gave rise, has been already alluded to. It was one of two Jacobite
conspiracies, matured in the middle of the crisis, when it was a common
belief that the Government would never be able to pass securely through
the dangers which surrounded it. One of these conspiracies was for a
general rising of the Jacobites and a simultaneous invasion of England
from France. The completion of this plot was intrusted to James's
natural son, the Duke of Berwick, and in it, had it been carried out,
would have been involved all the best of the Jacobite gentry of England.
But side by side with it was a baser conspiracy, among the more
unprincipled and desperate friends of James, for the assassination of
the King. The management of this conspiracy, which is known by the name
of the Assassination Plot, was intrusted to Sir George Barclay, a Scotch
refugee. It seems certain that the scheme was sanctioned by James
himself, as Barclay was sent over with a few select followers and a
considerable sum of money, authorised to do any acts of hostility which
might conduce to the service of the King. It was also certainly known to
the Duke of Berwick, who was informed of every step in its progress. He
was too honourable himself to take a declared part in it, but did not
feel called upon in any way to interfere in the matter. His own mission
proved unsuccessful. The English Jacobites were willing to rise, but not
till a French army appeared in the country. On the other hand, Berwick
could only assure them that, after the failures which had already taken
place, no French army would enter the country till the Jacobites were
actually in arms. On this point the negotiations broke down, and
Berwick, unwilling to be mixed up with the darker schemes of Barclay,
hastened to leave England before the fatal day should arrive. This day,
the 15th of February, had been already fixed. Barclay had succeeded in
collecting about forty men, some supplied from France, some English
Jacobites of desperate character. With these it was determined to
assault the King on his return from hunting in Richmond Forest. Every
Saturday he was in the habit of going thither, crossing the Thames by
boat near Turnham Green. The spot chosen was a narrow swampy lane
leading up from the river. But, just before the time fixed, William
received from Portland information that there was a design upon his
life. He was induced to postpone his hunting, although he gave little
faith to the information, which had been received from most
untrustworthy sources. But in the course of the following week fresh
information was brought by a gentleman of the name of Pendergrass, who
was known to be an honourable man. Every precaution was taken to allay
the suspicions of the conspirators, and on the very day when the attempt
should have been made several of the leaders were arrested. The troops
were set in motion, the Lord Lieutenant of Kent repaired to his county,
and Russell hastened to take command of the fleet to oppose the intended
invasion. French troops had been already collected at Calais, and Louis,
who had been informed of the scheme, though he had not actually
authorized it, had determined to take advantage of the opportunity its
success would offer.
[Sidenote: Excitement in the country. Feb. 24.]
[Sidenote: Arrest and execution of the conspirators.]
The measures taken proved sufficient. When the King went in state to
Parliament, and explained what had been done, the enthusiasm of the
House was roused. Two Bills were rapidly passed, the one suspending the
Habeas Corpus Act, the other ordering that the Parliament should not be
dissolved by the death of William, and an association was set on foot by
which the House of Commons bound itself to stand by King William, to
avenge his murder, and to support the order of succession settled by the
Bill of Rights. Throughout the country the feeling excited was very
strong. Means were taken in all the cities of England to search
thoroughly for conspirators, the house of one of them was razed to the
ground by the populace, and one after the other most of them were
captured. Three of them, Charnock, King and Keyes, were brought to
trial. Only a few months before, a Bill which had occupied the public
attention through several sessions had received the royal assent. By
this the procedure in the case of trials for treason had been changed.
Before the passing of that Bill a prisoner charged with treason had not
been allowed to see the indictment before he was brought to the bar. He
could not put his witnesses upon oath, nor compel their attendance, nor
was he allowed the service of counsel, while the Crown enjoyed all the
advantages of which he was deprived. The Bill enacted that all the
above-named disabilities should be removed. The opposition to this Bill
had been grounded chiefly upon the advantage it appeared to give to
traitors at a time when the Government was notoriously open to their
attacks; and Parliament had, by way of compromise, postponed till the
25th of March 1696 (at that time the beginning of the new year) the
operation of the Act. The prisoners claimed, not without some show of
reason, a postponement of the trial till that date. But their request
was overruled, the trial was proceeded with at once, and they were all
condemned and executed (March 24).
[Sidenote: Trial of Sir John Fenwick. Aug.]
[Sidenote: His execution. Jan. 28, 1697.]
But, by the witness of two of the informers, Porter and Goodman, a more
important person had been implicated, if not in the present plot, yet at
least in one of a similar nature which had been set on foot immediately
after the Queen's death. This was Sir John Fenwick, a man highly
connected, who had brought himself prominently forward as a Jacobite
intriguer, and had earned the personal dislike of William by a public
insult to the Queen. By the law of Edward VI. two witnesses were
necessary to prove the guilt of treason, and Fenwick's chief hopes lay
in his being able to bribe either Porter or Goodman to leave the
country. His first attempt on Porter failed. Porter informed the
Government, received the money, and gave up the agent who offered it
him. Fenwick then attempted to gain time by making a confession. This
was drawn up with great art: while none of the real facts were brought
to light, accusations, only too well founded upon fact, were brought
against Marlborough, Godolphin, Russell, and Shrewsbury. It was asserted
that Marlborough had promised to bring over the army, Russell the navy,
while Godolphin only held office by the leave of the exiled King.
William, with great wisdom, although he knew how much truth there was in
these accusations, absolutely ignored them, and ordered the trial of
Fenwick to be proceeded with without delay. But some of the contents of
the confession became known, and the Whigs decided that, for the honour
of the party, it could not be passed over in silence. Godolphin, the
last remaining Tory in the Government, they would have been unwilling to
acquit; he was induced to resign, and the course was now clear. It was
of the highest importance that a real confession should be got from
Fenwick, but this he now refused to give, as he had just received
information that his agents had contrived to get Goodman, the second
witness against him, out of the country. Exasperated by seeing, as they
thought, the enemy, who had tried to undermine the character of their
chiefs, slipping from their grasp, the Whigs brought the question before
the House. The confession was voted false and scandalous, and rather
than let their victim escape, in the heat of their anger, they
determined to have recourse to the dangerous expedient of a Bill of
Attainder (Nov. 13). This attempt, which, as it superseded the law of
the land by an exercise of the power of Parliament, had an
unconstitutional and revengeful appearance, met with the strongest
opposition, but was carried in the Lower House by a small majority. The
question became one of party, and finally, after a long struggle, it
passed the House of Lords by a majority of only seven. Great interest
was made for the prisoner, but William refused to listen to any request
for pardon, and Fenwick was executed. William's inflexibility is better
explained by his desire to shield the Whig party, whom Fenwick would
certainly have accused during his trial, than by the supposed existence
of a personal hostility between himself and his prisoner.
[Sidenote: Complete triumph of the Whigs. April 16.]
This troublesome business having been got rid of, the session closed in
complete triumph for the Whigs, among whose leaders promotions were
freely distributed. Somers was raised to the Peerage and made Lord
Chancellor, Russell became Earl of Orford, and Montague became First
Lord of the Treasury. This triumph of the party reached its climax in
the course of the year, when the war was brought to an end, and the
policy of William and the Whigs vindicated by the signature of the Peace
of Ryswick.
[Sidenote: Louis desires peace.]
[Sidenote: Opposition of the coalition.]
[Sidenote: Terms of peace.]
[Sidenote: Treaty of Ryswick. Sept. 10.]
During the critical year 1696 want of money had paralyzed the action of
both armies in the Netherlands, the destruction of the French magazines
at Givet had rendered it difficult for Louis to maintain his troops,
while William, though England was by no means exhausted as France was,
was as completely hampered by the want of ready money. Louis had indeed
in the course of the year made overtures for peace, but the improvement
in his prospects, caused by the conduct of the Duke of Savoy, who had
deserted the coalition, joined his army to the French under Marshal
Catinat, and successfully insisted that Austria and Spain should declare
the neutralization of Italy, had induced him to recede from one of the
fundamental conditions of peace--the recognition of William as King of
England. The negotiations had been broken off, but succeeding events
induced Louis, in 1697, to renew his proposals. The Assassination Plot
had failed; William was more popular and better supported than he had
ever been; the country had passed successfully through its period of
crisis, had emerged more powerful than ever and more determined to
support the war, and the great French military project for the capture
of Brussels had been thwarted by the rapidity of William's movements.
Louis therefore now, for the first time in his life, offered reasonable
terms, consenting to resign many of the conquests he had made during the
war, to give back Lorraine to its Duke, Luxemburg to Spain, Strasburg to
the Empire, and to acknowledge the King of England. William, who was
never carried away even by his most impetuous feelings, much as he hated
France, at once recognized the justice of these offers and the wisdom of
accepting them. He found however much difficulty in managing the
coalition. The two great powers who had done the least to support the
war now did all in their power to frustrate the pacification. Spain,
moved by a foolish vanity little suitable to its weak condition, made
demands which it was impossible that Louis should grant, while the
Emperor, moved by selfish policy, would have been only too glad to
continue a war, carried on chiefly at the cost of England, till the
death of the Spanish King, which was every day expected. He would then,
he imagined, be able to secure by means of the European coalition his
succession to that monarchy. At length, after many difficulties,
plenipotentiaries from France and the coalition were assembled (March
1697), the one party at the Hague, the other at Delft, and conferences
were held at Ryswick, which lies nearly equidistant between these two
towns. But the ceremonies of diplomacy, the ridiculous details of
precedence, seemed to promise that the negotiations would be dragged out
to an interminable length. William was not to be so treated. Having made
up his mind that peace was desirable and that the terms offered were
fair, he was determined that the peace should be speedily made. While
the plenipotentiaries were wasting their time at Ryswick, a series of
private meetings took place between Portland and Marshal Boufflers,
between the armies, a few miles from Brussels. A few meetings sufficed
to settle the terms, which were reduced to writing on the 6th of July.
Beyond the general terms of treaty already offered by France, some
personal questions between William and Louis had to be settled. A mutual
promise was exchanged that neither king would countenance assaults upon
the other. William was to be acknowledged as King of England, and the
Princess Anne as his successor. Mary of Modena was to receive whatever
sum of money the English Law Courts held to be her due; and though
Louis, with his usual magnanimity, refused to stipulate that James
should leave France, it was understood that he should withdraw either to
Avignon or to Italy. Spain and the Emperor still refused to accept the
proffered terms. Louis declared that, unless they were accepted by the
21st of August, he should no longer hold himself bound by them. The day
passed, and, as was to be expected, the French King raised fresh
demands; he would no longer surrender Strasburg. But the opposition of
Spain had already been crushed. The disasters of the year had brought
that country to reason; Vendome had captured Barcelona, and a French
fleet, joined by the buccaneers of the West Indies, had taken and sacked
Carthagena. William therefore, though much vexed at the obstinacy of the
Emperor, which involved the loss of Strasburg, found himself able to
accept the new terms, in concert with all the great powers of the
coalition, with the exception of the Emperor, and at length, on the 10th
of September, a treaty was concluded between France, Holland, Spain and
England. France surrendered all the conquests made since the Treaty of
Nimeguen, and placed the chief fortresses of the Low Countries in the
hands of Dutch garrisons; William was recognized as King of England,
Anne as his successor, and all assistance was withdrawn from James. A
month later the Emperor also consented to treat. By this second treaty
all the towns acquired since the Peace of Nimeguen, with the exception
of Strasburg, were restored, together with Fribourg, Brissac,
Philipsburg, and all French fortifications on the right bank of the
Rhine. Lorraine was restored to its Duke, Leopold, who granted however a
passage through his dominions for French troops. The Elector of Cologne
was recognized, and the rights of the Duchess of Orleans upon the
Palatinate compromised for money. William and the European coalition
were thus triumphant. Louis had for the first time to withdraw to his
own boundaries, and the succession of England was secured. At the same
time France gained what had now become absolutely necessary, time to
recruit her strength, and leisure to prepare for that great struggle
which all men saw to be imminent, when the death of Charles II. of
Spain, without a direct heir, should leave the succession of that great
monarchy to be disputed among the various claimants.
The joy of England at the conclusion of the war was enthusiastic. The
King made a triumphal entry into London, and was everywhere received
with enthusiasm. The crowning point of his reign had been reached.
Almost without knowing it, he had solved the great constitutional
question of the time, and, supported by a ministry in harmony with the
Commons, and the national representatives in harmony with the people,
had triumphantly brought to conclusion the great objects of his life,
established the Protestant succession in England, and proved to Louis
the necessity of respecting the rights and feelings of the rest of
Europe.
[Sidenote: The Parliament reduces the standing army.]
On the very day after the rejoicings to celebrate the Peace of Ryswick,
on the 3rd of December 1697, the Parliament, which had hitherto shown
itself so firm in support of the Crown, so unanimous and vigorous in its
action, met for its third and last session. William had every right to
expect a period of peace and prosperity. But, unfortunately, the very
success for which England was rejoicing brought with it the seeds of
faction and division. For at once a question had to be settled, on which
the Whig party was itself divided, and on which the national feeling was
on the whole strongly opposed to the King. The establishment of peace
naturally involved the question of the fate of the great army, numbering
more than 80,000 men, which England had kept up for the last nine years.
The nation, suffering heavily from taxation, was not likely to be
willing to continue in peace the efforts made during war. It was,
moreover, a deeply ingrained feeling among the country gentry of both
parties that a standing army in time of peace was an intolerable evil.
The Tories had indeed already adopted the policy which long marked the
party. They would have wished England to confine itself, even in war, to
the pursuit of success upon the sea, which they regarded as her natural
element, and to have withdrawn as far as possible from all the
complications of Continental policy. But, even setting aside this view,
the experience of both parties led them very naturally to regard an army
in time of peace as the inevitable instrument of tyranny. While the
Tories remembered with horror the triumphant Ironsides of Cromwell, the
Whigs recalled with no less detestation the importation of Irish troops
at the close of the last reign, and London overawed by the great camp at
Hounslow. On the other hand, William, with his eyes fixed abroad, with a
profound mistrust of France, and certain knowledge of the rapid approach
of another great Continental quarrel, could not bring himself to approve
of the breaking up of an army which he had brought to such perfection.
The ministry, under his immediate influence, and guided by the
far-sighted sagacity of Somers, believed, like the King, in the approach
of fresh danger, and thoroughly disbelieved in the efficacy of
half-drilled militia to withstand such well-trained troops as Louis had
always at his disposal. The national feeling was, however, too strong to
be withstood. A resolution was passed that the number of soldiers should
be reduced to the same amount as had been kept on foot after the peace
of Nimeguen, a resolution which was liberally construed by the
Government to mean 10,000. On other points the ministry and the
Parliament remained at one. It was in vain that an attack was directed
against William's lavish grants of Crown lands, in vain that an
accusation of peculation was directed against Montague, it resulted only
in a formal declaration on the part of the Commons of the great services
of that statesman.
[Sidenote: The East Indian trade.]
[Sidenote: Formation of the General East India Company. 1698.]
[Sidenote: The two Companies united. 1708.]
Montague's success as a financier had indeed reached its culminating
point in this session by the temporary settlement of the question with
regard to the Indian trade which had so long excited the commercial
public in England. It has been incidentally mentioned that the renewal
of the charter to the East India Company in 1693 had produced the fall
of Lord Caermarthen. The Company, originally consisting chiefly of Whigs
and incorporated by royal charter, had, in the hands of Sir Josiah
Child, who exerted an almost dictatorial authority in its management,
allied itself closely to the Tories. Its monopoly had also become very
unpopular, as the increase of capital and the great receipts of the
Indian trade had excited a wish among the mercantile community to enter
more largely upon that branch of traffic. As early as 1691 an
association of its enemies had been formed, which, although it was not
chartered, was commonly spoken of as the new Company, and had succeeded
in obtaining a request from the Parliament to the King that he would
give the old Company the three years' notice of the withdrawal of its
charter which was legally required. An accidental illegality had in fact
just then invalidated the charter. It was to procure its restoration
that, in 1693, Cook, to whom Child had now relinquished much of his
authority, had so lavishly expended the secret service money, some of
which had been traced to Caermarthen. His bribery was successful. The
charter was renewed by the King, but the Parliament, at the instigation
of the new Company, took a different view of the question, and declared
that every man had a right to trade, unless debarred by Act of
Parliament. This declaration of the limits of the constitutional power
of the Crown in matters of trade William could not venture to oppose.
From that time onwards, therefore, the trade had been legally free, but
the power of the Company had been so great in the Indian seas, and its
conduct so oppressive, that it had been impossible for free traders to
carry on their business with any success. Again, in 1698, the question
was strongly pressed upon the attention of Parliament, and again the old
Company found strong supporters in the Tory party, while the Whigs
upheld the demands of those who wished to participate in its advantages.
There was a division in the views of the opponents of the Company. Some
were eager for perfect freedom of trade, while others joined in the
general feeling of the nation, that, although the present monopoly was a
bad one, some sort of restriction was still necessary. It was understood
that to advance money to Government was the surest way to obtain its
support, and the old Company offered £700,000, at four per cent., as the
price of the renewal of its charter. But Montague, anxious for money to
relieve the embarrassments of the Government, anxious to establish a
second great Whig society of capitalists, who would support him as the
Bank had already done, believed that he saw his way to gaining those
ends by opposing the Company, and brought forward a plan by which he
hoped to secure the support of both sections of its opponents. He
suggested the formation of a company, to be called the General Company,
and proposed that a loan of £2,000,000, at eight per cent., should be
advanced to Government, and that the subscribers should receive the
monopoly of the Indian trade, but be free from the obligation of trading
as a joint-stock society, unless they should afterwards wish it. He
carried the Bill for its formation through Parliament, and, in spite of
the forebodings of his enemies, found that the immense sum which had
been promised was readily subscribed in two or three days. The Bill was
carried on the 3rd of September, but, on the 5th of the same month, the
greater part of the subscribers declared their desire to become a
joint-stock company, which was therefore chartered by Act of Parliament
by the title of the English Company trading to the East Indies. The
struggle between the companies was found to be so destructive to
English trade, that, in 1702, arrangements for their union were made. A
common court of managers was established, their stocks equalized, and
trade carried on under the name of the United Company of Merchants
trading to the East Indies. But each company still traded with its own
separate stock. Many inconveniences still attended this division of
interests, and at last, in 1708, upon the award of Lord Godolphin, a
final and complete union was made; and, as the separate adventurers who
had not joined either company were bought out, the monopoly again fell
into the hands of the great United Company. But though his plan was thus
ultimately a failure, for the moment Montague had all the credit of
another great financial triumph, and the Whig party might reasonably
expect that, in spite of the one single defeat with regard to the
standing army, their position would be as good in the new Parliament as
it had been in that which was just closing.
[Sidenote: William's attention directed to the Spanish succession.]
[Sidenote: First Partition Treaty.]