CHAPTER V

. WILLIAM.

_Account of the Lancashire Plot..... The Commons inquire into the Abuses which had crept into the Army..... They expel and prosecute some of their own Members for Corruption in the Affair of the East India Company..... Examination of Cooke, Acton, and others..... The Commons impeach the Duke of Leeds..... The Parliament is prorogued..... Session of the Scottish Parliament..... They inquire into the Massacre of Glencoe..... They pass an Act for erecting a Trading Company to Africa and the Indies..... Proceedings in the Parliament of Ireland..... Disposition of the Armies in Flanders..... King William undertakes the Siege of Namur..... Famous Retreat of Prince Vaudemont..... Brussels is bombarded by Villeroy..... Progress of the Siege of Namur..... Villeroy attempts to relieve it..... The Besiegers make a desperate Assault..... The Place capitulates..... Boufflers is arrested by order of King William..... Campaign on the Rhine and in Hungary..... The Duke of Savoy takes Casal..... Transactions in Catalonia..... The English Fleet bombard’s St. Maloes and other places on the Coast of France..... Wilmot’s expedition to the West Indies..... A new Parliament..... They pass the Bill for regulating Trials in Cases of High Treason..... Resolutions with respect to the new Coinage..... The Commons address the King to recall a Grant he had made to the Earl of Portland..... Another against the new Scottish Company..... Intrigues of the Jacobites..... Conspiracy against the life of William..... Design of an Invasion defeated..... The two Houses engage in an Association for the Defence of his Majesty..... Establishment of a Land Bank..... Trial of the Conspirators..... The Allies burn the Magazine at Civet..... Louis the Fourteenth makes Advances towards a Peace with Holland..... He detaches the Duke of Savoy from the Confederacy..... Naval Transactions..... Proceedings in the Parliaments of Scotland and Ireland..... Zeal of the English Commons in their Affection to the King..... Resolutions touching the Coin and the support of Public Credit..... Enormous Impositions..... Sir John Fen- wick is apprehended..... A Bill of Attainder being brought into the House against him produces violent Debates..... His Defence..... The Bill passes..... Sir John Fenwick is beheaded..... The Earl of Monmouth sent to the Tower..... Inquiry into Miscarriages by Sea..... Negotiations at Ryswick..... The French take Barcelona..... Fruitless Expedition of Admiral Neville to the West Indies..... The Elector of Saxony is chosen King of Poland..... Peter the Czar of Muscovy travels in Disguise with his own Ambassadors ..... Proceedings in the Congress at Ryswick..... The Ambassadors of England, Spain, and Holland, sign the Treaty..... A general Pacification._

{WILLIAM, 1688--1701.}

ACCOUNT OF THE LANCASHIRE PLOT.

THE kingdom now resounded with the complaints of the papists and malcontents, who taxed the ministry with subornation of perjury in the case of the Lancashire gentlemen who had been persecuted for the conspiracy. One Lunt, an Irishman, had informed sir John Trench-ard, secretary of state, that he had been sent from Ireland with commissions from king James to divers gentlemen in Lancashire and Cheshire; that he had assisted in buying arms and enlisting men to serve that king in his projected invasion of England; that he had been twice despatched by those gentlemen to the court of St. Germain’s, assisted many Jacobites in repairing to France, helped to conceal others that came from that kingdom; and that all those persons told him they were furnished with money by sir John Friend, to defray the expense of their expeditions. His testimony was confirmed by other infamous emissaries, who received but too much countenance from the government. Blank warrants were issued, and filled up occasionally with such names as the informers suggested. These were delivered to Aaron Smith, solicitor to the treasury, who with messengers accompanied Lunt and his associates to Lancashire, under the protection of a party of Dutch horse-guards commanded by one captain Baker. They were empowered to break open houses, seize papers, and apprehend persons, according to their pleasure; and they committed many acts of violence and oppression. The persons against whom these measures were taken, being apprized of the impending danger, generally retired from their own habitations. Some, however, were taken and imprisoned; a few arms were secured; and in the house of Mr. Standish, at Standish-hall, they found the draft of a declaration to be published by king James at his landing. As this prosecution seemed calculated to revive the honour of a stale conspiracy, and the evidences were persons of abandoned characters, the friends of those who were persecuted found no great difficulty in rendering the scheme odious to the nation. They even employed the pen of Ferguson, who had been concerned in every plot that was hatched since the Rye-house conspiracy. This veteran, though appointed housekeeper to the excise-office, thought himself poorly recompensed for the part he had acted in the revolution, became dissatisfied, and upon this occasion published a letter to sir John Trenchard on the abuse of power. It was replete with the most bitter invectives against the ministry, and contained a great number of flagrant instances in which the court had countenanced the vilest corruption, perfidy, and oppression. This production was in every body’s hand, and had such an effect upon the people, that when the prisoners were brought to trial at Manchester, the populace would have put the witnesses to death had they not been prevented by the interposition of those who were friends of the accused persons, and had already taken effectual measures for their safety. Lunt’s chief associate in the mystery of information was one Taaffe, a wretch of the most profligate principles, who, finding himself disappointed in his hope of reward from the ministry, was privately gained over by the agents for the prisoners. Lunt, when desired in court to point out the persons whom he had accused, committed such a mistake as greatly invalidated his testimony; and Taaffe declared before the bench, that the pretended plot was no other than a contrivance between himself and Lunt in order to procure money from the government. The prisoners were immediately acquitted, and the ministry incurred a heavy load of popular odium, as the authors or abettors of knavish contrivances to insnare the innocent. The government, with a view to evince their abhorrence of such practices, ordered the witnesses to be prosecuted for a conspiracy against the lives and estates of the gentlemen who had been accused; and at last the affair was brought into the house of commons. The Jacobites triumphed in their victory. They even turned the battery of corruption upon the evidence for the crown, not without making a considerable impression. But the cause was now debated before judges who were not at all propitious to their views. The commons having set on foot an inquiry, and examined all the papers and circumstances relating to the pretended plot, resolved that there was sufficient ground for the prosecution and trials of the gentlemen at Manchester; and that there was a dangerous conspiracy against the king and government. They issued an order for taking Mr. Standish into custody; and the messenger reporting that he was not to be found, they presented an address to the king, desiring a proclamation might be published offering a reward for apprehending his person. The peers concurred with the commons in their sentiments of this affair; for complaints having been laid before their house also by the persons who thought themselves aggrieved, the question was put whether the government had cause to prosecute them, and carried in the affirmative, though a protest was entered against this vote by the earls of Rochester and Nottingham. Notwithstanding these decisions, the accused gentlemen prosecuted Lunt and two of his accomplices for perjury at the Lancaster assizes, and all three were found guilty. They were immediately indicted by the crown for a conspiracy against the lives and liberties of the persons they had accused. The intention of the ministry in laying this indictment was to seize the opportunity of punishing some of the witnesses for the gentlemen who had prevaricated in giving their testimony; but their design being discovered, the Lancashire men refused to produce their evidence against the informers; the prosecution dropped of consequence, and the prisoners were discharged.

{WILLIAM, 1688--1701.}

INQUIRY INTO THE ABUSES IN THE ARMY.

When the commons were employed in examining the state of the revenue, and taking measures for raising the necessary supplies, the inhabitants of Royston presented a petition, complaining that the officers and soldiers of the regiment belonging to colonel Hastings, which was quartered upon them, exacted subsistence-money, even on pain of military execution. The house was immediately kindled into a flame by this information. The officers and Pauncefort, agent for the regiment, were examined: then it was unanimously resolved that such a practice was arbitrary, illegal, and a violation of the rights and liberties of the subject. Upon further inquiry, Pauncefort and some other agents were committed to the custody of the sergeant, for having neglected to pay the subsistence money they had received for the officers and soldiers. He was afterwards sent to the Tower, together with Henry Guy, a member of the house and secretary to the treasury, the one for giving and the other for receiving a bribe to obtain the king’s bounty. Pauncefort’s brother was likewise committed for being concerned in the same commerce. Guy had been employed, together with Trevor the speaker, as the court-agent for securing a majority in the house of commons; for that reason he was obnoxious to the members in the opposition, who took this opportunity to brand him, and the courtiers could not with any decency screen him from their vengeance. The house having proceeded in this inquiry, drew up an address to the king, enumerating the abuses which had crept into the army, and demanding immediate redress. He promised to consider the remonstrance and redress the grievances of which they complained. Accordingly, he cashiered colonel Hastings; appointed a council of officers to sit weekly and examine all complaints against any officer and soldier; and published a declaration for the maintenance of strict discipline, and the due payment of quarters. Notwithstanding these concessions, the commons prosecuted their examinations: they committed Mr. James Craggs, one of the contractors for clothing the army, because he refused to answer upon oath to such questions as might be put to him by the commissioners of accounts. They brought in a bill for obliging him and Mr. Richard Harnage, the other contractor, together with the two Paunceforts, to discover how they had disposed of the sums paid into their hands on account of the army, and for punishing them in case they should persist in their refusal. At this period they received a petition against the commissioners for licensing hackney-coaches. Three of them, by means of an address to the king, were removed with disgrace for having acted arbitrarily, corruptly, and contrary to the trust reposed in them by act of parliament.

Those who encouraged this spirit of reformation, introduced another inquiry about the orphans’ bill, which was said to have passed into an act by virtue of undue influence. A committee being appointed to inspect the chamberlain’s books, discovered that bribes had been given to sir John Trevor, speaker of the house, and Mr. Hungerford, chairman of the grand committee. The first being voted guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor, abdicated the chair, and Paul Foley was appointed speaker in his room. Then sir John and Hungerford were expelled the house: one Nois, a solicitor for the bill, was taken into custody because he had scandalized the commons, in pretending he was engaged to give great sums to several members, and denying this circumstance on his examination. The reformers in the house naturally concluded that the same arts had been practised in obtaining the new charter of the East India company, which had been granted so much against the sense of the nation. Their books were subjected to the same committee that carried on the former inquiry, and a surprising scene of venality and corruption was soon disclosed. It appeared that the company, in the course of the preceding year, had paid near ninety thousand rounds in secret services, and that sir Thomas Cooke, one of the directors, and a member of the house, had been the chief managers of this infamous commerce. Cooke, refusing to answer, was committed to the Tower, and a bill of pains and penalties brought in obliging him to discover how the sum mentioned in the report of the committee had been distributed. The bill was violently opposed in the upper house by the duke of Leeds, as being contrary to law and equity, and furnishing a precedent of a dangerous nature. Cooke, agreeably to his own petition, being brought to the bar of the house of lords, declared that he was ready and willing to make a full discovery, in case he might be favoured with an indemnifying vote to secure him against all actions and suits, except those of the East India company which he had never injured. The lords complied with his request and passed a bill for this purpose, to which the commons added a penal clause, and the former was laid aside.

EXAMINATION OF COOKE, ACTON, AND OTHERS.

When the king went to the house to give the royal assent to the money-bills, he endeavoured to discourage this inquiry by telling the parliament that the season of the year was far advanced, and the circumstances of affairs extremely pressing, he therefore desired they would despatch such business as they should think of most importance to the public, as he should put an end to the session in a few days. Notwithstanding this shameful interposition, both houses appointed a joint committee to lay open the complicated scheme of fraud and iniquity. Cooke, on his first examination, confessed that he had delivered tallies for ten thousand pounds to Francis Tyssen, deputy-governor, for the special service of the company; an equal sum to Richard Acton, for employing his interest in preventing a new settlement, and endeavouring to establish the old company; besides two thousand pounds by way of interest and as a further gratuity; a thousand guineas to colonel Fitzpatrick, five hundred to Charles Bates, and three hundred and ten to Mr. Molinenx, a merchant, for the same purpose; and he owned that sir Basil Firebrace had received forty thousand pounds on various pretences. He said he believed the ten thousand pounds paid to Tyssen had been delivered to the king by sir Josiah Child, as a customary present which former kings had received, and that the sums paid to Acton were distributed among some members of parliament. Firebrace being examined, affirmed that he had received the whole forty thousand pounds for his own use and benefit; but that Bates had received sums of money, which he understood were offered to some persons of the first quality. Acton declared that ten thousand pounds of the sum which he had received was distributed among persons who had interest with members of parliament, and that great part of the money passed through the hands of Craggs, who was acquainted with some colonels in the house and northern members. Bates owned he had received the money in consideration of using his interest with the duke of Leeds in favour of the company; that this nobleman knew of the gratuity; and that the sum was reckoned by his grace’s domestic, one Robart, a foreigner, who kept it in his possession until this inquiry was talked of, and then it was returned. In a word, it appeared by this man’s testimony, as well as by that of Firebrace on his second examination, that the duke of Leeds was not free from corruption, and that sir John Trevor was a hireling prostitute.

THE DUKE OF LEEDS IMPEACHED.

The report of the committee produced violent altercations, and the most severe strictures upon the conduct of the lord president. At length the house resolved that there was sufficient matter to impeach Thomas, duke of Leeds, of high crimes and misdemeanors, and that he should be impeached thereupon. Then it was ordered that Mr. comptroller Wharton should impeach him before the lords in the name of the house and of all the commons in England. The duke was actually in the middle of a speech for his own justification, in which he assured the house, upon his honour, that he was not guilty of the corruptions laid to his charge, when one of his friends gave him intimation of the votes which had passed in the commons. He concluded his speech abruptly, and repairing to the lower house, desired he might be indulged with a hearing. He was accordingly admitted, with the compliment of a chair, and leave to be covered. After having sat a few minutes, he took off his hat and addressed himself to the commons in very extraordinary terms. Having thanked them for the favour of indulging him with a hearing, he said that house would not have been then sitting but for him. He protested his own innocence with respect to the crime laid to his charge. He complained that this was the effect of a design which had been long formed against him. He expressed a deep sense of his being under the displeasure of the parliament and nation, and demanded speedy justice. They forthwith drew up the articles of impeachment, which being exhibited at the bar of the upper house, he pleaded not guilty, and the commons promised to make good their charge; but by this time such arts had been used as all at once checked the violence of the prosecution. Such a number of considerable persons were involved in this mystery of corruption, that a full discovery was dreaded by both parties. The duke sent his domestic Robart out of the kingdom, and his absence furnished a pretence for postponing the trial. In a word, the inquiry was dropped; but the scandal stuck fast to the duke’s character.

In the midst of these deliberations, the king went to the house on the third day of May, when he thanked the parliament for the supplies they had granted; signified his intention of going abroad; assured them he would place the administration of affairs in persons of known care and fidelity; and desired that the members of both houses would be more than ordinarily vigilant in preserving the public peace. The parliament was then prorogued to the eighteenth of June. [057] _[See note M, at the end of this Vol.]_ The king immediately appointed a regency to govern the kingdom in his absence; but neither the princess of Denmark nor her husband were intrusted with any share in the administration--a circumstance that evinced the king’s jealousy, and gave offence to a great part of the nation. [058] _[See note N, at the end of this Vol.]_

THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT.

A session of parliament was deemed necessary in Scotland, to provide new subsidies for the maintenance of the troops of that kingdom, which had been so serviceable in the prosecution of the war. But as a great outcry had been raised against the government on account of the massacre of Glencoe, and the Scots were tired of contributing towards the expense of a war from which they could derive no advantage, the ministry thought proper to cajole them with the promise of some national indulgence. In the meantime, a commission passed the great seal for taking a precognition of the massacre, as a previous step to the trial of the persons concerned in that perfidious transaction. On the ninth day of May, the session was opened by the marquis of Tweedale, appointed commissioner, who, after the king’s letter had been read, expatiated on his majesty’s care and concern for their safety and welfare; and his firm purpose to maintain the presbyterian discipline in the church of Scotland. Then he promised, in the king’s name, that if they would pass an act for establishing a colony in Africa, America, or any other part of the world where a colony might be lawfully planted, his majesty would indulge them with such rights and privileges as he had granted in like cases to the subjects of his other dominions. Finally, he exhorted them to consider ways and means to raise the necessary supplies for maintaining their land forces, and for providing a competent number of ships of war to protect their commerce. The parliament immediately voted an address of condolence to his majesty on the death of the queen; and they granted one hundred and twenty thousand pounds sterling for the service of the ensuing year, to be raised by a general poll-tax, a land-tax, and an additional excise.

{WILLIAM, 1688--1701.}

THEY INQUIRE INTO THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE.

Their next step was to desire the commissioner would transmit their humble thanks to the king for his care to vindicate the honour of the government and the justice of the nation, in ordering a precognition to be taken with respect to the slaughter of Glencoe. A motion was afterwards made that the commissioners should exhibit an account of their proceedings in this affair; accordingly a report, consisting of the king’s instructions, Dalrymple’s letters, the depositions of witnesses, and the opinion of the committee, was laid before the parliament. The motion is said to have been privately influenced by secretary Johnston, for the disgrace of Dalrymple, who was his rival in power and interest. The written opinion of the commissioners, who were creatures of the court, imported, That Macdonald of Glencoe had been perfidiously murdered; that the king’s instructions contained nothing to warrant the massacre; and that secretary Dalrymple had exceeded his orders. The parliament concurred with this report. They resolved, That Livingston was not to blame for having given the orders contained in his letters to lieutenant-colonel Hamilton; that this last was liable to prosecution; that the king should be addressed to give orders, either for examining major Duncanson in Flanders, touching his concern in this affair, or for sending him home to be tried in Scotland; as also, that Campbell of Glenlyon; captain Drummond, lieutenant Lindsey, ensign Lundy, and sergeant Barber, should be sent to Scotland, and prosecuted according to law, for the parts they had acted in that execution. In consequence of these resolutions, the parliament drew up an address to the king, in which they laid the whole blame of the massacre upon the excess in the master of Stair’s letters concerning that transaction. They begged that his majesty would give such orders about him, as he should think fit for the vindication of his government; that the actors in that barbarous slaughter might be prosecuted by the king’s advocate according to law; and that some reparation might be made to the men of Glencoe who escaped the massacre, for the losses they had sustained in their effects upon that occasion, as their habitations had been plundered and burned, their lands wasted, and their cattle driven away; so that they were reduced to extreme poverty. Notwithstanding this address of the Scottish parliament, by which the king was so solemnly exculpated, his memory is still loaded with the suspicion of having concerted, countenanced, and enforced this barbarous execution, especially as the master of Stair escaped with impunity, and the other actors of the tragedy, far from being punished, were preferred in the service. While the commissioners were employed in the inquiry, they made such discoveries concerning the conduct of the earl of Breadalbane, as amounted to a charge of high treason; and he was committed prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh; but it seems he had dissembled with the highlanders by the king’s permission, and now sheltered himself under the shadow of a royal pardon.

THEY PASS AN ACT FOR ERECTING A TRADING COMPANY.

The committee of trade, in pursuance of the powers granted by the king to his commissioner, prepared an act for establishing a company trading to Africa and the Indies, empowering them to plant colonies, hold cities, towns, or forts, in places uninhabited, or in others with the consent of the natives; vesting them with an exclusive right, and an exemption for one-and-twenty years from all duties and impositions. This act was likewise confirmed by letters patent under the great seal, directed by the parliament, without any further warrant from the crown. Paterson, the projector, had contrived the scheme of a settlement upon the isthmus of Darien, in such a manner as to carry on a trade in the South Sea as well as in the Atlantic; nay, even to extend it as far as the East Indies: a great number of London merchants, allured by the prospect of gain, were eager to engage in such a company, exempted from all manner of imposition and restriction. The Scottish parliament likewise passed an act in favour of the episcopal clergy, decreeing, That those who should enter into such engagements to the king as were by law required, might continue in their benefices under his majesty’s protection, without being subject to the power of presbytery. Seventy of the most noted ministers of that persuasion took the benefit of this indulgence. Another law was enacted, for raising nine thousand men yearly to recruit the Scottish regiments abroad; and an act for erecting a public bank; then the parliament was adjourned to the seventh day of November.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.

Ireland began to be infected with the same factions which had broke out in England since the revolution: lord Capel, lord-deputy, governed in a very partial manner, oppressing the Irish papists without any regard to equity or decorum. He undertook to model a parliament in such a manner that they should comply with all the demands of the ministry; and he succeeded in his endeavours by making such arbitrary changes in offices as best suited his purpose. These precautions being taken, he convoked a parliament for the twenty-seventh day of August, when he opened the session with a speech, expatiating upon their obligations to king-William, and exhorting them to make suitable returns to such a gracious sovereign. He observed, that the revenue had fallen short of the establishment; so that both the civil and military lists were greatly in debt; that his majesty had sent over a bill for an additional excise, and expected they would find ways and means to answer the demands of the service. They forthwith voted an address of thanks, and resolved to assist his majesty to the utmost of their power, against all his enemies, foreign and domestic. They passed the bill for an additional excise, together with an act for taking away the writ “_De heretico comburendo_;” another annulling all attainders and acts passed in the late pretended parliament of king James; a third to prevent foreign education; a fourth for disarming papists; and a fifth for settling the estates of intestates. Then they resolved, That a sum not exceeding one hundred and sixty-three thousand three hundred and twenty-five pounds, should be granted to his majesty; to be raised by a poll-bill, additional customs, and a continuation of the additional excise. Sir Charles Porter, the chancellor, finding his importance diminished, if not entirely destroyed, by the assuming disposition and power of the lord-deputy, began to court popularity by espousing the cause of the Irish against the severity of the administration, and actually formed a kind of tory interest which thwarted lord Capel in all his measures. A motion was made in parliament to impeach the chancellor for sowing discord and division among his majesty’s subjects; but being indulged with a hearing by the house of commons, he justified himself so much to their satisfaction, that he was voted clear of all imputation by a great majority. Nevertheless, they, at the end of the session, sent over an address, in which they bore testimony to the mild and just administration of their lord-deputy.

DISPOSITION OF THE ARMIES.

King William having taken such steps as were deemed necessary for preserving the peace of England in his absence, crossed the sea to Holland in the middle of May, fully determined to make some great effort in the Netherlands that might aggrandize his military character, and humble the power of France which was already on the decline. That kingdom was actually exhausted in such a manner that the haughty Louis found himself obliged to stand upon the defensive against enemies over whom he had been used to triumph with uninterrupted success. He heard the clamours of his people which he could not quiet; he saw his advances to peace rejected; and to crown his misfortunes, he sustained an irreparable loss in the death of Francis de Montmorency, duke of Luxembourg, to whose military talents he owed the greatest part of his glory and success. That great officer died in January at Versailles, in the sixty-seventh year of his age; and Louis lamented his death the more deeply, as he had not another general left in whose understanding he could confide. The conduct of the army in Flanders was intrusted to mareschal Villeroy, and Boufflers commanded a separate army though subject to the other’s orders. As the French king took it for granted that the confederates would have a superiority of numbers in the field, and was well acquainted with the enterprising genius of their chief, he ordered a new line to be drawn between Lys and the Scheld; he caused a disposition to be made for covering Dunkirk, Ypres, Tournay, and Namur; and laid injunctions on his general to act solely on the defensive. Meanwhile, the confederates formed two armies in the Netherlands. The first consisted of seventy battalions of infantry, and eighty-two squadrons of horse and dragoons, chiefly English and Scots, encamped at Ærseele, Caneghem, and Wouterghem, between Thield and Deynse, to be commanded by the king in person, assisted by the old prince of Vaudemont. The other army, composed of sixteen battalions of foot and one hundred and thirty squadrons of horse, encamped at Zellich and Hamme, on the road from Brussels to Dendermonde, under the command of the elector of Bavaria, seconded by the duke of Holstein-Ploen. Major-general Ellemberg was posted near Dixmuyde with twenty battalions and ten squadrons; and another body of Brandenburg and Dutch troops, with a reinforcement from Liege, lay encamped on the Mehaigne, under the conduct of the baron de Heyden, Lieutenant-general of Brandenburgh, and the count de Berlo, general of the Liege cavalry. King-William arrived in the camp on the fifth clay of July, and remained eight days at Ærseele. Then he marched to Bekelar, while Villeroy retired behind his lines between Menin and Ypres, after having detached ten thousand men to reinforce Boufflers, who had advanced to Pont d’Espieres; but he too retreating within his lines, the elector of Bavaria passed the Scheld and took post at Kirkhoven; at the same time the body under Heyden advanced towards Namur.

WILLIAM UNDERTAKES THE SIEGE OF NAMUR.

The king of England having by his motions drawn the forces of the enemy on the side of Flanders, directed the baron de Heyden and the earl of Athlone, who commanded forty squadrons from the camp of the elector of Bavaria, to invest Namur, and this service was performed on the third day of July; but as the place was not entirely surrounded, mareschal Boufflers threw himself into it with such a reinforcement of dragoons as augmented the garrison to the number of fifteen thousand chosen men. King William and the elector brought up the rest of the forces, which encamped on both sides of the Sambre and the Mose, and the lines of circumvallation were begun on the sixth day of July under the direction of the celebrated engineer, general Coehorn. The place was formerly very strong, both by situation and art; but the French, since its last reduction, had made such additional works that both the town and citadel seemed impregnable. Considering the number of the garrison and the quality of the troops, commanded by a mareschal of France distinguished by his valour and conduct, the enterprise was deemed an undeniable proof of William’s temerity. On the eleventh the trenches were opened, and next day the batteries began to play with incredible fury. The king receiving intelligence of a motion made by a body of French troops with a view to intercept the convoys, detached twenty squadrons of horse and dragoons to observe the enemy.

{WILLIAM, 1688--1701.}

FAMOUS RETREAT OF PRINCE VAUDEMONT.

Prince Vaudemont, who was left at Roselsær with fifty battalions, and the like number of squadrons, understanding that Villeroy had passed the Lys in order to attack him, took post with his left near Grammen, his right by Ærseele and Caneghem, and began to fortify his camp with a view to expect the enemy. Their vanguard appearing on the evening of the thirteenth at Dentreghem, he changed the disposition of his camp, and intrenched himself on both sides. Next day, however, perceiving Villeroy’s design was to surround him by means of another body of troops commanded by M. Montai, who had already passed the Scheld for that purpose, he resolved to avoid an engagement, and effected a retreat to Ghent, which is celebrated as one of the most capital efforts of military conduct. He forthwith detached twelve battalions and twelve pieces of cannon to secure Newport, which Villeroy had intended to invest; but that general now changed his resolution, and undertook the siege of Dixmuyde, garrisoned by eight battalions of foot and a regiment of dragoons, commanded by major-general Ellemberg, who in six-and-thirty hours after the trenches were opened, surrendered himself and his soldiers prisoners of war. This scandalous example was followed by colonel O’Farrel, who yielded up Deynse on the same shameful conditions, even before a battery was opened by the besiegers. In the sequel, they were both tried for their misbehaviour; Ellemberg suffered death, and O’Farrel was broke with infamy. The prince of Vaudemont sent a message to the French general, demanding the garrisons of those two places, according to a cartel which had been settled between the powers at war; but no regard was paid to this remonstrance. Villeroy, after several marches and countermarches, appeared before Brussels on the thirteenth day of August, and sent a letter to the prince of Berghem, governor of that city, importing that the king his master had ordered him to bombard the town, by way of making reprisals for the damage done by the English fleet to the maritime towns of France; he likewise desired to know in what part the electress of Bavaria resided, that he might not fire into that quarter. After this declaration, which was no more than an unmeaning compliment, he began to bombard and cannonade the place with red-hot bullets, which produced conflagrations in many different parts of the city, and frightened the electress into a miscarriage. On the fifteenth, the French discontinued their firing, and retired to Enghein.

During these transactions, the siege of Namur was prosecuted with great ardour under the eye of the king of England; while the garrison defended the place with equal spirit and perseverance. On the eighteenth day of July, major-general Ramsay and lord Cutis, at the head of five battalions, English, Scots, and Dutch, attacked the enemy’s advanced works on the right of the counterscarp. They were sustained by six English battalions commanded by brigadier-general Fitzpatrick; while eight foreign regiments, with nine thousand pioneers, advanced on the left under major-general Salish. The assault was desperate and bloody, the enemy maintaining their ground for two hours with undaunted courage; but at last they were obliged to give way, and were pursued to the very gates of the town, though not before they had killed or wounded twelve hundred men of the confederate army. The king was so well pleased with the behaviour of the British troops, that during the action he laid his hand upon the shoulder of the elector of Bavaria, and exclaimed with emotion, “See, my brave English.” On the twenty-seventh the English and Scots, lander Ramsay and Hamilton, assaulted the counterscarp, where they met with prodigious opposition from the fire of the besieged. Nevertheless, being sustained by the Dutch, they made a lodgement on the foremost covered-way before the gate of St. Nicholas, as also upon part of the counterscarp. The valour of the assailants on this occasion was altogether unprecedented, and almost incredible; while on the other hand the courage of the besieged was worthy of praise and admiration. Several persons were killed in the trenches at the side of the king, and among these Mr. Godfrey, deputy-governor of the bank of England, who had come to the camp to confer with his majesty about remitting money for the payment of the army. On the thirtieth day of July the elector of Bavaria attacked Vauban’s line that surrounded the works of the castle. General Coehorn was present in this action, which was performed with equal valour and success. They not only broke the line, but even took possession of Coehorn’s fort, in which however they found it impossible to effect a lodgement. On the second day of August, lord Cutts, with four hundred English and Dutch grenadiers, attacked the salient angle of a demi-bastion, and lodged himself on the second counterscarp. The breaches being now practicable, and preparations made for a general assault, count Guiscard the governor capitulated for the town on the fourth of August; and the French retired into the citadel, against which twelve batteries played upon the thirteenth. The trenches meanwhile were carried on with great expedition, notwithstanding all the efforts of the besieged, who fired without ceasing, and exerted amazing diligence and intrepidity in defending and repairing the damage they sustained. At length the annoyance became so dreadful from the unintermitting showers of bombs and red-hot bullets, that Boufflers, after having made divers furious sallies, formed a scheme for breaking through the confederate camp with his cavalry. This however was prevented by the extreme vigilance of king William.

After the bombardment of Brussels, Villeroy, being-reinforced with all the troops that could be drafted from garrisons, advanced towards Namur with an army of ninety thousand men; and prince Vaudemont, being joined by the prince of Hesse with a strong body of forces from the Rhine, took possession of the strong camp at Masy, within five English miles of the besieging army. The king understanding that the enemy had reached Fleurus, where they discharged ninety pieces of cannon as a signal to inform the garrison of their approach, left the conduct of the siege to the elector of Bavaria, and took upon himself the command of the covering army, in order to oppose Villeroy, who being further reinforced by a detachment from Germany, declared that he would hazard a battle for the relief of Namur. But when he viewed the posture of the allies near Masy, he changed his resolution and retired in the night without noise. On the thirtieth day of August, the besieged were summoned to surrender, by count Horn, who in a parley with the count de Lamont, general of the French infantry, gave him to understand that mareschal Villeroy had retired towards the Mehaigne; so that the garrison could not expect to be relieved. No immediate answer being returned to this message, the parley was broke off, and the king resolved to proceed without delay to a general assault, which he had already planned with the elector and his other generals. Between one and two in the afternoon, lord Cutts, who desired the command though it was not his turn of duty, rushed out of the trenches of the second line, at the head of three hundred grenadiers, to make a lodgement in the breach of Terra-nova, supported by the regiments of Coulthorp, Buchan, Hamilton, and Mackay; while colonel Marselly with a body of Dutch, the Bavarians, and Brandenburghers, attacked at two other places. The assailants met with such a warm reception, that the English grenadiers were repulsed, even after they had mounted the breach, lord Cutts being for some time disabled by a shot in the head. Marselly was defeated, taken, and afterwards killed by a. cannon ball from the batteries of the besiegers. The Bavarians by mistaking their way were exposed to a terrible fire, by which their general count Rivera, and a great number of their officers, were slain: nevertheless, they fixed themselves on the outward intrenchment on the point of the Coehorn next to the Sambre, and maintained their ground with amazing fortitude. Lord Cutts, when his wound was dressed, returned to the scene of action, and ordered two hundred chosen men of Mackay’s regiment, commanded by lieutenant Cockle, to attack the face of the salient angle next to the breach sword in hand, while the ensigns of the same regiment should advance and plant their colours on the pallisadoes. Coekle and his detachment executed the command he had received with admirable intrepedity. They broke through the pallisadoes, drove the French from the covered way, made a lodgement in one of the batteries, and turned the cannon against the enemy. The Bavarians being thus sustained, made their post good. The major-generals La Cave and Schwerin lodged themselves at the same time on the covered way; and though the general assault did not succeed in its full extent, the confederates remained masters of a very considerable lodgement, nearly an English mile in length. Yet this was dearly purchased with the lives of two thousand men, including many officers of great rank and reputation. During the action the elector of Bavaria signalised his courage in a very remarkable manner, riding from place to place through the hottest of the fire, giving his directions with notable presence of mind, according to the emergency of circumstances, animating the officers with praise and promise of preferment, and distributing handfuls of gold among the private soldiers.

On the first day of September, the besieged having obtained a cessation of arms that their dead might be buried, the count de Guiscard appearing on the breach, desired to speak with the elector of Bavaria. His highness immediately mounting the breach, the French governor offered to surrender the fort of Cohorn; but was given to understand, that if he intended to capitulate, he must treat for the whole. This reply being communicated to Boufflers, he agreed to the proposal: the cessation was prolonged, and that very evening the capitulation was finished. Villeroy, who lay encamped at Gemblours, was no sooner apprised of this event by a triple discharge of all the artillery, and a running fire along the lines of the confederate army, than he passed the Sambre near Charleroy with great precipitation; and having reinforced the garrison of Dinant, retreated towards the lines in the neighbourhood of Mons. On the fifth day of September the French garrison, which was now reduced from fifteen to five thousand five hundred men, evacuated the citadel of Namur. Boufflers, in marching out, was arrested in name of his Britannic majesty, by way of reprisal for the garrisons of Dixmuyde and Deynse, which the French king had detained contrary to the cartel subsisting between the two nations. The mareschal was not a little discomposed at this unexpected incident, and expostulated warmly with Mr. Dyckvelt, who assured him that the king of Great Britain entertained a profound respect for his person and character. William even offered to set him at liberty, provided he would pass his word that the garrisons of Dixmuyde and Deynso should be sent back, or that he himself would return in a fortnight. He said that he could not enter into any such engagement, as he did not know his master’s reasons for detaining the garrisons in question. He was therefore reconveyed to Namur; from thence removed to Maestricht, and treated with great reverence and respect, till the return of an officer whom he had despatched to Versailles with an account of his captivity. Then he engaged his word, that the garrisons of Dixmuyde and Deynse should be sent back to the allied army. He was immediately released and conducted in safety to Dinant. When he repaired to Versailles, Louis received him with very extraordinary marks of esteem and affection. He embraced him in public with the warmest expressions of regard; declared himself perfectly well satisfied with his conduct; created him a duke and peer of France; and presented him with a very large sum, in acknowledgment of his signal services.

CAMPAIGN ON THE RHINE.

After the reduction of Namur, which greatly enhanced the military character of king William, he retired to his house at Loo, which was his favourite place of residence, leaving the command to the elector of Bavaria; and about the latter end of September both armies began to separate. The French forces retired within their lines. A good number of the allied troops were distributed in different garrisons; and a strong detachment marched towards Newport, under the command of the prince of Wirtemberg, for the security of that place. Thus ended the campaign in the Netherlands. On the Rhine nothing of moment was attempted by either army. The mareschal de Lorges, in the beginning of June, passed the Rhine at Philipsburgh; and posting himself at Brucksal, sent out parties to ravage the country. On the eleventh of the same month the prince of Baden joined the German army at Steppach, and on the eighth day of July was reinforced by the troops of the other German confederates, in the neighbourhood of Wiselock. On the nineteenth the French retired without noise, in the night, towards Manheim, where they repassed the river without any interruption from the imperial general; then he sent off a large detachment to Flanders. The same step was taken by the prince of Baden; and each army lay inactive in their quarters for the remaining part of the campaign. The command of the Germans in Hungary was conferred upon the elector of Saxony; but the court of Vienna was so dilatory in their preparations, that he was not in a condition to act till the middle of August. Lord Paget had been sent ambassador from England to the Ottoman Porte, with instructions relating to a pacification; but before he could obtain an audience the sultan died, and was succeeded by his nephew Mustapha, who resolved to prosecute the war in person. The warlike genius of this new emperor afforded but an uncomfortable prospect to his people, considering that Peter, the czar of Muscovy, had taken the opportunity of the war in Hungary, to invade the Crimea and besiege Azoph; so that the Tartars were too much employed at home to spare the succours which the sultan demanded. Nevertheless, Mustapha and his vizier took the field before the imperialists could commence the operations of the campaign, passed the Danube, took Lippa and Titul by assault, stormed the camp of general Veterani, who was posted at Lugos with seven thousand men, and who lost his life in the

## action. The infantry were cut to pieces, after having made a desperate

defence; but the horse retreated to Caronsebes, under the conduct of general Trusches. The Turks after this exploit retired to Orsowa. Their navy meanwhile surprised the Venetian fleet at Scio, where several ships of the republic were destroyed, and they recovered that island, which the Venetians thought proper to abandon; but in order to balance this misfortune, these last obtained a complete victory over the pacha of Negropont in the Morea.

THE DUKE OF SAVOY TAKES CASAL.

The French king still maintained a secret negotiation with the duke of Savoy, whose conduct had been for some time mysterious and equivocal. Contrary to the opinion of his allies, he undertook the siege of Casal, which was counted one of the strongest fortifications in Europe, defended by a numerous garrison, abundantly supplied with ammunition and provisions. The siege was begun about the middle of May; and the place was surrendered by capitulation in about fourteen days, to the astonishment of the confederates, who did not know that this was a sacrifice by which the French court obtained the duke’s forbearance during the remaining part of the campaign. The capitulation imported, that the place should be restored to the duke of Mantua, who was the rightful proprietor; that the fortifications should be demolished at the expense of the allies; that the garrison should remain in the fort till that work should be completed; and hostages were exchanged for the performance of these conditions. The duke understood the art of procrastination so well, that September was far advanced before the place was wholly dismantled; and then he was seized with an ague, which obliged him to quit the army.

TRANSACTIONS IN CATALONIA.

In Catalonia the French could hardly maintain the footing they had gained. Admiral Russel, who wintered at Cadiz, was created admiral, chief-commander, and captain general of all his majesty’s ships employed, or to be employed, in the narrow-seas and in the Mediterranean. He was reinforced by four thousand five hundred soldiers, under the command of brigadier-general Stewart; and seven thousand men, Imperialists as well as Spaniards, were drafted from Italy for the defence of Catalonia. These forces were transported to Barcelona under the convoy of admiral Nevil, detached by Russel for that purpose. The affairs of Catalonia had already changed their aspect. Several French

## parties had been defeated. The Spaniards had blocked up Ostalric and

Castel-Follit: Noailles had been recalled, and the command devolved to the duke de Vendôme, who no sooner understood that the forces from Italy were landed, than he dismantled Ostalric and Castel-Follit, and retired to Palamos. The viceroy of Catalonia and the English admiral having resolved to give battle to the enemy and reduce Palamos, the English troops were landed on the ninth day of August, and the allied army advanced to Palamos. The French appeared in order of battle; but the viceroy declined an engagement. Far from attacking the enemy he withdrew his forces, and the town was bombarded by the admiral. The miscarriage of this expedition was in a great measure owing to a misunderstanding between Russel and the court of Spain. The admiral complained that his catholic majesty had made no preparations for the campaign; that he had neglected to fulfil his engagements with respect to the Spanish squadron which ought to have joined the fleets of England and Holland; that he had taken no care to provide tents and provisions for the British forces. On the twenty-seventh day of August he sailed for the coast of Provence, where the fleet was endangered by a terrible tempest; then he steered down the Straits, and toward the latter end of September arrived in the bay of Cadiz. There he left a number of ships under the command of sir David Mitchel, until he should be joined by sir George Rooke who was expected from England, and returned home with the rest of the combined squadrons.

{WILLIAM, 1688--1701.}

THE ENGLISH FLEET BOMBARDS ST. MALOES, &c.

While admiral Russel asserted the British dominion in the Mediterranean, the French coasts were again insulted in the channel by a separate fleet under the command of lord Berkeley of Stratton, assisted by the Dutch admiral Allemonde. On the fourth day of July they anchored before St. Maloes, which they bombarded from nine ketches covered by some frigates, which sustained more damage than was done to the enemy. On the sixth, Granville underwent the same fate, and then the fleet returned to Portsmouth. The bomb vessels being refitted, the fleet sailed round to the Downs, where four hundred soldiers were embarked for an attempt upon Dunkirk, under the direction of Meesters the famous Dutch engineer, who had prepared his infernals and other machines for the service. On the first day of August the experiment was tried without success. The bombs did some execution; but two smoke ships miscarried. The French had secured the Ris-bank and wooden forts with piles, bombs, chains, and floating batteries, in such a manner that the machine-vessels could not approach near enough to produce any effect. Besides, the councils of the assailants were distracted by violent animosities. The English officers hated Meesters, because he was a Dutchman, and had acquired some credit with the king; he on the other hand treated them with disrespect. He retired with his machines in the night, and refused to co-operate with lord Berkeley in his design upon Calais, which was now put in execution. On the sixteenth he brought his batteries to bear upon this place, and set fire to it in different quarters; but the enemy had taken such precautions as rendered his scheme abortive.

EXPEDITION TO THE WEST INDIES.

A squadron had been sent to the West Indies under the joint-command of captain Robert Wilmot and colonel Lilingston, with twelve hundred land forces. They had instructions to co-operate with the Spaniards in Hispaniola, against the French settlements on that island, and to destroy their fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland in their return. They were accordingly joined by seventeen hundred Spaniards raised by the president of St. Domingo; but instead of proceeding against Petit-Guavas, according to the directions they had received, Wilmot took possession of Port François, and plundered the country for his own private advantage, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Lilingston, who protested against his conduct. In a word, the sea and land officers lived in a state of perpetual dissension; and both became extremely disagreeable to the Spaniards, who soon renounced all connexion with them and their designs. In the beginning of September the commodore set sail for England, and lost one of his ships in the gulph of Florida. He himself died in his passage; and the greater part of the men being swept off by an epidemical distemper, the squadron returned to Britain in a most miserable condition. Notwithstanding the great efforts the nation had made to maintain such a number of different squadrons for the protection of commerce, as well as to annoy the enemy, the trade suffered severely from the French privateers, which swarmed in both channels and made prize of many rich vessels. The marquis of Cærmarthen, being stationed with a squadron off the Scilly islands, mistook a fleet of merchant ships for the Brest fleet, and retired with precipitation to Milford-Haven. In consequence of this retreat, the privateers took a good number of ships from Barbadoes, and five from the East-Indies, valued at a million sterling. The merchants renewed their clamour against the commissioners of the Admiralty, who produced their orders and instructions in their own defence. The marquis of Cærmarthen had been guilty of flagrant misconduct on this occasion; but the chief source of those national calamities was the circumstantial intelligence transmitted to France from time to time by the malcontents of England; for they were actuated by a scandalous principle which they still retain, namely, that of rejoicing in the distress of their country.

A NEW PARLIAMENT.

King William, after having conferred with the states of Holland and the elector of Brandenburgh who met him at the Hague, embarked for England on the nineteenth day of October, and arrived in safety at Margate, from whence he proceeded to London, where he was received as a conqueror, amidst the rejoicings and acclamations of the people. On the same day he summoned a council at Kensington, in which it was determined to convoke a new parliament. While the nation was in good humour, it was supposed that they would return such members only as were well affected to the government; whereas the present parliament might proceed in its inquiries into corruption and other grievances, and be the less influenced by the crown, as their dependence was of such short duration. The parliament was therefore dissolved by proclamation, and a new one summoned to meet at Westminster on the twenty-second day of November. While the whole nation was occupied in the elections, William, by the advice of his chief confidants, laid his own disposition under restraint in another effort to acquire popularity. He honoured the diversions of Newmarket with his presence, and there received a compliment of congratulation from the university of Cambridge. Then he visited the earls of Sunderland, Northampton, and Montague, at their different houses in the country; and proceeded with a splendid retinue to Lincoln, from whence he repaired to Welbeck, a seat belonging to the duke of Newcastle in Nottinghamshire, where he was attended by Dr. Sharp, archbishop of York, and his clergy. He lodged one night with lord Brooke at Warwick castle, dined with the duke of Shrewsbury at Ryefort, and by the way of Woodstock, made a solemn entry into Oxford, having been met at some distance from the city by the duke of Or-mond, as chancellor of the university, the vice-chancellor, the doctors in their habits, and the magistrates in their formalities. He proceeded directly to the theatre, where he was welcomed in an elegant Latin speech; he received from the chancellor on his knees the usual presents of a large English Bible, and book of Common-Prayer, the cuts of the university, and a pair of gold-fringed gloves. The conduits ran with wine, and a magnificent banquet was prepared; but an anonymous letter being found in the street, importing that there was a design to poison his majesty, William refused to eat or drink in Oxford, and retired immediately to Windsor. Notwithstanding this abrupt departure, which did not savour much of magnanimity, the university chose sir William Trumball, secretary of state, as one of their representatives in parliament.

BILL FOR REGULATING TRIALS IN CASES OF HIGH-TREASON.

The whig interest generally prevailed in the elections, though many even of that party were malcontents; and when the parliament met, Foley was again chosen speaker of the commons. The king in his first speech extolled the valour of the English forces; expressed his concern at being obliged to demand such large supplies from his people; observed that the funds had proved very deficient, and the civil list was in a precarious condition; recommended to their compassion the miserable situation of the French protestants; took notice of the bad state of the coin; desired they would form a good bill for the encouragement and increase of seamen; and contrive laws for the advancement of commerce. He mentioned the great preparations which the French were making for taking the field early; in treated them to use despatch; expressed his satisfaction at the choice which his people had made of their representatives in the house of commons; and exhorted them to proceed with temper and unanimity. Though the two houses presented addresses of congratulation to the king upon his late success, and promised to assist him in prosecuting the war with vigour, the nation loudly exclaimed against the intolerable burdens and losses to which they were subjected by a foreign scheme of politics, which, like an unfathomable abyss, swallowed up the wealth and blood of the kingdom. All the king’s endeavours to cover the disgusting side of his character had proved ineffectual; he was still dry, reserved, and forbidding; and the malcontents inveighed bitterly against his behaviour to the princess Anne of Denmark. When the news of Namur’s being reduced arrived in England, this lady congratulated him upon his success in a dutiful letter, to which he would not deign to send a reply, either by writing or message, nor had she or her husband been favoured with the slightest mark of regard since his return to England. The members in the lower house, who had adopted opposing maxims either from principle or resentment, resolved that the crown should purchase the supplies with some concession in favour of the people. They therefore brought in the so long contested bill for regulating trials in cases of high treason, and misprison of treason; and considering the critical juncture of affairs, the courtiers were afraid of obstructing such a popular measure. The lords inserted a clause, enacting, that a peer should be tried by the whole peerage; and the commons at once assented to this amendment. The bill provided, that persons indicted for high treason, or misprison of treason, should be furnished with a copy of the indictment five days before the trial; and indulged with council to plead in their defence; that no person should be indicted but upon the oaths of two lawful witnesses swearing to overt-acts; that in two or more distinct treasons of divers kinds, alleged in one bill of indictment, one witness to one, and another witness to another, should not be deemed two witnesses; that no person should be prosecuted for any such crime, unless the indictment be found within three years after the offence committed, except in case of a design or attempt to assassinate or poison the king, where this limitation should not take place; that persons indicted for treason, or misprison of treason, should be supplied with copies of the panel of the jurors, two days at least before the trial, and have process to compel their witnesses to appear; that no evidence should be admitted of any overt-act not expressly laid in the indictment; that this act should not extend to any impeachment, or other proceeding in parliament; nor to any indictment for counterfeiting his majesty’s coin, his great seal, privy seal, sign manual, or signet.

{WILLIAM, 1688--1701.}

RESOLUTIONS WITH RESPECT TO A NEW COINAGE.

This important affair being discussed, the commons proceeded to examine the accounts and estimates, and voted above five millions for the service of the ensuing year. The state of the coin was by this time become such a national grievance as could not escape the attention of parliament. The lords prepared an address to the throne, for a proclamation to put a stop to the currency of diminished coin; and to this they desired the concurrence of the commons. The lower house, however, determined to take this affair under their own inspection. They appointed a committee of the whole house to deliberate on the state of the nation with respect to the currency. Great opposition was made to a recoinage, which was a measure strenuously recommended and supported by Mr. Montague, who acted on this occasion by the advice of the great mathematician sir Isaac Newton. The enemies of this expedient argued, that should the silver coin be called in, it would be impossible to maintain the war abroad, or prosecute foreign trade, inasmuch as the merchant could not pay his bills of exchange, nor the soldier receive his subsistence; that a stop would be put to all mutual payment; and this would produce universal confusion and despair. Such a reformation could not be effected without some danger and difficulty; but it was become absolutely necessary, as the evil daily increased, and in a little time must have terminated in national anarchy. After long and vehement debates, the majority resolved to proceed with all possible expedition to a new coinage. Another question arose, Whether the new coin, in its different denominations, should retain the original weight and purity of the old; or the established standard be raised in value? The famous Locke engaged in this dispute against Mr. Lowndes, who proposed that the standard should be raised; the arguments of Mr. Locke were so convincing, that the committee resolved the established standard should be preserved with respect to weight and fineness. They likewise resolved, that the loss accruing to the revenue from clipped money, should be borne by the public. In order to prevent a total stagnation, they further resolved, that after an appointed day no clipped money should pass in payment, except to the collectors of the revenue and taxes, or upon loans or payments into the exchequer; that after another day to be appointed, no clipped money of any sort should pass in any payment whatsoever; and that a third day should be fixed for all persons to bring in their clipped money to be recoined, after which they should have no allowance upon what they might offer. They addressed the king to issue a proclamation agreeably to these resolutions; and on the nineteenth day of December it was published accordingly. Such were the fears of the people, augmented and inflamed by the enemies of the government, that all payment immediately ceased, and a face of distraction appeared through the whole community. The adversaries of the bill seized this opportunity to aggravate the apprehensions of the public. They inveighed against the ministry as the authors of this national grievance; they levelled their satire particularly at Montague; and it required uncommon fortitude and address to avert the most dangerous consequences of popular discontent. The house of commons agreed to the following resolutions: that twelve hundred thousand pounds should be raised by a duty on glass windows, to make up the loss on the clipped money; that the recompence for supplying the deficiency of clipped money should extend to all silver coin, though of a coarser alloy than the standard; that the collectors and receivers of his majesty’s aids and revenues should be enjoined to receive all such monies; that a reward of five per cent, should be given to all such persons as should bring in either milled or broad undipped money, to be applied in exchange of the clipped money throughout the kingdom; that a reward of threepence per ounce should be given to all persons who should bring wrought plate to the mint to be coined; that persons might pay in their whole next year’s land-tax in clipped money, at one convenient time to be appointed for that purpose; that commissioners should be appointed in every county to pay and distribute the milled and broad undipped money, and the new coined money in lieu of that which was diminished. A bill being prepared agreeably to these determinations, was sent up to the house of lords, who made some amendments which the commons rejected; but in order to avoid cavils and conferences, they dropped the bill and brought in another without the clauses which the lords had inserted. They were again proposed in the upper house and over-ruled by the’ majority; and on the twenty-first day of January the bill received the royal assent, as did another bill enlarging the time for purchasing annuities and continuing the duties on low wines. At the same time the king passed the bill of trials for high treason, and an act to prevent mercenary elections. Divers merchants and traders petitioned the house of commons that the losses in their trade and payments, occasioned by the rise of guineas, might be taken into consideration. A bill was immediately brought in for taking off the obligation and encouragement for coining guineas for a certain time; and then the commons proceeded to lower the value of this coin, a task in which they met with great opposition from some members, who alleged that it would foment the popular disturbances. At length, however, the majority agreed that a guinea should be lowered from thirty to eight-and-twenty shillings, and afterwards to six-and-twenty. At length a clause was inserted in the bill for encouraging people to bring plate to the mint, settling the price of a guinea at two-and-twenty shillings, and it naturally sunk to its original value of twenty shillings and sixpence. Many persons, however, supposing that the price of gold would be raised the next session, hoarded up their guineas; and upon the same supposition, encouraged by the malcontents, the new coined silver money was reserved, to the great detriment of commerce. The king ordered mints to be erected in York, Bristol, Exeter, and Chester, for the purpose of the re-coinage, which was executed with unexpected success, so that in less than a year the currency of England, which had been the worst, became the best coin in Europe.

At this period the attention of the commons was diverted to an object of a more private nature. The earl of Portland, who enjoyed the greatest share of the king’s favour, had obtained a grant of some lordships in Derbyshire. While the warrant was depending, the gentlemen of that county resolved to oppose it with all their power. In consequence of a petition, they were indulged with a hearing by the lords of the treasury. Sir William Williams, in the name of the rest, alleged that the lordships in question were the ancient demesnes of the prince of Wales, absolutely unalienable; that the revenues of those lordships supported the government of Wales in paying the judges and other salaries; that the grant was of too large an extent for any foreign subject; and that the people of the county were too great to be subject to any foreigner. Sundry other substantial reasons were used against the grant, which, notwithstanding all their remonstrances, would have passed through the offices, had not the Welsh gentlemen addressed themselves by petition to the house of commons. Upon this occasion, Mr. Price, a member of the house, harangued with great severity against the Dutch in general, and did not even abstain from sarcasms upon the king’s person, title, and government. The objections started by the petitioners being duly considered, were found so reasonable that the commons presented an address to the king, representing that those manors had been usually annexed to the principality of Wales, and settled on the princes of Wales for their support; that many persons in those parts held their estates by royal tenure under great and valuable compositions, rents, royal payments, and services to the crown and princes of Wales; and enjoyed great privileges and advantages under such tenure. They therefore besought his majesty to recall the grant which was in diminution of the honour and interest of the crown; and prayed that the said manors and lands might not be alienated without the consent of parliament. This address met with a cold reception from the king, who promised to recall the grant which had given such offence to the commons, and said he would find some other way of showing his favour to the earl of Portland.

The people in general entertained a national aversion to this nobleman: the malcontents inculcated a notion that he had made use of his interest and intelligence to injure the trade of England, that the commerce of his own country might flourish without competition. To his suggestions they imputed the act and patent in favour of the Scottish company, which was supposed to have been thrown in as a bone of contention between the two kingdoms. The subject was first started in the house of lords, who invited the commons to a conference; a committee was appointed to examine into the particulars of the act for erecting the Scottish company; and the two houses presented a joint address against it, as a scheme that would prejudice all the subjects concerned in the wealth and trade of the English nation. They represented, that in consequence of the exemption from taxes and other advantages granted to the Scottish company, that kingdom would become a free port for all East and West India commodities; that the Scots would be enabled to supply all Europe at a cheaper rate than the English could afford to sell their merchandise for, therefore England would lose the benefit of its foreign trade; besides, they observed that the Scots would smuggle their commodities into England, to the great detriment of his majesty and his customs. To this remonstrance the king replied that he had been ill served in Scotland; but that he hoped some remedies would be found to prevent the inconveniencies of which they were apprehensive. In all probability he had been imposed upon by the ministry of that kingdom; for in a little time he discarded the marquis of Tweedale, and dismissed both the Scottish secretaries of state, in lieu of whom he appointed lord Murray, son to the marquis of Athol. Notwithstanding the king’s answer, the committee proceeded on the inquiry, and, in consequence of their report confirming a petition from the East India company, the house resolved that the directors of the Scottish company were guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor in administering and taking an oath _de fideli_ in this kingdom, and that they should be impeached for the same. Meanwhile, Roderick Mackenzie, from whom they had received their chief information, began to retract his evidence, and was ordered into custody; but he made his escape and could not be retaken, although the king at their request issued a proclamation for that purpose. The Scots were extremely incensed against the king when they understood he had disowned their company, from which they had promised themselves such wealth and advantage. The settlement of Darien was already planned and afterwards put in execution, though it miscarried in the sequel, and had like to have produced abundance of mischief.

INTRIGUES OF THE JACOBITES.

The complaints of the English merchants who had suffered by the war were so loud at this juncture, that the commons resolved to take their case into consideration. The house resolved itself into a committee to consider the state of the nation with regard to commerce, and having duly weighed all circumstances, agreed to the following resolutions: that a council of trade should be established by act of parliament, with powers to take measures for the more effectual preservation of commerce; that the commissioners should be nominated by parliament, but none of them have seats in the house; that they should take an oath acknowledging the title of king William as rightful and lawful; and abjuring the pretensions of James, or any other person. The king considered these resolutions as an open attack upon his prerogative, and signified his displeasure to the earl of Sunderland, who patronised this measure; but it was so popular in the house, that in all probability it would have been put in execution, had not the attention of the commons been diverted from it at this period by the detection of a new conspiracy. The friends of king James had, upon the death of queen Mary, renewed their practices for effecting a restoration of that monarch, on the supposition that the interest of William was considerably weakened by the decease of his consort. Certain individuals, whose zeal for James overshot their discretion, formed a design to seize the person of king William, and convey him to France, or put him to death in case of resistance. They had sent emissaries to the court of St. Germain’s to demand a commission for this purpose, which was refused. The earl of Aylesbury, lord Montgomery, son to the marquis of Powis, sir John Fenwick, sir John Friend, captain Charnock, captain Porter, and one Mr. Goodman, were the first contrivers of this project. Charnock was detached with a proposal to James, that he should procure a body of horse and foot from France to make a descent in England, and they would engage not only to join him at his landing, but even to replace him on the throne of England.

These offers being declined by James, on pretence that the French king could not spare such a number of troops at that juncture, the earl of Aylesbury went over in person, and was admitted to a conference with Louis, in which the scheme of an invasion was actually concerted. In the beginning of February the duke of Berwick repaired privately to England, where he conferred with the conspirators, assured them that king James was ready to make a descent with a considerable number of French forces, distributed commissions, and gave directions for providing men, arms, and horses, to join him at his arrival. When he returned to France, he found every thing prepared for the expedition. The troops were drawn down to the sea-side; a great number of transports were assembled at Dunkirk; monsieur Gabaret had advanced as far as Calais with a squadron of ships, which, when joined by that of Du Bart at Dunkirk, was judged a sufficient convoy; and James had come as far as Calais in his way to embark. Meanwhile the Jacobites in England were assiduously employed in making preparations for a revolt. Sir John Friend had very near completed a regiment of horse; considerable progress was made in levying another by sir William Perkins; sir John Fenwick had enlisted four troops; colonel Tempest had undertaken for one regiment of dragoons; colonel Parker was preferred to the command of another; Mr. Curzon was commissioned for a third; and the malcontents intended to raise a fourth in Suffolk, where their interest chiefly prevailed.

CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIFE OF WILLIAM.

While one part of the Jacobites proceeded against William in the usual way of exciting an insurrection, another, consisting of the most desperate conspirators, had formed a scheme of assassination. Sir George Barclay, a native of Scotland, who had served as an officer in the army of James, a man of undaunted courage, a furious bigot in the religion of Rome, yet close, circumspect, and determined, was landed with other officers in Romneymarsh, by one captain Gill, about the beginning of January, and is said to have undertaken the task of seizing or assassinating king William. He imparted his design to Harrison, _alias_ Johnston, a priest, Char-nock, Porter, and sir William Perkins, by whom it was approved; and he pretended to have a particular commission for this service. After various consultations, they resolved to attack the king on his return from Richmond, where he commonly hunted on Saturdays; and the scene of their intended ambuscade was a lane between Brentford and Turnham-Green. As it would be necessary to charge and disperse the guards that attended the coach, they agreed that their number should be increased to forty horsemen, and each conspirator began to engage proper persons for the enterprise. When their complement was full, they determined to execute their purpose on the fifteenth day of February. They concerted the manner in which they should meet in small parties without suspicion, and waited with impatience for the hour of action. In this interval some of the underling actors, seized with horror at the reflection of what they had undertaken, or captivated with the prospect of reward, resolved to prevent the execution of the design by a timely discovery. On the eleventh day of February, one Fisher informed the earl of Portland of the scheme, and named some of the conspirators; but his account was imperfect. On the thirteenth however he returned with a circumstantial detail of all the particulars. Next day the earl was accosted by one Pendergrass, an Irish officer, who told his lordship he had just come from Hampshire at the request of a particular friend, and understood that he had been called up to town with a view of engaging him in a design to assassinate king William. He said, he had promised to embark in the undertaking, though he detested it in his own mind, and took this first opportunity of revealing the secret, which was of such consequence to his majesty’s life. He owned himself a Roman catholic, but declared that he did not think any religion could justify such a treacherous purpose. At the same time he observed, that as he lay under obligations to some of the conspirators, his honour and gratitude would not permit him to accuse them by name; and that he would upon no consideration appear as an evidence. The king had been so much used to fictitious plots and false discoveries, that he paid little regard to the informations until they were confirmed by the testimony of another conspirator called La Rue, a Frenchman, who communicated the same

## particulars to brigadier Levison, without knowing the least circumstance

of the other discoveries. Then the king believed there was something real in the conspiracy; and Pendergrass and La Rue were severally examined in his presence. He thanked Pendergrass in particular for this instance of his probity; but observed that it must prove ineffectual unless he would discover the names of the conspirators; for, without knowing who they were, he should not be able to secure his life against their attempts. At length Pendergrass was prevailed upon to give a list of those he knew, yet not before the king had solemnly promised that he should not be used as an evidence against them, except with his own consent. As the king did not go to Richmond on the day appointed, the conspirators postponed the execution of their design till the Saturday following. They accordingly met at different houses on the Friday, when every man received his instructions. There they agreed, that after the perpetration of the parricide, they should ride in a body as far as Hammersmith, and then dispersing, enter London by different avenues. But on the morning, when they understood that the guards were returned to their quarters, and the king’s coaches sent back to the Mews, they were seized with a sudden damp, on the suspicion that their plot was discovered. Sir George Barclay withdrew himself, and every one began to think of providing for his own safety. Next night, however, a great number of them were apprehended, and then the whole discovery was communicated to the privy council. A proclamation was issued against those that absconded; and great diligence was used to find sir George Barclay, who was supposed to have a particular commission from James for assassinating the prince of Orange; but he made good his retreat, and it was never proved that any such commission had been granted.

DESIGN OF AN INVASION DEFEATED.

This design and the projected invasion proved equally abortive. James had scarce reach Calais when the duke of Wirtemberg despatched his aidecamp from Flanders to king William, with an account of the purposed descent. Expresses with the same tidings arrived from the elector of Bavaria and the prince de Vaude-mont. Two considerable squadrons being ready for sea, admiral Russel embarked at Spithead and stood over to the French coast with about fifty sail of the line. The enemy were confounded at his appearance, and hauled in their vessels under the shore, in such shallow water that he could not follow and destroy them; but he absolutely ruined their design, by cooping them up in their harbours. King James, after having tarried some weeks at Calais, returned to St. Germain’s. The forces were sent back to the garrisons from which they had been drafted; the people of France exclaimed, that the malignant star which ruled the destiny of James had blasted this and every other project formed for his restoration. By means of the reward offered in the proclamation, the greater part of the conspirators were betrayed or taken. George Harris, who had been sent from France with orders to obey sir George Barclay, surrendered himself to sir William Trumball, and confessed the scheme of assassination in which he had been engaged. Porter and Pendergrass were apprehended together. This last insisted upon the king’s promise that he should not be compelled to give evidence; but when Porter owned himself guilty, the other observed he was no longer bound to be silent, as his friend had made a confession; and they were both admitted as evidences for the crown.

THE TWO HOUSES FORM AN ASSOCIATION FOR THE DEFENCE OF HIS MAJESTY.

After their examination, the king, in a speech to both houses, communicated the nature of the conspiracy against his life, as well as the advices he had received touching the invasion; he explained the steps he had taken to defeat the double design, and professed his confidence in their readiness and zeal to concur with him in every thing that should appear necessary for their common safety. That same evening the two houses waited upon him at Kensington in a body, with an affectionate address, by which they expressed their abhorrence of the villanous and barbarous design which had been formed against his sacred person, of which they besought him to take more than ordinary care. They assured him they would to their utmost defend his life, and support his government against the late king James and all other enemies; and declared, that in case his majesty should come to a violent death, they would revenge it upon his adversaries and their adherents. He was extremely well pleased with this warm address, and assured them in his turn he would take all opportunities of recommending himself to the continuance of their loyalty and affection. The commons forthwith empowered him by bill to secure all persons suspected of conspiring against his person and government. They brought in another, providing, that in case of his majesty’s death, the parliament then being should continue until dissolved by the next heir in succession to the crown, established by act of parliament; that if his majesty should chance to die between two parliaments, that which had been last dissolved should immediately re-assemble, and sit for the despatch of national affairs. They voted an address to desire that his majesty would banish by proclamation all papists to the distance of ten miles from the cities of London and Westminster; and give instructions to the judges going on the circuits to put the laws in execution against Roman catholics and nonjurors. They drew up an association, binding themselves to assist each other in support of the king and his government, and to revenge any violence that should be committed on his person. This was signed by all the members then present; but as some had absented themselves on frivolous pretences, the house ordered, that in sixteen days the absentees should either subscribe or declare their refusal. Several members neglecting to comply with this injunction within the limited time, the speaker was ordered to write to those who were in the country, and demand a peremptory answer; and the clerk of the house attended such as pretended to be ill in town. The absentees finding themselves pressed in this manner, thought proper to sail with the stream, and sign the association, which was presented to the king by the commons in a body, with a request that it might be lodged among the records in the Tower, as a perpetual memorial of their loyalty and affection. The king received them with uncommon complacency; declared that he heartily entered into the same association; that he should be always ready to venture his life with his good subjects against all who should endeavour to subvert the religion, laws, and liberties of England; and he promised that this and all other associations should be lodged among the records of the Tower of London. Next day the commons resolved, that whoever should affirm an association was illegal, should be deemed a promoter of the designs of the late king James, and an enemy to the laws and liberties of the kingdom. The lords followed the example of the lower house in drawing up an association; but the earl of Nottingham, sir Edward Seymour, and Mr. Finch, objected to the words rightful and lawful as applied to his majesty. They said as the crown and its prerogatives were vested in him, they would yield obedience, though they could not acknowledge him as their rightful and lawful king.

Nothing could be more absurd than this distinction, started by men who had actually constituted part of the administration; unless they supposed that the right of king William expired with queen Mary. The earl of Rochester proposed an expedient in favour of such tender consciences, by altering the words that gave offence; and this was adopted accordingly. Fifteen of the peers, and ninety-two commoners, signed the association with reluctance. It was, however, subscribed by all sorts of people in different parts of the kingdom; and the bishops drew up a form for the clergy, which was signed by a great majority. The commons brought in a bill, declaring all men incapable of public trust, or of sitting in parliament, who would not engage in this association. At the same time the council issued an order for renewing all the commissions in England, that those who had not signed it voluntarily should be dismissed from the service as disaffected persons.

ESTABLISHMENT OF A LAND-BANK.

After these warm demonstrations of loyalty, the commons proceeded upon ways and means for raising the supplies. A new bank was constituted as a fund, upon which the sum of two millions five hundred and sixty-four thousand pounds should be raised; and it was called the land-bank, because established on land securities. This scheme, said to have been projected by the famous Dr. Chamberlain, was patronised by the earl of Sunderland, and managed by Foley and Harley; so that it seemed to be a tory plan which Sunderland supported, in order to reconcile himself to that party. [067] _[See note O, at the end of this Vol.]_ The bank of England petitioned against this bill, and were heard by their counsel; but their representations produced no effect, and the bill having passed through both houses, received the royal assent. On the twenty-seventh day of April the king closed the session with a short but gracious speech; and the parliament was prorogued to the sixteenth day of June.

Before this period some of the conspirators had been brought to trial. The first who suffered was Robert Charnock, one of the two fellows of Magdalen-college, who, in the reign of James, had renounced the protestant religion; the next were lieutenant King and Thomas Keys, which last had been formerly a trumpeter, but of late servant to captain Porter. They were found guilty of high treason, and executed at Tyburn. They delivered papers to the sheriff, in which they solemnly declared, that they had never seen or heard of any commission from king James for assassinating the prince of Orange; Charnock in particular observed, that he had received frequent assurances of the king’s having rejected such proposals when they had been offered; and that there was no other commission but that for levying war in the usual form. Sir John Friend and sir William Perkins were tried in April. The first, from mean beginnings, had acquired great wealth and credit, and always firmly adhered to the interests of king James. The other was likewise a man of fortune, violently attached to the same principles, though he had taken the oaths to the present government as one of the six clerks in chancery. Porter and Blair, another evidence, deposed, that sir John Friend had been concerned in levying men under a commission from king James, and that he knew of the assassination plot, though not engaged in it as a personal actor. He endeavoured to invalidate the testimony of Blair, by proving him guilty of the most shocking ingratitude. He observed that both the evidences were reputed papists. The curate of Hackney, who officiated as chaplain in the prisoner’s house, declared upon oath, that after the revolution he used to pray for king William, and that he had often heard sir John Friend say that though he could not comply with the present government, he would live peaceably under it, and never engage in any conspiracy. Mr. Hoadley, father of the present bishop of Winchester, added, that the prisoner was a good protestant, and frequently expressed his detestation of king-killing principles. Friend himself owned he had been with some of the conspirators at a meeting in Leadenhall-street, but heard nothing of raising men, or any design against the government. He likewise affirmed that a consultation to levy war was not treason; and that his being at a treasonable consult could amount to no more than a misprison of treason. Lord chief justice Holt declared, that although a bare conspiracy, or design to levy war, was not treason within the statute of Edward III., yet if the design or conspiracy be to kill, or depose, or imprison the king, by the means of levying war, then the consultation and conspiracy to levy war becomes high treason though no war be actually levied. The same inference might have been drawn against the authors and instruments of the revolution. The judge’s explanation influenced the jury, who, after some deliberation, found the prisoner guilty. Next day sir William Perkins was brought to the bar, and upon the testimony of Porter, Ewebank, his own groom, and Haywood, a notorious informer, was convicted of having been concerned not only in the invasion, but also in the design against the king’s life. The evidence was scanty, and the prisoner having been bred to the law, made an artful and vigorous defence: but the judge acted as counsel for the crown; and the jury decided by the hints they received from the bench. He and sir John Friend underwent the sentence of death, and suffered at Tyburn on the third day of April. Friend protested before God that he knew of no immediate descent purposed by king James, and therefore had made no preparations; that he was utterly ignorant of the assassination scheme; that he died in the communion of the church of England, and laid down his life cheerfully in the cause for which he suffered. Perkins declared, upon the word of a dying man, that the tenour of the king’s commission which he saw was general, directed to all his loving subjects, to raise and levy war against the prince of Orange and his adherents, and to seize all forts, castles, &c, but that he neither saw nor heard of any commission particularly levelled against the person of the prince of Orange. He owned, however, that he was privy to the design; but believed it was known to few or none but the immediate undertakers. These two criminals were in their last moments attended by Collier, Snatt, and Cook, three nonjuring clergymen, who absolved them in the view of the populace, with an imposition of hands; a public insult on the government which did not pass unnoticed. Those three clergyman were presented by the grand jury for having countenanced the treason by absolving the traitors, and thereby encouraged other persons to disturb the peace of the kingdom. An indictment being preferred against them, Cook and Snatt were committed to Newgate; but Collier absconded, and published a vindication of their conduct, in which he affirmed that the imposition of hands was the general practice of the primitive church. On the other hand, the two metropolitans and twelve other bishops subscribed a declaration, condemning the administration of absolution without a previous confession made, and abhorrence expressed, by the prisoners of the heinous crimes for which they suffered.

In the course of the same month, Rookwood, Cranborne, and Lowick, were tried as conspirators by a special commission in the king’s-bench, and convicted on the joint testimony of Porter, Harris, La Rue, Bertram, Fisher, and Pendergrass. Some favourable circumstances appeared in the case of Lowick. The proof of his having been concerned in the design against the king’s life was very defective; many persons of reputation declared he was an honest, good natured, inoffensive man; and he himself concluded his defence with the most solemn protestation of his own innocence. Great intercession was made for his pardon by some noblemen; but all their interest proved ineffectual. Cranborne died in a transport of indignation, leaving a paper which the government thought proper to suppress. Lowick and Rookwood likewise delivered declarations to the sheriff, the contents of which as being less inflammatory were allowed to be published. Both solemnly denied any knowledge of a commission from king James to assassinate the prince of Orange; the one affirming that he was incapable of granting such an order; and the other asserting that he, the best of kings, had often rejected proposals of that nature. Lowick owned that he would have joined the king at his landing; but declared he had never been concerned in any bloody affair during the whole course of his life. On the contrary, he said he had endeavoured to prevent bloodshed as much as lay in his power; and that he would not kill the most miserable creature in the world, even though such an act would save his life, restore his sovereign, and make him one of the greatest men in England. Rookwood alleged he was engaged by his immediate commander, whom he thought it was his duty to obey, though the service was much against his judgment and inclination. He professed his abhorrence of treachery even to an enemy. He forgave all mankind, even the prince of Orange, who as a soldier, he said, ought to have considered his case before he signed his death warrant; he prayed God would open his eyes, and render him sensible of the blood that was from all parts crying against him, so as he might avert a heavier execution than that which he now ordered to be inflicted. The next person brought to trial was Mr. Cooke, son of sir Miles Cooke, one of the six clerks in chancery. Porter and Goodman deposed that he had been present at two meetings at the King’s-head tavern in Leadenhall-street, with the lords Aylesbury and Montgomery, sir William Perkins, sir John Fenwick, sir John Friend, Charnock, and Porter. The evidence of Goodman was invalidated by the testimony of the landlord and two drawers belonging to the tavern, who swore that Goodman was not there while the noblemen were present. The prisoner himself solemnly protested, that he was ever averse to the introduction of foreign forces; that he did not so much as hear of the intended invasion until it became the common topic of conversation; and that he had never seen Goodman at the King’s-head. He declared his intention of receiving the blessed sacrament, and wished he might perish in the instant if he now spoke untruth. No respect was paid to these asseverations. The solicitor-general Hawles, and lord chief-justice Treby, treated him with great severity in the prosecution and charge to the jury, by whom he was capitally convicted. After his condemnation, the court-agents tampered with him to make further discoveries; and after his fate had been protracted by divers short reprieves, he was sent into banishment. From the whole tenour of these discoveries and proceedings, it appears that James had actually meditated an invasion; that his partisans in England had made preparations for joining him on his arrival; that a few desperadoes of that faction had concerted a scheme against the life of king William; that in prosecuting the conspirators, the court had countenanced informers; that the judges had strained the law, wrested circumstances, and even deviated from the function of their office, to convict the prisoners; in a word, that the administration had used the same arbitrary and unfair practices against those unhappy people, which they themselves had in the late reigns numbered among the grievances of the kingdom.

{WILLIAM, 1688--1701.}

THE ALLIES BURN THE MAGAZINE AT GIVET.

The warmth, however, manifested on this occasion may have been owing to national resentment of the purposed invasion. Certain it is, the two houses of parliament and the people in general were animated with extraordinary indignation against France at this juncture. The lords besought his majesty in a solemn address to appoint a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God for having defeated the barbarous purpose of his enemies; and this was observed with uncommon zeal and devotion. Admiral Russel, leaving a squadron for observation on the French coast, returned to the Downs; but sir Cloudesley Shovel, being properly prepared for the expedition, subjected Calais to another bombardment, by which the town was set on fire in different parts, and the inhabitants were overwhelmed with consternation. The generals of the allied army in Flanders resolved to make some immediate retaliation upon the French for their unmanly design upon the life of king William, as they took it for granted that Louis was accessary to the scheme of assassination. That monarch, on the supposition that a powerful diversion would be made by the descent on England, had established a vast magazine at Givet, designing, when the allies should be enfeebled by the absence of the British troops, to strike some stroke of importance early in the campaign. On this the confederates now determined to wreak their vengeance. In the beginning of March the carl of Athlone and monsieur de Coehorn, with the concurrence of the duke of Holstein-Ploen, who commanded the allies, sent a strong detachment of horse, drafted from Brussels and the neighbouring garrisons, to amuse the enemy on the side of Charleroy, while they assembled forty squadrons, thirty battalions, with fifteen pieces of cannon, and six mortars, in the territory of Namur. Athlone with a part of this body invested Dinant, while Coehorn with the remainder advanced to Givet. He forthwith began to batter and bombard the place, which in three hours was on fire, and by four in the afternoon wholly destroyed, with the great magazine it contained. Then the two generals joining their forces returned to Namur without interruption. Hitherto the republic of Venice had deferred acknowledging king William; but now they sent an extraordinary embassy for that purpose, consisting of signiors Soranzo and Venier, who arrived in London, and on the first day of May had a public audience. The king on this occasion knighted Soranzo as the senior ambassador, and presented him with the sword according to custom. On that day, too, William declared in council that he had appointed the same regency which had governed the kingdom during his last absence, and embarking on the seventh at Margate, arrived at Orange-Polder in the evening, under convoy of vice-admiral Aylmer. This officer had been ordered to attend with a squadron, as the famous Du Bart still continued at Dunkirk, and some attempt of importance was apprehended from his enterprising genius.*

* Some promotions were made before the king left England. George Hamilton, third son of the duke of that name, was for his military services in Ireland and Flanders created earl of Orkney. Sir John Lowther was ennobled by the title of baron Lowther and viscount Lonsdale; sir John Thompson made baron of Haversham; and the celebrated John Locke appointed one of the commissioners of trade and plantation.

LOUIS MAKES ADVANCES TOWARDS A PEACE WITH HOLLAND.

The French had taken the field before the allied army could be assembled; but no transaction of consequence distinguished this campaign either upon the Rhine or in Flanders. The scheme of Louis was still defensive on the side of the Netherlands, while the active plans of king William were defeated by want of money. All the funds for this year proved defective: the land-bank failed, and the national bank sustained a rude shock in its credit. The loss of the nation upon the recoinage, amounted to two millions two hundred thousand pounds; and though the different mints were employed without interruption, they could not for some months supply the circulation, especially as great part of the new money was kept up by those who received it in payment, or disposed of it at an unreasonable advantage. The French king having exhausted the wealth and patience of his subjects, and greatly diminished their number in the course of this war, began to be diffident of his arms, and employed all the arts of private negotiation. While his minister D’Avaux pressed the king of Sweden to offer his mediation, he sent Callieres to Holland with proposals for settling the preliminaries of a treaty.

He took it for granted that as the Dutch were a trading people, whose commerce had greatly suffered in the war, they could not be averse to a pacification; and he instructed his emissaries to tamper with the malcontents of the republic, especially with the remains of the Louvestein faction, which had always opposed the schemes of the stadtholder. Callieres met with a favourable reception from the states, which began to treat with him about the preliminaries, though not without the consent and concurrence of king William and the rest of the allies. Louis, with a view to quicken the effect of this negotiation, pursued offensive measures in Catalonia, where his general the duke de Vendome attacked and worsted the Spaniards in their camp near Ostalrick, though the action was not decisive; for that general was obliged to retreat after having made vigorous efforts against their intrenchments. On the twentieth day of June, mareschal de Lorges passed the Rhine at Philips-burg and encamped within a league of Eppingen, where the Imperial troops were obliged to intrench themselves, under the command of the prince of Baden, as they were not yet joined by the auxiliary forces. The French general after having faced him about a month, thought proper to repass the river. Then he detached a body of horse to Flanders, and cantoned the rest of his troops at Spires, Franckendahl, Worms, and Ostofen. On the last day of August the prince of Baden retaliated the insult, by passing the Rhine at Mentz and Cocsheim. On the tenth he was joined by general Thungen, who commanded a separate body, together with the militia of Suabia and Franconia, and advanced to the camp of the enemy, who had reassembled; but they were posted in such a manner that he would not hazard an attack. Having therefore cannonaded them for some days, scoured the adjacent country by detached parties, and taken the little castle of Wiezengen, he repassed the river at Worms on the seventh day of October: the French likewise crossed at Philipsburgh in hopes of surprising general Thungen, who had taken post in the neighbourhood of Strasbourg; but he retired to Eppingen before their arrival, and in a little time both armies were distributed in winter quarters. Peter, the czar of Muscovy, carried on the siege of Azoph with such vigour, that the garrison was obliged to capitulate after the Russians had defeated a great convoy sent to its relief. The court of Vienna forthwith engaged in an alliance with the Muscovite emperor; but they did not exert themselves in taking advantage of the disaster which the Turks had undergone. The Imperial army, commanded by the elector of Saxony, continued inactive on the river Marosch till the nineteenth day of July, then they made a feint of attacking Temiswaer; but they inarched towards Betzkerch, in their route to Belgrade, on receiving advice that the grand seignor intended to besiege Titul. On the twenty-first day of August, the two armies were in sight of each other. The Turkish horse attacked the Imperialists in a plain near the river Begue, but were repulsed. The Germans next day made a show of retreating, in hopes of drawing the enemy from their intrenchments. The stratagem succeeded. On the twenty-sixth the Turkish army was in motion. A detachment of the Imperialists attacked them in flank as they marched through a wood. A very desperate action ensued, in which the generals Heusler and Poland, with many other gallant officers, lost their lives. At length the Ottoman horse were routed; but the Germans were so roughly handled, that on the second day after the engagement they retreated at midnight, and the Turks remained quiet in their intrenchments.

In Piedmont the face of affairs underwent a strange alteration. The duke of Savoy, who had for some time been engaged in a secret negotiation with France, at length embraced the offers of that crown, and privately signed a separate treaty of peace at Loretto, to which place he repaired on a pretended pilgrimage. The French king engaged to present him with four millions of livres by way of reparation for the damage he had sustained, to assist him with a certain number of auxiliaries against all his enemies, and to effect a marriage between the duke of Burgundy and the princess of Piedmont, as soon as the parties should be marriageable. The treaty was guaranteed by the pope and the Venetians, who were extremely desirous of seeing the Germans driven out of Italy. King William being apprized of this negotiation, communicated the intelligence to the earl of Galway, his ambassador at Turin, who expostulated with the duke upon this defection; but he persisted in denying any such correspondence, until the advance of the French army enabled him to avow it without fearing the resentment of the allies whom he had abandoned. Catinat marched into the plains of Turin at the head of fifty thousand men, an army greatly superior to that of the confederates. Then the duke imparted to the ministers of the allies the proposals which France had made; represented the superior strength of her army; the danger to which he was exposed; and, finally, his inclination to embrace her offers. On the twelfth of July a truce was concluded for a month, and afterwards prolonged till the fifteenth of September. He wrote to all the powers engaged in the confederacy, except King William, expatiating on the same topics, and soliciting their consent. Though each in particular refused to concur, he on the twenty-third day of August signed the treaty in public which he had before concluded in private. The emperor was no sooner informed of his design, than he took every step which he thought could divert him from his purpose. He sent the count Mansfeldt to Turin with proposals for a match between the king of the Romans and the princess of Savoy, as well as with offers to augment his forces and his subsidy; but the duke had already settled his terms with France, from which he would not recede. Prince Eugene, though his kinsman, expressed great indignation at his conduct. The young prince de Commercy was so provoked at his defection that he challenged him to single combat, and the duke accepted of his challenge; but the quarrel was compromised by the intervention of friends, and they parted in an amicable manner. He had concealed the treaty until he should receive the remaining part of the subsidies due to him from the confederates. A considerable sum had been remitted from England to Genoa for his use; but lord Galway no sooner received intimation of his new engagement, than he put a stop to the payment of this money, which he employed in the Milanese for the subsistence of those troops that were in the British service. King William was encamped at Gemblours when the duke’s envoy notified the separate peace which his master had concluded with the king of France. Though he was extremely chagrined at the information, he dissembled his anger and listened to the minister without the least emotion. One of the conditions of this treaty was, that within a limited time the allies should evacuate the duke’s dominions, otherwise they should be expelled by the joint forces of France and Savoy. A neutrality was offered to the confederates; and this being rejected, the contracting powers resolved to attack the Milanese. Accordingly when the truce expired, the duke, as generalissimo of the French king, entered that duchy and undertook the siege of Valentia; so that in one campaign he commanded two contending armies. The garrison of Valentia, consisting of seven thousand men, Germans, Spaniards, and French protestants, made an obstinate defence; and the duke of Savoy prosecuted the siege with uncommon impetuosity. But after the trenches had been open for thirteen days, a courier arrived from Madrid with an account of his catholic majesty’s having agreed to the neutrality for Italy. This agreement imported that there should be a suspension of arms until a general peace could be effected; and that the Imperial and French troops should return to their respective countries. Christendom had well nigh been embroiled anew by the death of John Sobieski, king of Poland, who died at the age of seventy in the course of this summer, after having survived his faculties and reputation. As the crown was elective, a competition arose for the succession. The kingdom was divided by factions; and the different powers of Europe interested themselves warmly in the contention.

NAVAL TRANSACTIONS.

Nothing of consequence had been lately achieved by the naval force of England. When the conspiracy was first discovered, sir George Rooke had received orders to return from Cadiz, and he arrived in the latter end of April. While he took his place at the board of admiralty, lord Berkeley succeeded to the command of the fleet, and in the month of June set sail towards Ushant in order to insult the coast of France. He pillaged and burned the villages on the islands Grouais, Houat, and Hey die; made prize of about twenty vessels; bombarded St. Martin’s on the isle of Ehé, and the town of Olonne, which was set on fire in fifteen different places with the shells and carcasses. Though these appear to have been enterprises of small import, they certainly kept the whole coast of France in perpetual alarm. The ministry of that kingdom were so much afraid of invasion, that between Brest and Goulet they ordered above one hundred batteries to be erected, and above sixty thousand men were continually in arms for the defence of the maritime places. In the month of May rear-admiral Benbow sailed with a small squadron in order to block up Du Bart in the harbour of Dunkirk; but that famous adventurer found means to escape in a fog, and steering to the eastward attacked the Dutch fleet in the Baltic under a convoy of five frigates. These last he took, together with half the number of the trading ships; but falling in with the outward bound fleet convoyed by thirteen ships of the line, he was obliged to burn four of the frigates, turn the fifth adrift, and part with all his prizes except fifteen, which he carried into Dunkirk.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE PARLIAMENTS OF SCOTLAND AND IRELAND.

The parliament of Scotland met on the eighth day of September, and lord Murray, secretary of state, now earl of Tullibardine, presided as king’s commissioner. Though that kingdom was exhausted by the war and two successive bad harvests, which had driven a great number of the inhabitants into Ireland, there was no opposition to the court measures. The members of parliament signed an association like that of England. They granted a supply of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds for maintaining their forces by sea and land. They passed an act for securing their religion, lives, and properties, in case his majesty should come to an untimely death. By another they obliged all persons in public trust to sign the association, and then the parliament was adjourned to the eighth day of December. The disturbances of Ireland seemed now to be entirely appeased. Lord Capel dying in May, the council, by virtue of an act passed in the reign of Henry VIII., elected the chancellor, sir Charles Porter, to be lord justice and chief governor of that kingdom, until his majesty’s pleasure should be known. The parliament met in June: the commons expelled Mr. Sanderson, the only member of that house who had refused to sign the association, and adjourned to the fourth day of August. By that time sir Charles Porter and the earls of Montrath and Drogheda were appointed lords justices, and signified the king’s pleasure that they should adjourn. In the beginning of December the chancellor died of an apoplexy.

ZEAL OF THE ENGLISH COMMONS IN THEIR AFFECTION TO THE KING.

King William being tired of an inactive campaign, left the army under the command of the elector of Bavaria, and about the latter end of August repaired to his palace at Loo, where he enjoyed his favourite exercise of stag-hunting. He visited the court of Brandenburgh at Cleves; conferred with the states of Holland at the Hague; and, embarking for England, landed at Margate on the sixth day of October. The domestic economy of the nation was extremely perplexed at this juncture from the sinking of public credit, and the stagnation that necessarily attended a recoinage. These grievances were with difficulty removed by the clear apprehension, the enterprising genius, the unshaken fortitude of Mr. Montague, chancellor of the exchequer, operating upon a national spirit of adventure, which the monied interest had produced. The king opened the session of parliament on the twentieth day of October, with a speech importing that overtures had been made for a negotiation, but that the best way of treating with France would be sword in hand. He therefore desired they would be expeditious in raising the supplies for the service of the ensuing year, as well as for making good the funds already granted. He declared that the civil list could not be supported without their assistance. He recommended the miserable condition of the French protestants to their compassion. He desired they would contrive the best expedients for the recovery of the national credit. He observed that unanimity and despatch were now more than ever necessary, for the honour, safety, and advantage of England. The commons having taken this speech into consideration, resolved that they would support his majesty and his government, and assist him in the prosecution of the war; that the standard of gold and silver should not be altered; and that they would make good all parliamentary funds. Then they presented an address in a very spirited strain, declaring, that notwithstanding the blood and treasure of which the nation had been drained, the commons of England would not be diverted from their firm resolutions of obtaining by war a safe and honourable peace. They therefore renewed their assurances that they would support his majesty against all his enemies at home and abroad. The house of lords delivered another to the same purpose, declaring that they would never be wanting or backward on their parts in what might be necessary to his majesty’s honour, the good of his kingdoms, and the quiet of Christendom. The commons, in the first transports of their zeal, ordered two seditious pamphlets to be burned by the hands of the common hangman. They deliberated upon the estimates, and granted above six millions for the service of the ensuing-year. They resolved that a supply should be granted for making good the deficiency of parliamentary funds, and appropriated several duties for this purpose.

RESOLUTIONS TOUCHING THE COIN, &c.

With respect to the coin they brought in a bill repealing an act for taking off the obligation and encouragement of coining guineas for a certain time, and for importing and coining guineas and half guineas, as the extravagant price of those coins which occasioned this act was now fallen. They passed a second bill for remedying the ill state of the coin; and a third, explaining an act in the preceding session for laying duties on low wines and spirits of the first extraction. In order to raise the supplies of the year, they resolved to tax all persons according to the true value of their real and personal estates, their stock upon land and in trade, their income by offices, pensions, and professions. A duty of one penny per week for one year was laid upon all persons not receiving alms. A further imposition of one farthing in the pound per week was fixed upon all servants receiving four pounds per annum as wages, and upwards to eight pounds a-year inclusive. Those who received from eight to sixteen pounds were taxed at one halfpenny per pound. An aid of three shillings in the pound for one year was laid upon all lands, tenements, and hereditaments, according to their true value. Without specifying the particulars of those impositions, we shall only observe that, in the general charge, the commons did not exempt one member of the commonwealth that could be supposed able to bear any part of the burden. Provision was made that hammered money should be received in payment of these duties at the rate of five shillings and eightpence per ounce. All the deficiencies on annuities and monies borrowed on the credit of the exchequer, were transferred to this aid. The treasury was enabled to borrow a million and a half at eight per cent, and to circulate exchequer bills to the amount of as much more. To cancel these debts the surplus of all the supplies, except the three-shilling-aid, was appropriated. The commons voted one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds for making good the deficiency in recoining the hammered money, and the recompence for bringing in plate to the mint. This sum was raised by a tax or duty upon wrought plate, paper, pasteboard, vellum, and parchment, made or imported. Taking into consideration the services and the present languishing state of the bank, whose notes were at twenty per cent, discount, they resolved that it should be enlarged by new subscriptions, made by four-fifths in tallies struck on parliamentary funds, and one-fifth in bank-bills or notes; that effectual provision should be made by parliament for paying the principal of all such tallies as should be subscribed into the bank, out of the funds agreed to be continued; that an interest of eight per cent, should be allowed on all such tallies; and that the continuance of the bank should be prolonged to the first day of August, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ten. That all assignments of orders or tallies subscribed into the bank should be registered in the exchequer; that before the day should be fixed for the beginning of the new subscriptions, the old should be made one hundred per cent., and what might exceed that value should be divided among the old members; that all the interest due on those tallies which might be subscribed into the bank-stock, at that time appointed for subscriptions, to the end of the last preceding quarter on each tally, should be allowed as principal; that liberty should be given by parliament to enlarge the number of bank-bills to the value of the sum that should be so subscribed over and above the twelve hundred thousand pounds, provided they should be obliged to answer such bills on demand, and in default thereof be answered by the exchequer out of the first money due to them; that no other bank should be erected or allowed by act of parliament during the continuance of the bank of England; that this should be exempted from all tax or imposition; that no act of the corporation should forfeit the particular interest of any person concerned therein; that provision should be made to prevent the officers of the exchequer, and all other officers and receivers of the revenue, from diverting, delaying, or obstructing the course of payments to the bank; that care should be taken to prevent the altering, counterfeiting, or forging any bank bills or notes; that the estates and interest of each member in the stock of the corporation should be made a personal estate; that no contract made for any bank stock to be bought or sold, should be valid in law or equity unless actually registered in the bank books within seven days, and actually transferred within fourteen days after the contract should be made. A bill upon these resolutions was brought in under the direction of the chancellor of the exchequer: it related to the continuation of tonnage and poundage upon wine, vinegar, and tobacco, and comprehended a clause for laying an additional duty upon salt for two years and three quarters. All the several branches constituted a general fund, since known by the name of the general mortgage, without prejudice to their former appropriations. The bill also provided that the tallies should bear eight per cent, interest; that from the tenth of June for five years they should bear no more than six per cent, interest; and that no premium or discount upon them should be taken. In case of the general funds proving insufficient to pay the whole interest, it was provided that every proprietor should receive his proportion of the product, and the deficiency be made good from the next aid; but should the fund produce more than the interest, the surplus was destined to operate as a sinking fund for the discharge of the principal. In order to make up a deficiency of above eight hundred thousand pounds occasioned by the failure of the land-bank, additional duties were laid upon leather; the time was enlarged for persons to come in and purchase the annuities payable by several former acts, and to obtain more certain interest in such annuities.

Never were more vigorous measures taken to support the credit of the government; and never was the government served by such a set of enterprising undertakers. The commons having received a message from the king touching the condition of the civil list, resolved that a sum not exceeding five hundred and fifteen thousand pounds should be granted for the support of the civil list for the ensuing year, to be raised by a malt tax and additional duties upon mum sweets, cyder, and perry. They likewise resolved that an additional aid of one shilling in the pound should be laid upon land, as an equivalent for the duty of ten per cent, upon mixed goods. Provision was made for raising one million four hundred thousand pounds by a lottery. The treasury was empowered to issue an additional number of exchequer bills to the amount of twelve hundred thousand pounds, every hundred pounds bearing interest at the rate of fivepence a-day, and ten per cent, for circulation; finally, in order to liquidate the transport-debt, which the funds established for that purpose had not been sufficient to defray, a money-bill was brought in to oblige pedlars and hawkers to take out licenses, and pay for them at certain stated prices. One cannot without astonishment reflect upon the prodigious efforts that were made upon this occasion, or consider without indignation the enormous fortunes that were raised up by usurers and extortioners from the distresses of their country. The nation did not seem to know its own strength, until it was put to this extraordinary trial; and the experiment of mortgaging funds succeeded so well, that later ministers have proceeded in the same system, imposing burden upon burden, as if they thought the sinews of the nation could never be overstrained.

{WILLIAM, 1688--1701.}

SIR JOHN FENWICK IS APPREHENDED, CONDEMNED, AND BEHEADED.

The public credit being thus bolstered up by the singular address of Mr. Montague, and the bills passed for the supplies of the ensuing year, the attention of the commons was transferred to the case of sir John Fen-wick, who had been apprehended in the month of June at New Romney, in his way to France. He had when taken written a letter to his lady by one Webber, who accompanied him; but this man being seized, the letter was found, containing such a confession as plainly evinced him guilty. He then entered into a treaty with the court for turning evidence, and delivered a long information in writing, which was sent abroad to his majesty. He made no discoveries that could injure any of the Jacobites, who, by his account, and other concurring testimonies, appeared to be divided into two parties, known by the names of compounders and non-com-pounders. The first, headed by the earl of Middleton, insisted upon receiving security from king James that the religion and liberties of England should be preserved; whereas the other party, at the head of which was the earl of Melfort, resolved to bring him in without conditions, relying upon his own honour and generosity. King William having sent over an order for bringing Fenwick to trial, unless he should make more material discoveries, the prisoner, with a view to amuse the ministry until he could take other measures for his own safety, accused the earls of Shrewsbury, Marlborough, and Bath, the lord Godolphin, and admiral Russel, of having made their peace with king James, and engaged to act for his interest. Meanwhile his lady and relations tampered with the two witnesses, Porter and Goodman. The first of these discovered those practices to the government; and one Clancey, who acted as agent for lady Fenwick, was tried, convicted of subornation, fined, and set in the pillory; but they had succeeded better in their attempts upon Goodman, who disappeared; so that one witness only remained, and Fenwick began to think his life was out of danger. Admiral Russel acquainted the house of commons that he and several persons of quality had been reflected upon in some informations of sir John Fenwick; he therefore desired that he might have an opportunity to justify his own character. Mr. secretary Trumball produced the papers, which having been read, the commons ordered that sir John Fenwick should be brought to the bar of the house. There he was exhorted by the speaker to make an ample discovery; which, however, he declined, except with the proviso that he should first receive some security that what he might say should not prejudice himself. He was ordered to withdraw until they should have deliberated on his request. Then he was called in again, and the speaker told him that he might deserve the favour of the house by making a full discovery. He desired he might be indulged with a little time to recollect himself, and promised to obey the command of the house. This favour being denied, he again insisted upon having security; which they refusing to grant, he chose to be silent, and was dismissed from the bar. The house voted that his informations reflecting upon the fidelity of several noblemen, members of the house, and others, upon hearsay, were false and scandalous, contrived to undermine the government, and create jealousies between the king and his subjects in order to stifle the conspiracy.

A motion being made for leave to bring in a bill to attaint him of high treason, a warm debate ensued, and the question being put, was carried in the affirmative by a great majority. He was furnished with a copy of the bill, and allowed the use of pen, ink, paper, and counsel. When he presented a petition praying that his counsel might be heard against passing the bill, they made an order that his counsel should be allowed to make his defence at the bar of the house; so that he was surprised into an irregular trial, instead of being indulged with an opportunity of offering objections to their passing the bill of attainder. He was accordingly brought to the bar of the house; and the bill being read in his hearing, the speaker called upon the king’s counsel to open the evidence. The prisoner’s counsel objected to their proceeding to trial, alleging that their client had not received the least notice of their purpose, and therefore could not be prepared for his defence; but that they came to offer their reasons against the bill. The house, after a long debate, resolved, that he should be allowed further time to produce witnesses in his defence; that the counsel for the king should likewise be allowed to produce evidence to prove the treasons of which he stood indicted; and an order was made for his being brought to the bar again in three days. In pursuance of this order he appeared, when the indictment which had been found against him by the grand jury was produced; and Porter was examined as an evidence. Then the record of Clancey’s conviction was read; and one Roe testified that Deighton, the prisoner’s solicitor, had offered him an annuity of one hundred pounds to discredit the testimony of Goodman. The king’s counsel moved, that Goodman’s examination, as taken by Mr. Vernon, clerk of the council, might be read. Sir J. Powis and sir Bartholomew Shower, the prisoner’s counsel, warmly opposed this proposal; they affirmed that a deposition taken when the party affected by it was not present to cross-examine the deposer, could not be admitted in a case of five shillings value; that though the house was not bound by the rules of inferior courts, it was nevertheless bound by the eternal and unalterable rules of justice; that no evidence, according to the rules of law, could be admitted in such a case but that of living witnesses; and that the examination of a person who is absent was never read to supply his testimony. The dispute between the lawyers on this subject gave rise to a very violent debate among the members of the house. Sir Edward Seymour, sir Richard Temple, Mr. Harley, Mr. Harcourt, Mr. Manly, sir Christopher Musgrave, and all the leaders of the tory party, argued against the hardship and injustice of admitting this information as an evidence. They demonstrated that it would be a step contrary to the practice of all courts of judicature, repugnant to the common notions of justice and humanity, diametrically opposite to the last act for regulating trials in cases of high treason, and of dangerous consequences to the lives and liberties of the people. On the other hand, lord Cutts, sir Thomas Lyttleton, Mr. Montague, Mr. Smith of the treasury, and Trevor the attorney-general, affirmed that the house was not bound by any form of law whatsoever; that this was an extraordinary case in which the safety of the government was deeply concerned; that though the common law might require two evidences in cases of treason, the house had a power of deviating from those rules in extraordinary cases; that there was no reason to doubt of sir John Fenwick’s being concerned in the conspiracy; that he or his friends had tampered with Porter; and that there were strong presumptions to believe the same practices had induced Goodman to abscond. In a word, the tories, either from party or patriotism, strenuously asserted the cause of liberty and humanity by those very arguments which had been used against them in the former reigns; while the wings, with equal violence and more success, espoused the dictates of arbitrary power and oppression, in the face of their former principles, with which they were now upbraided. At length the question was put, whether or not the information of Goodman should be read? and was carried in the affirmative by a majority of seventy-three voices. Then two of the grand jury who had found the indictment, recited the evidence which had been given to them by Porter and Goodman; lastly, the king’s counsel insisted upon producing the record of Cooke’s conviction, as he had been tried for the same conspiracy. The prisoner’s counsel objected, that if such evidence was admitted, the trial of one person in the same company would be the trial of all; and it could not be expected that they who came to defend sir John Fenwick only, should be prepared to answer the charge against Cooke. This article produced another vehement debate among the members; and the whigs obtained a second victory. The record was read, and the king’s counsel proceeded to call some of the jury who served on Cooke’s trial to affirm that he had been convicted on Goodman’s evidence. Sir Bartholomew Shower said he would submit it to the consideration of the house, whether it was just that the evidence against one person should conclude against another standing at a different bar, in defence of his life? The parties were again ordered to withdraw; and from this point arose a third debate, which ended as the two former to the disadvantage of the prisoner. The jury being examined, Mr. Sergeant Gould moved, that Mr. Vernon might be desired to produce the intercepted letter from sir John Fenwick to his lady. The prisoner’s counsel warmly opposed this motion, insisting upon their proving it to be his hand writing before it could be used against him; and no further stress was laid on this evidence. When they were called upon to enter on his defence, they pleaded incapacity to deliver matters of such importance after they had been fatigued with twelve hours’ attendance. The house resolved to hear such evidence as the prisoner had to produce that night. His counsel declared that they had nothing then to produce but the copy of a record; and the second resolution was, that he should be brought up again next day at noon. He accordingly appeared at the bar, and sir J. Powis proceeded on his defence. He observed that the bill under consideration affected the lives of the subjects; and such precedents were dangerous; that sir John Fenwick was forthcoming in order to be tried by the ordinary methods of justice; that he was actually under process, had pleaded, and was ready to stand trial; that if there was sufficient clear evidence against him, as the king’s sergeant had declared, there was no reason for his being deprived of the benefit of such a trial as was the birthright of every British subject; and if there was a deficiency of legal evidence, he thought this was a very odd reason for the bill. He took notice that even the regicides had the benefit of such a trial; that the last act for regulating trials in cases of treason proved the great tenderness of the laws which affected the life of the subject; and he expressed his surprise that the very parliament which had passed that law should enact another for putting a person to death without any trial at all. He admitted that there had been many bills of attainder, but they were generally levelled at outlaws and fugitives; and some of them had been reversed in the sequel as arbitrary and unjust. He urged that this bill of attainder did not allege or say that sir John Fenwick was guilty of the treason for which he had been indicted; a circumstance which prevented him from producing witnesses to that and several matters upon which the king’s counsel had expatiated. He said they had introduced evidence to prove circumstances not alleged in the bill, and defective evidence of those that were; that Porter was not examined upon oath; that nothing could be more severe than to pass sentence of death upon a man, corrupt his blood, and confiscate his estate, upon parole evidence; especially of such a wretch who, by his own confession, had been engaged in a crime of the blackest nature, not a convert to the dictates of conscience, but a coward, shrinking from the danger by which he had been environed, and even now drudging for a pardon. He invalidated the evidence of Goodman’s examination. He observed that the indictment mentioned a conspiracy to call in a foreign power; but as this conspiracy had not been put in practice, such an agreement was not a sufficient overt-act of treason, according to the opinion of Hawles the solicitor-general, concerned in this very prosecution. So saying, he produced a book of remarks which that lawyer had published on the cases of lord Russel, colonel Sidney, and others, who had suffered death in the reign of Charles II. This author, said he, takes notice, that a conspiracy or agreement to levy war is not treason without actually levying war; a sentiment in which he concurred with lord Coke, and lord chief-justice Hales. He concluded with saying, “We know at present on what ground we stand; by the statute of Edward III. we know what treason is; by the two statutes of Edward VI. and the late act, we know what is proof; by the Magna Charta we know we are to be tried _per legem terræ el per judicium parium_, by the law of the land and the judgment of our peers; but if bills of attainder come into fashion, we shall neither know what is treason, what is evidence, nor how nor where we are to be tried.” He was seconded by sir Bartholomew Shower, who spoke with equal energy and elocution; and their arguments were answered by the king’s counsel. The arguments in favour of the bill imported that the parliament would not interpose except in extraordinary cases; that here the evidence necessary in inferior courts being defective, the parliament, which was not tied down by legal evidence, had a right to exert their extraordinary power in punishing an offender, who would otherwise escape with impunity; that as the law stood, he was but a sorry politician that could not ruin the government, and yet elude the statute of treason; that if a plot, after being discovered, should not be thoroughly prosecuted, it would strengthen and grow upon the administration, and probably at length subvert the government; that it was notorious that parties were forming for king James; persons were plotting in every part of the kingdom, and an open invasion was threatened; therefore this was a proper time for the parliament to exert their extraordinary power; that the English differed from all other nations in bringing the witnesses and the prisoner face to face, and requiring two witnesses in cases of treason; nor did the English law itself require the same proof in some cases as in others, for one witness was sufficient in felony, as well as for the treason of coining; that Fenwick was notoriously guilty, and deserved to feel the resentment of the nation; that he would have been brought to exemplary punishment in the ordinary course of justice, had he not eluded it by corrupting evidence and withdrawing a witness. If this reasoning be just, the house of commons has a right to act in diametrical opposition to the laws in being; and is vested with a despotic power over the lives and fortunes of their constituents, for whose protection they are constituted. Let us therefore reflect upon the possibility of a parliament debauched by the arts of corruption into servile compliance with the designs of an arbitrary prince, and tremble for the consequence. The debate being finished, the prisoner was, at the desire of admiral Russel, questioned with regard to the imputations he had fixed upon that gentleman and others from hearsay; but he desired to be excused on account of the risk he ran while under a double prosecution, if any thing which should escape him might be turned to his prejudice.

After he was removed from the bar, Mr. Vernon, at the desire of the house, recapitulated the arts and practices of sir John Fenwick and his friends to procrastinate the trial. The bill was read a second time; and the speaker asking, If the question should be put for its being committed? the house was immediately kindled into a new flame of contention. Hawles, the solicitor-general, affirmed that the house in the present case should act both as judge and jury. Mr. Harcourt said he knew of no trial for treason but what was confirmed by _Magna Charta_, by a jury, the birthright and darling privilege of an Englishman, or _per legem terræ_, which includes impeachments in parliament; that it was a strange trial where the person accused had a chance to be hanged, but none to be saved; that he never heard of a juryman who was not on his oath, nor of a judge who had not power to examine witnesses upon oath, and who was not empowered to save the innocent as well as to condemn the guilty. Sir Thomas Lyttleton was of opinion that the parliament ought not to stand upon little niceties and forms of other courts when the government was at stake. Mr. Howe asserted that to do a thing of this nature, because the parliament had power to do it, was a strange way of reasoning; that what was justice and equity at Westminster-hall, was justice and equity every where; that one bad precedent in parliament was of worse consequence than an hundred in Westminster-hall, because personal or private injuries did not foreclose the claims of original right; whereas the parliament could ruin the nation beyond redemption, because it could establish tyranny by law. Sir Richard Temple, in arguing against the bill, observed that the power of parliament is to make any law, but the jurisdiction of parliament is to govern itself by the law; to make a law, therefore, against all the laws in England was the _ultimum remedium et pessimum_, never to be used but in case of absolute necessity. He affirmed that by this precedent the house overthrew all the laws of England; first, in condemning a man upon one witness; secondly, in passing an act without any trial. The commons never did nor can assume a jurisdiction of trying any person: they may for their own information hear what can be offered; but it is not a trial where witnesses are not upon oath. All bills of attainder have passed against persons that were dead or fled, or without the compass of the law: some have been brought in after trials in Westminster-hall; but none of those have been called trials, and they were generally reversed. He denied that the parliament had power to declare anything treason which was not treason before. When inferior courts were dubious, the case might be brought before parliament to judge whether it be treason or felony; but then they must judge by the laws in being, and this judgment was not in the parliament by bill but only in the house of lords. Lord Digby, Mr. Harley, and colonel Granville, spoke to the same purpose. But their arguments and remonstrances had no effect upon the majority, by whom the prisoner was devoted to destruction. The bill was committed, passed, and sent up to the house of lords, where it produced the longest and warmest debates which had been known since the Restoration. Bishop Burnet signalized his zeal for the government by a long speech in favour of the bill, contradicting some of the fundamental maxims which he had formerly avowed in behalf of the liberties of the people. At length it was carried by a majority of seven voices; and one-and-forty lords, including eight prelates, entered a protest couched in the strongest terms against the decision.

When the bill received the royal assent, another act of the like nature passed against Barclay, Holmes, and nine other conspirators who had fled from justice, in case they should not surrender themselves on or before the twenty-fifth day of March next ensuing. Sir John Fenwick solicited the mediation of the lords in his behalf, while his friends implored the royal mercy. The peers gave him to understand that the success of his suit would depend upon the fulness of his discoveries. He would have previously stipulated for a pardon, and they insisted upon his depending on their favour. He hesitated some time between the fears of infamy and the terrors of death, which last he at length chose to undergo rather than incur the disgraceful character of an informer. He was complimented with the axe in consideration of his rank and alliance with the house of Howard, and suffered on Tower-hill with great composure. In the paper which he delivered to the sheriff, he took God to witness that he knew not of the intended invasion until it was the common subject of discourse, nor was he engaged in any shape for the service of king James. He thanked those noble and worthy persons who had opposed his attainder in parliament; protested before God that the information he gave to the ministry he had received in letters and messages from France; and observed that he might have expected mercy from the prince of Orange, as he had been instrumental in saving his life by preventing the execution of a design which had been formed against it--a circumstance which in all probability induced the late conspirators to conceal their purpose of assassination from his knowledge. He professed his loyalty to king James, and prayed heaven for his speedy restoration.

EARL OF MONMOUTH SENT TO THE TOWER.

While Fenwick’s affair was in agitation, the earl of Monmouth had set on foot some practices against the duke of Shrewsbury. One Matthew Smith, nephew to sir William Perkins, had been entertained as a spy by this nobleman, who finding his intelligence of very little use or importance, dismissed him as a troublesome dependent. Then he had recourse to the earl of Monmouth, into whom he infused unfavourable sentiments of the duke, insinuating that he had made great discoveries which from sinister motives were suppressed. Monmouth communicated those impressions to the earl of Portland, who enlisted Smith as one of his intelligencers. Copies of the letters he had sent to the duke of Shrewsbury were delivered to secretary Trumball sealed up for the perusal of his majesty at his return from Flanders. When Fenwick mentioned the duke of Shrewsbury in his discoveries, the earl of Monmouth resolved to seize the opportunity of ruining that nobleman. He, by the channel of the duchess of Norfolk, exhorted lady Fenwick to prevail upon her husband to persist in his accusation, and even dictated a paper of directions. Fenwick rejected the proposal with disdain, as a scandalous contrivance; and Monmouth was so incensed at his refusal that when the bill of attainder appeared in the house of lords, he spoke in favour of it with peculiar vehemence. Lady Fenwick, provoked at this cruel outrage, prevailed upon her nephew the earl of Carlisle to move the house that sir John might be examined touching any advices that had been sent to him with relation to his discoveries. Fenwick being interrogated accordingly, gave an account of all the particulars of Monmouth’s scheme, which was calculated to ruin the duke of Shrewsbury by bringing Smith’s letters on the carpet. The duchess of Norfolk and a confidant were examined and confirmed the detection. The house called for Smith’s letters, which were produced by sir William Trumball. The earl of Monmouth was committed to the Tower and dismissed from all his employments. He was released however at the end of the session, and the court made up all his losses in private lest he should be tempted to join the opposition.

INQUIRY INTO MISCARRIAGES BY SEA.

The whigs, before they were glutted with the sacrifice of Fenwick, had determined to let loose their vengeance upon sir George Rooke, who was a leader in the opposite interest. Sir Cloudesley Shovel had been sent with a squadron to look into Brest, where, according to the intelligence which the government had received, the French were employed in preparing for a descent upon England; but this information was false. They were busy in equipping an armament for the West Indies, under the command of M. Pointis, who actually sailed to the coast of New Spain and took the city of Carfehagena. Rooke had been ordered to intercept the Toulon squadron in its way to Brest; but his endeavours miscarried. The commons in a committee of the whole house resolved to inquire why this fleet was not intercepted; Rooke underwent a long examination, and was obliged to produce his journal, orders, and letters. Shovel and Mitchel were likewise examined; but nothing appearing to the prejudice of the admiral, the house thought proper to desist from their prosecution. After they had determined on the fate of Fenwick, they proceeded to enact several laws for regulating the domestic economy of the nation; among others they passed an act for the more effectual relief of creditors in cases of escape, and for preventing abuses in prisons and pretended privileged places. Ever since the reformation certain places in and about the city of London, which had been sanctuaries during the prevalence of the popish religion, afforded asylum to debtors, and were become receptacles of desperate persons who presumed to set the law at defiance. One of these places called White-friars was filled with a crew of ruffians, who every day committed acts of violence and outrage; but this law was so vigorously put in execution that they were obliged to abandon the district, which was soon filled with more creditable inhabitants. On the sixteenth day of April the king closed the session with a short speech, thanking the parliament for the great supplies they had so cheerfully granted, and expressed his satisfaction at the measures they had taken for retrieving the public credit. Before he quitted the kingdom he ventured to produce upon the scene the earl of Sunderland, who had hitherto promoted his councils behind the curtain. That politician was now sworn of the privy council, and gratified with the office of lord-chamberlain, which had been resigned by the earl of Dorset, a nobleman of elegant talents and invincible indolence, severe and poignant in his writings and remarks upon mankind in general, but humane, good-natured, and generous to excess, in his commerce with individuals.

NEGOTIATIONS AT RYSWICK.

William having made some promotions * and appointed a regency, embarked on the twenty-sixth day of April for Holland, that he might be at hand to manage the negotiation for a general peace.

* Somers was created a baron, and appointed lord-chancellor of England; admiral Russel was dignified with the title of earl of Orford. In February the earl of Aylesbury, who had been committed on account of the conspiracy, was released upon bail; but this privilege was denied to lord Montgomery, who had been imprisoned in Newgate on the same account.

By this time the preliminaries were settled between Callieres the French minister, and Mr. Dykvelt in behalf of the states-general, who resolved, in consequence of the concessions made by France, that, in concert with their allies, the mediation of Sweden might be accepted. The emperor and the court of Spain, however, were not satisfied with those concessions; yet his imperial majesty declared he would embrace the proffered mediation, provided the treaty of Westphalia should be re-established; and provided the king of Sweden would engage to join his troops with those of the allies, in case France should break through the stipulation. This proposal being delivered, the ministers of England and Holland at Vienna presented a joint memorial, pressing his imperial majesty to accept the mediation without reserve, and name a place at which the congress might be opened. The emperor complied with reluctance. On the fourteenth day of February all the ministers of the allies, except the ambassador of Spain, agreed to the proposal; and next day signified their assent in form to M. Lillienroot, the Swedish plenipotentiary. Spain demanded, as a preliminary, that France should agree to restore all the places mentioned in a long list which the minister of that crown presented to the assembly. The emperor proposed that the congress should be held at Aix-la-Chapelle, or Franckfort, or some other town in Germany. The other allies were more disposed to negotiate in Holland. At length the French king suggested, that no place would be more proper than a palace belonging to king William called Newbourg-house, situated between the Hague and Delft, close by the village of Ryswick; and to this proposition the ministers agreed. Those of England were the earl of Pembroke, a virtuous, learned, and popular nobleman, the lord Villiers, and sir Joseph Williamson: France sent Harlay and Crecy to the assistance of Callieres. Louis was not only tired of the war, on account of the misery in which it had involved his kingdom; but in desiring a peace he was actuated by another motive. The king of Spain had been for some time in a very ill state of health, and the French monarch had an eye to the succession: this aim could not be accomplished while the confederacy subsisted; therefore he eagerly sought a peace, that he might at once turn his whole power against Spain as soon as Charles should expire. The emperor harboured the same design upon the Spanish crown, and for that reason interested himself in the continuance of the grand alliance. Besides, he foresaw he should in a little time be able to act against France with an augmented force. The czar of Muscovy had engaged to find employment for the Turks and Tartars. He intended to raise the elector of Saxony to the throne of Poland; and he had made some progress in a negotiation with the circles of the Rhine for a considerable body of auxiliary troops. The Dutch had no other view but that of securing a barrier in the Netherlands. King William insisted upon the French king’s acknowledging his title; and the English nation wished for nothing so much as the end of a ruinous war. On the tenth day of February, Callieres, in the name of his master, agreed to the following preliminaries: That the treaties of Westphalia and Nimeguen should be the basis of this negotiation; that Strasbourg should be restored to the empire, and Luxembourg to the Spaniards, together with Mons, Charleroy, and all places taken by the French in Catalonia since the treaty of Nimeguen; that Dinant should be ceded to the bishop of Liege, and all reunion since the treaty of Nimeguen be made void; that the French king should make restitution of Lorraine, and, upon conclusion of the peace, acknowledge the prince of Orange as king of Great Britain, without condition or reserve. The conferences were interrupted by the death of Charles XI. king of Sweden, who was succeeded by his son Charles, then a minor: but the queen and five senators, whom the late king had by will appointed administrators of the government, resolved to pursue the mediation, and sent a new commission to Lillienroot for that purpose. The ceremonials being regulated with the consent of all parties, the plenipotentiaries of the emperor delivered their master’s demands to the mediator on the twenty-second day of May, and several German ministers gave in the pretensions the respective princes whom they represented.

{WILLIAM, 1688--1701.}

THE FRENCH TAKE BARCELONA.

Meanwhile the French king, in the hope of procuring more favourable terms, resolved to make his last effort against the Spaniards in Catalonia and in the Netherlands, and to elevate the prince of Conti to the throne of Poland; an event which would have greatly improved the interest of France in Europe. Louis had got the start of the confederates in Flanders, and sent thither a very numerous army commanded by Catinat, Villeroy, and Boufflers. The campaign was opened with the siege of Aeth, which was no sooner invested than king William, having recovered of an indisposition, took the field, and had an interview with the duke of Bavaria, who commanded a separate body. He did not think proper to interrupt the enemy in their operations before Aeth, which surrendered in a few days after the trenches were opened; but contented himself with taking possession of an advantageous camp, where he covered Brussels, which Villeroy and Boufflers had determined to besiege. In Catalonia the duke of Vendôme invested Barcelona, in which there was a garrison of ten thousand regular soldiers, besides five thousand burghers who had voluntarily taken arms on this occasion. The governor of the place was the prince of Hesse d’Armstadt, who had served in Ireland; and been vested with the command of the Imperial troops which were sent into Spain. The French general being reinforced from Provence and Languedoc, carried on his approaches with surprising impetuosity; and was repulsed in several attacks by the valour of the defendants. At length the enemy surprised and routed the viceroy of Catalonia; and flushed with this victory, stormed the outworks, which had been long battered with their cannon. The dispute was very bloody and obstinate; but the French, by dint of numbers, made themselves masters of the covered-way and two bastions. There they erected batteries of cannon and mortars, and fired furiously on the town, which however the prince of Hesse resolved to defend to the last extremity. The court of Madrid, however, unwilling to see the place entirely ruined, as in all probability it would be restored at the peace, despatched an order to the prince to capitulate; and he obtained very honourable terms, after having made a glorious defence for nine weeks; in consideration of which he was appointed viceroy of the province. France was no sooner in possession of this important place, than the Spaniards became as eager for peace as they had been before averse to a negotiation.

EXPEDITION OF ADMIRAL NEVIL TO THE WEST INDIES.

Their impatience was not a little inflamed by the success of Pointis in America, where he took Carthagena, in which he found a booty amounting to eight millions of crowns. Having ruined the fortifications of the place, and received advice that an English squadron under admiral Nevil had arrived in the West Indies, with a design to attack him in his return, he bore away for the straits of Bahama. On the twenty-second day of May he fell in with the English fleet, and one of his fly-boats was taken; but such was his dexterity, or good fortune, that he escaped after having been pursued five days, during which the English and Dutch rear-admirals sprang their fore-top-masts and received other damage, so that they could not proceed. Then Nevil steered to Carthagena, which he found quite abandoned by the inhabitants, who after the departure of Pointis had been rifled a second time by the buccaneers, on pretence that they had been defrauded of their share of the plunder. This was really the case; they had in a great measure contributed to the success of Pointis, and were very ill rewarded. In a few days the English admiral discovered eight sail of their ships, two of which were forced on the shore and destroyed, two taken and the rest escaped. Then he directed his course to Jamaica, and by the advice of the governor, sir William Beeston, detached rear-admiral Meeze with some ships and forces to attack Petit-Guavas, which he accordingly surprised, burned, and reduced to ashes. After this small expedition, Nevil proceeded to the Havannah on purpose to take the galleons under his convoy for Europe, according to the instructions he had received from the king; but the governor of the place, and the general of the plate-fleet, suspecting such an offer, would neither suffer him to enter the harbour, nor put the galleons under his protection. He now sailed through the gulf of Folrida to Virginia, where he died of chagrin, and the command of the fleet devolved on captain Dilkes, who arrived in England on the twenty-fourth day of October, with a shattered squadron half manned, to the unspeakable mortification of the people, who flattered themselves with the hopes of wealth and glory from this expedition. Pointis steering to the banks of Newfoundland, entered the bay of Conceptione, at a time when a stout English squadron, commanded by commodore Norris, lay at anchor in the bay of St. John. This officer being informed of the arrival of a French fleet, at first concluded that it was the squadron of M. Nesmond come to attack him, and exerted his utmost endeavours to put the place in a posture of defence; but afterwards understanding that it was Pointis returning with the spoil of Carthagena, he called a council of war, and proposed to go immediately in quest of the enemy. He was however over-ruled by a majority, who gave it as their opinion that they should remain where they were without running unnecessary hazard. By virtue of this scandalous determination, Pointis was permitted to proceed on his voyage to Europe; but he had not yet escaped every danger. On the fourteenth day of August he fell in with a squadron under the command of captain Harlow, by whom he was boldly engaged till night parted the combatants. He was pursued next day; but his ships sailing better than those of Harlow, he accomplished his escape, and on the morrow entered the harbour of Brest. That his ships, which were foul, should out-sail the English squadron, which had just put to sea, was a mystery which the people of England could not explain. They complained of having been betrayed through the whole course of the West Indian expedition. The king owned he did not understand marine affairs, the entire conduct of which he abandoned to Russel, who became proud, arbitrary, and unpopular, and was supposed to be betrayed by his dependents. Certain it is, the service was greatly obstructed by faction among the officers, which with respect to the nation had all the effects of treachery and misconduct.

THE ELECTOR OF SAXONY IS CHOSEN KING OF POLAND.

The success of the French in Catalona, Flanders, and the West Indies, was balanced by their disappointment in Poland. Louis encouraged by the remonstrance of the abbé de Polignac, who managed the affairs of France in that kingdom, resolved to support the prince of Conti as a candidate for the crown, and remitted great sums of money which wore distributed among the Polish nobility. The emperor had at first declared for the son of the late king; but finding the French party too strong for his competitor, he entered into a negotiation with the elector of Saxony, who agreed to change his religion, to distribute eight millions of florins among the Poles, to confirm their privileges, and advance with his troops to the frontiers of that kingdom. Having performed these articles, he declared himself a candidate, and was publicly espoused by the Imperialists. The duke of Lorraine, the prince of Baden, and don Livio Odeschalchi, nephew to pope Innocent, were likewise competitors; but finding their interest insufficient, they united their influence with that of the elector, who was proclaimed king of Poland. He forthwith took the oath required, procured an attestation from the Imperial court of his having changed his religion, and marched with his army to Cracow, where he was crowned with the usual solemnity. Louis persisted in maintaining the pretensions of the prince of Conti, and equipped a fleet at Dunkirk for his convoy to Dantzick in his way to Poland. But the magistrates of that city, who had declared for the new king, would not suffer his men to land, though they offered to admit himself with a small retinue. He therefore went on shore at Marien-burgh, where he was met by some chiefs of his own party; but the new king Augustus acted with such vigilance, that he found it impracticable to form an army; besides he suspected the fidelity of his own Polish partizans; he therefore refused to part with the treasure he had brought, and in the beginning of winter returned to Dunkirk.

THE CZAR OF MUSCOVY TrAVELS IN DISGUISE.

The establishment of Augustus on the throne of Poland was in some measure owing to the conduct of Peter the czar of Muscovy, who having formed great designs against the Ottoman Porte, was very unwilling to see the crown of Poland possessed by a partizan of France, which was in alliance with the grand seignor. He therefore interested himself warmly in the dispute, and ordered his general to assemble an army on the frontiers of Lithuania, which by over-awing the Poles that were in the interest of the prince of Conti, considerably influenced the election. This extraordinary legislator, who was a strange compound of heroism and barbarity, conscious of the defects in his education, and of the gross ignorance that overspread his dominions, resolved to extend his ideas, and improve his judgment by travelling; and that he might be the less restricted by forms, or interrupted by officious curiosity, he determined to travel in disguise. He was extremely ambitious of becoming a maritime power, and in particular of maintaining a fleet in the Black-sea; and his immediate aim was to learn the principles of ship-building. He appointed an embassy for Holland, to regulate some points of commerce with the states-general. Having intrusted the care of his dominions to persons in whom he could confide, he now disguised himself, and travelled as one of their retinue. He first disclosed himself to the elector of Brandenburgh in Prussia, and afterwards to king William, with whom he conferred in private at Utrecht. He engaged himself as a common labourer with a ship-carpenter in Holland, whom he served for some months with wonderful patience and assiduity. He afterwards visited England, where he amused himself chiefly with the same kind of occupation. From thence he set out for Vienna, where receiving advices from his dominions, that his sister was concerned in managing intrigues against his government, he returned suddenly to Moscow, and found the machinations of the conspirators were already baffled by the vigilance and fidelity of the foreigners to whom he had left the care of the administration. His savage nature, however, broke out upon this occasion; he ordered some hundreds to be hanged all round his capital; and a good number were beheaded, he himself with his own hands performing the office of executioner.

CONGRESS AT RYSWICK.

The negotiations at Ryswick proceeded very slowly for some time. The Imperial minister demanded, that Franco should make restitution of all the places and dominions she had wrested from the empire since the peace of Munster, whether by force of arms or pretence of right. The Spaniards claimed all they could demand by virtue of the peace of Nimeguen and the treaty of the Pyrenees. The French affirmed, that if the preliminaries offered by Callieres were accepted, these propositions could not be taken into consideration. The Imperialists persisted in demanding a circumstantial answer, article by article. The Spaniards insisted upon the same manner of proceeding, and called upon the mediator and Dutch ministers to support their pretensions. The plenipotentiaries of France declared, they would not admit any demand or proposition contrary to the preliminary articles; but were willing to deliver in a project of peace in order to shorten the negotiations, and the Spanish ambassadors consented to this expedient. During these transactions the earl of Portland held a conference with mareschal Boufflers near Halle, in sight of the two opposite armies, which was continued in five successive meetings. On the second day of August they retired together to a house in the suburbs of Halle, and mutually signed a paper, in which the principal articles of the peace between France and England were adjusted. Next day king William quitted the camp, and retired to his house at Loo, confident of having taken such measures for a pacification as could not be disappointed. The subject of this field negotiation is said to have turned upon the interest of king James, which the French monarch promised to abandon; others however suppose that the first foundation of the partition treaty was laid in this conference. But in all probability, William’s sole aim was to put an end to an expensive and unsuccessful war, which had rendered him very unpopular in his own dominions, and to obtain from the court of France an acknowledgment of his title, which had since the queen’s death become the subject of dispute. He perceived the emperor’s backwardness towards a pacification, and foresaw numberless difficulties in discussing such a complication of interests by the common method of treating; he therefore chose such a step as he thought would alarm the jealousy of the allies, and quicken the negotiation at Ryswick. Before the congress was opened, king James had published two manifestoes, addressed to the catholic and protestant princes of the confederacy, representing his wrongs, and craving redress; but his remonstrances being altogether disregarded, he afterwards issued a third declaration, solemnly protesting against all that might or should be negotiated, regulated, or stipulated with the usurper of his realms, as being void of all rightful and lawful authority. On the twentieth day, of July the French ambassadors produced their project of a general peace, declaring at the same time that should it not be accepted before the last day of August, France would not hold herself bound for the conditions she now offered; but Caunitz, the emperor’s plenipotentiary, protested he would pay no regard to this limitation. On the thirtieth of August, however, he delivered to the mediators an ultimatum, importing that he adhered to the treaties of Westphalia and Nimeguen, and accepted of Strasbourg with its appurtenances; that he insisted upon the restitution of Lorraine to the prince of that name; and demanded that the church and chapter of Liege should be re-established in the possession of their incontestable rights. Next day the French plenipotentiaries declared that the month of August being now expired, all their offers were vacated; that therefore the king of France would reserve Strasbourg, and unite it with its dependencies to his crown for ever; that in other respects he would adhere to the project, and restore Barcelona to the crown of Spain; but that these terms must be accepted in twenty days, otherwise he should think himself at liberty to recede. The ministers of the electors and princes of the empire joined in a written remonstrance to the Spanish plenipotentiaries, representing the inconveniencies and dangers that would accrue to the Germanic body from France being in possession of Luxembourg, and exhorting them in the strongest terms to reject all offers of an equivalent for that province. They likewise presented another to the states-general, requiring them to continue the war according to their engagements, until France should have complied with the preliminaries. No regard however was paid to either of these addresses. Then the Imperial ambassadors demanded the good offices of the mediator on certain articles; but all that he could obtain of France was, that the term for adjusting the peace between her and the emperor should be prolonged till the first day of November, and in the meantime an armistice be punctually observed. Yet even these concessions were made on condition that the treaty with England, Spain, and Holland, should be signed on that day, even though the emperor and empire should not concur.

THE AMBASSADORS SIGN THE TREATY.

Accordingly on the twentieth day of September, the articles were subscribed by the Dutch, English, Spanish, and French ambassadors, while the Imperial ministers protested against the transaction, observing this was the second time that a separate peace had been concluded with France; and that the states of the empire, who had been imposed upon through their own credulity, would not for the future be so easily persuaded to engage in confederacies. In certain preparatory articles settled between England and France, king William promised to pay a yearly pension to queen Mary D’Esté, of fifty thousand pounds, or such sum as should be established for that purpose by act of parliament. The treaty itself consisted of seventeen articles. The French king engaged, that he would not disturb or disquiet the king of Groat Britain in the possession of his realms or government; nor assist his enemies, nor favour conspiracies against his person. This obligation was reciprocal. A free commerce was restored. Commissaries were appointed to meet at London and settle the pretensions of each crown to Hudson’s bay, taken by the French during the late peace, and retaken by the English in the course of the war; and to regulate the limits of the places to be restored, as well as the exchanges to be made. It was likewise stipulated, that, in case of a rupture, six months should be allowed to the subjects of each power for removing their effects; that the separate articles of the treaty of Nimeguen, relating to the principality of Orange, should be entirely executed; and that the ratifications should be exchanged in three weeks from the day of signing. The treaty between France and Holland imported a general armistice, a perpetual amity, a mutual restitution, a reciprocal renunciation of all pretensions upon each other, a confirmation of the peace of Savoy, a re-establishment of the treaty concluded between France and Brandenburgh in the year I one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine, a comprehension of Sweden, and all those powers that should be named before the ratification, or in six months after the conclusion of the treaty. Besides, the Dutch ministers concluded a treaty of commerce with France, which was immediately put in execution. Spain had great reason to be satisfied with the pacification, by which the recovered Gironne, Eoses, Barcelona, Luxembourg, Charleroy, Mons, Courtray, and all the towns, fortresses, and territories taken by the French in the province of Luxembourg, Namur, Brabant, Flanders, and Hainault, except eighty-two towns and villages claimed by the French; this dispute was left to the decision of commissaries; or in case they should not agree, to the determination of the states-general. A remonstrance in favour of the French protestant refugees in England, Holland, and Germany, was delivered by the earl of Pembroke to the mediators, in the name of the protestant allies, on the day that preceded the conclusion of the treaty; but the French plenipotentiaries declared in the name of their master, that as he did not pretend “to prescribe rules to king William about the English subjects, he expected the same liberty with respect to his own.” No other effort was made in behalf of those conscientious exiles; the treaties were ratified, and the peace proclaimed at Paris and London.

A GENERAL PACIFICATION.

The emperor still held out, and perhaps was encouraged to persevere in his obstinacy by the success of his arms in Hungary, where his general, prince Eugene of Savoy, obtained a complete victory at Zenta over the forces of the grand seignor, who commanded his army in person. In this battle, which was fought on the eleventh day of September, the grand vizier, the aga of the janissaries, seven-and-twenty pachas, and about thirty thousand men, were killed or drowned in the river Theysse six thousand were wounded or taken, together with all their artillery, tents, baggage, provisions, and ammunition, the grand seignor himself escaping with difficulty; a victory the more glorious and acceptable, as the Turks had a great superiority in point of number, and as the Imperialists did not lose a thousand men during the whole action. The emperor perceiving that the event of this battle had no effect in retarding the treaty, thought proper to make use of the armistice, and continue the negotiation after the forementioned treaties had been signed. This was likewise the case with the princes of the empire; though those of the protestant persuasion complained that their interest was neglected. In one of the articles of the treaty, it was stipulated that in the places to be restored by France, the Roman catholic religion should continue as it had been re-established. The ambassadors of the protestant princes joined in a remonstrance, demanding that the Lutheran religion should be restored in those places where it had formerly prevailed; but this demand was rejected, as being equally disagreeable to France and the emperor. Then they refused to sign the treaty, which was now concluded between France, the emperor, and the catholic princes of the empire. By this pacification, Triers, the Palatinate, and Lorraine, were restored to their respective owners. The countries of Spanheim and Valdentz, together with the duchy of Deux Ponts, were ceded to the king of Sweden. Francis Louis Palatine was confirmed in the electorate of Cologn; and cardinal Furstemberg restored to all his rights and benefices. The claims of the duchess of Orleans upon the Palatinate were referred to the arbitration of France and the emperor; and in the meantime the elector Palatine agreed to supply her highness with an annuity of one hundred thousand florins. The ministers of the protestant princes published a formal declaration against the clause relating to religion, and afterwards solemnly protested against the manner in which the negotiation had been conducted. Such was the issue of a long and bloody war, which had drained England of her wealth and people, almost entirely ruined her commerce, debauched her morals, by encouraging venality and corruption, and entailed upon her the curse of foreign connexions, as well as a national debt which was gradually increased to an intolerable burden. After all the blood and treasure which had been expended, William’s ambition and revenge remained unsatisfied. Nevertheless, he reaped the solid advantage of seeing himself firmly established on the English throne; and the confederacy, though not successful in every instance, accomplished their great aim of putting a stop to the encroachments of the French monarch. They mortified his vanity, they humbled his pride and arrogance, and compelled him to disgorge the acquisitions which, like a robber, he had made in violation of public faith, justice, and humanity. Had the allies been true to one another; had they acted from genuine zeal for the common interests of mankind; and prosecuted with vigour the plan which was originally concerted, Louis would in a few campaigns have been reduced to the most abject state of disgrace, despondence, and submission; for he was destitute of true courage and magnanimity. King William having finished this important transaction, returned to England about the middle of November, and was received in London amidst the acclamations of the people, who now again hailed him as their deliverer from a war, by the continuance of which they must have been infallibly beggared.

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