The History of England, from the Accession of James II - Volume 2

Titel: The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 2

von ca. 337-422 Faxian, Sir Samuel White Baker, Sax Rohmer, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Maria Edgeworth, Saint Sir Thomas More, Herodotus, L. Mühlbach, Herbert Allen Giles, G. K. Chesterton, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Rudyard Kipling, A. J. O'Reilly, William Bray, O. Henry, graf Leo Tolstoy, Anonymous, Lewis Wallace, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Edgar Allan Poe, Jack London, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Jules Verne, Frank Frankfort Moore, Susan Fenimore Cooper, Anthony Trollope, Henry James, T. Smollett, Thomas Burke, Emma Goldman, George Eliot, Henry Rider Haggard, Baron Thomas Babington Macaulay Macaulay, A. Maynard Barbour, Edmund Burke, Gerold K. Rohner, Bernard Shaw, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Bret Harte, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Jerome K. Jerome, Isabella L. Bird, Christoph Martin Wieland, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ludwig Anzengruber, Freiherr von Ludwig Achim Arnim, G. Harvey Ralphson, John Galsworthy, George Sand, Pierre Loti, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Giambattista Basile, Homer, John Webster, P. G. Wodehouse, William Shakespeare, Edward Payson Roe, Sir Walter Raleigh, Victor [pseud.] Appleton, Arnold Bennett, James Fenimore Cooper, James Hogg, Richard Harding Davis, Ernest Thompson Seton, William MacLeod Raine, E. Phillips Oppenheim, Maksim Gorky, Henrik Ibsen, George MacDonald, Sir Max Beerbohm, Lucy Larcom, Various, Sir Robert S. Ball, Charles Darwin, Charles Reade, Adelaide Anne Procter, Joseph Conrad, Joel Chandler Harris, Joseph Crosby Lincoln, Alexander Whyte, Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin, James Lane Allen, Richard Jefferies, Honoré de Balzac, Wilhelm Busch, General Robert Edward Lee, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, David Cory, Booth Tarkington, George Rawlinson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, Christopher Evans, Thomas Henry Huxley, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Erskine Childers, Alice Freeman Palmer, Florence Converse, William Congreve, Stephen Crane, Madame de La Fayette, United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. Manhattan District, Willa Sibert Cather, Anna Katharine Green, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Charlotte M. Brame, Alphonse Daudet, Booker T. Washington, Clemens Brentano, Sylvester Mowry, Geoffrey Chaucer, Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow, Gail Hamilton, William Roscoe Thayer, Margaret Wade Campbell Deland, Rafael Sabatini, Archibald Henderson, Albert Payson Terhune, George Wharton James, Padraic Colum, James MacCaffrey, John Albert Macy, Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller, Walter Pater, Sir Richard Francis Burton, Baron de Jean-Baptiste-Antoine-Marcelin Marbot, Aristotle, Gustave Flaubert, 12th cent. de Troyes Chrétien, Valentine Williams, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Alexandre Dumas fils, John Gay, Andrew Lang, Hester Lynch Piozzi, Jeffery Farnol, Alexander Pope, George Henry Borrow, Mark Twain, Francis Bacon, Margaret Pollock Sherwood

ISBN 978-3-7429-2346-2

Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Es ist ohne vorherige schriftliche Erlaubnis nicht gestattet, dieses Werk im Ganzen oder in Teilen zu vervielfältigen oder zu veröffentlichen.

THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND

FROM THE ACCESSION OF JAMES II,

VOLUME 2 (of 5)

(Chapters VI-X)

by Thomas Babington Macaulay.

Philadelphia

Porter & Coates

Contents

CHAPTER VI CHAPTER VII CHAPTER VIII CHAPTER IX CHAPTER X

DETAILED CONTENTS

CHAPTER VI

The Power of James at the Height His Foreign Policy His Plans of Domestic Government; the Habeas Corpus Act The Standing Army Designs in favour of the Roman Catholic Religion Violation of the Test Act Disgrace of Halifax; general Discontent Persecution of the French Huguenots Effect of that Persecution in England Meeting of Parliament; Speech of the King; an Opposition formed in the House Sentiments of Foreign Governments Committee of the Commons on the King's Speech Defeat of the Government Second Defeat of the Government; the King reprimands the Commons Coke committed by the Commons for Disrespect to the King Opposition to the Government in the Lords; the Earl of Devonshire The Bishop of London Viscount Mordaunt Prorogation Trials of Lord Gerard and of Hampden Trial of Delamere Effect of his Acquittal Parties in the Court; Feeling of the Protestant Tories Publication of Papers found in the Strong Box of Charles II. Feeling of the respectable Roman Catholics Cabal of violent Roman Catholics; Castlemaine Jermyn; White; Tyrconnel Feeling of the Ministers of Foreign Governments The Pope and the Order of Jesus opposed to each other The Order of Jesus Father Petre The King's Temper and Opinions The King encouraged in his Errors by Sunderland Perfidy of Jeffreys Godolphin; the Queen; Amours of the King Catharine Sedley Intrigues of Rochester in favour of Catharine Sedley Decline of Rochester's Influence Castelmaine sent to Rome; the Huguenots illtreated by James The Dispensing Power Dismission of Refractory Judges Case of Sir Edward Hales Roman Catholics authorised to hold Ecclesiastical Benefices; Sclater; Walker The Deanery of Christchurch given to a Roman Catholic Disposal of Bishoprics Resolution of James to use his Ecclesiastical Supremacy against the Church His Difficulties He creates a new Court of High Commission Proceedings against the Bishop of London Discontent excited by the Public Display of Roman Catholic Rites and Vestments Riots A Camp formed at Hounslow Samuel Johnson Hugh Speke Proceedings against Johnson Zeal of the Anglican Clergy against Popery The Roman Catholic Divines overmatched State of Scotland Queensberry Perth and Melfort Favour shown to the Roman Catholic Religion in Scotland Riots at Edinburgh Anger of the King; his Plans concerning Scotland Deputation of Scotch Privy Councillors sent to London Their Negotiations with the King Meeting of the Scotch Estates; they prove refractory They are adjourned; arbitrary System of Government in Scotland Ireland State of the Law on the Subject of Religion Hostility of Races Aboriginal Peasantry; aboriginal Aristocracy State of the English Colony Course which James ought to have followed His Errors Clarendon arrives in Ireland as Lord Lieutenant His Mortifications; Panic among the Colonists Arrival of Tyrconnel at Dublin as General; his Partiality and Violence He is bent on the Repeal of the Act of Settlement; he returns to England The King displeased with Clarendon Rochester attacked by the Jesuitical Cabal Attempts of James to convert Rochester Dismission of Rochester Dismission of Clarendon; Tyrconnel Lord Deputy Dismay of the English Colonists in Ireland Effect of the Fall of the Hydes

CHAPTER VII

William, Prince of Orange; his Appearance His early Life and Education His Theological Opinions His Military Qualifications His Love of Danger; his bad Health Coldness of his Manners and Strength of his Emotions; his Friendship for Bentinck Mary, Princess of Orange Gilbert Burnet He brings about a good Understanding between the Prince and Princess Relations between William and English Parties His Feelings towards England His Feelings towards Holland and France His Policy consistent throughout Treaty of Augsburg William becomes the Head of the English Opposition Mordaunt proposes to William a Descent on England William rejects the Advice Discontent in England after the Fall of the Hydes Conversions to Popery; Peterborough; Salisbury Wycherley; Tindal; Haines Dryden The Hind and Panther Change in the Policy of the Court towards the Puritans Partial Toleration granted in Scotland Closeting It is unsuccessful Admiral Herbert Declaration of Indulgence Feeling of the Protestant Dissenters Feeling of the Church of England The Court and the Church Letter to a Dissenter; Conduct of the Dissenters Some of the Dissenters side with the Court; Care; Alsop Rosewell; Lobb Venn The Majority of the Puritans are against the Court; Baxter; Howe, Banyan Kiffin The Prince and Princess of Orange hostile to the Declaration of Indulgence Their Views respecting the English Roman Catholics vindicated Enmity of James to Burnet Mission of Dykvelt to England; Negotiations of Dykvelt with English Statesmen Danby Nottingham Halifax Devonshire Edward Russell; Compton; Herbert Churchill Lady Churchill and the Princess Anne Dykvelt returns to the Hague with Letters from many eminent Englishmen Zulestein's Mission Growing Enmity between James and William Influence of the Dutch Press Correspondence of Stewart and Fagel Castelmaine's embassy to Rome

CHAPTER VIII

Consecration of the Nuncio at Saint James's Palace; his public Reception The Duke of Somerset Dissolution of the Parliament; Military Offences illegally punished Proceedings of the High Commission; the Universities Proceedings against the University of Cambridge The Earl of Mulgrave State of Oxford Magdalene College, Oxford Anthony Farmer recommended by the King for President Election of the President The Fellows of Magdalene cited before the High Commission Parker recommended as President; the Charterhouse The Royal Progress The King at Oxford; he reprimands the Fellows of Magdalene Penn attempts to mediate Special Ecclesiastical Commissioners sent to Oxford Protest of Hough Parker Ejection of the Fellows Magdalene College turned into a Popish Seminary Resentment of the Clergy Schemes of the Jesuitical Cabal respecting the Succession Scheme of James and Tyrconnel for preventing the Princess of Orange from succeeding to the Kingdom of Ireland The Queen pregnant; general Incredulity Feeling of the Constituent Bodies, and of the Peers James determines to pack a Parliament The Board of Regulators Many Lords Lieutenants dismissed; the Earl of Oxford The Earl of Shrewsbury The Earl of Dorset Questions put to the Magistrates Their Answers; Failure of the King's Plans List of Sheriffs Character of the Roman Catholic Country Gentlemen Feeling of the Dissenters; Regulation of Corporations Inquisition in all the Public Departments Dismission of Sawyer Williams Solicitor General Second Declaration of Indulgence; the Clergy ordered to read it They hesitate; Patriotism of the Protestant Nonconformists of London Consultation of the London Clergy Consultation at Lambeth Palace Petition of the Seven Bishops presented to the King The London Clergy disobey the Royal Order Hesitation of the Government It is determined to prosecute the Bishops for a Libel They are examined by the Privy Council They are committed to the Tower Birth of the Pretender He is generally believed to be supposititious The Bishops brought before the King's Bench and bailed Agitation of the public Mind Uneasiness of Sunderland He professes himself a Roman Catholic Trial of the Bishops The Verdict; Joy of the People Peculiar State of Public Feeling at this Time

CHAPTER IX

Change in the Opinion of the Tories concerning the Lawfulness of Resistance Russell proposes to the Prince of Orange a Descent on England Henry Sidney Devonshire; Shrewsbury; Halifax Danby Bishop Compton Nottingham; Lumley Invitation to William despatched Conduct of Mary Difficulties of William's Enterprise Conduct of James after the Trial of the Bishops Dismissions and Promotions Proceedings of the High Commission; Sprat resigns his Seat Discontent of the Clergy; Transactions at Oxford Discontent of the Gentry Discontent of the Army Irish Troops brought over; Public Indignation Lillibullero Politics of the United Provinces; Errors of the French King His Quarrel with the Pope concerning Franchises The Archbishopric of Cologne Skilful Management of William His Military and Naval Preparations He receives numerous Assurances of Support from England Sunderland Anxiety of William Warnings conveyed to James Exertions of Lewis to save James James frustrates them The French Armies invade Germany William obtains the Sanction of the States General to his Expedition Schomberg British Adventurers at the Hague William's Declaration James roused to a Sense of his Danger; his Naval Means His Military Means He attempts to conciliate his Subjects He gives Audience to the Bishops His Concessions ill received Proofs of the Birth of the Prince of Wales submitted to the Privy Council Disgrace of Sunderland William takes leave of the States of Holland He embarks and sails; he is driven back by a Storm His Declaration arrives in England; James questions the Lords William sets sail the second Time He passes the Straits He lands at Torbay He enters Exeter Conversation of the King with the Bishops Disturbances in London Men of Rank begin to repair to the Prince Lovelace Colchester; Abingdon Desertion of Cornbury Petition of the Lords for a Parliament The King goes to Salisbury Seymour; Court of William at Exeter Northern Insurrection Skirmish at Wincanton Desertion of Churchill and Grafton Retreat of the Royal Army from Salisbury Desertion of Prince George and Ormond Flight of the Princess Anne Council of Lords held by James He appoints Commissioners to treat with William The Negotiation a Feint Dartmouth refuses to send the Prince of Wales into France Agitation of London Forged Proclamation Risings in various Parts of the Country Clarendon joins the Prince at Salisbury; Dissension in the Prince's Camp The Prince reaches Hungerford; Skirmish at Reading; The King's Commissioners arrive at Hungerford Negotiation The Queen and the Prince of Wales sent to France; Lauzun The King's Preparations for Flight His Flight

CHAPTER X

The Flight of James known; great Agitation The Lords meet at Guildhall Riots in London The Spanish Ambassador's House sacked Arrest of Jeffreys The Irish Night The King detained near Sheerness The Lords order him to be set at Liberty William's Embarrassment Arrest of Feversham Arrival of James in London Consultation at Windsor The Dutch Troops occupy Whitehall Message from the Prince delivered to James James sets out for Rochester; Arrival of William at Saint James's He is advised to assume the Crown by Right of Conquest He calls together the Lords and the Members of the Parliaments of Charles II. Flight of James from Rochester Debates and Resolutions of the Lords Debates and Resolutions of the Commoners summoned by the Prince Convention called; Exertions of the Prince to restore Order His tolerant Policy Satisfaction of Roman Catholic Powers; State of Feeling in France Reception of the Queen of England in France Arrival of James at Saint Germains State of Feeling in the United Provinces Election of Members to serve in the Convention Affairs of Scotland State of Parties in England Sherlock's Plan Sancroft's Plan Danby's Plan The Whig Plan Meeting of the Convention; leading Members of the House of Commons Choice of a Speaker Debate on the State of the Nation Resolution declaring the Throne vacant It is sent up to the Lords; Debate in the Lords on the Plan of Regency Schism between the Whigs and the Followers of Danby Meeting at the Earl of Devonshire's Debate in the Lords on the Question whether the Throne was vacant Majority for the Negative; Agitation in London Letter of James to the Convention Debates; Negotiations; Letter of the Princess of Orange to Danby The Princess Anne acquiesces in the Whig Plan William explains his views The Conference between the houses The Lords yield New Laws proposed for the Security of Liberty Disputes and Compromise The Declaration of Right Arrival of Mary Tender and Acceptance of the Crown William and Mary proclaimed; peculiar Character of the English Revolution

CHAPTER VI

JAMES was now at the height of power and prosperity. Both in England and in Scotland he had vanquished his enemies, and had punished them with a severity which had indeed excited their bitterest hatred, but had, at the same time, effectually quelled their courage. The Whig party seemed extinct. The name of Whig was never used except as a term of reproach. The Parliament was devoted to the King; and it was in his power to keep that Parliament to the end of his reign. The Church was louder than ever in professions of attachment to him, and had, during the late insurrection, acted up to those professions. The Judges were his tools; and if they ceased to be so, it was in his power to remove them. The corporations were filled with his creatures. His revenues far exceeded those of his predecessors. His pride rose high. He was not the same man who, a few months before, in doubt whether his throne might not be overturned in a hour, had implored foreign help with unkingly supplications, and had accepted it with tears of gratitude. Visions of dominion and glory rose before him. He already saw himself, in imagination, the umpire of Europe, the champion of many states oppressed by one too powerful monarchy. So early as the month of June he had assured the United Provinces that, as soon as the affairs of England were settled, he would show the world how little he feared France. In conformity with these assurances, he, within a month after the battle of Sedgemoor, concluded with the States General a defensive treaty, framed in the very spirit of the Triple League. It was regarded, both at the Hague and at Versailles, as a most significant circumstance that Halifax, who was the constant and mortal enemy of French ascendency, and who had scarcely ever before been consulted on any grave affair since the beginning of the reign, took the lead on this occasion, and seemed to have the royal ear. It was a circumstance not less significant that no previous communication was made to Barillon. Both he and his master were taken by surprise. Lewis was much troubled, and expressed great, and not unreasonable, anxiety as to the ulterior designs of the prince who had lately been his pensioner and vassal. There were strong rumours that William of Orange was busied in organizing a great confederacy, which was to include both branches of the House of Austria, the United Provinces, the kingdom of Sweden, and the electorate of Brandenburg. It now seemed that this confederacy would have at its head the King and Parliament of England.

In fact, negotiations tending to such a result were actually opened. Spain proposed to form a close alliance with James; and he listened to the proposition with favour, though it was evident that such an alliance would be little less than a declaration of war against France. But he postponed his final decision till after the Parliament should have reassembled. The fate of Christendom depended on the temper in which he might then find the Commons. If they were disposed to acquiesce in his plans of domestic government, there would be nothing to prevent him from interfering with vigour and authority in the great dispute which must soon be brought to an issue on the Continent. If they were refractory, he must relinquish all thought of arbitrating between contending nations, must again implore French assistance, must again submit to French dictation, must sink into a potentate of the third or fourth class, and must indemnify himself for the contempt with which he would be regarded abroad by triumphs over law and public opinion at home. 1

It seemed, indeed, that it would not be easy for him to demand more than the Commons were disposed to give. Already they had abundantly proved that they were desirous to maintain his prerogatives unimpaired, and that they were by no means extreme to mark his encroachments on the rights of the people. Indeed, eleven twelfths of the members were either dependents of the court, or zealous Cavaliers from the country. There were few things which such an assembly could pertinaciously refuse to the Sovereign; and, happily for the nation, those few things were the very things on which James had set his heart.

One of his objects was to obtain a repeal of the Habeas Corpus Act, which he hated, as it was natural that a tyrant should hate the most stringent curb that ever legislation imposed on tyranny. This feeling remained deeply fixed in his mind to the last, and appears in the instructions which he drew up, in exile, for the guidance of his son. 2 But the Habeas Corpus Act, though passed during the ascendency of the Whigs, was not more dear to the Whigs than to the Tories. It is indeed not wonderful that this great law should be highly prized by all Englishmen without distinction of party: for it is a law which, not by circuitous, but by direct operation, adds to the security and happiness of every inhabitant of the realm. 3

James had yet another design, odious to the party which had set him on the throne and which had upheld him there. He wished to form a great standing army. He had taken advantage of the late insurrection to make large additions to the military force which his brother had left. The bodies now designated as the first six regiments of dragoon guards, the third and fourth regiments of dragoons, and the nine regiments of infantry of the line, from the seventh to the fifteenth inclusive, had just been raised. 4 The effect of these augmentations, and of the recall of the garrison of Tangier, was that the number of regular troops in England had, in a few months, been increased from six thousand to near twenty thousand. No English King had ever, in time of peace, had such a force at his command. Yet even with this force James was not content. He often repeated that no confidence could be placed in the fidelity of the train-bands, that they sympathized with all the passions of the class to which they belonged, that, at Sedgemoor, there had been more militia men in the rebel army than in the royal encampment, and that, if the throne had been defended only by the array of the counties, Monmouth would have marched in triumph from Lyme to London.

The revenue, large as it was when compared with that of former Kings, barely sufficed to meet this new charge. A great part of the produce of the new taxes was absorbed by the naval expenditure. At the close of the late reign the whole cost of the army, the Tangier regiments included, had been under three hundred thousand pounds a year. Six hundred thousand pounds a year would not now suffice. 5 If any further augmentation were made, it would be necessary to demand a supply from Parliament; and it was not likely that Parliament would be in a complying mood. The very name of standing army was hateful to the whole nation, and to no part of the nation more hateful than to the Cavalier gentlemen who filled the Lower House. In their minds a standing army was inseparably associated with the Rump, with the Protector, with the spoliation of the Church, with the purgation of the Universities, with the abolition of the peerage, with the murder of the King, with the sullen reign of the Saints, with cant and asceticism, with fines and sequestrations, with the insults which Major Generals, sprung from the dregs of the people, had offered to the oldest and most honourable families of the kingdom. There was, moreover, scarcely a baronet or a squire in the Parliament who did not owe part of his importance in his own county to his rank in the militia. If that national force were set aside, the gentry of England must lose much of their dignity and influence. It was therefore probable that the King would find it more difficult to obtain funds for the support of his army than even to obtain the repeal of the Habeas Corpus Act.

But both the designs which have been mentioned were subordinate to one great design on which the King's whole soul was bent, but which was abhorred by those Tory gentlemen who were ready to shed their blood for his rights, abhorred by that Church which had never, during three generations of civil discord, wavered in fidelity to his house, abhorred even by that army on which, in the last extremity, he must rely.