among those who blamed the Declaration of 1693 as too merciful.]
[Footnote 437: Among the Nairne Papers is a letter sent on this occasion
by Middleton to Macarthy, who was then serving in Germany. Middleton
tries to soothe Macarthy and to induce Macarthy to soothe others.
Nothing more disingenuous was ever written by a Minister of State. "The
King," says the Secretary, "promises in the foresaid Declaration to
restore the Settlement, but at the same time, declares that he will
recompense all those who may suffer by it by giving them equivalents."
Now James did not declare that he would recompense any body, but merely
that he would advise with his Parliament on the subject. He did not
declare that he would even advise with his Parliament about recompensing
all who might suffer, but merely about recompensing such as had followed
him to the last. Finally he said nothing about equivalents. Indeed the
notion of giving an equivalent to every body who suffered by the Act of
Settlement, in other words, of giving an equivalent for the fee simple
of half the soil of Ireland, was obviously absurd. Middleton's letter
will be found in Macpherson's collection. I will give a sample of the
language held by the Whigs on this occasion. "The Roman Catholics of
Ireland," says one writer, "although in point of interest and profession
different from us yet, to do them right, have deserved well from the
late King, though ill from us; and for the late King to leave them
and exclude them in such an instance of uncommon ingratitude that
Protestants have no reason to stand by a Prince that deserts his own
party, and a people that have been faithful to him and his interest to
the very last."--A short and true Relation of the Intrigues, &c., 1694.]
[Footnote 438: The edict of creation was registered by the Parliament of
Paris on the 10th of April 1693.]
[Footnote 439: The letter is dated the 19th of April 1693. It is among
the Nairne MSS., and was printed by Macpherson.]
[Footnote 440: "Il ne me plait nullement que M. Middleton est alle en
France. Ce n'est pas un homme qui voudroit faire un tel pas sans quelque
chose d'importance, et de bien concerte, sur quoy j'ay fait beaucoup
de reflections que je reserve a vous dire avostre heureuse
arrivee."--William to Portland from Loo. April 18/28 1693.]
[Footnote 441: The best account of William's labours and anxieties at
this time is contained in his letters to Heinsius--particularly the
letters of May 1. 9. and 30. 1693.]
[Footnote 442: He speaks very despondingly in his letter to Heinsius
of the 30th of May, Saint Simon says: "On a su depuis que le Prince
d'Orange ecrivit plusieurs fois au prince de Vaudmont son ami intime,
qu'il etait perdu et qu'il n'y avait que par un miracle qu'il pût
echapper."]
[Footnote 443: Saint Simon; Monthly Mercury, June 1693; Burnet, ii.
111.]
[Footnote 444: Memoires de Saint Simon; Burnet, i. 404.]
[Footnote 445: William to Heinsius, July. 1693.]
[Footnote 446: Saint Simon's words are remarkable. "Leur cavalerie," he
says, "y fit d'abord plier des troupes d'elite jusqu'alors invincibles."
He adds, "Les gardes du Prince d'Orange, ceux de M. de Vaudemont, et
deux regimens Anglais en eurent l'honneur."]
[Footnote 447: Berwick; Saint Simon; Burnet, i. 112, 113.; Feuquieres;
London Gazette, July 27. 31. Aug. 3. 1693; French Official Relation;
Relation sent by the King of Great Britain to their High Mightinesses,
Aug. 2. 1693; Extract of a Letter from the Adjutant of the King of
England's Dragoon Guards, Aug. 1.; Dykvelt's Letter to the States
General dated July 30. at noon. The last four papers will be found in
the Monthly Mercuries of July and August 1693. See also the History
of the Last Campaign in the Spanish Netherlands by Edward D'Auvergne,
dedicated to the Duke of Ormond, 1693. The French did justice to
William. "Le Prince d'Orange," Racine wrote to Boileau, "pensa etre
pris, apres avoir fait des merveilles." See also the glowing description
of Sterne, who, no doubt, had many times heard the battle fought over
by old soldiers. It was on this occasion that Corporal Trim was left
wounded on the field, and was nursed by the Beguine.]
[Footnote 448: Letter from Lord Perth to his sister, June 17. 1694.]
[Footnote 449: Saint Simon mentions the reflections thrown on the
Marshal. Feuquieres, a very good judge, tells us that Luxemburg was
unjustly blamed, and that the French army was really too much crippled
by its losses to improve the victory.]
[Footnote 450: This account of what would have taken place, if Luxemburg
had been able and willing to improve his victory, I have taken from what
seems to have been a very manly and sensible speech made by Talmash
in the House of Commons on the 11th of December following. See Grey's
Debates.]
[Footnote 451: William to Heinsius, July 20/30. 1693.]
[Footnote 452: William to Portland, July 21/31. 1693.]
[Footnote 453: London Gazette, April 24., May 15. 1693.]
[Footnote 454: Burchett's Memoirs of Transactions at Sea; Burnet, ii.
114, 115, 116.; the London Gazette, July 17. 1693; Monthly Mercury of
July; Letter from Cadiz, dated July 4.]
[Footnote 455: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; Baden to the States General,
Jul 14/24, July 25/Aug 4. Among the Tanner MSS. in the Bodleian Library
are letters describing the agitation in the City. "I wish," says one of
Sancroft's Jacobite correspondents, "it may open our eyes and change our
minds. But by the accounts I have seen, the Turkey Company went from the
Queen and Council full of satisfaction and good humour."]
[Footnote 456: London Gazette, August 21 1693; L'Hermitage to the States
General, July 28/Aug 7 As I shall, in this and the following chapters,
make large use of the despatches of L'Hermitage, it may be proper to say
something about him. He was a French refugee, and resided in London
as agent for the Waldenses. One of his employments had been to
send newsletters to Heinsius. Some interesting extracts from those
newsletters will be found in the work of the Baron Sirtema de
Grovestins. It was probably in consequence of the Pensionary's
recommendation that the States General, by a resolution dated July
24/Aug 3 1693, desired L'Hermitage to collect and transmit to them
intelligence of what was passing in England. His letters abound with
curious and valuable information which is nowhere else to be found. His
accounts of parliamentary proceedings are of peculiar value, and seem to
have been so considered by his employers.
Copies of the despatches of L'Hermitage, and, indeed of the despatches
of all the ministers and agents employed by the States General in
England from the time of Elizabeth downward, now are or will soon be
in the library of the British Museum. For this valuable addition to the
great national storehouse of knowledge, the country is chiefly
indebted to Lord Palmerston. But it would be unjust not to add that his
instructions were most zealously carried into effect by the late Sir
Edward Disbrowe, with the cordial cooperation of the enlightened men who
have charge of the noble collection of Archives at the Hague.]
[Footnote 457: It is strange that the indictment should not have been
printed in Howell's State Trials. The copy which is before me was made
for Sir James Mackintosh.]
[Footnote 458: Most of the information which has come down to us about
Anderton's case will be found in Howell's State Trials.]
[Footnote 459: The Remarks are extant, and deserve to be read.]
[Footnote 460: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.]
[Footnote 461: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.]
[Footnote 462: There are still extant a handbill addressed to All
Gentlemen Seamen that are weary of their Lives; and a ballad accusing
the King and Queen of cruelty to the sailors.
"To robbers, thieves, and felons, they
Freely grant pardons every day.
Only poor seamen, who alone
Do keep them in their father's throne,
Must have at all no mercy shown."]
Narcissus Luttrell gives an account of the scene at Whitehall.]
[Footnote 463: L'Hermitage, Sept. 5/15. 1693; Narcissus Luttrell's
Diary.]
[Footnote 464: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.]
[Footnote 465: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary. In a pamphlet published
at this time, and entitled A Dialogue between Whig and Tory, the Whig
alludes to "the public insolences at the Bath upon the late defeat in
Flanders." The Tory answers, "I know not what some hotheaded drunken
men may have said and done at the Bath or elsewhere." In the folio
Collection of State Tracts, this Dialogue is erroneously said to have
been printed about November 1692.]
[Footnote 466: The Paper to which I refer is among the Nairne MSS.,
and will be found in Macpherson's collection. That excellent writer Mr.
Hallam has, on this subject, fallen into an error of a kind very rare
with him. He says that the name of Caermarthen is perpetually mentioned
among those whom James reckoned as his friends. I believe that the
evidence against Caermarthen will be found to begin and to end with the
letter of Melfort which I have mentioned. There is indeed, among the
Nairne MSS, which Macpherson printed, an undated and anonymous letter
in which Caermarthen is reckoned among the friends of James. But this
letter is altogether undeserving of consideration. The writer was
evidently a silly hotheaded Jacobite, who knew nothing about the
situation or character of any of the public men whom he mentioned. He
blunders grossly about Marlborough, Godolphin, Russell, Shrewsbury
and the Beaufort family. Indeed the whole composition is a tissue of
absurdities.]
It ought to be remarked that, in the Life of James compiled from his own
Papers, the assurances of support which he received from Marlborough,
Russell, Godolphin Shrewsbury, and other men of note are mentioned with
very copious details. But there is not a word indicating that any such
assurances were ever received from Caermarthen.]
[Footnote 467: A Journal of several Remarkable Passages relating to the
East India Trade, 1693.]
[Footnote 468: See the Monthly Mercuries and London Gazettes of
September, October, November and December 1693; Dangeau, Sept. 5. 27.,
Oct. 21., Nov. 21.; the Price of the Abdication, 1693.]
[Footnote 469: Correspondence of William and Heinsius; Danish Note,
dated Dec 11/21 1693. The note delivered by Avaux to the Swedish
government at this time will be found in Lamberty's Collection and in
the Memoires et Negotiations de la Paix de Ryswick.]
[Footnote 470: "Sir John Lowther says, nobody can know one day what a
House of Commons would do the next; in which all agreed with him." These
remarkable words were written by Caermarthen on the margin of a paper
drawn up by Rochester in August 1692. Dalrymple, Appendix to part ii.
chap. 7.]
[Footnote 471: See Sunderland's celebrated Narrative which has often
been printed, and his wife's letters, which are among the Sidney papers,
published by the late Serjeant Blencowe.]
[Footnote 472: Van Citters, May 6/16. 1690.]
[Footnote 473: Evelyn, April 24. 1691.]
[Footnote 474: Lords' Journals, April 28. 1693.]
[Footnote 475: L'Hermitage, Sept. 19/29, Oct 2/12 1693.]
[Footnote 476: It is amusing to see how Johnson's Toryism breaks out
where we should hardly expect to find it. Hastings says, in the Third
Part of Henry the Sixth,
"Let us be back'd with God and with the seas Which He hath given for
fence impregnable, And with their helps alone defend ourselves."
"This," says Johnson in a note, "has been the advice of every man who,
in any age, understood and favoured the interest of England."]
[Footnote 477: Swift, in his Inquiry into the Behaviour of the Queen's
last Ministry, mentions Somers as a person of great abilities, who used
to talk in so frank a manner that he seemed to discover the bottom
of his heart. In the Memoirs relating to the Change in the Queen's
Ministry, Swift says that Somers had one and only one unconversable
fault, formality. It is not very easy to understand how the same man
can be the most unreserved of companions and yet err on the side of
formality. Yet there may be truth in both the descriptions. It is well
known that Swift loved to take rude liberties with men of high rank and
fancied that, by doing so, he asserted his own independence. He has been
justly blamed for this fault by his two illustrious biographers, both
of them men of spirit at least as independent as his, Samuel Johnson
and Walter Scott. I suspect that he showed a disposition to behave with
offensive familiarity to Somers, and that Somers, not choosing to submit
to impertinence, and not wishing to be forced to resent it, resorted,
in selfdefence, to a ceremonious politeness which he never would have
practised towards Locke or Addison.]
[Footnote 478: The eulogies on Somers and the invectives against him are
innumerable. Perhaps the best way to come to a just judgment would be to
collect all that has been said about him by Swift and by Addison. They
were the two keenest observers of their time; and they both knew him
well. But it ought to be remarked that, till Swift turned Tory, he
always extolled Somers not only as the most accomplished, but as the
most virtuous of men. In the dedication of the Tale of a Tub are these
words, "There is no virtue, either of a public or private life, which
some circumstances of your own have not often produced upon the stage of
the world;" and again, "I should be very loth the bright example of your
Lordship's virtues should be lost to other eyes, both for their sake and
your own." In the Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions at Athens
and Rome, Somers is the just Aristides. After Swift had ratted he
described Somers as a man who "possessed all excellent qualifications
except virtue."]
[Footnote 479: See Whiston's Autobiography.]
[Footnote 480: Swift's note on Mackay's Character of Wharton.]
[Footnote 481: This account of Montague and Wharton I have collected
from innumerable sources. I ought, however, to mention particularly the
very curious Life of Wharton published immediately after his death.]
[Footnote 482: Much of my information about the Harleys I have derived
from unpublished memoirs written by Edward Harley, younger brother of
Robert. A copy of these memoirs is among the Mackintosh MSS.]
[Footnote 483: The only writer who has praised Harley's oratory, as far
as I remember, is Mackay, who calls him eloquent. Swift scribbled in the
margin, "A great lie." And certainly Swift was inclined to do more than
justice to Harley. "That lord," said Pope, "talked of business in so
confused a manner that you did not know what he was about; and every
thing he went to tell you was in the epic way; for he always began in
the middle."--Spence's Anecdotes.]
[Footnote 484: "He used," said Pope, "to send trifling verses from Court
to the Scriblerus Club almost every day, and would come and talk idly
with them almost every night even when his all was at stake." Some
specimens of Harley's poetry are in print. The best, I think, is a
stanza which he made on his own fall in 1714; and bad is the best.
"To serve with love,
And shed your blood,
Approved is above;
But here below
The examples show
'Tis fatal to be good."]
[Footnote 485: The character of Harley is to be collected from
innumerable panegyrics and lampoons; from the works and the private
correspondence of Swift, Pope, Arbuthnot, Prior and Bolingbroke, and
from multitudes of such works as Ox and Bull, the High German Doctor,
and The History of Robert Powell the Puppet Showman.]
[Footnote 486: In a letter dated Sept. 12. 1709 a short time before he
was brought into power on the shoulders of the High Church mob, he says:
"My soul has been among Lyons, even the sons of men, whose teeth are
spears and arrows, and their tongues sharp swords. But I learn how good
it is to wait on the Lord, and to possess one's soul in peace." The
letter was to Carstairs. I doubt whether Harley would have canted thus
if he had been writing to Atterbury.]
[Footnote 487: The anomalous position which Harley and Foley at this
time occupied is noticed in the Dialogue between a Whig and a Tory,
1693. "Your great P. Fo-y," says the Tory, "turns cadet and carries arms
under the General of the West Saxons. The two Har-ys, father and son,
are engineers under the late Lieutenant of the Ordnance, and bomb any
bill which he hath once resolv'd to reduce to ashes." Seymour is the
General of the West Saxons. Musgrave had been Lieutenant of the Ordnance
in the reign of Charles the Second.]
[Footnote 488: Lords' and Commons' Journals, Nov. 7. 1693.]
[Footnote 489: Commons' Journals, Nov. 13. 1693; Grey's Debates.]
[Footnote 490: Commons' Journals, Nov. 17. 1693.]
[Footnote 491: Ibid. Nov. 22. 27. 1693; Grey's Debates.]
[Footnote 492: Commons' Journals, Nov. 29. Dec. 6. 1693; L'Hermitage,
Dec. 1/11 1693.]
[Footnote 493: L'Hermitage, Sept. 1/11. Nov. 7/17 1693.]
[Footnote 494: See the Journal to Stella, lii. liii. lix. lxi.; and Lady
Orkney's Letters to Swift.]
[Footnote 495: See the letters written at this time by Elizabeth
Villiers, Wharton, Russell and Shrewsbury, in the Shrewsbury
Correspondence.]
[Footnote 496: Commons' Journals, Jan. 6. 8. 1693/4.]
[Footnote 497: Ibid. Jan. 19. 1693/4]
[Footnote 498: Hamilton's New Account.]
[Footnote 499: The bill I found in the Archives of the Lords. Its
history I learned from the journals of the two Houses, from a passage
in the Diary of Narcissus Luttrell, and from two letters to the States
General, both dated on Feb 27/March 9 1694 the day after the debate in
the Lords. One of these letters is from Van Citters; the other, which
contains fuller information, is from L'Hermitage.]
[Footnote 500: Commons' Journals, Nov. 28. 1693; Grey's Debates.
L'Hermitage expected that the bill would pas;, and that the royal assent
would not be withheld. On November. he wrote to the States General,
"Il paroist dans toute la chambre beaucoup de passion a faire passer ce
bil." On Nov 28/Dec 8 he says that the division on the passing "n'a pas
cause une petite surprise. Il est difficile d'avoir un point fixe sur
les idees qu'on peut se former des emotions du parlement, car il paroist
quelquefois de grander chaleurs qui semblent devoir tout enflammer, et
qui, peu de tems apres, s'evaporent." That Seymour was the chief manager
of the opposition to the bill is asserted in the once celebrated Hush
Money pamphlet of that year.]
[Footnote 501: Commons' Journals; Grey's Debates. The engrossed copy of
this Bill went down to the House of Commons and is lost. The original
draught on paper is among the Archives of the Lords. That Monmouth
brought in the bill I learned from a letter of L'Hermitage to the
States General Dec. 13. 1693. As to the numbers on the division, I have
followed the journals. But in Grey's Debates and in the letters of Van
Citters and L'Hermitage, the minority is said to have been 172.]
[Footnote 502: The bill is in the Archives of the Lords. Its history I have
collected from the journals, from Grey's Debates, and from the highly
interesting letters of Van Citters and L'Hermitage. I think it clear
from Grey's Debates that a speech which L'Hermitage attributes to a
nameless "quelq'un" was made by Sir Thomas Littleton.]
[Footnote 503: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, September 1691.]
[Footnote 504: Commons' Journals, Jan. 4. 1693/4.]
[Footnote 505: Of the Naturalisation Bill no copy, I believe exists. The
history of that bill will be found in the Journals. From Van Citters
and L'Hermitage we learn less than might have been expected on a subject
which must have been interesting to Dutch statesmen. Knight's speech
will be found among the Somers Papers. He is described by his brother
Jacobite, Roger North, as "a gentleman of as eminent integrity and
loyalty as ever the city of Bristol was honoured with."]
[Footnote 506: Commons' Journals, Dec 5. 1694.]
[Footnote 507: Commons' Journals, Dec. 20. and 22. 1693/4. The journals
did not then contain any notice of the divisions which took place when
the House was in committee. There was only one division on the army
estimates of this year, when the mace was on the table. That division
was on the question whether 60,000L. or 147,000L. should be
granted for hospitals and contingencies. The Whigs carried the larger
sum by 184 votes to 120. Wharton was a teller for the majority, Foley
for the minority.]
[Footnote 508: Commons' Journals, Nov. 25. 1694.]
[Footnote 509: Stat. 5 W. & M. c. I.]
[Footnote 510: Stat. 5 & 6 W.& M. c. 14.]
[Footnote 511: Stat. 5 & 6 W. & M. c. 21.; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.]
[Footnote 512: Stat. 5 & 6 W. & M. c. 22.; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.]
[Footnote 513: Stat. 5 W. & M. c. 7.; Evelyn's Diary, Oct. 5, Nov. 22.
1694; A Poem on Squire Neale's Projects; Malcolm's History of London.
Neale's functions are described in several editions of Chamberlayne's
State of England. His name frequently appears in the London Gazette, as,
for example, on July 28. 1684.]
[Footnote 514: See, for example, the Mystery of the Newfashioned
Goldsmiths or Brokers, 1676; Is not the Hand of Joab in all this? 1676;
and an answer published in the same year. See also England's Glory in
the great Improvement by Banking and Trade, 1694.]
[Footnote 515: See the Life of Dudley North, by his brother Roger.]
[Footnote 516: See a pamphlet entitled Corporation Credit; or a Bank of
Credit, made Current by Common Consent in London, more Useful and Safe
than Money.]
[Footnote 517: A proposal by Dr. Hugh Chamberlayne, in Essex Street, for
a Bank, of Secure Current Credit to be founded upon Land, in order to
the General Good of Landed Men, to the great Increase in the Value of
Land, and the no less Benefit of Trade and Commerce, 1695; Proposals for
the supplying their Majesties with Money on Easy Terms, exempting the
Nobility, Gentry, &c., from Taxes enlarging their Yearly Estates, and
enriching all the Subjects of the Kingdom by a National Land Bank; by
John Briscoe. "O fortunatos nimium bona si sua norint Anglicanos."
Third Edition, 1696. Briscoe seems to have been as much versed in Latin
literature as in political economy.]
[Footnote 518: In confirmation of what is said in the text, I extract
a single paragraph from Briscoe's proposals. "Admit a gentleman hath
barely 100L. per annum estate to live on, and hath a wife and four
children to provide for; this person, supposing no taxes were upon
his estates must be a great husband to be able to keep his charge, but
cannot think of laying up anything to place out his children in the
world; but according to this proposed method he may give his children
500l. a piece and have 90l. per annum left for himself and his wife to
live upon, the which he may also leave to such of his children as he
pleases after his and his wife's decease. For first having settled his
estate of 100l. per annum, as in proposals 1. 3., he may have bills of
credit for 2000L. for his own proper use, for 10s per cent. per annum as
in proposal 22., which is but 10L. per annum for the 2000L., which being
deducted out of his estate of 100L. per annum, there remains 90L. per
annum clear to himself." It ought to be observed that this nonsense
reached a third edition.]
[Footnote 519: See Chamberlayne's Proposal, his Positions supported by
the Reasons explaining the Office of Land Credit, and his Bank Dialogue.
See also an excellent little tract on the other side entitled "A Bank
Dialogue between Dr. H. C. and a Country Gentleman, 1696," and "Some
Remarks upon a nameless and scurrilous Libel entitled a Bank Dialogue
between Dr. H. C. and a Country Gentleman, in a Letter to a Person of
Quality."]
[Footnote 520: Commons' Journals Dec. 7. 1693. I am afraid that I may
be suspected of exaggerating the absurdity of this scheme. I therefore
transcribe the most important part of the petition. "In consideration
of the freeholders bringing their lands into this bank, for a fund
of current credit, to be established by Act of Parliament, it is now
proposed that, for every 150L per annum, secured for 150 years, for but
one hundred yearly payments of 100L per annum, free from all manner of
taxes and deductions whatsoever, every such freeholder shall receive
4000L in the said current credit, and shall have 2000L more put into
the fishery stock for his proper benefit; and there may be further
2000L reserved at the Parliament's disposal towards the carrying on this
present war..... The free holder is never to quit the possession of his
said estate unless the yearly rent happens to be in arrear."]
[Footnote 521: Commons' Journals, Feb. 5. 1693/4.]
[Footnote 522: Account of the Intended Bank of England, 1694.]
[Footnote 523: See the Lords' Journals of April 23, 24, 25. 1694, and
the letter of L'Hermitage to the States General dated April 24/May 4]
[Footnote 524: Narcissus Luttrell's. Diary, June 1694.]
[Footnote 525: Heath's Account of the Worshipful Company of Grocers;
Francis's History of the Bank of England.]
[Footnote 526: Spectator, No. 3.]
[Footnote 527: Proceedings of the Wednesday Club in Friday Street.]
[Footnote 528: Lords' Journals, April 25. 1694; London Gazette, May 7.
1694.]
[Footnote 529: Life of James ii. 520.; Floyd's (Lloyd's) Account in the
Nairne Papers, under the date of May 1. 1694; London Gazette, April 26.
30. 1694.]
[Footnote 530: London Gazette, May 3. 1694.]
[Footnote 531: London Gazette, April 30. May 7. 1694; Shrewsbury to
William, May 11/21; William to Shrewsbury, May 22? June 1; L'Hermitage,
April 27/Nay 7]
[Footnote 532: L'Hermitage, May 15/25. After mentioning the various
reports, he says, "De tous ces divers projets qu'on s'imagine aucun
n'est venu a la cognoissance du public." This is important; for it has
often been said, in excuse for Marlborough, that he communicated to the
Court of Saint Germains only what was the talk of all the coffeehouses,
and must have been known without his instrumentality.]
[Footnote 533: London Gazette, June 14. 18. 1694; Paris Gazette June
16/July 3; Burchett; Journal of Lord Caermarthen; Baden, June 15/25;
L'Hermitage, June 15/25. 19/29]
[Footnote 534: Shrewsbury to William, June 15/25. 1694. William to
Shrewsbury, July 1; Shrewsbury to William, June 22/July 2]
[Footnote 535: This account of Russell's expedition to the Mediterranean
I have taken chiefly from Burchett.]
[Footnote 536: Letter to Trenchard, 1694.]
[Footnote 537: Burnet, ii. 141, 142.; and Onslow's note; Kingston's True
History, 1697.]
[Footnote 538: See the Life of James, ii. 524.,]
[Footnote 539: Kingston; Burnet, ii. 142.]
[Footnote 540: Kingston. For the fact that a bribe was given to Taaffe,
Kingston cites the evidence taken on oath by the Lords.]
[Footnote 541: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Oct. 6. 1694.]
[Footnote 542: As to Dyer's newsletter, see Narcissus Luttrell's Diary
for June and August 1693, and September 1694.]
[Footnote 543: The Whig narrative is Kingston's; the Jacobite narrative,
by an anonymous author, has lately been printed by the Chetham Society.
See also a Letter out of Lancashire to a Friend in London, giving some
Account of the late Trials, 1694.]
[Footnote 544: Birch's Life of Tillotson; the Funeral Sermon preached by
Burnet; William to Heinsius, Nov 23/Dec 3 1694.]
[Footnote 545: See the Journals of the two Houses. The only account that
we have of the debates is in the letters of L'Hermitage.]
[Footnote 546: Commons' Journals, Feb. 20. 1693/4 As this bill never
reached the Lords, it is not to be found among their archives. I have
therefore no means of discovering whether it differed in any respect
from the bill of the preceding year.]
[Footnote 547: The history of this bill may be read in the Journals of
the Houses. The contest, not a very vehement one, lasted till the 20th
of April.]
[Footnote 548: "The Commons," says Narcissus Luttrell, "gave a great
hum." "Le murmure qui est la marque d'applaudissement fut si grand qu'on
pent dire qu'il estoit universel. "--L'Hermitage, Dec. 25/Jan. 4.]
[Footnote 549: L'Hermitage says this in his despatch of Nov. 20/30.]
[Footnote 550: Burnet, ii. 137.; Van Citters, Dec 25/Jan 4.]
[Footnote 551: Burnet, ii. 136. 138.; Narcissus Luttrell's Dairy; Van
Citters, Dec 28/Jan 7 1694/5; L'Hermitage, Dec 25/Jan 4, Dec 28/Jan
7 Jan. 1/11; Vernon to Lord Lexington, Dec. 21. 25. 28., Jan. 1.;
Tenison's Funeral Sermon.]
[Footnote 552: Evelyn's Dairy; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; Commons'
Journals, Dec. 28. 1694; Shrewsbury to Lexington, of the same date; Van
Citters of the same date; L'Hermitage, Jan. 1/11 1695. Among the sermons
on Mary's death, that of Sherlock, preached in the Temple Church, and
those of Howe and Bates, preached to great Presbyterian congregations,
deserve notice.]
[Footnote 553: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.]
[Footnote 554: Remarks on some late Sermons, 1695; A Defence of the
Archbishop's Sermon, 1695.]
[Footnote 555: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.]
[Footnote 556: L'Hermitage, March 1/11, 6/16 1695; London Gazette, March
7,; Tenison's Funeral Sermon; Evelyn's Diary.]
[Footnote 557: See Claude's Sermon on Mary's death.]
[Footnote 558: Prior to Lord and Lady Lexington, Jan. 14/24 1695. The
letter is among the Lexington papers, a valuable collection, and well
edited.]
[Footnote 559: Monthly Mercury for January 1695. An orator who
pronounced an eulogium on the Queen at Utrecht was so absurd as to say
that she spent her last breath in prayers for the prosperity of the
United Provinces:--"Valeant et Batavi;"--these are her last words--"sint
incolumes; sint florentes; sint beati; stet in sternum, stet immota
praeclarissima illorum civitas hospitium aliquando mihi gratissimum,
optime de me meritum." See also the orations of Peter Francius of
Amsterdam, and of John Ortwinius of Delft.]
[Footnote 560: Journal de Dangeau; Memoires de Saint Simon.]
[Footnote 561: Saint Simon; Dangeau; Monthly Mercury for January 1695.]
[Footnote 562: L'Hermitage, Jan. 1/11. 1695; Vernon to Lord Lexington
Jan. I. 4.; Portland to Lord Lexington, Jan 15/25; William to Heinsius,
Jan 22/Feb 1]
[Footnote 563: See the Commons' Journals of Feb. 11, April 12. and
April 27., and the Lords' Journals of April 8. and April is. 1695.
Unfortunately there is a hiatus in the Commons' Journal of the 12th
of April, so that it is now impossible to discover whether there was a
division on the question to agree with the amendment made by the Lords.]
[Footnote 564: L'Hermitage, April 10/20. 1695; Burnet, ii. 149.]
[Footnote 565: An Essay upon Taxes, calculated for the present Juncture
of Affairs, 1693.]
[Footnote 566: Commons' Journals, Jan. 12 Feb. 26. Mar. 6.; A Collection
of the Debates and Proceedings in Parliament in 1694 and 1695 upon the
Inquiry into the late Briberies and Corrupt Practices, 1695; L'Hermitage
to the States General, March 8/18; Van Citters, Mar. 15/25; L'Hermitage
says,
"Si par cette recherche la chambre pouvoit remedier au desordre qui
regne, elle rendroit un service tres utile et tres agreable au Roy."]
[Footnote 567: Commons' Journals, Feb. 16, 1695; Collection of the
Debates and Proceedings in Parliament in 1694 and 1695; Life of Wharton;
Burnet, ii. 144.]
[Footnote 568: Speaker Onslow's note on Burnet ii. 583.; Commons'
Journals, Mar 6, 7. 1695. The history of the terrible end of this man
will be found in the pamphlets of the South Sea year.]
[Footnote 569: Commons' Journals, March 8. 1695; Exact Collection of
Debates and Proceedings in Parliament in 1694 and 1695; L'Hermitage,
March 8/18]
[Footnote 570: Exact Collection of Debates.]
[Footnote 571: L'Hermitage, March 8/18. 1695. L'Hermitage's narrative is
confirmed by the journals, March 7. 1694/5. It appears that just before
the committee was appointed, the House resolved that letters should not
be delivered out to members during a sitting.]
[Footnote 572: L'Hermitage, March 19/29 1695.]
[Footnote 573: Birch's Life of Tillotson.]
[Footnote 574: Commons' Journals, March 12 13, 14 15, 16, 1694/5; Vernon
to Lexington, March 15.; L'Hermitage, March 15/25.]
[Footnote 575: On vit qu'il etoit impossible de le poursuivre en
justice, chacun toutefois demeurant convaincu que c'etoit un marche
fait a la main pour lui faire present de la somme de 10,000L. et qu'il
avoit ete plus habile que les autres novices que n'avoient pas su faire
si finement leure affaires.--L'Hermitage, March 29/April 8; Commons'
Journals, March 12.; Vernon to Lexington, April 26.; Burnet, ii. 145.]
[Footnote 576: In a poem called the Prophecy (1703), is the line
"when Seymour scorns saltpetre pence."
In another satire is the line
"Bribed Seymour bribes accuses."]
[Footnote 577: Commons' Journals from March 26. to April 8. 1695.]
[Footnote 578: L'Hermitage, April 10/20 1695.]
[Footnote 579: Exact Collection of Debates and Proceedings.]
[Footnote 580: L'Hermitage, April 30/May 10 1695; Portland to Lexington,
April 23/May 3]
[Footnote 581: L'Hermitage (April 30/May 10 1695) justly remarks, that
the way in which the money was sent back strengthened the case against
Leeds.]
[Footnote 582: There can, I think, be no doubt, that the member who is
called D in the Exact Collection was Wharton.]
[Footnote 583: As to the proceedings of this eventful day, April 27.
1695, see the Journals of the two Houses, and the Exact Collection.]
[Footnote 584: Exact Collection; Lords' Journals, May 3. 1695; Commons'
Journals, May 2, 3.; L'Hermitage, May 3/13.; London Gazette, May 13.]
[Footnote 585: L'Hermitage, May 10/20. 1695; Vernon to Shrewsbury, June
22. 1697.]
[Footnote 586: London Gazette, May 6. 1695.]
[Footnote 587: Letter from Mrs. Burnet to the Duchess of Marlborough,
1704, quoted by Coxe; Shrewsbury to Russell, January 24. 1695; Burnett,
ii. 149.]
[Footnote 588: London Gazette April 8. 15. 29. 1695.]
[Footnote 589: Shrewsbury to Russell, January 24. 1695; Narcissus
Luttrell's Diary,]
[Footnote 590: De Thou, liii. xcvi.]
[Footnote 591: Life of James ii. 545., Orig. Mem. Of course James does
not use the word assassination. He talks of the seizing and carrying
away of the Prince of Orange.]
[Footnote 592: Every thing bad that was known or rumoured about Porter
came out on the State Trials of 1696.]
[Footnote 593: As to Goodman see the evidence on the trial of Peter
Cook; Cleverskirke, Feb 28/March 9 1696; L'Hermitage, April 10/20 1696;
and a pasquinade entitled the Duchess of Cleveland's Memorial.]
[Footnote 594: See the preamble to the Commission of 1695.]
[Footnote 595: The Commission will be found in the Minutes of the
Parliament.]
[Footnote 596: Act. Parl. Scot., May 21. 1695; London Gazette, May 30.]
[Footnote 597: Act. Parl. Scot. May 23. 1695.]
[Footnote 598: Ibid. June 14. 18. 20. 1695; London Gazette, June 27.]
[Footnote 599: Burnet, ii. 157.; Act. Parl., June 10 1695.]
[Footnote 600: Act. Parl., June 26. 1695; London Gazette, July 4.]
[Footnote 601: There is an excellent portrait of Villeroy in St. Simon's
Memoirs.]
[Footnote 602: Some curious traits of Trumball's character will be found
in Pepys's Tangier Diary.]
[Footnote 603: Postboy, June 13., July 9. 11., 1695; Intelligence
Domestic and Foreign, June 14.; Pacquet Boat from Holland and Flanders,
July 9.]
[Footnote 604: Vaudemont's Despatch and William's Answer are in the
Monthly Mercury for July 1695.]
[Footnote 605: See Saint Simon's Memoirs and his note upon Dangeau.]
[Footnote 606: London Gazette July 22. 1695; Monthly Mercury of August,
1695. Swift ten years later, wrote a lampoon on Cutts, so dull and so
nauseously scurrilous that Ward or Gildon would have been ashamed of it,
entitled the Description of a Salamander.]
[Footnote 607: London Gazette, July 29. 1695; Monthly Mercury for August
1695; Stepney to Lord Lexington, Aug. 16/26; Robert Fleming's Character
of King William, 1702. It was in the attack of July 17/27 that Captain
Shandy received the memorable wound in his groin.]
[Footnote 608: London Gazette, Aug. r. 5. 1695; Monthly Mercury of
August 1695, containing the Letters of William and Dykvelt to the States
General.]
[Footnote 609: Monthly Mercury for August 1695; Stepney to Lord
Lexington, Aug. 16/26]
[Footnote 610: Monthly Mercury for August 1695; Letter from Paris, Aug
26/Sept 5 1695, among the Lexington Papers.]
[Footnote 611: L'Hermitage, Aug. 13/23 1695.]
[Footnote 612: London Gazette, Aug. 26. 1695; Monthly Mercury, Stepney
to Lexington, Aug. 20/30.]
[Footnote 613: Boyer's History of King William III, 1703; London
Gazette, Aug. 29. 1695; Stepney to Lexington, Aug. 20/30.; Blathwayt to
Lexington, Sept. 2.]
[Footnote 614: Postscript to the Monthly Mercury for August 1695; London
Gazette, Sept. 9.; Saint Simon; Dangeau.]
[Footnote 615: Boyer, History of King William III, 2703; Postscript to
the Monthly Mercury, Aug. 1695; London Gazette, Sept. 9. 12.; Blathwayt
to Lexington, Sept. 6.; Saint Simon; Dangeau.]
[Footnote 616: There is a noble, and I suppose, unique Collection of the
newspapers of William's reign in the British Museum. I have turned over
every page of that Collection. It is strange that neither Luttrell nor
Evelyn should have noticed the first appearance of the new journals. The
earliest mention of those journals which I have found, is in a
despatch of L'Hermitage, dated July 12/22, 1695. I will transcribe his
words:--"Depuis quelque tems on imprime ici plusieurs feuilles volantes
en forme de gazette, qui sont remplies de toutes series de nouvelles.
Cette licence est venue de ce que le parlement n'a pas acheve le bill
ou projet d'acte qui avoit ete porte dans la Chambre des Communes pour
regler l'imprimerie et empecher que ces sortes de choses n'arrivassent.
Il n'y avoit ci-devant qu'un des commis des Secretaires d'Etat qui eut
le pouvoir de faire des gazettes: mais aujourdhui il s'en fait plusieurs
sons d'autres noms." L'Hermitage mentions the paragraph reflecting on
the Princess, and the submission of the libeller.]
[Footnote 617: L'Hermitage, Oct. 15/25., Nov. 15/25. 1695.]
[Footnote 618: London Gazette, Oct. 24. 1695. See Evelyn's Account of
Newmarket in 1671, and Pepys, July 18. 1668. From Tallard's despatches
written after the Peace of Ryswick it appears that the autumn meetings
were not less numerous or splendid in the days of William than in those
of his uncles.]
[Footnote 619: I have taken this account of William's progress chiefly
from the London Gazettes, from the despatches of L'Hermitage, from
Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, and from the letters of Vernon, Yard and
Cartwright among the Lexington Papers.]
[Footnote 620: See the letter of Yard to Lexington, November 8. 1695,
and the note by the editor of the Lexington Papers.]
[Footnote 621: L'Hermitage, Nov. 15/25. 1695.]
[Footnote 622: L'Hermitage Oct 25/Nov 4 Oct 29/Nov 8 1695.]
[Footnote 623: Ibid. Nov. 5/15 1695.]
[Footnote 624: L'Hermitage, Nov. 15/25 1695; Sir James Forbes to Lady
Russell, Oct. 3. 1695; Lady Russell to Lord Edward Russell; The Postman,
Nov. 1695.]
[Footnote 625: There is a highly curious account of this contest in the
despatches of L'Hermitage.]
[Footnote 626: Postman, Dec. 15. 17. 1696; Vernon to Shrewsbury, Dec.
13. 15.; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; Burnet, i. 647.; Saint Evremond's
Verses to Hampden.]
[Footnote 627: L'Hermitage, Nov. 13/23. 1695.]
[Footnote 628: I have derived much valuable information on this subject
from a MS. in the British Museum, Lansdowne Collection, No. 801. It
is entitled Brief Memoires relating to the Silver and Gold Coins of
England, with an Account of the Corruption of the Hammered Money, and of
the Reform by the late Grand Coinage at the Tower and the Country Mints,
by Hopton Haynes, Assay Master of the Mint.]
[Footnote 629: Stat. 5 Eliz. c. ii., and 18 Eliz. c. 1]
[Footnote 630: Pepys's Diary, November 23. 1663.]
[Footnote 631: The first writer who noticed the fact that, where good
money and bad money are thown into circulation together, the bad money
drives out the good money, was Aristophanes. He seems to have thought
that the preference which his fellow citizens gave to light coins was to
be attributed to a depraved taste such as led them to entrust men like
Cleon and Hyperbolus with the conduct of great affairs. But, though his
political economy will not bear examination, his verses are excellent:--
pollakis g' emin edoksen e polis peponthenai
tauton es te ton politon tous kalous te kagathous
es te tarkhaion nomisma Kai to kainon khrusion.
oute gar toutoisin ousin ou kekibdeleumenios
alla kallistois apanton, us dokei, nomismaton,
kai monois orthos kopeisi, kai kekodonismenois
en te tois Ellisim kai tois barbarioisi pantahkou
khrometh' ouden, alla toutois tois ponerois khalkiois,
khthes te kai proen kopeisi to kakistu kommati.
ton politon th' ous men ismen eugeneis kai sophronas
andras ontas, kai dikaious, kai kalous te kagathous,
kai traphentas en palaistrais, kai khorois kai mousiki
prouseloumen tois de khalkois, kai ksenois, kai purriais,
kai ponerois kak poneron eis apanta khrometha.]
[Footnote 632: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary is filled with accounts of
these executions. "Le metier de rogneur de monnoye," says L'Hermitage,
"est si lucratif et paroit si facile que, quelque chose qu'on fasse pour
les detruire, il s'en trouve toujours d'autres pour prendre leur place.
Oct 1/11. 1695."]
[Footnote 633: As to the sympathy of the public with the clippers,
see the very curious sermon which Fleetwood afterwards Bishop of Ely,
preached before the Lord Mayor in December 1694. Fleetwood says that "a
soft pernicious tenderness slackened the care of magistrates, kept back
the under officers, corrupted the juries, and withheld the evidence." He
mentions the difficulty of convincing the criminals themselves that
they had done wrong. See also a Sermon preached at York Castle by George
Halley, a clergyman of the Cathedral, to some clippers who were to be
hanged the next day. He mentions the impenitent ends which clippers
generally made, and does his best to awaken the consciences of his
bearers. He dwells on one aggravation of their crime which I should not
have thought of. "If," says he, "the same question were to be put in
this age, as of old, 'Whose is this image and superscription?' we could
not answer the whole. We may guess at the image; but we cannot tell
whose it is by the superscription; for that is all gone." The testimony
of these two divines is confirmed by that of Tom Brown, who tells a
facetious story, which I do not venture to quote, about a conversation
between the ordinary of Newgate and a clipper.]
[Footnote 634: Lowndes's Essay for the Amendment of the Silver Coins,
1695.]
[Footnote 635: L'Hermitage, Nov 29/Dec 9 1695.]
[Footnote 636: The Memoirs of this Lancashire Quaker were printed a few
years ago in a most respectable newspaper, the Manchester Guardian.]
[Footnote 637: Lowndes's Essay.]
[Footnote 638: L'Hermitage, Dec 24/Jan 3 1695.]
[Footnote 639: It ought always to be remembered, to Adam Smith's honour,
that he was entirely converted by Bentham's Defence of Usury, and
acknowledged, with candour worthy of a true philosopher, that the
doctrine laid down in the Wealth of Nations was erroneous.]
[Footnote 640: Lowndes's Essay for the Amendment of the Silver Coins;
Locke's Further Considerations concerning raising the Value of Money;
Locke to Molyneux, Nov. 20. 1695; Molyneux to Locke, Dec. 24. 1695.]
[Footnote 641: Burnet, ii. 147.]
[Footnote 642: Commons' Journals, Nov. 22, 23. 26. 1695; L'Hermitage,
Nov 26/Dec 6]
[Footnote 643: Commons' Journals, Nov. 26, 27, 28, 29. 1695;
L'Hermitage, Nov 26./Dec 6 Nov. 29/Dec 9 Dec 3/13]
[Footnote 644: Commons' Journals, Nov. 28, 29. 1695; L'Hermitage, Dec.
3/13]
[Footnote 645: L'Hermitage, Nov 22/Dec 2, Dec 6/16 1695; An Abstract of
the Consultations and Debates between the French King and his Council
concerning the new Coin that is intended to be made in England,
privately sent by a Friend of the Confederates from the French Court
to his Brother at Brussels, Dec. 12. 1695; A Discourse of the General
Notions of Money, Trade and Exchanges, by Mr. Clement of Bristol; A
Letter from an English Merchant at Amsterdam to his Friend in London; A
Fund for preserving and supplying our Coin; An Essay for regulating
the Coin, by A. V.; A Proposal for supplying His Majesty with
1,200,000L, by mending the Coin, and yet preserving the ancient Standard
of the Kingdom. These are a few of the tracts which were distributed
among members of Parliament at this conjuncture.]
[Footnote 646: Commons' Journals, Dec. 10. 1695; L'Hermitage, Dec. 3/13
6/16 10/20]
[Footnote 647: Commons' Journals, Dec. 13. 1695.]
[Footnote 648: Stat. 7 Gul. 3.c. [1].; Lords' and Commons' Journals;
L'Hermitage, Dec 31/Jan 10 Jan 7/17 10/20 14/24 1696. L'Hermitage
describes in strong language the extreme inconvenience caused by the
dispute between the Houses:--"La longueur qu'il y a dans cette affaire
est d'autant plus desagreable qu'il n'y a point (le sujet sur lequel le
peuple en general puisse souffrir plus d'incommodite, puisqu'il n'y a
personne qui, a tous moments, n'aye occasion de l'esprouver.)]
[Footnote 649: That Locke was not a party to the attempt to make gold
cheaper by penal laws, I infer from a passage in which he notices
Lowndes's complaints about the high price of guineas. "The only remedy,"
says Locke, "for that mischief, as well as a great many others, is the
putting an end to the passing of clipp'd money by tale." Locke's Further
Considerations. That the penalty proved, as might have been expected,
inefficacious, appears from several passages in the despatches of
L'Hermitage, and even from Haynes's Brief Memoires, though Haynes was a
devoted adherent of Montague.]
[Footnote 650: L'Hermitage, Jan 14/24 1696.]
[Footnote 651: Commons' Journals, Jan. 14. 17. 23. 1696; L'Hermitage,
Jan. 14/24; Gloria Cambriae, or Speech of a Bold Briton against a Dutch
Prince of Wales 1702; Life of the late Honourable Robert Price,
&c. 1734. Price was the bold Briton whose speech--never, I believe,
spoken--was printed in 1702. He would have better deserved to be called
bold, if he had published his impertinence while William was living.
The Life of Price is a miserable performance, full of blunders and
anachronisms.]
[Footnote 652: L'Hermitage mentions the unfavourable change in the
temper of the Commons; and William alludes to it repeatedly in his
letters to Heinsius, Jan 21/31 1696, Jan 28/Feb 7.]
[Footnote 653: The gaiety of the Jacobites is said by Van Cleverskirke
to have been noticed during some time; Feb 25/March 6 1696.]
[Footnote 654: Harris's deposition, March 28. 1696.]
[Footnote 655: Hunt's deposition.]
[Footnote 656: Fisher's and Harris's depositions.]
[Footnote 657: Barclay's narrative, in the Life of James, ii. 548.;
Paper by Charnock among the MSS. in the Bodleian Library.]
[Footnote 658: Harris's deposition.]
[Footnote 659: Ibid. Bernardi's autobiography is not at all to be
trusted.]
[Footnote 660: See his trial.]
[Footnote 661: Fisher's deposition; Knightley's deposition; Cranburne's
trial; De la Rue's deposition.]
[Footnote 662: See the trials and depositions.]
[Footnote 663: L'Hermitage, March 3/13]
[Footnote 664: See Berwick's Memoirs.]
[Footnote 665: Van Cleverskirke, Feb 25/March 6 1696. I am confident
that no sensible and impartial person, after attentively reading
Berwick's narrative of these transactions and comparing it with the
narrative in the Life of James (ii. 544.) which is taken, word for word,
from the Original Memoirs, can doubt that James was accessory to the
design of assassination.]
[Footnote 666: L'Hermitage, March Feb 25/March 6]
[Footnote 667: My account of these events is taken chiefly from
the trials and depositions. See also Burnet, ii. 165, 166, 167, and
Blackmore's True and Impartial History, compiled under the direction of
Shrewsbury and Somers, and Boyer's History of King William III., 1703.]
[Footnote 668: Portland to Lexington, March 3/13. 1696; Van
Cleverskirke, Feb 25/Mar 6 L'Hermitage, same date.]
[Footnote 669: Commons' Journals, Feb. 24 1695.]
[Footnote 670: England's Enemies Exposed, 1701.]
[Footnote 671: Commons' Journals, Feb. 24. 1695/6.]
[Footnote 672: Ibid. Feb. 25. 1695/6; Van Cleverskirke, Feb 28/March 9;
L'Hermitage, of the same date.]
[Footnote 673: According to L'Hermitage, Feb 27/Mar 8,there were two of
these fortunate hackney coachmen. A shrewd and vigilant hackney coachman
indeed was from the nature of his calling, very likely to be successful
in this sort of chase. The newspapers abound with proofs of the general
enthusiasm.]
[Footnote 674: Postman March 5. 1695/6]
[Footnote 675: Ibid. Feb. 29., March 2., March 12., March 14. 1695/6.]
[Footnote 676: Postman, March 12. 1696; Vernon to Lexington, March 13;
Van Cleverskirke, March 13/23 The proceedings are fully reported in the
Collection of State Trials.]
[Footnote 677: Burnet, ii. 171.; The Present Disposition of England
considered; The answer entitled England's Enemies Exposed, 1701;
L'Hermitage, March 17/27. 1696. L'Hermitage says, "Charnock a fait des
grandes instances pour avoir sa grace, et a offert de tout declarer:
mais elle lui a este refusee."]
[Footnote 678: L'Hermitage, March 17/27]
[Footnote 679: This most curious paper is among the Nairne MSS. in the
Bodleian Library. A short, and not perfectly ingenuous abstract of it
will be found in the Life of James, ii. 555. Why Macpherson, who has
printed many less interesting documents did not choose to print this
document, it is easy to guess. I will transcribe two or three important
sentences. "It may reasonably be presumed that what, in one juncture His
Majesty had rejected he might in another accept, when his own and the
public good necessarily required it. For I could not understand it in
such a manner as if he had given a general prohibition that at no time
the Prince of Orange should be touched... Nobody that believes His
Majesty to be lawful King of England can doubt but that in virtue of his
commission to levy war against the Prince of Orange and his adherents,
the setting upon his person is justifiable, as well by the laws of the
land duly interpreted and explained as by the law of God."]
[Footnote 680: The trials of Friend and Parkyns will be found,
excellently reported, among the State Trials.]
[Footnote 681: L'Hermitage, April 3/13 1696.]
[Footnote 682: Commons' Journals, April 1, 2. 1696; L'Hermitage, April
3/13. 1696; Van Cleverskirke, of the same date.]
[Footnote 683: L'Hermitage, April 7/17. 1696. The Declaration of the
Bishops, Collier's Defence, and Further Defence, and a long legal
argument for Cook and Snatt will be found in the Collection of State
Trials.]
[Footnote 684: See the Manhunter, 1690.]
[Footnote 685: State Trials.]
[Footnote 686: The best, indeed the only good, account of these debates
is given by L'Hermitage, Feb 28/March 9 1696. He says, very truly; "La
difference n'est qu'une dispute de mots, le droit qu'on a a une chose
selon les loix estant aussy bon qu'il puisse estre."]
[Footnote 687: See the London Gazettes during several weeks;
L'Hermitage, March 24/April 3 April 14/24. 1696; Postman, April 9 25 30]
[Footnote 688: Journals of the Commons and Lords; L'Hermitage, April
7/17 10/20 1696.]
[Footnote 689: See the Freeholder's Plea against Stockjobbing Elections
of Parliament Men, and the Considerations upon Corrupt Elections of
Members to serve in Parliament. Both these pamphlets were published in
1701.]
[Footnote 690: The history of this bill will be found in the Journals
of the Commons, and in a very interesting despatch of L'Hermitage, April
14/24 1696.]
[Footnote 691: The Act is 7 & 8 Will. 3. c. 31. Its history maybe traced
in the Journals.]
[Footnote 692: London Gazette, May 4. 1696]
[Footnote 693: Ibid. March 12. 16. 1696; Monthly Mercury for March,
1696.]
[Footnote 694: The Act provided that the clipped money must be brought
in before the fourth of May. As the third was a Sunday, the second was
practically the last day.]
[Footnote 695: L'Hermitage, May 5/15 1696; London Newsletter, May 4.,
May 6. In the Newsletter the fourth of May is mentioned as "the day so
much taken notice of for the universal concern people had in it."]
[Footnote 696: London Newsletter, May 21. 1696; Old Postmaster, June
25.; L'Hermitage, May 19/29.]
[Footnote 697: Haynes's Brief Memoirs, Lansdowne MSS. 801.]
[Footnote 698: See the petition from Birmingham in the Commons'
Journals, Nov. 12. 1696; and the petition from Leicester, Nov. 21]
[Footnote 699: "Money exceeding scarce, so that none was paid or
received; but all was on trust."--Evelyn, May 13. And again, on June
11.: "Want of current money to carry on the smallest concerns, even for
daily provisions in the markets."]
[Footnote 700: L'Hermitage, May 22/June 1; See a Letter of Dryden to
Tonson, which Malone, with great probability, supposes to have been
written at this time.]
[Footnote 701: L'Hermitage to the States General May 8/18.; Paris
Gazette, June 2/12.; Trial and Condemnation of the Land Bank at Exeter
Change for murdering the Bank of England at Grocers' Hall, 1696. The
Will and the Epitaph will be found in the Trial.]
[Footnote 702: L'Hermitage, June 12/22. 1696.]
[Footnote 703: On this subject see the Short History of the Last
Parliament, 1699; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; the newspapers of 1696
passim, and the letters of L'Hermitage passim. See also the petition
of the Clothiers of Gloucester in the Commons' Journal, Nov. 27. 1696.
Oldmixon, who had been himself a sufferer, writes on this subject with
even more than his usual acrimony.]
[Footnote 704: See L'Hermitage, June 12/22, June 23/July, 3 June 30/July
10, Aug 1/11 Aug 28/Sept 7 1696. The Postman of August 15. mentions the
great benefit derived from the Exchequer Bills. The Pegasus of Aug. 24.
says: "The Exchequer Bills do more and more obtain with the public; and
'tis no wonder." The Pegasus of Aug. 28. says: "They pass as money from
hand to hand; 'tis observed that such as cry them down are ill affected
to the government." "They are found by experience," says the Postman
of the seventh of May following, "to be of extraordinary use to the
merchants and traders of the City of London, and all other parts of
the kingdom." I will give one specimen of the unmetrical and almost
unintelligible doggrel which the Jacobite poets published on this
subject:--
"Pray, Sir, did you hear of the late proclamation,
Of sending paper for payment quite thro' the nation?
Yes, Sir, I have: they're your Montague's notes,
Tinctured and coloured by your Parliament votes.
But 'tis plain on the people to be but a toast,
They come by the carrier and go by the post."]
[Footnote 705: Commons' Journals, Nov. 25. 1696.]
[Footnote 706: L'Hermitage, June 2/12. 1696; Commons' Journals, Nov.
25.; Post-man, May 5., June 4., July 2.]
[Footnote 707: L'Hermitage, July. [3]/13 10/20 1696; Commons' Journals,
Nov. 25.; Paris Gazette, June 30., Aug. 25.; Old Postmaster, July 9.]
[Footnote 708: William to Heinsius, July 30. 1696; William to
Shrewsbury, July 23. 30. 31.]
[Footnote 709: Shrewsbury to William, July 28. 31., Aug. 4. 1696;
L'Hermitage, Aug. 1/11]
[Footnote 710: Shrewsbury to William, Aug 7. 1696; L'Hermitage, Aug
14/24.; London Gazette, Aug. 13.]
[Footnote 711: L'Hermitage, Aug. [18]/28. 1696. Among the records of the
Bank is a resolution of the Directors prescribing the very words which
Sir John Houblon was to use. William's sense of the service done by the
Bank on this occasion is expressed in his letter to Shrewsbury, of
Aug. 24/Sept 3. One of the Directors, in a letter concerning the Bank,
printed in 1697, says: "The Directors could not have answered it to
their members, had it been for any less occasion than the preservation
of the kingdom."]
[Footnote 712: Haynes's Brief Memoires; Lansdowne MSS. 801. Montague's
friendly letter to Newton, announcing the appointment, has been
repeatedly printed. It bears date March 19. 1695/6.]
[Footnote 713: I have very great pleasure in quoting the words of
Haynes, an able, experienced and practical man, who had been in the
habit of transacting business with Newton. They have never I believe,
been printed. "Mr. Isaac Newton, public Professor of the Mathematicks
in Cambridge, the greatest philosopher, and one of the best men of this
age, was, by a great and wise statesman, recommended to the favour of
the late King for Warden of the King's Mint and Exchanges, for which he
was peculiarly qualified, because of his extraordinary skill in numbers,
and his great integrity, by the first of which he could judge correctly
of the Mint accounts and transactions as soon as he entered upon his
office; and by the latter--I mean his integrity--he set a standard to
the conduct and behaviour of every officer and clerk in the Mint. Well
had it been for the publick, had he acted a few years sooner in that
situation." It is interesting to compare this testimony, borne by a man
who thoroughly understood the business of the Mint, with the childish
talk of Pope. "Sir Isaac Newton," said Pope, "though so deep in algebra
and fluxions, could not readily make up a common account; and, whilst he
was Master of the Mint, used to get somebody to make up the accounts
for him." Some of the statesmen with whom Pope lived might have told him
that it is not always from ignorance of arithmetic that persons at the
head of great departments leave to clerks the business of casting up
pounds, shillings and pence.]
[Footnote 714: "I do not love," he wrote to Flamsteed, "to be printed
on every occasion, much less to be dunned and teased by foreigners about
mathematical things, or to be thought by our own people to be trifling
away my time about them, when I am about the King's business."]
[Footnote 715: Hopton Haynes's Brief Memoires; Lansdowne MSS. 801.; the
Old Postmaster, July 4. 1696; the Postman May 30., July 4, September
12. 19., October 8,; L'Hermitage's despatches of this summer and autumn,
passim.]
[Footnote 716: Paris Gazette, Aug. 11. 1696.]
[Footnote 717: On the 7th of August L'Hermitage remarked for the first
time that money seemed to be more abundant.]
[Footnote 718: Compare Edmund Bohn's Letter to Carey of the 31st of July
1696 with the Paris Gazette of the same date. Bohn's description of the
state of Norfolk is coloured, no doubt, by his constitutionally gloomy
temper, and by the feeling with which he, not unnaturally, regarded
the House of Commons. His statistics are not to be trusted; and his
predictions were signally falsified. But he may be believed as to plain
facts which happened in his immediate neighbourhood.]
[Footnote 719: As to Grascombe's character, and the opinion entertained
of him by the most estimable Jacobites, see the Life of Kettlewell, part
iii., section 55. Lee the compiler of the Life of Kettlewell mentions
with just censure some of Grascombe's writings, but makes no allusion
to the worst of them, the Account of the Proceedings in the House of
Commons in relation to the Recoining of the Clipped Money, and falling
the price of Guineas. That Grascombe was the author, was proved before a
Committee of the House of Commons. See the Journals, Nov. 30. 1696.]
[Footnote 720: L'Hermitage, June 12/22., July 7/17. 1696.]
[Footnote 721: See the Answer to Grascombe, entitled Reflections on a
Scandalous Libel.]
[Footnote 722: Paris Gazette, Sept. 15. 1696,]
[Footnote 723: L'Hermitage, Oct. 2/12 1696.]
[Footnote 724: L'Hermitage, July 20/30., Oct. 2/12 9/10 1696.]
[Footnote 725: The Monthly Mercuries; Correspondence between Shrewsbury
and Galway; William to Heinsius, July 23. 30. 1696; Memoir of the
Marquess of Leganes.]
[Footnote 726: William to Heinsius, Aug 27/Sept 6, Nov 15/25 Nov. 17/27
1696; Prior to Lexington, Nov. 17/27; Villiers to Shrewsbury, Nov.
13/23]
[Footnote 727: My account of the attempt to corrupt Porter is taken from
his examination before the House of Commons on Nov. 16. 1696, and from
the following sources: Burnet, ii. 183.; L'Hermitage to the States
General, May 8/18. 12/22 1696; the Postboy, May 9.; the Postman, May 9.;
Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; London Gazette, Oct. 19. 1696.]
[Footnote 728: London Gazette; Narcissus Luttrell; L'Hermitage, June
12/22; Postman, June 11.]
[Footnote 729: Life of William III. 1703; Vernon's evidence given in his
place in the House of Commons, Nov. 16. 1696.]
[Footnote 730: William to Shrewsbury from Loo, Sept. 10. 1696.]
[Footnote 731: Shrewsbury to William, Sept. 18. 1696.]
[Footnote 732: William to Shrewsbury, Sept. 25. 1696.]
[Footnote 733: London Gazette, Oct. 8. 1696; Vernon to Shrewsbury,
October 8. Shrewsbury to Portland, Oct. 11.]
[Footnote 734: Vernon to Shrewsbury, Oct. 13. 1696; Somers to
Shrewsbury, Oct. 15.]
[Footnote 735: William to Shrewsbury, Oct. 9. 1696.]
[Footnote 736: Shrewsbury to William, Oct. 11. 1696.]
[Footnote 737: Somers to Shrewsbury, Oct. 19. 1696.]
[Footnote 738: William to Shrewsbury, Oct. 20. 1696.]
[Footnote 739: Vernon to Shrewsbury, Oct. 13. 15.; Portland to
Shrewsbury, Oct, 20, 1696.]
[Footnote 740: L'Hermitage, July 10/20 1696.]
[Footnote 741: Lansdowne MS. 801.]
[Footnote 742: I take my account of these proceedings from the Commons'
Journals, from the despatches of Van Cleverskirke and L'Hermitage to the
States General, and from Vernon's letter to Shrewsbury of the 27th of
October 1696. "I don't know," says Vernon "that the House of Commons
ever acted with greater concert than they do at present."]
[Footnote 743: Vernon to Shrewsbury, Oct. 29. 1696; L'Hermitage, Oct
30/Nov 9 L'Hermitage calls Howe Jaques Haut. No doubt the Frenchman had
always heard Howe spoken of as Jack.]
[Footnote 744: Postman, October 24. 1696; L'Hermitage, Oct 23/Nov 2.
L'Hermitage says: "On commence deja a ressentir des effets avantageux
des promptes et favorables resolutions que la Chambre des Communes prit
Mardy. Le discomte des billets de banque, qui estoit le jour auparavant
a 18, est revenu a douze, et les actions ont aussy augmente, aussy bien
que les taillis."]
[Footnote 745: William to Heinsius, Nov. 13/23 1696.]
[Footnote 746: Actes et Memoires des Negociations de la Paix de Ryswick,
1707; Villiers to Shrewsbury Dec. 1. [11]. 4/14. 1696; Letter of
Heinsius quoted by M. Sirtema de Grovestins. Of this letter I have not a
copy.]
[Footnote 747: Vernon to Shrewsbury, Dec. 8. 1696.]
[Footnote 748: Wharton to Shrewsbury, Oct. 27. 1696.]
[Footnote 749: Somers to Shrewsbury, Oct. 27. 31. 1696; Vernon to
Shrewsbury, Oct. 31.; Wharton to Shrewsbury, Nov. 10. "I am apt to
think," says Wharton, "there never was more management than in bringing
that about."]
[Footnote 750: See for example a poem on the last Treasury day at
Kensington, March 1696/7.]
[Footnote 751: Somers to Shrewsbury, Oct 31. 1696; Wharton to
Shrewsbury, of the same date.]
[Footnote 752: Somers to Shrewsbury, Nov. 3. 1696. The King's
unwillingness to see Fenwick is mentioned in Somers's letter of the 15th
of October.]
[Footnote 753: Vernon to Shrewsbury, Nov. 3. 1696.]
[Footnote 754: The circumstances of Goodman's flight were ascertained
three years later by the Earl of Manchester, when Ambassador at Paris,
and by him communicated to Jersey in a letter dated Sept 25/Oct 5 1699.]
[Footnote 755: London Gazette Nov. 9. 1696; Vernon to Shrewsbury, Nov.
3.; Van Cleverskirke and L'Hermitage of the same date.]
[Footnote 756: The account of the events of this day I have taken
from the Commons' Journals; the valuable work entitled Proceedings in
Parliament against Sir John Fenwick, Bart. upon a Bill of Attainder for
High Treason, 1696; Vernon's Letter to Shrewsbury, November 6. 1696, and
Somers's Letter to Shrewsbury, November 7. From both these letters it
is plain that the Whig leaders had much difficulty in obtaining the
absolution of Godolphin.]
[Footnote 757: Commons' Journals, Nov. 9. 1696--Vernon to Shrewsbury,
Nov. 10. The editor of the State Trials is mistaken in supposing that
the quotation from Caesar's speech was made in the debate of the 13th.]
[Footnote 758: Commons' Journals, Nov. 13. 16, 17.; Proceedings against
Sir John Fenwick.]
[Footnote 759: A Letter to a Friend in Vindication of the Proceedings
against Sir John Fenwick, 1697.]
[Footnote 760: This incident is mentioned by L'Hermitage.]
[Footnote 761: L'Hermitage tells us that such things took place in these
debates.]
[Footnote 762: See the Lords' Journals, Nov. 14., Nov. 30., Dec. 1.
1696.]
[Footnote 763: Wharton to Shrewsbury, Dec. 1. 1696; L'Hermitage, of same
date.]
[Footnote 764: L'Hermitage, Dec. 4/14. 1696; Wharton to Shrewsbury, Dec.
1.]
[Footnote 765: Lords' Journals Dec. 8. 1696; L'Hermitage, of the same
date.]
[Footnote 766: L'Hermitage, Dec. 15/25 18/28 1696.]
[Footnote 767: Ibid. Dec. 18/28 1696.]
[Footnote 768: Lords' Journals, Dec. 15. 1696; L'Hermitage, Dec.
[18]/28; Vernon to Shrewsbury, Dec. 15. About the numbers there is
a slight difference between Vernon and L'Hermitage. I have followed
Vernon.]
[Footnote 769: Lords' Journals, Dec. 18. 1696; Vernon to Shrewsbury,
Dec. 19.; L'Hermitage, Dec 22/Jan 1. I take the numbers from Vernon.]
[Footnote 770: Lords' Journals, Dec. 25 1696; L'Hermitage, Dec 26/Jan 4.
In the Vernon Correspondence there is a letter from Vernon to Shrewsbury
giving an account of the transactions of this day; but it is erroneously
dated Dec. 2., and is placed according to that date. This is not the
only blunder of the kind. A letter from Vernon to Shrewsbury, evidently
written on the 7th of November 1696, is dated and placed as a letter of
the 7th of January 1697. A letter of June 14. 1700 is dated and placed
as a letter of June 15. 1698. The Vernon Correspondence is of great
value; but it is so ill edited that it cannot be safely used without
much caution, and constant reference to other authorities.]
[Footnote 771: Lords' Journals, Dec. 23. 1696; Vernon to Shrewsbury,
Dec. 24; L'Hermitage, Dec 25/Jan 4.]
[Footnote 772: Vernon to Shrewsbury, Dec, 24 1696.]
[Footnote 773: Dohna, who knew Monmouth well, describes him thus: "Il
avoit de l'esprit infiniment, et meme du plus agreable; mais il y avoir
un peu trop de haut et de bas dans son fait. Il ne savoit ce que c'etoit
que de menager les gens; et il turlupinoit a l'outrance ceux qui ne lui
plaisoient pas."]
[Footnote 774: L'Hermitage, Jan. 12/22 1697.]
[Footnote 775: Lords' Journals, Jan. 9. 1696/7; Vernon to Shrewsbury, of
the same date; L'Hermitage, Jan. 12/22.]
[Footnote 776: Lords' Journals, Jan. 15. 1691; Vernon to Shrewsbury, of
the same date; L'Hermitage, of the same date.]
[Footnote 777: Postman, Dec. 29. 31. 1696.]
[Footnote 778: L'Hermitage, Jan. 12/22. 1697.]
[Footnote 779: Van Cleverskirke, Jan. 12/22. 1697; L'Hermitage, Jan.
15/25.]
[Footnote 780: L'Hermitage, Jan. 15/25. 1697.]
[Footnote 781: Lords' Journals, Jan. 22. 26. 1696/7; Vernon to
Shrewsbury, Jan. 26.]
[Footnote 782: Commons' Journals, Jan. 27. 169. The entry in the
journals, which might easily escape notice, is explained by a letter of
L'Hermitage, written Jan 29/Feb 8]
[Footnote 783: L'Hermitage, Jan 29/Feb 8; 1697; London Gazette, Feb. 1.;
Paris Gazette; Vernon to Shrewsbury; Jan. 28.; Burnet, ii. 193.]
[Footnote 784: Commons' Journals, December 19. 1696; Vernon to
Shrewsbury, Nov. 28. 1696.]
[Footnote 785: Lords' Journals, Jan. 23. 1696/7; Vernon to Shrewsbury,
Jan. 23.; L'Hermitage, Jan 26/Feb 5.]
[Footnote 786: Commons' Journals, Jan. 26. 1696/7; Vernon to Shrewsbury
and Van Cleverskirke to the States General of the same date. It is
curious that the King and the Lords should have made so strenuous a
fight against the Commons in defence of one of the five points of the
Peoples Charter.]
[Footnote 787: Commons' Journals, April 1. 3. 1697; Narcissus Luttrell's
Diary; L'Hermitage, April 2/12 As L'Hermitage says, "La plupart des
membres, lorsqu'ils sont a la campagne, estant bien aises d'estre
informez par plus d'un endroit de ce qui se passe, et s'imaginant que
la Gazette qui se fait sous la direction d'un des Secretaires d'Etat, ne
contiendroit pas autant de choses que fait celle-cy, ne sont pas fichez
que d'autres les instruisent." The numbers on the division I take from
L'Hermitage. They are not to be found in the Journals. But the Journals
were not then so accurately kept as at present.]
[Footnote 788: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, June 1691, May 1693.]
[Footnote 789: Commons' Journals, Dec 30. 1696; Postman, July 4. 1696.]
[Footnote 790: Postman April 22. 1696; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary.]
[Footnote 791: London Gazette, April 26. 29. 1697,]
[Footnote 792: London Gazette, April 29. 1697; L'Hermitage, April 23/May
3]
[Footnote 793: London Gazette, April 26. 29 1697 L'Hermitage, April
23/May 3]
[Footnote 794: What the opinion of the public was we learn from a letter
written by L'Hermitage immediately after Godolphin's resignation, Nov
3/13. 1696, "Le public tourne plus la veue sur le Sieur Montegu, qui
a la seconde charge de la Tresorerie que sur aucun autre." The strange
silence of the London Gazette is explained by a letter of Vernon to
Shrewsbury, dated May 1. 1697.]
[Footnote 795: London Gazette, April 22. 26: 1697.]
[Footnote 796: Postman, Jan. 26; Mar. 7. 11. 1696/7; April 8. 1697.]
[Footnote 797: Ibid. Oct. 29. 1696.]
[Footnote 798: Howell's State Trials; Postman, Jan. 9/19 1696/7.]
[Footnote 799: See the Protocol of February 10 1697, in the Actes et
Memoires des Negociations de la Paix de Ryswick, 1707.]
[Footnote 800: William to Heinsius, Dec. 11/21 1696. There are similar
expressions in other letters written by the King about the same time.]
[Footnote 801: See the papers drawn up at Vienna, and dated Sept. 16.
1696, and March 14 1697. See also the protocol drawn up at the Hague,
March 14. 1697. These documents will be found in the Actes et Memoires
des Negociations de la Paix de Ryswick, 1707.]
[Footnote 802: Characters of all the three French ministers are given by
Saint Simon.]
[Footnote 803: Actes et Memoires des Negociations de la Paix de
Ryswick.]
[Footnote 804: An engraving and ground plan of the mansion will be found
in the Actes et Memoires.]
[Footnote 805: Whoever wishes to be fully informed as to the idle
controversies and mummeries in which the Congress wasted its time, may
consult the Actes et Memoires.]
[Footnote 806: Saint Simon was certainly as good a judge of men as any
of those English grumblers who called Portland a dunce and a boor; Saint
Simon too had every opportunity of forming a correct judgment; for he
saw Portland in a situation full of difficulties; and Saint Simon says,
in one place, "Benting, discret, secret, poli aux autres, fidele a
son maitre, adroit en affaires, le servit tres utilement;" in another,
"Portland parut avec un eclat personnel, une politesse, un air de monde
et de cour, une galanterie et des graces qui surprirent; avec cela,
beaucoup de dignite, meme (le hauteur), mais avec discernement et un
jugement prompt sans rien de hasarde." Boufflers too extols Portland's
good breeding and tact. Boufflers to Lewis, July 9. 1697. This letter
is in the archives of the French Foreign Office. A translation will be
found in the valuable collection published by M. Grimblot.]
[Footnote 807: Boufflers to Lewis, June 21/July 1 1697; Lewis to
Boufflers, June 22/July 2; Boufflers to Lewis, June 25/July 5]
[Footnote 808: Boufflers to Lewis June 28/July 8, June 29/July 9 1697]
[Footnote 809: My account of this negotiation I have taken chiefly
from the despatches in the French Foreign Office. Translations of those
despatches have been published by M. Grimblot. See also Burnet, ii. 200,
201.
It has been frequently asserted that William promised to pay Mary of
Modena fifty thousand pounds a year. Whoever takes the trouble to
read the Protocol of Sept. 10/20 1697, among the Acts of the Peace of
Ryswick, will see that my account is correct. Prior evidently understood
the protocol as I understand it. For he says, in a letter to Lexington
of Sept. 17. 1697, "No. 2. is the thing to which the King consents as to
Queen Marie's settlements. It is fairly giving her what the law allows
her. The mediator is to dictate this paper to the French, and enter it
into his protocol; and so I think we shall come off a bon marche upon
that article."
It was rumoured at the time (see Boyer's History of King William III.
1703) that Portland and Boufflers had agreed on a secret article by
which it was stipulated that, after the death of William, the Prince of
Wales should succeed to the English throne. This fable has often been
repeated, but was never believed by men of sense, and can hardly, since
the publication of the letters which passed between Lewis and Boufflers,
find credit even with the weakest. Dalrymple and other writers imagined
that they had found in the Life of James (ii. 574, 575.) proof that the
story of the secret article was true. The passage on which they relied
was certainly not written by James, nor under his direction; and the
authority of those portions of the Life which were not written by him,
or under his direction, is but small. Moreover, when we examine this
passage, we shall find that it not only does not bear out the story of
the secret article, but directly contradicts that story. The compiler
of the Life tells us that, after James had declared that he never would
consent to purchase the English throne for his posterity by surrendering
his own rights, nothing more was said on the subject. Now it is quite
certain that James in his Memorial published in March 1697, a Memorial
which will be found both in the Life (ii. 566,) and in the Acts of the
Peace of Ryswick, declared to all Europe that he never would stoop to so
low and degenerate an action as to permit the Prince of Orange to
reign on condition that the Prince of Wales should succeed. It follows,
therefore, that nothing can have been said on this subject after March
1697. Nothing therefore, can have been said on this subject in the
conferences between Boufflers and Portland, which did not begin till
late in June.
Was there then absolutely no foundation for the story? I believe that
there was a foundation; and I have already related the facts on which
this superstructure of fiction has been reared. It is quite certain
that Lewis, in 1693, intimated to the allies through the government
of Sweden, his hope that some expedient might be devised which would
reconcile the Princes who laid claim to the English crown. The expedient
at which he hinted was, no doubt, that the Prince of Wales should
succeed William and Mary. It is possible that, as the compiler of the
Life of James says, William may have "show'd no great aversness" to this
arrangement. He had no reason, public or private, for preferring his
sister in law to his brother in law, if his brother in law were bred a
Protestant. But William could do nothing without the concurrence of the
Parliament; and it is in the highest degree improbable that either he or
the Parliament would ever have consented to make the settlement of the
English crown a matter of stipulation with France. What he would or
would not have done, however, we cannot with certainty pronounce. For
James proved impracticable. Lewis consequently gave up all thoughts
of effecting a compromise and promised, as we have seen, to recognise
William as King of England "without any difficulty, restriction,
condition, or reserve." It seems certain that, after this promise, which
was made in December 1696, the Prince of Wales was not again mentioned
in the negotiations.]
[Footnote 810: Prior MS.; Williamson to Lexington, July 20/30. 1697;
Williamson to Shrewsbury, July 23/Aug 2]
[Footnote 811: The note of the French ministers, dated July 10/20 1697,
will be found in the Actes et Memoires.]
[Footnote 812: Monthly Mercuries for August and September, 1697.]
[Footnote 813: Life of James, ii: 565.]
[Footnote 814: Actes et Memoires des Negociations de la Paix de Ryswick;
Life of James, ii. 566.]
[Footnote 815: James's Protest will be found in his Life, ii. 572.]
[Footnote 816: Actes et Memoires des Negociations de la Paix de Ryswick;
Williamson to Lexington, Sept 14/24 1697; Prior MS.]
[Footnote 817: Prior MS.]
[Footnote 818: L'Hermitage, July 20/30; July 27/Aug 6, Aug 24/Sept 3,
Aug 27/Sept 6 Aug 31/Sept 10 1697 Postman, Aug. 31.]
[Footnote 819: Van Cleverskirke to the States General, Sept. 14/24 1697;
L'Hermitage, Sept. 14/24; Postscript to the Postman, of the same date;
Postman and Postboy of Sept. 19/29 Postman of Sept. 18/28.]
[Footnote 820: L'Hermitage, Sept 17/27, Sept 25/Oct 4 1697 Oct 19/29;
Postman, Nov. 20.]
[Footnote 821: L'Hermitage, Sept 21/Oct 1 Nov 2/12 1697; Paris Gazette,
Nov. 20/30; Postboy, Nov. 2. At this time appeared a pasquinade
entitled, A Satyr upon the French King, written after the Peace was
concluded at Reswick, anno 1697, by a Non-Swearing Parson, and said to
be drop'd out of his Pocket at Sam's Coffee House. I quote a few of the
most decent couplets.
"Lord! with what monstrous lies and senseless shams
Have we been cullied all along at Sam's!
Who could have e'er believed, unless in spite
Lewis le Grand would turn rank Williamite?
Thou that hast look'd so fierce and talk'd so big,
In thine old age to dwindle to a Whig!
Of Kings distress'd thou art a fine securer.
Thou mak'st me swear, that am a known nonjuror.
Were Job alive, and banter'd by such shufflers,
He'd outrail Oates, and curse both thee and Boufflers
For thee I've lost, if I can rightly scan 'em,
Two livings, worth full eightscore pounds per annum,
Bonae et legalis Angliae Monetae.
But now I'm clearly routed by the treaty."]
[Footnote 822: London Gazettes; Postboy of Nov. 18 1697; L'Hermitage,
Nov. 5/15.]
[Footnote 823: London Gazette, Nov. 18. 22 1697; Van Cleverskirke Nov.
16/26, 19/29.; L'Hermitage, Nov. 16/26; Postboy and Postman, Nov. 18.
William to Heinsius, Nov. 16/26]
[Footnote 824: Evelyn's Diary, Dec, 2. 1697. The sermon is extant; and I
must acknowledge that it deserves Evelyn's censure.]
[Footnote 825: London Gazette, Dec. 6. 1697; Postman, Dec. 4.; Van
Cleverskirke, Dec. 2/12; L'Hermitage, Nov. 19/29.]