The fall of the Stuarts and western Europe

Preface

This little sketch is intended to form an easy introduction to the study of the period. Those who have not taught the young themselves will hardly know how difficult it is to.^make such an introduction sufficiently easy and simple.

It is to be hoped that the reader will supplement this meagre outline of a great *^ epoch." He will naturally turn first to Lord Macaulay's "History of England," and his essay on Sir W. Temple. At the same time he will do well to study carefully Hallam's '** Constitutional History," chapters 12 — 15. For contemporary writings, Burnet's "History of his Own Times/' and the rich mine of Evelyn's Memoirs are readily accessible.

To these should be added Ranke's "History of the Seventeenth Century," vols. 3 — 6 (lately translated) ; for Continental history, H. Martin's "Hisvi Preface,

toire de France/* vols. 13 and 14; for religious history, Principal TuUoch's *' Rational Theology in England in the Seventeenth Century;" for military details and plans of battles in the Netherlands, there is much to learn from Sir F. Hamilton's " History of the Grenadier Guards," to which I wish to express my own obligations, as also to my friend and late colleague, the Rev. William Wayte.

Eton College, March 1876.

Cal] Titl

Vol.

Date'

Specj

! 7-36

.ini"3:^:JBfii

7th

PAGE I

3 5

'ge.

ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.

England in 1678. Discontent

Danby and Shaftesbury .

The Popish Plot .

Fall of Danby ....

Third Parliament of Charles II. Habeas

Corpus ....

Whigs and Tories .

Meal-tub Plot Conventiclers in Scotland. Bothwell Briggs .

14 17

18 20 21 vi Preface.

toire de France,** vols. 13 and 14; for religious history, Principal TuUoch's "Rational Theology in England in the Seventeenth Century;" for military details and plans of battles in the Netherlands, there is much to learn from Sir F. Hamilton's *' History of the Grenadier Guards," to which I wish to express my own obligations, as also to my friend and late colleague, the Rev. William Wayte.

Eton College, March 1876,

Call No. Date

^Mthor HALE ^

Title FALL OF THE STUARTS & WESTERN EUB TO 1697

Vol.

Date

Specs.

Copy

N( Dl

Block & Item

Reblnd style C. Fold out material

Chapter I. Introductory

PAGE

1678. Wars of Europe in the first half of the 17 th

century ....... i

Peace of Nimwegen, 1678 . . . .3

Lewis XIV. and France, 1678 ... 5 The United Provinces and William of Orange,

1678 .14

Germany and Spain, 1678 . . . .17

Chapter II. England And Scotland

England in 1678. Discontent . . .18

Danby and Shaftesbury 20

Fall of Danby 26

1679. Third Parliament of Charles II. Habeas

Whigs and Tories 33

Meal-tub Plot 36

Conventiclers in Scotland. Bothwell Briggs . 37

Vlll

Contents,

Chapter III

rH AND FIFTH PARLIAMENTS OF CHARLES. —

STATE TRIALS.

PAGE

Exclusion Bill

. 42

Lord Stafford ' . . .

. 45

Oxford Parliament, 168 1

. 45

Charles II. and the Whigs

. 47

Archbishop Plunket

. . 48

Stephen College ....

. 49

Shaftesbury indicted

. 50

Chapter IV. Scotland In 1680 And 1 68 1

1680-81. The Cameronians . . . . 1 68 1. The Scotch Parliament and Ax-gyle

52 54

Chapter V

ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND FROM 1 682 UNTIL THE DEATH OF CHARLES II., 1685.

1682. William of Orange, James, Duke of York, and

the Duke of Monmouth . . . .56 1682-83. Attacks on the Charters of the Corporations . 58

1683. Rye House Plot 60

1684. Duke of York reinstated in office , , ,66

1685. Death of Charles II 68

Chapter VI

LEWIS XIV. AND FRANCE TO THE REVOCATION OP THE EDICT OF NANTES, 1 685.

1678-81. Chambers of Reunion ..... 70 1681-84. Ambition of Lewis XIV 72

Contents. ix

PAGE

1675-85. The Huguenots and Revocation of the Edict

of Nantes 74

Chapter VII

ACCESSION OF JAMES II. OF ENGLAND.

1685, The Policy of James on his Accession . . 80

James II. and Lewis XIV. . . .82

Parliaments in England and Scotland . . Zt^

Trials of Oates, Dangerfield, and Baxter . 86

Chapter VIII. Rebellions Of Argyle And Monmouth

The Refugees in Holland . . .88

Expedition of Argyle . ■ . . ,90

Expedition of Monmouth . . '95

The Bloody Assize .... loi

Chapter IX. Foreign And Domestic Policy Of James II

1685. Second Session of the Parliament of 1685 . 103

1686. League of Augsburg . . . .105 Home Policy of James, 1686. Dispensing

1687. James and the Universities . . .112 The Autumn of 1687 • • . .114

Chapter X

IRELAND UNDER JAMES II. 1660-85. Preliminary Sketch of Ireland . .1x6

1685. Ireland at the Accession of James II. . .1x8

K Contents.

PAGE

1686-87. Clarendon and Tyrconnel . , .119

1687. Tyrconnel as Lord Deputy of Ireland . .120

Chapter XI. William, Lewis, And James, 1 687-88

William corresponds with the Disaffected in

1688. Trial of the Seven Bishops . . .125

Invitation to William . . . .129

James after the Acquittal of the Bishops . 13 1 Lewis XIV. declares War against the Emperor 133

Proclamation of William . . '134

Chapter XII. The Revolution

William in England . , , '138

Progress of the Revolution . . .140

Lord Churchill . , . . 141

Attempt of James to fly , . , 143

Chapter XIII. The Interregnum

1688. James leaves England .... 146

1689. The Convention . . , .150 The Revolution in Scotland . . .152

1688-89. The Revolution in Ireland . . .154

Devastation of the Palatinate by Lewis . 155

Contents. xi

Chapter XIV. First Year Of The Reign Of William And Mary

PAGE

1689. William's first Ministers . . . 158

The Nonjurors and Proceedings in Parliament 159

Scotland in 1689. Killiecrankie . .165

Ireland in 1689. Londonderry . . 168

1689-90. The Grand Alliance . . . .176

Chapter XX

THE NEW PARLIAMENT — THE ASSASSINATION PLOT — THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR — THE PEACE,

1695-96.

The Session of 1695-6 xxi£< i:iut

. 232

Assassination Plot

. 234

Campaign of 1696

. 237

1696-97.

The Session of 1696-7

. 238

The Peace of Ryswick,

• 239

CHAPTER XXI. Literature and Science in England and France in

THE latter part OF THE SEVENTEENTH

MAPS AND PLANS.

ermany, Holland, and the Spanish Netherlands

to face Title

[ap of Flanders and Brabant . . • " P- 204

.rgyle's Campaign page 91

lonmouth's Campaign . . . - . . .94

attle of Sedgemoor 100

/illiam's Campaign in the West of England . 137

ampaign in North-east of Ireland — Battle of the

Boyne 175

Western Ireland ....... 194

lencoe 200

attle of Steinkirk 211

attle of Neerwinden 215

THE

FALL OF THE STUARTS.

Section I. — Wars

The history of western Europe in the seventeenth century is a history of wars.

" Wars destroy the morals of mankind by habituating them to refer everything to force, and by necessitating them so often to dispense with the ordinary suggestions of sympathy and justice." This o™ware.'^ is true of wars in general ; but the demoralizing effect is much greater if wars are civil wars ; or religious wars — wars, that is, between fellow-citizens to serve the ends of some political party, or to enforce the observance of some political truth; or wars between fellow-Christians to force all to follow some religious creed. Moral virtues are in these cases uprooted ; military virtues, which may exist in the most depraved man or state, flourish.

The era of the great Protestant Revolution ushered in the period of religious wars,

France was devastated by religious and civil wars combined in the latter half of the sixteenth, and in the

B t beginning of the seventeenth century. It took part in the

Thirty Years' War of Germany (1618-1648) ; it was again

the theatre of the civil war of the Fronde, in

Religious , . , . , , ,

and civil which aimless attempts were made to oppose

France Ger- the absolutism of the French crown ( 1648- E^T'nd"'^ 1653)- Germany was almost ruined by its great civil and religious Thirty Years' War. England had also suffered in its great civil and partly religious war, which ended in 1648, with the execution of Charles I.

The great principle of religious toleration was unknown in the sixteenth century, and taught without sue- Eeligious ^^^^ ^Y ^ ^^^ great thinkers in the seven-

persecu- tccnth ccntury. Men believed great truths, by believmg which they thought they secured their salvation, and they deemed it their bounden duty to make others believe, in order that they too might be saved. So not merely were wars undertaken for the sake of religious tenets, but within the several countries there were persecutions of Christians by Christians, of Englishmen by Englishmen, Frenchmen by Frenchmen, Germans by Germans,

Nevertheless it is only through the fire of religioug

and civil wars, and of religious persecutions, come of the that the cause of religious and civil liberty InSl comes out triumphant. The fall of the

wars and Stuarts, of which we shall treat, is an event

persecutions, in the successful struggle for civil and reli'

gious liberty.

The latter half of the seventeenth century was occupied by wars of a less demoralizing character than civil and religious wars ; by wars undertaken by o?pow^'r ""^^ one man, Lewis XIV., to obtain certain personal ends. These ends were the suprema-

1678. Peace of Nimwegen. 3

cy of Western Europe, the Imperial crown, and the succession to the throne of Spain. Of what befell Lewis in his attempts to secure the supremacy of Western Europe, and how the "balance of power" was eventually righted, we shall also treat.

Section II. — Peace of Nimwegen, 1678

The sovereigns of the principal states of Europe in 1678 were: — Leopold of Hapsburg, Emperor; Lewis XIV.. King of France; Charles II., King . , _ of England ; Charles IL, King of Spain ; Sovereigns William, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder or Europe. Governor of the United Provinces of Holland.

Holland and England were the great naval powers ; France coming next to them, and then Spain.

Lewis XIV. having designs on the independence of the United Provinces of Holland, prevailed on Charles II. of England to join him in declaring war ^g^jg ^f on Holland in 1672. In England the war !X^"<;^ ^"i^

' ° Charles of

was SO unpopular that when a parliament England

A • /■ • 1 , . make war

was summoned m 1673 m order to vote sup- with Hoi. plies to carry on the war, the majority in it, ^'^'^^' '^^T^' opposed to the policy of Charles and his ministers, drove the ministry from power, declined to vote further supplies and forced the king in 1674 makes to make peace with Holland. peace, i. 74.

The Emperor Leopold and Charles XL, King of Spain, alarmed for the safety of their dominions,

■' Germany

which were threatened by the success of and Spam Lewis against Holland, concluded an al- against liance with the United Provinces. France.

Although the private intrigues of Lewis XIV. with the King of England kept that country neutral, the sympathies of the English nation were so strongly excited on

4 The Fall of the Stuarts y b'c. a.d.

behalf of the Dutch and their Stadtholder William of Orange, that it became evident to both Lewis and Charles that this neutral position could not long be maintained. Lewis, by the aid of his ambassador, Barillon, attempted to foment dissensions amongst the popular party in the parliament by bribery, the means which _ , ^ he had hitherto effectually employed with

England i i • • • t-> i •

mediates for Cliarles and his mmisters. But his success P^^^^- was not sufficient to warrant him in advising

Charles to oppose the wishes of the nation. In 1677 William of Orange married Mary, elder of the two daughters of James, the Duke of York and heir presumptive of Charles IL, and thus had claims of relationship on cliarles, which in the seventeenth century, were considered by politicians more binding than they are now. Charles and Lewis consequently agreed that the former should become the mediator for a peace, by which France should profit, Holland should not suffer, and the pride of the English should be gratified by the prominent position which their country should occupy in the negotiations. After many difficulties, overcome chiefly by the diplomatic tact of Sir William Temple, the English ambassador at the Hague on the one hand, and by that of the plenipotentiary of Lewis on the other, a treaty was signed August 10, 1678.

This treaty put an end to the war. It was called the

Peace of Nimwegen, (Nimeguen), from the smalltown

on the frontier between Holland and Ger-

PdCC of

Nimwegen, many where it was signed. The treaty was ^^^^' drawn up in French, although Latin had

hitherto been the diplomatic language, and this is an important fact in diplomatic history, as marking the claim of supremacy in Europe put forth by France. The results of the treaty were that the United Pro-

1678. Lewis XIV. and France. 5

vinces of Holland retained their integrity, Maastricht being restored to them, so that the bound- Territorial aries of the state governed by William of results of

. , . 1 . , the peace.

Orange were almost identical with those of the present kingdom of the Netherlands. France, however, kept its conquest of Senegal and Guiana, and these settlements were the sole loss of Holland at the conclusion of a terrible war which had threatened to annihilate her. The United Provinces agreed to be neutral in any war which might continue between France and any other powers, and guaranteed the neutrality of Spain. Treaties of commerce between France and Holland, conferring equal privileges on both nations for twenty-five years, were also signed. France gained from Spain, a declining power, and therefore the principal suffers, Franche Comte (part of the old duchy of Burgundy, now forming the French departments of Haute Saone, Doubs, and Jura) ; and the towns of St. Omer, Valenciennes, Gassel, and the adjacent districts, sometimes called French Flanders, and forming the department of the Nord. Spain retained that part of her dominions in the Netherlands which is almost conterminous with the present kingdom of Belgium. Lothringen (Lorraine) was restored to its duke, and again formed one of the states of the Empire, although practically deprived of its independence by being obliged to keep up for Lewis four military roads, each two miles broad, and also to give up its two fortified towns, Nancy and Longwy. It was at the time of the peace of Nimwegen that the power of France, and the glory of Lewis XIV., were at their height.

Section III. — Lewis XIV. and France

Lewis XIV. was, when the peace of Nimwegen was signed, forty years old ; his figure was handsome, his manners were engaging, although at the

Lewis XIV. same time dignihed. He had an excellent constitution, and was able to endure fatigue, cold and hunger. He was not easily moved to anger, nor easily dispirited. These being his natural gifts, he himself, in his " Memoires historiques," tells us the chief motives which influenced his actions.

He had the most exalted idea of the kingly office. "It is the will of God,'' wrote he, " who has given kings to men, that they should be revered as His vicegerents, He having reserved to Himself alone the right to scrutinize their conduct." "It is the will of God that every subject should yield to his sovereign an implicit obedience." "All property within the nation belongs to the king by virtue of his title." " Kings are absolute lords." "L'Etat — c'est moi." (The State — I am the State.)

His ambition was unbounded. "Self-aggrandizement," he writes, "is at once the noblest and most agreeable occupation of kings. "

Magnificence in daily life, and in pleasures, involving the greatest extravagance, was thus upheld by him — "A large expenditure is the almsgiving of kings."

His habitual disregard of treaties was not the result of dishonesty or fickleness, but was the deliberate design of one who preferred pleasant manners to sincerity, who condemned a noble to exile with a sweet smile, and bowed with infinite grace to a courtier who before nightfall was on the road to prison. " In dispensing," he says, " with the exact observance of treaties, we do not violate them ; for the language of such instruments is not to be understood literally. We must employ in our treaties a conventional phraseology, just as we use complimentary expressions in society. They are indispensai6'jS. Lewis XIV. and France. 7

ble to our intercourse with one another, but they always mean much less than they say. "

Lewis' intellectual powers were good, but not extraordinary. He was a man of strong opinions, of strong will, of strong health, a practical man of business, but not an originator, a governor rather than a statesman.

His private life was regulated by his pleasures ; he, as a king, was subject to none of those laws which rule the lives of ordinary mortals, but his desires were never too strong to make him forget his ambitious designs.

From his mother, Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip HI. of Spain, he inherited the Spanish fondness for ceremony and etiquette. Most of the European monarchs copied Lewis, and many of the silly and unmeaning ceremonies still practiced in some continental courts may thus be traced to a Spanish source.

Lewis was a sincere Roman Catholic, but he never allowed his religious feelings to weaken his belief in the prerogatives of a king. He kept the temporalities of the Church in his own disposal. He was for all practical purposes as much the head of the Galilean Church, the Church of France, as Henry VIII. had been of the English Church.

His most trusted ministers were Colbert and Louvois ; but, as Lewis was an absolute monarch, they were responsible to no one but their master ; both , . .

. , . . . Lewis

alike were ministers dependent on his will, ministers, but they were directly opposed to each Louvois. other on all questions of home or foreign policy. There was an unceasing struggle between Colbert and Louvois. During the war just ended, Colbert was continually advising Lewis to make peace ; and, now that the peace was concluded, Louvois was continually urging him to renew the war. This difference which existed between them was a natural result of their respective duties. To Colbert was entrusted by Lewis the direction of finance, commerce, public works, and the colonies ; to Louvois was given the post of minister of war.

On one point Colbert and Louvois was agreed, and that was in the employment of Vauban, the great master ,^ , , of the art of fortification. By Vauban "^oo military Frcnch fortresscs were either built, repaired,

engineer. ^^ enlarged. These fortresses were designed

chiefly for the defence of the French frontiers, which offered, and more particularly on the north-east, many vulnerable points. Colbert for his part looked on the money expended in carying out Vauban's plans, as sunk in insuring against the possibility of a war, which might be brought about by the temptation offered to a strong power of overrunning the north-eastern provinces of France, some of the richest provinces of the kingdom.

Colbert was a man of unimpeachable integrity, of great industry, and of bold and inventive genius. His political _ , theories may now appear antiquated, but

finance. they prevailed universally for many genera-

tions, and by some French statesmen of the present day Colbert is considered the great authority on all national financial questions. His leading idea was to protect native produce and industry by placing heavy duties on exports, so heavy as to be almost prohibitory, and in some cases stopping importation altogether. To give an example. He allowed corn to be exported only when there had been an abundant harvest. If he anticipated a deficiency, the export was not permitted. Hence no agriculturist cared to cultivate poor land, but threw it out of cultivation, and the results of this were that there was a large extent of waste ground in France,

1678. Lewis XIV. and France. 9

and that the agriculturists were very poor. The poverty of the agriculturists again prevented their being customers of the manufacturers, and thus there was a loss of trade to the manufacturers.

Another principle of Colbert's finance, now everywhere recognized as a pernicious principle, was the forbidding, as much as possible, gold and silver to be sent out of the kingdom. Coin, was, therefore, everywhere hoarded, and this practice has continued in the rural districts of France even to the present day. Colbert did not perceive that if there was a deficiency of gold or silver in France, and coin consequently became dearer, there would be a rush of coin from other countries, where it was more abundant, and consequently cheaper, to supply that deficiency.

In the chief European nations, in England, France, Holland, Germany, Italy, there existed guilds, or companies, at the head of each trade and manufacture. These corporations regulated the ^^gunds"** practice of their trades, and fixed the prices to be paid to the laborers, and to be received for goods. They were often possessed of great wealth, and were of influence in the State. Their power was now beginning to decline, owing to various reasons, amongst others to greater freedom of communication. But Colbert endeavored in France to prop up their failing influence. He promulgated edicts enforcing the regulations of the guilds ; and these regulations were minute, pedantic, and tyrannical. The result was that trades and manufactures were artificially fostered ; that they did not follow the natural wants of the population, as they do when perfect freedom is allowed them, but became producers and distributors of luxuries rather than of necessaries. During Colbert's ministry there were 17,300 persons lo The Fall of the Stuarts i ^c. a.d.

engaged in manufacturing lace, a luxury ; whilst 60,400 were all that were employed in woollen manufacture.

Colbert was extremely rigorous against those who usurped privileges to which they were not legally entitled. This was in keeping with his action in uppoiicy of holding the authority of the guilds. There

*"° ^"^^ were certain privileges claimed by the no-

bility, which were assumed by some who had no legal right to do so. All such pretenders were punished by fines and imprisonments. He also endeavored to introduce a uniform tariff throughout the kingdom. In this he only partially succeeded, as newly acquired provinces claimed privileges which had been reserved for them when they were added to France. With more complete success he reorganized the navy of France, and first raised it to the strength of a great maritime power. He codified the French laws. He carried out some magnificent public works ; the most noteworthy of which is the great canal of Languedoc, connecting the Mediterranean and Atlantic, completed under his influence by the engineer, Pierre Paul de Riquet.

Slavery existed in the West Indian colonies of France, as in those of all other European nations. To Colbert's honor be it stated that, by the Code Noir in- "Code troduced by him, the evils attendant on

•^°''^"" slavery were greatly mitigated, and the re-

lations thus established between master and slave were not nearly so unrighteous as those which existed in the colonies of other States.

All Colbert's financial projects had been deranged during the war just ended. The first period of his ministry, previous to 1672, had been stvled by

Colbert's , . • ^ r ^ ^- ^i. ' j

finance dis- him a pcHod of construction ; the second, arranged. ixQvo. 1 672 to 1 678, had been a period of de-

1678. Lewis XIV. and France. 11

struction, owing to the expenses of the war ; the third period he fondly hoped would be one of reconstruction, but this hope was not destined to be realized. In the years 1681 and 1682, Colbert redeemed 90 millions of livres of national debts ; in the same years Lewis incurred debts to the amount of 100 millions.

To meet the expenses of the war, it had been necessary to raise large sums by taxation. There was a tax on landed property and persons called the ^ ^. .

^ ^ J ^ Condition

" taille, " and almost every necessary of life of the was also taxed, even pewter vessels. One pJopie after of the most hated of these taxes was that ^^^ '^^^• on salt, called the " gabelle. " These burdens were borne almost exclusively by the producing and laboring classes, for among the many privileges of the nobility was that of large exemption from taxation. Those, therefore, paid least who could best afford to pay most. Distress among the tax-paying classes was universal. Popular tumults arose in numerous districts and were put down with great severity. The wretched peasants were reduced to eating grass and the bark of trees ; and famine slew thousands.

The system under which a great portion of the land in France was cultivated, which is called metairie, is an evil one. The metayer, (medietarius, middle-

N • r 1 1 -11 The noble,

man) or occupier of the land, was provided and peaby the owner with seed, cattle, and agricul- ^^"'^' tural implements, and in return, besides paying all taxes, gave half the gross produce to the land-owner. Though an advance on the serf system it did not invite peasants to spend money on the improvement of the land, and so produced poor cultivation. Half the produce was also too large a rent. The metayer grew as little corn as possible, and fed his geese in his wheat fields, for his half of the gross produce was insufficent to pay for the labor of cultivation. The farms of the metayers were very small, in reality but peasant-holdings. The relations existing between the peasantfarmer and his lord were very different from those existing ki England between the village laborer and the squire. The French lord (seigneur) visited his estates only for retrenchment or to squeeze out larger yieldings from his metayers. He lived at the court. The magnificence and extravagance of Lewis XIV. were imitated on a smaller scale by all the nobility. Life in the country was looked on by a seigneur as exile. The responsibilities of a landlord were not recognised by him. He sought advancement at court, and for this advancement he intrigued and bribed. Even military service he seldom undertook from patriotic motives, but as a means of procuring court favor. When once a nobleman had secured a firm standing and influence at court, he made use of his position to replenish his fortune by selling his influence to less fortunate aspirants.

The hereditary and exclusive privileges of the nobility and place-holders were so valuable that Lewis and his ministers increased the revenue by the sale of the titles and offices which conferred such privileges. By degrees monopolies were created. To such an extent was this system carried, that the privilege of exercising the meanest callings, such as those of porters, or of mutes at funerals, was reserved to certain families, in consideration of a large money payment.

In the provincial estates and parliaments of France existed the elements of civil liberty.

The local government of each province was entrusted to its estate. The estate met in assembly in the three

1678. Lewis XIV. a7id France. 13

orders of clergy, nobility, and commons. It Provincial raised the revenue required by the kmg, had authority to borrow money, and superintended the expenditure of money to be laid out on local purposes. But in the reign of Lewis, there was placed over each provincial estate a royal functionary, called an intendant, and under him served various officials. He was appointed by the king's wjll, was removable at the king's I pleasure, and, in reahty, controlled everything. The provincial estates often grumbled, but their opposition seldom extended further. The greater nobles lived at court, the clergy were faithful servants of the Crown, the intendant was the king's representative, so that although, theoretically, the power and privileges of the provincial estates still belonged to them, their power and their privileges were practically in the hands of the intendant. Opposition to the wishes of the intendant was easily silenced by quartering troops on a refractory district, or by the arbitrary imprisonment of an independent member of the estate.

The parliaments of France, originally nine, afterwards fifteen in number, were the supreme legal tribunals. The parliament of Paris was naturally the chief, but each parliament claimed ments" to be independent of every other. They were jealous of each other's authority, and had no common principle of action. Besides their legal functions, they claimed the power of refusing to register, in their archives any law which the king had promulgated, and they asserted that this r.f..sal on their part rendered the law inoperative. Lewis, however, would not admit this claim of the parliaments ; he compelled them to register his laws, he forbade them to prosecute any royal official who disobeyed their orders, and enforced his will by banishing any members of a parliament who upheld this privilege. The legal offices attached to the membership of a parliament were, as those attached to the Crown, saleable. Lewis therefore was soon enabled to fill a great number of these with devoted adherents ; and by cleverly turning to good account the jealousy felt by each parliament for the other, he soon rendered it impossible for them to take common action in rejecting a royal mandate. '

France did not come out unscathed from the war ended by the peace of Nimwegen. The ambition of its monarch had impoverished the country. The agricultural, commercial, manufacturing, and colonial interests had all suffered. The conditions of peace were advantageous to France as regarded her territory and military power ; but on the other hand, the protective duties on which the manufacturers, especially those of woolen goods and silk, had relied, were relaxed in favor of Holland and England.