The
hatches were taken up: the conspirators were arrested; and their clothes
were strictly examined.
hatches were taken up: the conspirators were arrested; and their clothes
were strictly examined.
Macaulay
His
speech from the throne called forth the loud acclamations of Lords and
Commons, [794] Thanks were unanimously voted by both Houses to the King
for his achievements in Ireland, and to the Queen for the prudence
with which she had, during his absence, governed England, [795] Thus
commenced a Session distinguished among the Sessions of that reign by
harmony and tranquillity. No report of the debates has been preserved,
unless a long forgotten lampoon, in which some of the speeches made on
the first day are burlesqued in doggrel rhymes, may be called a report,
[796] The time of the Commons appears to have been chiefly occupied
in discussing questions arising out of the elections of the preceding
spring. The supplies necessary for the war, though large, were granted
with alacrity. The number of regular troops for the next year was
fixed at seventy thousand, of whom twelve thousand were to be horse or
dragoons. The charge of this army, the greatest that England had ever
maintained, amounted to about two million three hundred thousand pounds;
the charge of the navy to about eighteen hundred thousand pounds. The
charge of the ordnance was included in these sums, and was roughly
estimated at one eighth of the naval and one fifth of the military
expenditure, [797] The whole of the extraordinary aid granted to the
King exceeded four millions.
The Commons justly thought that the extraordinary liberality with
which they had provided for the public service entitled them to demand
extraordinary securities against waste and peculation. A bill was
brought in empowering nine Commissioners to examine and state the public
accounts. The nine were named in the bill, and were all members of the
Lower House. The Lords agreed to the bill without amendments; and the
King gave his assent, [798]
The debates on the Ways and Means occupied a considerable part of the
Session. It was resolved that sixteen hundred and fifty thousand pounds
should be raised by a direct monthly assessment on land. The excise
duties on ale and beer were doubled; and the import duties on raw silk,
linen, timber, glass, and some other articles, were increased, [799]
Thus far there was little difference of opinion. But soon the smooth
course of business was disturbed by a proposition which was much more
popular than just or humane. Taxes of unprecedented severity had been
imposed; and yet it might well be doubted whether these taxes would be
sufficient. Why, it was asked, should not the cost of the Irish war be
borne by the Irish insurgents? How those insurgents had acted in their
mock Parliament all the world knew; and nothing could be more reasonable
than to mete to them from their own measure. They ought to be treated
as they had treated the Saxon colony. Every acre which the Act of
Settlement had left them ought to be seized by the state for the purpose
of defraying that expense which their turbulence and perverseness had
made necessary. It is not strange that a plan which at once gratified
national animosity, and held out the hope of pecuniary relief, should
have been welcomed with eager delight. A bill was brought in which bore
but too much resemblance to some of the laws passed by the Jacobite
legislators of Dublin. By this bill it was provided that the property of
every person who had been in rebellion against the King and Queen since
the day on which they were proclaimed should be confiscated, and that
the proceeds should be applied to the support of the war. An exception
was made in favour of such Protestants as had merely submitted to
superior force; but to Papists no indulgence was shown. The royal
prerogative of clemency was limited. The King might indeed, if such were
his pleasure, spare the lives of his vanquished enemies; but he was not
to be permitted to save any part of their estates from the general doom.
He was not to have it in his power to grant a capitulation which should
secure to Irish Roman Catholics the enjoyment of their hereditary lands.
Nay, he was not to be allowed to keep faith with persons whom he had
already received to mercy, who had kissed his hand, and had heard from
his lips the promise of protection. An attempt was made to insert a
proviso in favour of Lord Dover. Dover, who, with all his faults, was
not without some English feelings, had, by defending the interests of
his native country at Dublin, made himself odious to both the Irish and
the French. After the battle of the Boyne his situation was deplorable.
Neither at Limerick nor at Saint Germains could he hope to be welcomed.
In his despair, he threw himself at William's feet, promised to live
peaceably, and was graciously assured that he had nothing to fear.
Though the royal word seemed to be pledged to this unfortunate man,
the Commons resolved, by a hundred and nineteen votes to a hundred
and twelve, that his property should not be exempted from the general
confiscation.
The bill went up to the Peers, but the Peers were not inclined to pass
it without considerable amendments; and such amendments there was
not time to make. Numerous heirs at law, reversioners, and creditors
implored the Upper House to introduce such provisoes as might secure the
innocent against all danger of being involved in the punishment of the
guilty. Some petitioners asked to be heard by counsel. The King had made
all his arrangements for a voyage to the Hague; and the day beyond which
he could not postpone his departure drew near. The bill was therefore,
happily for the honour of English legislation, consigned to that dark
repository in which the abortive statutes of many generations sleep a
sleep rarely disturbed by the historian or the antiquary, [800]
Another question, which slightly and but slightly discomposed the
tranquillity of this short session, arose out of the disastrous and
disgraceful battle of Beachy Head. Torrington had, immediately after
that battle, been sent to the Tower, and had ever since remained there.
A technical difficulty had arisen about the mode of bringing him to
trial. There was no Lord High Admiral; and whether the Commissioners of
the Admiralty were competent to execute martial law was a point which
to some jurists appeared not perfectly clear. The majority of the judges
held that the Commissioners were competent; but, for the purpose of
removing all doubt, a bill was brought into the Upper House; and to this
bill several Lords offered an opposition which seems to have been most
unreasonable. The proposed law, they said, was a retrospective penal
law, and therefore objectionable. If they used this argument in good
faith, they were ignorant of the very rudiments of the science of
legislation. To make a law for punishing that which, at the time when it
was done, was not punishable, is contrary to all sound principle. But
a law which merely alters the criminal procedure may with perfect
propriety be made applicable to past as well as to future offences. It
would have been the grossest injustice to give a retrospective operation
to the law which made slavetrading felony. But there was not the
smallest injustice in enacting that the Central Criminal Court
should try felonies committed long before that Court was in being. In
Torrington's case the substantive law continued to be what it had always
been. The definition of the crime, the amount of the penalty, remained
unaltered. The only change was in the form of procedure; and that change
the legislature was perfectly justified in making retrospectively.
It is indeed hardly possible to believe that some of those who opposed
the bill were duped by the fallacy of which they condescended to make
use. The feeling of caste was strong among the Lords. That one of
themselves should be tried for his life by a court composed of plebeians
seemed to them a degradation of their whole order. If their noble
brother had offended, articles of impeachment ought to be exhibited
against him: Westminster Hall ought to be fitted up: his peers ought
to meet in their robes, and to give in their verdict on their honour;
a Lord High Steward ought to pronounce the sentence and to break the
staff. There was an end of privilege if an Earl was to be doomed to
death by tarpaulins seated round a table in the cabin of a ship. These
feelings had so much influence that the bill passed the Upper House by a
majority of only two, [801] In the Lower House, where the dignities and
immunities of the nobility were regarded with no friendly feeling, there
was little difference of opinion. Torrington requested to be heard at
the bar, and spoke there at great length, but weakly and confusedly. He
boasted of his services, of his sacrifices, and of his wounds. He abused
the Dutch, the Board of Admiralty, and the Secretary of State. The bill,
however, went through all its stages without a division, [802]
Early in December Torrington was sent under a guard down the river to
Sheerness. There the Court Martial met on board of a frigate named the
Kent. The investigation lasted three days; and during those days the
ferment was great in London. Nothing was heard of on the exchange, in
the coffeehouses, nay even at the church doors, but Torrington. Parties
ran high; wagers to an immense amount were depending; rumours were
hourly arriving by land and water, and every rumour was exaggerated and
distorted by the way. From the day on which the news of the ignominious
battle arrived, down to the very eve of the trial, public opinion
had been very unfavourable to the prisoner. His name, we are told by
contemporary pamphleteers, was hardly ever mentioned without a curse.
But, when the crisis of his fate drew nigh, there was, as in our country
there often is, a reaction. All his merits, his courage, his good
nature, his firm adherence to the Protestant religion in the evil times,
were remembered. It was impossible to deny that he was sunk in sloth and
luxury, that he neglected the most important business for his pleasures,
and that he could not say No to a boon companion or to a mistress; but
for these faults excuses and soft names were found. His friends used
without scruple all the arts which could raise a national feeling in his
favour; and these arts were powerfully assisted by the intelligence that
the hatred which was felt towards him in Holland bad vented itself in
indignities to some of his countrymen. The cry was that a bold, jolly,
freehanded English gentleman, of whom the worst that could be said was
that he liked wine and women, was to be shot in order to gratify the
spite of the Dutch. What passed at the trial tended to confirm the
populace in this notion. Most of the witnesses against the prisoner were
Dutch officers. The Dutch real admiral, who took on himself the part of
prosecutor, forgot himself so far as to accuse the judges of partiality.
When at length, on the evening of the third day, Torrington was
pronounced not guilty, many who had recently clamoured for his blood
seemed to be well pleased with his acquittal. He returned to London
free, and with his sword by his side. As his yacht went up the Thames,
every ship which he passed saluted him. He took his seat in the House
of Lords, and even ventured to present himself at court. But most of the
peers looked coldly on him; William would not see him, and ordered him
to be dismissed from the service, [803]
There was another subject about which no vote was passed by either
of the Houses, but about which there is reason to believe that some
acrimonious discussion took place in both. The Whigs, though much less
violent than in the preceding year, could not patiently see Caermarthen
as nearly prime minister as any English subject could be under a prince
of William's character. Though no man had taken a more prominent part in
the Revolution than the Lord President, though no man had more to fear
from a counterrevolution, his old enemies would not believe that he had
from his heart renounced those arbitrary doctrines for which he had
once been zealous, or that he could bear true allegiance to a government
sprung from resistance. Through the last six months of 1690 he was
mercilessly lampooned. Sometimes he was King Thomas and sometimes Tom
the Tyrant, [804] William was adjured not to go to the Continent leaving
his worst enemy close to the ear of the Queen. Halifax, who had, in the
preceding year, been ungenerously and ungratefully persecuted by the
Whigs, was now mentioned by them with respect and regret; for he was the
enemy of their enemy, [805] The face, the figure, the bodily infirmities
of Caermarthen, were ridiculed, [806] Those dealings with the French
Court in which, twelve years before, he had, rather by his misfortune
than by his fault, been implicated, were represented in the most odious
colours. He was reproached with his impeachment and his imprisonment.
Once, it was said, he had escaped; but vengeance might still overtake
him, and London might enjoy the long deferred pleasure of seeing the old
traitor flung off the ladder in the blue riband which he disgraced.
All the members of his family, wife, son, daughters, were assailed with
savage invective and contemptuous sarcasm, [807] All who were supposed
to be closely connected with him by political ties came in for a portion
of this abuse; and none had so large a portion as Lowther. The feeling
indicated by these satires was strong among the Whigs in Parliament.
Several of them deliberated on a plan of attack, and were in hopes that
they should be able to raise such a storm as would make it impossible
for him to remain at the head of affairs. It should seem that, at this
time, his influence in the royal closet was not quite what it had
been. Godolphin, whom he did not love, and could not control, but whose
financial skill had been greatly missed during the summer, was brought
back to the Treasury, and made First Commissioner. Lowther, who was
the Lord President's own man, still sate at the board, but no longer
presided there. It is true that there was not then such a difference as
there now is between the First Lord and his colleagues. Still the change
was important and significant. Marlborough, whom Caermarthen disliked,
was, in military affairs, not less trusted than Godolphin in financial
affairs. The seals which Shrewsbury had resigned in the summer had ever
since been lying in William's secret drawer. The Lord President probably
expected that he should be consulted before they were given away; but he
was disappointed. Sidney was sent for from Ireland; and the seals were
delivered to him. The first intimation which the Lord President received
of this important appointment was not made in a manner likely to soothe
his feelings. "Did you meet the new Secretary of State going out? " said
William. "No, Sir," answered the Lord President; "I met nobody but my
Lord Sidney. " "He is the new Secretary," said William. "He will do till
I find a fit man; and he will be quite willing to resign as soon as I
find a fit man. Any other person that I could put in would think himself
ill used if I were to put him out. " If William had said all that was in
his mind, he would probably have added that Sidney, though not a great
orator or statesman, was one of the very few English politicians who
could be as entirely trusted as Bentinck or Zulestein. Caermarthen
listened with a bitter smile. It was new, he afterwards said, to see a
nobleman placed in the Secretary's office, as a footman was placed in
a box at the theatre, merely in order to keep a seat till his betters
came. But this jest was a cover for serious mortification and alarm. The
situation of the prime minister was unpleasant and even perilous;
and the duration of his power would probably have been short, had
not fortune, just at this moment, put it in his power to confound his
adversaries by rendering a great service to the state, [808]
The Jacobites had seemed in August to be completely crushed. The victory
of the Boyne, and the irresistible explosion of patriotic feeling
produced by the appearance of Tourville's fleet on the coast of
Devonshire, had cowed the boldest champions of hereditary right. Most of
the chief plotters passed some weeks in confinement or in concealment.
But, widely as the ramifications of the conspiracy had extended, only
one traitor suffered the punishment of his crime. This was a man named
Godfrey Cross, who kept an inn on the beach near Rye, and who, when
the French fleet was on the coast of Sussex, had given information
to Tourville. When it appeared that this solitary example was thought
sufficient, when the danger of invasion was over, when the popular
enthusiasm excited by that danger had subsided, when the lenity of the
government had permitted some conspirators to leave their prisons and
had encouraged others to venture out of their hidingplaces, the faction
which had been prostrated and stunned began to give signs of returning
animation. The old traitors again mustered at the old haunts, exchanged
significant looks and eager whispers, and drew from their pockets libels
on the Court of Kensington, and letters in milk and lemon juice from the
Court of Saint Germains. Preston, Dartmouth, Clarendon, Penn, were among
the most busy. With them, was leagued the nonjuring Bishop of Ely, who
was still permitted by the government to reside in the palace, now no
longer his own, and who had, but a short time before, called heaven to
witness that he detested the thought of inviting foreigners to invade
England. One good opportunity had been lost; but another was at hand,
and must not be suffered to escape. The usurper would soon be again out
of England. The administration would soon be again confided to a weak
woman and a divided council. The year which was closing had certainly
been unlucky; but that which was about to commence might be more
auspicious.
In December a meeting of the leading Jacobites was held, [809] The sense
of the assembly, which consisted exclusively of Protestants, was that
something ought to be attempted, but that the difficulties were great.
None ventured to recommend that James should come over unaccompanied
by regular troops. Yet all, taught by the experience of the preceding
summer, dreaded the effect which might be produced by the sight of
French uniforms and standards on English ground. A paper was drawn
up which would, it was hoped, convince both James and Lewis that a
restoration could not be effected without the cordial concurrence of
the nation. France,--such was the substance of this remarkable
document,--might possibly make the island a heap of ruins, but never a
subject province. It was hardly possible for any person, who had not had
an opportunity of observing the temper of the public mind, to imagine
the savage and dogged determination with which men of all classes, sects
and factions were prepared to resist any foreign potentate who should
attempt to conquer the kingdom by force of arms. Nor could England
be governed as a Roman Catholic country. There were five millions of
Protestants in the realm: there were not a hundred thousand Papists:
that such a minority should keep down such a majority was physically
impossible; and to physical impossibility all other considerations
must give way. James would therefore do well to take without delay such
measures as might indicate his resolution to protect the established
religion. Unhappily every letter which arrived from France contained
something tending to irritate feelings which it was most desirable to
soothe. Stories were every where current of slights offered at Saint
Germains to Protestants who had given the highest proof of loyalty by
following into banishment a master zealous for a faith which was not
their own. The edicts which had been issued against the Huguenots might
perhaps have been justified by the anarchical opinions and practices of
those sectaries; but it was the height of injustice and of inhospitality
to put those edicts in force against men who had been driven from their
country solely on account of their attachment to a Roman Catholic
King. Surely sons of the Anglican Church, who had, in obedience to her
teaching, sacrificed all that they most prized on earth to the royal
cause, ought not to be any longer interdicted from assembling in some
modest edifice to celebrate her rites and to receive her consolations.
An announcement that Lewis had, at the request of James, permitted the
English exiles to worship God according to their national forms would
be the best prelude to the great attempt. That attempt ought to be
made early in the spring. A French force must undoubtedly accompany His
Majesty. But he must declare that he brought that force only for the
defence of his person and for the protection of his loving subjects, and
that, as soon as the foreign oppressors had been expelled, the foreign
deliverers should be dismissed. He must also promise to govern according
to law, and must refer all the points which had been in dispute between
him and his people to the decision of a Parliament.
It was determined that Preston should carry to Saint Germains the
resolutions and suggestions of the conspirators, John Ashton, a person
who had been clerk of the closet to Mary of Modena when she was on the
throne, and who was entirely devoted to the interests of the exiled
family, undertook to procure the means of conveyance, and for this
purpose engaged the cooperation of a hotheaded young Jacobite named
Elliot, who only knew in general that a service of some hazard was to be
rendered to the good cause.
It was easy to find in the port of London a vessel the owner of which
was not scrupulous about the use for which it might be wanted. Ashton
and Elliot were introduced to the master of a smack named the James and
Elizabeth. The Jacobite agents pretended to be smugglers, and talked
of the thousands of pounds which might be got by a single lucky trip to
France and back again. A bargain was struck: a sixpence was broken; and
all the arrangements were made for the voyage.
Preston was charged by his friends with a packet containing several
important papers. Among these was a list of the English fleet furnished
by Dartmouth, who was in communication with some of his old companions
in arms, a minute of the resolutions which had been adopted at the
meeting of the conspirators, and the Heads of a Declaration which it
was thought desirable that James should publish at the moment of his
landing. There were also six or seven letters from persons of note in
the Jacobite party. Most of these letters were parables, but parables
which it was not difficult to unriddle. One plotter used the cant of the
law. There was hope that Mr. Jackson would soon recover his estate. The
new landlord was a hard man, and had set the freeholders against him. A
little matter would redeem the whole property. The opinions of the best
counsel were in Mr. Jackson's favour. All that was necessary was that he
should himself appear in Westminster Hall. The final hearing ought to be
before the close of Easter Term. Other writers affected the style of the
Royal Exchange. There was a great demand for a cargo of the right sort.
There was reason to hope that the old firm would soon form profitable
connections with houses with which it had hitherto had no dealings. This
was evidently an allusion to the discontented Whigs. But, it was added,
the shipments must not be delayed. Nothing was so dangerous as to
overstay the market. If the expected goods did not arrive by the tenth
of March, the whole profit of the year would be lost. As to details,
entire reliance might be placed on the excellent factor who was going
over. Clarendon assumed the character of a matchmaker. There was great
hope that the business which he had been negotiating would be brought
to bear, and that the marriage portion would be well secured. "Your
relations," he wrote, in allusion to his recent confinement, "have been
very hard on me this last summer. Yet, as soon as I could go safely
abroad, I pursued the business. " Catharine Sedley entrusted Preston with
a letter in which, without allegory or circumlocution, she complained
that her lover had left her a daughter to support, and begged very
hard for money. But the two most important despatches were from Bishop
Turner. They were directed to Mr. and Mrs. Redding: but the language was
such as it would be thought abject in any gentleman to hold except to
royalty. The Bishop assured their Majesties that he was devoted to their
cause, that he earnestly wished for a great occasion to prove his zeal,
and that he would no more swerve from his duty to them than renounce
his hope of heaven. He added, in phraseology metaphorical indeed, but
perfectly intelligible, that he was the mouthpiece of several of the
nonjuring prelates, and especially of Sancroft. "Sir, I speak in the
plural,"--these are the words of the letter to James,--"because I write
my elder brother's sentiments as well as my own, and the rest of our
family. " The letter to Mary of Modena is to the same effect. "I say this
in behalf of my elder brother, and the rest of my nearest relations, as
well as from myself. " [810]
All the letters with which Preston was charged referred the Court
of Saint Germains to him for fuller information. He carried with him
minutes in his own handwriting of the subjects on which he was to
converse with his master and with the ministers of Lewis. These minutes,
though concise and desultory, can for the most part be interpreted
without difficulty. The vulnerable points of the coast are mentioned.
Gosport is defended only by palisades. The garrison of Portsmouth is
small. The French fleet ought to be out in April, and to fight before
the Dutch are in the Channel. There are a few broken words clearly
importing that some at least of the nonjuring bishops, when they
declared, before God, that they abhorred the thought of inviting the
French over, were dissembling, [811]
Every thing was now ready for Preston's departure. But the owner of the
James and Elizabeth had conceived a suspicion that the expedition for
which his smack had been hired was rather of a political than of
a commercial nature. It occurred to him that more might be made
by informing against his passengers than by conveying them safely.
Intelligence of what was passing was conveyed to the Lord President. No
intelligence could be more welcome to him. He was delighted to find
that it was in his power to give a signal proof of his attachment to the
government which his enemies had accused him of betraying. He took his
measures with his usual energy and dexterity. His eldest son, the Earl
of Danby, a bold, volatile, and somewhat eccentric young man, was fond
of the sea, lived much among sailors, and was the proprietor of a small
yacht of marvellous speed. This vessel, well manned, was placed under
the command of a trusty officer named Billop, and was sent down the
river, as if for the purpose of pressing mariners.
At dead of night, the last night of the year 1690, Preston, Ashton and
Elliot went on board of their smack near the Tower. They were in great
dread lest they should be stopped and searched, either by a frigate
which lay off Woolwich, or by the guard posted at the blockhouse of
Gravesend. But, when they had passed both frigate and blockhouse without
being challenged, their spirits rose: their appetite became keen; they
unpacked a hamper well stored with roast beef, mince pies, and bottles
of wine, and were just sitting down to their Christmas cheer, when the
alarm was given that a vessel from Tilbury was flying through the water
after them. They had scarcely time to hide themselves in a dark hole
among the gravel which was the ballast of their smack, when the chase
was over, and Billop, at the head of an armed party, came on board.
The
hatches were taken up: the conspirators were arrested; and their clothes
were strictly examined. Preston, in his agitation, had dropped on the
gravel his official seal and the packet of which he was the bearer. The
seal was discovered where it had fallen. Ashton, aware of the importance
of the papers, snatched them up and tried to conceal them; but they were
soon found in his bosom.
The prisoners then tried to cajole or to corrupt Billop. They called for
wine, pledged him, praised his gentlemanlike demeanour, and assured him
that, if he would accompany them, nay, if he would only let that little
roll of paper fall overboard into the Thames, his fortune would be made.
The tide of affairs, they said, was on the turn, things could not go on
for ever as they had gone on of late and it was in the captain's power
to be as great and as rich as he could desire. Billop, though courteous,
was inflexible. The conspirators became sensible that their necks
were in imminent danger. The emergency brought out strongly the
true characters of all the three, characters which, but for such an
emergency, might have remained for ever unknown. Preston had always been
reputed a highspirited and gallant gentleman; but the near prospect of
a dungeon and a gallows altogether unmanned him. Elliot stormed and
blasphemed, vowed that, if he ever got free, he would be revenged, and,
with horrible imprecations, called on the thunder to strike the yacht,
and on London Bridge to fall in and crush her. Ashton alone behaved with
manly firmness.
Late in the evening the yacht reached Whitehall Stairs; and the
prisoners, strongly guarded, were conducted to the Secretary's office.
The papers which had been found in Ashton's bosom were inspected that
night by Nottingham and Caermarthen, and were, on the following morning,
put by Caermarthen into the hands of the King.
Soon it was known all over London that a plot had been detected, that
the messengers whom the adherents of James had sent to solicit the help
of an invading army from France had been arrested by the agents of the
vigilant and energetic Lord President, and that documentary evidence,
which might affect the lives of some great men, was in the possession
of the government. The Jacobites were terrorstricken; the clamour of the
Whigs against Caermarthen was suddenly hushed; and the Session ended in
perfect harmony. On the fifth of January the King thanked the Houses
for their support, and assured them that he would not grant away any
forfeited property in Ireland till they should reassemble. He alluded to
the plot which had just been discovered, and expressed a hope that the
friends of England would not, at such a moment, be less active or less
firmly united than her enemies. He then signified his pleasure that the
Parliament should adjourn. On the following day he set out, attended by
a splendid train of nobles, for the Congress at the Hague, [812]
*****
[Footnote 1: Letter from Lady Cavendish to Sylvia. Lady Cavendish, like
most of the clever girls of that generation, had Scudery's romances
always in her head. She is Dorinda: her correspondent, supposed to be
her cousin Jane Allington, is Sylvia: William is Ormanzor, and Mary
Phenixana. London Gazette, Feb. 14 1688/9; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.
Luttrell's Diary, which I shall very often quote, is in the library of
All Souls' College. I am greatly obliged to the Warden for the kindness
with which he allowed me access to this valuable manuscript. ]
[Footnote 2: See the London Gazettes of February and March 1688/9, and
Narcissus Luttrell's Diary. ]
[Footnote 3: Wagenaar, lxi. He quotes the proceedings of the States of
the 2nd of March, 1689. London Gazette, April 11, 1689; Monthly Mercury
for April, 1689. ]
[Footnote 4: "I may be positive," says a writer who had been educated at
Westminster School, "where I heard one sermon of repentance, faith, and
the renewing of the Holy Ghost, I heard three of the other; and 'tis
hard to say whether Jesus Christ or King Charles the First were oftener
mentioned and magnified. " Bisset's Modern Fanatick, 1710. ]
[Footnote 5: Paris Gazette, Jan 26/Feb 5 1689. Orange Gazette, London,
Jan. 10. 1688/9]
[Footnote 6: Grey's Debates; Howe's speech; Feb. 26. 1688/9; Boscawen's
speech, March 1; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Feb. 23-27. ]
[Footnote 7: Grey's Debates; Feb. 26. 1688/9]
[Footnote 8: This illustration is repeated to satiety in sermons and
pamphlets of the time of William the Third. There is a poor imitation of
Absalom and Ahitophel entitled the Murmurers. William is Moses; Corah,
Dathan and Abiram, nonjuring Bishops; Balaam, I think, Dryden; and
Phinchas Shrewsbury,]
[Footnote 9: Reresby's Memoirs. ]
[Footnote 10: Here, and in many other places, I abstain from citing
authorities, because my authorities are too numerous to cite. My notions
of the temper and relative position of political and religious parties
in the reign of William the Third, have been derived, not from any
single work, but from thousands of forgotten tracts, sermons, and
satires; in fact, from a whole literature which is mouldering in old
libraries. ]
[Footnote 11: The following passage in a tract of that time expresses
the general opinion. "He has better knowledge of foreign affairs than we
have; but in English business it is no dishonour to him to be told his
relation to us, the nature of it, and what is fit for him to do. "--An
Honest Commoner's Speech. ]
[Footnote 12: London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9]
[Footnote 13: London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9; Sir J. Reresby's
Memoirs. ]
[Footnote 14: London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9; Lords' Journals. ]
[Footnote 15: Burnet, ii. 4. ]
[Footnote 16: These memoirs will be found in a manuscript volume, which
is part of the Harleian Collection, and is numbered 6584. They are in
fact, the first outlines of a great part of Burnet's History of His Own
Times. The dates at which the different portions of this most curious
and interesting book were composed are marked. Almost the whole was
written before the death of Mary. Burnet did not begin to prepare his
History of William's reign for the press till ten years later. By
that time his opinions both of men and of things, had undergone great
changes. The value of the rough draught is therefore very great: for
it contains some facts which he afterwards thought it advisable to
suppress, and some judgments which he afterwards saw cause to alter.
I must own that I generally like his first thoughts best. Whenever
his History is reprinted, it ought to be carefully collated with this
volume.
When I refer to the Burnet MS. Harl. 6584, I wish the reader to
understand that the MS. contains something which is not to be found in
the History.
As to Nottingham's appointment, see Burnet, ii. 8; the London Gazette of
March 7. 1688/9; and Clarendon's Diary of Feb. 15. ]
[Footnote 17: London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9]
[Footnote 18: Don Pedro de Ronquillo makes this objection. ]
[Footnote 19: London Gazette, March 11 1688/9. ]
[Footnote 20: Ibid. ]
[Footnote 21: I have followed what seems to me the most probable story.
But it has been doubted whether Nottingham was invited to be Chancellor,
or only to be First Commissioner of the Great Seal. Compare Burnet ii.
3. , and Boyer's History of William, 1702. Narcissus Luttrell repeatedly,
and even as late as the close of 1692, speaks of Nottingham as likely to
be Chancellor. ]
[Footnote 22: Roger North relates an amusing story about Shaftesbury's
embarrassments. ]
[Footnote 23: London Gazette March 4. 1688/9]
[Footnote 24: Burnet ii. 5. ]
[Footnote 25: The Protestant Mask taken off from the Jesuited
Englishman, 1692. ]
[Footnote 26: These appointments were not announced in the Gazette till
the 6th of May; but some of them were made earlier. ]
[Footnote 27: Kennet's Funeral Sermon on the first Duke of Devonshire,
and Memoirs of the Family of Cavendish, 1708. ]
[Footnote 28: See a poem entitled, A Votive Tablet to the King and
Queen. ]
[Footnote 29: See Prior's Dedication of his Poems to Dorset's son and
successor, and Dryden's Essay on Satire prefixed to the Translations
from Juvenal. There is a bitter sneer on Dryden's effeminate
querulousness in Collier's Short View of the Stage. In Blackmore's
Prince Arthur, a poem which, worthless as it is, contains some curious
allusions to contemporary men and events, are the following lines:
"The poets' nation did obsequious wait
For the kind dole divided at his gate.
Laurus among the meagre crowd appeared,
An old, revolted, unbelieving bard,
Who thronged, and shoved, and pressed, and would be heard.
Sakil's high roof, the Muses' palace, rung
With endless cries, and endless sons he sung.
To bless good Sakil Laurus would be first;
But Sakil's prince and Sakil's God he curst.
Sakil without distinction threw his bread,
Despised the flatterer, but the poet fed. "
I need not say that Sakil is Sackville, or that Laurus is a
translation of the famous nickname Bayes. ]
[Footnote 30: Scarcely any man of that age is more frequently mentioned
in pamphlets and satires than Howe. In the famous petition of Legion,
he is designated as "that impudent scandal of Parliaments. " Mackay's
account of him is curious. In a poem written in 1690, which I have never
seen except in manuscript, are the following lines:
"First for Jack Howe with his terrible talent,
Happy the female that scopes his lampoon;
Against the ladies excessively valiant,
But very respectful to a Dragoon. "]
[Footnote 31: Sprat's True Account; North's Examen; Letter to Chief
Justice Holt, 1694; Letter to Secretary Trenchard, 1694. ]
[Footnote 32: Van Citters, Feb 19/March 1 1688/9]
[Footnote 33: Stat. I W. &M. sess. i. c. I. See the Journals of the two
Houses, and Grey's Debates. The argument in favour of the bill is well
stated in the Paris Gazettes of March 5. and 12. 1689. ]
[Footnote 34: Both Van Citters and Ronquillo mention the anxiety which
was felt in London till the result was known. ]
[Footnote 35: Lords' Journals, March 1688/9]
[Footnote 36: See the letters of Rochester and of Lady Ranelagh to
Burnet on this occasion. ]
[Footnote 37: Journals of the Commons, March 2. 1688/9 Ronquillo
wrote as follows: "Es de gran consideracion que Seimor haya tomado el
juramento; porque es el arrengador y el director principal, en la casa
de los Comunes, de los Anglicanos. " March 8/18 1688/9]
[Footnote 38: Grey's Debates, Feb. 25, 26, and 27. 1688/9]
[Footnote 39: Commons' Journals, and Grey's Debates, March 1. 1688/9]
[Footnote 40: I W. & M. sess. I c. [10]; Burnet, ii. 13. ]
[Footnote 41: Commons' Journals, March 15. 1688/9 So late as 1713,
Arbuthnot, in the fifth part of John Bull, alluded to this transaction
with much pleasantry. "As to your Venire Facias," says John to Nick
Frog, "I have paid you for one already. "]
[Footnote 42: Wagenaar, lxi. ]
[Footnote 43: Commons' Journals, March 15. 1688/9. ]
[Footnote 44: Reresby's Memoirs. ]
[Footnote 45: Commons' Journals, and Grey's Debates, March 15. 1688/9;
London Gazette, March 18. ]
[Footnote 46: As to the state of this region in the latter part of the
seventeenth and the earlier part of the eighteenth century, see Pepys's
Diary, Sept. 18. 1663, and the Tour through the whole Island of Great
Britain, 1724. ]
[Footnote 47: London Gazette, March 25. 1689; Van Citters to the States
General, March 22/April 1 Letters of Nottingham in the State Paper
Office, dated July 23 and August 9. 1689; Historical Record of the First
Regiment of Foot, printed by authority. See also a curious digression in
the Compleat History of the Life and Military Actions of Richard, Earl
of Tyrconnel, 1689. ]
[Footnote 48: Stat. I W. &M. sess. I. c. 5. ; Commons' Journals, March 28.
1689. ]
[Footnote 49: Stat. I W. & M. sess. I. c. 2. ]
[Footnote 50: Ronquillo, March 8/18. 1689. ]
[Footnote 51: See the account given in Spence's Anecdotes of the Origin
of Dryden's Medal. ]
[Footnote 52: Guardian, No. 67. ]
[Footnote 53: There is abundant proof that William, though a very
affectionate, was not always a polite husband. But no credit is due to
the story contained in the letter which Dalrymple was foolish enough to
publish as Nottingham's in 1773, and wise enough to omit in the edition
of 1790. How any person who knew any thing of the history of those
times could be so strangely deceived, it is not easy to understand
particularly as the handwriting bears no resemblance to Nottingham's,
with which Dalrymple was familiar. The letter is evidently a common
newsletter, written by a scribbler, who had never seen the King and
Queen except at some public place, and whose anecdotes of their private
life rested on no better authority than coffeehouse gossip. ]
[Footnote 54: Ronquillo; Burnet, ii. 2. ; Duchess of Marlborough's
Vindication. In a pastoral dialogue between Philander and Palaemon,
published in 1691, the dislike with which women of fashion regarded
William is mentioned. Philander says
"But man methinks his reason should recall,
Nor let frail woman work his second fall. "]
[Footnote 55: Tutchin's Observator of November 16. 1706. ]
[Footnote 56: Prior, who was treated by William with much kindness,
and who was very grateful for it, informs us that the King did
not understand poetical eulogy. The passage is in a highly curious
manuscript, the property of Lord Lansdowne. ]
[Footnote 57: Memoires originaux sur le regne et la cour de Frederic I,
Roi de Prusse, ecrits par Christophe Comte de Dohna. Berlin, 1833. It
is strange that this interesting volume should be almost unknown in
England. The only copy that I have ever seen of it was kindly given to
me by Sir Robert Adair. "Le Roi," Dohna says, "avoit une autre qualite
tres estimable, qui est celle de n'aimer point qu'on rendit de mauvais
offices a personne par des railleries. " The Marquis de La Fork tried
to entertain His Majesty at the expense of an English nobleman. "Ce
prince," says Dohna "prit son air severe, et, le regardant sans mot
dire, lui fit rentrer les paroles dans le ventre. Le Marquis m'en fit
ses plaintes quelques heures apres. 'J'ai mal pris ma bisque,' dit-il;
'j'ai cru faire l'agreable sur le chapitre de Milord. . mais j'ai trouva
a qui parler, et j'ai attrape un regard du roi qui m'a fait passer
l'envie de tire. '" Dohna supposed that William might be less sensitive
about the character of a Frenchman, and tried the experiment. But, says
he, "j'eus a pert pres le meme sort que M. de la Foret. "]
[Footnote 58: Compare the account of Mary by the Whig Burnet with the
mention of her by the Tory Evelyn in his Diary, March 8. 1694/5,
and with what is said of her by the Nonjuror who wrote the Letter to
Archbishop Tennison on her death in 1695. The impression which the
bluntness and reserve of William and the grace and gentleness of Mary
had made on the populace may be traced in the remains of the street
poetry of that time.
speech from the throne called forth the loud acclamations of Lords and
Commons, [794] Thanks were unanimously voted by both Houses to the King
for his achievements in Ireland, and to the Queen for the prudence
with which she had, during his absence, governed England, [795] Thus
commenced a Session distinguished among the Sessions of that reign by
harmony and tranquillity. No report of the debates has been preserved,
unless a long forgotten lampoon, in which some of the speeches made on
the first day are burlesqued in doggrel rhymes, may be called a report,
[796] The time of the Commons appears to have been chiefly occupied
in discussing questions arising out of the elections of the preceding
spring. The supplies necessary for the war, though large, were granted
with alacrity. The number of regular troops for the next year was
fixed at seventy thousand, of whom twelve thousand were to be horse or
dragoons. The charge of this army, the greatest that England had ever
maintained, amounted to about two million three hundred thousand pounds;
the charge of the navy to about eighteen hundred thousand pounds. The
charge of the ordnance was included in these sums, and was roughly
estimated at one eighth of the naval and one fifth of the military
expenditure, [797] The whole of the extraordinary aid granted to the
King exceeded four millions.
The Commons justly thought that the extraordinary liberality with
which they had provided for the public service entitled them to demand
extraordinary securities against waste and peculation. A bill was
brought in empowering nine Commissioners to examine and state the public
accounts. The nine were named in the bill, and were all members of the
Lower House. The Lords agreed to the bill without amendments; and the
King gave his assent, [798]
The debates on the Ways and Means occupied a considerable part of the
Session. It was resolved that sixteen hundred and fifty thousand pounds
should be raised by a direct monthly assessment on land. The excise
duties on ale and beer were doubled; and the import duties on raw silk,
linen, timber, glass, and some other articles, were increased, [799]
Thus far there was little difference of opinion. But soon the smooth
course of business was disturbed by a proposition which was much more
popular than just or humane. Taxes of unprecedented severity had been
imposed; and yet it might well be doubted whether these taxes would be
sufficient. Why, it was asked, should not the cost of the Irish war be
borne by the Irish insurgents? How those insurgents had acted in their
mock Parliament all the world knew; and nothing could be more reasonable
than to mete to them from their own measure. They ought to be treated
as they had treated the Saxon colony. Every acre which the Act of
Settlement had left them ought to be seized by the state for the purpose
of defraying that expense which their turbulence and perverseness had
made necessary. It is not strange that a plan which at once gratified
national animosity, and held out the hope of pecuniary relief, should
have been welcomed with eager delight. A bill was brought in which bore
but too much resemblance to some of the laws passed by the Jacobite
legislators of Dublin. By this bill it was provided that the property of
every person who had been in rebellion against the King and Queen since
the day on which they were proclaimed should be confiscated, and that
the proceeds should be applied to the support of the war. An exception
was made in favour of such Protestants as had merely submitted to
superior force; but to Papists no indulgence was shown. The royal
prerogative of clemency was limited. The King might indeed, if such were
his pleasure, spare the lives of his vanquished enemies; but he was not
to be permitted to save any part of their estates from the general doom.
He was not to have it in his power to grant a capitulation which should
secure to Irish Roman Catholics the enjoyment of their hereditary lands.
Nay, he was not to be allowed to keep faith with persons whom he had
already received to mercy, who had kissed his hand, and had heard from
his lips the promise of protection. An attempt was made to insert a
proviso in favour of Lord Dover. Dover, who, with all his faults, was
not without some English feelings, had, by defending the interests of
his native country at Dublin, made himself odious to both the Irish and
the French. After the battle of the Boyne his situation was deplorable.
Neither at Limerick nor at Saint Germains could he hope to be welcomed.
In his despair, he threw himself at William's feet, promised to live
peaceably, and was graciously assured that he had nothing to fear.
Though the royal word seemed to be pledged to this unfortunate man,
the Commons resolved, by a hundred and nineteen votes to a hundred
and twelve, that his property should not be exempted from the general
confiscation.
The bill went up to the Peers, but the Peers were not inclined to pass
it without considerable amendments; and such amendments there was
not time to make. Numerous heirs at law, reversioners, and creditors
implored the Upper House to introduce such provisoes as might secure the
innocent against all danger of being involved in the punishment of the
guilty. Some petitioners asked to be heard by counsel. The King had made
all his arrangements for a voyage to the Hague; and the day beyond which
he could not postpone his departure drew near. The bill was therefore,
happily for the honour of English legislation, consigned to that dark
repository in which the abortive statutes of many generations sleep a
sleep rarely disturbed by the historian or the antiquary, [800]
Another question, which slightly and but slightly discomposed the
tranquillity of this short session, arose out of the disastrous and
disgraceful battle of Beachy Head. Torrington had, immediately after
that battle, been sent to the Tower, and had ever since remained there.
A technical difficulty had arisen about the mode of bringing him to
trial. There was no Lord High Admiral; and whether the Commissioners of
the Admiralty were competent to execute martial law was a point which
to some jurists appeared not perfectly clear. The majority of the judges
held that the Commissioners were competent; but, for the purpose of
removing all doubt, a bill was brought into the Upper House; and to this
bill several Lords offered an opposition which seems to have been most
unreasonable. The proposed law, they said, was a retrospective penal
law, and therefore objectionable. If they used this argument in good
faith, they were ignorant of the very rudiments of the science of
legislation. To make a law for punishing that which, at the time when it
was done, was not punishable, is contrary to all sound principle. But
a law which merely alters the criminal procedure may with perfect
propriety be made applicable to past as well as to future offences. It
would have been the grossest injustice to give a retrospective operation
to the law which made slavetrading felony. But there was not the
smallest injustice in enacting that the Central Criminal Court
should try felonies committed long before that Court was in being. In
Torrington's case the substantive law continued to be what it had always
been. The definition of the crime, the amount of the penalty, remained
unaltered. The only change was in the form of procedure; and that change
the legislature was perfectly justified in making retrospectively.
It is indeed hardly possible to believe that some of those who opposed
the bill were duped by the fallacy of which they condescended to make
use. The feeling of caste was strong among the Lords. That one of
themselves should be tried for his life by a court composed of plebeians
seemed to them a degradation of their whole order. If their noble
brother had offended, articles of impeachment ought to be exhibited
against him: Westminster Hall ought to be fitted up: his peers ought
to meet in their robes, and to give in their verdict on their honour;
a Lord High Steward ought to pronounce the sentence and to break the
staff. There was an end of privilege if an Earl was to be doomed to
death by tarpaulins seated round a table in the cabin of a ship. These
feelings had so much influence that the bill passed the Upper House by a
majority of only two, [801] In the Lower House, where the dignities and
immunities of the nobility were regarded with no friendly feeling, there
was little difference of opinion. Torrington requested to be heard at
the bar, and spoke there at great length, but weakly and confusedly. He
boasted of his services, of his sacrifices, and of his wounds. He abused
the Dutch, the Board of Admiralty, and the Secretary of State. The bill,
however, went through all its stages without a division, [802]
Early in December Torrington was sent under a guard down the river to
Sheerness. There the Court Martial met on board of a frigate named the
Kent. The investigation lasted three days; and during those days the
ferment was great in London. Nothing was heard of on the exchange, in
the coffeehouses, nay even at the church doors, but Torrington. Parties
ran high; wagers to an immense amount were depending; rumours were
hourly arriving by land and water, and every rumour was exaggerated and
distorted by the way. From the day on which the news of the ignominious
battle arrived, down to the very eve of the trial, public opinion
had been very unfavourable to the prisoner. His name, we are told by
contemporary pamphleteers, was hardly ever mentioned without a curse.
But, when the crisis of his fate drew nigh, there was, as in our country
there often is, a reaction. All his merits, his courage, his good
nature, his firm adherence to the Protestant religion in the evil times,
were remembered. It was impossible to deny that he was sunk in sloth and
luxury, that he neglected the most important business for his pleasures,
and that he could not say No to a boon companion or to a mistress; but
for these faults excuses and soft names were found. His friends used
without scruple all the arts which could raise a national feeling in his
favour; and these arts were powerfully assisted by the intelligence that
the hatred which was felt towards him in Holland bad vented itself in
indignities to some of his countrymen. The cry was that a bold, jolly,
freehanded English gentleman, of whom the worst that could be said was
that he liked wine and women, was to be shot in order to gratify the
spite of the Dutch. What passed at the trial tended to confirm the
populace in this notion. Most of the witnesses against the prisoner were
Dutch officers. The Dutch real admiral, who took on himself the part of
prosecutor, forgot himself so far as to accuse the judges of partiality.
When at length, on the evening of the third day, Torrington was
pronounced not guilty, many who had recently clamoured for his blood
seemed to be well pleased with his acquittal. He returned to London
free, and with his sword by his side. As his yacht went up the Thames,
every ship which he passed saluted him. He took his seat in the House
of Lords, and even ventured to present himself at court. But most of the
peers looked coldly on him; William would not see him, and ordered him
to be dismissed from the service, [803]
There was another subject about which no vote was passed by either
of the Houses, but about which there is reason to believe that some
acrimonious discussion took place in both. The Whigs, though much less
violent than in the preceding year, could not patiently see Caermarthen
as nearly prime minister as any English subject could be under a prince
of William's character. Though no man had taken a more prominent part in
the Revolution than the Lord President, though no man had more to fear
from a counterrevolution, his old enemies would not believe that he had
from his heart renounced those arbitrary doctrines for which he had
once been zealous, or that he could bear true allegiance to a government
sprung from resistance. Through the last six months of 1690 he was
mercilessly lampooned. Sometimes he was King Thomas and sometimes Tom
the Tyrant, [804] William was adjured not to go to the Continent leaving
his worst enemy close to the ear of the Queen. Halifax, who had, in the
preceding year, been ungenerously and ungratefully persecuted by the
Whigs, was now mentioned by them with respect and regret; for he was the
enemy of their enemy, [805] The face, the figure, the bodily infirmities
of Caermarthen, were ridiculed, [806] Those dealings with the French
Court in which, twelve years before, he had, rather by his misfortune
than by his fault, been implicated, were represented in the most odious
colours. He was reproached with his impeachment and his imprisonment.
Once, it was said, he had escaped; but vengeance might still overtake
him, and London might enjoy the long deferred pleasure of seeing the old
traitor flung off the ladder in the blue riband which he disgraced.
All the members of his family, wife, son, daughters, were assailed with
savage invective and contemptuous sarcasm, [807] All who were supposed
to be closely connected with him by political ties came in for a portion
of this abuse; and none had so large a portion as Lowther. The feeling
indicated by these satires was strong among the Whigs in Parliament.
Several of them deliberated on a plan of attack, and were in hopes that
they should be able to raise such a storm as would make it impossible
for him to remain at the head of affairs. It should seem that, at this
time, his influence in the royal closet was not quite what it had
been. Godolphin, whom he did not love, and could not control, but whose
financial skill had been greatly missed during the summer, was brought
back to the Treasury, and made First Commissioner. Lowther, who was
the Lord President's own man, still sate at the board, but no longer
presided there. It is true that there was not then such a difference as
there now is between the First Lord and his colleagues. Still the change
was important and significant. Marlborough, whom Caermarthen disliked,
was, in military affairs, not less trusted than Godolphin in financial
affairs. The seals which Shrewsbury had resigned in the summer had ever
since been lying in William's secret drawer. The Lord President probably
expected that he should be consulted before they were given away; but he
was disappointed. Sidney was sent for from Ireland; and the seals were
delivered to him. The first intimation which the Lord President received
of this important appointment was not made in a manner likely to soothe
his feelings. "Did you meet the new Secretary of State going out? " said
William. "No, Sir," answered the Lord President; "I met nobody but my
Lord Sidney. " "He is the new Secretary," said William. "He will do till
I find a fit man; and he will be quite willing to resign as soon as I
find a fit man. Any other person that I could put in would think himself
ill used if I were to put him out. " If William had said all that was in
his mind, he would probably have added that Sidney, though not a great
orator or statesman, was one of the very few English politicians who
could be as entirely trusted as Bentinck or Zulestein. Caermarthen
listened with a bitter smile. It was new, he afterwards said, to see a
nobleman placed in the Secretary's office, as a footman was placed in
a box at the theatre, merely in order to keep a seat till his betters
came. But this jest was a cover for serious mortification and alarm. The
situation of the prime minister was unpleasant and even perilous;
and the duration of his power would probably have been short, had
not fortune, just at this moment, put it in his power to confound his
adversaries by rendering a great service to the state, [808]
The Jacobites had seemed in August to be completely crushed. The victory
of the Boyne, and the irresistible explosion of patriotic feeling
produced by the appearance of Tourville's fleet on the coast of
Devonshire, had cowed the boldest champions of hereditary right. Most of
the chief plotters passed some weeks in confinement or in concealment.
But, widely as the ramifications of the conspiracy had extended, only
one traitor suffered the punishment of his crime. This was a man named
Godfrey Cross, who kept an inn on the beach near Rye, and who, when
the French fleet was on the coast of Sussex, had given information
to Tourville. When it appeared that this solitary example was thought
sufficient, when the danger of invasion was over, when the popular
enthusiasm excited by that danger had subsided, when the lenity of the
government had permitted some conspirators to leave their prisons and
had encouraged others to venture out of their hidingplaces, the faction
which had been prostrated and stunned began to give signs of returning
animation. The old traitors again mustered at the old haunts, exchanged
significant looks and eager whispers, and drew from their pockets libels
on the Court of Kensington, and letters in milk and lemon juice from the
Court of Saint Germains. Preston, Dartmouth, Clarendon, Penn, were among
the most busy. With them, was leagued the nonjuring Bishop of Ely, who
was still permitted by the government to reside in the palace, now no
longer his own, and who had, but a short time before, called heaven to
witness that he detested the thought of inviting foreigners to invade
England. One good opportunity had been lost; but another was at hand,
and must not be suffered to escape. The usurper would soon be again out
of England. The administration would soon be again confided to a weak
woman and a divided council. The year which was closing had certainly
been unlucky; but that which was about to commence might be more
auspicious.
In December a meeting of the leading Jacobites was held, [809] The sense
of the assembly, which consisted exclusively of Protestants, was that
something ought to be attempted, but that the difficulties were great.
None ventured to recommend that James should come over unaccompanied
by regular troops. Yet all, taught by the experience of the preceding
summer, dreaded the effect which might be produced by the sight of
French uniforms and standards on English ground. A paper was drawn
up which would, it was hoped, convince both James and Lewis that a
restoration could not be effected without the cordial concurrence of
the nation. France,--such was the substance of this remarkable
document,--might possibly make the island a heap of ruins, but never a
subject province. It was hardly possible for any person, who had not had
an opportunity of observing the temper of the public mind, to imagine
the savage and dogged determination with which men of all classes, sects
and factions were prepared to resist any foreign potentate who should
attempt to conquer the kingdom by force of arms. Nor could England
be governed as a Roman Catholic country. There were five millions of
Protestants in the realm: there were not a hundred thousand Papists:
that such a minority should keep down such a majority was physically
impossible; and to physical impossibility all other considerations
must give way. James would therefore do well to take without delay such
measures as might indicate his resolution to protect the established
religion. Unhappily every letter which arrived from France contained
something tending to irritate feelings which it was most desirable to
soothe. Stories were every where current of slights offered at Saint
Germains to Protestants who had given the highest proof of loyalty by
following into banishment a master zealous for a faith which was not
their own. The edicts which had been issued against the Huguenots might
perhaps have been justified by the anarchical opinions and practices of
those sectaries; but it was the height of injustice and of inhospitality
to put those edicts in force against men who had been driven from their
country solely on account of their attachment to a Roman Catholic
King. Surely sons of the Anglican Church, who had, in obedience to her
teaching, sacrificed all that they most prized on earth to the royal
cause, ought not to be any longer interdicted from assembling in some
modest edifice to celebrate her rites and to receive her consolations.
An announcement that Lewis had, at the request of James, permitted the
English exiles to worship God according to their national forms would
be the best prelude to the great attempt. That attempt ought to be
made early in the spring. A French force must undoubtedly accompany His
Majesty. But he must declare that he brought that force only for the
defence of his person and for the protection of his loving subjects, and
that, as soon as the foreign oppressors had been expelled, the foreign
deliverers should be dismissed. He must also promise to govern according
to law, and must refer all the points which had been in dispute between
him and his people to the decision of a Parliament.
It was determined that Preston should carry to Saint Germains the
resolutions and suggestions of the conspirators, John Ashton, a person
who had been clerk of the closet to Mary of Modena when she was on the
throne, and who was entirely devoted to the interests of the exiled
family, undertook to procure the means of conveyance, and for this
purpose engaged the cooperation of a hotheaded young Jacobite named
Elliot, who only knew in general that a service of some hazard was to be
rendered to the good cause.
It was easy to find in the port of London a vessel the owner of which
was not scrupulous about the use for which it might be wanted. Ashton
and Elliot were introduced to the master of a smack named the James and
Elizabeth. The Jacobite agents pretended to be smugglers, and talked
of the thousands of pounds which might be got by a single lucky trip to
France and back again. A bargain was struck: a sixpence was broken; and
all the arrangements were made for the voyage.
Preston was charged by his friends with a packet containing several
important papers. Among these was a list of the English fleet furnished
by Dartmouth, who was in communication with some of his old companions
in arms, a minute of the resolutions which had been adopted at the
meeting of the conspirators, and the Heads of a Declaration which it
was thought desirable that James should publish at the moment of his
landing. There were also six or seven letters from persons of note in
the Jacobite party. Most of these letters were parables, but parables
which it was not difficult to unriddle. One plotter used the cant of the
law. There was hope that Mr. Jackson would soon recover his estate. The
new landlord was a hard man, and had set the freeholders against him. A
little matter would redeem the whole property. The opinions of the best
counsel were in Mr. Jackson's favour. All that was necessary was that he
should himself appear in Westminster Hall. The final hearing ought to be
before the close of Easter Term. Other writers affected the style of the
Royal Exchange. There was a great demand for a cargo of the right sort.
There was reason to hope that the old firm would soon form profitable
connections with houses with which it had hitherto had no dealings. This
was evidently an allusion to the discontented Whigs. But, it was added,
the shipments must not be delayed. Nothing was so dangerous as to
overstay the market. If the expected goods did not arrive by the tenth
of March, the whole profit of the year would be lost. As to details,
entire reliance might be placed on the excellent factor who was going
over. Clarendon assumed the character of a matchmaker. There was great
hope that the business which he had been negotiating would be brought
to bear, and that the marriage portion would be well secured. "Your
relations," he wrote, in allusion to his recent confinement, "have been
very hard on me this last summer. Yet, as soon as I could go safely
abroad, I pursued the business. " Catharine Sedley entrusted Preston with
a letter in which, without allegory or circumlocution, she complained
that her lover had left her a daughter to support, and begged very
hard for money. But the two most important despatches were from Bishop
Turner. They were directed to Mr. and Mrs. Redding: but the language was
such as it would be thought abject in any gentleman to hold except to
royalty. The Bishop assured their Majesties that he was devoted to their
cause, that he earnestly wished for a great occasion to prove his zeal,
and that he would no more swerve from his duty to them than renounce
his hope of heaven. He added, in phraseology metaphorical indeed, but
perfectly intelligible, that he was the mouthpiece of several of the
nonjuring prelates, and especially of Sancroft. "Sir, I speak in the
plural,"--these are the words of the letter to James,--"because I write
my elder brother's sentiments as well as my own, and the rest of our
family. " The letter to Mary of Modena is to the same effect. "I say this
in behalf of my elder brother, and the rest of my nearest relations, as
well as from myself. " [810]
All the letters with which Preston was charged referred the Court
of Saint Germains to him for fuller information. He carried with him
minutes in his own handwriting of the subjects on which he was to
converse with his master and with the ministers of Lewis. These minutes,
though concise and desultory, can for the most part be interpreted
without difficulty. The vulnerable points of the coast are mentioned.
Gosport is defended only by palisades. The garrison of Portsmouth is
small. The French fleet ought to be out in April, and to fight before
the Dutch are in the Channel. There are a few broken words clearly
importing that some at least of the nonjuring bishops, when they
declared, before God, that they abhorred the thought of inviting the
French over, were dissembling, [811]
Every thing was now ready for Preston's departure. But the owner of the
James and Elizabeth had conceived a suspicion that the expedition for
which his smack had been hired was rather of a political than of
a commercial nature. It occurred to him that more might be made
by informing against his passengers than by conveying them safely.
Intelligence of what was passing was conveyed to the Lord President. No
intelligence could be more welcome to him. He was delighted to find
that it was in his power to give a signal proof of his attachment to the
government which his enemies had accused him of betraying. He took his
measures with his usual energy and dexterity. His eldest son, the Earl
of Danby, a bold, volatile, and somewhat eccentric young man, was fond
of the sea, lived much among sailors, and was the proprietor of a small
yacht of marvellous speed. This vessel, well manned, was placed under
the command of a trusty officer named Billop, and was sent down the
river, as if for the purpose of pressing mariners.
At dead of night, the last night of the year 1690, Preston, Ashton and
Elliot went on board of their smack near the Tower. They were in great
dread lest they should be stopped and searched, either by a frigate
which lay off Woolwich, or by the guard posted at the blockhouse of
Gravesend. But, when they had passed both frigate and blockhouse without
being challenged, their spirits rose: their appetite became keen; they
unpacked a hamper well stored with roast beef, mince pies, and bottles
of wine, and were just sitting down to their Christmas cheer, when the
alarm was given that a vessel from Tilbury was flying through the water
after them. They had scarcely time to hide themselves in a dark hole
among the gravel which was the ballast of their smack, when the chase
was over, and Billop, at the head of an armed party, came on board.
The
hatches were taken up: the conspirators were arrested; and their clothes
were strictly examined. Preston, in his agitation, had dropped on the
gravel his official seal and the packet of which he was the bearer. The
seal was discovered where it had fallen. Ashton, aware of the importance
of the papers, snatched them up and tried to conceal them; but they were
soon found in his bosom.
The prisoners then tried to cajole or to corrupt Billop. They called for
wine, pledged him, praised his gentlemanlike demeanour, and assured him
that, if he would accompany them, nay, if he would only let that little
roll of paper fall overboard into the Thames, his fortune would be made.
The tide of affairs, they said, was on the turn, things could not go on
for ever as they had gone on of late and it was in the captain's power
to be as great and as rich as he could desire. Billop, though courteous,
was inflexible. The conspirators became sensible that their necks
were in imminent danger. The emergency brought out strongly the
true characters of all the three, characters which, but for such an
emergency, might have remained for ever unknown. Preston had always been
reputed a highspirited and gallant gentleman; but the near prospect of
a dungeon and a gallows altogether unmanned him. Elliot stormed and
blasphemed, vowed that, if he ever got free, he would be revenged, and,
with horrible imprecations, called on the thunder to strike the yacht,
and on London Bridge to fall in and crush her. Ashton alone behaved with
manly firmness.
Late in the evening the yacht reached Whitehall Stairs; and the
prisoners, strongly guarded, were conducted to the Secretary's office.
The papers which had been found in Ashton's bosom were inspected that
night by Nottingham and Caermarthen, and were, on the following morning,
put by Caermarthen into the hands of the King.
Soon it was known all over London that a plot had been detected, that
the messengers whom the adherents of James had sent to solicit the help
of an invading army from France had been arrested by the agents of the
vigilant and energetic Lord President, and that documentary evidence,
which might affect the lives of some great men, was in the possession
of the government. The Jacobites were terrorstricken; the clamour of the
Whigs against Caermarthen was suddenly hushed; and the Session ended in
perfect harmony. On the fifth of January the King thanked the Houses
for their support, and assured them that he would not grant away any
forfeited property in Ireland till they should reassemble. He alluded to
the plot which had just been discovered, and expressed a hope that the
friends of England would not, at such a moment, be less active or less
firmly united than her enemies. He then signified his pleasure that the
Parliament should adjourn. On the following day he set out, attended by
a splendid train of nobles, for the Congress at the Hague, [812]
*****
[Footnote 1: Letter from Lady Cavendish to Sylvia. Lady Cavendish, like
most of the clever girls of that generation, had Scudery's romances
always in her head. She is Dorinda: her correspondent, supposed to be
her cousin Jane Allington, is Sylvia: William is Ormanzor, and Mary
Phenixana. London Gazette, Feb. 14 1688/9; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.
Luttrell's Diary, which I shall very often quote, is in the library of
All Souls' College. I am greatly obliged to the Warden for the kindness
with which he allowed me access to this valuable manuscript. ]
[Footnote 2: See the London Gazettes of February and March 1688/9, and
Narcissus Luttrell's Diary. ]
[Footnote 3: Wagenaar, lxi. He quotes the proceedings of the States of
the 2nd of March, 1689. London Gazette, April 11, 1689; Monthly Mercury
for April, 1689. ]
[Footnote 4: "I may be positive," says a writer who had been educated at
Westminster School, "where I heard one sermon of repentance, faith, and
the renewing of the Holy Ghost, I heard three of the other; and 'tis
hard to say whether Jesus Christ or King Charles the First were oftener
mentioned and magnified. " Bisset's Modern Fanatick, 1710. ]
[Footnote 5: Paris Gazette, Jan 26/Feb 5 1689. Orange Gazette, London,
Jan. 10. 1688/9]
[Footnote 6: Grey's Debates; Howe's speech; Feb. 26. 1688/9; Boscawen's
speech, March 1; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Feb. 23-27. ]
[Footnote 7: Grey's Debates; Feb. 26. 1688/9]
[Footnote 8: This illustration is repeated to satiety in sermons and
pamphlets of the time of William the Third. There is a poor imitation of
Absalom and Ahitophel entitled the Murmurers. William is Moses; Corah,
Dathan and Abiram, nonjuring Bishops; Balaam, I think, Dryden; and
Phinchas Shrewsbury,]
[Footnote 9: Reresby's Memoirs. ]
[Footnote 10: Here, and in many other places, I abstain from citing
authorities, because my authorities are too numerous to cite. My notions
of the temper and relative position of political and religious parties
in the reign of William the Third, have been derived, not from any
single work, but from thousands of forgotten tracts, sermons, and
satires; in fact, from a whole literature which is mouldering in old
libraries. ]
[Footnote 11: The following passage in a tract of that time expresses
the general opinion. "He has better knowledge of foreign affairs than we
have; but in English business it is no dishonour to him to be told his
relation to us, the nature of it, and what is fit for him to do. "--An
Honest Commoner's Speech. ]
[Footnote 12: London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9]
[Footnote 13: London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9; Sir J. Reresby's
Memoirs. ]
[Footnote 14: London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9; Lords' Journals. ]
[Footnote 15: Burnet, ii. 4. ]
[Footnote 16: These memoirs will be found in a manuscript volume, which
is part of the Harleian Collection, and is numbered 6584. They are in
fact, the first outlines of a great part of Burnet's History of His Own
Times. The dates at which the different portions of this most curious
and interesting book were composed are marked. Almost the whole was
written before the death of Mary. Burnet did not begin to prepare his
History of William's reign for the press till ten years later. By
that time his opinions both of men and of things, had undergone great
changes. The value of the rough draught is therefore very great: for
it contains some facts which he afterwards thought it advisable to
suppress, and some judgments which he afterwards saw cause to alter.
I must own that I generally like his first thoughts best. Whenever
his History is reprinted, it ought to be carefully collated with this
volume.
When I refer to the Burnet MS. Harl. 6584, I wish the reader to
understand that the MS. contains something which is not to be found in
the History.
As to Nottingham's appointment, see Burnet, ii. 8; the London Gazette of
March 7. 1688/9; and Clarendon's Diary of Feb. 15. ]
[Footnote 17: London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9]
[Footnote 18: Don Pedro de Ronquillo makes this objection. ]
[Footnote 19: London Gazette, March 11 1688/9. ]
[Footnote 20: Ibid. ]
[Footnote 21: I have followed what seems to me the most probable story.
But it has been doubted whether Nottingham was invited to be Chancellor,
or only to be First Commissioner of the Great Seal. Compare Burnet ii.
3. , and Boyer's History of William, 1702. Narcissus Luttrell repeatedly,
and even as late as the close of 1692, speaks of Nottingham as likely to
be Chancellor. ]
[Footnote 22: Roger North relates an amusing story about Shaftesbury's
embarrassments. ]
[Footnote 23: London Gazette March 4. 1688/9]
[Footnote 24: Burnet ii. 5. ]
[Footnote 25: The Protestant Mask taken off from the Jesuited
Englishman, 1692. ]
[Footnote 26: These appointments were not announced in the Gazette till
the 6th of May; but some of them were made earlier. ]
[Footnote 27: Kennet's Funeral Sermon on the first Duke of Devonshire,
and Memoirs of the Family of Cavendish, 1708. ]
[Footnote 28: See a poem entitled, A Votive Tablet to the King and
Queen. ]
[Footnote 29: See Prior's Dedication of his Poems to Dorset's son and
successor, and Dryden's Essay on Satire prefixed to the Translations
from Juvenal. There is a bitter sneer on Dryden's effeminate
querulousness in Collier's Short View of the Stage. In Blackmore's
Prince Arthur, a poem which, worthless as it is, contains some curious
allusions to contemporary men and events, are the following lines:
"The poets' nation did obsequious wait
For the kind dole divided at his gate.
Laurus among the meagre crowd appeared,
An old, revolted, unbelieving bard,
Who thronged, and shoved, and pressed, and would be heard.
Sakil's high roof, the Muses' palace, rung
With endless cries, and endless sons he sung.
To bless good Sakil Laurus would be first;
But Sakil's prince and Sakil's God he curst.
Sakil without distinction threw his bread,
Despised the flatterer, but the poet fed. "
I need not say that Sakil is Sackville, or that Laurus is a
translation of the famous nickname Bayes. ]
[Footnote 30: Scarcely any man of that age is more frequently mentioned
in pamphlets and satires than Howe. In the famous petition of Legion,
he is designated as "that impudent scandal of Parliaments. " Mackay's
account of him is curious. In a poem written in 1690, which I have never
seen except in manuscript, are the following lines:
"First for Jack Howe with his terrible talent,
Happy the female that scopes his lampoon;
Against the ladies excessively valiant,
But very respectful to a Dragoon. "]
[Footnote 31: Sprat's True Account; North's Examen; Letter to Chief
Justice Holt, 1694; Letter to Secretary Trenchard, 1694. ]
[Footnote 32: Van Citters, Feb 19/March 1 1688/9]
[Footnote 33: Stat. I W. &M. sess. i. c. I. See the Journals of the two
Houses, and Grey's Debates. The argument in favour of the bill is well
stated in the Paris Gazettes of March 5. and 12. 1689. ]
[Footnote 34: Both Van Citters and Ronquillo mention the anxiety which
was felt in London till the result was known. ]
[Footnote 35: Lords' Journals, March 1688/9]
[Footnote 36: See the letters of Rochester and of Lady Ranelagh to
Burnet on this occasion. ]
[Footnote 37: Journals of the Commons, March 2. 1688/9 Ronquillo
wrote as follows: "Es de gran consideracion que Seimor haya tomado el
juramento; porque es el arrengador y el director principal, en la casa
de los Comunes, de los Anglicanos. " March 8/18 1688/9]
[Footnote 38: Grey's Debates, Feb. 25, 26, and 27. 1688/9]
[Footnote 39: Commons' Journals, and Grey's Debates, March 1. 1688/9]
[Footnote 40: I W. & M. sess. I c. [10]; Burnet, ii. 13. ]
[Footnote 41: Commons' Journals, March 15. 1688/9 So late as 1713,
Arbuthnot, in the fifth part of John Bull, alluded to this transaction
with much pleasantry. "As to your Venire Facias," says John to Nick
Frog, "I have paid you for one already. "]
[Footnote 42: Wagenaar, lxi. ]
[Footnote 43: Commons' Journals, March 15. 1688/9. ]
[Footnote 44: Reresby's Memoirs. ]
[Footnote 45: Commons' Journals, and Grey's Debates, March 15. 1688/9;
London Gazette, March 18. ]
[Footnote 46: As to the state of this region in the latter part of the
seventeenth and the earlier part of the eighteenth century, see Pepys's
Diary, Sept. 18. 1663, and the Tour through the whole Island of Great
Britain, 1724. ]
[Footnote 47: London Gazette, March 25. 1689; Van Citters to the States
General, March 22/April 1 Letters of Nottingham in the State Paper
Office, dated July 23 and August 9. 1689; Historical Record of the First
Regiment of Foot, printed by authority. See also a curious digression in
the Compleat History of the Life and Military Actions of Richard, Earl
of Tyrconnel, 1689. ]
[Footnote 48: Stat. I W. &M. sess. I. c. 5. ; Commons' Journals, March 28.
1689. ]
[Footnote 49: Stat. I W. & M. sess. I. c. 2. ]
[Footnote 50: Ronquillo, March 8/18. 1689. ]
[Footnote 51: See the account given in Spence's Anecdotes of the Origin
of Dryden's Medal. ]
[Footnote 52: Guardian, No. 67. ]
[Footnote 53: There is abundant proof that William, though a very
affectionate, was not always a polite husband. But no credit is due to
the story contained in the letter which Dalrymple was foolish enough to
publish as Nottingham's in 1773, and wise enough to omit in the edition
of 1790. How any person who knew any thing of the history of those
times could be so strangely deceived, it is not easy to understand
particularly as the handwriting bears no resemblance to Nottingham's,
with which Dalrymple was familiar. The letter is evidently a common
newsletter, written by a scribbler, who had never seen the King and
Queen except at some public place, and whose anecdotes of their private
life rested on no better authority than coffeehouse gossip. ]
[Footnote 54: Ronquillo; Burnet, ii. 2. ; Duchess of Marlborough's
Vindication. In a pastoral dialogue between Philander and Palaemon,
published in 1691, the dislike with which women of fashion regarded
William is mentioned. Philander says
"But man methinks his reason should recall,
Nor let frail woman work his second fall. "]
[Footnote 55: Tutchin's Observator of November 16. 1706. ]
[Footnote 56: Prior, who was treated by William with much kindness,
and who was very grateful for it, informs us that the King did
not understand poetical eulogy. The passage is in a highly curious
manuscript, the property of Lord Lansdowne. ]
[Footnote 57: Memoires originaux sur le regne et la cour de Frederic I,
Roi de Prusse, ecrits par Christophe Comte de Dohna. Berlin, 1833. It
is strange that this interesting volume should be almost unknown in
England. The only copy that I have ever seen of it was kindly given to
me by Sir Robert Adair. "Le Roi," Dohna says, "avoit une autre qualite
tres estimable, qui est celle de n'aimer point qu'on rendit de mauvais
offices a personne par des railleries. " The Marquis de La Fork tried
to entertain His Majesty at the expense of an English nobleman. "Ce
prince," says Dohna "prit son air severe, et, le regardant sans mot
dire, lui fit rentrer les paroles dans le ventre. Le Marquis m'en fit
ses plaintes quelques heures apres. 'J'ai mal pris ma bisque,' dit-il;
'j'ai cru faire l'agreable sur le chapitre de Milord. . mais j'ai trouva
a qui parler, et j'ai attrape un regard du roi qui m'a fait passer
l'envie de tire. '" Dohna supposed that William might be less sensitive
about the character of a Frenchman, and tried the experiment. But, says
he, "j'eus a pert pres le meme sort que M. de la Foret. "]
[Footnote 58: Compare the account of Mary by the Whig Burnet with the
mention of her by the Tory Evelyn in his Diary, March 8. 1694/5,
and with what is said of her by the Nonjuror who wrote the Letter to
Archbishop Tennison on her death in 1695. The impression which the
bluntness and reserve of William and the grace and gentleness of Mary
had made on the populace may be traced in the remains of the street
poetry of that time.
