Chapter III
Conspiracy against the Government by Lord Preston and others..... The King fills up the vacant Bishoprics..... Affairs of Scotland..... Campaign in Flanneitt..... Progress of the Trench in Piedmont..... Election of a New Pope....The Emperor’s Success against the Turks..... Affairs of Ireland..... General Ginckel reduces Athlone..... Defeats the Irish at Aghrim..... Undertakes the Siege of Limerick..... The French and Irish obtain an honourable Capitulation..... Twelve Thousand Irish Catholics are transported to France..... Meeting of the English Parliament..... Discontent of the Nation..... Transactions in Parliament..... Disputes concerning the Bill for regulating Trials in Cases of High Treason..... The English and Dutch Fleets baffled by the French..... The King disobliges the Presbyterians of Scotland..... The Earl of Breadalbane undertakes for the Submission of the Highlanders..... Massacre of Glencoe..... Preparations for a Descent upon England..... Declaration of King James..... Efforts of his Friends in England..... Precautions taken by the Queen for the Defence of the Nation..... Admiral Russel puts to Sea..... He obtains a complete Victory over the French Fleet off La Bogue..... Troops embarked at St. Helen’s for a Descent upon France..... The Design laid aside..... The Troops landed at Ostend..... The French King takes Namur in sight of King William..... The Allies are defeated at Steenkirk..... Extravagant rejoicings in France on Account of this Victory..... Conspiracy against the Life of King William, hatched by the French Ministry..... Miscarriage of a Design upon Dunkirk..... The Campaign is inactive on the Rhine and in Hungary..... The Duke of Savoy invades Dauphiné..... The Duke of Hanover created an Elector of the Empire.
A CONSPIRACY.
A conspiracy against the government had been lately discovered. In the latter end of December, the master of a vessel who lived at Barking, in Essex, informed the marquis of Carmarthen that his wife had let out one of his boats to carry over some persons to France, and that they would embark on the thirteenth day of the month. This intelligence being communicated to the king and council, an order was sent to captain Billop to watch the motion of the vessel and secure the passengers. He accordingly boarded her at Gravesend, and found in the hold lord Preston, Mr. Ashton, a servant of the late queen, and one Elliot. He likewise seized a bundle of papers, some of which were scarce intelligible; among the rest, two letters supposed to be written by Turner, bishop of Ely, to king James and his queen, under fictitious names. The whole amounted to an invitation to the French king to assist king James in re-ascending the throne upon certain conditions, while William should be absent from the kingdom; but the scheme was ill laid, and countenanced but by a very few persons of consideration, among whom the chiefs were the earl of Clarendon, the bishop of Ely, lord Preston, his brother Mr. Graham, and Penn the famous quaker. Notwithstanding the outcries which had been made against the severities of the late government, Preston and his accomplice Ashton were tried at the Old Bailey for compassing the death of their majesties king William and queen Mary; and their trials were hurried on without any regard to their petitions for delay. Lord Preston alleged in his defence that the treasons charged upon him were not committed in the county of Middlesex, as laid in the indictment; that none of the witnesses declared he had any concern in hiring the vessel; that the papers were not found upon him; that there ought to be two credible witnesses to every fact, whereas the whole proof against him rested on similitude of hands and mere supposition. He was, nevertheless, found guilty. Ashton behaved with great intrepidity and composure. He owned his purpose of going to France in pursuance of a promise he had made to general Worden, who, on his death-bed, conjured him to go thither and finish some affairs of consequence which he had left there depending, as well as with a view to recover a considerable sum of money due to himself. He denied that he was privy to the contents of the papers found upon him; he complained of his having been denied time to prepare for his trial; and called several persons to prove him a protestant of exemplary piety and irreproachable morals. These circumstances had no weight with the court. He was brow-beaten by the bench, and found guilty by the jury, as he had the papers in his custody; yet there was no privity proved; and the whig party themselves had often expressly declared, that of all sorts of evidence that of finding papers in a person’s possession is the weakest, because no man can secure himself from such danger. Ashton suffered with equal courage and decorum. In a paper which he delivered to the sheriff, he owned his attachment to king James; he witnessed to the birth of the prince of Wales; denied his knowledge of the contents of the papers that were committed to his charge; complained of the hard measure he had met with from the judges and the jury, but forgave them in the sight of heaven. This man was celebrated by the nonjurors as a martyr to loyalty; and they boldly affirmed, that his chief crime in the eyes of the government was his having among his baggage an account of such evidence as would have been convincing to all the world concerning the birth of the prince of Wales, which by a great number of people was believed supposititious.* Lord Preston obtained a pardon; Elliot was not tried, because no evidence appeared against him; the earl of Clarendon was sent to the Tower, where he remained some months, and he was afterwards confined to his own house in the country--an indulgence which he owed to his consanguinity with the queen, who was his first cousin. The bishop of Ely, Graham, and Penn, absconded; and a proclamation was issued for apprehending them as traitors.
* To one of the pamphlets published on this occasion, is annexed a petition to the present government in the name of king James’s adherents, importing, that some grave and learned person should be authorized to compile a treatise, showing the grounds of William’s title; and declaring, that in case the performance should carry conviction along with it, they would submit to that title, as they had hitherto opposed it from a principle of conscience. The best answer that could be made to this summons was Locke’s book upon government, which appeared at this period.--Ralph.
THE KING FILLS UP THE BISHOPRICS.
This prelate’s being concerned in a conspiracy, furnished the king with a plausible pretence for filling up the vacant bishoprics. The deprived bishops had been given to understand, that an act of parliament might be obtained to excuse them from taking the oaths, provided they would perform their episcopal functions; but as they declined this expedient, the king resolved to fill up their places at his return from Holland. Accordingly, the archbishopric of Canterbury was conferred upon Dr. Tillotson,* one of the most learned, moderate, and virtuous ecclesiastics of the age, who did not accept of this promotion without great reluctance, because he foresaw that he should be exposed to the slander and malevolence of that party which espoused the cause of his predecessor. The other vacant Sees were given to divines of unblemished character; and the public in general seemed very well satisfied with this exertion of the king’s supremacy. The deprived bishops at first affected all the meekness of resignation. They remembered those shouts of popular approbation by which they had been animated in the persecution they suffered under the late government; and they hoped the same cordial would support them in their present affliction; but finding the nation cold in their concern, they determined to warm it by argument and declamation. The press groaned with the efforts of their learning and resentment, and every essay was answered by their opponents. The nonjurors affirmed that Christianity was a doctrine of the cross; that no pretence whatever could justify an insurrection against the sovereign; that the primitive christians thought it their indispensable duty to be passive under every invasion of their rights; and that non-resistance was the doctrine of the English church, confirmed by all the sanctions that could be derived from the laws of God and man. The other party not only supported the natural rights of mankind, and explained the use that might be made of the doctrine of non-resistance in exciting fresh commotions, but they also argued that if passive obedience was right in any instance, it was conclusively so with regard to the present government; for the obedience required by scripture was indiscriminate. “The powers that be are ordained of God--let every soul be subject to the higher powers.” From these texts they inferred that the new oaths ought to be taken without scruple, and that those who refused them concealed party under the cloak of conscience. On the other hand, the fallacy and treachery of this argument were demonstrated. They said, it levelled all distinctions of justice and duty; that those who taught such doctrines attached themselves solely to possession, however unjustly acquired; that if twenty different usurpers should succeed one another, they would recognize the last, notwithstanding the allegiance they had so solemnly sworn to his predecessor, like the fawning spaniel that followed the thief who mounted his master’s horse after having murdered the right owner. They also denied the justice of a lay-deprivation, and with respect to church government started tire same distinctions “De jure and de facto” which they had formerly made in the civil administration. They had even recourse to all the bitterness of invective against Tillotson and the new bishops, whom they reviled as intruders and usurpers; their acrimony was chiefly directed against Dr. Sherlock, who had been one of the most violent sticklers against the revolution, but thought proper to take the oaths upon the retreat of king James from Ireland. They branded him as an apostate who had betrayed his cause, and published a review of his whole conduct, which proved a severe satire upon his character. Their attacks upon individuals were mingled with their vengeance against the government; and indeed the great aim of their divines, as well as of their politicians, was to sap the foundation of the new settlement. In order to alienate the minds of the people from the interests of the reigning prince, they ridiculed his character; inveighed against his measures; they accused him of sacrificing the concerns of England to the advantage of his native country; and drew invidious comparisons between the wealth, the trade, the taxes, of the last and of the present reign. To frustrate these efforts of the malcontents, the court employed their engines to answer and recriminate; all sorts of informers were encouraged and caressed; in a proclamation issued against papists and other disaffected persons, all magistrates were enjoined to make search, and apprehend those who should, by seditious discourses and libels, presume to defame the government. Thus the revolutioners commenced the professed enemies of those very arts and practices which had enabled them to bring their scheme to perfection.
* Beveridge was promoted to the See of Bath and Wells, Fowler to that of Gloucester, Cumberland to Peterborough, Moor to Norwich, Grove to Chicester, and Patrick to Ely.
{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688--1701.}
AFFAIRS-OF SCOTLAND.
The presbyterians in Scotland acted with such folly, violence, and tyranny, as rendered them equally odious and contemptible. The transactions in their general assembly were carried on with such peevishness, partiality, and injustice, that the king dissolved it by an act of state, and convoked another for the month of November in the following year. The episcopal party promised to enter heartily into the interests of the new government, to keep the highlanders quiet, and induce the clergy to acknowledge and serve king William, provided he would balance the power of Melvil and his partisans in such a manner as would secure them from violence and oppression; provided the episcopal ministers should be permitted to perform their functions among those people by whom they were beloved; and’ that such of them as were willing to mix with the presbyterians in their judicatories should be admitted without any severe imposition in point of opinion. The king, who was extremely disgusted at the presbyterians, relished the proposal, and young Dalrymple, son of lord Stair, was appointed joint secretary of state with Melvil. He undertook to bring over the majority of the Jacobites, and a great number of them took the oaths; but at the same time they maintained a correspondence with the court of St. Germains, by the connivance of which they submitted to William that they might be in a condition to serve James the more effectually. The Scottish parliament was adjourned by proclamation to the sixteenth day of September. Precautions were taken to prevent any dangerous communication with the continent; a committee was appointed to put the kingdom in a posture of defence; to exercise the powers of the regency in securing the enemies of the government; and the earl of Home, with sir Peter Fraser and sir Æneas Macpherson, were apprehended and imprisoned.
CAMPAIGN IN FLANDERS.
The king having settled the operations of the ensuing campaign in Ireland, where general Ginckel exercised the supreme command, manned his fleet by dint of pressing sailors, to the incredible annoyance of commerce; then leaving the queen as before at the helm of government in England, he returned to Holland accompanied by lord Sidney, secretary of state, the earls of Marlborough and Portland, and began to make preparations for taking the field in person. On the thirtieth day of May, the duke of Luxembourg having passed the Scheld at the head of a large army, took possession of Halle, and gave it up to plunder in sight of the confederates, who were obliged to throw up intrenchments for their preservation. At the same time the marquis de Boufflers, with a considerable body of forces, intrenched himself before Liege with a view to bombard that city. In the beginning of June, king William took upon himself the command of the allied army, by this time reinforced in such a manner as to be superior to the enemy. He forthwith detached the count de Tilly with ten thousand men to the relief of Liege, which was already reduced to ruins and desolation by the bombs, bullets, and repeated attacks of Boufflers, who now thought proper to retreat to Dinant. Tilly having thus raised the siege, and thrown a body of troops into Huy, rejoined the confederate army, which had been augmented ever since his departure with six thousand men from Brandenburgh, and ten thousand Hessians commanded by the landgrave in person. Such was the vigilance of Luxembourg, that William could not avail himself of his superiority. In vain he exhausted his invention in marches, counter-marches, and stratagems, to bring on a general engagement; the French marshal avoided it with such dexterity as baffled all his endeavours. In the course of this campaign the two armies twice confronted each other; but they were situated in such a manner that neither could begin the attack without a manifest disadvantage. While the king lay encamped at Court-sur-heure, a soldier, corrupted by the enemy, set fire to the fusees of several bombs, the explosion of which might have blown up the whole magazine and produced infinite confusion in the army, had not the mischief been prevented by the courage of the men who guarded the artillery; even while the fusees were burning, they disengaged the waggons from the line, and overturned them down the side of a hill, so that the communication of the fire was intercepted. The person who made this treacherous attempt being discovered, owned he had been employed for this purpose by the duke of Luxembourg. He was tried by a court-martial and suffered the death of a traitor. Such perfidious practices not only fix an indelible share of infamy on the French general, but prove how much the capacity of William was dreaded by his enemies. King William, quitting Court-sur-heure, encamped upon the plain of St. Girard, where he remained till the fourth day of September, consuming the forage and exhausting the country. Then he passed the Sambre near Jemeppe, while the French crossed it at La Busiere, and both armies marched towards Enghien. The enemy, perceiving the confederates were at their heels, proceeded to Gramont, passed the Lender, and took possession of a strong camp between Aeth and Oudenarde; William followed the same route, and encamped between Aeth and Leuse. While he continued in his post, the Hessian forces and those of Liege, amounting to about eighteen thousand men, separated from the army and passed the Meuse at Naimir; then the king returned to the Hague, leaving the command to prince Waldeck, who forthwith removed to Leuse, and on the twentieth day of the month began his march to Cambron. Luxembourg, who watched his motions with a curious eye, found means to attack him in his retreat so suddenly that his rear was surprised and defeated, though the French were at last obliged to retire. The prince continued his route to Cambron, and in a little time both armies retired into winter quarters. In the meantime, the Duke de Noailles besieged and took Urgel in Catalonia, while a French squadron, commanded by the count d’Etrées, bombarded Barcelona and Alicant.
The confederates had proposed to act vigorously in Italy against the French; but the season was far advanced before they were in a condition to take the field. The emperor and Spain had undertaken to furnish troops to join the duke of Savoy; and the maritime powers contributed their proportion in money. The elector of Bavaria was nominated to the supreme command of the imperial forces in that country; the marquis de Leganez, governor of the Milanese, acted as trustee for the Spanish monarch; duke Schomberg, son of that groat general who lost his life at the Boyne, lately created duke of Leinster, managed the interest of William, as king of England and stadtholder, and commanded a body of the Vaudois paid by Great Britain. Before the German auxiliaries arrived, the French had made great progress in their conquests. Catinat besieged and took Villa-Franca, Nice, and some other fortifications; then he reduced Villana and Carmagnola, and detached the marquis de Feuquieres to invest Coni, a strong fortress garrisoned by the Vaudois and French refugees. The duke of Savoy was now reduced to the brink of ruin. He saw almost all his places of strength in the possession of the enemy; Coni was besieged; and La Hoguette, another French general, had forced the passes of the valley of Aoste, so that he had free admission into the Verceillois, and the frontiers of the Milanese. Turin was threatened with a bombardment; the people were dispirited and clamorous, and their sovereign lay with his little army encamped on the hill of Montcallier, from whence he beheld his towns taken, and his palace of Rivoli destroyed. Duke Schomberg exhorted him to act on the offensive, and give battle to Catinat while that officer’s army was weakened by detachments, and prince Eugene* supported his remonstrance; but this proposal was vehemently opposed by the marquis de Leganez, who foresaw that if the duke should be defeated, the French would penetrate into the territories of Milan. The relief of Coni, however, was undertaken by prince Eugene, who began his march for that place with a convoy guarded by two-and-twenty hundred horse; at Magliano he was reinforced by five thousand militia; Bulonde, who commanded at the siege, no sooner heard of his approach than he retired with the utmost precipitation, leaving behind some pieces of cannon, mortars, bombs, arms, ammunition, tents, provisions, utensils, with all his sick and wounded. When he joined Catinat he was immediately put under arrest, and afterwards cashiered with disgrace. Hoguette abandoned the valley of Aoste; Feuquieres was sent with a detachment to change the garrison of Casal; and Catinat retired with his army towards Villa Nova d’Aste.
* Prince Eugene of Savoy, who in the sequel rivalled the fame of the greatest warriors of antiquity, was descended on the father’s side from the house of Savoy, and on the mother’s from the family of Soissons, a branch of the house of Bourbon. His father was Eugene Maurice, of Savoy, count of Soissons, colonel of the Switzers, and governor of Champagne and Brie: his mother was the celebrated Olimpia de Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarine. Eugene finding himself neglected at the court of France, engaged as a soldier of fortune in the service of the emperor, and soon distinguished himself by his great military talents: he was, moreover, an accomplished gentleman, learned, liberal, mild, and courteous; an unshaken friend; a generous enemy; an invincible captain; a consummate politician.
ELECTION OF A NEW POPE.
The miscarriage of the French before Coni affected Louvois, the minister of Louis, so deeply, that he could not help shedding tears when he communicated the event to his master, who told him with great composure that he was spoiled by good fortune. But the retreat of the French from Piedmont had a still greater influence over the resolutions of the conclave at Rome, then sitting for the election of a new pope in the room of Alexander VIII., who died in the beginning of February. Notwithstanding the power and intrigues of the French faction headed by cardinal d’Etrées, the affairs of Piedmont had no sooner taken this turn than the Italians joined the Spanish and Imperial interest, and cardinal Pignatelli, a Neapolitan, was elected pontiff. He assumed the name of Innocent, in honour of the last pope known by that appellation, and adopted all his maxims against the French monarch. When the German auxiliaries arrived under the command of the elector of Bavaria, the confederates resolved to give battle to Catinat; but he repassed the Po, and sent couriers to Versailles to solicit a reinforcement. Then prince Eugene invested Carmagnola, and carried on the siege with such vigour that in eleven days the garrison capitulated. Meanwhile the marquis de Hoquincourt undertook the conquest of Montmelian, and reduced the town without much resistance. The castle, however, made such a vigorous defence that Catinat marched thither in person; and, notwithstanding all his efforts, the place held out till the second day of December, when it surrendered on honourable conditions.
THE EMPEROR’S SUCCESS AGAINST THE TURKS.
This summer produced nothing of importance on the Rhine. The French endeavoured to surprise Mentz, by maintaining a correspondence with one of the emperor’s commissioners; but this being discovered, their design was frustrated. The imperial army, under the elector of Saxony, passed the Rhine in the neighbourhood of Manheim; and the French, crossing the same river at Philipsburgh, reduced the town of Portzheim in the marquisate of Baden-Dourlach. The execution of the scheme projected by the emperor for this campaign, was prevented by the death of his general, the elector of Saxony, which happened on the second day of September. His affairs wore a more favourable aspect in Hungary, where the Turks were totally defeated by prince Louis of Baden on the banks of the Danube. The imperialists afterwards undertook the siege of Great Waradin in Translyvania; bitt this was turned into a blockade, and the place was not surrendered till the following spring. The Turks were so dispirited by the defeat, by which they had lost the grand vizier, that the emperor might have made peace upon very advantageous terms; but his pride and ambition overshot his success. He was weak, vain, and superstitious; he imagined that now the war of Ireland was almost extinguished, king William, with the rest of his allies, would be able to humble the French power, though he himself should not co-operate with heretics, whom he abhorred; and that, in the meantime, he should not only make an entire conquest of Transylvania, but also carry his victorious arms to the gates of Constantinople, according to some ridiculous prophecy by which his vanity had been flattered. The Spanish government was become so feeble, that the ministry, rather than be at the expense of defending the Netherlands, offered to deliver the whole country to king William, either as monarch of England, or stadtholder of the United Provinces. He declined this offer, because he knew the people would never be reconciled to a protestant government; but he proposed that the Spaniards should confer the administration of Flanders upon the elector of Bavaria, who was ambitious of signalizing his courage, and able to defend the country with his own troops and treasure. This proposal was relished by the court of Spain; the emperor imparted it to the elector, who accepted the office without hesitation; and he was immediately declared governor of the Low Countries by the council of state at Madrid. King William, after his return from the army, continued some time at the Hague settling the operations of the ensuing campaign. That affair being discussed, he embarked in the Maese, and landed in England on the nineteenth day of October.
{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688--1701.}
AFFAIRS OF IRELAND.
Before we explain the proceedings in parliament, it will be necessary to give a detail of the late transactions in Ireland. In the beginning of the season, the French king had sent a large supply of provisions, clothes, and ammunition, for the use of the Irish at Limerick, under the conduct of Monsieur St. Ruth, accompanied by a great number of French officers furnished with commissions from king James, though St. Ruth issued all his orders in the name of Louis. Tyrconnel had arrived in January with three frigates and nine vessels, laden with succours of the same nature; otherwise the Irish could not have been so long kept together. Nor indeed could these supplies prevent them from forming separate and independent bands of rapparees, who plundered the country, and committed the most shocking barbarities. The lords justices, in conjunction with general Ginckel, had taken every step their prudence could suggest to quiet the disturbances of the country, and prevent such violence and rapine, of which the soldiers in king William’s army were not entirely innocent. The justices had issued proclamations denouncing severe penalties against those who should countenance or conceal such acts of cruelty and oppression: they promised to protect all papists who should live quietly within a certain frontier line; and Ginckel gave the catholic rebels to understand that he was authorized to treat with them, if they were inclined to return to their duty. Before the armies took the field, several skirmishes had been fought between parties; and these had always turned out so unfortunate to the enemy, that their spirits were quite depressed, while the confidence of the English rose in the same proportion.
St. Ruth and Tyrconnel were joined by the rapparees, and general Ginckel was reinforced by Mackay, with those troops which had reduced the highlanders in Scotland. Thus strengthened, he, in the beginning of June, marched from Mullingar to Ballymore, which was garrisoned by a thousand men under colonel Bourke, who, when summoned to surrender, returned an evasive answer. But, when a breach was made in the place, and the besiegers began to make preparations for a general assault, his men laid down their arms and submitted at discretion. The fortifications of this place being repaired and augmented, the general left a garrison for its defence, and advanced to Athlone, situated on the other side of the Shannon, and supported by the Irish army encamped almost under its walls. The English town on the hither side of the river was taken sword in hand, and the enemy broke down an arch of the bridge in their retreat. Batteries were raised against the Irish town, and several unsuccessful attempts were made to force the passage of the bridge, which was defended with great vigour. At length it was resolved, in a council of war, that a detachment should pass at a ford a little to the left of the bridge, though the river was deep and rapid, the bottom foul and stony, and the pass guarded by a ravelin, erected for that purpose. The forlorn hope consisted of sixty grenadiers in armour, headed by captain Sandys and two lieutenants. They were seconded by another detachment, and this was supported by six battalions of infantry. Never was a more desperate service, nor was ever exploit performed with more valour and intrepidity. They passed twenty a-breast in the face of the enemy, through an incessant shower of balls, bullets, and grenades. Those who followed them took possession of the bridge, and laid planks over the broken arch. Pontoons were fixed at the same time, that the troops might pass in different places. The Irish were amazed, confounded, and abandoned the town in the utmost consternation; so that in half an hour it was wholly secured by the English, who did not lose above fifty men in this attack. Mackay, Tetteau, and Ptolemache, exhibited proofs of the most undaunted courage in passing the river; and general Ginckel, for his conduct, intrepidity, and success on this occasion, was created earl of Athlone. When St. Ruth was informed, by express, that the English had entered the river, he said, it was impossible they should pretend to take a town which he covered with his army, and that he would give a thousand pistoles if they would attempt to force a passage. Sarsfield insisted upon the truth of the intelligence, and pressed him to send succours to the town; he ridiculed this officer’s fears, and some warm expostulation passed between them. Being at length convinced that the English were in possession of the place, he ordered some detachments to drive them out again; but the cannon of their own works being turned against them, they found the task impracticable, and that very night their army decamped. St. Ruth, after a march of ten miles, took post at Aghrim; and having, by drafts from garrisons, augmented his army to five-and-twenty thousand men, resolved to hazard a decisive engagement.
Ginckel, having put Athlone in a posture of defence, passed the Shannon and marched up to the enemy, determined to give them battle, though his forces did not exceed eighteen thousand, and the Irish were posted in a very advantageous situation. St. Ruth had made an admirable disposition, and taken every precaution that military skill could suggest. His centre extended along a rising ground, uneven in many places, intersected with banks and ditches, joined by lines of communication, and fronted by a large bog almost impassable. His right was fortified with intrenchments, and his left secured by the castle of Aghrim. He harangued his army in the most pathetic strain, conjuring them to exert their courage in defence of their holy religion, in the extirpation of heresy, in recovering their ancient honours and estates, and in restoring a pious king to the throne, from whence he had been expelled by an unnatural usurper. He employed the priests to enforce his exhortations; to assure the men that they might depend upon the prayers of the church; and that, in case they should fall in battle, the saints and angels would convey their souls to heaven. They are said to have sworn upon the sacrament that they would not desert their colours, and to have received an order that no quarter should be given to the French heretics in the army of the prince of Orange. Ginckel had encamped on the Roscommon side of the river Sue, within three miles of the enemy: after having reconnoitred their posture, he resolved, with the advice of a council of war, to attack them on Sunday the twelfth day of July. The necessary orders being given, the army passed the river at two fords and a stone bridge, and, advancing to the edge of the great bog, began about twelve o’clock to force the two passages, in order to possess the ground on the other side. The enemy fought with surprising fury, and the horse were several times repulsed; but at length the troops upon the right carried their point by moans of some field pieces. The day was now so far advanced, that the general determined to postpone the battle till next morning; but perceiving some disorder among the enemy, and fearing they would decamp in the night, he altered his resolution and ordered the attack to be renewed. At six o’clock in the evening the left wing of the English advanced to the right of the Irish, from whom they met with such a warm and obstinate reception, that it was not without the most surprising efforts of courage and perseverance that they at length obliged them to give ground; and even then they lost it by inches. St. Ruth, seeing them in danger of being overpowered, immediately detached succours to them from his centre and left wing. Mackay no sooner perceived them weakened by these detachments, then he ordered three battalions to skirt the bog and attack them on the left, while the centre advanced through the middle of the morass, the men wading up to the waist in mud and water. After they had reached the other side, they found themselves obliged to ascend a rugged hill fenced with hedges and ditches; and these were lined with musqeteers, supported at proper intervals with squadrons of cavalry. They made such a desperate resistance, and fought with such impetuosity, that the assailants were repulsed into the middle of the bog with great loss, and St. Ruth exclaimed--“Now will I drive the English to the gates of Dublin.” In this critical conjuncture Ptolemache came tip with a fresh body to sustain them, rallied the broken troops, and renewed the charge with such vigour that the Irish gave way in their turn, and the English recovered the ground they had lost, though they found it impossible to improve their advantage. Mackay brought a body of horse and dragoons to the assistance of the left wing, and first turned the tide of battle in favour of the English. Major-general Rouvigny, who had behaved with great gallantry during the whole action, advanced with five regiments of cavalry to support the centre; when St. Ruth, perceiving his design, resolved to fall upon him in a dangerous hollow way which he was obliged to pass. For this purpose he began to descend Kircommodon-hill with his whole reserve of horse; but in his way was killed by a cannon-ball. His troops immediately halted, and his guards retreated with his body. His fate dispirited the troops, and produced such confusion as Sarsfield could not remedy; for though he was next in command, he had been at variance with St. Ruth since the affair at Athlone, and was ignorant of the plan he had concerted. Rouvigny having passed the hollow way without opposition, charged the enemy in flank, and bore down all before him with surprising impetuosity; the centre redoubled their efforts and pushed the Irish to the top of the hill, and then the whole line giving way at once from right to left threw down their arms. The foot fled towards a bog in their rear, and their horse took the route by the highway to Loughneagh; both were pursued by the English cavalry, who for four miles made a terrible slaughter. In the battle, which lasted two hours, and in the pursuit, above four thousand of the enemy were slain and six hundred taken, together with all their baggage, tents, provisions, ammunition, and artillery, nine-and-twenty pair of colours, twelve standards, and almost all the arms of the infantry. In a word, the victory was decisive, and not above eight hundred of the English were killed upon the field of battle. The vanquished retreated in great confusion to Limerick, where they resolved to make a final stand in hope of receiving such succours from France as would either enable them to retrieve their affairs, or obtain good terms from the court of England. There Tyrconnel died of a broken heart, after having survived his authority and reputation. He had incurred the contempt of the French, as well as the hatred of the Irish, whom he had advised to submit to the new government rather than totally ruin themselves and their families.
Immediately after the battle detachments were sent to reduce Portumny, Bonnachar, and Moorcastle, considerable passes on the Shannon, which were accordingly secured. Then Ginckel advanced to Galway, which he summoned to surrender; but he received a defiance from lord Dillon and general D’Ussone who commanded the garrison. The trenches were immediately opened; a fort which commanded the approaches to the town was taken by assault; six regiments of foot and four squadrons of horse passed the river on pontoons, and the place being wholly invested, the governor thought proper to capitulate. The garrison marched out with the honours of war, and was allowed safe conduct to Limerick. Ginckel directed his march to the same town, which was the only post of consequence that now held out for king James. Within four miles of the place he halted until the heavy cannon could be brought from Athlone. Hearing that Luttrel had been seized by the French general D’Ussone, and sentenced to be shot for having proposed to surrender, he sent a trumpet to tell the commander that if any person should be put to death for such a proposal, he would make retaliation on the Irish prisoners. On the twenty-fifth day of August the enemy were driven from all their advanced posts: captain Cole, with a squadron of ships, sailed up the Shannon, and his frigates anchored in sight of the town. On the twenty-sixth day of the month the batteries were opened, and a line of contra-vallation was formed; the Irish army lay encamped on the other side of the river, on the road to Killalow, and the fords were guarded with four regiments of their dragoons. On the fifth day of September, after the town had been almost laid in ruins by the bombs, and large breaches made in the wails by the battering cannon, the guns were dismounted, the out-forts evacuated, and such other motions made as indicated a resolution to abandon the siege. The enemy expressed their joy in loud acclamations; but this was of short continuance. In the night the besiegers began to throw a bridge of pontoons over the river about a mile higher up than the camp, and this work was finished before morning. A considerable body of horse and foot had passed when the alarm was given to the enemy, who were seized with such consternation, that they threw down their arms and betook themselves to flight, leaving behind them their tents, baggage, two pieces of cannon, and one standard. The bridge was immediately removed nearer the town and fortified; all the fords and passes were secured, and the batteries continued firing incessantly till the twenty-second day of the month, when Ginckel passed over with a division of the army and fourteen pieces of cannon. About four in the afternoon the grenadiers attacked the forts that commanded Thomond-bridge, and carried them sword in hand after an obstinate resistance. The garrison had made a sally from the town to support them; and this detachment was driven back with such precipitation, that the French officer on command in that quarter, fearing the English would enter pell-mell with the fugitives, ordered the bridge to be drawn up, leaving his own men to the fury of a victorious enemy. Six hundred were killed, two hundred taken prisoners, including many officers, and a great number were drowned in the Shannon.
THE FRENCH AND IRISH OBTAIN AN HONOURABLE CAPITULATION.
Then the English made a lodgement within ten paces of the bridge-foot; and the Irish, seeing themselves surrounded on all sides, determined to capitulate. General Sarsfield and colonel Wahop signified their resolution to Scrvenmore and Rouvigny; hostages were exchanged; a negotiation was immediately begun, and hostilities ceased on both sides of the river. The lords justices arrived in the camp on the first day of October, and on the fourth the capitulation was executed, extending to all the places in the kingdom that were still in the hands of the Irish. The Roman catholics were restored to the enjoyment of such liberty in the exercise of religion as was consistent with the laws of Ireland, and conformable with that which they possessed in the reign of Charles II. All persons whatever were entitled to the protection of these laws, and restored to the possession of their estates, privileges, and immunities, upon their submitting to the present government, and taking the oath of allegiance to their majesties king William and queen Mary, excepting however certain persons who were forfeited or exiled. This article even extended to all merchants of Limerick, or any other garrison possessed by the Irish, who happened to be abroad, and had not borne arms since the declaration in the first year of the present reign, provided they should return within the term of eight months. All the persons comprised in this and the forgoing article were indulged with a general pardon of all attainders, outlawries, treasons, misprisons of treason, premunires, felonies, trespasses, and other crimes and misdemeanors whatsoever, committed since the beginning of the reign of James II.; and the lords justices promised to use their best endeavours towards the reversal of such attainders and outlawries as had passed against any of them in parliament. In order to allay the violence of party and extinguish private animosities, it was agreed that no person should be sued or impleaded on either side for any trespass, or made accountable for the rents, tenements, lands, or houses he had received or enjoyed since the beginning of the war. Every nobleman and gentleman comprised in these articles was authorized to keep a sword, a case of pistols, and a gun, for his defence or amusement. The inhabitants of Limerick and other garrisons were permitted to remove their goods and chattels, without search, visitation, or payment of duty. The lords justices promised to use their best endeavours that all persons comprehended in this capitulation should for eight months be protected from all arrests and executions for debt or damage; they undertook that their majesties should ratify these articles within the space of eight months, and use their endeavours that they might be ratified and confirmed in parliament. The subsequent article was calculated to indemnify colonel John Brown, whose estate and effects had been seized for the use of the Irish army by Tyrconnel and Sarsfield, which last had been created Lord Lucan by king James, and was now mentioned by that title. All persons were indulged with free leave to remove with their families and effects to any other country except England and Scotland. All officers and soldiers in the service of king James, comprehending even the rapparees, willing to go beyond sea, were at liberty to inarch in bodies to the places of embarkation, to be conveyed to the continent with the French officers and troops. They were furnished with passports, convoys, and carriages by land and water; and general Gluckel engaged to provide seventy ships, if necessary, for their transportation, with two men of war for the accommodation of their officers, and to serve as a convoy to the fleet. It was stipulated, That the provisions and forage for their subsistence should be paid for on their arrival in France; that hostages should be given for this indemnification, as well as for the return of the ships; that all the garrisons should march out of their respective towns and fortresses with the honours of war; that the Irish should have liberty to transport nine hundred horses; that those who should choose to stay behind might dispose of themselves according to their own fancy, after having surrendered their arms to such commissioners as the general should appoint; that all prisoners of war should be set at liberty on both sides; that the general should provide two vessels to carry over two different persons to France with intimation of this treaty; and that none of those who were willing to quit the kingdom should be detained on account of debt, or any other pretence.--This was the substance of the famous treaty of Limerick, which the Irish Roman catholics considered as the great charter of their civil and religious liberties. The town of Limerick was surrendered to Ginckel; but both sides agreed that the two armies should intrench themselves till the Irish could embark, that no disorders might arise from a communication.
TWELVE THOUSAND IRISH CATHOLICS ARE TRANSPORTED TO FRANCE.
The protestant subjects of Ireland were extremely disgusted at these concessions made in favour of vanquished rebels, who had exercised such acts of cruelty and rapine. They complained, That they themselves, who had suffered for their loyalty to king William, were neglected, and obliged to sit down with their losses; while their enemies, who had shed so much blood in opposing his government, were indemnified by the articles of the capitulation, and even favoured with particular indulgencies. They were dismissed with the honours of war; they were transported at the government’s expense, to fight against the English in foreign countries; an honourable provision was made for the rapparees, who were professed banditti; the Roman catholic interest in Ireland obtained the sanction of regal authority; attainders were overlooked, forfeitures annulled, pardons extended, and laws set aside, in order to effect a pacification. Ginckel had received orders to put an end to the war at any rate, that William might convert his whole influence and attention to the affairs of the continent. When the articles of capitulation were ratified, and hostages exchanged for their being duly executed, about two thousand Irish foot, and three hundred horse, began their march for Cork, where they proposed to take shipping for France, under the conduct of Sarsfield; but three regiments refusing to quit the kingdom, delivered up their arms and dispersed to their former habitations. Those who remained at Limerick embarked on the seventh day of November, in French transports; and sailed immediately to France, under the convoy of a French squadron which had arrived in the bay of Dangle immediately after the capitulation was signed. Twelve thousand men chose to undergo exile from their native country rather than submit to the government of king William. When they arrived in France they were welcomed by a letter from James, who thanked them for their loyalty, assured them they should still serve under his commission and command, and that the king of France had already given orders for their being new clothed and put into quarters of refreshment.
MEETING OF THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT.
The reduction of Ireland being thus completed, baron Ginckel returned to England, where he was solemnly thanked by the house of commons for his great services, after he had been created earl of Athlone by his majesty. When the parliament met on the twenty-second day of October, the king in his speech insisted upon the necessity of sending a strong fleet to sea early in the season, and of maintaining a considerable army to annoy the enemy abroad, as well as to protect the kingdom from insult and invasion; for which purposes, he said, sixty-five thousand men would be barely sufficient. Each house presented an address of congratulation upon his majesty’s safe return to England, and on the reduction of Ireland: they promised to assist him to the utmost of their power, in prosecuting the war with France; and, at the same time, drew up addresses to the queen, acknowledging her prudent administration during his majesty’s absence. Notwithstanding this appearance of cordiality and complaisance, a spirit of discontent had insinuated itself into both houses of parliament, and even infected great part of the nation.
A great number of individuals who wished well to their country, could not, without anxiety and resentment, behold the interest of the nation sacrificed to foreign connexions, and the king’s favour so partially bestowed upon Dutchmen in prejudice to his English subjects. They observed, that the number of forces he demanded was considerably greater than that of any army which had ever been paid by the public, even when the nation was in the most imminent danger; that instead of contributing as allies to the maintenance of the war upon the continent, they had embarked as principals and bore the greatest part of the burden, though they had the least share of the profit. They even insinuated that such a standing army was more calculated to make the king absolute at home, than to render him formidable abroad; and the secret friends of the late king did not fail to enforce these insinuations. They renewed their animadversions upon the disagreeable part of his character; they dwelt upon his proud reserve, his sullen silence, his imperious disposition, and his base ingratitude, particularly to the earl of Marlborough, whom he had dismissed from all his employments immediately after the signal exploits he had performed in Ireland. The disgrace of this nobleman was partly ascribed to the freedom with which he had complained of the king’s undervaluing his services, and partly to the intrigues of his wife, who had gained an ascendancy over the princess Anne of Denmark, and is said to have employed her influence in fomenting a jealousy between the two sisters. The malcontents of the whiggish faction, enraged to find their credit declining at court, joined in the cry which the Jacobites had raised against the government. They scrupled not to say, that the arts of corruption were shamefully practised to secure a majority in parliament; that the king was as tender of the prerogative as any of his predecessors had ever been; and that he even ventured to admit Jacobites into his council, because they were known tools of arbitrary power. These reflections alluded to the earls of Rochester and Kanelagh, who, with sir Edward Seymour, had been lately created privy-counsellors. Rochester entertained very high notions of regal authority; he proposed severity as one of the best supports of government; was clear in his understanding, violent in his temper, and incorrupt in his principles. Ranelagh was a man of parts and pleasure, who possessed the most plausible and winning address; and was capable of transacting the most important and intricate affairs, in the midst of riot and debauchery. He had managed the revenue of Ireland in the reign of Charles II.; he enjoyed the office of paymaster in the army of King James, and now maintained the same footing under the government of William and Mary. Sir Edward Seymour was the proudest commoner in England, and the boldest orator that ever filled the speaker’s chair. He was intimately acquainted with the business of the house, and knew every individual member so exactly, that with one glance of his eye he could prognosticate the fate of every motion. He had opposed the court with great acrimony, questioned the king’s title, censured his conduct, and reflected upon his character. Nevertheless, he now became a proselyte, and was brought into the treasury.
TRANSACTIONS IN PARLIAMENT.
The commons voted three millions, four hundred and eleven thousand, six hundred and seventy-five pounds, for the use of the ensuing year: but the establishment of funds for raising these supplies was retarded, partly by the ill-humour of the opposition, and partly by intervening affairs that diverted the attention of the commons. Several eminent merchants presented a petition to the house against the East-India company, charging them with manifold abuses; at the same time, a counter-petition was delivered by the company, and the affair referred to the examination of a committee appointed for that purpose. After a minute inquiry into the nature of the complaints, the commons voted certain regulations with respect to the stock and the traffic; and resolved to petition his majesty, that, according to the said regulations, the East-India company should be incorporated by charter. The committee was ordered to bring in a bill for this establishment; but divers petitions being presented against it, and the company’s answers proving unsatisfactory, the house addressed the king to dissolve it, and grant a charter to a new company. He said it was an affair of great importance to the trade of the kingdom; therefore, he would consider the subject, and in a little time return a positive answer. The parliament was likewise amused by a pretended conspiracy of the papists in Lancashire, to raise a rebellion and restore James to the throne. Several persons were seized, and some witnesses examined: but nothing appeared to justify the information. At length one Fuller, a prisoner in the king’s bench, offered his evidence, and was brought to the bar of the house of commons, where he produced some papers. He obtained a blank pass from the king for two persons, who he said would come from the continent to give evidence. He was afterwards examined at his own lodgings, where he affirmed that colonel Thomas Délavai and James Hayes were the witnesses for whom he had procured the pass and the protection. Search was made for them according to his direction, but no such persons were found. Then the house declared Fuller a notorious impostor, cheat, and false accuser. He was, at the request of the commons, prosecuted by the attorney-general, and sentenced to stand in the pillory; a disgrace which he accordingly underwent.
A bill for regulating trials in cases of high treason having been laid aside by the lords in the preceding session, was now again brought upon the carpet, and passed the lower house. The design of this bill was to secure the subject from the rigours to which he had been exposed in the late reigns: it provided, That the prisoner should be furnished with a copy of his indictment, as also of the panel, ten days before his trial; and, that his witnesses should be examined upon oath as well as those of the crown. The lords, in their own behalf, added a clause enacting, That upon the trials of any peer or peeress, for treason or misprison of treason, all the peers who have a right to sit and vote in parliament, should be duly summoned to assist at the trial; that this notice should be given twenty days before the trial; and that every peer so summoned, and appearing, should vote upon the occasion. The commons rejected this amendment; and a free conference ensued. The point was argued with great vivacity on both sides, which served only to inflame the dispute, and render each party the more tenacious of their own opinion. After three conferences that produced nothing but animosity, the bill was dropped; for the commons resolved to bear the hardships of which they complained, rather than be relieved at the expense of purchasing a new privilege to the lords; and without this advantage, the peers would not contribute to their relief.
{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688--1701.}
THE ENGLISH AND DUTCH FLEETS BAFFLED BY THE FRENCH.
The next object that engrossed the attention of the lower house, was the miscarriage of the fleet during the summer’s expedition. Admiral Russel, who commanded at sea, having been joined by a Dutch squadron, sailed in quest of the enemy; but as the French king had received undoubted intelligence that the combined squadrons were superior to his navy in number of ships and weight of metal, he ordered Tourville to avoid an engagement. This officer acted with such vigilance, caution, and dexterity, as baffled all the endeavours of Russel, who was moreover perplexed with obscure and contradictory orders. Nevertheless, he cruised all summer either in the channel or in soundings, for the protection of the trade, and in particular secured the homeward-bound Smyrna fleet, in which the English and Dutch had a joint concern amounting to four millions sterling. Having scoured the channel, and sailed along great part of the French coast, he returned to Torbay in the beginning of August, and received fresh orders to put to sea again, notwithstanding his repeated remonstrances against exposing large ships to the storms that always blow about the time of the equinox. He therefore sailed back to soundings, where he continued cruising till the second day of September, when he was overtaken by a violent tempest, which drove him into the channel, and obliged him to make for the port of Plymouth. The weather being hazy, he reached the Sound with great difficulty: the Coronation, a second-rate, foundered at anchor off the Ram-head; the Harwich, a third-rate, bulged upon the rocks and perished; two others ran ashore, but were got off with little damage; but the whole fleet was scattered and distressed. The nation murmured at the supposed misconduct of the admiral, and the commons subjected him to an inquiry: but when they examined his papers, orders, and instructions, they perceived he had adhered to them with great punctuality, and thought proper to drop the prosecution out of tenderness to the ministry. Then the house took into consideration some letters which had been intercepted in a French ship taken by sir Ralph Delaval. Three of these are said to have been written by king James, and the rest sealed with his seal. They related to the plan of an insurrection in Scotland, and in the northern parts of England: Legge, lord Dartmouth, with one Crew, being mentioned in them as agents and abettors in the design, warrants were immediately issued against them; Crew absconded, but lord Dartmouth was committed to the Tower. Lord Preston was examined touching some ciphers which they could not explain, and, pretending ignorance, was imprisoned in Newgate, from whence however he soon obtained his release. The funds for the supplies of the ensuing year being established, and several acts* passed relating to domestic regulations, the king on the twenty-fourth day of February closed the session with a short speech, thanking the parliament for their demonstrations of affection in the liberal supplies they had granted, and communicating his intention of repairing speedily to the continent. Then the two houses, at his desire, adjourned themselves to the twelfth day of April, and the parliament was afterwards prorogued to the twenty-ninth day of May, by proclamation. [035] [See note H, at the end of this Vol.]
* The laws enacted in this session were those: an act for abrogating the oath of supremacy in Ireland, and appointing other oaths; an act for taking away clergy from some offenders, and bringing others to punishment; an act against deer-stealing; an act for repairing the highways, and settling the rates of carriage of goods; an act for the relief of creditors against fraudulent devices; an act for explaining and supplying the defects of former laws for the settlement of the poor; an act for the encouragement of the breeding and feeding of cattle; and an act for ascertaining the tithes of hemp and flax.
THE KING DISOBLIGES THE PRESBYTERIANS OF SCOTLAND.
The king had suffered so much in his reputation by his complaisance to the presbyterians of Scotland, and was so displeased with the conduct of that stubborn sect of religionists, that he thought proper to admit some prelatists into the administration. Johnston, who had been sent envoy to the elector of Brandenburgh was recalled, and with the master of Stair, made joint secretary of Scotland; Melvil, who had declined in his importance, was made lord privy-seal of that kingdom; Tweedale was constituted lord chancellor; Crawford retained the office of president of the council; and Lothian was appointed high commissioner to the general assembly. The parliament was adjourned to the fifteenth day of April, because it was not yet compliant enough to be assembled with safety; and the episcopal clergy were admitted to a share of the church government. These measures, instead of healing the divisions, served only to inflame the animosity of the two parties. The episcopalians triumphed in the king’s favour, and began to treat their antagonists with insolence and scorn: the presbyterians were incensed to see their friends disgraced, and their enemies distinguished by the royal indulgence. They insisted upon the authority of the law, which happened to be upon their side: they became more than ever sour, surly, and implacable; they refused to concur with the prelatists or abate in the least circumstances of discipline; and the assembly was dissolved without any time or place assigned for the next meeting. The presbyterians pretended an independent right of assembling annually, even without a call from his majesty; they therefore adjourned themselves, after having protested against the dissolution. The king resented this measure as an insolent invasion of the prerogative, and conceived an aversion to the whole sect, who in their turn began to lose all respect for his person and government.
As the highlanders were not yet totally reduced, the earl of Breadalbane undertook to bring them over, by distributing sums of money among their chiefs; and fifteen thousand pounds were remitted from England for this purpose. The clans being informed of this remittance, suspected that the earl’s design was to appropriate to himself the best part of the money, and when he began to treat with them made such extravagant demands that he found his scheme impracticable. He was therefore obliged to refund the sum he had received; and he resolved to wreak his vengeance with the first opportunity on those who had frustrated his intention. He who chiefly thwarted his negotiation was Macdonald of Glencoe, whose opposition rose from a private circumstance which ought to have had no effect upon a treaty that regarded the public weal. Macdonald had plundered the lands of Breadalbane during the course of hostilities; and this nobleman insisted upon being indemnified for his losses, from the other’s share of the money which he was employed to distribute. The highlander not only refused to acquiesce in these terms, but, by his influence among the clans, defeated the whole scheme, and the earl in revenge devoted him to destruction. King William had by proclamation offered an indemnity to all those who had been in arms against him, provided they would submit and take the oaths by a certain day; and this was prolonged to the close of the present year, with a denunciation of military execution against those who should hold out after the end of December. Macdonald, intimidated by this declaration, repaired on the very last day of the month to Fort-William, and desired that the oaths might be tendered to him by colonel Hill, governor of that fortress. As this officer was not vested with the power of a civil magistrate, he refused to administer them; and Macdonald set out immediately for Inverary, the county-town of Argyle. Though the ground was covered with snow, and the weather intensely cold, he travelled with such diligence, that the term prescribed by the proclamation was but one day elapsed when he reached the place, and addressed himself to sir John Campbell, sheriff of the county, who, in consideration of his disappointment at Fort-William, was prevailed upon to administer the oaths to him and his adherents. Then they returned to their own habitations in the valley of Glencoe, in full confidence of being protected by the government to which they had so solemnly submitted.
MASSACRE OF GLENCOE.
Breadalbane had represented Macdonald at court as an incorrigible rebel, as a ruffian inured to bloodshed and rapine, who would never be obedient to the laws of his country, nor live peaceably under any sovereign. He observed, that he had paid no regard to the proclamation, and proposed that the government should sacrifice him to the quiet of the kingdom, in extirpating him with his family and dependents by military execution. His advice was supported by the suggestions of the other Scottish ministers; and the king, whose chief virtue was not humanity, signed a warrant for the destruction of those unhappy people, though it does not appear that he knew of Macdonald’s submission. An order for this barbarous execution, signed and countersigned by his majesty’s own hand, being transmitted to the master of Stair, secretary for Scotland, this minister sent particular directions to Livingstone, who commanded the troops in that kingdom, to put the inhabitants of Glencoe to the sword, charging him to take no prisoners, that the scene might be more terrible. In the month of February, captain Campbell of Glenlyon, by virtue of an order from major Duncanson, marched into the valley of Glencoe with a company of soldiers belonging to Argyle’s regiment, on pretence of levying the arrears of the land-tax and hearth-money. When Macdonald demanded whether they came as friends or enemies, he answered, as friends, and promised upon his honour that neither he nor his people should sustain the least injury. In consequence of this declaration, he and his men were received with the most cordial hospitality, and lived fifteen days with the men of the valley in all the appearance of the most unreserved friendship. At length the fatal period approached. Macdonald and Campbell having passed the day together, parted about seven in the evening, with mutual professions of the warmest affection. The younger Macdonald, perceiving the guards doubled, began to suspect some treachery, and communicated his suspicion to his brother; but neither he nor the father would harbour the least doubt of Campbell’s sincerity: nevertheless the two young men went forth privately to make further observations. They overheard the common soldiers say they liked not the work; that though they would have willingly fought the Macdonalds of the Glen fairly in the field, they held it base to murder them in cool blood, but that their officers were answerable for the treachery. When the youths hastened back to apprize their father of the impending danger, they saw the house already surrounded; they heard the discharge of muskets, the shrieks of women and children; and, being destitute of arms, secured their own lives by immediate flight. The savage ministers of vengeance had entered the old man’s chamber, and shot him through the head. He fell down dead in the arms of his wife, who died next day distracted by the horror of her husband’s fate. The laird of Auchintrincken, Macdonald’s guest, who had, three months before this period, submitted to the government, and at this very time had a protection in his pocket, was put to death without question. A boy of eight years, who fell at Campbell’s feet imploring mercy, and offering to serve him for life, was stabbed to the heart by one Drummond a subaltern officer. Eight-and-thirty persons suffered in this manner, the greater part of whom were surprised in their beds, and hurried into eternity before they had time to implore the divine mercy. The design was to butcher all the males under seventy that lived in the valley, the number of whom amounted to two hundred; but some of the detachments did not arrive soon enough to secure the passes; so that one hundred and sixty escaped. Campbell having perpetrated this cruel massacre, ordered all the houses to be burned, made a prey of all the cattle and effects that were found in the valley, and left the helpless women and children, whose fathers and husbands he had murdered, naked and forlorn, without covering, food, or shelter, in the midst of the snow that covered the whole face of the country, at the distance of six long miles from any inhabited place. Distracted with grief and horror, surrounded with the shades of night, shivering with cold, and appalled with the apprehension of immediate death from the swords of those who had sacrificed their friends and kinsmen, they could not endure such a complication of calamities, but generally perished in the waste, before they could receive the least comfort or assistance. This barbarous massacre, performed under the sanction of king William’s authority, answered the immediate purpose of the court by striking terror into the hearts of the Jacobite high-landers; but at the same time excited the horror of all those who had not renounced every sentiment of humanity, and produced such an aversion to the government, as all the arts of a ministry could never totally surmount. A detail of the particulars was published at Paris, with many exaggerations, and the Jacobites did not fail to expatiate on every circumstance, in domestic libels and private conversation. The king, alarmed at the outcry which was raised upon this occasion, ordered an inquiry to be set on foot, and dismissed the master of Stair from his employment of secretary: he likewise pretended that he had subscribed the order amidst a heap of other papers, without knowing the purport of it; but as he did not severely punish those who had made his authority subservient to their own cruel revenge, the imputation stuck fast to his character; and the highlanders, though terrified into silence and submission, were inspired with the most implacable resentment against his person and administration.
PREPARATIONS FOR A DESCENT UPON ENGLAND.
A great number in both kingdoms waited impatiently for an opportunity to declare in behalf of their exiled monarch, who was punctually informed of all these transactions, and endeavoured to make his advantage of the growing discontent. King William having settled the domestic affairs of the nation, and exerted uncommon care and assiduity in equipping a formidable fleet, embarked for Holland on the fifth day of March, and was received by the states-general with expressions of the most cordial regard. While he was here employed in promoting the measures of the grand confederacy, the French king resolved to invade England in his absence, and seemed heartily engaged in the interest of James, whose emissaries in Britain began to bestir themselves with uncommon assiduity in preparing the nation for his return. One Lant, who was imprisoned on suspicion of distributing his commissions, had the good fortune to be released, and the papists of Lancashire dispatched him to the court of St. Germain’s with an assurance that they were in a condition to receive their old sovereign. He returned with advice that king James would certainly land in the spring; and that colonel Parker and other officers should be sent over with full instructions, touching their conduct at and before the king’s arrival. Parker accordingly repaired to England, and made the Jacobites acquainted with the whole scheme of a descent, which Louis had actually concerted with the late king. He assured them that their lawful sovereign would once more visit his British dominions, at the head of thirty thousand effective men, to be embarked at La Hogue; that the transports were already prepared, and a strong squadron equipped for their convoy; he therefore exhorted them to be speedy and secret in their preparation, that they might be in readiness to take arms and co-operate in effecting his restoration. This officer, and one Johnson a priest, are said to have undertaken the assassination of king William; but before they could execute their design his majesty set sail for Holland.
DECLARATION OF KING JAMES.
Meanwhile James addressed a letter to several lords who had been formerly members of his council, as well as to divers ladies of quality and distinction, intimating the pregnancy of his queen, and requiring them to attend as witnesses at the labour. He took notice of the injury his family and honour had sustained, from the cruel aspersions of his enemies concerning the birth of his son, and as Providence had now favoured him with an opportunity of refuting the calumny of those who affirmed that the queen was incapable of child-bearing, he assured them in the name of his brother the French king, as well as upon his own royal word, that they should have free leave to visit his court and return after the labour.*
* The letter was directed not only for privy counsellors, but also to the duchesses of Somerset and Beaufort, the marchioness of Halifax, the countesses of Derby, Mulgrave, Rutland, Brooks, Nottingham, Lumley, and Danby, the ladies Fitzharding and Fretchville, those of sir John Trevor, speaker of the house of commons, sir Edward Seymour, sir Christopher Musgrave, the wives of sir Thomas Stamford, lord-mayor of London, sir William Ashhurst and sir Richard Levert, the sheriffs, and, lastly, to Dr. Chamberlain, the famous practitioner in midwifery.
This invitation however no person would venture to accept. He afterwards employed his emissaries in circulating a printed declaration, importing that the king of France had enabled him to make another effort to retrieve his crown; and that although he was furnished with a number of troops sufficient to untie the hands of his subjects, he did not intend to deprive them of their share in the glory of restoring their lawful king and their ancient government. He exhorted the people to join his standard. He assured them that the foreign auxiliaries should behave with the most regular discipline, and be sent back immediately after his re-establishment. He observed, that when such a number of his subjects were so infatuated as to concur with the unnatural design of the prince of Orange, he had chosen to rely upon the fidelity of his English army, and refused considerable succours that were offered to him by his most christian majesty; that when he was ready to oppose force with force, he nevertheless offered to give all reasonable satisfaction to his subjects who had been misled, and endeavoured to open their eyes with respect to the vain pretences of his adversary, whose aim was not the reformation but the subversion of the government; that when he saw himself deserted by his army, betrayed by his ministers, abandoned by his favourites, and even his own children, and at last rudely driven from his own palace by a guard of insolent foreigners, he had for his personal safety taken refuge in France: that his retreat from the malice and cruel designs of the usurper had been construed into an abdication, and the whole constitution of the monarchy destroyed by a set of men illegally assembled, who, in fact, had no power to alter the property of the meanest subject. He expressed his hope that by this time the nation had fairly examined the account, and from the losses and enormous expense of the three last years, were convinced that the remedy was worse than the disease; that the beginning, like the first years of Nero’s reign, would in all probability be found the mildest part of the usurpation, and the instruments of the new establishment live to suffer severely by the tyranny they had raised; that even though the usurpation should continue during his life, an indisputable title would survive in his issue, and expose the kingdom to all the miseries of a civil war. He not only solicited but commanded his good subjects to join him, according to their duty and the oaths they had taken. He forbade them to pay taxes or any part of the revenue to the usurper. He promised pardon, and even rewards, to all those who should return to their duty, and to procure in his first parliament an act of indemnity, with an exception of certain persons * whom he now enumerated.
* Those excepted were the duke of Ormond, the marquis of Winchester, the earls of Sunderland, Bath, Danhy, and Nottingham; the lords Newport, Delamere, Wiltshire, Colchester, Cornhury, Dunblain, and Churchill; the bishops of London and St. Asaph; sir Robert Howard, sir John Worden, sir Samuel Grimstone, sir Stephen Fox, sir George Treby, sir Basil Dixwell, sir James Oxenden; Dr. John Tillotson, Dr. Gilbert Burnet; Francis Russel, Richard Lovison, John Trenchard, Charles Duncomb, citizens of London; Edwards, Stapleton, and Hunt, fishermen, and all others who had offered personal indignities to him at Feyersham; or had been concerned in the barbarous murder of John Ashton Cross, or any other who had suffered death for their loyalty; and all spies, or such as had betrayed his council during his late absence from England.
He declared that all soldiers who should quit the service of the usurper and enlist under his banners, might depend upon receiving their pardon and arrears; and that the foreign troops, upon laying clown their arms, should be paid and transported to their respective countries. He solemnly protested that he would protect and maintain the church of England, as by law established, in all her rights, privileges, and possessions: he signified his resolution to use his influence with the parliament for allowing liberty of conscience to all his subjects, as an indulgence agreeable to the spirit of the christian religion, and conducive to the wealth and prosperity of the nation. He said his principal care should be to heal the wounds of the late distractions; to restore trade by observing the act of navigation, which had been lately so much violated in favour of strangers; to put the navy in a flourishing condition; and to take every step that might contribute to the greatness of the monarchy and the happiness of the people. He concluded with professions of resignation to the Divine Will, declaring that all who should reject his offers of mercy, and appear in arms against him, would be answerable to Almighty God for all the blood that should be spilt, and all the miseries in which these kingdoms might be involved by their desperate and unreasonable opposition.
While this declaration operated variously on the minds of the people, colonel Parker, with some other officers, enlisted men privately for the service of James, in the counties of York, Lancaster, and in the bishopric of Durham: at the same time, Fountaine and Holeman were employed in raising two regiments of horse at London, that they might join their master immediately after his landing. His partisans sent captain Lloyd with an express to lord Melfoot, containing a detail of these particulars, with an assurance that they had brought over rear-admiral Carter to the interest of his majesty. They likewise transmitted a list of the ships that composed the English fleet, and exhorted James to use his influence with the French king, that the count do Tourville might be ordered to attack them before they should be joined by the Dutch squadron. It was in consequence of this advice that Louis commanded Tourville to fall upon the English fleet, even without waiting for the Toulon squadron commanded by the marquis D’Etrees. By this time James had repaired to La Hogue, and was ready to embark with his army, consisting of a body of French troops, together with some English and Scotch refugees, and the regiments which had been transported from Ireland by virtue of the capitulation of Limerick.
PRECAUTIONS TAKEN BY THE QUEEN FOR THE DEFENCE OF THE NATION.
The ministry of England was informed of all these particulars, partly by some agents of James who betrayed his cause, and partly by admiral Carter, who gave the queen to understand he had been tampered with; and was instructed to amuse the Jacobites with a negotiation. King William no sooner arrived in Holland than he hastened the naval preparations of the Dutch, so that their fleet was ready for sea sooner than was expected; and when he received the first intimation of the projected descent, he detached general Ptolemache with three of the English regiments from Holland. These, reinforced with other troops remaining in England, were ordered to encamp in the neighbourhood of Portsmouth. The queen issued a proclamation, commanding all papists to depart from London and Westminster: the members of both houses of parliament were required to meet on the twenty-fourth day of May, that she might avail herself of their advice in such a perilous conjuncture. Warrants were expedited for apprehending divers disaffected persons; and they withdrawing themselves from their respective places of abode, a proclamation was published for discovering and bringing them to justice. The earls of Scarsdale, Litchfield, and Newburgh; the lords Griffin, Forbes, sir John Fenwick, sir Theophilus Oglethorpe, and others, found means to elude the search. The earls of Huntingdon and Marlborough were sent to the Tower; Edward Ridley, Knevitt, Hastings, and Robert Ferguson, were imprisoned in Newgate. The bishop of Rochester was confined to his own house; the lords Brudenal and Fanshaw were secured; the earls of Dunmore, Middleton, and sir Andrew Forrester, were discovered in a quaker’s house, and committed to prison with several other persons of distinction. The trainbands of London and Westminster were armed by the queen’s direction, and she reviewed them in person: admiral Russell was ordered to put to sea with all possible expedition; and Carter, with a squadron of eighteen sail, continued to cruise along the French coast to observe the motions of the enemy.
ADMIRAL RUSSEL PUTS TO SEA.
On the eleventh day of May, Russel sailed from Rye to St. Helen’s, where he was joined by the squadron under Delaval and Carter. There he received a letter from the earl of Nottingham, intimating that a report having been spread of the queen’s suspecting the fidelity of the sea-officers, her majesty had ordered him to declare in her name that she reposed the most entire confidence in their attachment, and believed the report was raised by the enemies of the government. The flag-officers and captains forthwith drew up a very loyal and dutiful address, which was graciously received by the queen, and published for the satisfaction of the nation. Russel, being reinforced by the Dutch squadrons commanded by Allemonde, Callemberg, and Vandergoes, set sail for the coast of France on the eighteenth day of May, with a fleet of ninety-nine ships of the line, besides frigates and fire-ships. Next day, about three o’clock in the morning, he discovered the enemy under the count de Tour-ville, and threw out the signal for the line of battle, which by eight o’clock was formed in good order, the Dutch in the van, the blue division in the rear, and the red in the centre. The French fleet did not exceed sixty-three ships of the line, and as they were to windward Tourville might have avoided an engagement; but he had received a positive order to fight, on the supposition that the Dutch and English squadrons had not joined. Louis indeed was apprised of their junction before they were descried by his admiral, to whom he dispatched a countermanding order by two several vessels; but one of them was taken by the English, and the other did not arrive till the day after the engagement.
{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688--1701.}
HE OBTAINS A COMPLETE VICTORY OVER THE FRENCH.
Tourville therefore, in obedience to the first mandate, bore down alongside of Russel’s own ship, which he engaged at a very small distance. He fought with great fury till one o’clock, when his rigging and sails being considerably damaged, his ship, the Rising-Sun, which carried one hundred and four cannon, was towed out of the line in great disorder. Nevertheless the engagement continued till three, when the fleets were parted by a thick fog: when this abated, the enemy were descried flying to the northward, and Russel made the signal for chasing. Part of the blue squadron came up with the enemy about eight in the evening, and engaged them half an hour, during which admiral Carter was mortally wounded. Finding himself in extremity, he exhorted his captain to fight as long as the ship could swim, and expired with great composure. At length the French bore away for Conquet road, having lost four ships in this day’s action. Next day, about eight in the morning, they were discovered crowding away to the westward, and the combined fleets chased with all the sail they could carry, until Russel’s foretopmast came by the board. Though he was retarded by this accident, the fleet still continued the pursuit, and anchored near Cape La Hogue. On the twenty-second of the month, about seven in the morning, part of the French fleet was perceived near the Race of Alderney, some at anchor, and some driving to the eastward with the tide of flood. Russel and the ships nearest him immediately slipped their cables and chased. The Rising Sun having lost her masts, ran ashore near Cherbourg, where she was burned by sir Ralph Delaval, together with the Admirable, another first-rate, and the Conquérant of eighty guns. Eighteen other ships of their fleet ran into La Hogue, where they were attacked by sir George Rooke, who destroyed them and a great number of transports laden with ammunition, in the midst of a terrible fire from the enemy, and in sight of the Irish camp. Sir John Ashby, with his own squadron and some Dutch ships, pursued the rest of the French fleet, which escaped through the Race of Alderney by such a dangerous passage as the English could not attempt without exposing their ships to the most imminent hazard. This was a very mortifying defeat to the French king, who had been so long flattered with an uninterrupted series of victories; it reduced James to the lowest ebb of despondence, as it frustrated the whole scheme of his embarkation, and overwhelmed his friends in England with grief and despair. Some historians allege that Russel did not improve his victory with all advantages that might have been obtained before the enemy recovered their consternation. They say his affection to the service was in a great measure cooled by the disgrace of his friend the earl of Marlborough; that he hated the earl of Nottingham, by whose channel he received his orders; and that he adhered to the letter rather than to the spirit of his instructions. But this is a malicious imputation, and a very ungrateful return for his manifold services to the nation. He acted in this whole expedition with the genuine spirit of a British admiral. He plied from the Nore to the Downs with a very scanty wind through the dangerous sands, contrary to the advice of all his pilots; and by this bold passage effected a junction of the different squadrons, which otherwise the French would have attacked singly and perhaps defeated. He behaved with great gallantry during the engagement, and destroyed about fifteen of the enemy’s capital ships; in a word, he obtained such a decisive victory, that during the remaining part of the war the French would not hazard another battle by sea with the English.
Russel having ordered Sir John Ashby and the Dutch admiral Callemberg to steer towards Havre de Grace, and endeavour to destroy the remainder of the French fleet, sailed back to St. Helen’s that the damaged ships might be refitted, and the fleet furnished with fresh supplies of provisions and ammunition; but his principal motive was to take on board a number of troops provided for a descent upon France, which had been projected by England and Holland, with a view to alarm and distract the enemy in their own dominions. The queen was so pleased with the victory that she ordered thirty thousand pounds to be distributed among the sailors. She caused medals to be struck in honour of the action; and the bodies of admiral Carter and captain Hastings, who had been killed in the battle, to be interred with great funeral pomp. In the latter end of July seven thousand men, commanded by the duke of Leinster, embarked on board transports to be landed at St. Maloes, Brest, or Rochefort, and the nation conceived the most sanguine hopes of this expedition. A council of war, consisting of land and sea officers, being held on board the Breda to deliberate upon the scheme of the ministry, the members unanimously agreed that the season was too far advanced to put it in execution. Nevertheless, the admiral having detached sir John Ashby with a squadron to intercept the remains of the French fleet in their passage from St. Maloes to Brest, set sail for La Hogue with the rest of the fleet and transports; but in a few days the wind shifting, lie was obliged to return to St. Helen’s.
The queen immediately dispatched the marquis of Carmarthen, the earls of Devonshire, Dorset, Nottingham, and Rochester, together with the lords Sidney and Cornwallis, to consult with the admiral, who demonstrated the impracticability of making an effectual descent upon the coast of France at that season of the year. The design was therefore laid aside, and the forces were transported to Flanders. The higher the hopes of the nation had been raised by this armament, the deeper they felt their disappointment. A loud clamour was raised against the ministry as the authors of this miscarriage. The people complained that they were plundered and abused; that immense sums were extorted from them by the most grievous impositions; that, by the infamous expedient of borrowing upon established funds, their taxes were perpetuated; that their burdens would daily increase; that their treasure was either squandered away in chimerical projects or expended in foreign connexions, of which England was naturally independent. They were the more excusable for exclaiming in this manner, as their trade had suffered grievously by the French privateers which swarmed in the Channel. In vain the merchants had recourse to the Admiralty, which could not spare particular convoys while large fleets were required for the defence of the nation. The French king having nothing further to apprehend from the English armament, withdrew his troops from the coast of Normandy; and James returned in despair to St. Germain’s, where his queen had been in his absence delivered of a daughter, who was born in the presence of the archbishop of Paris, the keeper of the seals, and other persons of distinction.
THE FRENCH TAKE NAMUR IN SIGHT OF KING WILLIAM.
Louis had taken the field in the latter end of May. On the twentieth day of that month he arrived at his camp in Flanders with all the effeminate pomp of an Asiatic emperor, attended by his women and parasites, his band of music, his dancers, his opera, and, in a word, by all the ministers of luxury and sensual pleasure. Having reviewed his army, which amounted to about one hundred and twenty thousand men, he undertook the siege of Namur, which he invested on both sides of the Sambre with about one-half of his army, while the other covered the siege under the command of Luxembourg. Namur is situated on the conflux of the Meuse and the Sambre. The citadel was deemed one of the strongest forts in Flanders, strengthened with a new work contrived by the famous engineer Coehorn, who now defended it in person. The prince de Barbason commanded the garrison, consisting of nine thousand men. The place was well supplied, and the governor knew that king William would make strong efforts for its relief, so that the besieged were animated with many concurring considerations. Notwithstanding these advantages, the assailants carried on their attacks with such vigour that in seven days after the trenches were opened, the town capitulated and the garrison retired into the citadel. King William, being joined by the troops of Brandenburgh and Liege, advanced to the Mehaigne at the head of one hundred thousand effective men, and encamped within cannon shot of Luxembourg’s army, which lay on the other side of the river. That general however had taken such precautions, that the king of England could not interrupt the siege nor attack the French lines without great disadvantage. The besiegers, encouraged by the presence of their monarch, and assisted by the superior abilities of Vau-ban their engineer, repeated their attacks with such impetuosity that the fort of Cohorn was surrendered after a very obstinate defence, in which he himself had been dangerously wounded. The citadel being thus left exposed to the approaches of the enemy, could not long withstand the violence of their operations; the two covered ways were taken by assault. On the twentieth of May the governor capitulated, to the unspeakable mortification of king William, who saw himself obliged to lie inactive at the head of a powerful army, and be an eye-witness of the loss of the most important fortress in the Netherlands. Louis having taken possession of the place, returned in triumph to Versailles, where he was flattered with all the arts of adulation; while William’s reputation suffered a little from his miscarriage, and the prince of Barbason incurred the suspicion of treachery or misconduct.
THE ALLIES DEFEATED AT STEENKIRK.
Luxembourg having placed a strong garrison in Namur, detached Bounders with a body of troops to La Bassiere, and with the rest of his army encamped at Soignies. The king of England sent off detachments towards Liege and Ghent; and on the sixth day of July posted himself at Genap, resolved to seize the first opportunity of retrieving his honour by attacking the enemy. Having received intelligence that the French general was in motion and intended to take post between Steenkirk and Enghien, he passed the river Senne in order to anticipate his purpose; but in spite of all his diligence Luxembourg gained his point, and William encamped at Lembecq, within six miles of the French army. Here he resolved in a council of war to attack the enemy, and every disposition was made for that purpose. The heavy baggage he ordered to be conveyed to the other side of the Senne; and one Millevoix, a detected spy, was compelled by menaces to mislead Luxembourg with false intelligence, importing that he need not be alarmed at the motions of the allies, who intended the next day to make a general forage. On the twenty-fourth day of July, the army began to move from the left in two columns, as the ground would not admit of their marching in an extended front. The prince of Wirtemberg began the attack on the right of the enemy at the head of ten battalions of English, Danish, and Dutch infantry; he was supported by a considerable body of British horse and foot, commanded by lieutenant-general Mackay. Though the ground was intersected by hedges, ditches, and narrow defiles, the prince marched with such diligence that he was in a condition to begin the battle about two in the afternoon, when he charged the French with such impetuosity that they were driven* from their posts, and their whole camp became a scene of tumult and confusion. Luxembourg, trusting to the intelligence he had received, allowed himself to be surprised, and it required the full exertion of his superior talents to remedy the consequences of his neglect. He forthwith forgot a severe indisposition under which he then laboured; he rallied his broken battalions; he drew up his forces in order of battle, and led them to the charge in person. The duke de Chartres, who was then in the fifteenth year of his age, the dukes of Bourbon and Vendôme, the prince of Conti, and a great number of volunteers of the first quality, put themselves at the head of the household troops, and fell with great fury upon the English, who were very ill supported by count Solmes, the officer who commanded the centre of the allies. The prince of Wirtemberg had taken one of the enemies’ batteries, and actually penetrated into their lines; but finding himself in danger of being overpowered by numbers, he sent an aidecamp twice to demand succours from Solmes, who derided his distress, saying, “Let us see what sport these English bull-dogs will make.” At length, when the king sent an express order commanding him to sustain the left wing, he made a motion with his horse, which could not act while his infantry kept their ground, and the British troops, with a few Dutch and Danes, bore the whole brunt of the engagement. They fought with surprising courage and perseverance against dreadful odds; and the event of the battle continued doubtful, until Bouflîers joined the French army with a great body of dragoons. The allies could not sustain the additional weight of this reinforcement, before which they gave way, though the retreat was made in tolerable order, and the enemy did not think proper to prosecute the advantage they had gained. In this action the confederates lost the earl of Angus, general Mackay, sir John Lanier, sir Robert Douglas, and many other gallant officers, together with about three thousand men left dead on the spot, the same number wounded or taken, a great many colours and standards, and several pieces of cannon.
EXTRAVAGANT REJOICINGS IN FRANCE.
The French however reaped no solid advantage from this victory, which cost them about three thousand men, including the prince of Turenne, the marquis de Bellefond, Tilladet, and Fernacon, with many officers of distinction: as for Millevoix the spy, he was hanged on a tree on the right wing of the allied army. King William retired unmolested to his own camp; and notwithstanding all his overthrows, continued a respectable enemy, by dint of invincible fortitude and a genius fruitful in resources. That he was formidable to the French nation, even in the midst of his ill success, appears from divers undeniable testimonies, and from none more than from the extravagance of joy expressed by the people of France on the occasion of this unimportant victory. When the princes who served in the battle returned to Paris, the roads through which they passed were almost blocked up with multitudes; and the whole air resounded with acclamation. All the ornaments of the fashion peculiar to both sexes adopted the name of Steenkirk: every individual who had been personally engaged in the action was revered as a being of a superior species, and the transports of the women rose almost to a degree of frenzy.
CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIFE OF WILLIAM.
The French ministry did not entirely depend upon the fortune of the war for the execution of their revenge against king William, They likewise employed assassins to deprive him of life in the most treacherous manner.
When Louvois died, his son the marquis de Barbesieux, who succeeded him in his office of secretary, found among his papers the draft of a scheme for this purpose, and immediately revived the design by means of the chevalier de Grandval, a captain of dragoons in the service. He and colonel Parker engaged one Dumont, who undertook to assassinate king William. Madame de Maintenon, and Paparel, paymaster to the French army, were privy to the scheme, which they encouraged: the conspirators are said to have obtained an audience of king James, who approved of their undertaking, and assured them of his protection; but that unfortunate monarch was unjustly charged with the guilt of countenancing the intended murder, as they communicated nothing to him but an attempt to seize the person of the prince of Orange. Dumont actually enlisted in the confederate army, that he might have the better opportunity to shoot the king of England when he should ride out to visit the linos, while Grandval and Parker repaired to the French camp, with orders to Luxembourg to furnish them with a party of horse for the rescue of Dumont, after the blow should be struck. Whether this man’s heart failed him, or he could not find the opportunity he desired, after having resided some weeks in the camp of the allies, he retired to Hanover; but still corresponded with Grandval and Barbesieux. This last admitted one Leofdale, a Dutch baron, into the secret, and likewise imparted it to monsieur Chanlais, quarter-master general of the French army, who animated Grandval and Leefdale with the promise of a considerable reward, and promised to cooperate with Parker for bringing off Dumont, for this assassin still persisted in his undertaking. Leefdale had been sent from Holland on purpose to dive to the bottom of this conspiracy, in consequence of advice given by the British envoy at Hanover, where Dumont had dropped some hints that alarmed his suspicion. The Dutchman not only insinuated himself into the confidence of the conspirators, but likewise inveigled Grandval to Eyndhoven, where he was apprehended. Understanding that Dumont had already discovered the design to the duke of Zell, and that he himself had been betrayed by Leefdale, he freely confessed all the particulars without enduring the torture; and, being found guilty by a court-martial, was executed as a traitor.
About this period the duke of Leinster arrived at Ostend, with the troops which had been embarked at St. Helen’s. He was furnished with cannon sent down the Meuse from Maestricht, and reinforced by a large detachment from the king’s camp at Gramont, under the command of general Ptolemache. He took possession of Furnes, was joined by the earl of Portland and M. d’Auverquerque, and a disposition was made for investing Dunkirk; but on further deliberation the enterprise was thought very dangerous, and therefore laid aside. Furnes and Dixmuyde, lately reduced by brigadier Ramsay, were strengthened with new works, and secured by strong garrisons. The cannon were sent back, and the troops returning to Ostend, re-embarked for England. This fruitless expedition, added to the inglorious issue of the campaign, increased the ill humour of the British nation. They taxed William with having lain inactive at Gramont with an army of one hundred thousand men, while Luxembourg was posted at Courtray with half that number. They said, if he had found the French lines too strong to be forced, he might have passed the Scheld higher up, and not only laid the enemy’s conquests under contribution, but even marched into the bowels of France; and they complained that Furnes and Dixmuyde were not worth the sums expended in maintaining their garrisons. On the twenty-sixth day of September king William left the army under the command of the elector of Bavaria, and repaired to his house at Loo: in two days after his departure the camp at Gramont was broke up; the infantry marched to Marienkerke, and the horse; to Caure. On the sixteenth day of October, the king receiving intelligence that Boufflers had invested Charleroy, and Luxembourg taken post in the neighbourhood of Condé, ordered the troops to be instantly reassembled between the village of Ixells and Halle, with design to raise the siege, and repaired to Brussels, where he held a council of war, in which the proper measures were concerted. He then returned to Holland, leaving the command with the elector of Bavaria, who forthwith began his march for Charleroy. At his approach Boufflers abandoned the siege, and moved towards Philip-ville. The elector having reinforced the place, and thrown supplies into Aeth, distributed his forces into winter-quarters. Then Luxembourg, who had cantoned his army between Condé, Leuzet, and Tournay, returned to Paris, leaving Boufflers to command in his absence.
THE CAMPAIGN INACTIVE ON THE RHINE AND IN HUNGARY.
The allies had been unsuccessful in Flanders, and they were not fortunate in Germany. The landgrave of Hesse Cassol undertook the siege of Eberemburgh, which, however, he was obliged to abandon. The duke de Lorges, who commanded the French forces on the Rhine, surprised, defeated, and took the duke of Wirtemberg, who had posted himself with four thousand horse near Ridelsheim, to check the progress of the enemy. Count Tallard having invested Rhinefield, the landgrave marched to its relief with such expedition that the French wore obliged to desist and retreat with considerable damage. The elector of Saxony had engaged to bring an army into the field; but he complained that the emperor left the burden of the war with France upon the princes, and converted his chief power and attention to the campaign in Hungary. A jealousy and misunderstanding ensued: Schoning the Saxon general, in his way to the hot baths at Dablitz in Bohemia, was seized by the emperor’s order on suspicion of having maintained a private correspondence with the enemy, and very warm expostulations on this subject passed between the courts of Vienna and Dresden. Schoning was detained two years in custody; and at length released on condition that he should never be employed again in the empire. The war in Hungary produced no event of importance. The ministry of the Ottoman Porte was distracted by factions, and the seraglio threatened with tumults. The people were tired of maintaining an unsuccessful war; the vizier was deposed; and in the midst of this confusion, the garrison of great Waradin, which had been blocked up by the imperialists during the whole winter, surrendered on capitulation. Lord Paget, the English ambassador at Vienna, was sent to Constantinople with powers to mediate a peace; but the terms offered by the emperor were rejected at the Porte: the Turkish army lay upon the defensive, and the season was spent in a fruitless negotiation.
THE DUKE INVADES DAUPHINE.
The prospect of affairs in Piedmont was favourable for the allies; but the court of France had brought the pope to an accommodation, and began to tamper with the duke of Savoy. M. Chanlais was sent to Turin with advantageous proposals, which however the duke would not accept, because he thought himself entitled to better terms, considering that the allied army in Piedmont amounted to fifty thousand effective men, while Catinat’s forces were not sufficient to defend his conquests in that country. In the month of July the duke marched into Dauphiné, where he plundered a number of villages, and reduced the fortress of Guillestre; then passing the river Darance, he invested Ambrun, which, after a siege of nine days, surrendered on capitulation: he afterwards laid all the neighbouring J towns under contribution. Here duke Schomberg, who commanded the auxiliaries in the English pay, published a declaration in the name of king William, inviting the people to join his standard, assuring them that his master had no other design in ordering his troops to invade France, but that of restoring the noblesse to their ancient splendour, their parliaments to their former authority, and the people to their just privileges. He even offered his protection to the clergy, and promised to use his endeavours for reviving the edict of Nantes, which had been guaranteed by the kings of England. These offers, however, produced little effect; and the Germans ravaged the whole country in revenge for the cruelties which the French had committed in the Palatinate. The allied army advanced from Ambrun to Gap, on the frontiers of Provence, and this place submitted without opposition. The inhabitants of Grenoble, the capital of Dauphiné, and even of Lyons, were overwhelmed with consternation; and a fairer opportunity of humbling France could never occur, as that part of the kingdom had been left almost quite defenceless; but this was fatally neglected, either from the spirit of dissension which began to prevail in the allied army, or from the indisposition of the duke of Savoy, who was seized with the small-pox in the midst of this expedition; or, lastly, from his want of sincerity, which was shrewdly suspected. He is said to have maintained a constant correspondence with the court of Versailles, in complaisance to which he retarded the operations of the confederates. Certain it is, he evacuated all his conquests, and about the middle of September quitted the French territories, after having pillaged and laid waste the country through which he had penetrated.* In Catalonia the French attempted nothing of importance during this campaign, and the Spaniards were wholly inactive in that province.
* At this period queen Mary, understanding that the protestant Vaudois were destitute of ministers to preach or teach the gospel, established a fund from her own privy purse to maintain ten preachers, and as many schoolmasters, in the valleys of Piedmont.
THE DUKE OF HANOVER CREATED AN ELECTOR OF THE EMPIRE.
The protestant interest in Germany acquired an accession of strength by the creation of a ninth electorate in favour of Ernest Augustus, duke of Hanover. He had by this time renounced all his connexions with France, and engaged to enter heartily into the interest of the allies, in consideration of his obtaining the electoral dignity. King William exerted himself so vigorously in his behalf at the court of Vienna, that the emperor agreed to the proposal, in case the consent of the other electors could be procured. This assent, however, was extorted by the importunities of the king of England, whom he durst not disoblige. Leopold was blindly bigotted to the religion of Rome, and consequently averse to a new creation that would weaken the catholic interest in the electoral college. He therefore employed his emissaries to thwart the duke’s measures. Some protestant princes opposed him from motives of jealousy, and the French king used all his artifice and influence to prevent the elevation of the house of Hanover. When the duke had surmounted all this opposition, so far as to gain over a majority of the electors, new objections were started. The emperor suggested that another popish electorate should be created to balance the advantage which the Lutherans would reap from that of Hanover; and he proposed that Austria should be raised to the same dignity; but violent opposition was made to this expedient, which would have vested the emperor with a double vote in the electoral college. At length, after a tedious negotiation, the duke of Hanover, on the nineteenth day of December, was honoured with the investiture as elector of Brunswick; created great marshal of the empire, and did homage to the emperor: nevertheless, he was not yet admitted into the college, because he had not been able to procure the unanimous consent of all the electors.*
* In the beginning of September the shock of an earthquake was felt in London, and many other parts of England, as well as in France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Violent agitations of the same kind had happened about two months before in Sicily and Malta; and the town of Port-Royal in Jamaica was almost totally ruined by the earthquake: the place was so suddenly overflowed, that about fifteen hundred persons perished.
Chapter IV
False Information against the Earl of Marlborough, the Bishop of Rochester, and others..... Sources of National Discontent..... Dissension between the Queen and the Prince’s Anne of Denmark..... The House of Lords vindicate their Privileges in behalf of their imprisoned Members..... The Commons present Addresses to The King and Queen..... They acquit Admiral Russel, and resolve to advise his Majesty..... They comply with all the Demands of the Ministry..... The Lords present an Address of Advice to the King..... The Dispute between the Lords and Commons concerning Admiral Russel..... The Commons address the King..... They establish the Land tax and other Impositions..... Burnet’s Pastoral Letter burned by the Hangman..... Proceedings of the Lower House against the Practice of kidnapping Men for the Service..... The two Houses address the King on the Grievances of Ireland ..... An Account of the Place-bill, and that for triennial Parliaments..... The Commons petition his Majesty that he would dissolve the East India Company..... Trial of Lord Mohan for Murder..... Alterations in the Ministry..... The king repairs to the Continent, and assembles the Confederate Army in Flanders..... The French reduce Huy..... Luxembourg resolves to attack the Allies..... who are defeated at Landen..... Charleroy is besieged and taken by the Enemy..... Campaign on the Rhine..... The Duke of Savoy is defeated by Catinat in the Plain of Marsaglia..... Transactions in Hungary and Catalonia..... Naval Affairs..... A Fleet of Merchant Ships under Convoy of Sir George Rooke attacked, and partly destroyed by the French Squadrons ..... Wheeler’s Expedition to the West Indies..... Benbow bombards St. Maloes..... The French King has recourse to the Mediation of Denmark..... Severity of the Government against the Jacobites..... Complaisance of the Scottish Parliament..... The King returns to England, makes some Changes in the Ministry, and opens the Session of Parliament..... Both Houses inquire into the Miscarriages by Sea..... The Commons grant a vast Sum for the Services of the ensuing Year..... The King rejects the Bill against free and impartial Proceedings in Parliament; and the Lower House remonstrates on this Subject..... Establishment of the Bank of England..... The East India Company obtain a now Charter..... Bill for a general Naturalization dropped..... Sir Francis Wheeler perishes in a Storm..... The English attempt to make a Descent in Camaret Bay, but are repulsed with Loss..... They bombard Dieppe, Havre-de-Grace, Dunkirk, and Calais..... Admiral Russel sails for the Mediterranean, relieves Barcelona, and winters at Cadiz..... Campaign in Flanders..... The Allies reduce Huy..... The Prince of Baden passes the Rhine, but is obliged to repass that River..... Operations in Hungary..... Progress of the French in Catalonia..... State of the War in Piedmont..... The King returns to England..... The Parliament meets..... The Bill for Triennial Parliaments receives the Royal Assent..... Death of Archbishop Tillotson and of Queen Mary..... Reconciliation between the King and the Princess of Denmark.
{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688--1701.}
THE EARL OF MARLBOROUGH, BISHOP OF ROCHESTER, &c, FALSELY ACCUSED.
While king William seemed wholly engrossed by the affairs of the continent, England was distracted by domestic dissension, and overspread with vice, corruption, and profaneness. Over and above the Jacobites, there was a set of malcontents whose number daily increased. They not only murmured at the grievances of the nation, but composed and published elaborate dissertations upon the same subject. These made such impressions upon the people, already irritated by heavy burdens, distressed in their trade, and disappointed in their sanguine expectations, that the queen thought it necessary to check the progress of those writers by issuing out a proclamation offering a reward to such as would discover seditious libellers. The earl of Marlborough had been committed to the Tower on the information of one Robert Young, a prisoner in Newgate, who had forged that nobleman’s hand-writing, and contrived the scheme of an association in favour of king James, to which he affixed the names of the earls of Marlborough and Salisbury, Sprat, bishop of Rochester, the lord Cornbury, and sir Basil Firebrace. One of his emissaries had found means to conceal this paper in a certain part of the bishop’s house at Bromley in Kent, where it was found by the king’s messengers, who secured the prelate in consequence of Young’s information. But he vindicated himself to the satisfaction of the whole council; and the forgery of the informer was detected by the confession of his accomplice. The bishop obtained his release immediately and the earl of Marlborough was admitted to bail in the court of king’s bench.
SOURCES OF NATIONAL DISCONTENT.
So many persons of character and distinction had been imprisoned during this reign upon the slightest suspicion, that the discontented part of the nation had some reason to insinuate they had only exchanged one tyrant for another. They affirmed that the habeas-corpus act was either insufficient to protect the subject from false imprisonment, or had been shamefully misused. They expatiated upon the loss of ships, which had lately fallen a prey to the enemy; the consumption of seamen; the neglect of the fisheries; the interruption of commerce, in which the nation was supplanted by her allies, as well as invaded by her enemies; the low ebb of the kingdom’s treasure, exhausted in hiring foreign bottoms, and paying foreign troops to fight foreign quarrels; and the slaughter of the best and bravest of their countrymen, whose blood had been lavishly spilt in support of connexions with which they ought to have had no concern. They demonstrated the mischiefs that necessarily arose from the unsettled state of the nation. They observed that the government could not be duly established until a solemn declaration should confirm the legality of that tenure by which their majesties possessed the throne; that the structure of parliaments was deficient in point of solidity, as they existed entirely at the pleasure of the crown, which would use them no longer than they should be found necessary in raising supplies for the use of the government. They exclaimed against the practice of quartering soldiers in private houses contrary to the ancient laws of the land, the petition of rights, and the subsequent act on that subject passed in the reign of the second Charles. They enumerated among their grievances the violation of property, by pressing transport ships into the service without settling any fund of payment for the owners; the condition of the militia, which was equally burdensome and useless; the flagrant partiality in favour of allies, who carried on an open commerce with France, and supplied the enemy with necessaries, while the English laboured under the severest prohibitions, and were in effect the dupes of those very powers whom they protected. They dwelt upon the ministry’s want of conduct, foresight, and intelligence, and inveighed against their ignorance, insolence, and neglect, which were as pernicious to the nation as if they had formed a design of reducing it to the lowest ebb of disgrace and destruction. By this time, indeed, public virtue was become the object of ridicule, and the whole kingdom was overspread with immorality and corruption; towards the increase of which many concurring circumstances happened to contribute. The people were divided into three parties, namely, the Williamites, the Jacobites, and the discontented Revolutioners; these factions took all opportunities to thwart, to expose, and to ridicule the measures and principles of each other, so that patriotism was laughed out of doors as an hypocritical pretence. This contention established a belief that every man consulted his own private interest at the expense of the public, a belief that soon grew into a maxim almost universally adopted. The practice of bribing a majority in parliament had a pernicious influence upon the morals of all ranks of people, from the candidate to the lowest borough elector. The expedient of establishing funds of credit for raising supplies to defray the expenses of government, threw large premiums and sums of money into the hands of low sordid usurers, brokers, and jobbers, who distinguished themselves by the name of the monied interest. Intoxicated by this flow of wealth, they affected to rival the luxury and magnificence of their superiors; but being destitute of sentiment and taste to conduct them in their new career, they ran into the most absurd and illiberal extravagancies. They laid aside all decorum; became lewd, insolent, intemperate, and riotous. Their example was caught by the vulgar. All principle, and even decency, was gradually banished; talent lay uncultivated, and the land was deluged with a tide of ignorance and profligacy.
DISSENSION BETWEEN THE QUEEN AND PRINCESS ANNE.
King William having ascertained the winter quarters of the army, and concerted the operations of the ensuing campaign with the states-general and the ministers of the allies, set sail for England on the fifteenth day of October; on the eighteenth landed at Yarmouth, was met by the queen at Newhall, and passed through the city of London to Kensington amidst the acclamations of the populace. He received a congratulatory address from the lord-mayor and aldermen, with whom he dined in public by invitation. A day of thanksgiving was appointed for the victory obtained at sea. The lustring company was established by patent, and the parliament met on the fourth day of November. The house of lords was deeply infected with discontent, which in some measure proceeded from the dissension between the queen and her sister, the princess of Denmark, which last underwent every mortification which the court could inflict. Her guards were taken away; all honours which had been paid to her rank by the magistrates of Bath, where she sometimes resided, and even by the ministers of the church where she attended at divine service, were discontinued by the express order of his majesty. Her cause was naturally espoused by those noblemen who had adhered to her in her former contest with the king about an independent settlement; and these were now reinforced by all the friends of the earl of Marlborough, united for a double tie; for they resented the disgrace and confinement of that lord, and thought it their duty to support the princess Anne under a persecution incurred by an attachment to his countess. The earl of Shrewsbury lived in friendship with Marlborough, and thought he had been ungratefully treated by the king; the marquis of Halifax befriended him from opposition to the ministry; the earl of Mulgrave for an opportunity to display his talents, and acquire that consideration which he thought due to his merit. Devonshire, Montague, and Bradford, joined in the same cause from principle; the same pretence was used by the earls of Stamford, Monmouth, Warrington, and other whigs, though in effect they were actuated by jealousy and resentment against those by whom they had been supplanted. As for the Jacobites, they gladly contributed their assistance to promote any scheme that had a tendency to embroil the administration.
THE LORDS VINDICATE THEIR PRIVILEGES.
The king, in his speech to parliament, thanked them for their last supplies, congratulated them upon the victory obtained at sea, condoled them on the bad success of the campaign by land, magnified the power of France, represented the necessity of maintaining a great force to oppose it, and demanded subsidies equal to the occasion. He expressed his reluctance to load them with additional burdens, which he said could not be avoided, without exposing his kingdom to inevitable destruction. He desired their advice towards lessening the inconveniences of exporting money for the payment of the forces. He intimated a design of making a descent upon France; declared he had no aim but to make his subjects a happy people; and that he would again cheerfully expose his life for the welfare of the nation. The lords, after an adjournment of three days, began with great warmth to assert their privileges, which they conceived had been violated in the cases of the earl of Marlborough and the other noblemen who had been apprehended, committed to prison, and afterwards admitted to bail by the court of king’s-bench. These circumstances being fully discussed in a violent debate, the house ordered lord Lucas, constable of the Tower, to produce the warrants of commitment, and the clerk of the king’s-bench to deliver the affidavit of Aaron Smith, the court solicitor, upon which the lords had been remanded to prison. At the same time the whole affair was referred to a committee, empowered to send for persons, papers, and records. The judges were ordered to attend: Aaron Smith was examined touching the evidence against the committed lords. The committee reported their general resolution, which produced a vehement dispute. The opinion of the judges was unsatisfactory to both parties; the debate was referred to a committee of the whole house, in which it was resolved and declared, as the sense of that assembly, that in pursuance of the habeas-corpus act, it was the duty of the judges and gaol-delivery to discharge the prisoner on bail if committed for high treason, unless it be made appear, upon oath, that there are two witnesses against the said prisoner, who cannot be produced in that term, session, or general gaol-delivery. They likewise resolved it was the intention of the said statute, that in case there should be more than one prisoner to be bailed or remanded, there must be oath made that there are two witnesses against each prisoner, otherwise he cannot be remanded to prison. These resolutions were entered in the books as standing directions to all future-judges, yet not without great opposition from the court members. The next debate turned upon the manner in which the imprisoned lords should be set at liberty. The contest became so warm that the courtiers began to be afraid, and proposed an expedient which was put in practice. The house adjourned to the seventeenth day of the month, and at its next meeting was given to understand that the king had discharged the imprisoned noblemen. After another warm debate, a formal entry was made in the journals, importing, That the house being informed of his majesty’s having given directions for discharging the lords under bail in the king’s-bench, the debate about that matter ceased. The resentment of the peers being thus allayed, they proceeded to take his majesty’s speech into consideration.
THE COMMONS PRESENT ADDRESSES TO THE KING AND QUEEN.
The commons having voted an address of thanks, and another, praying that his majesty’s foreign alliances should be laid before them, determined on a bill for regulating trials in cases of high treason. They passed a vote of thanks to admiral Russel, his officers and seamen, for the victory they had obtained, and then proceeded to an inquiry, Why that victory had not been pursued? why the descent had not been made? and why the trade had not been better protected from the enemy’s cruisers? The admiral having justified his own conduct, they commanded the lords of the admiralty to produce copies of all the letters and orders which had been sent to the admiral; they ordered Russel to lay before them his answers; and the commissioners of the transports, victuallers, and office of ordnance, to deliver in an account of their proceedings. They then presented addresses to the king and queen, acknowledging the favour of God in restoring him to his people; congratulating him upon his deliverance from the snares of his open and secret enemies; and assuring him they would, according to his majesty’s desire in his most gracious speech, be always ready to advise and assist him in the support of his government. The queen was thanked for her gracious and prudent administration during his majesty’s absence; they congratulated her on their signal deliverance from a bold and cruel design formed for their destruction, as well as on the glorious victory which her fleet had gained; and they assured her that the grateful sense they had of their happiness under her government, should always be manifested in constant returns of duty and obedience.
After this formal compliment, the house, instead of proceeding to the supplies, insisted upon perusing the treaties, public accounts, and estimates, that they might be in a condition to advise as well as to assist his majesty. Being indulged with those papers, they passed a previous vote that a supply should be given; then they began to concert their articles of advice. Some of the members loudly complained of partiality to foreign generals, and particularly reflected upon the insolence of count Solmes, and his misconduct at Steenkirk. After some warm altercation, the house resolved one article of their advice should be, that his majesty would be pleased to fill up the vacancies that should happen among the general officers, with such only as were natives of his dominions, and that the commander-in-chief of the English should be an Englishman. Their next resolution implied, that many of the great affairs of the government having been for some time past unsuccessfully managed, the house should advise his majesty to prevent such mischiefs for the future, by employing men of knowledge, ability, and integrity. Individual members inveighed bitterly against cabinet councils, as a novelty in the British system of government by which the privy-council was jostled out of its province. They complained that all the grievances of the nation proceeded from the vicious principles of the ministry: they observed, that he who opposed the establishment could not be expected to support it with zeal. The earl of Nottingham was mentioned by name, and the house resolved that his majesty should be advised to employ in his councils such persons only whose principles obliged them to support his rights against the late king, and all other pretenders. Marlborough’s interest still predominated among the commons. His friend Russel acquitted himself to the satisfaction of the house, and shifted the blame of the miscarriage upon his enemy the earl of Nottingham, by declaring that twenty days elapsed between his first letter to that nobleman and his lordship’s answer. The earl’s friends, of whom there was a great number in the house, espoused his cause with great vigour, and even recriminated upon Russel; so that a very violent debate ensued. Both parties agreed that there had been mismanagement in the scheme of a descent. It was moved, that one cause of the miscarriage was the want of giving timely and necessary orders, by those to whom the management of the affair was committed. The house divided, and it was carried in the affirmative by one voice only. At the next sitting of the committee, sir Richard Temple proposed they should consider how to pay the forces abroad, by means of English manufactures, without ex porting money. They resolved that the house should be moved to appoint a committee to take this expedient into consideration. Sir Francis Wilmington was immediately called upon to leave the chair, and the speaker resumed his place. All that had been done was now void, as no report had been made; and the committee was dissolved. The house however revived it, and appointed a day for its sitting; but before it could resume its deliberations, admiral Russel moved for its being adjourned, and all its purposes were defeated.
The court agents had by this time interposed, and secured a majority by the infamous arts of corruption. The commons no longer insisted upon their points of advice. Their whole attention was now centered in the article of assistance. They granted about two millions for the maintenance of three-and-thirty thousand seamen, the building of some additional ships of war, and the finishing of Plymouth dock; and seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds to supply the deficiency of the quarterly poll. The estimates of the land-service were not discussed without tedious debates and warm disputes. The ministry demanded fifty-four thousand men, twenty thousand of whom should be kept at home for the defence of the nation, while the rest should serve abroad in the allied army. Many members declared their aversion to a foreign war, in which the nation had no immediate concern and so little prospect of success. Others agreed that the allies should be assisted on the continent with a proportion of British forces; but that the nation should act as an auxiliary, not as a principal, and pay no more than what the people would cheerfully contribute to the general expense. These reflections, however, produced no other effect than that of prolonging the debate. Ministerial influence had surmounted all opposition. The house voted the number of men demanded. Such was their servile complaisance, that when they examined the treaties by which the English and Dutch contracted equally with the German princes, and found that, notwithstanding these treaties, Britain bore two-thirds of the expense, they overlooked this flagrant instance of partiality, and enabled the king to pay the proportion. Nay, their maxims were so much altered, that, instead of prosecuting their resentment against foreign generals, they assented to a motion that the prince of Wirtemberg, the major-generals Tetteau and La Forest, who commanded the Danish troops in the pay of the states-general, should be indulged with such an addition to their appointments as would make up the difference between the pay of England and that of Holland. Finally, they voted above two millions for the subsistence of the land forces, and for defraying extraordinary expenses attending the war upon the continent, including subsidies to the electors of Saxony and Hanover.
THE LORDS PRESENT AN ADDRESS OF ADVICE TO THE KING.
The house of lords meanwhile was not free from animosity and contention. The Marlborough faction exerted themselves with great vivacity. They affirmed, it was the province of their house to advise the sovereign: like the commons, they insisted upon the king’s having asked their advice because he had mentioned that word in his speech, though he never dreamed that they would catch at it with such eagerness. They moved, that the task of digesting the articles of advice should be undertaken by a joint committee of both houses; but all the dependents of the court, including the whole bench of bishops, except Watson of St. David’s, were marshalled to oppose this motion, which was rejected by a majority of twelve; and this victory was followed with a protest of the vanquished. Notwithstanding this defeat, they prosecuted their scheme of giving advice; and after much wrangling and declamation, the house agreed in an address of remonstrance, advising and beseeching his majesty, That the commanding officer of the British forces should be an Englishman; that English officers might take rank of those in the confederate armies, who did not belong to crowned heads; that the twenty thousand men to be left for the defence of the kingdom should be all English, and commanded by an English general; that the practice of pressing men for the fleet should be remedied; that such officers as were guilty of this practice should be cashiered and punished; and, lastly, that no foreigners should sit at the board of ordnance. This address was presented to the king, who received it coldly, and said he would take it into consideration.
Then the lords resolved to inquire into the miscarriage of the purposed descent, and called for all the papers relating to that affair; but the aim of the majority was not so much to rectify the errors of the government, as to screen Nottingham, and censure Russel. That nobleman produced his own book of entries, together with the whole correspondence between him and the admiral, whom he verbally charged with having contributed to the miscarriage of the expedition. This affair was referred to a committee. Sir John Ashby was examined. The house directed the earl to draw up the substance of his charge; and these papers were afterwards delivered to a committee of the commons, at a conference by the lord-president, and the rest of the committee above. They were offered for the inspection of the commons, as they concerned some members of that house, by whom they might be informed more fully of the particulars they contained. At another conference which the commons demanded, their committee declared, in the name of the house, That they had read and well considered the papers which their lordships had sent them, and which they now returned: that finding Mr. Russel, one of their members, often mentioned in the said papers, they had unanimously resolved, that admiral Russel, in his command of the fleets during the last summer’s expedition, had behaved with fidelity, courage, and conduct. The lords irritated at this declaration, and disappointed in their resentment against Russel, desired a free conference between the committees of both houses. The earl of Rochester told the commons, he was commanded by the house of lords to inform them that their lordships looked upon the late vote and proceeding of the lower house, in returning their papers, to be irregular and unparliamentary, as they had not communicated to their lordships the lights they had received, and the reason upon which their vote was founded. A paper to the same purport was delivered to colonel Granville, who promised to present it to the commons, and make a faithful report of what his lordship had said. Thus the conference ended, and the inquiry was discontinued.
THE COMMONS ADDRESS THE KING.
The lower house seemed to be as much exasperated against the earl of Nottingham as the lords were incensed at Russel. A motion was made that his majesty should be advised to appoint such commissioners of the board of admiralty as were of known experience in maritime affairs. Although this was overruled, they voted an address to the king, praying, that for the future, all orders for the engagement of the fleet might pass through the hands of the said commissioners; a protest by implication against the conduct of the secretary. The consideration of ways and means was the next object that engrossed the attention of the lower house. They resolved that a rate of four shillings in the pound, for one year, should be charged upon all lands according to their yearly value; as also upon all personal estates, and upon all offices and employments of profit, other than military offices in the army and navy. The act founded on this resolution empowered the king to borrow money on the credit of it, at seven per cent. They further enabled him to raise one million on the general credit of the exchequer, by granting annuities. They laid several new duties on a variety of imports. They renewed the last quarterly poll, providing that in case it should not produce three hundred thousand pounds, the deficiencies might be made up by borrowing on the general credit of the exchequer. They continued the impositions on wine, vinegar, tobacco, and sugar, for five years; and those on East-India goods for four years. They laid a new imposition of eight per cent, on the capital stock of the East-India company, estimated at seven hundred and forty-four thousand pounds; of one per cent, on the African; of five pounds on every share of the stock belonging to the Hudson’s Bay company; and they empowered his majesty to borrow five hundred thousand pounds on these funds, which were expressly established for maintaining the war with vigour.*
* The French king hearing how liberally William was supplied, exclaimed, with some emotion, “My little cousin the prince of Orange is fixed in the saddle--but, no matter, the last Louis d’or must carry it.”
BURNET’S PASTORAL LETTER BURNED.
The money-bills were retarded in the upper house by the arts of Halifax, Mulgrave, and other malcontents. They grafted a clause on the land-tax bill, importing, that the lords should tax themselves. It was adopted by the majority, and the bill sent with this amendment to the commons, by whom it was unanimously rejected as a flagrant attempt upon their privileges. They demanded a conference, in which they declared that the clause in question was a notorious encroachment upon the right the commons possessed, of regulating all matters relating to supplies granted by parliament. When this report was debated in the house of lords, the earl of Mulgrave displayed uncommon powers of eloquence and argument, in persuading the house, that, by yielding to this claim of the commons, they would divest themselves of their true greatness, and nothing would remain but the name and shadow of a peer, which was but a pageant. Notwithstanding all his oratory, the lords relinquished their clause, declaring, at the same time, that they had agreed to pass the bill without alteration, merely in regard to the present urgent state of affairs, as being otherwise of opinion that they had a right to insist upon their clause. A formal complaint being made in the house of commons against the pamphlet entitled, “King William and Queen Mary Conquerors,” as containing assertions of dangerous consequence to their majesties, to the liberty of the subject, and the peace of the kingdom, the licenser and printer were taken into custody. The book being examined, resolved that it should be burned by the hands of the common hangman, and that the king should be moved to dismiss the licenser from his employment. The same sentence they pronounced upon a pastoral letter of bishop Burnet, in which this notion of conquest had been at first asserted. The lords, in order to manifest their sentiments on the same subject, resolved, That such an assertion was highly injurious to their majesties, inconsistent with the principles on which the government was founded, and tending to the subversion of the rights of the people. Bohun the licenser was brought to the bar of the house, and discharged upon his own petition, after having been reprimanded on his knees by the speaker.
Several members having complained that their servants had been kidnapped and sent to serve as soldiers in Flanders, the house appointed a committee to inquire into the abuses committed by press-masters; and a suitable remonstrance was presented to the king, who expressed his indignation at this practice, and assured the house that the delinquents should be brought to exemplary punishment. Understanding however in the sequel, that the methods taken by his majesty for preventing this abuse had not proved, effectual, they resumed their inquiry, and proceeded with, uncommon vigour on the information they received. A great number of persons who had been pressed were discharged by order of the house; and captain Winter, the chief undertaker for this method of recruiting the army, was carried by the sergeant before the lord chief justice, that he might be prosecuted according to law.
THE TWO HOUSES ADDRESS THE KING.
Before the heats occasioned by this unpopular expedient were allayed, the discontent of the nation was further inflamed by complaints from Ireland, where lord Sidney was said to rule with despotic authority. These complaints were exhibited by sir Francis Brewster, sir William Gore, sir John Macgill, lieutenant Stafford, Mr. Stone, and Mr. Kerne. They were examined at the bar of the house, and delivered an account of their grievances in writing. Both houses concurred in this inquiry; which, being finished, they severally presented addresses to the king. The lords observed, That there had been great abuses in disposing of the forfeited estates; that protections had been granted to the Irish not included in the articles of Limerick; so that protestants were deprived of the benefit of the law against them; that the quarters of the army had not been paid according to the provision made by parliament; that a mayor had been imposed upon the city of Dublin for two years successively, contrary to the ancient privileges and charter; that several persons accused of murder had been executed without proof; and one Sweetman, the most guilty, discharged without prosecution. The commons spoke more freely in their address; they roundly explained the abuses and mismanagement of that government, by exposing the protestant subjects to the free quarter and violence of a licentious army; by recruiting the troops with Irish papists who had been in open rebellion against his majesty; by granting protections to Irish Roman-catholics, whereby the course of the law was stopped; by reversing outlawries for high treason not comprehended in the articles of Limerick; by letting the forfeited estates at undervalue, to the prejudice of his majesty’s revenue; by embezzling the stores left in the towns and garrisons by the late king James, as well as the effects belonging to the forfeited estates, which might have been employed for the better preservation of the kingdom; and, finally, by making additions to the articles of Limerick after the capitulation was signed and the place surrendered. They most humbly besought his majesty to redress these abuses, which had greatly encouraged the papists, and weakened the protestant interest in Ireland. The king graciously received both addresses, and promised to pay a particular regard to all remonstrances that should come from either house of parliament; but no material step was taken against the lords Sidney, Athlone, and Coningsby, who appeared to have engrossed great part of the forfeitures by grants from the crown; and even commissioner Culliford, who had been guilty of the most grievous acts of oppression, escaped with impunity.
{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688--1701.}
ACCOUNT OF THE PLACE AND TRIENNIAL PARLIAMENT BILLS.
The old whig principle was not yet wholly expelled from the lower house. The undue influence of the court was exerted in such an open scandalous manner, as gave offence to the majority of the commons. In the midst of all their condescension, sir Edward Hussey, member for Lincoln, brought in a bill touching free and impartial proceedings in parliament. It was intended to disable all members of parliament from enjoying places of trust and profit, and particularly levelled against the officers of the army and navy, who had insinuated themselves into the house in such numbers, that this was commonly called the officers’ parliament. The bill passed the house of commons, and was sent up to the lords, by whom it was read a second time and committed; but the ministry employing their whole strength against it, on the report it was thrown out by a majority of two voices. The earl of Mulgrave again distinguished himself by his elocution, in a speech that was held in great veneration by the people; and, among those who entered a protest in the journals of the house when the majority rejected the bill, was prince George of Denmark, duke of Cumberland. The court had not collected themselves from the consternation produced by such a vigorous opposition, when the earl of Shrewsbury produced another bill for triennial parliaments, providing that there should be an annual session; that if, at the expiration of three years, the crown should not order the writs to be issued, the lord chancellor, or keeper, or commissioner of the great seal, should issue them ex officio, and by authority of this act, under severe penalties. The immediate object of this bill was the dissolution of the present parliament, which had already sat three sessions, and began to be formidable to the people from its concessions to the ministry. The benefits that would accrue to the constitution from the establishment of triennial parliaments were very well understood, as these points had been frequently discussed in former reigns. The courtiers now objected, that frequent elections would render the free-holders proud and insolent, encourage faction among the electors, and entail a continual expense upon the member, as he would find himself obliged, during the whole time of the sitting, to behave like a candidate, conscious how soon the time of election would revolve. In spite of the ministerial interest in the upper house, the bill passed, and contained a proviso that the present parliament should not continue any longer than the month of January next ensuing. The court renewed its efforts against it in the house of commons, where nevertheless it was carried, with some alterations which the lords approved. But all these endeavours were frustrated by the prerogative of the king, who, by refusing his assent, prevented its being enacted into a law.
It was at the instigation of the ministry that the commons brought in a bill for continuing and explaining certain temporary laws then expiring or expired. Among these was an act for restraining the liberty of the press, which owed its original to the reign of Charles II., and had been revived in the first year of the succeeding reign. The bill passed the lower house without difficulty, but met with warm opposition in the house of lords; a good number of whom protested against it, as a law that subjected all learning and true information to the arbitrary will of a mercenary, and perhaps ignorant licenser, destroyed the properties of authors, and extended the evil of monopolies. The bill for regulating trials was dropped, and, in lieu of it, another produced for the preservation of their majesties’ sacred persons and government; but this too was rejected by the majority in consequence of the ministry’s secret management. The East India company narrowly escaped dissolution. Petitions and counter-petitions were delivered into the house of commons; the pretensions on both sides were carefully examined; a committee of the whole house resolved, that there should be a new subscription of a joint stock, not exceeding two millions five hundred thousand pounds, to continue for one-and-twenty years. The report was made and received, and the public expected to see the affair brought to a speedy issue; but the company had recourse to the same expedients which had lately proved so successful in the hands of the ministry. Those who had been the most warm in detecting their abuses suddenly cooled; and the prosecution of the affair began to languish. Not but that the house presented an address to his majesty, praying that he would dissolve the company upon three years’ warning, according to the condition of their charter. He told them he would consider their address, and they did not further urge their remonstrance. The bill for ascertaining the commissions and salaries of the judges, to which the king had refused the royal assent in the last session, was revived, twice read, and rejected; and another for preventing the exportation and melting of the coin, they suffered to lie neglected on the table. On the fourteenth day of March the king put an end to the session, after having thanked the parliament for so great testimonies of their affection, and promised the supplies should not be misapplied. He observed that the posture of affairs called him abroad, but that he would leave a sufficient number of troops for the security of the kingdom; he assured them he would expose his person upon all occasions for the advantage of these kingdoms; and use his utmost endeavours to make them a flourishing nation. [046] [See note I, at the end of this Vol.]
TRIAL OF LORD MOHUN--ALTERATIONS IN THE MINISTRY.
During the course of this session, lord Mohun was indicted and tried by the peers in Westminster-hall, as an accomplice in the murder of one Montford a celebrated comedian, the marquis of Carmarthen acting as lord-steward upon this occasion. The judges having been consulted, the peers proceeded to give their judgments seriatim, and Mohun was acquitted by a great majority. The king, who from his first accession to the throne had endeavoured to trim the balance between the whigs and tories, by mingling them together in his ministry, made some alterations at this period that savoured of the same policy. The great seal, with the title of lord keeper, was bestowed upon sir John Somers, who was well skilled in the law, and in many other branches of polite and useful literature. He possessed a remarkable talent for business, in which he exerted great patience and assiduity; was gentle, candid, and equitable; a whig in principles, yet moderate, pacific, and conciliating. Of the same temper was sir John Trenchard, now appointed secretary of state. He had been concerned with the duke of Monmouth, and escaped to the continent, where he lived some years; was calm, sedate, well acquainted with foreign affairs, and considered as a leading man in his party. These two are said to have been promoted at the recommendation of the earl of Sunderland, who had by this time insinuated himself into the king’s favour and confidence; though his success confirmed the opinion which many entertained of his having betrayed his old master. The leaders of the opposition were sir Edward Seymour, again become a malcontent, and sir Christopher Mus-grave, a gentleman of Cumberland, who though an extravagant tory from principle, had refused to concur with all the designs of the late king. He was a person of a grave and regular deportment, who had rejected many offers of the ministry, which he opposed with great violence; yet on some critical occasions his patriotism gave way to his avarice, and he yielded up some important points in consideration of large sums which he received from the court in secret. Others declared war against the administration, because they thought their own talents were not sufficiently considered. Of these the chief were Paul Foley and Robert Harley. The first was a lawyer of good capacity, extensive learning, and virtuous principles; but peevish, obstinate, and morose. He entertained a very despicable opinion of the court; and this he propagated with equal assiduity and success. Harley possessed a good fund of learning; was capable of uncommon application, particularly turned to politics. He knew the forms of parliament, had a peculiar dexterity at protracting and perplexing debates; and cherished the most aspiring ambition. Admiral Russel was created treasurer of the household; but the command of the fleet was vested in the hands of Killigrew, Délavai, and Shovel. Sir George Rooke was declared vice-admiral of the red, and John lord Berkeley of the blue division; their rear-admirals were Matthew Aylmer and David Mitchel.
THE KING ASSEMBLES THE CONFEDERATE ARMY IN FLANDERS.
The king having visited the fleet and fortifications at Portsmouth, given instructions for annoying the enemy by sea, and left the administration in the hands of the queen, embarked on the last day of March, near Gravesend, and arrived in Holland on the third of April. The troops of the confederates were forthwith ordered to assemble: but while he was employed in making preparations for the campaign, the French king actually took the field, attended by madame de Maintenon, and all the court ladies. His design was supposed to be upon some town in Brabant: his army amounted to one hundred and twenty thousand men, completely armed, and abundantly supplied with all necessaries for every sort of military operation. King William immediately took possession of the strong camp at Parke near Lou-vain, a situation which enabled him to cover the places that were most exposed. Understanding that the French emissaries had sown the seeds of dissension between the bishop and chapter of Liege, he sent the duke of Wirtemberg thither, to reconcile the different parties, and concert measures for the further security of the place. He reinforced the garrison with nine battalions; and the elector palatine lay with his troops in readiness to march to its relief. William likewise threw reinforcements into Maestricht, Huy, and Char-leroy; and he himself resolved to remain on the defensive, at the head of sixty thousand men, with a numerous train of artillery.
THE FRENCH REDUCE HUY.
Louis having reviewed his army at Gemblours, and seen his designs upon Brabant defeated by the diligence of his antagonist, detached Boufflers with twenty thousand men to the Upper Rhine to join the dauphin, who commanded in that quarter; then leaving the conduct of his forces in the Netherlands to the duke de Luxembourg, he returned with his court to Versailles. Immediately after his departure, Luxembourg fixed his head-quarters at Mildert; and king William strengthened his camp on that side with ten battalions and eight-and-twenty pieces of cannon. The enemy’s convoys were frequently surprised by detachments from the garrison of Charleroy; and a large body of horse, foot, and dragoons, being drafted out of Liege and Maestricht, took post at Huy, under the command of the count de Tilly, so as to straiten the French in their quarters. These however were dislodged by Luxembourg in person, who obliged the count to pass the Jaar with precipitation, leaving behind three squadrons and all his baggage, which fell into the hands of the enemy. This check however was balanced by the success of the duke of Wirtemberg, who, at the head of thirteen battalions of infantry and twenty squadrons of horse, forced the French lines between the Scheldt and the Lys, and laid the whole country as far as Lisle under contribution. On that very day, which was the eighteenth of July, Luxembourg marched towards Huy, which was next morning invested by M. de Villeroy. The other covered the siege, and secured himself from the allies by lines of contravallation. Before their batteries began to play, the town capitulated. On the twenty-third day of the month the garrison mutined, the castles were surrendered, the governor remained a prisoner, and his men were conducted to Liege. The confederate army advanced in order to relieve the town; but the king being apprised of its fate, detached ten battalions to reinforce the garrison of Liege, and next day returned to Neer-Hespen.
THE DUKE OF LUXEMBOURG RESOLVES TO ATTACK THE ALLIES.
Luxembourg made a motion towards Liege as if he had intended to besiege the place; and encamped at Hellecheim, about seven leagues from the confederates. Knowing how much they were weakened by the different detachments which had been made from their army, he resolved to attack them in their camp, or at least fall upon their rear should they retreat at his approach. On the twenty-eighth day of July he began his march in four columns, and passed the Jaar near its source, with an army superior to the allies by five-and-thirty thousand men. The king of England at first looked upon this motion as a feint to cover the design upon Liege; but receiving intelligence that their whole army was in full march to attack him in his camp, he resolved to keep his ground, and immediately drew up his forces in order of battle. His general officers advised him to repass the Geete; but he chose to risk a battle, rather than expose the rear of his army in repassing that river. His right wing extended as far as Neer-Winden, along the Geete, covered with hedges, hollow ways, and a small rivulet; the left reached to Neer-Landen; and these two villages were joined by a slight intrenchment which the king ordered to be thrown up in the evening. Brigadier Ramsay, with the regiments of O’Farrel, Mackay, Lauder, Leven and Monroe, were ordered to the right of the whole army, to line some hedges and hollow ways on the farther side of the village of Lare. Six battalions of Brandenburgh were posted to the left of this village; and general Dumont, with the Hanoverian infantry, possessed the village of Neer-Winden, which covered part of the camp, between the main body and the right wing of the cavalry. Neer-Landen, on the left, was secured by six battalions of English, Danes, and Dutch. The remaining infantry was drawn up in one line behind the intrenchment. The dragoons upon the left guarded the village of Donnai upon the brook of Beck, and from thence the left wing of horse extended to Neer-Landen, where it was covered by this rivulet.
The king having visited all the posts on horseback, and given the necessary orders, reposed himself about two hours in his coach; and early in the morning sent for his chaplain, whom he joined in prayer with great devotion. At sun-rising the enemy appeared drawn up in order of battle; and the allies began to play their cannon with good success. About eight in the morning they attacked the villages of Lare and Neer-Winden with great fury; and twice made themselves masters of these posts, from whence they were as often repulsed.
The allies still kept their ground; and the duke of Berwick was taken by his uncle brigadier Churchill. Then the French made an attack upon the left wing of the confederates at Neer-Landen; and after a very obstinate dispute, were obliged to give way, though they still kept possession of the avenues. The prince of Conti, however, renewed the charge with the flower of the French infantry; and the confederates being overpowered, retreated from the village, leaving the camp in that part exposed. Villeroy marching this way with a body of horse, was encountered and repulsed by the count D’Arco, general of the Bavarian cuirassiers; and the duke de Chartres narrowly escaped being taken. Meanwhile Luxembourg, the prince of Conti, the count de Marsin, and the marshal de Joyeuse, charged on the right, and in different parts of the line with such impetuosity as surmounted all resistance. The camp of the confederates was immediately filled with French troops: the villages of Lare and Neer-Winden were taken after a long and desperate dispute. The Hanoverian and Dutch horse being broken, the king in person brought the English cavalry to their assistance. They fought with great gallantry; and for some time retarded the fate of the day. The infantry were rallied, and stood firm until all their ammunition was expended. In a word, they were scarce able to sustain the weight of such a superiority in point of number, when the marquis D’Harcourt joined the enemy from Huy, with two-and-twenty fresh squadrons, which immediately turned the scale in their favour. The elector of Bavaria, after having made extraordinary efforts, retreated with great difficulty over the bridge to the other side of the river, where he rallied the troops in order to favour the retreat of those who had not passed. The king seeing the battle lost, and the whole army in confusion, retired with the infantry to Dormul on the brook of Beck, where the dragoons of the left wing were posted, and then ordered the regiments of Wyndham, Lumley, and Calway, to cover his retreat over the bridge at Neer-Hespen, which he effected with great difficulty. Now all was tumult, rout, and consternation; and a great number of the fugitives threw themselves into the river, where they were drowned. This had like to have been the fate of the brave earl of Athlone; the duke of Ormond was wounded in several places, and taken prisoner by the enemy; and the count de Solmes was mortally wounded. Ptolemache brought off the greater part of the English infantry with great gallantry and conduct; as for the baggage, it had been sent to Liege before the engagement; but the confederates lost sixty pieces of cannon, and nine mortars, a great number of standards and colours,* with about seven thousand men killed and wounded in the action. It must be owned that the allies fought with great valour and perseverance; and that king William made prodigious efforts of courage and activity to retrieve the fortune of the day. He was present in all parts of the battle; he charged in person both on horseback and on foot, where the danger was most imminent. His peruke, the sleeve of his coat, and the knot of his scarf, were penetrated by three different musket bullets; and he saw a great number of soldiers fall on every side of him. The enemy bore witness to his extraordinary valour. The prince of Conti, in a letter to his princess which was intercepted, declared that he saw the prince of Orange exposing himself to the greatest dangers; and that such valour richly deserved the peaceable possession of the crown he wore. Yet here, as in every other battle he fought, his conduct and disposition were severely censured. Luxembourg having observed the nature of his situation immediately before the engagement, is said to have exclaimed, “Now I believe Waldeck is really dead;” alluding to that general’s known sagacity in choosing ground for an encampment. Be that as it will, he paid dear for his victory. His loss in officers and men exceeded that of the allies; and he reaped no solid advantage from the battle. He remained fifteen days inactive at Waren, while king William recalled the duke of Wirtemberg, and drafting troops from Liege and other garrisons, was in a few days able to hazard another engagement.
* The duke of Luxembourg sent such a number of standards and ensigns to Paris during the course of this war, that the prince of Conti called him the Upholsterer of Notre Dame, a church in which those trophies were displayed.
CHARLEBOY TAKEN BY THE ENEMY.
Nothing remarkable happened during the remaining part of the Campaign, until Luxembourg, being rejoined by Boufflers with a strong reinforcement from the Rhine, invested Charleroy. He had taken his measures with such caution and dexterity, that the allies could not frustrate his operations, without attacking his lines at a great disadvantage. The king detached the elector of Bavaria and the duke of Wirtemberg, with thirty battalions and forty squadrons, to make a diversion in Flanders; but they returned in a few days without having attempted any thing of consequence. The garrison of Charleroy defended the place with surprising valour, from the tenth of September to the eleventh of October, during which period they had repulsed the assailants in several attacks; but at length despairing of relief, the governor capitulated on the most honourable conditions: the reduction of the place was celebrated with a Te Deum, and other rejoicings at Paris. Louis however, in the midst of all his glory, was extremely mortified when he reflected what little advantage he had reaped from all his late victories. The allies had been defeated successively at Fleurus, Steenkirk, and Landen; yet in a fortnight after each of those battles William was always in a condition to risk another engagement. Formerly Louis had conquered half of Holland, Flanders, and Franche-Comté, without a battle; whereas, now he could not with his utmost efforts, and after the most signal victories, pass the frontiers of the United Provinces. The conquest of Charleroy concluded the campaign in the Netherlands, and both armies went into winter-quarters.
CAMPAIGN ON THE RHINE.
The French army on the Rhine, under De Lorges, passed that river in the month of May at Philipsburgh, and invested the city of Heidelberg, which they took, plundered, and reduced to ashes. This general committed numberless barbarities in the Palatinate, which he ravaged without even sparing the tombs of the dead. The French soldiers on this occasion seem to have been actuated by the most brutal inhumanity. They butchered the inhabitants, violated the women, plundered the houses, rifled the churches, and murdered the priests at the altar. They broke open the electoral vault, and scattered the ashes of that illustrious family about the streets. They set fire to different quarters of the city; they stripped about fifteen thousand of the inhabitants, without distinction of age or sex, and drove them naked into the castle, that the garrison might be the sooner induced to capitulate. There they remained like cattle in the open air, without food or covering, tortured between the horrors of their fete and the terrors of a bombardment. When they were set at liberty, in consequence of the fort’s being surrendered, a great number of them died along the banks of the Neckar, from cold, hunger, anguish, and despair. These enormous cruelties, which would have disgraced the arms of a Tartarian freebooter, were acted by the express command of Louis XIV. of France, who has been celebrated by so many venal pens, not only as the greatest monarch, but also as the most polished prince of Christendom. De Lorges advanced towards the Neckar against the prince of Baden, who lay encamped on the other side of the river; but in attempting to pass, he was twice repulsed with considerable damage. The dauphin joining the army, which now amounted to seventy thousand men, crossed without opposition; but found the Germans so advantageously posted, that he would not hazard an attack; having therefore repassed the river, he secured Stutgard with a garrison, sent detachments into Flanders and Piedmont, and returned in August to Versailles. In Piedmont the allies were still more unfortunate. The duke of Savoy and his confederates seemed bent upon driving the French from Casal and Pignerol. The first of these places was blocked up, and the other actually invested. The fort of St. Bridget that covered the place was taken, and the town bombarded. Meanwhile Catinat being reinforced, descended into the plains. The duke was so apprehensive of Turin that he abandoned the siege of Pignerol, after having blown up the fort, and marched in quest of the enemy to the plain of Mar-saglia, in the neighbourhood of his capital. On the fourth day of October, the French advanced upon them from the hills between Orbasson and Prosasque, and a desperate engagement ensued. The enemy charged the left wing of the confederates sword in hand with incredible fury; though they were once repulsed, they renewed the attack with such impetuosity that the Neapolitan and Milanese horse were obliged to give way, and disordered the German cavalry. These falling upon the foot, threw the whole wing into confusion. Meanwhile the main body and the other wing sustained the charge without flinching, until they were exposed in flank by the defeat of the cavalry; then the whole front gave way. In vain the second line was brought up to sustain them; the horse turned their backs, and the infantry was totally routed. In a word, the confederates were obliged to retire with precipitation, leaving their cannon and about eight thousand men killed or wounded on the field of battle. The duke of Schomberg having been denied the post which was his due, insisted upon fighting at the head of the troops maintained by the king of Great Britain, who were posted in the centre, and behaved with great gallantry under the eye of their commander. When the left wing was defeated, the count de los Torres desired he would take upon him the command, and retreat with the infantry and right wing; but he refused to act without the order of his highness, and said things were come to such a pass that they must either conquer or die. He continued to animate his men with his voice and example, until he received a shot in the thigh. His valet seeing him fall, ran to his assistance, and called for quarter, but was killed by the enemy before he could be understood. The duke being taken at the same instant, was afterwards dismissed upon his parole, and in a few days died at Turin, universally lamented on account of his great and amiable qualities. The earl of Warwick and Holland, who accompanied him as a volunteer, shared his fate in being wounded and taken prisoner; but he soon recovered his health and liberty. This victory was as unsubstantial as that of Landen, and almost as dear in the purchase; for the confederates made an obstinate defence, and yielded solely to superior number. The duke of Savoy retreated to Moncalier, and threw a reinforcement into Coni, which Catinat would not venture to besiege, so severely had he been handled in the battle. He therefore contented himself with laying the country under contribution, reinforcing the garrisons of Casal, Pignerol, and Suza, and making preparations for repassing the mountains. The news of this victory no sooner reached Paris, than Louis dispatched M. de Chanlais to Turin, with proposals for detaching the duke of Savoy from the interest of the allies; and the pope, who was now become a partisan of France, supported the negotiation with his whole influence; but the French king had not yet touched upon the right string. The duke continued deaf to all his addresses.
TRANSACTIONS in HUNGARY and CATALONIA.
France had been alike successful in her intrigues at the courts of Rome and Constantinople. The vizier at the Porte had been converted into a pensionary and creature of Louis; but the war in which the Turks had been so long and unsuccessfully engaged, rendered him so odious to the people, that the grand seignor deposed him in order to appease their clamours. The English and Dutch ambassadors at Constantinople forthwith renewed their mediation for a peace with the emperor; but the terms they proposed were still rejected with disdain. In the meantime general Heusler, who commanded the imperialists at Transylvania, reduced the fortresses of Jeno and Villaguswar. In the beginning of July the duc de Croy assumed the chief command of the German army, passed the Danube and the Saave, and invested Belgrade. The siege was carried on for some time with great vigour, but at length abandoned at the approach of the vizier, who obliged the imperialists to repass the Saave, and sent out parties which made incursions into Upper-Hungary. The power of France had never been so conspicuous as at this juncture, when she maintained a formidable navy at sea, and four great armies in different parts of Europe. Exclusive of the operations in Flanders, Germany, and Piedmont, the count de Noailles invested Eoses in Catalonia, about the latter end of May, while at the same time it was blocked up by the French fleet under the command of the count D’Etrées. In a few days the place was surrendered by capitulation, and the castle of Ampurias met with the same fate. The Spanish power was reduced to such a degree, that Noailles might have proceeded in his conquests without interruption, had he not been obliged to detach part of his army to reinforce Catinat in Piedmont.
{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688--1701.}
NAVAL AFFAIRS.
Nothing could be more inglorious for the English than their operations by sea in the course of this summer. The king had ordered the admirals to use all possible despatch in equipping the fleets, that they might block up the enemy in their own ports and protect the commerce, which had suffered severely from the French privateers. They were however so dilatory in their proceedings, that the squadrons of the enemy sailed from their harbours before the English fleet could put to sea. About the middle of May it was assembled at St. Helen’s, and took on board five regiments intended for a descent on Brest; but this enterprise was never attempted. When the English and Dutch squadrons joined, so as to form a very numerous fleet, the public expected they would undertake some expedition of importance; but the admirals were divided in opinion, nor did their orders warrant their executing any scheme of consequence. Killigrew and Délavai did not escape the suspicion of being disaffected to the service; and France was said to have maintained a secret correspondence with the malcontents in England. Louis had made surprising efforts to repair the damage which his navy had sustained. He had purchased several large vessels and converted them into ships of war; he had laid an embargo on all the shipping of his kingdom until his squadrons were manned; he had made a grand naval promotion to encourage the officers and seamen; and this expedient produced a wonderful spirit of activity and emulation. In the month of May his fleet sailed to the Mediterranean in three squadrons, consisting of seventy-one capital ships, besides bomb-ketches, fire-ships, and tenders.
In the beginning of June, the English and Dutch fleets sailed down the channel. On the sixth, sir George Rooke was detached to the Straits with a squadron of three-and-twenty ships as convoy to the Mediterranean trade. The grand fleet returned to Torbay, while he pursued his voyage, having taken under his protection about four hundred merchant ships belonging to England, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Hamburgh, and Flanders. On the sixteenth his scouts discovered part of the French fleet under Cape St. Vincent; next day their whole navy appeared, to the amount of eighty sail. Sixteen of these plied up to the English squadron, while the vice-admiral of the white stood off to sea to intercept the ships under convoy. Sir George Rooke, by the advice of the Dutch vice-admiral Vandergoes, resolved if possible to avoid an engagement, which could only tend to their absolute ruin. He forthwith sent orders to the small ships that were near the land to put into the neighbouring ports of Faro, St. Lucar, and Cadiz, while he himself stood off with an easy sail for the protection of the rest. About six in the evening, ten sail of the enemy came up with two Dutch ships of war commanded by the captains Schrijver and Vander-Poel, who seeing no possibility of escaping, tacked in shore, and, thus drawing the French after them, helped to save the rest of the fleet. When attacked they made a most desperate defence, but at last were overpowered by numbers and taken. An English ship of war and a rich pinnace were burned; nine-and-twenty merchant vessels were taken, and about fifty destroyed by the counts de Tourville and D’Etrées. Seven of the largest Smyrna ships fell into the hands of M. de Cotlegon, and four he sunk in the bay of Gibraltar. The value of the loss sustained on this occasion amounted to one million sterling. Meanwhile Rooke stood off with a fresh gale, and on the nineteenth sent home the Lark ship of war with the news of his misfortune; then he bore away for the Madeiras, where having taken in wood and water, he set sail for Ireland, and on the third day of August arrived at Cork with fifty sail, including ships of war and trading vessels. He detached captain Fairborne to Kinsale with all his squadron except six ships of the line, with which, in pursuance of orders, he joined the great fleet then cruising in the chops of the channel. On the twenty-fifth day of August they returned to St. Helen’s, and the four regiments were landed. On the nineteenth day of September, fifteen Dutch ships of the line and two frigates set sail for Holland; and twenty-six sail, with seven fire-ships, were assigned as guard-ships during the winter.
EXPEDITION TO THE WEST INDIES.
The French admirals, instead of pursuing Rooke to Madeira, made an unsuccessful attempt upon Cadiz, and bombarded Gibraltar, where the merchants sunk their ships that they might not fall into the hands of the enemy. Then they sailed along the coast of Spain, destroyed some English and Dutch vessels at Malaga, Alicant, and other places, and returned in triumph to Toulon. About this period sir Francis Wheeler returned to England with his squadron from an unfortunate expedition in the West Indies. In conjunction with colonel Codrington, governor of the Leeward Islands, he made unsuccessful attempts upon the islands of Martinique and Dominique. Then he sailed to Boston in New England with a view to concert an expedition against Quebec, which was judged impracticable. He afterwards steered for Placentia in Newfoundland, which he would have attacked without hesitation; but the design was rejected by a majority of voices in the council of war. Thus disappointed, he set sail for England, and arrived at Portsmouth in a very shattered condition, the greater part of his men having died in the course of this voyage.
BENBOW BOMBARDS ST. MALOES.
In November another effort was made to annoy the enemy. Commodore Benbow sailed with a squadron of twelve capital ships, four bomb-ketches, and ten brigantines, to the coast of St. Maloes, and anchoring within half a mile of the town, cannonaded and bombarded it for three days successively. Then his men landed on an island where they burned a convent. On the nineteenth they took the advantage of a dark night, a fresh gale, and a strong tide, to send in a fire-ship of a particular contrivance, styled the Infernal, in order to burn the town; but she struck upon a rock before she arrived at the place, and the engineer was obliged to set her on fire and retreat. She continued burning for some time, and at last blew up with such an explosion as shook the whole town like an earthquake, unroofed three hundred houses, and broke all the glass and earthenware for three leagues around. A capstan that weighed two hundred pounds was transported into the place, and falling upon a house, levelled it to the ground; the greatest part of the wall towards the sea tumbled down; and the inhabitants were overwhelmed with consternation, so that a small number of troops might have taken possession without resistance, but there was not a soldier on board. Nevertheless the sailors took and demolished Quince-fort, and did considerable damage to the town of St. Maloes, which had been a nest of privateers that infested the English commerce. Though this attempt was executed with great spirit and some success, the clamours of the people became louder and louder. They scrupled not to say that the councils of the nation were betrayed; and their suspicions rose even to the secretary’s office. They observed, that the French were previously acquainted with all the motions of the English, and took their measures accordingly for their destruction. They collected and compared a good number of particulars that seemed to justify their suspicion of treachery. But the misfortunes of the nation in all probability arose from a motley ministry divided among themselves, who, instead of acting in concert for the public good, employed all their influence to thwart the views and blacken the reputations of each other. The people in general exclaimed against the marquis of Carmarthen, the earls of Nottingham and Rochester, who had acquired great credit with the queen, and, from their hatred to the whigs, betrayed the interests of the nation.
THE FRENCH KING HAS RECOURSE TO THE MEDIATION OF DENMARK.
But if the English were discontented, the French were miserable in spite of all their victories. That kingdom laboured under a dreadful famine, occasioned partly from unfavourable seasons, and partly from the war, which had not left hands sufficient to cultivate the ground. Notwithstanding all the diligence and providence of their ministry in bringing supplies of corn from Sweden and Denmark, their care in regulating the price and furnishing the markets, their liberal contributions for the relief of the indigent, multitudes perished of want, and the whole kingdom was reduced to poverty and distress. Louis pined in the midst of his success. He saw his subjects exhausted by a ruinous war, in which they had been involved by his ambition. He tampered with the allies apart, in hopes of dividing and detaching them from the grand confederacy; he solicited the northern crowns to engage as mediators for a general peace. A memorial was actually presented by the Danish minister to king William, by which it appears that the French king would have been contented to purchase a peace with some considerable concessions; but the terms were rejected by the king of England, whose ambition and revenge were not yet gratified, and whose subjects, though heavily laden, could still bear additional burdens.
The Jacobites had been very attentive to the progress of dissatisfaction in England, which they fomented with their usual assiduity. The late declaration of king James had been couched in such imperious terms as gave offence even to some of those who favoured his interest. The earl of Middleton therefore, in the beginning of the year, repaired to St. Germain’s and obtained another, which contained the promise of a general pardon without exception, and every other concession that a British subject could demand of his sovereign. About the latter end of May, two men named Canning and Dormer were apprehended for dispersing copies of this paper, tried at the Old Bailey, found guilty of not only dispersing but also of composing a false and seditious libel, sentenced to pay five hundred marks a-piece, to stand three times in the pillory, and find sureties for their good behaviour. But no circumstance reflected more disgrace on this reign than the fate of Anderton, the supposed printer of some tracts against the government. He was brought to trial for high treason; he made a vigorous defence in spite of the insults and discouragement he sustained from a partial bench. As nothing but presumptions appeared against him, the jury scrupled to bring in a verdict that would affect his life, until they were reviled and reprimanded by judge Treby, then they found him guilty. In vain recourse was had to the queen’s mercy; he suffered death at Tyburn, and left a paper protesting solemnly against the proceedings of the court, which he affirmed was appointed not to try but to convict him, and petitioning heaven to forgive his penitent jury. The severity of the government was likewise exemplified in the case of some adventurers, who having equipped privateers to cruise upon the English, under joint commissions from the late king James and Louis XIV., happened to be taken by the English ships of war. Dr. Oldys, the king’s advocate, being commanded to proceed against them as guilty of treason and piracy, refused to commence the prosecution; and gave his opinion in writing that they were neither traitors nor pirates. He supported his opinion by arguments before the council; these were answered by Dr. Littleton, who succeeded him in the office from which he was dismissed; and the prisoners were executed as traitors. The Jacobites did not fail to retort those arts upon the government which their adversaries had so successfully practised in the late reign. They inveighed against the vindictive spirit of the administration, and taxed it with encouraging informers and false witnesses--a charge for which there was too much foundation.
The friends of James in Scotland still continued to concert designs in his favour; but their correspondence was detected, and their aims defeated, by the vigilance of the ministry in that kingdom. Secretary Johnston not only kept a watchful eye over all their transactions, but by a dexterous management of court liberality and favour, appeased the discontents of the presbyterians so effectually, that the king ran no risk in assembling the parliament. Some offices were bestowed upon the leaders of the kirk party, and the duke of Hamilton, being reconciled to the government, was appointed commissioner. On the eighteenth day of April the session was opened, and the king’s letter, replete with the most cajoling expressions, being read, the parliament proceeded to exhibit undeniable specimens of their good humour. They drew up a very affectionate answer to his majesty’s letter; they voted an addition of six new regiments to the standing forces of the kingdom; they granted a supply of above one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling to his majesty; they enacted a law for levying men to serve on board the royal navy; they fined all absentees, whether lords or commons, and vacated the seats of all those commissioners who refused to take the oath of assurance, which was equivalent to an abjuration of king James; they set on foot an inquiry about an intended invasion; they published some intercepted letters supposed to be written to king James by Nevil Payne, whom they committed to prison and threatened with a trial for high treason; but he eluded the danger by threatening in his turn to impeach those who had made their peace with the government; they passed an act for the comprehension of such of the episcopal clergy as should condescend to take the oaths by the tenth day of July. All that the general assembly required of them was, an offer to subscribe the confession of faith, and to acknowledge presbytery as the only government of the Scottish church; but they neither submitted to these terms, nor took the oaths within the limited time, so that they forfeited all legal right to their benefices. Nevertheless they continued in possession, and even received private assurances of the king’s protection. It was one of William’s political maxims to court his domestic enemies; but it was never attended with any good effect. This indulgence gave offence to the presbyterians, and former distractions began to revive.
THE KING RETURNS TO ENGLAND.
The king having prevailed upon the states-general to augment their land forces and navy for the service of the ensuing campaign, embarked for England, and arrived at Kensington on the thirtieth day of October. Finding the people clamorous and discontented, the trade of the nation decayed, the affairs of state mismanaged, and the ministers recriminating upon one another, he perceived the necessity of changing hands, and resolved to take his measures accordingly. Sunderland, his chief counsellor, represented that the tories were averse to the continuance of a war which had been productive of nothing but damage and disgrace; whereas, the whigs were much more tractable, and would bleed freely, partly from the terror of invasion and popery, partly from the ambition of being courted by the crown, and partly from the prospect of advantage, in advancing money to the government on the funds established by parliament; for that sort of traffic which obtained the appellation of the monied interest was altogether a whig-gish institution. The king revolved these observations in his own mind; and, in the meantime, the parliament met on the seventh day of November, pursuant to the last prorogation. In his speech, he expressed his resentment against those who were the authors of the miscarriages at sea; represented the necessity of increasing the land forces and the navy; and demanded a suitable supply for these purposes. In order to pave the way to their condescension, he had already dismissed from his council the earl of Nottingham, who, of all his ministers, was the most odious to the people. His place would have been immediately filled with the earl of Shrewsbury; but that nobleman suspecting this was a change of men rather than of measures, stood aloof for some time, until he received such assurances from the king as quieted his scruples, and then he accepted the office of secretary. The lieutenancy for the city of London, and all other commissions over England, were altered with a view to favour the whig interest; and the individuals of that party were indulged with many places of trust and profit; but the tories were too powerful in the house of commons to be exasperated, and therefore a good number of them were retained in office.
BOTH HOUSES INQUIRE INTO THE MISCARRIAGES BY SEA.
On the sixth day of the session, the commons unanimously resolved to support their majesties and their government; to inquire into miscarriages; and to consider of means for preserving the trade of the nation. The Turkey company was summoned to produce the petitions they had delivered to the commissioners of the Admiralty for convoy: lord Falkland, who sat at the head of that board, gave in copies of all the orders and directions sent to sir George Rooke concerning the Straits fleet, together with a list of all the ships at that time in commission. It appeared, in the course of this inquiry, that the miscarriage of Rooke’s fleet was in a great measure owing to the misconduct of the admirals, and the neglect of the victualling-office; but they were screened by a majority. Mr. Harley, one of the commissioners for taking and stating the public accounts, delivered a report, which contained a charge of peculation against lord Falkland. Rainsford, receiver of the rights and perquisites of the navy, confessed that he had received and paid more money than that which was charged in the accounts; and, in particular, that he had paid four thousand pounds to lord Falkland by his majesty’s order. This lord had acknowledged before the commissioners, that he had paid one half of the sum, by the king’s order, to a person who was not a member of either house; and that the remainder was still in his hands. Rainsford owned he had the original letter which he received from Falkland, demanding the money; and this nobleman desiring to see it, detained the voucher; a circumstance that incensed the commons to such a degree, that a motion was made for committing him to the Tower, and debated with great warmth, but was at last over-ruled by the majority. Nevertheless, they agreed to make him sensible of their displeasure, and he was reprimanded in his place. The house of lords having also inquired into the causes of the miscarriages at sea, very violent debates arose, and at length the majority resolved, that the admirals had done well in the execution of the orders they had received. This was a triumph over the whig lords, who had so eagerly prosecuted the affair, and now protested against the resolution not without great appearance of reason. The next step of the lords was to exculpate the earl of Nottingham, as the blame seemed to lie with him on the supposition that the admirals were innocent. With a view therefore to transfer this blame to Trenchard, the whiggish secretary, the earl gave the house to understand that he had received intelligence from Paris in the beginning of June, containing a list of the enemy’s fleet and the time of their sailing; that this was communicated to a committee of the council, and particularly imparted to secretary Trenchard, whose province it was to transmit instructions to the admirals. Two conferences passed on this subject between the lords and commons. Trenchard delivered in his defence in writing; and was in his turn screened by the whole efforts of the ministry, in which the whig influence now predominated. Thus an inquiry of such national consequence, which took its rise from the king’s own expression of resentment against the delinquents, was stifled by the arts of the court, because it was likely to affect one of its creatures; for, though there was no premeditated treachery in the case, the interest of the public was certainly sacrificed to the mutual animosity of the ministers. The charge of lord Falkland being resumed in the house of commons, he appeared to have begged and received of the king the remaining two thousand pounds of money which had been paid by Rainsford: he was therefore declared guilty of a high misdemeanor and breach of trust, and committed to the Tower; from whence however he was in two days discharged upon his petition.
VAST SUMS GRANTED FOR THE SERVICES OF THE ENSUING YEAR.
Harley, Foley, and Harcourt, presented to the house a state of the receipts and issues of the revenue, together with two reports from the commissioners of accounts concerning sums issued for secret services, and to members of parliament. This was a discovery of the most scandalous practices in the mystery of corruption, equally exercised on the individuals of both parties, in occasional bounties, grants, places, pensions, equivalents, and additional salaries. The malcontents therefore justly observed, the house of commons was so managed that the king could baffle any bill, quash all grievances, stifle accounts, and rectify the articles of Limerick. When the commons took into consideration the estimates and supplies of the ensuing year, the king demanded forty thousand men for the navy, and above one hundred thousand for the purposes of the land service. Before the house considered these enormous demands, they granted four hundred thousand pounds by way of advance, to quiet the clamours of the seamen, who were become mutinous and desperate for want of pay, upwards of one million being due to them for wages. Then the commons voted the number of men required for the navy; but they were so ashamed of that for the army, that they thought it necessary to act in such a manner as should imply that they still retained some regard for their country. They called for all the treaties subsisting between the king and his allies; they examined the different proportions of the troops furnished by the respective powers; they considered the intended augmentations, and fixed the establishment of the year at four-score and three thousand, one hundred, and twenty-one men, including officers. For the maintenance of these they allotted the sum of two millions, five hundred and thirty thousand, five hundred and nine pounds. They granted two millions for the navy, and about five hundred thousand pounds, to make good the deficiencies of the annuity and poll bills; so that the supplies for the year amounted to about five millions and a half, raised by a land-tax of four shillings in the pound, by two more lives in the annuities, a further excise on beer, a new duty on salt, and a lottery.
Though the malcontents in parliament could not withstand this torrent of profusion, they endeavoured to distress the court interest, by reviving the popular bills of the preceding session; such as that for regulating trials in cases of high treason, the other for the more frequent calling and meeting of parliaments, and that concerning free and impartial proceedings in parliament. The first was neglected in the house of lords; the second was rejected; the third was passed by the commons, on the supposition that it would be defeated in the other house. The lords returned it with certain amendments, to which the commons would not agree: a conference ensued; the peers receded from their corrections, and passed the bill, to which the king however refused his assent. Nothing could be more unpopular and dangerous than such a step at this juncture. The commons, in order to recover some credit with the people, determined to disapprove of his majesty’s conduct. The house formed itself into a committee, to take the state of the kingdom into consideration. They resolved, that whoever advised the king to refuse the royal assent to that bill, was an enemy to their majesties and the kingdom. They likewise presented an address, expressing their concern that he had not given his consent to the bill; and beseeching his majesty to hearken for the future to the advice of his parliament, rather than to the counsels of particular persons, who might have private interests of their own, separate from those of his majesty and his people. The king thanked them for their zeal, professed a warm regard for their constitution, and assured them he would look upon all parties as enemies who should endeavour to lessen the confidence subsisting between the sovereign and the people. The members in the opposition were not at all satisfied with this general reply. A day being appointed to take it into consideration, a warm debate was maintained with equal eloquence and acrimony. At length the question being put that an address should be made for a more explicit answer, it passed in the negative by a great majority.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND.
The city of London petitioned that a parliamentary provision should be made for the orphans, whose fortunes they had scandalously squandered away. Such an application had been made in the preceding session, and rejected with disdain, as an imposition on the public; but now those scruples were removed, and the house passed a bill for this purpose, consisting of many clauses, extending to different charges on the city lands, aqueducts, and personal estates; imposing duties on binding apprentices, constituting freemen, as also upon wines and coals imported into London. On the twenty-third day of March these bills received the royal assent; and the king took that opportunity of recommending despatch, as the season of the year was far advanced, and the enemy diligently employed in making preparations for an early campaign. The scheme of a national bank, like those of Amsterdam and Genoa, had been recommended to the ministry as an excellent institution, as well for the credit and security of the government, as the increase of trade and circulation. One project was invented by Dr. Hugh Chamberlain, proposing the circulation of tickets on land security; but William Paterson was author of that which was carried into execution, by the interest of Michael Godfrey and other active projectors. The scheme was founded on the motion of a transferable fund, and a circulation by bill on the credit of a large capital. Forty merchants subscribed to the amount of five hundred thousand pounds, as a fund of ready money, to circulate one million at eight per cent, to be lent to the government; and even this fund of ready money bore the same interest. When it was properly digested in the cabinet, and a majority in parliament secured for its reception, the undertakers for the court introduced it into the house of commons, and expatiated upon the national advantages that would accrue from such a measure. They said it would rescue the nation out of the hands of extortioners and usurers, lower interest, raise the value of land, revive and establish public credit, extend circulation, consequently improve commerce, facilitate the annual supplies, and connect the people the more closely with the government. The project was violently opposed by a strong party, who affirmed that it would become a monopoly, and engross the whole money of the kingdom; that, as it must infallibly be subservient to government views, it might be employed to the worst purposes of arbitrary power; that instead of assisting it would weaken commerce, by tempting people to withdraw their money from trade and employ it in stock-jobbing; that it would produce a swarm of brokers and jobbers to prey upon their fellow-creatures, encourage fraud and gaming, and further corrupt the morals of the nation. Notwithstanding these objections, the bill made its way through the two houses, establishing the funds for the security and advantage of the subscribers; empowering their majesties to incorporate them by the name of the governor and company of the bank of England, under a proviso, that at any time after the first day of August, in the year one thousand seven hundred and five, upon a year’s notice, and the repayment of the twelve hundred thousand pounds, the said corporation should cease and determine. The bill likewise contained clauses of appropriation for the services of the public. The whole subscription was filled in ten days after its being opened; and the court of directors completed the payment before the expiration of the time prescribed by the act, although they did not call in more than seven hundred and twenty thousand pounds of the money subscribed. All these funds proving inadequate to the estimates, the commons brought in a bill to impose stamp duties upon all vellum, parchment, and paper, used in almost every kind of intercourse between man and man; and they crowned the oppression of the year with another grievous tax upon carriages, under the name of a bill for licensing and regulating hackney and stage coaches.
EAST INDIA COMPANY’S CHARTER.
The commons, in a clause of the bill for taxing several joint-stocks, provided, that in case of a default in the payment of that tax, within the time limited by the act, the charter of the company so failing should be deemed void and forfeited. The East India company actually neglected their payment, and the public imagined the ministry would seize this opportunity of dissolving a monopoly against which so many complaints had been made; but the directors understood their own strength; and, instead of being broken, obtained the promise of a new charter. This was no sooner known, than the controversy between them and their adversaries was revived with such animosity, that the council thought proper to indulge both parties with a hearing. As this produced no resolution, the merchants who opposed the company petitioned, that, in the meanwhile, the new charter might be suspended. Addresses of the same kind were presented by a great number of clothiers, linen-drapers, and other dealers. To these a written answer was published by the company; the merchants printed a reply, in which they undertook to prove that the company had been guilty of unjust and unwarrantable actions, tending to the scandal of religion, the dishonour of the nation, the reproach of our laws, the oppression of the people, and the ruin of trade. They observed, that two private ships had exported in one year three times as many cloths as the company had exported in three years. They offered to send more cloth and English merchandise to the Indies in one year than the company had exported in five; to furnish the government with five hundred tons of saltpetre for less than one half of the usual price; and they represented, that the company could neither load the ships they petitioned for in England, nor reload them in the East Indies. In spite of all these remonstrances, the new charter passed the great seal; though the grants contained in it were limited in such a manner that they did not amount to an exclusive privilege, and subjected the company to such alterations, restrictions, and qualifications, as the king should direct before the twenty-ninth day of September. This indulgence, and other favours granted to the company, were privately purchased of the ministry, and became productive of a loud outcry against the government. The merchants published a journal of the whole transaction, and petitioned the house of commons that their liberty of trading to the East Indies might be confirmed by parliament. Another petition was presented by the company, praying that their charter might receive a parliamentary sanction. Both parties employed all their address in making private application to the members. The house having examined the different charters, the book of their new subscriptions, and every particular relating to the company, resolved that all the subjects of England had an equal right to trade to the East Indies unless prohibited by act of parliament.
{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688--1701.}
GENERAL NATURALIZATION BILL.
But nothing engrossed the attention of the public more than a bill which was brought into the house for a general naturalization of all foreign protestants. The advocates for this measure alleged, That great part of the lands of England lay uncultivated; that the strength of a nation consisted in the number of inhabitants; that the people were thinned by the war and foreign voyages, and required an extraordinary supply; that a great number of protestants, persecuted in France and other countries, would gladly remove to a land of freedom, and bring along with them their wealth and manufactures; that the community had been largely repaid for the protection granted to those refugees who had already settled in the kingdom. They had introduced several new branches of manufacture, promoted industry, and lowered the price of labour; a circumstance of the utmost importance to trade, oppressed as it was with taxes, and exposed to uncommon hazard from the enemy. The opponents of the bill urged with great vehemence, That it would cheapen the birthright of Englishmen; that the want of culture was owing to the oppression of the times; that foreigners being admitted into the privileges of the British trade, would grow wealthy at the expense of their benefactors, and transfer the fortunes they had gained into their native country; that the reduction in the price of labour would be a national grievance, while so many thousands of English manufacturers were starving for want of employment, and the price of provisions continued so high that even those who were employed could scarce supply their families with bread; that the real design of the bill was to make such an accession to the dissenters as would render them an equal match in the body politic for those of the church of England; to create a greater dependence on the crown, and, in a word, to supply a foreign head with foreign members. Sir John Knight, a member of the house, in a speech upon this subject, exaggerated the bad consequences that would attend such a bill, with all the wit and virulence of satire: it was printed and dispersed through the kingdom, and raised such a flame among the people as had not appeared since the revolution. They exclaimed, that all offices would be conferred upon Dutchmen, who would become lord-danes, and prescribe the modes of religion and government; and they extolled sir John Knight as the saviour of the nation. The courtiers, incensed at the progress of this clamour, complained in the house of the speech which had been printed; and sir John was threatened with expulsion and imprisonment. He therefore thought proper to disown the paper, which was burned by the hands of the common hangman. This sacrifice served only to increase the popular disturbance, which rose to such a height of violence, that the court party began to tremble; and the bill was dropped for the present.
Lord Coningsby and Mr. Porter had committed the most flagrant acts of oppression in Ireland. These had been explained during the last session by the gentlemen who appealed against the administration of lord Sidney, but they were screened by the ministry; and therefore the earl of Bellamont now impeached them in the house of commons, of which he and they were members. After an examination of the articles exhibited against them, the commons, who were by this time at the devotion of the court, declared, that, considering the state of affairs in Ireland, they did not think them fit grounds for an impeachment.--In the course of this session, the nation sustained another misfortune in the fate of sir Francis Wheeler, who had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean squadron. He received instructions to take under his convoy the merchant ships bound to Turkey, Spain, and Italy; to cruise thirty days in a certain latitude for the protection of the Spanish plate-fleet homeward bound; to leave part of his squadron at Cadiz as convoy to the trade for England; to proceed with the rest to the Mediterranean; to join the Spanish fleet in his return; and to act in concert with them, until he should be joined by the fleet from Turkey and the Straits, and accompany them back to England. About the latter end of October he set sail from Saint Helen’s, and in January arrived at Cadiz with the ships under his convoy. There leaving rear-admiral Hopson, he proceeded for the Mediterranean. In the bay of Gibraltar he was overtaken by a dreadful tempest, under a lee-shore, which he could not possibly weather, and where the ground was so foul that no anchor would hold. This expedient however was tried. A great number of ships were driven ashore, and many perished. The admiral’s ship foundered at sea, and he and all his crew were buried in the deep, except two Moors who were miraculously preserved. Two other ships of the line, three ketches, and six merchant ships were lost. The remains of the fleet were so much shattered, that, instead of prosecuting their voyage, they returned to Cadiz in order to be refitted, and sheltered from the attempts of the French squadrons, which were still at sea under the command of Chateau-Renaud and Cabaret. On the twenty-fifth day of April, the king-closed the session with a speech in the usual style, and the parliament was prorogued to the eighteenth day of September. [053] [See note K, at the end of this Vol.]
THE ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO MAKE A DESCENT IN CAMARET-BAY.
Louis of France being tired of the war, which had impoverished his country, continued to tamper with the duke of Savoy, and, by the canal of the pope, made some offers to the king of Spain, which were rejected. Meanwhile he resolved to stand upon the defensive during the ensuing campaign, in every part but Catalonia, where his whole naval force might co-operate with the count de Noailles, who commanded the land army. King William having received intelligence of the design upon Barcelona, endeavoured to prevent the junction of the Brest and Toulon squadrons, by sending Russel to sea as early as the fleet could be in a condition to sail; but before he arrived at Portsmouth, the Brest squadron had quitted that harbour. On the third day of May the admiral sailed from St. Helen’s with the combined squadrons of England and Holland, amounting to ninety ships of the line, besides frigates, fire-ships, and tenders. He detached captain Pritchard of the Monmouth with two fire-ships, to destroy a fleet of French merchant ships near Conquet-bay; and this service being performed, he returned to St. Helen’s, where he had left Adm. Cloudesley Shovel with a squadron, to take on board a body of land forces intended for a descent upon the coast of France. These being embarked under the command of general Ptolemache, the whole fleet sailed again on the twenty-ninth of May. The land and sea officers, in a council of war, agreed that part of the fleet designed for this expedition should separate from the rest and proceed to Camaret-bay, where the forces should be landed. On the fifth day of June, lord Berkeley, who commanded this squadron, parted with the grand fleet, and on the seventh anchored between the bays of Camaret and Bertaume. Next day the marquis of Carmarthen, afterwards duke of Leeds, who served under Berkeley as rear-admiral of the blue, entered Camaret-bay with two large ships and six frigates, to cover the troops in landing. The French had received intelligence of the design, and taken such precautions, under the conduct of the celebrated engineer Vauban, that the English were exposed to a terrible fire from new erected batteries, as well as from a strong body of troops, and though the ships cannonaded them with great vigour, the soldiers could not maintain any regularity in landing. A good number were killed in the open boats before they reached the shore; and those who landed were soon repulsed, in spite of all the endeavours of general Ptolemache, who received a wound in the thigh, which proved mortal. Seven hundred soldiers are said to have been lost on this occasion, besides those who were killed on board of the ships. The Monk ship of war was towed off with great difficulty; but a Dutch frigate of thirty guns fell into the hands of the enemy.
After this unfortunate attempt, lord Berkeley, with the advice of a council of war, sailed back for England, and at St. Helen’s received orders from the queen to call a council, and deliberate in what manner the ships and forces might be best employed. They agreed to make some attempt upon the coast of Normandy. With this view they set sail on the fifth day of July. They bombarded Dieppe, and reduced the greatest part of the town to ashes. Thence they steered to Havre-de-Grace, which met with the same fate. They harassed the French troops who marched after them along shore. They alarmed the whole coast, and filled every town with such consternation that they would have been abandoned by the inhabitants had not they been detained by military force. On the twenty-sixth of July, lord Berkeley returned to St. Helen’s, where he quitted the fleet, and the command devolved upon sir Cloudesley Shovel. This officer having received instructions to make an attempt upon Dunkirk, sailed round to the Downs, where he was joined by M. Meesters, with six-and-twenty Dutch pilots. On the twelfth of September he appeared before Dunkirk; and next day sent in the Charles galley, with two bomb-ketches, and as many of the machines called infernals. These were set on fire without effect, and the design miscarried; then Shovel steered to Calais, which having bombarded with little success, he returned to the coast of England; and the bomb-ketches and machines were sent into the river Thames.
ADMIRAL RUSSEL RELIEVES BARCELONA.
During these transactions, admiral Russel with the grand fleet sailed for the Mediterranean; and being joined by rear-admiral Neville from Cadiz, together with Callemberg and Evertzen, he steered towards Barcelona, which was besieged by the French fleet and army. At his approach, Tourville retired with precipitation into the harbour of Toulon; and Noailles abandoned his enterprise. The Spanish affairs were in such a deplorable condition, that without this timely assistance the kingdom must have been undone. While he continued in the Mediterranean, the French admiral durst not venture to appear at sea, and all his projects were disconcerted. After having asserted the honour of the British flag in those seas during the whole summer, he sailed in the beginning of November to Cadiz, where, by an express order of the king, he passed the winter, during which he took such precautions for preventing Tourville from passing the Straits, that he did not think proper to risk the passage.
CAMPAIGN IN FLANDERS.
It will now be necessary to describe the operations on the continent. In the middle of May king William arrived in Holland, where he consulted with the states-general. On the third day of June he repaired to Beth-lem-abbey near Louvain, the place appointed for the rendezvous of the army; and there he was met by the electors of Bavaria and Cologn. In a few days a numerous army was assembled, and every thing seemed to promise an active campaign. On the third day of June the dauphin assumed the command of the French forces, with which Luxembourg had taken post between Mons and Maubeuge; and passing the Sambre, encamped at Fleuras, but on the eighteenth he removed from thence, and took up his quarters between St. Tron and Wanheim; while the confederates lay at Roosbeck. On the eleventh of July, the dauphin marched in four columns to Oerle upon the Jaar, where he pitched his camp. On the twenty-second the confederates marched to Romale; then the dauphin took the route to Vignamont, where he secured his army by entrenchments, as his forces were inferior in number to those of the allies; and as he had been directed by his father to avoid an engagement. In this situation both armies remained till the fifteenth day of August, when king William sent the heavy baggage to Louvain; and on the eighteenth made a motion to Sombref. This was no sooner known to the enemy than they decamped; and having marched all night, posted themselves between Temploux and Masy, within a league and a half of the confederates. The king of England resolved to pass the Scheld, and with this view marched by the way of Nivelle and Soignes to Chievres; from thence he detached the duke of Wirtemberg, with a strong body of horse and foot, to pass the river at Oudenarde, while the elector of Bavaria advanced with another detachment to pass it at Pont de Espieres. Notwithstanding all the expedition they could make, their purpose was anticipated by Luxembourg, who being apprised of their route had detached four thousand horse, with each a foot soldier behind the trooper, to reinforce M. de Valette who commanded that part of the French line. These were sustained by a choice body of men, who travelled with great expedition without observing the formalities of a march. Mareschal de Villeroy followed the same route with all the cavalry of the right wing, the household troops, and twenty field-pieces; and the rest of the army was brought up by the dauphin in person. They marched with such incredible diligence, that the elector of Bavaria could scarce believe his own eyes when he arrived in sight of the Scheld and saw them intrenching themselves on the other side of the river. King William having reconnoitred their disposition, thought it impracticable to pass at that place; and therefore marched down the river to Oudenarde, where a passage had been already effected by the duke of Wirtemberg. Here the confederates passed the Scheld on the twenty-seventh day of the month; and the king fixed his head-quarters at Wanneghem. His intention was to have taken possession of Courtray, and established winter-quarters for a considerable part of his army in that district; but Luxembourg having posted himself between that place and Menin, extended his lines in such a manner that the confederates could not attempt to force them, nor even hinder him from subsisting his army at the enginse (expense ?) of the castellany of Courtray, during the remainder of the campaign. This surprising march was of such importance to the French king, that he wrote with his own hand a letter of thanks to his army; and ordered that it should be read to every particular squadron and battalion.
THE ALLIES REDUCE HUY.
The king of England, though disappointed in his scheme upon Courtray, found means to make some advantage of his superiority in number. He drafted troops from the garrison of Liege and Maestricht; and on the third day of September reinforced his body with a large detachment from his own camp, conferring the command upon the duke of Holstein-Ploen, with orders to undertake the siege of Huy. Next day the whole confederate forces passed the Lys, and encamped at Wouterghem. From thence the king with a part of the army marched to Roselsær; this diversion obliged the dauphin to make considerable detachments for the security of Ypres and Menin on the one side, and to cover Furnes and Dunkirk on the other. At this juncture, a Frenchman, being seized in the very act of setting fire to one of the ammunition waggons in the allied army, confessed he had been employed for this purpose by some of the French generals, and suffered death as a traitor. On the sixteenth day of the month the duke of Holstein-Ploen invested Huy, and earned on the siege with such vigour that in ten days the garrison capitulated. The king ordered Dixmuyde, Deynse, Ninove, and Tirelemont, to be secured for winter quarters to part of the army; the dauphin returned to Versailles; William quitted the camp on the last day of September; and both armies broke up about the middle of October.
The operations on the Rhine were preconcerted between king William and the prince of Baden, who had visited London in the winter. The dispute between the emperor and the elector of Saxony was compromised; and this young prince dying during the negotiation, the treaty was perfected by his brother and successor, who engaged to furnish twelve thousand men yearly, in consideration of a subsidy from the court of Vienna. In the beginning of June, mareschal de Lorges passed the Rhine at Philipsburgh, in order to give battle to the imperialists encamped at Halibron. The prince of Baden, who was not yet joined by the Saxons, Hessians, nor by the troops of Munster and Paderborn, dispatched couriers to quicken the march of these auxiliaries, and advanced to Eppingen, where he proposed to wait till they should come up; but on the fifteenth, receiving undoubted intelligence that the enemy were in motion towards him, he advanced to meet them in order of battle. De Lorges concluded that this was a desperate effort, and immediately halted to make the necessary preparations for an engagement. This pause enabled prince Louis to take possession of a strong pass near Sintzheim, from which he could not easily be dislodged. Then the mareschal proceeded to Viseloch, and ravaged the adjacent country, in hopes of drawing the imperialists from their intrenchments. The prince being joined by the Hessians, resolved to beat up the quarters of the enemy; and the French general being apprised of his design, retreated at midnight with the utmost precipitation. Having posted himself at Ruth, he sent his heavy baggage to Philipsburgh; then he moved to Gonsbergh in the neighbourhood of Manheim, repassed the Rhine, and encamped between Spires and Worms. The prince of Baden being joined by the allies, passed the river by a bridge of boats near Hagenbach, in the middle of September; and laid the country of Alsace under contribution. Considering the advanced season of the year this was a rash undertaking; and the French general resolved to profit by his enemy’s temerity. He forthwith advanced against the imperialists, foreseeing that should they be worsted in battle, their whole army would be ruined. Prince Louis, informed of his intention, immediately passed the Rhine; and this retreat was no sooner effected than the river swelled to such a degree that the island in the middle, and a great part of the camp he had occupied, was overflowed. Soon after this incident both armies retired into winter-quarters. The campaign in Hungary produced no event of importance. It was opened by the new vizier, who arrived at Belgrade in the middle of August: and about the same time Caprara assembled the imperial army in the neighbourhood of Peterwaraden. The Turks passed the Saave in order to attack their camp, and carried on their approaches with five hundred pieces of cannon; but made very little progress. The imperialists received reinforcements; the season wasted away; a feud arose between the vizier and the chain of the Tartars; and the Danube being swelled by heavy rains, so as to interrupt the operations of the Turks, their general decamped in the night of the first of October. They afterwards made an unsuccessful attempt upon Titul, while the imperial general made himself master of Giula. In the course of this summer the Venetians, who were also at war with the Turks, reduced Cyclut, a place of importance on the river Naranta, and made a conquest of the island of Scio in the Archipelago.
PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH.
We have already observed that the French king had determined to act vigorously in Catalonia. In the beginning of May, the duke de Noailles advanced at the head of eight and twenty thousand men to the river Ter, on the opposite bank of which the viceroy of Catalonia was encamped with sixteen thousand Spaniards. The French general passed the river in the face of this army, and attacked their intrenchments with such impetuosity, that in less than an hour they were totally defeated. Then he marched to Palamos, and undertook the siege of that place, while at the same time it was blocked up by the combined squadrons of Brest and Toulon. Though the besieged made an obstinate defence, the town was taken by storm, the houses were pillaged, and the people put to the sword, without distinction of age, sex, or condition. Then he invested Gironne, which in a few days capitulated. Ostalric met with the same fate, and Noailles was created viceroy of Catalonia by the French king. In the beginning of August he distributed his forces into quarters of refreshment along the river Ter-dore, resolving to undertake the siege of Barcelona, which was saved by the arrival of admiral Russel. The war languished in Piedmont, on account of a secret negotiation between the king of France and the duke of Savoy; notwithstanding the remonstrances of Rouvigny earl of Galway, who had succeeded the duke of Schomberg in the command of the British forces in that country. Casal was closely blocked up by the reduction of Fort St. George, and the Vaudois gained the advantage in some skirmishes in the valley of Ragclas; but no design of importance was executed.*
* In the course of this year, M. du Casse, governor of St. Domingo, made an unsuccessful attempt upon the Island of Jamaica; and M. St. Clair, with four men of war, formed a design against St. John’s, Newfoundland; but he was repulsed with loss by the valour of the inhabitants.
England had continued very quiet under the queen’s administration, if we except some little commotions occasioned by the practices, or pretended practices, of the Jacobites. Prosecutions were revived against certain gentlemen of Lancashire and Cheshire, for having been concerned in the conspiracy formed in favour of the late king’s projected invasion from Normandy. These steps were owing to the suggestions of infamous informers, whom the ministry countenanced. Colonel Parker and one Crosby were imprisoned, and bills of treason found against them; but Parker made his escape from the Tower, and was never retaken, though a reward of four hundred pounds was set upon his head. The king having settled the affairs of the confederacy at the Hague, embarked for England on the eighth of November, and next day landed at Margate. On the twelfth he opened the session of parliament with a speech, in which he observed that the posture of affairs was improved both by sea and land since they last parted; in particular, that a stop was put to the progress of the French arms. He desired they would continue the act of tonnage and poundage, which would expire at Christmas; he reminded them of the debt for the transport ships employed in the reduction of Ireland; and exhorted them to prepare some good bill for the encouragement of seamen. A majority in both houses was already secured; and in all probability he bargained for their condescension by agreeing to the bill for triennial parliaments. This Mr. Harley brought in by order of the lower house immediately after their first adjournment; and it kept pace with the consideration of the supplies. The commons having examined the estimates and accounts, voted four millions, seven hundred sixty-four thousand, seven hundred and twelve pounds, for the service of the army and navy. In order to raise this sum they continued the land tax; they renewed the subsidy of tonnage and poundage for five years, and imposed new duties on different commodities.* The triennial bill enacted, that a parliament should be held once within three years at least; that within three years at farthest after the dissolution of the parliament then subsisting, and so from time to time for ever after, legal writs under the great seal should be issued by the direction of the crown for calling, assembling, and holding another new parliament; that no parliament should continue longer than three years at farthest, to be accounted from the first day of the first session; and that the parliament then subsisting should cease and determine on the first day of November next following, unless their majesties should think fit to dissolve it sooner. The duke of Devonshire, the marquis of Halifax, the earls of Weymouth and Aylesbury, protested against this bill, because it tended to the continuance of the present parliament longer than, as they apprehended, was agreeable to the constitution of England.
* They imposed certain rates and duties upon marriages, births, and burials, bachelors, and widows. They passed an act for laying additional duties upon coffee, tea, and chocolate, towards paying the debt due for the transport ships: and another, imposing duties on glass ware, stone, and earthen bottles, coal, and culm.
DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP TILLOTSON AND OF QUEEN MARY
While this bill was depending, Dr. John Tillotson, archbishop of Canterbury, was seized with a fit of the dead palsy in the chapel of Whitehall, and died on the twenty-second day of November, deeply regretted by the king and queen, who shed tears of sorrow at his decease; and sincerely lamented by the public, as a pattern of elegance, ingenuity, meekness, charity, and moderation. These qualities he must be allowed to have possessed, notwithstanding the invectives of his enemies, who accused him of puritanism, flattery, and ambition; and charged him with having conduced to a dangerous schism in the church, by accepting the archbishopric during the life of the deprived Sancroft. He was succeeded in the metropolitan See by Dr. Tennison, bishop of Lincoln, recommended by the whig-party which now predominated in the cabinet. The queen did not long survive her favourite prelate. In about a month after his decease she was taken ill of the smallpox, and the symptoms proving dangerous, she prepared herself for death with great composure. She spent some time in exercises of devotion and private conversation with the new archbishop; she received the sacrament with all the bishops who were in attendance; and expired on the twenty-eighth day of December, in the thirty-third year of her age, and in the sixth of her reign, to the inexpressible grief of the king, who for some weeks after her death could neither see company nor attend to the business of state. Mary was in her person tall and well-proportioned, with an oval visage, lively eyes, agreeable features, a mild aspect, and an air of dignity. Her apprehension was clear, her memory tenacious, and her judgment solid. She was a zealous protestant, scrupulously exact in all the duties of devotion, of an even temper, and of a calm and mild conversation. She was ruffled by no passion, and seems to have been a stranger to the emotions of natural affection; for she ascended without compunction the throne from which her father had been deposed, and treated her sister as an alien to her blood. In a word, Mary seems to have imbibed the cold disposition and apathy of her husband; and to have centered all her ambition in deserving the epithet of an humble and obedient wife. [056] [See note L, at the end of this Vol.]
RECONCILIATION BETWEEN THE KING AND THE PRINCESS OF DENMARK.
The princess Anne being informed of the queen’s dangerous indisposition, sent a lady of her bed-chamber to desire she might be admitted to her majesty; but this request was not granted. She was thanked for her expression of concern; and given to understand, that the physicians had directed that the queen should be kept as quiet as possible. Before her death, however, she sent a forgiving message to her sister; and after her decease, the earl of Sunderland effected a reconciliation between the king and the princess, who visited him at Kensington, where she was received with uncommon civility. He appointed the palace of St. James for her residence, and presented her with the greater part of the queen’s jewels. But a mutual jealousy and disgust subsisted under these exteriors of friendship and esteem. The two houses of parliament waited on the king at Kensington, with consolatory addresses on the death of his consort; their example was followed by the regency of Scotland, the city and clergy of London, the dissenting ministers, and almost all the great corporations in England.*
* The earls of Rochester and Nottingham are said to have started a doubt, whether the parliament was not dissolved by the queen’s death; but this dangerous motion met with no countenance.