* The laws enacted in this session were those: an act for abrogating the oath of supremacy in Ireland, and appointing other oaths; an act for taking away clergy from some offenders, and bringing others to punishment; an act against deer-stealing; an act for repairing the highways, and settling the rates of carriage of goods; an act for the relief of creditors against fraudulent devices; an act for explaining and supplying the defects of former laws for the settlement of the poor; an act for the encouragement of the breeding and feeding of cattle; and an act for ascertaining the tithes of hemp and flax.



THE KING DISOBLIGES THE PRESBYTERIANS OF SCOTLAND.

The king had suffered so much in his reputation by his complaisance to the presbyterians of Scotland, and was so displeased with the conduct of that stubborn sect of religionists, that he thought proper to admit some prelatists into the administration. Johnston, who had been sent envoy to the elector of Brandenburgh was recalled, and with the master of Stair, made joint secretary of Scotland; Melvil, who had declined in his importance, was made lord privy-seal of that kingdom; Tweedale was constituted lord chancellor; Crawford retained the office of president of the council; and Lothian was appointed high commissioner to the general assembly. The parliament was adjourned to the fifteenth day of April, because it was not yet compliant enough to be assembled with safety; and the episcopal clergy were admitted to a share of the church government. These measures, instead of healing the divisions, served only to inflame the animosity of the two parties. The episcopalians triumphed in the king's favour, and began to treat their antagonists with insolence and scorn: the presbyterians were incensed to see their friends disgraced, and their enemies distinguished by the royal indulgence. They insisted upon the authority of the law, which happened to be upon their side: they became more than ever sour, surly, and implacable; they refused to concur with the prelatists or abate in the least circumstances of discipline; and the assembly was dissolved without any time or place assigned for the next meeting. The presbyterians pretended an independent right of assembling annually, even without a call from his majesty; they therefore adjourned themselves, after having protested against the dissolution. The king resented this measure as an insolent invasion of the prerogative, and conceived an aversion to the whole sect, who in their turn began to lose all respect for his person and government.

As the highlanders were not yet totally reduced, the earl of Breadalbane undertook to bring them over, by distributing sums of money among their chiefs; and fifteen thousand pounds were remitted from England for this purpose. The clans being informed of this remittance, suspected that the earl's design was to appropriate to himself the best part of the money, and when he began to treat with them made such extravagant demands that he found his scheme impracticable. He was therefore obliged to refund the sum he had received; and he resolved to wreak his vengeance with the first opportunity on those who had frustrated his intention. He who chiefly thwarted his negotiation was Macdonald of Glencoe, whose opposition rose from a private circumstance which ought to have had no effect upon a treaty that regarded the public weal. Macdonald had plundered the lands of Breadalbane during the course of hostilities; and this nobleman insisted upon being indemnified for his losses, from the other's share of the money which he was employed to distribute. The highlander not only refused to acquiesce in these terms, but, by his influence among the clans, defeated the whole scheme, and the earl in revenge devoted him to destruction. King William had by proclamation offered an indemnity to all those who had been in arms against him, provided they would submit and take the oaths by a certain day; and this was prolonged to the close of the present year, with a denunciation of military execution against those who should hold out after the end of December. Macdonald, intimidated by this declaration, repaired on the very last day of the month to Fort-William, and desired that the oaths might be tendered to him by colonel Hill, governor of that fortress. As this officer was not vested with the power of a civil magistrate, he refused to administer them; and Macdonald set out immediately for Inverary, the county-town of Argyle. Though the ground was covered with snow, and the weather intensely cold, he travelled with such diligence, that the term prescribed by the proclamation was but one day elapsed when he reached the place, and addressed himself to sir John Campbell, sheriff of the county, who, in consideration of his disappointment at Fort-William, was prevailed upon to administer the oaths to him and his adherents. Then they returned to their own habitations in the valley of Glencoe, in full confidence of being protected by the government to which they had so solemnly submitted.



MASSACRE OF GLENCOE.

Breadalbane had represented Macdonald at court as an incorrigible rebel, as a ruffian inured to bloodshed and rapine, who would never be obedient to the laws of his country, nor live peaceably under any sovereign. He observed, that he had paid no regard to the proclamation, and proposed that the government should sacrifice him to the quiet of the kingdom, in extirpating him with his family and dependents by military execution. His advice was supported by the suggestions of the other Scottish ministers; and the king, whose chief virtue was not humanity, signed a warrant for the destruction of those unhappy people, though it does not appear that he knew of Macdonald's submission. An order for this barbarous execution, signed and countersigned by his majesty's own hand, being transmitted to the master of Stair, secretary for Scotland, this minister sent particular directions to Livingstone, who commanded the troops in that kingdom, to put the inhabitants of Glencoe to the sword, charging him to take no prisoners, that the scene might be more terrible. In the month of February, captain Campbell of Glenlyon, by virtue of an order from major Duncanson, marched into the valley of Glencoe with a company of soldiers belonging to Argyle's regiment, on pretence of levying the arrears of the land-tax and hearth-money. When Macdonald demanded whether they came as friends or enemies, he answered, as friends, and promised upon his honour that neither he nor his people should sustain the least injury. In consequence of this declaration, he and his men were received with the most cordial hospitality, and lived fifteen days with the men of the valley in all the appearance of the most unreserved friendship. At length the fatal period approached. Macdonald and Campbell having passed the day together, parted about seven in the evening, with mutual professions of the warmest affection. The younger Macdonald, perceiving the guards doubled, began to suspect some treachery, and communicated his suspicion to his brother; but neither he nor the father would harbour the least doubt of Campbell's sincerity: nevertheless the two young men went forth privately to make further observations. They overheard the common soldiers say they liked not the work; that though they would have willingly fought the Macdonalds of the Glen fairly in the field, they held it base to murder them in cool blood, but that their officers were answerable for the treachery. When the youths hastened back to apprize their father of the impending danger, they saw the house already surrounded; they heard the discharge of muskets, the shrieks of women and children; and, being destitute of arms, secured their own lives by immediate flight. The savage ministers of vengeance had entered the old man's chamber, and shot him through the head. He fell down dead in the arms of his wife, who died next day distracted by the horror of her husband's fate. The laird of Auchintrincken, Macdonald's guest, who had, three months before this period, submitted to the government, and at this very time had a protection in his pocket, was put to death without question. A boy of eight years, who fell at Campbell's feet imploring mercy, and offering to serve him for life, was stabbed to the heart by one Drummond a subaltern officer. Eight-and-thirty persons suffered in this manner, the greater part of whom were surprised in their beds, and hurried into eternity before they had time to implore the divine mercy. The design was to butcher all the males under seventy that lived in the valley, the number of whom amounted to two hundred; but some of the detachments did not arrive soon enough to secure the passes; so that one hundred and sixty escaped. Campbell having perpetrated this cruel massacre, ordered all the houses to be burned, made a prey of all the cattle and effects that were found in the valley, and left the helpless women and children, whose fathers and husbands he had murdered, naked and forlorn, without covering, food, or shelter, in the midst of the snow that covered the whole face of the country, at the distance of six long miles from any inhabited place. Distracted with grief and horror, surrounded with the shades of night, shivering with cold, and appalled with the apprehension of immediate death from the swords of those who had sacrificed their friends and kinsmen, they could not endure such a complication of calamities, but generally perished in the waste, before they could receive the least comfort or assistance. This barbarous massacre, performed under the sanction of king William's authority, answered the immediate purpose of the court by striking terror into the hearts of the Jacobite high-landers; but at the same time excited the horror of all those who had not renounced every sentiment of humanity, and produced such an aversion to the government, as all the arts of a ministry could never totally surmount. A detail of the particulars was published at Paris, with many exaggerations, and the Jacobites did not fail to expatiate on every circumstance, in domestic libels and private conversation. The king, alarmed at the outcry which was raised upon this occasion, ordered an inquiry to be set on foot, and dismissed the master of Stair from his employment of secretary: he likewise pretended that he had subscribed the order amidst a heap of other papers, without knowing the purport of it; but as he did not severely punish those who had made his authority subservient to their own cruel revenge, the imputation stuck fast to his character; and the highlanders, though terrified into silence and submission, were inspired with the most implacable resentment against his person and administration.



PREPARATIONS FOR A DESCENT UPON ENGLAND.

A great number in both kingdoms waited impatiently for an opportunity to declare in behalf of their exiled monarch, who was punctually informed of all these transactions, and endeavoured to make his advantage of the growing discontent. King William having settled the domestic affairs of the nation, and exerted uncommon care and assiduity in equipping a formidable fleet, embarked for Holland on the fifth day of March, and was received by the states-general with expressions of the most cordial regard. While he was here employed in promoting the measures of the grand confederacy, the French king resolved to invade England in his absence, and seemed heartily engaged in the interest of James, whose emissaries in Britain began to bestir themselves with uncommon assiduity in preparing the nation for his return. One Lant, who was imprisoned on suspicion of distributing his commissions, had the good fortune to be released, and the papists of Lancashire dispatched him to the court of St. Germain's with an assurance that they were in a condition to receive their old sovereign. He returned with advice that king James would certainly land in the spring; and that colonel Parker and other officers should be sent over with full instructions, touching their conduct at and before the king's arrival. Parker accordingly repaired to England, and made the Jacobites acquainted with the whole scheme of a descent, which Louis had actually concerted with the late king. He assured them that their lawful sovereign would once more visit his British dominions, at the head of thirty thousand effective men, to be embarked at La Hogue; that the transports were already prepared, and a strong squadron equipped for their convoy; he therefore exhorted them to be speedy and secret in their preparation, that they might be in readiness to take arms and co-operate in effecting his restoration. This officer, and one Johnson a priest, are said to have undertaken the assassination of king William; but before they could execute their design his majesty set sail for Holland.



DECLARATION OF KING JAMES.

Meanwhile James addressed a letter to several lords who had been formerly members of his council, as well as to divers ladies of quality and distinction, intimating the pregnancy of his queen, and requiring them to attend as witnesses at the labour. He took notice of the injury his family and honour had sustained, from the cruel aspersions of his enemies concerning the birth of his son, and as Providence had now favoured him with an opportunity of refuting the calumny of those who affirmed that the queen was incapable of child-bearing, he assured them in the name of his brother the French king, as well as upon his own royal word, that they should have free leave to visit his court and return after the labour.*

* The letter was directed not only for privy counsellors, but also to the duchesses of Somerset and Beaufort, the marchioness of Halifax, the countesses of Derby, Mulgrave, Rutland, Brooks, Nottingham, Lumley, and Danby, the ladies Fitzharding and Fretchville, those of sir John Trevor, speaker of the house of commons, sir Edward Seymour, sir Christopher Musgrave, the wives of sir Thomas Stamford, lord-mayor of London, sir William Ashhurst and sir Richard Levert, the sheriffs, and, lastly, to Dr. Chamberlain, the famous practitioner in midwifery.

This invitation however no person would venture to accept. He afterwards employed his emissaries in circulating a printed declaration, importing that the king of France had enabled him to make another effort to retrieve his crown; and that although he was furnished with a number of troops sufficient to untie the hands of his subjects, he did not intend to deprive them of their share in the glory of restoring their lawful king and their ancient government. He exhorted the people to join his standard. He assured them that the foreign auxiliaries should behave with the most regular discipline, and be sent back immediately after his re-establishment. He observed, that when such a number of his subjects were so infatuated as to concur with the unnatural design of the prince of Orange, he had chosen to rely upon the fidelity of his English army, and refused considerable succours that were offered to him by his most christian majesty; that when he was ready to oppose force with force, he nevertheless offered to give all reasonable satisfaction to his subjects who had been misled, and endeavoured to open their eyes with respect to the vain pretences of his adversary, whose aim was not the reformation but the subversion of the government; that when he saw himself deserted by his army, betrayed by his ministers, abandoned by his favourites, and even his own children, and at last rudely driven from his own palace by a guard of insolent foreigners, he had for his personal safety taken refuge in France: that his retreat from the malice and cruel designs of the usurper had been construed into an abdication, and the whole constitution of the monarchy destroyed by a set of men illegally assembled, who, in fact, had no power to alter the property of the meanest subject. He expressed his hope that by this time the nation had fairly examined the account, and from the losses and enormous expense of the three last years, were convinced that the remedy was worse than the disease; that the beginning, like the first years of Nero's reign, would in all probability be found the mildest part of the usurpation, and the instruments of the new establishment live to suffer severely by the tyranny they had raised; that even though the usurpation should continue during his life, an indisputable title would survive in his issue, and expose the kingdom to all the miseries of a civil war. He not only solicited but commanded his good subjects to join him, according to their duty and the oaths they had taken. He forbade them to pay taxes or any part of the revenue to the usurper. He promised pardon, and even rewards, to all those who should return to their duty, and to procure in his first parliament an act of indemnity, with an exception of certain persons * whom he now enumerated.

* Those excepted were the duke of Ormond, the marquis of Winchester, the earls of Sunderland, Bath, Danhy, and Nottingham; the lords Newport, Delamere, Wiltshire, Colchester, Cornhury, Dunblain, and Churchill; the bishops of London and St. Asaph; sir Robert Howard, sir John Worden, sir Samuel Grimstone, sir Stephen Fox, sir George Treby, sir Basil Dixwell, sir James Oxenden; Dr. John Tillotson, Dr. Gilbert Burnet; Francis Russel, Richard Lovison, John Trenchard, Charles Duncomb, citizens of London; Edwards, Stapleton, and Hunt, fishermen, and all others who had offered personal indignities to him at Feyersham; or had been concerned in the barbarous murder of John Ashton Cross, or any other who had suffered death for their loyalty; and all spies, or such as had betrayed his council during his late absence from England.

He declared that all soldiers who should quit the service of the usurper and enlist under his banners, might depend upon receiving their pardon and arrears; and that the foreign troops, upon laying clown their arms, should be paid and transported to their respective countries. He solemnly protested that he would protect and maintain the church of England, as by law established, in all her rights, privileges, and possessions: he signified his resolution to use his influence with the parliament for allowing liberty of conscience to all his subjects, as an indulgence agreeable to the spirit of the christian religion, and conducive to the wealth and prosperity of the nation. He said his principal care should be to heal the wounds of the late distractions; to restore trade by observing the act of navigation, which had been lately so much violated in favour of strangers; to put the navy in a flourishing condition; and to take every step that might contribute to the greatness of the monarchy and the happiness of the people. He concluded with professions of resignation to the Divine Will, declaring that all who should reject his offers of mercy, and appear in arms against him, would be answerable to Almighty God for all the blood that should be spilt, and all the miseries in which these kingdoms might be involved by their desperate and unreasonable opposition.

While this declaration operated variously on the minds of the people, colonel Parker, with some other officers, enlisted men privately for the service of James, in the counties of York, Lancaster, and in the bishopric of Durham: at the same time, Fountaine and Holeman were employed in raising two regiments of horse at London, that they might join their master immediately after his landing. His partisans sent captain Lloyd with an express to lord Melfoot, containing a detail of these particulars, with an assurance that they had brought over rear-admiral Carter to the interest of his majesty. They likewise transmitted a list of the ships that composed the English fleet, and exhorted James to use his influence with the French king, that the count do Tourville might be ordered to attack them before they should be joined by the Dutch squadron. It was in consequence of this advice that Louis commanded Tourville to fall upon the English fleet, even without waiting for the Toulon squadron commanded by the marquis D'Etrees. By this time James had repaired to La Hogue, and was ready to embark with his army, consisting of a body of French troops, together with some English and Scotch refugees, and the regiments which had been transported from Ireland by virtue of the capitulation of Limerick.



PRECAUTIONS TAKEN BY THE QUEEN FOR THE DEFENCE OF THE NATION.

The ministry of England was informed of all these particulars, partly by some agents of James who betrayed his cause, and partly by admiral Carter, who gave the queen to understand he had been tampered with; and was instructed to amuse the Jacobites with a negotiation. King William no sooner arrived in Holland than he hastened the naval preparations of the Dutch, so that their fleet was ready for sea sooner than was expected; and when he received the first intimation of the projected descent, he detached general Ptolemache with three of the English regiments from Holland. These, reinforced with other troops remaining in England, were ordered to encamp in the neighbourhood of Portsmouth. The queen issued a proclamation, commanding all papists to depart from London and Westminster: the members of both houses of parliament were required to meet on the twenty-fourth day of May, that she might avail herself of their advice in such a perilous conjuncture. Warrants were expedited for apprehending divers disaffected persons; and they withdrawing themselves from their respective places of abode, a proclamation was published for discovering and bringing them to justice. The earls of Scarsdale, Litchfield, and Newburgh; the lords Griffin, Forbes, sir John Fenwick, sir Theophilus Oglethorpe, and others, found means to elude the search. The earls of Huntingdon and Marlborough were sent to the Tower; Edward Ridley, Knevitt, Hastings, and Robert Ferguson, were imprisoned in Newgate. The bishop of Rochester was confined to his own house; the lords Brudenal and Fanshaw were secured; the earls of Dunmore, Middleton, and sir Andrew Forrester, were discovered in a quaker's house, and committed to prison with several other persons of distinction. The trainbands of London and Westminster were armed by the queen's direction, and she reviewed them in person: admiral Russell was ordered to put to sea with all possible expedition; and Carter, with a squadron of eighteen sail, continued to cruise along the French coast to observe the motions of the enemy.



ADMIRAL RUSSEL PUTS TO SEA.

On the eleventh day of May, Russel sailed from Rye to St. Helen's, where he was joined by the squadron under Delaval and Carter. There he received a letter from the earl of Nottingham, intimating that a report having been spread of the queen's suspecting the fidelity of the sea-officers, her majesty had ordered him to declare in her name that she reposed the most entire confidence in their attachment, and believed the report was raised by the enemies of the government. The flag-officers and captains forthwith drew up a very loyal and dutiful address, which was graciously received by the queen, and published for the satisfaction of the nation. Russel, being reinforced by the Dutch squadrons commanded by Allemonde, Callemberg, and Vandergoes, set sail for the coast of France on the eighteenth day of May, with a fleet of ninety-nine ships of the line, besides frigates and fire-ships. Next day, about three o'clock in the morning, he discovered the enemy under the count de Tour-ville, and threw out the signal for the line of battle, which by eight o'clock was formed in good order, the Dutch in the van, the blue division in the rear, and the red in the centre. The French fleet did not exceed sixty-three ships of the line, and as they were to windward Tourville might have avoided an engagement; but he had received a positive order to fight, on the supposition that the Dutch and English squadrons had not joined. Louis indeed was apprised of their junction before they were descried by his admiral, to whom he dispatched a countermanding order by two several vessels; but one of them was taken by the English, and the other did not arrive till the day after the engagement.

{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688—1701.}



HE OBTAINS A COMPLETE VICTORY OVER THE FRENCH.

Tourville therefore, in obedience to the first mandate, bore down alongside of Russel's own ship, which he engaged at a very small distance. He fought with great fury till one o'clock, when his rigging and sails being considerably damaged, his ship, the Rising-Sun, which carried one hundred and four cannon, was towed out of the line in great disorder. Nevertheless the engagement continued till three, when the fleets were parted by a thick fog: when this abated, the enemy were descried flying to the northward, and Russel made the signal for chasing. Part of the blue squadron came up with the enemy about eight in the evening, and engaged them half an hour, during which admiral Carter was mortally wounded. Finding himself in extremity, he exhorted his captain to fight as long as the ship could swim, and expired with great composure. At length the French bore away for Conquet road, having lost four ships in this day's action. Next day, about eight in the morning, they were discovered crowding away to the westward, and the combined fleets chased with all the sail they could carry, until Russel's foretopmast came by the board. Though he was retarded by this accident, the fleet still continued the pursuit, and anchored near Cape La Hogue. On the twenty-second of the month, about seven in the morning, part of the French fleet was perceived near the Race of Alderney, some at anchor, and some driving to the eastward with the tide of flood. Russel and the ships nearest him immediately slipped their cables and chased. The Rising Sun having lost her masts, ran ashore near Cherbourg, where she was burned by sir Ralph Delaval, together with the Admirable, another first-rate, and the Conquerant of eighty guns. Eighteen other ships of their fleet ran into La Hogue, where they were attacked by sir George Rooke, who destroyed them and a great number of transports laden with ammunition, in the midst of a terrible fire from the enemy, and in sight of the Irish camp. Sir John Ashby, with his own squadron and some Dutch ships, pursued the rest of the French fleet, which escaped through the Race of Alderney by such a dangerous passage as the English could not attempt without exposing their ships to the most imminent hazard. This was a very mortifying defeat to the French king, who had been so long flattered with an uninterrupted series of victories; it reduced James to the lowest ebb of despondence, as it frustrated the whole scheme of his embarkation, and overwhelmed his friends in England with grief and despair. Some historians allege that Russel did not improve his victory with all advantages that might have been obtained before the enemy recovered their consternation. They say his affection to the service was in a great measure cooled by the disgrace of his friend the earl of Marlborough; that he hated the earl of Nottingham, by whose channel he received his orders; and that he adhered to the letter rather than to the spirit of his instructions. But this is a malicious imputation, and a very ungrateful return for his manifold services to the nation. He acted in this whole expedition with the genuine spirit of a British admiral. He plied from the Nore to the Downs with a very scanty wind through the dangerous sands, contrary to the advice of all his pilots; and by this bold passage effected a junction of the different squadrons, which otherwise the French would have attacked singly and perhaps defeated. He behaved with great gallantry during the engagement, and destroyed about fifteen of the enemy's capital ships; in a word, he obtained such a decisive victory, that during the remaining part of the war the French would not hazard another battle by sea with the English.

Russel having ordered Sir John Ashby and the Dutch admiral Callemberg to steer towards Havre de Grace, and endeavour to destroy the remainder of the French fleet, sailed back to St. Helen's that the damaged ships might be refitted, and the fleet furnished with fresh supplies of provisions and ammunition; but his principal motive was to take on board a number of troops provided for a descent upon France, which had been projected by England and Holland, with a view to alarm and distract the enemy in their own dominions. The queen was so pleased with the victory that she ordered thirty thousand pounds to be distributed among the sailors. She caused medals to be struck in honour of the action; and the bodies of admiral Carter and captain Hastings, who had been killed in the battle, to be interred with great funeral pomp. In the latter end of July seven thousand men, commanded by the duke of Leinster, embarked on board transports to be landed at St. Maloes, Brest, or Rochefort, and the nation conceived the most sanguine hopes of this expedition. A council of war, consisting of land and sea officers, being held on board the Breda to deliberate upon the scheme of the ministry, the members unanimously agreed that the season was too far advanced to put it in execution. Nevertheless, the admiral having detached sir John Ashby with a squadron to intercept the remains of the French fleet in their passage from St. Maloes to Brest, set sail for La Hogue with the rest of the fleet and transports; but in a few days the wind shifting, lie was obliged to return to St. Helen's.

The queen immediately dispatched the marquis of Carmarthen, the earls of Devonshire, Dorset, Nottingham, and Rochester, together with the lords Sidney and Cornwallis, to consult with the admiral, who demonstrated the impracticability of making an effectual descent upon the coast of France at that season of the year. The design was therefore laid aside, and the forces were transported to Flanders. The higher the hopes of the nation had been raised by this armament, the deeper they felt their disappointment. A loud clamour was raised against the ministry as the authors of this miscarriage. The people complained that they were plundered and abused; that immense sums were extorted from them by the most grievous impositions; that, by the infamous expedient of borrowing upon established funds, their taxes were perpetuated; that their burdens would daily increase; that their treasure was either squandered away in chimerical projects or expended in foreign connexions, of which England was naturally independent. They were the more excusable for exclaiming in this manner, as their trade had suffered grievously by the French privateers which swarmed in the Channel. In vain the merchants had recourse to the Admiralty, which could not spare particular convoys while large fleets were required for the defence of the nation. The French king having nothing further to apprehend from the English armament, withdrew his troops from the coast of Normandy; and James returned in despair to St. Germain's, where his queen had been in his absence delivered of a daughter, who was born in the presence of the archbishop of Paris, the keeper of the seals, and other persons of distinction.



THE FRENCH TAKE NAMUR IN SIGHT OF KING WILLIAM.

Louis had taken the field in the latter end of May. On the twentieth day of that month he arrived at his camp in Flanders with all the effeminate pomp of an Asiatic emperor, attended by his women and parasites, his band of music, his dancers, his opera, and, in a word, by all the ministers of luxury and sensual pleasure. Having reviewed his army, which amounted to about one hundred and twenty thousand men, he undertook the siege of Namur, which he invested on both sides of the Sambre with about one-half of his army, while the other covered the siege under the command of Luxembourg. Namur is situated on the conflux of the Meuse and the Sambre. The citadel was deemed one of the strongest forts in Flanders, strengthened with a new work contrived by the famous engineer Coehorn, who now defended it in person. The prince de Barbason commanded the garrison, consisting of nine thousand men. The place was well supplied, and the governor knew that king William would make strong efforts for its relief, so that the besieged were animated with many concurring considerations. Notwithstanding these advantages, the assailants carried on their attacks with such vigour that in seven days after the trenches were opened, the town capitulated and the garrison retired into the citadel. King William, being joined by the troops of Brandenburgh and Liege, advanced to the Mehaigne at the head of one hundred thousand effective men, and encamped within cannon shot of Luxembourg's army, which lay on the other side of the river. That general however had taken such precautions, that the king of England could not interrupt the siege nor attack the French lines without great disadvantage. The besiegers, encouraged by the presence of their monarch, and assisted by the superior abilities of Vau-ban their engineer, repeated their attacks with such impetuosity that the fort of Cohorn was surrendered after a very obstinate defence, in which he himself had been dangerously wounded. The citadel being thus left exposed to the approaches of the enemy, could not long withstand the violence of their operations; the two covered ways were taken by assault. On the twentieth of May the governor capitulated, to the unspeakable mortification of king William, who saw himself obliged to lie inactive at the head of a powerful army, and be an eye-witness of the loss of the most important fortress in the Netherlands. Louis having taken possession of the place, returned in triumph to Versailles, where he was flattered with all the arts of adulation; while William's reputation suffered a little from his miscarriage, and the prince of Barbason incurred the suspicion of treachery or misconduct.



THE ALLIES DEFEATED AT STEENKIRK.

Luxembourg having placed a strong garrison in Namur, detached Bounders with a body of troops to La Bassiere, and with the rest of his army encamped at Soignies. The king of England sent off detachments towards Liege and Ghent; and on the sixth day of July posted himself at Genap, resolved to seize the first opportunity of retrieving his honour by attacking the enemy. Having received intelligence that the French general was in motion and intended to take post between Steenkirk and Enghien, he passed the river Senne in order to anticipate his purpose; but in spite of all his diligence Luxembourg gained his point, and William encamped at Lembecq, within six miles of the French army. Here he resolved in a council of war to attack the enemy, and every disposition was made for that purpose. The heavy baggage he ordered to be conveyed to the other side of the Senne; and one Millevoix, a detected spy, was compelled by menaces to mislead Luxembourg with false intelligence, importing that he need not be alarmed at the motions of the allies, who intended the next day to make a general forage. On the twenty-fourth day of July, the army began to move from the left in two columns, as the ground would not admit of their marching in an extended front. The prince of Wirtemberg began the attack on the right of the enemy at the head of ten battalions of English, Danish, and Dutch infantry; he was supported by a considerable body of British horse and foot, commanded by lieutenant-general Mackay. Though the ground was intersected by hedges, ditches, and narrow defiles, the prince marched with such diligence that he was in a condition to begin the battle about two in the afternoon, when he charged the French with such impetuosity that they were driven* from their posts, and their whole camp became a scene of tumult and confusion. Luxembourg, trusting to the intelligence he had received, allowed himself to be surprised, and it required the full exertion of his superior talents to remedy the consequences of his neglect. He forthwith forgot a severe indisposition under which he then laboured; he rallied his broken battalions; he drew up his forces in order of battle, and led them to the charge in person. The duke de Chartres, who was then in the fifteenth year of his age, the dukes of Bourbon and Vendome, the prince of Conti, and a great number of volunteers of the first quality, put themselves at the head of the household troops, and fell with great fury upon the English, who were very ill supported by count Solmes, the officer who commanded the centre of the allies. The prince of Wirtemberg had taken one of the enemies' batteries, and actually penetrated into their lines; but finding himself in danger of being overpowered by numbers, he sent an aidecamp twice to demand succours from Solmes, who derided his distress, saying, "Let us see what sport these English bull-dogs will make." At length, when the king sent an express order commanding him to sustain the left wing, he made a motion with his horse, which could not act while his infantry kept their ground, and the British troops, with a few Dutch and Danes, bore the whole brunt of the engagement. They fought with surprising courage and perseverance against dreadful odds; and the event of the battle continued doubtful, until Boufliers joined the French army with a great body of dragoons. The allies could not sustain the additional weight of this reinforcement, before which they gave way, though the retreat was made in tolerable order, and the enemy did not think proper to prosecute the advantage they had gained. In this action the confederates lost the earl of Angus, general Mackay, sir John Lanier, sir Robert Douglas, and many other gallant officers, together with about three thousand men left dead on the spot, the same number wounded or taken, a great many colours and standards, and several pieces of cannon.



EXTRAVAGANT REJOICINGS IN FRANCE.

The French however reaped no solid advantage from this victory, which cost them about three thousand men, including the prince of Turenne, the marquis de Bellefond, Tilladet, and Fernacon, with many officers of distinction: as for Millevoix the spy, he was hanged on a tree on the right wing of the allied army. King William retired unmolested to his own camp; and notwithstanding all his overthrows, continued a respectable enemy, by dint of invincible fortitude and a genius fruitful in resources. That he was formidable to the French nation, even in the midst of his ill success, appears from divers undeniable testimonies, and from none more than from the extravagance of joy expressed by the people of France on the occasion of this unimportant victory. When the princes who served in the battle returned to Paris, the roads through which they passed were almost blocked up with multitudes; and the whole air resounded with acclamation. All the ornaments of the fashion peculiar to both sexes adopted the name of Steenkirk: every individual who had been personally engaged in the action was revered as a being of a superior species, and the transports of the women rose almost to a degree of frenzy.



CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIFE OF WILLIAM.

The French ministry did not entirely depend upon the fortune of the war for the execution of their revenge against king William, They likewise employed assassins to deprive him of life in the most treacherous manner.

When Louvois died, his son the marquis de Barbesieux, who succeeded him in his office of secretary, found among his papers the draft of a scheme for this purpose, and immediately revived the design by means of the chevalier de Grandval, a captain of dragoons in the service. He and colonel Parker engaged one Dumont, who undertook to assassinate king William. Madame de Maintenon, and Paparel, paymaster to the French army, were privy to the scheme, which they encouraged: the conspirators are said to have obtained an audience of king James, who approved of their undertaking, and assured them of his protection; but that unfortunate monarch was unjustly charged with the guilt of countenancing the intended murder, as they communicated nothing to him but an attempt to seize the person of the prince of Orange. Dumont actually enlisted in the confederate army, that he might have the better opportunity to shoot the king of England when he should ride out to visit the linos, while Grandval and Parker repaired to the French camp, with orders to Luxembourg to furnish them with a party of horse for the rescue of Dumont, after the blow should be struck. Whether this man's heart failed him, or he could not find the opportunity he desired, after having resided some weeks in the camp of the allies, he retired to Hanover; but still corresponded with Grandval and Barbesieux. This last admitted one Leofdale, a Dutch baron, into the secret, and likewise imparted it to monsieur Chanlais, quarter-master general of the French army, who animated Grandval and Leefdale with the promise of a considerable reward, and promised to cooperate with Parker for bringing off Dumont, for this assassin still persisted in his undertaking. Leefdale had been sent from Holland on purpose to dive to the bottom of this conspiracy, in consequence of advice given by the British envoy at Hanover, where Dumont had dropped some hints that alarmed his suspicion. The Dutchman not only insinuated himself into the confidence of the conspirators, but likewise inveigled Grandval to Eyndhoven, where he was apprehended. Understanding that Dumont had already discovered the design to the duke of Zell, and that he himself had been betrayed by Leefdale, he freely confessed all the particulars without enduring the torture; and, being found guilty by a court-martial, was executed as a traitor.

About this period the duke of Leinster arrived at Ostend, with the troops which had been embarked at St. Helen's. He was furnished with cannon sent down the Meuse from Maestricht, and reinforced by a large detachment from the king's camp at Gramont, under the command of general Ptolemache. He took possession of Furnes, was joined by the earl of Portland and M. d'Auverquerque, and a disposition was made for investing Dunkirk; but on further deliberation the enterprise was thought very dangerous, and therefore laid aside. Furnes and Dixmuyde, lately reduced by brigadier Ramsay, were strengthened with new works, and secured by strong garrisons. The cannon were sent back, and the troops returning to Ostend, re-embarked for England. This fruitless expedition, added to the inglorious issue of the campaign, increased the ill humour of the British nation. They taxed William with having lain inactive at Gramont with an army of one hundred thousand men, while Luxembourg was posted at Courtray with half that number. They said, if he had found the French lines too strong to be forced, he might have passed the Scheld higher up, and not only laid the enemy's conquests under contribution, but even marched into the bowels of France; and they complained that Furnes and Dixmuyde were not worth the sums expended in maintaining their garrisons. On the twenty-sixth day of September king William left the army under the command of the elector of Bavaria, and repaired to his house at Loo: in two days after his departure the camp at Gramont was broke up; the infantry marched to Marienkerke, and the horse; to Caure. On the sixteenth day of October, the king receiving intelligence that Boufflers had invested Charleroy, and Luxembourg taken post in the neighbourhood of Conde, ordered the troops to be instantly reassembled between the village of Ixells and Halle, with design to raise the siege, and repaired to Brussels, where he held a council of war, in which the proper measures were concerted. He then returned to Holland, leaving the command with the elector of Bavaria, who forthwith began his march for Charleroy. At his approach Boufflers abandoned the siege, and moved towards Philip-ville. The elector having reinforced the place, and thrown supplies into Aeth, distributed his forces into winter-quarters. Then Luxembourg, who had cantoned his army between Conde, Leuzet, and Tournay, returned to Paris, leaving Boufflers to command in his absence.



THE CAMPAIGN INACTIVE ON THE RHINE AND IN HUNGARY.

The allies had been unsuccessful in Flanders, and they were not fortunate in Germany. The landgrave of Hesse Cassol undertook the siege of Eberemburgh, which, however, he was obliged to abandon. The duke de Lorges, who commanded the French forces on the Rhine, surprised, defeated, and took the duke of Wirtemberg, who had posted himself with four thousand horse near Ridelsheim, to check the progress of the enemy. Count Tallard having invested Rhinefield, the landgrave marched to its relief with such expedition that the French wore obliged to desist and retreat with considerable damage. The elector of Saxony had engaged to bring an army into the field; but he complained that the emperor left the burden of the war with France upon the princes, and converted his chief power and attention to the campaign in Hungary. A jealousy and misunderstanding ensued: Schoning the Saxon general, in his way to the hot baths at Dablitz in Bohemia, was seized by the emperor's order on suspicion of having maintained a private correspondence with the enemy, and very warm expostulations on this subject passed between the courts of Vienna and Dresden. Schoning was detained two years in custody; and at length released on condition that he should never be employed again in the empire. The war in Hungary produced no event of importance. The ministry of the Ottoman Porte was distracted by factions, and the seraglio threatened with tumults. The people were tired of maintaining an unsuccessful war; the vizier was deposed; and in the midst of this confusion, the garrison of great Waradin, which had been blocked up by the imperialists during the whole winter, surrendered on capitulation. Lord Paget, the English ambassador at Vienna, was sent to Constantinople with powers to mediate a peace; but the terms offered by the emperor were rejected at the Porte: the Turkish army lay upon the defensive, and the season was spent in a fruitless negotiation.



THE DUKE INVADES DAUPHINE.

The prospect of affairs in Piedmont was favourable for the allies; but the court of France had brought the pope to an accommodation, and began to tamper with the duke of Savoy. M. Chanlais was sent to Turin with advantageous proposals, which however the duke would not accept, because he thought himself entitled to better terms, considering that the allied army in Piedmont amounted to fifty thousand effective men, while Catinat's forces were not sufficient to defend his conquests in that country. In the month of July the duke marched into Dauphine, where he plundered a number of villages, and reduced the fortress of Guillestre; then passing the river Darance, he invested Ambrun, which, after a siege of nine days, surrendered on capitulation: he afterwards laid all the neighbouring J towns under contribution. Here duke Schomberg, who commanded the auxiliaries in the English pay, published a declaration in the name of king William, inviting the people to join his standard, assuring them that his master had no other design in ordering his troops to invade France, but that of restoring the noblesse to their ancient splendour, their parliaments to their former authority, and the people to their just privileges. He even offered his protection to the clergy, and promised to use his endeavours for reviving the edict of Nantes, which had been guaranteed by the kings of England. These offers, however, produced little effect; and the Germans ravaged the whole country in revenge for the cruelties which the French had committed in the Palatinate. The allied army advanced from Ambrun to Gap, on the frontiers of Provence, and this place submitted without opposition. The inhabitants of Grenoble, the capital of Dauphine, and even of Lyons, were overwhelmed with consternation; and a fairer opportunity of humbling France could never occur, as that part of the kingdom had been left almost quite defenceless; but this was fatally neglected, either from the spirit of dissension which began to prevail in the allied army, or from the indisposition of the duke of Savoy, who was seized with the small-pox in the midst of this expedition; or, lastly, from his want of sincerity, which was shrewdly suspected. He is said to have maintained a constant correspondence with the court of Versailles, in complaisance to which he retarded the operations of the confederates. Certain it is, he evacuated all his conquests, and about the middle of September quitted the French territories, after having pillaged and laid waste the country through which he had penetrated.* In Catalonia the French attempted nothing of importance during this campaign, and the Spaniards were wholly inactive in that province.

* At this period queen Mary, understanding that the protestant Vaudois were destitute of ministers to preach or teach the gospel, established a fund from her own privy purse to maintain ten preachers, and as many schoolmasters, in the valleys of Piedmont.



THE DUKE OF HANOVER CREATED AN ELECTOR OF THE EMPIRE.

The protestant interest in Germany acquired an accession of strength by the creation of a ninth electorate in favour of Ernest Augustus, duke of Hanover. He had by this time renounced all his connexions with France, and engaged to enter heartily into the interest of the allies, in consideration of his obtaining the electoral dignity. King William exerted himself so vigorously in his behalf at the court of Vienna, that the emperor agreed to the proposal, in case the consent of the other electors could be procured. This assent, however, was extorted by the importunities of the king of England, whom he durst not disoblige. Leopold was blindly bigotted to the religion of Rome, and consequently averse to a new creation that would weaken the catholic interest in the electoral college. He therefore employed his emissaries to thwart the duke's measures. Some protestant princes opposed him from motives of jealousy, and the French king used all his artifice and influence to prevent the elevation of the house of Hanover. When the duke had surmounted all this opposition, so far as to gain over a majority of the electors, new objections were started. The emperor suggested that another popish electorate should be created to balance the advantage which the Lutherans would reap from that of Hanover; and he proposed that Austria should be raised to the same dignity; but violent opposition was made to this expedient, which would have vested the emperor with a double vote in the electoral college. At length, after a tedious negotiation, the duke of Hanover, on the nineteenth day of December, was honoured with the investiture as elector of Brunswick; created great marshal of the empire, and did homage to the emperor: nevertheless, he was not yet admitted into the college, because he had not been able to procure the unanimous consent of all the electors.*

* In the beginning of September the shock of an earthquake was felt in London, and many other parts of England, as well as in France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Violent agitations of the same kind had happened about two months before in Sicily and Malta; and the town of Port-Royal in Jamaica was almost totally ruined by the earthquake: the place was so suddenly overflowed, that about fifteen hundred persons perished.



CHAPTER IV.

False Information against the Earl of Marlborough, the Bishop of Rochester, and others..... Sources of National Discontent..... Dissension between the Queen and the Prince's Anne of Denmark..... The House of Lords vindicate their Privileges in behalf of their imprisoned Members..... The Commons present Addresses to The King and Queen..... They acquit Admiral Russel, and resolve to advise his Majesty..... They comply with all the Demands of the Ministry..... The Lords present an Address of Advice to the King..... The Dispute between the Lords and Commons concerning Admiral Russel..... The Commons address the King..... They establish the Land tax and other Impositions..... Burnet's Pastoral Letter burned by the Hangman..... Proceedings of the Lower House against the Practice of kidnapping Men for the Service..... The two Houses address the King on the Grievances of Ireland ..... An Account of the Place-bill, and that for triennial Parliaments..... The Commons petition his Majesty that he would dissolve the East India Company..... Trial of Lord Mohan for Murder..... Alterations in the Ministry..... The king repairs to the Continent, and assembles the Confederate Army in Flanders..... The French reduce Huy..... Luxembourg resolves to attack the Allies..... who are defeated at Landen..... Charleroy is besieged and taken by the Enemy..... Campaign on the Rhine..... The Duke of Savoy is defeated bv Catinat in the Plain of Marsaglia..... Transactions in Hungary and Catalonia..... Naval Affairs..... A Fleet of Merchant Ships under Convoy of Sir George Rooke attacked, and partly destroyed by the French Squadrons ..... Wheeler's Expedition to the West Indies..... Benbow bombards St. Maloes..... The French King has recourse to the Mediation of Denmark..... Severity of the Government against the Jacobites..... Complaisance of the Scottish Parliament..... The King returns to England, makes some Changes in the Ministry, and opens the Session of Parliament..... Both Houses inquire into the Miscarriages by Sea..... The Commons grant a vast Sum for the Services of the ensuing Year..... The King rejects the Bill against free and impartial Proceedings in Parliament; and the Lower House remonstrates on this Subject..... Establishment of the Bank of England..... The East India Company obtain a now Charter..... Bill for a general Naturalization dropped..... Sir Francis Wheeler perishes in a Storm..... The English attempt to make a Descent in Camaret Bay, but are repulsed with Loss..... They bombard Dieppe, Havre-de-Grace, Dunkirk, and Calais..... Admiral Russel sails for the Mediterranean, relieves Barcelona, and winters at Cadiz..... Campaign in Flanders..... The Allies reduce Huy..... The Prince of Baden passes the Rhine, but is obliged to repass that River..... Operations in Hungary..... Progress of the French in Catalonia..... State of the War in Piedmont..... The King returns to England..... The Parliament meets..... The Bill for Triennial Parliaments receives the Royal Assent..... Death of Archbishop Tillotson and of Queen Mary..... Reconciliation between the King and the Princess of Denmark.

{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688—1701.}



THE EARL OF MARLBOROUGH, BISHOP OF ROCHESTER, &c, FALSELY ACCUSED.

While king William seemed wholly engrossed by the affairs of the continent, England was distracted by domestic dissension, and overspread with vice, corruption, and profaneness. Over and above the Jacobites, there was a set of malcontents whose number daily increased. They not only murmured at the grievances of the nation, but composed and published elaborate dissertations upon the same subject. These made such impressions upon the people, already irritated by heavy burdens, distressed in their trade, and disappointed in their sanguine expectations, that the queen thought it necessary to check the progress of those writers by issuing out a proclamation offering a reward to such as would discover seditious libellers. The earl of Marlborough had been committed to the Tower on the information of one Robert Young, a prisoner in Newgate, who had forged that nobleman's hand-writing, and contrived the scheme of an association in favour of king James, to which he affixed the names of the earls of Marlborough and Salisbury, Sprat, bishop of Rochester, the lord Cornbury, and sir Basil Firebrace. One of his emissaries had found means to conceal this paper in a certain part of the bishop's house at Bromley in Kent, where it was found by the king's messengers, who secured the prelate in consequence of Young's information. But he vindicated himself to the satisfaction of the whole council; and the forgery of the informer was detected by the confession of his accomplice. The bishop obtained his release immediately and the earl of Marlborough was admitted to bail in the court of king's bench.



SOURCES OF NATIONAL DISCONTENT.

So many persons of character and distinction had been imprisoned during this reign upon the slightest suspicion, that the discontented part of the nation had some reason to insinuate they had only exchanged one tyrant for another. They affirmed that the habeas-corpus act was either insufficient to protect the subject from false imprisonment, or had been shamefully misused. They expatiated upon the loss of ships, which had lately fallen a prey to the enemy; the consumption of seamen; the neglect of the fisheries; the interruption of commerce, in which the nation was supplanted by her allies, as well as invaded by her enemies; the low ebb of the kingdom's treasure, exhausted in hiring foreign bottoms, and paying foreign troops to fight foreign quarrels; and the slaughter of the best and bravest of their countrymen, whose blood had been lavishly spilt in support of connexions with which they ought to have had no concern. They demonstrated the mischiefs that necessarily arose from the unsettled state of the nation. They observed that the government could not be duly established until a solemn declaration should confirm the legality of that tenure by which their majesties possessed the throne; that the structure of parliaments was deficient in point of solidity, as they existed entirely at the pleasure of the crown, which would use them no longer than they should be found necessary in raising supplies for the use of the government. They exclaimed against the practice of quartering soldiers in private houses contrary to the ancient laws of the land, the petition of rights, and the subsequent act on that subject passed in the reign of the second Charles. They enumerated among their grievances the violation of property, by pressing transport ships into the service without settling any fund of payment for the owners; the condition of the militia, which was equally burdensome and useless; the flagrant partiality in favour of allies, who carried on an open commerce with France, and supplied the enemy with necessaries, while the English laboured under the severest prohibitions, and were in effect the dupes of those very powers whom they protected. They dwelt upon the ministry's want of conduct, foresight, and intelligence, and inveighed against their ignorance, insolence, and neglect, which were as pernicious to the nation as if they had formed a design of reducing it to the lowest ebb of disgrace and destruction. By this time, indeed, public virtue was become the object of ridicule, and the whole kingdom was overspread with immorality and corruption; towards the increase of which many concurring circumstances happened to contribute. The people were divided into three parties, namely, the Williamites, the Jacobites, and the discontented Revolutioners; these factions took all opportunities to thwart, to expose, and to ridicule the measures and principles of each other, so that patriotism was laughed out of doors as an hypocritical pretence. This contention established a belief that every man consulted his own private interest at the expense of the public, a belief that soon grew into a maxim almost universally adopted. The practice of bribing a majority in parliament had a pernicious influence upon the morals of all ranks of people, from the candidate to the lowest borough elector. The expedient of establishing funds of credit for raising supplies to defray the expenses of government, threw large premiums and sums of money into the hands of low sordid usurers, brokers, and jobbers, who distinguished themselves by the name of the monied interest. Intoxicated by this flow of wealth, they affected to rival the luxury and magnificence of their superiors; but being destitute of sentiment and taste to conduct them in their new career, they ran into the most absurd and illiberal extravagancies. They laid aside all decorum; became lewd, insolent, intemperate, and riotous. Their example was caught by the vulgar. All principle, and even decency, was gradually banished; talent lay uncultivated, and the land was deluged with a tide of ignorance and profligacy.



DISSENSION BETWEEN THE QUEEN AND PRINCESS ANNE.

King William having ascertained the winter quarters of the army, and concerted the operations of the ensuing campaign with the states-general and the ministers of the allies, set sail for England on the fifteenth day of October; on the eighteenth landed at Yarmouth, was met by the queen at Newhall, and passed through the city of London to Kensington amidst the acclamations of the populace. He received a congratulatory address from the lord-mayor and aldermen, with whom he dined in public by invitation. A day of thanksgiving was appointed for the victory obtained at sea. The lustring company was established by patent, and the parliament met on the fourth day of November. The house of lords was deeply infected with discontent, which in some measure proceeded from the dissension between the queen and her sister, the princess of Denmark, which last underwent every mortification which the court could inflict. Her guards were taken away; all honours which had been paid to her rank by the magistrates of Bath, where she sometimes resided, and even by the ministers of the church where she attended at divine service, were discontinued by the express order of his majesty. Her cause was naturally espoused by those noblemen who had adhered to her in her former contest with the king about an independent settlement; and these were now reinforced by all the friends of the earl of Marlborough, united for a double tie; for they resented the disgrace and confinement of that lord, and thought it their duty to support the princess Anne under a persecution incurred by an attachment to his countess. The earl of Shrewsbury lived in friendship with Marlborough, and thought he had been ungratefully treated by the king; the marquis of Halifax befriended him from opposition to the ministry; the earl of Mulgrave for an opportunity to display his talents, and acquire that consideration which he thought due to his merit. Devonshire, Montague, and Bradford, joined in the same cause from principle; the same pretence was used by the earls of Stamford, Monmouth, Warrington, and other whigs, though in effect they were actuated by jealousy and resentment against those by whom they had been supplanted. As for the Jacobites, they gladly contributed their assistance to promote any scheme that had a tendency to embroil the administration.



THE LORDS VINDICATE THEIR PRIVILEGES.

The king, in his speech to parliament, thanked them for their last supplies, congratulated them upon the victory obtained at sea, condoled them on the bad success of the campaign by land, magnified the power of France, represented the necessity of maintaining a great force to oppose it, and demanded subsidies equal to the occasion. He expressed his reluctance to load them with additional burdens, which he said could not be avoided, without exposing his kingdom to inevitable destruction. He desired their advice towards lessening the inconveniences of exporting money for the payment of the forces. He intimated a design of making a descent upon France; declared he had no aim but to make his subjects a happy people; and that he would again cheerfully expose his life for the welfare of the nation. The lords, after an adjournment of three days, began with great warmth to assert their privileges, which they conceived had been violated in the cases of the earl of Marlborough and the other noblemen who had been apprehended, committed to prison, and afterwards admitted to bail by the court of king's-bench. These circumstances being fully discussed in a violent debate, the house ordered lord Lucas, constable of the Tower, to produce the warrants of commitment, and the clerk of the king's-bench to deliver the affidavit of Aaron Smith, the court solicitor, upon which the lords had been remanded to prison. At the same time the whole affair was referred to a committee, empowered to send for persons, papers, and records. The judges were ordered to attend: Aaron Smith was examined touching the evidence against the committed lords. The committee reported their general resolution, which produced a vehement dispute. The opinion of the judges was unsatisfactory to both parties; the debate was referred to a committee of the whole house, in which it was resolved and declared, as the sense of that assembly, that in pursuance of the habeas-corpus act, it was the duty of the judges and gaol-delivery to discharge the prisoner on bail if committed for high treason, unless it be made appear, upon oath, that there are two witnesses against the said prisoner, who cannot be produced in that term, session, or general gaol-delivery. They likewise resolved it was the intention of the said statute, that in case there should be more than one prisoner to be bailed or remanded, there must be oath made that there are two witnesses against each prisoner, otherwise he cannot be remanded to prison. These resolutions were entered in the books as standing directions to all future-judges, yet not without great opposition from the court members. The next debate turned upon the manner in which the imprisoned lords should be set at liberty. The contest became so warm that the courtiers began to be afraid, and proposed an expedient which was put in practice. The house adjourned to the seventeenth day of the month, and at its next meeting was given to understand that the king had discharged the imprisoned noblemen. After another warm debate, a formal entry was made in the journals, importing, That the house being informed of his majesty's having given directions for discharging the lords under bail in the king's-bench, the debate about that matter ceased. The resentment of the peers being thus allayed, they proceeded to take his majesty's speech into consideration.



THE COMMONS PRESENT ADDRESSES TO THE KING AND QUEEN.

The commons having voted an address of thanks, and another, praying that his majesty's foreign alliances should be laid before them, determined on a bill for regulating trials in cases of high treason. They passed a vote of thanks to admiral Russel, his officers and seamen, for the victory they had obtained, and then proceeded to an inquiry, Why that victory had not been pursued? why the descent had not been made? and why the trade had not been better protected from the enemy's cruisers? The admiral having justified his own conduct, they commanded the lords of the admiralty to produce copies of all the letters and orders which had been sent to the admiral; they ordered Russel to lay before them his answers; and the commissioners of the transports, victuallers, and office of ordnance, to deliver in an account of their proceedings. They then presented addresses to the king and queen, acknowledging the favour of God in restoring him to his people; congratulating him upon his deliverance from the snares of his open and secret enemies; and assuring him they would, according to his majesty's desire in his most gracious speech, be always ready to advise and assist him in the support of his government. The queen was thanked for her gracious and prudent administration during his majesty's absence; they congratulated her on their signal deliverance from a bold and cruel design formed for their destruction, as well as on the glorious victory which her fleet had gained; and they assured her that the grateful sense they had of their happiness under her government, should always be manifested in constant returns of duty and obedience.

After this formal compliment, the house, instead of proceeding to the supplies, insisted upon perusing the treaties, public accounts, and estimates, that they might be in a condition to advise as well as to assist his majesty. Being indulged with those papers, they passed a previous vote that a supply should be given; then they began to concert their articles of advice. Some of the members loudly complained of partiality to foreign generals, and particularly reflected upon the insolence of count Solmes, and his misconduct at Steenkirk. After some warm altercation, the house resolved one article of their advice should be, that his majesty would be pleased to fill up the vacancies that should happen among the general officers, with such only as were natives of his dominions, and that the commander-in-chief of the English should be an Englishman. Their next resolution implied, that many of the great affairs of the government having been for some time past unsuccessfully managed, the house should advise his majesty to prevent such mischiefs for the future, by employing men of knowledge, ability, and integrity. Individual members inveighed bitterly against cabinet councils, as a novelty in the British system of government by which the privy-council was jostled out of its province. They complained that all the grievances of the nation proceeded from the vicious principles of the ministry: they observed, that he who opposed the establishment could not be expected to support it with zeal. The earl of Nottingham was mentioned by name, and the house resolved that his majesty should be advised to employ in his councils such persons only whose principles obliged them to support his rights against the late king, and all other pretenders. Marlborough's interest still predominated among the commons. His friend Russel acquitted himself to the satisfaction of the house, and shifted the blame of the miscarriage upon his enemy the earl of Nottingham, by declaring that twenty days elapsed between his first letter to that nobleman and his lordship's answer. The earl's friends, of whom there was a great number in the house, espoused his cause with great vigour, and even recriminated upon Russel; so that a very violent debate ensued. Both parties agreed that there had been mismanagement in the scheme of a descent. It was moved, that one cause of the miscarriage was the want of giving timely and necessary orders, by those to whom the management of the affair was committed. The house divided, and it was carried in the affirmative by one voice only. At the next sitting of the committee, sir Richard Temple proposed they should consider how to pay the forces abroad, by means of English manufactures, without ex porting money. They resolved that the house should be moved to appoint a committee to take this expedient into consideration. Sir Francis Wilmington was immediately called upon to leave the chair, and the speaker resumed his place. All that had been done was now void, as no report had been made; and the committee was dissolved. The house however revived it, and appointed a day for its sitting; but before it could resume its deliberations, admiral Russel moved for its being adjourned, and all its purposes were defeated.

The court agents had by this time interposed, and secured a majority by the infamous arts of corruption. The commons no longer insisted upon their points of advice. Their whole attention was now centered in the article of assistance. They granted about two millions for the maintenance of three-and-thirty thousand seamen, the building of some additional ships of war, and the finishing of Plymouth dock; and seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds to supply the deficiency of the quarterly poll. The estimates of the land-service were not discussed without tedious debates and warm disputes. The ministry demanded fifty-four thousand men, twenty thousand of whom should be kept at home for the defence of the nation, while the rest should serve abroad in the allied army. Many members declared their aversion to a foreign war, in which the nation had no immediate concern and so little prospect of success. Others agreed that the allies should be assisted on the continent with a proportion of British forces; but that the nation should act as an auxiliary, not as a principal, and pay no more than what the people would cheerfully contribute to the general expense. These reflections, however, produced no other effect than that of prolonging the debate. Ministerial influence had surmounted all opposition. The house voted the number of men demanded. Such was their servile complaisance, that when they examined the treaties by which the English and Dutch contracted equally with the German princes, and found that, notwithstanding these treaties, Britain bore two-thirds of the expense, they overlooked this flagrant instance of partiality, and enabled the king to pay the proportion. Nay, their maxims were so much altered, that, instead of prosecuting their resentment against foreign generals, they assented to a motion that the prince of Wirtemberg, the major-generals Tetteau and La Forest, who commanded the Danish troops in the pay of the states-general, should be indulged with such an addition to their appointments as would make up the difference between the pay of England and that of Holland. Finally, they voted above two millions for the subsistence of the land forces, and for defraying extraordinary expenses attending the war upon the continent, including subsidies to the electors of Saxony and Hanover.



THE LORDS PRESENT AN ADDRESS OF ADVICE TO THE KING.

The house of lords meanwhile was not free from animosity and contention. The Marlborough faction exerted themselves with great vivacity. They affirmed, it was the province of their house to advise the sovereign: like the commons, they insisted upon the king's having asked their advice because he had mentioned that word in his speech, though he never dreamed that they would catch at it with such eagerness. They moved, that the task of digesting the articles of advice should be undertaken by a joint committee of both houses; but all the dependents of the court, including the whole bench of bishops, except Watson of St. David's, were marshalled to oppose this motion, which was rejected by a majority of twelve; and this victory was followed with a protest of the vanquished. Notwithstanding this defeat, they prosecuted their scheme of giving advice; and after much wrangling and declamation, the house agreed in an address of remonstrance, advising and beseeching his majesty, That the commanding officer of the British forces should be an Englishman; that English officers might take rank of those in the confederate armies, who did not belong to crowned heads; that the twenty thousand men to be left for the defence of the kingdom should be all English, and commanded by an English general; that the practice of pressing men for the fleet should be remedied; that such officers as were guilty of this practice should be cashiered and punished; and, lastly, that no foreigners should sit at the board of ordnance. This address was presented to the king, who received it coldly, and said he would take it into consideration.

Then the lords resolved to inquire into the miscarriage of the purposed descent, and called for all the papers relating to that affair; but the aim of the majority was not so much to rectify the errors of the government, as to screen Nottingham, and censure Russel. That nobleman produced his own book of entries, together with the whole correspondence between him and the admiral, whom he verbally charged with having contributed to the miscarriage of the expedition. This affair was referred to a committee. Sir John Ashby was examined. The house directed the earl to draw up the substance of his charge; and these papers were afterwards delivered to a committee of the commons, at a conference by the lord-president, and the rest of the committee above. They were offered for the inspection of the commons, as they concerned some members of that house, by whom they might be informed more fully of the particulars they contained. At another conference which the commons demanded, their committee declared, in the name of the house, That they had read and well considered the papers which their lordships had sent them, and which they now returned: that finding Mr. Russel, one of their members, often mentioned in the said papers, they had unanimously resolved, that admiral Russel, in his command of the fleets during the last summer's expedition, had behaved with fidelity, courage, and conduct. The lords irritated at this declaration, and disappointed in their resentment against Russel, desired a free conference between the committees of both houses. The earl of Rochester told the commons, he was commanded by the house of lords to inform them that their lordships looked upon the late vote and proceeding of the lower house, in returning their papers, to be irregular and unparliamentary, as they had not communicated to their lordships the lights they had received, and the reason upon which their vote was founded. A paper to the same purport was delivered to colonel Granville, who promised to present it to the commons, and make a faithful report of what his lordship had said. Thus the conference ended, and the inquiry was discontinued.



THE COMMONS ADDRESS THE KINO.

The lower house seemed to be as much exasperated against the earl of Nottingham as the lords were incensed at Russel. A motion was made that his majesty should be advised to appoint such commissioners of the board of admiralty as were of known experience in maritime affairs. Although this was overruled, they voted an address to the king, praying, that for the future, all orders for the engagement of the fleet might pass through the hands of the said commissioners; a protest by implication against the conduct of the secretary. The consideration of ways and means was the next object that engrossed the attention of the lower house. They resolved that a rate of four shillings in the pound, for one year, should be charged upon all lands according to their yearly value; as also upon all personal estates, and upon all offices and employments of profit, other than military offices in the army and navy. The act founded on this resolution empowered the king to borrow money on the credit of it, at seven per cent. They further enabled him to raise one million on the general credit of the exchequer, by granting annuities. They laid several new duties on a variety of imports. They renewed the last quarterly poll, providing that in case it should not produce three hundred thousand pounds, the deficiencies might be made up by borrowing on the general credit of the exchequer. They continued the impositions on wine, vinegar, tobacco, and sugar, for five years; and those on East-India goods for four years. They laid a new imposition of eight per cent, on the capital stock of the East-India company, estimated at seven hundred and forty-four thousand pounds; of one per cent, on the African; of five pounds on every share of the stock belonging to the Hudson's Bay company; and they empowered his majesty to borrow five hundred thousand pounds on these funds, which were expressly established for maintaining the war with vigour.*

* The French king hearing how liberally William was supplied, exclaimed, with some emotion, "My little cousin the prince of Orange is fixed in the saddle—but, no matter, the last Louis d'or must carry it."



BURNET'S PASTORAL LETTER BURNED.

The money-bills were retarded in the upper house by the arts of Halifax, Mulgrave, and other malcontents. They grafted a clause on the land-tax bill, importing, that the lords should tax themselves. It was adopted by the majority, and the bill sent with this amendment to the commons, by whom it was unanimously rejected as a flagrant attempt upon their privileges. They demanded a conference, in which they declared that the clause in question was a notorious encroachment upon the right the commons possessed, of regulating all matters relating to supplies granted by parliament. When this report was debated in the house of lords, the earl of Mulgrave displayed uncommon powers of eloquence and argument, in persuading the house, that, by yielding to this claim of the commons, they would divest themselves of their true greatness, and nothing would remain but the name and shadow of a peer, which was but a pageant. Notwithstanding all his oratory, the lords relinquished their clause, declaring, at the same time, that they had agreed to pass the bill without alteration, merely in regard to the present urgent state of affairs, as being otherwise of opinion that they had a right to insist upon their clause. A formal complaint being made in the house of commons against the pamphlet entitled, "King William and Queen Mary Conquerors," as containing assertions of dangerous consequence to their majesties, to the liberty of the subject, and the peace of the kingdom, the licenser and printer were taken into custody. The book being examined, resolved that it should be burned by the hands of the common hangman, and that the king should be moved to dismiss the licenser from his employment. The same sentence they pronounced upon a pastoral letter of bishop Burnet, in which this notion of conquest had been at first asserted. The lords, in order to manifest their sentiments on the same subject, resolved, That such an assertion was highly injurious to their majesties, inconsistent with the principles on which the government was founded, and tending to the subversion of the rights of the people. Bohun the licenser was brought to the bar of the house, and discharged upon his own petition, after having been reprimanded on his knees by the speaker.

Several members having complained that their servants had been kidnapped and sent to serve as soldiers in Flanders, the house appointed a committee to inquire into the abuses committed by press-masters; and a suitable remonstrance was presented to the king, who expressed his indignation at this practice, and assured the house that the delinquents should be brought to exemplary punishment. Understanding however in the sequel, that the methods taken by his majesty for preventing this abuse had not proved, effectual, they resumed their inquiry, and proceeded with, uncommon vigour on the information they received. A great number of persons who had been pressed were discharged by order of the house; and captain Winter, the chief undertaker for this method of recruiting the army, was carried by the sergeant before the lord chief justice, that he might be prosecuted according to law.



THE TWO HOUSES ADDRESS THE KING.

Before the heats occasioned by this unpopular expedient were allayed, the discontent of the nation was further inflamed by complaints from Ireland, where lord Sidney was said to rule with despotic authority. These complaints were exhibited by sir Francis Brewster, sir William Gore, sir John Macgill, lieutenant Stafford, Mr. Stone, and Mr. Kerne. They were examined at the bar of the house, and delivered an account of their grievances in writing. Both houses concurred in this inquiry; which, being finished, they severally presented addresses to the king. The lords observed, That there had been great abuses in disposing of the forfeited estates; that protections had been granted to the Irish not included in the articles of Limerick; so that protestants were deprived of the benefit of the law against them; that the quarters of the army had not been paid according to the provision made by parliament; that a mayor had been imposed upon the city of Dublin for two years successively, contrary to the ancient privileges and charter; that several persons accused of murder had been executed without proof; and one Sweetman, the most guilty, discharged without prosecution. The commons spoke more freely in their address; they roundly explained the abuses and mismanagement of that government, by exposing the protestant subjects to the free quarter and violence of a licentious army; by recruiting the troops with Irish papists who had been in open rebellion against his majesty; by granting protections to Irish Roman-catholics, whereby the course of the law was stopped; by reversing outlawries for high treason not comprehended in the articles of Limerick; by letting the forfeited estates at undervalue, to the prejudice of his majesty's revenue; by embezzling the stores left in the towns and garrisons by the late king James, as well as the effects belonging to the forfeited estates, which might have been employed for the better preservation of the kingdom; and, finally, by making additions to the articles of Limerick after the capitulation was signed and the place surrendered. They most humbly besought his majesty to redress these abuses, which had greatly encouraged the papists, and weakened the protestant interest in Ireland. The king graciously received both addresses, and promised to pay a particular regard to all remonstrances that should come from either house of parliament; but no material step was taken against the lords Sidney, Athlone, and Coningsby, who appeared to have engrossed great part of the forfeitures by grants from the crown; and even commissioner Culliford, who had been guilty of the most grievous acts of oppression, escaped with impunity.