The History of England ... to the Revolution in 1688; ... and a ... continuation to the reign of William IV. ... by H. Clarke ... With engravings

Front matter

© E. © IB. © 1E 222 ; ■'t.l'ui/ltllied by Thof Kelly, is 1'citernoster How Jday 2^,1^24. THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, FROM THE INVASION OF JULIUS CÆSAR TO THE REVOLUTION IN 1688. IN TWO VOLUMES, BY DAVID HUME, ESQ AND A FURTHER CONTINUATION TO THE REIGN OF WILLIAM IV, IN TWO VOLUMES, BY HEWSON CLARKE, ESQ. OF EMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. VOL. III. EMBELLISHED WITH SPLENDID ENGRAVINGS. LONDON : PUBLISHED BY THOMAS KELLY, 17, PATERNOSTER ROW. (CtDIt.FIl&tfFS OF THE CONTINUATION. CHAP. I. j WILLIAM AND MARY. 1689 to 1691. Accession of William. — The Convention conj verted into a Parliament. — Discontents in Scotland. — James arrives in Ireland. — Siege of Londonderry. — Battle of the Boyne. — Inglorious Conflict between the English and French fleets. — Exploits of Marlborough in Ireland. — Conspiracies in London. — Proceedings of Ginckle in Ireland. — Affairs abroad. — Cruel Treatment of Macdonald.

Page 1 CHAP. II. 1692 to 1697. Disaffection of Russel. — Victory of La Hogue. — Siege of Namur. — Repulse of the Allies at Steinkirk. — Debates in Parliament. — Triennial Bill. — Operations in Flanders. — Successes of Tourville. — Communications between King James and Russel. — Death of the Queen. — Military Operations. — Various Acts for the benefit of the Subject. — A Conspiracy discovered against the Life of William. — Distresses of Lewis XIV- - Negotiations at the Hague. - Treaty of Ryswick. 14 CHAP. III. to America. — Intrigues of Lewis. — Diffi culty attached to the Spanish succession. — Reduction of the Land Forces. — Trial of Warwic and Mohun. — Valuation of the forfeited Estates. — Discontents of the Scotch East India Company. — Dismissal of Somers. — Second Partition Treaty. — Mortifications to which William is subject ed. — Death of the Duke of Glocester. — Discussions on the Treaty of Partition- Death of King James. — Impeachment of Somers. — Acts relating to the Succession. —The King's Illness and Death. — His Character.

Page 27 CHAP. IV. ANNE. 1702 to 1705. Accession of Anne. — State of Parties.-— The Campaign abroad. — Expedition to Vigo. — Gallant Exploit of Admiral Benbow. — Discontents in Scotland. — Accession of Charles to the Throne of Spain.— Elections.— Skilful and successful Operations of Marlborough. — Battle of Hochstedt, or Blenheim. — Capture of Gibraltar. — Exploits of the Earl of Peterborough in Spain. — Progress towards the conclusion of a Union. — Debates on the Dangers of the Church. 39 CHAP. V. WILLIAM III. 1706 to 1708. 1697 to 1702 Proceedings in Parliament. — Establishment of an East India Company. — Missionaries Progress of the Union. — Its Conditions. — Victories of Marlborough. — The Battle of Ramillies.— Rising Influence of the Tories, CONTENTS Modification of the Test Act.— The South Sea Bubble. — Administration of Walpole.

Chapter I. William And Mary

[1689 to 1691.] Accession of William — The Convention converted into a Parliament — Discontents in Scotland — James arrives in Ireland — Siege of Londonderry — Battle of Boyne — Inglorious Conflict between the English and French fleets — Exploits of Marlborough in Ireland — Conspiracies in London — Proceedings of Ginckle in Ireland — Affairs abroad — Cruel treatment of Macdonald. THE flight of James, and the establishment of William on the throne of Eng land, impress the reflecting reader with ad miration and gratitude for the dispensations of that Providence which converts even the vices and infirmities of individuals to the pur poses of general felicity, and deduces from a train of circumstances, apparently unpro pitious to the wishes of the good, and to the progress of national happiness and freedom, the most important and most favourable re sults.

It is to that very intemperance of spirit and that bigotry of principle which threatened our religion with continued persecution, and our liberties with extinction, that we are in debted for the establishment of our constitution on a durable basis, and for the perfect and rational enjoyment of our rights as members of one great and free community. William began his reign by issuing a proclamation, continuing in office all protestants who had been in place on the first ofthe preceding December; and on the 17th of the month he formed a privy council, consisting chiefly of such persons as had been most active in raising him to the throne. To facilitate the introduction of his friends, the several boards and the chancery itself were put into commission. The earl of Nottingham, who had so violently opposed the elevation of Wil liam, and the earl of Shrewsbury, who had adhered to his views, were made secretaries of state.

The marquis of Halifax and the earl of Danby, though rivals in policy, were ad mitted into the cabinet ; the former as lord privy seal, the latter as president of the council. Among the Dutch friends of William, Bentinck his favourite was made privy purse, groom of the stole, and privy counsellor , Auverquerque was appointed master of the 1 u HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. I. J oaths of allegiance to their new sovereign, they j retired into the country. ; Having determined that the revenue of the ! late king expired with his power, and after j many indications of a disposition to withhold | the grant of a permanent establishment, so | long as their reluctance might lead their sove- I reign to concessions, which they had neglected i to demand, at a more propitious opportunity, i they resolved, that the propriety of granting | a revenue to the king and queen, should be : taken into consideration.

In the midst of their discussions, a message was received from the king, in which he acquainted the house, that Ireland was threatened with an invasion conducted by the late monarch, and four hundred and twenty thousand pounds were therefore voted to be levied by a monthly assessment ; a sum as inadequate to the service of the kingdom, as beneath the expectations of William. The party averse to the government of the new monarch, who rejected the notion of a king de facto, and all other distinctions and limitations, who contended for the absolute power, and the hereditary and indefeasible right of sovereigns, and were denominated Nonjurors, had already engaged in secret in trigues, or open hostilities against the stabili ty of government. Notwithstanding the com placency of the commons, who waited upon him in a body with an offer of their lives and fortunes, and the suspension at his request of the act of habeas corpus, the situation of William was neither secure nor enviable.

His prejudices in favour of the Calvinists, excited the jealousy and the resentment of the people, and the secret or open oppo sition of the most powerful members of the church, the senate and the bar. He was foiled in his endeavour to abolish the sacra mental test ; and his declaration on the 16th of March, in the house of lords, that he was anxious to admit all protestants into the public service, exasperated the adherents of the church, and awakened the vigilance of its legislative advocates. To that part of the oath in which the king swears to maintain the protestant religion, the church party subjoined the words, " as established by law ;" au arti fice which appeared to exclude the dissenters from his protection, and which equally offended the king and disconcerted the minis tiy. house; Zuylistein received the office of master of the robes, and Schomberg was placed at the head of the ordnance.

Burnet, who had contributed by his intrigues to the success of William's designs, was nominated, in spite of the opposition of Sancroft archbishop of Canterbury, to the diocese of Salisbury. The whigs were selected as the peculiar objects of favour and preferment ; an indication of partiality which excited in the breasts of the opposite party the most uncontrolable feelings of resentment and suspicion. The privy council, having determined that the present convention might be legally converted into a parliament, the king went in procession to the house of peers, with the usual state of a sovereign ; and in a speech to the two houses from the throne, expressed his sensibility to their kindness, recommended to their care the perilous situation of Holland, descanted upon the necessity of a well-defined and stable settlement at home, and represented the dangers which threatened Ireland.

He observed that it rested with them alone to adopt those measures, which promised the most effectually to preclude delays, and to attain that first and greatest object of their anxiety and his own, the prosperity and happiness of the nation. A bill was immediately brought in to prevent all questions and disputes concerning j the assembling and sitting of the existing par : tiament ; it was read twice, unimpeded by j formal opposition, and passed the next day. : In a committee, however, of their whole house, j the commons were agitated by a violent dej bate, whether a king, elected by coming to I and consulting with the lords and commons, j did not constitute as complete a parliament, j as if such king had ordered new elections to be made by writs. Afraid of the inconvenience of re-elections, and convinced of the necessity of expedition, the majority of the ] house decided the question in the affirmative, \ but on the bill which had been passed by the house of lords being brought down to the 1 commons, it experienced considerable oppo- \ sition.

Its opponents having declared in the $ course of the debate, that they would give no j countenance, by taking their seats, to an j illegal parliament, and influenced by a real i conviction, that the formation of the parlia- \ ment was inconsistent with constitutional ! principles, or by a secret wish to evade the \ CHAP. I.] WILLIAM AND MART- 3 Perceiving the discontents of the army, William resolved to transport to Holland the regiments whose spirit appeared most dangerous. The states had demanded their own troops, but the king was not willing to part with soldiers on whose fidelity he could rely; and the royal Scotch regiment of horse, with Dumbarton's regiment of foot, the command of which had been conferred on count Schomberg were ordered to Ipswich to embark for Holland, in order to replace the Dutch battalions, that William determined to keep in England.

The horse having almost totally deserted, they were followed in a body by five hundred foot, headed by five captains, and directed their march in triumph towards Scotland. William, after sending a message on the subject to the houses, dispatched under the command of Ginckle three regi ments of Dutch dragoons, in pursuit of the deserters. Discouraged by the treachery or cowardice of other troops, who had promised to support them, the mutineers surrendered to Ginckle at discretion. They were brought back with every mark of disgrace, and as an appropriate punishment, sent to Holland according to their former destination. After vainly exerting his regal influence, to oppose the progress of the bill respecting the coronation oath, in which it was prescribed, that the monarch should swear to maintain the protestant religon, as established by law, a clause which, as I have before observed, was apparently introduced with the intention of excluding the dissenters from his protection ; his attention was diverted from objects of more immediate anxiety, by the fortunate concurrence of events in Scotland.

Notwithstanding the lenity and moderation which had characterised the conduct of James towards the Scottish people, the injudicious choice of his servants had excited their jea lousy, and inflamed their prejudices. The declarations of the prince of Orange were circulated by means of Scottish refugees, who, influenced by the expedience of paying court to a prince apparently destined to ascend the English throne, had taken up their residence in Holland, the religious tenets of the king, who was an enthusiastic Calvinist, extended his popularity throughout every rank of the Scottish nation ; and the persons who com posed the regency, already hated and despised, were weakened by reciprocal quarrels. The| marquis of Athol assembled the council, and proposed a warm address to the prince of Orange, which was rejected for one more moderate.

Disappointed in his expectations, he repaired to London, where the progress of political events was so prosperous as to satisfy the most sanguine expectations. Thirty peers, and near eighty gentlemen, formed themselves into a convention. The prince of Orange requested their advice ; and after some confusion, occasioned by the earl of Arran, son to the duke of Hamilton, the presi dent of the convention, who proposed that they should invite back the late king, the meeting waited upon William in a body, and requested him to take into his hands the administration of the affairs of Scotland. The duke of Gordon, a Roman catholic, still held the castle of Edinburgh for the king, but being a person of timid character, they hoped to terrify him into a surrender of that fortress. The duke of Hamilton having been re-elected as president of the convention, in opposition to the marquis of Athol, the first business of the convention was to summon the duke of Gordon to quit the castle in twenty-four hours.

The duke yielding to his fears, promised to obey, but was afterwards persuaded to evade his engagements by demanding terms which could not with decency be granted. After summoning him to sui'render by the heralds at arms, in all their formalities, he was formally proclaimed a traitor at the market cross of Edinburgh. On the day after this proclamation, two letters were received at the same time from the abdicated monarch and from William, the one expressed with good sense and moderation, the other more characteristic of passion than of prudence. The bearer of James's letter, Crane an Englishman, after being consigned for a short time to proper custody, was dismissed with a pass instead of an answer. The relation of the various contentions in which the partisans of William and James struggled for success, belongs so peculiarly to the history of Scotland, that I shall confine my attention to those important measures and events which bear most directly on the ultimate result of these internal commotions.

The committee appointed by the convention agreed that James, by his misconduct, had forfeited his right to the crown ; and having afterwards drawn up an act, by which the b HISTORY CF ENGLAND. [CHAP- I. 4 a few distressed and injured papists, should artfully destroy the whole settlement of the kingdom. Though James received the proposal with complacency, he decided against it on future consultation ; and the Irish commissioners, being dismissed with contempt, were hooted from the English metropolis. On the accession of William to the crown of England, aware that, should Ireland submit to his dominion without resistance, no pretence would remain for keeping an army in pay, he listened with coolness to the overtures of Tyrconnel, who, offended by his indifference, and Londonderry having shut its walls against the new-raised troops of the king, dispatched lord Mountjoy, a protestant, to reduce the refractory city.

The inhabitants, regarding him as a friend, admitted him upon conditions, and he assumed the command with a secret determination to assist the cause of William. The whole force of the expedition, with which James, adventured to attempt the preservation of Ireland, amounted to fourteen ships of war, six frigates, and three fire-ships. His force amounted to one hundred French officers, and twelve hundred of his native subjects in the pay of Lewis. After leaving Kinsale in a state of tolerable defence ; after placing in that fortress the arms, money, and ammunition he had brought from France, James advanced to Cork, where he was joined by Tyrconnel. Having summoned a parliament to meet at Dublin on the seventh of May, he received an address from the protestant clergy, representing their grievances ; and from the university of Dublin a statement of complaints, and congratulations.

In the appearance of prosperity, however, he was involved in the utmost distress. He was totally destitute of every implement of war; and having been joined, since his arrival, by several thousands of an unarmed and indigent rabble, he retained out of the number only fourteen regiments of horse and dragoons, and thirty-five regiments of foot. On the eighth of April he left Dublin. The protestant insurgents retired on his approach to Derry and the other side of the river Finn where they defied the unarmed and undisciplined rabble by whom they were pursued. A passage, however, to Cladiford was effected by Hamilton, Pusignian, and Berwick, in the face of six thousand of their enemies, the claims of William and Mary to the vacant throne were established, the king and queen were on the eleventh of April proclaimed at Edinburgh.

The castle of Edinburgh was still retained in the name of James, by the duke of Gordon ; but despairing of relief, and pressed by a siege, he surrendered the place on the thirteenth of June. The adherents of James, alarmed and dismayed by so unexpected a misfortune, turned their eyes to the viscount Dundee, a nobleman who, having been urged in vain to return to the convention, was publicly proclaimed a fugitive, an outlaw, and a rebel. Driven by his enemies, he sought refuge in the Grampian mountains ; and being afterwards joined at Gordon castle by fifty gentlemen, he passed through the county of Murray to Inverness, before which town Macdouald of Keppoch was encamped, with seven hundred men. By pledging himself to the magistrates of Inverness, for the money extorted by Macdonald, he induced the latter to join his arms ; and after many marches and counter-marches, and being frequently misled by false intelligence, he re-occupied the station of Lochaber, two hundred only of his force remaining in the field.

His fate was decided by the battle at Killikranky, between the miserable force he was afterwards able to collect, and the troops of William, under the command of Mackay. As he was raising his arm, and pointing to the Camerons to advance, he received a ball in his side. He survived the battle, but died the next morning at Blair. The perverse and unadvised policy, by which James had lost the dominion of England and Scotland, had been carried to excesses still more alarming in the management of the affairs of Ireland. The earl of Tyrconnel, who had obtained by corrupt means the favour of Sunderland, a man of profligate habits, and a bigotted Roman catholic, was raised in the year 1687 to the government of that kingdom. His abuses of power were frequent and infamous ; and the earl of Castlemain, who had fixed his views on the government of Ireland, found means to con vey the mismanagements of the lord deputy to the king, and proposing to call a parliament, which should be servilely devoted to government, transmitted to England the outlines of a bill, which, under the pretext of relieving CHAP.l. ] WILLIAM AND MARY. 5 insurgents having determined to reserve their efforts for the defence of Derry.

Through the mismanagement of Rosen, to whom the attack upon this place had been entrusted, the intended capitulation of the city was delayed till the arrival of two English regiments, i under the command of colonels Cunnynghara j and Richards. Lundy, who commanded in j the place, was swayed by treachery or fear, i Without permitting the men to land, he orj dered the officers to hold a council of war, \ who agreed that the town was untenable, i Theii resolutions were communicated to the j magistrates, and they resolved to offer terms j to the king. The English regiments prepared I to return ; the populace were alarmed ; the j governor and magistrates lost all their authoj rity, in the violence and clamour of the crowd, j Some desperate persons flew to the walls, and j turned the cannon against the euemy.

Walk- ; er, a clergyman, and one major Baker, were j elected governors. Their whole force con- ; sisted of seven thousand and fifty men, and three hundred and fifty officers, with which they determined to defend the town to the j last extremity. But the chief defence of the people of j Londonderry, consisted in the weakness and j destitution of their enemies. Unprovided ! with battering cannon, and almost unsupplied j with musquets, they formed a blockade rather ; than a siege. The insurgents had to contend j with no enemy but famine ; though, impatient } of inactivity, they made a sally on the day! after the king's departure, and were only ; repulsed after the death of Maumont, to whom i the command of the besieging army had been \ entrusted, and after a resolute and formidable j struggle. | The hopes of James rested upon the scar- | city of provisions, which threatened to create j a famine in the town.

Upon the arrival, how- : ever, of some artillery in the Irish camp, the; blockade was converted into a siege, but the ; works of the besiegers were destroyed in a » sally. The latter possessed neither the means j nor the skill adapted for attack. A force « sent from England appeared in the lake of » Londonderry on the thirteenth of June ; but j Kirk, who commanded the succours was j either too cold or too cautious in his opera- : tions. Though he assured the spirits of the I townsmen, by promises of speedy relief, he ; avoided every hazardous enterprise, and for ] j five weeks remained inactive in his ships, or ; loitered on an island in the lake. Apprised \ of the arrival of the English, the mareschal $ de Rosen was sent by James to command > before Derry. Rosen committed the care of » the siege to Hamilton, and posted himself on | the banks of the lake, to prevent a descent s from the English fleet.

From the deficiency I of warlike stores and ammunition, the siege > proceeded but slowly ; and the only hope of J the besiegers rested on the apparent impossi ; bility of conveying provisions into the town. > On the 29th of June, the town proposed to | surrender, but the firing of the besieged was ! continued, and Rosen rejected the overture | as a stratagem for gaining time. j Rosen, incensed at so determined and ! unexpected a resistance, placed four thousand \ unfortunate persons, collected from the sur ; rounding country, between his lines and the l town ; expecting that the besieged would ; relieve their friends, or surrender themselves. ; Convinced, however, by the conduct of the I townsmen, who fired upon their friends from ! the wall, of the folly of his expedient, he j withdrew the unhappy people, after a few I hours' exposure, and permitted them to re ! turn to their homes.

The cruelty of Rosen ! on this occasion, and his obvious disregard : of the commands and wishes of James, awak- I ened the just indignation of the latter ; but ! such was his dependence on the aid of France, : that he durst not indicate his displeasure, by | depriving him of his command. Desertion ■ and sickness had now reduced the besieging : army to five thousand men, destitute of every ; necessary, and equally deficient in discipline ; and enthusiasm. The siege was again con i verted into a blockade ; the besieged were reduced to the last distress, and were obliged to subsist on the flesh of horses and dogs. At length the serjeants and soldiers, disregarding their leaders, transmitted a signed paper to major-general Buchan, offering on certain conditions to surrender the next day. In the mean time, the wind became favour able for the ships ; two victuallers, advancing in full sail, broke the boom which the Irish had placed across the river ; the town was supplied with provisions ; and Rosen, having made every disposition for a retreat, retired.

While Rosen was conducting the siege of Londonderry, lord Mount Cashel advanced against the protestants of Inniskillen ; and, [CHAP. I. HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 6 I ber close to the lines of the enemy, and : endeavoured to provoke him to fight. But : Schomberg remained within his entrenchments ; and James, after standing three hours in order of battle before Dundalk, retired slowly to his camp, and ordering Atherdee to be fortified, in anticipation of future hostilities ; by thus demonstrating that he could stop the progress of the enemy, terminated the present campaign with unexpected reputation The French having invaded Ireland, and clandestinely assisted the Scots, the king, at the pressing instance of his parliament, on the seventh of May proclaimed war against France. On the twenty-fourth of July, the princess Anne of Denmark was delivered of a son, who had the name of William given at his baptism, and was created duke of Glocester.

Among the other less important transactions of the year, may be numbered, the passing of an act of indemnity, the burning by the hands of the common hangman of a pastoral letter from bishop Burnet, asserting that William had obtained the crown by right of conquest, and the reversal of several attainders passed in the preceding reign. Dr. Oates, the notorious witness respecting the popish plot, endeavoured to vindicate the veracity of his evidence, and excited considerable agitation in both houses of parliament ; but obtained only a remission of the remainder of his sentence, and liberation from his imprisonment. A bill was passed determining the succession, and containing a clause in favour of the house of Hanover. A feeble and absurd discovery of the conspiracy of lord Griffin, who had been raised to the peerage, by the late monarch, only a month before his abdication, and of which the particulars were discovered in a pewter bowl, ended in the admission of his lordship to bail; and viscount Preston, a Scotch peer, having the presumption to claim a seat among the English lords, under a patent from James, after his exclusion from the throne, was committed to the Tower ; but obtained his liberty, on asking pardon and pleading ignorance.

On the fourth day of June, in the next year, William left London, and on lbJ0- the fourteenth arrived at Carrickfergus. He passed from thence to Lisburn, the head-quarters of the duke of Schomberg, and afterwards reviewed his army, which consisted of after making an unsuccessful attempt on Crom castle, resolved to retreat to his former station at Belturbat ; but being pursued as far as Newton, and forsaken by his men, he was overpowered and taken prisoner. Afflicted and dismayed by this humiliating intelligence, aware that the individuals surrounding him, and particularly De Rosen, were prepared to render him a sacrifice to the real or supposed interests of Lewis, and un willing to recal the parliament, which he had prorogued to the eighteenth of July ; the dis tress of James was exasperated, and his difficulties multiplied by the invasion of Ireland by a foreign force.

Ten thousand men, com manded by the duke of Schomberg, appeared on the twelfth of August in ninety transports, on the coast of Donaghadee. He first marched to Belfast, and then invested Carrickfergus. Having summoned the garrison in vain, he opened four batteries against the towu, at- ; tacked it with the guns of the fleet, and com menced a furious bombardment. The garri son, after all their ammunition was expended, marched out on the ninth day, with all the honours of war : but the soldiers broke the capitulation : they disarmed and stript the inhabitants, without any regard to sex or j rank ; women deprived of their apparel were j whipped between the lines ; and every outrage j perpetrated that could disgrace humanity. The duke of Berwick, having broken up ; the roads to retard the enemy, abandoned \ Dundalk, in the neighbourhood of which place Schomberg immediately encamped.

Joined by the Inniskilliners, and the regulars under Kirk, he had advanced slowly through a difficult country, deformed with bogs and encumbered with mountains. But the coun try now before him was perfectly level. It i was his duty to prevent the cavalry of the enemy from cutting off his communication ; with the fleet, which had not yet arrived, as he had directed, in the road of Carlingford. His troops were without experience or disci pline, weakened by disease, and destitute of provisions. The rain and frost were uncommonly severe, and he therefore was resolved to remain at Dundalk, and to fortify himself against the attacks of an enemy, whom he could not engage in the field with any prospect of success. Having arrived within three miles of Dun dalk, James advanced on the 20th of Septem- CHAP. I.] WILLIAM AND MARY. 7 thirty-six thousand men, at Lough Britland.

His troops were composed of English, Dutch, Germans, Danes, and French; all confident in the justice of their cause, and supplied with all that was necessary to render their strength effectual. On the approach of William, the Irish army, having abandoned Othardee, retired to the south of the Boyne, a river of which the south side was hilly, and strengthened by ditches. The river itself is deep, and rises very high with the tide. Influenced by these advantages, and reflecting that flight would dispirit his troops and tarnish his own reputation, he determined, notwithstanding the inferiority of his numbers, and the advice of his officers, to retain his position. Assured of the aid of a powerful fleet, and encouraged by a projected invasion of England, he had previously determined to quit Ireland; but the strength of his situation, and the danger of retreat before a superior enemy, induced him to change his resolution.