after having made several unsuccessful efforts in favour of the late king’s interest, retired into Ireland; and the highlanders chose sir Hugh Cameron for their leader. Under him they renewed their incursions with the better prospect of success, as several regiments of the regular troops had been sent to reinforce the army of Schomberg. James assisted them with clothes, arms, and ammunition, together with some officers, amongst whom was colonel Bucan, appointed to act as their chief commander. This officer, at the head of fifteen hundred men, advanced into the shire of Murray, in hopes of being joined by other malcontents; but he was surprised and routed by sir Thomas Livingstone, while major Ferguson destroyed the places they possessed in the Isle of Mull; so that the highlanders were obliged to retire and conceal themselves among their hills and fastnesses. The friends of James, despairing of doing any thing effectual for his service in the field, converted all their attention to the proceedings in parliament; where they imagined their interest was much stronger than it appeared to be upon trial. They took the oaths without hesitation, and hoped, by the assistance of their new allies, to embroil the government in such a manner that the majority of the people would declare for a restoration. But the views of these new cemented parties were altogether incompatible, and their principles diametrically opposite. Notwithstanding their concurrence in parliament, the earl of Melvil procured a small majority. The opposition was immediately discouraged: some individuals retracted, rather than fall with a sinking cause; and mutual jealousies began to prevail. The leaders of the coalition treated separately with king James; made inconsistent demands; reciprocally concealed their negotiations; in a word, they distrusted and hated one another with the most implacable resentment.
The earls of Argyle, Annandale, and Breadalbane, withdrew from their councils and repaired to England. Montgomery, terrified at their defection, went privately to London, after he had hinted something of the plot to Melvil, and solicited a pass from the queen, which was refused. Annandale, having received information that Montgomery had disclosed all the particulars of the negotiation, threw himself upon the queen’s mercy, and discovered all he knew of the conspiracy. As lie had not treated with any of the malcontents in England, they remained secure from his evidence; but he informed against Nevil Payne, who had been sent down as their agent to Scotland, where he now resided. He was immediately apprehended by the council of that kingdom, in consequence of a letter from the earl of Nottingham; and twice put to the torture, which he resolutely bore, without discovering his employers. Montgomery still absconded in London, soliciting a pardon; but finding he could not obtain it, except on condition of making a full discovery, he abandoned his country, and chose to die in exile rather than betray his confederates. This disunion of the conspirators, and discovery of the plot, left the earl of Melvil in possession of a greater majority; though even this he was fain to secure by overstraining his instructions in the articles of patronage, and the supremacy of the crown, which he yielded up to the fury of the fanatic presbyterians, contrary to the intention of king William. In lieu of these, however, they indulged him with the tax of chimney or hearth-money; as well as with a test to be imposed upon all persons in office or parliament, declaring William and Mary their lawful sovereigns, and renouncing the pretended title of king James. All the laws in favour of episcopacy were repealed. Threescore of the presbyterian ministers, who had been ejected at the restoration, were still alive; and these the parliament declared the only sound part of the church. The government of it was lodged in their hands; and they were empowered to admit such as they should think proper to their assistance. A few furious fanatics being thus associated, proceeded with ungovernable violence to persecute the episcopal party, exercising the very same tyranny against which they themselves had so loudly exclaimed.
While the presbyterian interest thus triumphed in Scotland, the two parties that divided England employed their whole influence and attention in managing the elections for a new parliament; and the tories obtained the victory. The king seemed gradually falling into the arms of this party. They complained of their having been totally excluded from the lieutenancy of London at the king’s accession to the crown; and now a considerable number of the most violent tories in the city were admitted into the commission by the interest and address of the bishop of London, the marquis of Carmarthen, and the earl of Nottingham. To gratify that party, the earls of Monmouth and Warrington were dismissed from their employments; nay, when the parliament met on the twentieth day of March, the commons chose for their speaker sir John Trevor, a violent partisan of that faction, who had been created master of the rolls by the late king. He was a bold artful man, and undertook to procure a majority to be at the devotion of the court, provided he should be supplied with the necessary sums for the purposes of corruption. William, finding there was no other way of maintaining his administration in peace, thought proper to countenance the practice of purchasing votes, and appointed Trevor first commissioner of the great seal. In his speech to the new parliament, he gave them to understand that he still persisted in his resolution of going in person to Ireland. He desired they would make a settlement of the revenue, or establish it for the present as a fund of credit, upon which the necessary sums for the service of government might be immediately advanced; he signified his intention of sending to them an act of grace, with a few exceptions, that he might manifest his readiness to extend his protection to all his subjects, and leave no colour of excuse for raising disturbances in his absence, as he knew how busy some ill-affected men were in their endeavours to alter the established government; he recommended an union with Scotland, the parliament of which had appointed commissioners for that purpose; he told them he should leave the administration in the hands of the queen, and desired they would prepare an act to confirm her authority; he exhorted them to dispatch the business for which they were assembled, to avoid debates, and expressed his hope that they should soon meet again to finish what might be now left imperfect.
The commons, in compliance with his request, voted a supply of twelve hundred thousand pounds, one million of that sum to be raised by a clause of credit in the revenue bills; but he could not prevail upon them to settle the revenue for life. They granted, however, the hereditary excise for that term, but the customs for four years only. They considered this short term as the best security the kingdom could have for frequent parliaments; though this precaution was not at all agreeable to their sovereign. A poll-bill was likewise passed, other supplies were granted, and both parties seemed to court his majesty by advancing money on those funds of credit. The whigs, however, had another battery in reserve. They produced, in the upper house, a bill for recognising their majesties as the rightful and lawful sovereign of these realms, and for declaring all the acts of the last parliament to be good and valid. The tories were now reduced to a very perplexed situation. They could not oppose the bill without hazarding the interest they had so lately acquired, nor assent to it without solemnly renouncing their former arguments and distinctions. They made no great objections to the first part, and even proposed to enact, That those should be deemed good laws for the time to come; but they refused to declare them valid for that which was past. After a long debate, the bill was committed; yet the whigs lost their majority on the report; nevertheless, the bill was recovered, and passed with some alteration in the words; in consequence of a nervous spirited protest, signed Bolton, Macclesfield, Stamford, Newport, Bedford, Her bert, Suffolk, Monmouth, Delamere, and Oxford. The whole interest of the court was thrown into the scale with this bill, before it would preponderate against the tories; the chiefs of whom, with the earl of Nottingham at their head, protested in their turn. The same party in the house of commons were determined upon a vigorous opposition; and in the mean time some trifling objections were made, that it might be committed for amendment; but their design was prematurely discovered by one of their faction, who chanced to question the legality of the convention, as it was not summoned by the king’s writ. This insinuation was answered by Somers the solicitor general, who observed, that if it was not a legal parliament, they who were then met, and who had taken the oaths enacted by that parliament, were guilty of high treason; the laws repealed by it were still in force: it was their duty therefore to return to king James; and all concerned in collecting and paying the money levied by the acts of that parliament were highly criminal. The tories were so struck with these arguments that the bill passed without further opposition, and immediately received the royal assent. Thus the settlement was confirmed by those very people who had so loudly exclaimed against it as illegal; but the whigs, with all their management, would not have gained their point had not the court been interested in the dispute.
WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688—1701.
ANOTHER VIOLENT CONTEST.
There was another violent contest between the two parties, on the import of a bill requiring all subjects in office to abjure king James on pain of imprisonment. Though the clergy were at first exempted from this test, the main body of the tories opposed it with great vehemence; while the whigs, under countenance of the ministry, supported it with equal vigour. It produced long and violent debates; and the two factions seemed pretty equally balanced. At length the tories represented to the king that a great deal of precious time would be lost in fruitless altercation; that those who declared against the bill would grow sullen and intractable, so as to oppose every other motion that might be made for the king’s service; that, in case of its being carried, his majesty must fall again into the hands of the whigs, who would renew their former practices against the prerogative; and many individuals, who were now either well affected to him, or at least neutral, would become Jacobites from resentment. These suggestions had such weight with king William, that he sent an intimation to the commons, desiring they would drop the debate and proceed to matters that were more pressing. The whigs in general were disgusted at this interposition; and the earl of Shrewsbury, who had interested himself warmly in behalf of the bill, resented it so deeply that he insisted on resigning his office of secretary of state. The king, who revered his talents and integrity, employed Dr. Tillotson and others, who were supposed to have credit with the earl, to dissuade him from quitting his employment; but he continued deaf to all their remonstrances, and would not even comply with the request of his majesty, who pressed him to keep the seals until he should return from Ireland. Long debates were likewise managed in the house of lords upon the bill of abjuration, or rather an oath of special fidelity to William, in opposition to James. The tories professed themselves willing to enter into a negative engagement against the late king and his adherents; but they opposed the oath of abjuration with all their might: and the house was so equally divided that neither side was willing to hazard a decision, so that all the fruit of their debates was a prolongation of the session.
An act was prepared for investing the queen with the administration during the king’s absence; another for reversing the judgment on a quo warranto against the city of London, and restoring it to its ancient rights and privileges; at length the bill of indemnity so cordially recommended by the king passed both houses. 021 [See note G, at the end of this Vol.] On the twenty-first day of May, the king closed the session with a Short speech, in which he thanked them for the supplies they had granted, and recommended to them a punctual discharge of their duties in their respective counties, that the peace of the nation might not be interrupted in his absence. The houses were adjourned to the seventh day of July, when the parliament was prorogued and adjourned successively. As a further security for the peace of the kingdom, the deputy-lieutenants were authorized to raise the militia in case of necessity. All papists were prohibited to stir above five miles from their respective places of abode; a proclamation was published for apprehending certain disaffected persons; sir John Cochran and Ferguson were actually arrested on suspicion of treasonable practices. On the fourth day of June the king set out for Ireland, attended by prince George of Denmark, the duke of Ormond, the earls of Oxford, Scarborough, Manchester, and many other persons of distinction: on the fourteenth day of the month he landed at Carrickfergus, from whence he immediately proceeded to Belfast, where he was met by the duke of Schomberg, the prince of Wirtemberg, major-general Kirke, and other officers. By this time colonel Wolsey, at the head of a thousand men, had defeated a strong detachment of the enemy near Belturbat; sir John Lanier had taken Bedloe castle; and that of Charlemont, a strong post of great importance, together with Balingary near Cavan, had been reduced. King William having reposed himself for two or three days at Belfast, visited the duke’s head-quarters at Lis-burne; then advancing to Hillsborough, published an order against pressing horses, and committing violence on the country people. When some of his general officers proposed cautious measures, he declared he did not come to Ireland to let the grass grow under his feet. He ordered the army to encamp and be reviewed at Loughbrilland, where he found it amount to six-and-thirty thousand effective men, well appointed. Then he marched to Dundalk; and afterwards advanced to Ardee, which the enemy had just abandoned.
King James trusted so much to the disputes in the English parliament, that he did not believe his son-in-law would be able to quit that kingdom; and William had been six days in Ireland before he received intimation of his arrival. This was no sooner known than he left Dublin under the guard of the militia commanded by Luttrel, and with a reinforcement of six thousand infantry, which he had lately received from France, joined the rest of his forces, which now almost equalled William’s army in number, exclusive of about fifteen thousand men who remained in different garrisons. He occupied a very advantageous post on the bank of the Boyne, and, contrary to the advice of his general officers, resolved to stand battle. They proposed to strengthen their garrisons and retire to the Shannon to wait the effect of the operations at sea. Louis had promised to equip a powerful armament against the English fleet, and send over a great number of small frigates to destroy William’s transports, as soon as their convoy should be returned to England. The execution of this scheme was not at all difficult, and must have proved fatal to the English army; for their stores and ammunition were still on board; the ships sailed along the coast as the troops advanced in their march; and there was not one secure harbour into which they could retire on any emergency. James, however, was bent upon hazarding an engagement; and expressed uncommon confidence and alacrity. Besides the river which was deep, his front was secured by a morass and a rising ground, so that the English army could not attack him without manifest disadvantage.