will, leaving the crown and all its dependencies to the Emperor, but
neither he nor the Emperor had taken the precaution of securing the
Italian provinces by marching a strong army thither--probably from
fear of arousing Louis to a premature war. He now called a Council
of State to deliberate on the succession; but the unfortunate prince
had to deliberate with a Council which had long been bought over by
the French. Only two of the Council had the patriotism to vote that
the question should be submitted to the Cortes; they were overborne
by the voices of the rest, who had been corrupted by Harcourt, the
French Minister. Amongst them were prominent the Marquis de Monterey
and Cardinal Portocarrero. They advised that they should consult
the faculties of law and theology, and these faculties were already
bribed by France. The French faction persuaded further the starving
people that all their troubles had been produced by the partisans of
Austria; and the enraged mob surrounded the palace and demanded to
see the king, who was compelled to show himself, though he was too
weak to stand without help. All this time the condition of the king of
Spain was frightful. His conscience, accustomed to be swayed by his
religious advisers, was torn to and fro by the contending exertions of
Portocarrero and the queen. Portocarrero was a man of vast influence;
he was not only cardinal but Archbishop of Toledo, and affected a deep
concern for the king. Charles, intensely attached to his own family,
and having a strong persuasion that its claims were the claims of the
nation, was yet so tortured by the arguments of the priests of the
opposite factions, and the entreaties of the queen, that no poor soul
was ever in so dreadful a purgatory. At length, after the most violent
contests, he sank in passive weakness, and on the 2nd of October he
signed the will dictated by France. Having done it, he burst into
tears, and sighed out "Now I am nothing!"
But this signing was effected in deepest secrecy; neither the queen
nor any one but a small junto of the French faction was aware of it.
As Charles, however, still lingered between life and death for a month
yet, the French made every preparation for the event, and Portocarrero
took possession of the Great Seals, and dispersed all his agents, so as
to secure the transfer of the crown to France. On the 1st of November,
1700, the unhappy monarch died, at the age of thirty-nine, and the will
was made known, to the consternation of the queen and the Austrian and
English ambassadors, who were till that moment in profound ignorance of
it. As soon as the news reached Paris, Count Zinzendorf, the Imperial
ambassador, presented himself at Versailles, and inquired whether the
king meant to abide by the treaty of partition or accept the will. The
Marquis de Torcy answered for Louis that he meant certainly to abide by
the treaty. But this was only to gain time. Louis had long made up his
mind, and when he heard that Charles was dead, he exclaimed, "There are
no longer any Pyrenees." William's statesmanlike plans had been foiled
by his confederate's treachery.
William had returned to England towards the end of October, a few days
before the death of the King of Spain. He was deeply chagrined at this
unexpected event, but, in the present temper of England--disgusted
with his proceedings with Louis for the partition of Spain--he could
not openly complain. Not the less, however, did he unburthen his
feelings to his friend the Pensionary Heinsius. Writing to him, he
said, "I never relied much on the engagements with France, but I must
confess that I did not think they would on this occasion have broken,
in the face of the whole world, a solemn treaty before it was well
accomplished." He confessed that he had been duped, and that he felt it
the more because his English subjects did not disguise their opinion
that the will was better than the partition, against which one party
had complained because of the large amount given to France, the other
at the injustice of forestalling the wishes of the French, and both
at the secrecy with which the negotiations had been conducted. He
expressed his deep anxiety regarding the Spanish Netherlands, which, it
seemed, must fall into the hands of France, and as to what barrier was
to be set up between them and Holland; and he concluded by saying that
he should bear all the blame for having trusted to France after his
experience that no trust was to be put in it.
But, besides his health and the mortification of Louis's triumphant
deceit, William had plenty of troubles from the temper of his
Parliament, and the state of the factions which harassed his
Government. With such gloomy auspices came in the year 1701. The king
had now replaced the retiring Whigs of his Ministry by Tories. Lord
Godolphin was made First Commissioner of the Treasury; Lord Tankerville
succeeded Lord Lonsdale, deceased, as Privy Seal; Lord Rochester
was sent as Lord-Lieutenant to Ireland; and Sir Charles Hedges was
appointed Secretary of State. By their advice Parliament was dissolved,
and writs were issued for the meeting of the new one on the 6th of
February.
When Parliament met, it was found that the late Speaker, Sir Thomas
Littleton, had absented himself from the House, and the Tories proposed
in his stead Robert Harley, who was now fast rising into favour with
that party. The king had requested Littleton, in fact, to withdraw,
that the Tories might get in their man; but there was such a ferment
in the House that it was obliged to be adjourned till the 20th. Then
the Whigs brought forward Sir Richard Onslow, but he was defeated by a
majority of two hundred and forty-nine to one hundred and twenty-five.
This showed that a strong Tory Commons had been returned, and yet it
was not true that all the Tories were unanimous. There was, indeed, a
considerable breach in the party. Those of them who had been passed
over in the selection of the Ministry, or had other causes of pique
against the Government, remained in opposition, and occasioned the
king and their own party no little embarrassment. Amongst these were
the Duke of Leeds, the Marquis of Normanby, the Earl of Nottingham,
Seymour, Musgrave, Howe, Finch, and Showers. It was strongly suspected,
too, that Louis had made use of Tallard to bribe some members of
Parliament and of the Government to an awful extent to oppose any
measures for war and Continental combinations.
In his opening speech William informed the Parliament that the death
of the Duke of Gloucester had rendered it necessary that they should
take into consideration the succession to the Crown after him and the
Princess Anne, who had now no heir; for the happiness of the nation
and the security of the Protestant religion made it the subject of the
highest moment. The subject of next importance, and scarcely inferior,
he said, was the death of the late King of Spain, and the succession
arranged by his will, which had made so great an alteration in affairs
abroad as demanded their most serious consideration for the interests
and safety of England, and the preservation of the peace of Europe
and of the Protestant religion. That these great topics might have
due consideration, he had desired that they should receive it in a
new Parliament. He next referred to the necessity for making a proper
provision for the current expenditure, and for the reduction of the
debt, and recommended them to put the fleet into effective condition.
The Electress Sophia of Hanover, the next in succession to Anne, was
the daughter of Frederick the Prince Palatine, and Elizabeth Queen
of Bohemia, therefore granddaughter of James I. No sooner did Sophia
hear of the death of the Duke of Gloucester than she took with her her
daughter, the Electress of Brandenburg, and made a visit to William
at Loo. She had a twofold object, to obtain his promise of favouring
her succession to the crown of England, and his acknowledgment of
Brandenburg as a kingdom under the name of Prussia, a favour which the
Emperor, as we have seen, had already conceded. William seems to have
assured the Electress of his intention to support both her claim to
the English crown, and that of her daughter to the title of Queen of
Prussia, and immediately left for England.
[Illustration: THE ROYAL PALACE OF WHITEHALL FROM THE THAMES, IN THE
BEGINNING OF THE 17TH CENTURY.]
At the same time, the Court of St. Germains was on the alert to get the
Prince of Wales accepted, and the English Jacobites sent Mr. F. Graham,
a brother of the late Lord Preston, to James, to make certain proposals
regarding the succession of the Prince of Wales. It was proposed that
he should be sent to England and there educated in Protestantism; but
this condition James was certain not to agree to, and accordingly the
whole scheme fell to the ground. It is said that the Princess Anne was
favourable to the prince's succession could he have been brought up a
Protestant; but his parents declared that they would rather see him
dead.
The Tories, who were averse from a Continental war, appear to have
held a large meeting, to propose an address to his Majesty, praying
him to acknowledge the new King of Spain; and had they done this, they
would probably have found the king ready to listen to them, for the
States were urging him to do the same thing. But though the proposition
was warmly advocated, Mr. Monckton, happening to say that if they
carried this motion, the next he supposed would be to recommend the
acknowledgment of the Prince of Wales, the idea appeared to startle
the meeting, and the matter was dropped. But the Whig party was
still inclined to war. They had been the advocates and supporters of
the former one; they knew that William was strongly disposed to it,
and that to support him was the way to regain his favour. Besides,
Marlborough was anxious to distinguish himself at the head of an army;
in that respect he was at one with the Whigs, and had their support.
The Whigs saw the fast-failing health of William, and looked towards
the Princess Anne with whom the Marlboroughs were everything. A strong
spirit of war, therefore, manifested itself in the Commons, in spite of
the inclinations of Ministers. Secretary Vernon, writing to the Earl
of Manchester at Paris, told him that so great a spirit had rarely
been seen in the House of Commons for supporting the interests of
England and Holland; and this was fully borne out by a unanimous vote
of the House on the 24th of February, declaring that it would stand
by the king, and support him in all such measures as went to maintain
the independence of England, the security of the Protestant religion,
and the peace of Europe. The question, however, of the best mode of
maintaining peace, whether by conceding the French claims on Spain, or
arming to resist them, was warmly debated by the different factions.
William was agreeably surprised at the tone of the House, and on the
17th he informed them of his satisfaction at their assurances, which
he took to be important for the honour and safety of England. He then
handed to them the pressing memorial of the States-General to him, to
acknowledge the Duke of Anjou as the king of Spain. They had themselves
agreed to do this, in terror lest the French should march over their
defenceless frontiers; yet they told William that they would do nothing
without his consent and approbation. They counted, however, fully on
this, and painted earnestly the dangers to which they were exposed
by any opposition to France, and called on him to supply the English
aid secured to them by treaty. But they did not seem inclined to vote
supplies for the purpose.
Parliament now entered on the great deliberation of the Session,
the appointment of the successor to the crown after the Princess of
Denmark. It was a subject which the king had recommended from the
throne at the commencement of the Session, and which the failing health
of William and the prospect of agitations all over Europe warned them
not to defer. This important business, however, was set about in an
extraordinary manner. Roger Coke says a Whig member meant to bring in
a Bill to fix the succession on the House of Brunswick, but that the
Tories, becoming aware of it, set Sir John Bowles, one of their own
party, to bring one in. This Bowles was a half-crazy man, and in the
end became altogether insane; and the Bill being put into his hands
looked as though the Tories meant to cast contempt upon it. The Bill
was sent into Committee, and Bowles was put in the chair; but whenever
the discussion was brought in the members hastened out of the House,
and the matter seemed to hang for several weeks as though no one would
proceed with it under the present management. But at length Harley took
it up in earnest, and remarked that there were some very necessary
preliminary questions to be settled before they proceeded to vote the
different clauses of the Bill; that the nation had been in too great
haste when it settled the Government on the previous occasion, and had
consequently overlooked many securities to the liberties of the nation
which might have been obtained; that now they were under no immediate
pressure, and it would be inexcusable to fall into the same error.
Before, therefore, they proceeded to nominate the person who should
succeed, they ought to settle the conditions under which he and his
descendants should succeed. This advice was taken, much to the surprise
of William, who found the Tories, now in the ascendant, endeavouring to
curtail the royal prerogative, and by every one of their restrictions
casting a decided censure upon him. The public, likewise, were so
much puzzled by this conduct that they suspected that the motion of
Harley was intended to defeat the Brunswick succession altogether. But
the terms on which William and Mary had been admitted to the throne
were the work of the Whigs, and the Tories could not let slip this
opportunity of showing how negligent they had been of the rights of the
nation.
Accordingly, after great discussions carried on for about three
months, the following resolutions were agreed to and embodied in the
Bill:--"That whoever should hereafter come to the possession of this
Crown shall join in communion with the Church of England as by law
established; that in case the Crown and dignity of this realm shall
hereafter come to any person not being a native of this kingdom of
England, this nation be not obliged to engage in any war for the
defence of any dominions or territories which do not belong to the
Crown of England without the consent of Parliament; that no person
who shall hereafter come to the possession of the Crown shall go out
of the dominions of England, Scotland, or Ireland without consent of
Parliament; that from and after the time that further limitations by
this Act shall take effect, all matters and things relating to the
well-governing of this kingdom, which are properly cognisable in the
Privy Council by the laws and customs of the realm, shall be transacted
there, and all resolutions taken thereupon shall be signed by such
of the Privy Council as shall advise and consent to the same; that
after the limitations shall take effect, no person born out of the
kingdom of England, Scotland, or Ireland, or the dominions thereunto
belonging, although he be naturalised and made a denizen, except such
as are born of English parents, shall be capable to be of the Privy
Council, or a member of either House of Parliament, or to enjoy any
office or place of trust, either civil or military, or to have any
grant of lands, tenements, or hereditaments from the Crown to himself,
or to any other in trust for him; that no person who has an office or
place of profit under the King, or receives a pension from the Crown,
shall be capable of serving as a member of the House of Commons; that
after the limitation shall take effect, judges' commissions shall be
made _quamdiu se bene gesserint_,[A] and their salaries ascertained and
established, but, upon the address of both Houses of Parliament, it
may be lawful to remove them; that no pardon under the Great Seal of
England be pleadable to an impeachment by the Commons in Parliament."
Having settled these preliminaries, the Bill provided that the Princess
Sophia, Duchess Dowager of Hanover, be declared the next in succession
to the Crown of England in the Protestant line after his Majesty and
the Princess Anne, and the heirs of their bodies respectively; and that
the further limitation of the Crown be to the said Princess Sophia and
the heirs of her body, being Protestants.
When this extraordinary Bill was sent up to the Lords, it was not
expected to pass there without much opposition and cutting down. There
was, in fact, an evident reluctance there, as well as in the Commons,
to enter on the question. Many lords absented themselves, and others,
as the Marquis of Normanby, the Earls of Huntingdon and Plymouth, and
the Lords Guildford and Jeffreys, opposed it. Burnet attempted to
move some amendments; but some lords crying out "No amendments! no
amendments!" none were further attempted, and the Bill was sent down to
the Commons as it went up.
Had such a sweeping Bill as this passed the Houses some years ago,
William would have refused to ratify it, as he refused so long to
ratify the Triennial Bill. Certainly it was from beginning to end the
most trenchant piece of censure on his conduct.
During these transactions negotiations were going on at the Hague
between England, France, Holland, and Spain. Mr. Stanhope, Envoy
Extraordinary to the States-General, was empowered to treat, in union
with Holland, for a continuation of the peace on certain conditions.
These conditions were, that Louis should withdraw all his troops from
the Spanish Netherlands, and engage to send no fresh ones into any of
the Flemish towns; that no troops but native-born troops of Flanders or
Spain should be kept there, except in Nieuport and Ostend, which should
be given up to king William as cautionary towns, and in Luxemburg,
Namur, and Mons, which should be garrisoned by the States-General, for
the security of their frontiers, but without prejudice to the rights
and revenues of the Crown of Spain; that no towns in the Spanish
Netherlands, nor any port belonging to Spain, should be given up to
or exchanged with France on any pretence whatever; that the subjects
of England should enjoy the same liberties and privileges as they did
on the demise of the late king of Spain, and in as ample a manner as
the French or any other nation, in all parts of the Spanish dominions,
whether by land or sea; that the Emperor should be invited to join,
and that any other princes or States who desired to unite for the
preservation of the peace of Europe should be admitted to the treaty.
D'Avaux, the French Minister, received these demands with an air of
the utmost astonishment, and declared that they could not have been
higher if his master had lost four successive battles. That the French
troops would be removed from Flanders as soon as Spain could send
forces to replace them, he said was certain; but for the rest of the
Articles, he could only send them to Versailles for the consideration
of the king. Louis expressed the utmost indignation at these demands,
which he declared to be most insolent, and could only be put forward
by William with a desire to provoke a war. He said that he would
renew the treaty of Ryswick, which was all that could be reasonably
expected. In fact, though the demands were no more than were necessary
for the security of Holland, William, knowing the nature of Louis,
and that he was now at the head of France, Spain, and a great part
of Italy, could not seriously have expected that he would accede to
them. Perhaps William intended him to reject them, as that would
furnish a good _casus belli_, and would enable him to rouse the spirit
of the English people to a martial tone. Accordingly he communicated
the refusal of the French Court to accede to the terms offered; but
the Commons, feeling that the object was to engage them in support of
a Continental Congress, which might lead them into another war more
oppressive than the former one, they thanked his Majesty in an address
for his communication, but called for copies of the Partition Treaty,
that they might inform themselves on the precise terms agreed upon
in that treaty with France. The Tories, however much they might be
disposed to maintain the same course themselves, would by no means omit
the opportunity of damaging the Whig Ministers who had been concerned
in that business. They had already agreed to send ten thousand men to
the aid of the States-General in support of the treaty of 1677, and
they now set to work to establish by this inquiry a plea against Lord
Somers, Portland, and the others engaged in the treaty.
The Lords, not to be behind, also called for copies of the two
treaties. They appointed a Committee to examine them, and placed
Nottingham, a thorough Tory, in the chair. There was a sprinkling of
Whigs in the Committee to give it an air of fairness, and a strong
contest went on between the two parties. On the fourth resolution, that
there were no instructions in writing given to the Plenipotentiaries
of England, and that, if verbal orders were given, they were given
without being submitted to the Council, Portland, who had been almost
the sole manager of these treaties, in conjunction with William, by
permission of the king informed them that he had, by the king's order,
laid the matter before six of the king's Ministers--namely, Pembroke,
Marlborough, Lonsdale, Somers, Halifax, and Secretary Vernon. These
lords then endeavoured to excuse themselves by admitting that, the
Earl of Jersey having read the first treaty to them, they had objected
to various particulars, but being informed that the king had already
carried the matter as far as possible, and could get no better terms,
and that, in fact, everything was settled, they had nothing for it but
to desist from their objections. Various protests were entered against
the resolutions in Committee, but the Report, when brought up, was to
this effect:--That the lords spiritual and temporal had found, to their
great sorrow, that the treaty made with the French king had been very
prejudicial to the peace and safety of Europe; that it had probably
given occasion to the late king of Spain to make his will in favour of
the Duke of Anjou; that the sanction of France having possession of
Sicily, Naples, several ports in the Mediterranean, the province of
Guipuzcoa, and the Duchy of Lorraine, was not only very injurious to
the interests of Europe, but contrary to the pretence of the treaty
itself, which was to prevent too many territories being united under
one crown; that it appeared that this treaty never was submitted to the
consideration of the Council, or the Committee of the Council [in our
phrase, the Cabinet], and they prayed his Majesty in future to take
the advice of his natural-born subjects, whose interest and natural
affection to their country would induce them to seek its welfare and
prosperity. This last observation was aimed at Portland.
The Ministers, such as were admitted to the secret of the treaty, as
well as the king, had undoubtedly violated the Constitution; and had
the Tories been honest, they might have rendered essential service to
the country by punishing them. But their object was too apparently to
crush Portland and Somers, and to let the rest go, whom they quietly
passed over. The new Lord Keeper carried up the address to the king,
but the members at large, not relishing the unpleasant office, took
care not to accompany him, and he found himself at the palace almost
alone. Two or three of the lords-in-waiting were all that served to
represent the House of Peers. On its being read, William endeavoured
to conceal his chagrin, and merely replied that the address contained
matter of grave moment, and that he would always take care that all
treaties should be made so as to contribute to the honour and safety of
England.
The debates in the Commons were in the meantime still more vehement on
the same subject. Sir Edward Seymour declared that the Partition Treaty
was as infamous as a highway robbery, and Howe went further, denouncing
it as a felonious treaty; an expression which so exasperated the king
that he protested, if the disparity of condition between him and that
member had not been too great, he would have demanded satisfaction by
his sword. These discussions in the two Houses excited out of doors
a general condemnation of the treaty, and threw fresh odium on the
Government.
On the last day of March a message was communicated to both Houses
by Secretary Hedges, that no further negotiation appeared possible
with France, from its decided rejection of the terms offered, and its
continuing to concede only the renewal of the treaty of Ryswick. The
Commons, instead of an immediate answer, adjourned to the 2nd of April,
and then resolved unanimously to desire his Majesty to carry on the
negotiations with the States-General, and take such measures as should
conduce to the safety of the kingdom. In reply to two resolutions from
the States-General, and a memorial presented by their envoy in England,
which the king laid before them, they assured him that they would
support him, supplying the twenty ships and ten thousand men which they
were bound to find by the treaty of 1677. This gave no sanction to any
negotiations for a fresh alliance with the Powers formerly combined
against France; and William was deeply mortified, but he merely thanked
them for their assurances of aid, and informed them that he had sent
orders to his Ambassador at the Hague still to endeavour to come to
terms with France and Spain.
On the 19th of April the Marquis de Torcy handed to the Earl of
Manchester, at Paris, a letter from the new king of Spain to the king
of England, announcing his accession to the throne, and expressing a
desire to cultivate terms of friendship with him. This announcement had
been made long before to the other European Powers, and it might well
have been doubted whether William would now acknowledge his right. To
do that was to admit the validity of the late king of Spain's will,
and there could then be no real reason to refuse the conditions of the
treaty of Ryswick. William was from this cause in a state of great
perplexity; but the Earl of Rochester and the new Ministers urged him
to reply and admit the Duke of Anjou's right. The States-General had
already done it, and, in fact, unless England and the old allies of
the Emperor were prepared to dispute it with efficient arms, it was
useless to refuse. Accordingly, after a severe struggle with himself,
William wrote to "the Most Serene and Potent Prince, Brother, and
Cousin," congratulating him on his happy arrival in his kingdom of
Spain, and expressing his assurance that the ancient friendship between
the two Crowns would remain inviolate, to the mutual advantage and
prosperity of the two nations. With this was certainly ended every
right of England to dispute the possession of all the territories and
dependencies of the Spanish monarch by the new king; and there could
be no justifiable cause of war with France until she attempted to renew
her hostilities to neighbouring peoples.
Whilst affairs were in this position abroad, the anxiety of William
was increased to the utmost by the war which was waging between the
two rival factions in Parliament. In endeavouring to damage the Whigs
to the utmost, the Tories damaged and tortured the king, who was
sufficiently miserable with the prospects on the Continent and his
fast-failing health. The Commons now determined to impeach Portland and
Somers on the ground of their concern in the second Partition Treaty,
contrary to the constitutional usages of the country. To procure
fresh matter against Somers and Orford, the pirate, Captain Kidd, was
brought from Newgate, where he was now lying, and examined at the bar
of the House; but nothing was got thereby. In the case of Portland
and Montague there were additional charges in reference to the grants
and dilapidations of the royal revenue for which they were said to be
answerable.
At this juncture the men of Kent manifested their old public spirit by
sending in a petition, praying the House to endeavour to rise above
their party squabbles, and to combine for the furtherance of the
public business. The whole community were beginning to grow disgusted
with the dissensions, which had evidently more of party rancour than
patriotism at their bottom. This petition had been got up and signed
by grand jurors, magistrates, and freeholders of the county, assembled
at Maidstone, and confided to Sir Thomas Hales, one of their members.
But Sir Thomas, on looking over it, was so much alarmed that he handed
it to the other member, Mr. Meredith. Meredith, in his turn, was so
impressed with the hazardous nature of the petition that, on presenting
it, he informed the House that some of the supporters of it, five
gentlemen of fortune and distinction, were in the lobby, and ready to
attest their signatures. They were called in accordingly, and owned
their signatures, when they were ordered to withdraw, and the petition
was read. It concluded by saying, "that the experience of all ages made
it manifest that no nation can be great or happy without union. We hope
that no pretence whatever shall be able to create a misunderstanding
amongst ourselves, or the least distrust of His Most Sacred Majesty,
whose great actions for this nation are writ in the hearts of his
subjects, and can never, without the blackest ingratitude, be forgot.
We most humbly implore this honourable House to have regard to the
voice of the people, that our religion and safety may be effectually
provided for, that your addresses may be turned into Bills of Supply,
and that His Most Sacred Majesty, whose propitious and unblemished
reign over us we pray God long to continue, may be able powerfully to
assist his allies before it is too late."
[Illustration: CAPTAIN KIDD BEFORE THE BAR OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
(_See p._ 524.)]
In proportion to the excellence of the advice was the indignation with
which it was received by the angry Commons. When men are conscious
that they are acting from private motives of no very respectable kind
under the mask of patriotism, the discovery that they are seen through
invariably exasperates them. Accordingly, the House was furious at
this very seasonable petition. Some of the members went out to the
petitioners, and called upon them to make a proper submission to the
affronted House; but they strongly refused, maintaining that they had
only done their duty, whereupon the House voted that the petition was
scandalous, insolent, seditious, and tending to the destruction of
the Constitution; and they ordered the Sergeant-at-Arms to take the
petitioners into custody. But the stout men of Kent were not secured
without a vigorous resistance. They were then sent to the Gatehouse
prison; but their treatment only damaged the Commons, for the public
were greatly of the same opinion. Similar petitions were soon preparing
in different quarters, and these gentlemen were much visited in their
confinement, which continued till the prorogation. It was, moreover,
much questioned whether the Commons had not greatly outstripped their
real authority, and infringed the statute of the 13th of Charles II.,
which guarantees the right of petition.
The Tory party in the Commons then returned to their prosecutions
of the late Whig Ministers. But the day of strange things seemed to
have arrived. One day Harley, the Speaker of the Commons, received a
packet from the hands of a poor woman as he entered the House. Such
an incident could not take place now, the Commons having protected
themselves from such irregular missives by making it necessary that all
petitions should have the names of the places, as well as the persons
whence they came, clearly stated, and be confided to the care of a
member in good time for him to note its character and contents. This,
however, turned out to be no petition, but a command. "The enclosed
memorial," it was stated in a letter accompanying, "you are charged
with in behalf of many thousands of the good people of England. There
is neither Popish, Jacobite, seditious, Court, or party, interest
concerned in it, but honesty and truth. You are commanded by two
hundred thousand Englishmen to deliver it to the House of Commons,
and to inform them that it is no banter, but serious truth, and a
serious regard to it is expected. Nothing but justice and their duty is
required; and it is required by them who have both a right to require,
and power to compel it--namely, the people of England. We could have
come to the House strong enough to oblige you to hear us, but we have
avoided any tumults, not desiring to embroil, but to serve, our native
country. If you refuse to communicate it to them, you will find cause
in a short time to repent it."
This strange memorial, which is known to have been written by Defoe,
was signed "Legion," and charged the House with unwarrantable practices
under fifteen heads. A new claim of right was arranged under seven
heads. Amongst the reprehensible proceedings of the Commons were
stated to be, the voting of the Partition Treaty fatal to Europe,
because it gave too much of the Spanish dominions to France, and not
concerning themselves to prevent them from taking possession of them
all. Deserting of the Dutch when the French were almost at their
doors, and till it was almost too late to help them, it declared to be
unjust to our treaties, unkind to our confederates, dishonourable to
the English nation, and negligent of the safety of both our neighbours
and ourselves. Addressing the king to displace his friends on base
surmises, before the legal trial or any article proven, was pronounced
illegal, contrary to the course of law, and putting execution before
judgment. It also declared the delaying of proceedings on impeachments
to blast the reputations of the accused without proving the charges,
to be illegal, oppressive, destructive of the liberties of Englishmen,
and a reproach to Parliaments. In the same strain it criticised the
attacks on the king's person, especially those of that "impudent rascal
John Howe," who had said openly that his Majesty had made a "felonious
treaty," insinuating that the Partition Treaty was a combination to rob
the king of Spain, when it was quite as just as to blow up one man's
house to save that of his neighbour. The Commons were admonished to
mend their ways, as shown to them in the memorial, on pain of incurring
the resentment of an injured nation; and the document concluded
thus, "for Englishmen are no more to be slaves to Parliament than to
kings--our name is Legion, and we are many."
No sooner was this paper read than the blustering Commons were filled
with consternation. They summoned all the members of the House by the
Sergeant-at-Arms; anticipations of sedition and tumult were expressed,
and an address to his Majesty was drawn up in haste, calling on him
to take measures for the public peace. Howe, one of the noisiest
men in the House, and accustomed to say very bold things, and other
Tory members, declared their lives in danger; others got away into
the country, believing that "Legion" was on the point of attacking
the Parliament. A Committee was appointed to sit permanently in the
Speaker's chamber, to take every means for averting a catastrophe, with
power to call before them all persons necessary for throwing light on
the danger, and to examine papers. At length, however, as "Legion" did
not appear, and all remained quiet, the House began to recover its
senses; it began at the same time to dawn upon their apprehensions that
they had been hoaxed by some clever wag. This wag, as we have said, was
none other than the inimitable author of "Robinson Crusoe," one of the
shrewdest political writers of the time.
The Lords now demanded that the trial of Somers and the other noblemen
should proceed without any further delay, but the Commons proposed that
it should be conducted before a Committee of both Houses. This they
did to bar the way of the trial, for they appeared rather to desire to
destroy the characters of the accused than to proceed to extremities.
They were aware that the accused nobles had a majority in their favour
in their own House, and that to impeach them there was to fail. They,
therefore, passed an unjustifiable address to the King, praying him to
dismiss the five peers from his Council, even before the impeachments
were heard. For the same reasons the Lords refused to admit the Commons
to a share in the trial, because in their House there was a majority
the other way. They replied, therefore, that such Committees were
contrary to custom in cases of impeachment for misdemeanour; that the
only exception was that in the case of the Earl of Danby and the five
Popish lords, and that the fate of it was sufficient warning to avoid
such a precedent, for the Committee could not proceed for altercations,
and the affair could only be got rid of by dissolving Parliament. The
Commons still argued for it, the Lords persisted in their refusal, and
at this moment the dispute was interrupted by the king calling on both
Houses to attend to the ratification of the new Succession Bill.
After this the contest regarding the mode of trial of the impeached
nobles was renewed with unabated acrimony. In one of the conferences
on the subject Lord Haversham declared his opinion that the Commons
themselves really believed the accused lords innocent; "for there are,"
he said, "various other lords implicated in the very same business,
and yet the Commons make no charge against them, but leave them at
the head of affairs, near the King's person, to do any mischief they
are inclined to, and impeach others, when they are all alike guilty,
and concerned in the same facts." This was a hard hit, for it was the
simple truth, and the delegates of the Commons, as they could not deny
it, could only affect to take violent offence at it. There was fresh
correspondence, but the Lords cut the matter short by deciding that
there should be no Committee of both Houses for regulating the trials
of the impeached nobles. The Commons, however, on the 14th of June sent
up their charges against the Earl of Halifax, declining to proceed
against Portland, as they said, out of respect to his Majesty.
The Lords now gave notice that they would proceed with the trials of
the accused nobles, beginning with that of Lord Somers first, as the
Commons had proposed, and called on the Commons to make good their
charge. On the other hand, the Commons, still insisting on their right
to have a voice in regulating the trials, made an order that no member
of their House should appear at the "pretended" trial of the Lord
Somers. Notwithstanding, the Lords gave notice that they would proceed
on the 17th of June to the trial of Somers, in Westminster Hall. The
Commons refused to attend, declaring that they were the only judges,
and that the evidence was not yet prepared. This produced a violent
debate in the Lords, where the Tory Ministers supported their party
in the Commons; but the order for the trial was carried, followed by
strong protests against it. On the day of the trial the Lords sent a
message to the Commons to inform them that they were going to the Hall,
and the Commons not appearing there, the Lords again returned to their
own House, and settled the question to be put; and again returning to
Westminster Hall, the question was then put:--"That John Lord Somers
be acquitted of the articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of
Commons, and all things therein contained; and that the impeachment be
dismissed." This was carried by a majority of thirty-five. A similar
course was taken with regard to the other accused.
It had been a miserable Session to the king. His health continued
to fail, and, amid his endeavours to conceal the decay of his
constitution, that his Allies might not be discouraged, he had found
his favourite Minister violently attacked, himself by no means spared,
and the Session almost wholly wasted in party feud. It had, however,
passed the Succession Bill, and now, to his agreeable surprise,
voted him unexpectedly liberal supplies, and sanctioned his forming
alliances against France. He now lost no time in appointing a regency;
and gave the command of the ten thousand troops, sent to Holland, to
Marlborough--an appointment, however despicable the man, the very best
he could have made in a military point of view. At the commencement
of July he sailed for Holland, accompanied by the Earls of Carlisle,
Romney, Albemarle, General Overkirk, and others, and landed on the
3rd of the month. The Scottish troops voted had arrived in Holland
before him, and the ten thousand men from England and Ireland were
just arriving, so that William appeared again amongst his countrymen
at the head of a respectable army of his new subjects. When he
presented himself, however, before the States-General the day after
his arrival, his appearance was such as to create great alarm in
all that saw him. In his energies they put the almost sole trust of
effectual resistance to France, and he was clearly fast sinking. He
was wasted, pale, and haggard. The last Session of Parliament, and the
fierce dissensions which had been carried on between the factions of
Whig and Tory, neither of which looked to anything but the indulgence
of their own malice, had done more to wear him out than a dozen
campaigns. He might well declare that that had been the most miserable
year of his existence. What strength he had left, however, he devoted
unshrinkingly to the grand object of his existence, the war for the
balance of power. He expressed his great joy to be once more amongst
his faithful countrymen; and, in truth, he must have felt it like a
cordial, for around him in England he saw nothing but unprincipled
strife of parties. William told the States that he had hoped, after
the peace of Ryswick, to have been able to pass his remaining days
in repose, but that the changes which had taken place in Europe were
such as no man could see the end of. He was still resolved, he said,
notwithstanding this, to pursue the great object of the peace of Europe
with unremitting zeal, whether it was to be achieved by negotiation or
war; and he assured them of the active support of his English subjects.
The States, in their reply, took care to express how much they depended
on the courage and power of the English, and to compliment them on the
splendid fame for valour which they had acquired in the late struggle.
William then set out to survey the defences of the frontiers, and the
state of the garrisons; and having visited Bergen-op-Zoom, Sluys,
and other places, and taken such measures as appeared necessary, he
returned to the Hague, where the news met him that Louis had recalled
his Ambassador, D'Avaux, who left a memorial in a very insolent tone,
asserting that his royal master was convinced that no good could come
of the negotiations, but still declaring that it depended on themselves
whether there should be peace or war. This event by no means surprised
William, for both he and Marlborough had felt from the first that there
was no sincerity in the professions of D'Avaux, and that they were
meant only to gain time. The treaty between England, Holland, and the
Emperor was, therefore, urged forward, and was signed on the 7th of
September, being styled "The Second Grand Alliance." By this treaty it
was contracted that the three Allies should mutually exert themselves
to procure satisfaction for the Emperor for the Spanish succession, and
security for the peace and trade of the Allies. Two months were yet to
be allowed for obtaining the objects by negotiation. If this failed,
war was to be made to recover the Spanish Flanders, the kingdoms of
Sicily, Naples, and the other Spanish territories in Italy; moreover,
the States and England might seize and keep for themselves whatever
they could of the colonial possessions of Spain. No peace was to be
made by any one of the Allies until they had obtained security for the
absolute separation of France and Spain, and that France should not
hold the Spanish Indies. All kings, princes, and States were invited
to enter the alliance, and tempting offers of advantages were made
to induce them to do so. William had already secured the interest of
Denmark, and the promises of Sweden; but the young King of Sweden,
Charles XII., was too busily pursuing the war with Russia and Poland
to lend any real service to this cause. At the very moment that the
Allies were canvassing for confederates, this "Madman of the North," as
he was called, gave the Czar Peter a most terrible overthrow at Narva
on the 30th of November, 1700, killing thirty thousand of his men.
Holstein and the Palatinate came into the treaty, and the news from
Italy soon induced the German petty princes to profess their adhesion,
especially the Electors of Bavaria and Cologne, who had received
subsidies from France, and raised troops, with which they would have
declared for Louis had not the victories of Prince Eugene swayed their
mercenary minds the other way.
Several months before the signing of the treaty at the Hague, Eugene,
at the head of the Emperor's troops in Italy, had opened the war. He
had entered Italy at Vicenza, and passed the Adige near Carpi, where,
being opposed by Catinat and the Duke of Savoy, he defeated them
with considerable slaughter, and forced them to retire into Mantuan
territory. Catinat and the French had excited the hatred of the
peasantry by their insolence and oppressions, and they flew to arms
and assisted Eugene, who was very popular with them, by harassing the
outposts of the French, cutting off their foragers, and obstructing
their supplies. Marshal Villeroi being sent to their aid, Catinat
retired in disgust. Villeroi marched towards Chiari, and attacked
Eugene in his camp, but was repulsed with the loss of five thousand
men. By the end of the campaign the Prince had reduced all the Mantuan
territory except Mantua itself and Goito, which he blockaded. He
reduced all the places on the Oglio, and continued in the field all
the winter, displaying a genius for war which greatly alarmed the
king of France. He despatched fresh reinforcements to Piedmont under
Marshal Vendôme, but he found the Duke of Savoy now cold and backward
in assisting him. The duke had got all that he could look for from
France; his second daughter was married to the new king of Spain, and,
satisfied with that, he was by no means ambitious of French domination
in his own territories.
On the other hand, France endeavoured to distract Austria by sowing
insurrection in Hungary, and Louis's emissaries were busy all over
Europe. He managed to make an alliance with Portugal, though the king
himself was attached to the House of Austria, but was a weak prince,
and was betrayed by his Ministers, who were corrupted by France.
Meanwhile the English and Dutch fleets sailed in strong force along
the coasts of Spain, to overawe the French, and another fleet was
despatched to the West Indies, to be ready in case of hostilities.
In Spain itself both people and nobles began to repent bitterly of
their subjection to France. They felt greatly annoyed at the insolence
of the king's French Ministers and attendants, who treated the
highest grandees with very little consideration. The French dress was
introduced into the Court, and French manners also, and a formal edict
was issued, putting the French nobles on the same level with the proud
hidalgoes of Spain. The finances of Spain were at the lowest ebb, the
spirit of the nation was thoroughly demoralised, and the condition of
France was very little better. These circumstances, being universally
known, encouraged the Allies in their projects. Yet the Emperor, for
whose cause the Alliance was ostensibly created, was almost equally
poor. He had engaged to bring 90,000 troops into the field--66,000
infantry and 24,000 horse; yet he was compelled to negotiate a loan
with Holland for 500,000 crowns. William, on his part, was to furnish
33,000 infantry and 7,000 horse; and the States-General 32,000 infantry
and 20,000 horse.
[Illustration: THE PRETENDER PROCLAIMED KING OF ENGLAND BY ORDER OF
LOUIS XIV. (_See p._ 529.)]
At this juncture James II. lay on his deathbed. Louis XIV. made three
successive visits to the dying king; and this strange monarch--who had
no feeling for human misery in the gross, who let loose his legions
to lay waste happy human homes in all the countries round him, to
ravage, massacre, and destroy the unoffending people by barbarities
which must have instructed the very devils in cruelty--shed tears
over the departure of this poor old man, whose life had been one vast
miserable blunder, and whose death was the best thing that could happen
to him. He promised the dying man that he would maintain the right of
his son to the English crown as he had maintained his, though he had
sworn at the treaty of Ryswick to do nothing to disturb the throne of
William; and (September 16, 1701), as soon as the breath was out of
James's body, he proclaimed the prince King of England by the title
of James III. This title was acknowledged by the King of Spain, the
Duke of Savoy, and the Pope. The moment William received the news of
Louis having proclaimed James's son King of England, he despatched a
messenger to inform the King of Sweden, who was guarantee of the peace
of Ryswick, of this flagrant breach of it. He ordered the Earl of
Manchester immediately to retire from Paris without taking leave, and
Poussin, the Secretary of Tallard, to quit London. Louis pretended that
his acknowledgment of the Prince of Wales was mere form; that he meant
no infraction of the treaty, and might justly complain of William's
declarations and preparations in favour of the Emperor. In fact, kings
never want pleas when they have a purpose, however unwarrantable it may
be. The people of England hastened to express their abhorrence of the
perfidy of the French king. Addresses of resentment were poured in from
London and from all parts of the kingdom, with declarations of a strong
determination to defend the king and his crown against all pretenders
or invaders.
William was impatient to be in London to make the necessary
arrangements for a new Ministry and a new Parliament, and also for the
war which was now inevitable. But he was detained by a severe illness;
in fact, he was fast succumbing to the weakness of his constitution,
and the ravages made on it by his stupendous exertions in the wars he
had been constantly engaged in, and, still more, by the eternal war
and harass of the unprincipled factions which raged around his island
throne. He arrived in England on the 4th of November, where he found
the two factions raging against each other with unabated rancour, and
the public in a ferment of indignation at the proclamation of the king
of the French acknowledging the Pretender, and still more at an edict
which Louis had published on the 16th of September, prohibiting all
trade with England, except in beer, cider, glass bottles, and wool,
and the wearing of any article of English manufacture after the 1st of
November next. William closeted himself with some of his Ministry who,
he still hoped, might be disposed to different measures; but finding
them still as determined as ever to pursue their former course and to
insist on their impeachments, he dissolved Parliament on the 4th of
November, and called a new one for the 31st of December.
The two parties went to the election for the new Parliament with the
same fierce bitterness with which they had fought through the last
Session. The bribery, corruption, and intimidation were of the most
open and shameless kind; but the Whigs, having the moneyed interest in
their favour, carried the day, having no doubt with them at the same
time the sentiment of the better part of the nation.
The new Ministry was immediately arranged. On the 24th of December
Charles Howard, the Earl of Carlisle, was appointed First Lord of the
Treasury, in place of Lord Godolphin. On the 4th of January, 1702,
Charles Montague, Earl of Manchester, who had been ambassador at
Paris, was made Secretary of State in place of Sir Charles Hedges; on
the 18th the Earl of Pembroke was transferred from the Presidency of
the Council, and made Lord High Admiral; and Charles Seymour, Duke
of Somerset, took the Presidency. Henry Boyle, afterwards Earl of
Carleton, was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer; the Privy Seal,
having been in commission since the death of the Earl of Tankerville,
remained so. The Cabinet thus consisted of the personal friends of the
king, and the Whigs had strengthened their party, having carried the
elections in most of the counties and chief boroughs; yet they found
themselves so far from a commanding majority that they were immediately
defeated in the election of the Speaker. The king was desirous of
seeing Sir Thomas Littleton in the chair; but the Tories managed to
elect Harley; Henry St. John, afterwards Lord Bolingbroke, who was sent
up from Wootton Basset, seconding the motion for Harley. The speech,
which was drawn up by Somers according to Sunderland's advice, was then
read by William.
In this speech, which was greatly admired, the king said that he
trusted that they had met together with a full sense of the common
danger of Europe, and of that resentment of the conduct of the French
king which had been so strongly and universally expressed in the loyal
addresses of the people; that in setting up the pretended Prince of
Wales as King of England they had offered to him and to the nation the
highest indignity, and put in jeopardy the Protestant religion, and the
peace and security of the realm, and he was sure they would take every
means to secure the Crown in the Protestant line, and to extinguish
the hopes of all pretenders and their abettors; that the French king,
by placing his grandson on the throne of Spain, had put himself in a
condition to oppress the rest of Europe, and, under the pretence of
maintaining it as a separate monarchy, had yet made himself master of
the dominions of Spain, placed it entirely under his control, and so
surrounded his neighbours that, though the name of peace continued,
they were put to the expense and inconvenience of war; that this
endangered the whole of our trade, and even our peace and safety at
home, and deprived us of that position which we ought to maintain for
the preservation of the liberties of Europe; that to obviate these
calamities he had entered into several alliances according to the
encouragement given him by both Houses of Parliament, and was still
forming others. And he then said emphatically, "It is fit I should tell
you that the eyes of all Europe are upon this Parliament. All matters
are at a stand till your resolutions are known; therefore no time
ought to be lost. You have yet an opportunity, by God's blessing, to
secure to you and your posterity the quiet enjoyment of your religion
and liberties if you are not wanting to yourselves, but will exert the
ancient vigour of the English nation; but I tell you plainly my opinion
is, if you do not lay hold on this occasion, you have no reason to hope
for another."
He then recommended the Commons to take measures for the discharge of
the debt and for preserving public credit, by the sacred maxim that
they shall never be losers who trust to a Parliamentary security. In
asking them for the necessary aids he was only urging that they should
care for their safety and honour at a critical time. He reminded them
that in the late war he ordered yearly accounts of the expenditure to
be laid before them, and passed several Bills for securing a proper
examination of accounts. He was quite willing that any further measures
should be adopted for that end, so that it might appear whether
the debts had arisen from misapplication or mere deficiency of the
funds. He then finally touched on the sore point of the dissensions;
trusting that both Houses were determined to avoid all manner of
disputes and differences, and resolved to act with a general and hearty
concurrence for promoting the common cause which alone could insure a
happy Session. He should think it as great a blessing as could befall
England, if he could perceive them inclined to lay aside those unhappy
feuds which divided and weakened them, for that he himself was disposed
to make all his subjects easy as to even the highest offences committed
against him. He conjured them to disappoint the hopes of their enemies,
and let there be no other distinction amongst them for the future
but of those who were for the Protestant religion and the present
establishment, and those who were for a Popish prince and a French
Government. For his part, he desired to be the common father of his
people, and if they desired to see England placed at the head of the
Protestant interest and hold the balance of Europe, they had only to
improve the present opportunity.
The effect of this speech was wonderful. It flew through the nation,
which was already worked up into a war-fever, with the rapidity of
lightning, and was everywhere received with enthusiasm. The zealous
supporters of the principles of the Revolution had it printed in
ornamental style, in English, Dutch, and French, and it was soon
translated into other languages and disseminated all over Europe. It
was the announcement of a determined war against the grasping ambition
of France, and the eyes of the whole world were truly fixed on England,
which volunteered to take the lead in this serious enterprise. As
for the supporters of William and the Protestant government, they
framed his speech and hung it in their houses as the last legacy of
the Protestant king to his people. The Lords immediately drew up a
zealous address, in which they echoed his resentment of the conduct of
the French king in acknowledging the pretended Prince of Wales, and
declared that they would not only support and defend him against the
pretended Prince of Wales and all other pretenders, but, should they
be deprived of his Majesty's protection, they would still defend the
crown of England, by virtue of the Acts of Parliament, against all but
the recognised successors. On the 5th of January the Commons presented
a similar address, and assured the king that they would enable him to
make good the alliances he had made and such as he should yet make
for the peace of Europe. The Lords, not to be behind the Commons,
presented a second and more explicit address, in which they not only
engaged to support the king in his alliances, but declared that Europe
could never be safe till the Emperor was restored to all his rights,
and the invaders of Spain should be expelled. And they, too, declared
their full approbation of the king's new alliances, and their full
determination to support him in them.
William, warned by the resentment of the last House of Commons at the
concealment of the Partition Treaties, now laid his present treaties at
once before the new Parliament. On the 6th of January Secretary Vernon
laid before both Houses copies of the treaty with the King of Denmark
and the States-General, the secret Articles attached to this treaty,
the treaty between the King of Sweden, the States-General, and William,
and the separate treaty between William and the States-General, signed
in the month of November. The Commons were as prompt in expressing
their approbation of them, and on the 9th of January they proposed,
by an address to his Majesty, to take care that an article should be
introduced into the several treaties of alliance, binding the Allies
never to make peace with France until reparation was made for the
indignity offered by the French king in declaring the pretended Prince
of Wales King of England. They also resolved that a Bill should be
brought in for the abjuration of the pretended Prince of Wales.
They then went into the question of the supplies, and voted unanimously
that £600,000 should be borrowed at six per cent. for the services of
the navy, and £50,000 for Guards and garrisons. They agreed to the
number of troops which the king had stipulated as his contingent in the
war, namely, 30,000 foot and 7,000 horse; and added 8,300 more English
soldiers to the 10,000 already sent to Holland, and voted 40,000
seamen. His Majesty's Allies were to be invited to embark a certain
proportion of troops on board his Majesty's ships of war. All the
king's contracts for subsidising troops belonging to foreign princes
were confirmed, and to defray the charges of these naval and military
forces they imposed taxes with an alacrity almost unparalleled. They
imposed four shillings in the pound on all lands and incomes, including
annuities, pensions, and stipends, and on all the professional profits
of lawyers, doctors, surgeons, teachers of separate congregations,
brokers, factors, etc. Then an additional tax of two and a half per
cent. was put on all stock-in-trade and money out at interest, and of
five shillings in the pound on all salaries, fees, and perquisites.
They laid on a poll-tax of four shillings per head, so completely had
this generation come to tolerate this hated form of imposition, which
formerly roused the people to open rebellion. Besides this, they taxed
the capital stock of all corporations and public companies which should
be transferred in sale to the amount of one per cent., and, finally,
they placed sixpence a bushel on malt, and a further duty on mum,
cider, and perry.
On the 15th of January they passed unanimously a Bill for the attainder
of the pretended Prince of Wales, and sent it up to the Lords, and
the Lords, exceeding them in zeal, added a clause attainting also the
ex-queen Mary of Modena as regent of the pretended Prince of Wales. The
Commons, however, objected to this amendment as calculated to sanction
a practice of attainting persons by added clauses instead of original
Bills, which they designated as a pernicious course, as not allowing
the full consideration due to so momentous a measure. They struck it
out, but the Lords demanded a conference, and pressed their amendment
on the ground that the Commons had themselves adopted that practice
so long ago as the 3rd of Henry VIII. The Commons were not likely to
pay much regard to the practice of either House in the reign of that
lawless monarch, and returned the Bill to the Lords without the clause,
and the Lords, on further reflection, passed it.
This was followed in the Lords by the Bill so strongly recommended by
Sunderland for the abjuration of the pretended Prince of Wales, in
which was a clause introduced into the oath, acknowledging William
rightful and lawful sovereign. There was a violent debate on the
point whether this oath should be voluntary or compulsory. The Earl
of Nottingham strongly opposed its being compulsory, and he was
supported by other lords of the Tory party. They contended that the
Government was first settled with another oath, which had the value of
an original contract, and any other oath was unnecessary; that this
oath could do nothing more than that oath had done. All inclined to
keep that oath had kept it, and all inclined to break it had broken
it, and these would break this or any other oath. Whilst they were
in debate, Sir Charles Hedges introduced a clause which made it
obligatory on all persons enjoying appointments in Church and State,
and with an obligation to maintain the Government in King, Lords, and
Commons, and to maintain the Church of England, with toleration to the
Dissenters. After a sharp debate it passed the Commons, but only by a
majority of one. In this Bill it was made equally penal to compass or
imagine the death of the Princess of Denmark as it was the death of
the king. The Bill was strenuously opposed in the Lords, but it was
carried, and Nottingham and nineteen other peers entered their protest
against it. The Quakers had endeavoured to get themselves exempted
from the operation of the Bill, but in vain. This zeal of the Whigs in
Parliament for imposing fresh oaths did them no good, but tended to
revive the unpopularity which had so lately driven them from office.
Whilst these subjects were before Parliament, the Lords made a fresh
attempt, by a Bill of their own, to procure the attainder of Mary of
Modena, but the Commons let the Bill lie.
In Scotland the clamour against the Government for its treatment of
the Darien scheme still continued. The Earl of Nottingham, therefore,
moved that the Scottish Parliament should be dissolved, and an attempt
be made to unite the two kingdoms, by which all causes of complaint
would be hereafter removed, since all parties would have a like
interest in the trade of the nation. The king was greatly bent on this
design, but he had met with an accident which prevented him from going
to the House of Lords to propose it. But he sent a message both to the
Lords and to the Commons, expressing his earnest desire that a union
should take place, and that Commissioners were already appointed in
Scotland to treat with such Commissioners as should be appointed in
England for that end. He represented that he was fully satisfied that
nothing could more contribute to the security and happiness of the two
kingdoms than such a union, and that he should esteem it a peculiar
felicity if, during his reign, so great an event should take place.
[Illustration: VIEW IN THE HAGUE: CHAMBERS OF THE STATES-GENERAL IN THE
BINNENHOF.]
But the accident alluded to was of a more serious nature than was
suspected, and, falling on a weak and exhausted frame, was about to
bring his reign to an abrupt close. In riding towards Hampton Court
on the 20th of February, on his accustomed Saturday's excursion to
hunt there, his horse fell with him and fractured his collar-bone,
besides doing him other serious injury. He was carried to Hampton
Court, where the bone was set; and though the surgeon remarked that
his pulse was feverish, he was deemed in too feeble a condition to
admit of benefit by bleeding. Contrary, moreover, to the advice of his
medical attendants, he would insist on returning that same evening to
Kensington, and was, accordingly, conveyed thither in a carriage; but
on arriving, it was found that the collar-bone, by the jolting of the
carriage, was again displaced. It was again set, and the king slept
well the night through after it. For several days no bad consequences
appeared; but on the 1st of March great pain and weakness were felt
in his knee. Ronjat, his surgeon, a Frenchman, who had re-set the
bone, had contended that he ought to have been bled; Bidloo, his Dutch
physician, had opposed it as injurious in his debilitated state. He
was now attended by Sir Thomas Millington, Sir Richard Blackmore, Sir
Theodore Colledon, Dr. Bidloo, and other eminent physicians. Again
he appeared to rally, and on the 4th of March he took several turns
in the gallery at Kensington; but, sitting down on a couch, he fell
asleep, and awoke shivering and in high fever. On this there was a
hurry to pass several Bills through the Lords that they might receive
his signature, in case of fatal termination of his illness. These were
the Malt-tax Bill, the Bill for the Prince of Wales's Attainder, and
one in favour of the Quakers, making their affirmation valid instead of
an oath. These being prepared, and the king not being able to use his
hand, the royal signature was affixed by a stamp made for the purpose.
This took place on the 7th of March, and was not a moment too soon,
for the king's symptoms rapidly gained strength, and he died the
next day. The Earl of Albemarle, his great favourite, arrived from
Holland on the day preceding his death, and it was thought the good
news which he brought would cheer him, but William appeared to receive
his information with indifference, and merely replied, "_Je tire
vers ma fin_" ("I approach my end"). The news of the king's danger
filled the antechamber with such a throng of courtiers as is generally
witnessed at the expected moment of a monarch's decease; not prompted
by affection, but on the watch to seize the earliest moment to make
their court to his successor. Physicians, statesmen, and emissaries
of interested parties were there mingled, eagerly listening for the
reports of his state, and ready to fly with the news of his decease.
Amongst these were the messengers of the Princess Anne and of Lady
Marlborough, who, with her husband, now absent with the army in
Holland, had scarcely less to expect from the event. Yet even Lady
Marlborough, assuredly by no means sensitive where her ambition was
concerned, expresses her disgust at the scene. "When the king came to
die, I felt nothing of the satisfaction which I once thought I should
have had on this occasion; and my Lord and Lady Jersey's writing and
sending perpetually to give an account [to the Princess Anne] as his
breath grew shorter and shorter, filled me with horror." These Jerseys,
who were thus courting the favour of the heiress to the Crown by these
incessant messages of the advancing death of the king, had been amongst
those on whom he had heaped favours and benefits pre-eminently. Such
is the end of princes. The closing scene is thus detailed by Bishop
Burnet, who to the last showed himself one of the steadiest and most
grateful of his courtiers:--"The king's strength and pulse were still
sinking as the difficulty of breathing increased, so that no hope
was left. The Archbishop of Canterbury and I went to him on Saturday
morning, and did not stir from him till he died. The Archbishop prayed
on Saturday some time with him, but he was then so weak that he could
scarce speak, but gave him his hand, as a sign that he firmly believed
the truth of the Christian religion, and said he intended to receive
the Sacrament. His reason and all his senses were entire to the last
minute. About five in the morning he desired the Sacrament, and went
through the Office with great appearance of seriousness, but could
not express himself; when this was done, he called for the Earl of
Albemarle, and gave him a charge to take care of his papers. He thanked
M. Auverquerque for his long and faithful services. He took leave of
the Duke of Ormond, and called for the Earl of Portland, but before he
came his voice quite failed; so he took him by the hand and carried it
to his heart with great tenderness. He was often looking up to heaven
in many short ejaculations. Between seven and eight o'clock the rattle
began; the commendatory prayer was said to him, and as it ended he
died, on Sunday, the 8th of March, in the fifty-second year of his age,
having reigned thirteen years and a few days."
It was found on opening the body that he had had an adhesion of the
lungs, which being torn from the side to which it had adhered by the
fall from his horse, was the cause of his death. His head and heart
were sound, but he had scarcely any blood in his body.
In person William was of a spare frame, middle stature, and delicate
constitution, being subject to an asthma and cough from his childhood,
supposed to be the consequences of small-pox. He had an aquiline nose,
clear bright eyes, a finely-developed forehead, a grave aspect, and was
very taciturn, except amongst his immediate friends, who were almost
all his own countrymen. His reserved and repellent manner gave great
offence to his English courtiers and nobles, and the lavish wealth
which he heaped on his favourite Dutchmen heightened this feeling.
He never liked Englishmen, and they never liked him. For his neglect
to attach himself to the English there is, however, much excuse. The
men about his Court, and the very party who brought him in, were a
most selfish, rapacious, and unprincipled set. It is difficult to
point to a truly noble and genuinely patriotic man amongst them.
Perhaps the most unexceptionable were the Earl of Devonshire and Lord
Somers; but the greater part of them were men whose chief object was
self-aggrandisement; and the party fight which the two factions kept up
around the Throne made it anything but an enviable seat. The peculation
and jobbery in every department of the State were wholesale and
unblushing, and the greater part of those who were ostensibly serving
him and receiving his pay, were secretly engaged to his enemies, spies
upon all his actions and intentions, and traitors, in a perpetual
transmission of his projects to the Court of his deadly foes. The
forbearance which he constantly manifested towards those despicable men
was something admirable and almost superhuman. Though he was well aware
of their treason, he still employed and endeavoured to conciliate them.
With a cold exterior, William was far from destitute of affection. This
he showed in the confidence with which he entrusted the government to
his wife in his absence, and in his passionate grief for her death. It
was also manifested in his warm and unshaken attachment to the friends
who had shared his fortunes, who spoke his tongue, who knew his whole
mind and nature, and who served him with a fidelity, amid an age of
treachery and a Court of deep corruption, than which there is nothing
more beautiful in history.
FOOTNOTE:
[Footnote A: That is, during their good behaviour.]