Chapter VI (1)

_State of Parties..... Characters of the Ministers..... The
Commons reduce the Number of standing Forces to Ten
Thousand..... They establish the Civil list; and assign
Funds for paying the National Debts..... They take
Cognisance of fraudulent Endorsements of Exchequer
Bills..... Anew East-India Company constituted by act of
parliament..... .Proceedings against a Book written by
William Molineux of Dublin, and against certain Smugglers of
Alamodes and Lustrings from France..... Society for the
Reformation of Manners..... The Earl of Portland resigns his
Employments..... The King disowns the Scottish Trading
Company..... He embarks for Holland..... First Treaty of
Partition..... Intrigues of France at the Court of
Madrid..... King William is thwarted by his now
Parliament..... He is obliged to send away his Dutch
Guards..... The Commons address the King against the
Papists..... The Parliament prorogued..... The Scottish
Company make a Settlement on the Isthmus of Darien; which
however they are compelled to abandon..... Remonstrances of
the Spanish Court against the Treaty of Partition ..... The
Commons persist in their Resolutions to mortify the
King..... Inquiry into the Expedition of Captain Kidd..... A
Motion made against Burnet, bishop of Sarum..... Inquiry
into the Irish Forfeitures..... The Commons pass a Bill of
Resumption, and a severe Bill against Papists..... The old
East-India Company re-established..... Dangerous Ferment in
Scotland..... lord Homers dismissed from his
Employments..... Second Treaty of Partition..... Death of
the Duke of Gloucester..... The King sends a Fleet into the
Baltic, to the Assistance of the Swedes..... The second
Treaty of Partition generally disagreeable to the European
Powers..... The French Interest prevails at the Court of
Spain..... King William finds means to allay the heats in
Scotland ..... The King of Spain dies, after having
bequeathed his Dominions by Will to the Duke of Anjou.....
The French King’s Apology for accepting the Will ..... The
States-general owns Philip as King of Spain..... Anew
Ministry and a new Parliament..... The Commons unpropitious
to the Court---The Lords are more condescending..... An
intercepted Letter from the Earl of Melfort to his
Brother..... Succession of the Crown settled upon the
Princess Sophia, Elect ress Dowager of Hanover, and the
Protestant Heirs of her Body..... The Duchess of Savoy
protests against this Act..... Ineffectual Negotiation with
France..... Severe Addresses from both Houses, in relation
to the Partition Treaty..... William is obliged to
acknowledge the King of Spain..... The two Houses seem to
enter into the King’s Measures..... The Commons resolve to
wreak their Vengeance on the old Ministry..... The earls of
Portland and Oxford, the Lords Sotners and Halifax, are
impeached..... Disputes between the two Houses..... The
House of Peers acquits the impeached Lords ..... Petition of
Kent..... Favourable end of the Session..... Progress of
Prince Eugene in Italy..... Sketch of the Situation of
Affairs in Europe..... Treaty of Alliance between the
Emperor and the maritime Powers..... Death of King
James..... The French King owns the pretended Prince of
Wales as King of England..... Addresses to King William on
that subject..... New Parliament..... The King’s last Speech
to both Houses received with great Applause..... Great
Harmony between the King and Parliament..... The two Houses
pass the Bill of Abjuration..... The Lower House justifies
the Proceedings of the Commons in the preceding
Parliament..... Affairs of Ireland ..... The King recommends
an Union of the two Kingdoms..... He falls from his
Horse..... His Death..... And Character._

{WILLIAM, 1688--1701.}

WHEN the king opened the session of parliament on the third day of December, he told them the war was brought to the end they all proposed, namely, an honourable peace. He gave them to understand there was a considerable debt on account of the fleet and army; that the revenues of the crown had been anticipated. He expressed his hope that they would provide for him during his life, in such a manner as would conduce to his own honour and that of the government. He recommended the maintenance of a considerable navy; and gave it as his opinion, that for the present England could not be safe without a standing army. He promised to rectify such corruptions and abuses as might have crept into any part of the administration during the war; and effectually to discourage profaneness and immorality. Finally, he assured them that as he had rescued their religion, laws, and liberties, when they were in the extremest danger, so he should place the glory of his reign in preserving and leaving them entire to latest posterity. To this speech the commons replied in an address, by a compliment of congratulation upon the peace, and an assurance, that they would be ever ready to assist and support his majesty, who had confirmed them in the quiet possession of their rights and liberties, and by putting an end to the war fully completed the work of their deliverance. Notwithstanding these appearances of good humour, the majority of the house, and indeed the whole nation, were equally alarmed and exasperated at a project for maintaining a standing army, which was countenanced at court, and even recommended by the king in his speech to the parliament. William’s genius was altogether military. He could not bear the thought of being a king without power. He could not without reluctance dismiss those officers who had given so many proofs of their courage and fidelity. He did not think himself safe upon the naked throne, in a kingdom that swarmed with malcontents who had so often conspired against his person and government. He dreaded the ambition and known perfidy of the French king, who still retained a powerful army. He foresaw that a reduction of the forces would lessen his importance both at home and abroad; diminish the dependence upon his government; and disperse those foreigners in whose attachment he chiefly confided. He communicated his sentiments on this subject to his confidant, the earl of Sunderland, who knew by experience the aversion of the people to a standing army; nevertheless he encouraged him with hope of success, on the supposition that the commons would see the difference between an army raised by the king’s private authority, and a body of veteran troops maintained by consent of parliament for the security of the kingdom. This was a distinction to which the people paid no regard. All the jealousy of former parliaments seemed to be roused by the bare proposal; and this was inflamed by a national prejudice against the refugees, in whose favour the king had betrayed repeated marks of partial indulgence. They were submissive, tractable, and wholly dependent upon his will and generosity. The Jacobites failed not to cherish the seeds of dissatisfaction, and reproach the whigs who countenanced this measure. They branded that party with apostacy from their former principles. They observed that the very persons who in the late reigns endeavoured to abridge the prerogative, and deprive the king of that share of power which was absolutely necessary to actuate the machine of government, were now become advocates for maintaining a standing army in time of peace; nay, and impudently avowed, that their complaisance to the court in this particular was owing to their desire of excluding from all share in the administration a faction disaffected to his majesty, which might mislead him into more pernicious measures. The majority of those who really entertained revolution principles, opposed the court from apprehension that a standing army, once established, would take root and grow into an habitual maxim of government; that should the people be disarmed and the sword left in the hands of mercenaries, the liberties of the nation must be entirely at the mercy of him by whom these mercenaries should be commanded. They might overawe elections, dictate to parliaments, and establish a tyranny, before the people could take any measures for their own protection. They could not help thinking it was possible to form a militia, that, with the concurrence of a fleet, might effectually protect the kingdom from the dangers of an invasion. They firmly believed that a militia might be regularly trained to arms, so as to acquire the dexterity of professed soldiers; and they did not doubt they would surpass those hirelings in courage, considering that they would be animated by every concurring motive of interest, sentiment, and affection. Nay, they argued, that Britain, surrounded as it was by a boisterous sea, secured by floating bulwarks, abounding with stout and hardy inhabitants, did not deserve to be free if her sons could not protect their liberties without the assistance of mercenaries, who were indeed the only slaves of the kingdom. Yet among the genuine friends of their country, some individuals espoused the opposite maxims. They observed that the military system of every government in Europe was now altered, that war was become a trade, and discipline a science not to be learned but by those who made it their sole profession; that therefore, while France kept up a large standing army of veterans ready to embark on the opposite coast, it would be absolutely necessary for the safety of the nation to maintain a small standing force, which should be voted in parliament from year to year. They might have suggested another expedient which in a few years would have produced a militia of disciplined men. Had the soldiers of this small standing army been enlisted for a term of years, at the expiration of which they might have claimed their discharge, volunteers would have offered themselves from all parts of the kingdom, even from the desire of learning the use and exercise of arms, the ambition of being concerned in scenes of actual service, and the chagrin of little disappointments or temporary disgusts, which yet would not have impelled them to enlist as soldiers on the common terms of perpetual slavery. In consequence of such a succession, the whole kingdom would soon have been stocked with members of a disciplined militia, equal if not superior to any army of professed soldiers. But this scheme would have defeated the purpose of the government, which was more afraid of domestic foes than of foreign enemies; and industriously avoided every plan of this nature, which could contribute to render the malcontents of the nation more formidable.

CHARACTERS OF THE MINISTERS.

Before we proceed to the transactions of parliament in this session, it may not be amiss to sketch the outlines of the ministry as it stood at this juncture. The king’s affection for the earl of Portland had begun to abate in proportion as his esteem for Sunderland increased, together with his consideration for Mrs. Villiers, who had been distinguished by some particular marks of his majesty’s favour. These two favourites are said to have supplanted Portland, whose place in the king’s bosom was now filled by Van Keppel, a gentleman of Guelderland who had first served his majesty as a page, and afterwards acted as private secretary. The earl of Portland growing troublesome, from his jealousy of this rival, the king resolved to send him into honourable exile, in quality of an ambassador-extraordinary to the court of France; and Trumball, his friend and creature, was dismissed from the office of secretary, which the king conferred upon Vernon, a plodding man of business who had acted as under-secretary to the duke of Shrewsbury. This nobleman rivalled the earl of Sunderland in his credit at the council-board, and was supported by Somers, lord chancellor of England, by Russel now earl of Orford, first lord of the admiralty, and Montague, chancellor of the exchequer. Somers was an upright judge, a plausible statesman, a consummate courtier, affable, mild, and insinuating. Orford appears to have been rough, turbulent, factious, and shallow. Montague had distinguished himself early by his poetical genius; but he soon converted his attention to the cultivation of more solid talents. He rendered himself remarkable for his eloquence, décemment, and knowledge of the English constitution. To a delicate taste he united an eager appetite for political studies. The first catered for the enjoyments of fancy; the other was subservient to his ambition. He at the same time was the distinguished encourager of the liberal arts, and the professed patron of projectors. In his private deportment he was liberal, easy, and entertaining; as a statesman, bold, dogmatical, and aspiring.

THE NUMBER OF STANDING FORCES REDUCED TO TEN THOUSAND.

The terrors of a standing army had produced such an universal ferment in the nation, that the dependents of the court in the house of commons durst not openly oppose the reduction of the forces; but they shifted the battery, and employed all their address in persuading the house to agree that a very small number should be retained. When the commons voted, That all the forces raised since the year one thousand six hundred and eighty should be disbanded, the courtiers desired the vote might be re-committed, on pretence that it restrained the king to the old tory regiments, on whose fidelity he could not rely. This motion however was overruled by a considerable majority. Then they proposed an amendment, which was rejected, and afterwards moved, That the sum of five hundred thousand pounds per annum should be granted for the maintenance of guards and garrisons. This provision would have maintained a very considerable number; but they were again disappointed, and fain to embrace a composition with the other party, by which three hundred and fifty thousand pounds were allotted for the maintenance of ten thousand men; and they afterwards obtained an addition of three thousand marines. The king was extremely mortified at these resolutions of the commons; and even declared to his particular friends, that he would never have intermeddled with the affairs of the nation had he foreseen they would make such returns of ingratitude and distrust. His displeasure was aggravated by the resentment against Sunderland, who was supposed to have advised the unpopular measure of retaining a standing army. This nobleman dreading the vengeance of the commons, resolved to avert the fury of the impending storm, by resigning his office and retiring from court, contrary to the entreaties of his friends, and the earnest desire of his majesty.

CIVIL LIST ESTABLISHED, &c.

The house of commons, in order to sweeten the unpalatable cup they had presented to the king, voted the sum of seven hundred thousand pounds per annum for the support of the civil list, distinct from all other services. Then they passed an act prohibiting the currency of silver hammered coin, including a clause for making out new exchequer-bills, in lieu of those which were or might be filled up with endorsements; they framed another to open the correspondence with France, under a variety of provisos; a third for continuing the imprisonment of certain persons who had been concerned in the late conspiracy; a fourth, granting further time for administering oaths with respect to tallies and orders in the exchequer and bank of England. These bills having received the royal assent, they resolved to grant a supply, which, together with the funds already settled for that purpose, should be sufficient to answer and cancel all exchequer-bills, to the amount of two millions seven hundred thousand pounds. Another supply was voted for the payment and reduction of the army, including half-pay to such commission officers as were natural born subjects of England. They granted one million four hundred thousand pounds, to make good deficiencies. They resolved, That the sum of two millions three hundred and forty-eight thousand one hundred and two pounds, was necessary to pay off arrears, subsistence, contingencies, general-officers, guards, and garrisons; of which sum eight hundred and fifty-five thousand five hundred and two pounds, remained in the hands of the pay-master. Then they took into consideration the subsidies due to foreign powers, and the sums owing to contractors for bread and forage. Examining further the debts of the nation, they found the general debt of the navy amounted to one million three hundred and ninety-two thousand seven hundred and forty-two pounds. That of the ordnance was equal to two hundred and four thousand one hundred and fifty-seven pounds. The transport debt contracted for the reduction of Ireland and other services, did not fall short of four hundred and sixty-six thousand four hundred and ninety-three pounds; and they owed nine-and-forty thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine pounds, for quartering and clothing the army which had been raised by one act of parliament in the year 1677, and disbanded by another in the year 1679. As this enormous load of debt could not be discharged at once, the commons passed a number of Arotes for raising sums of money, by which it was considerably lightened; and settled the funds for those purposes by the continuation of the land tax, and other impositions. With respect to the civil list, it was raised by a new subsidy of tonnage and poundage, the hereditary and temporary excise, a weekly portion from the revenue of the post-office, the first-fruits and tenths of the clergy, the fines in the alienation office, and post-fines, the revenue of the wine-license, money arising by sheriffs, proffers, and compositions in the exchequer; and seizures, the income of the duchy of Cornwall, the rents of all other crown lands in England or Wales, and the duty of four and a half per cent, upon specie from Barbadoes and the Leeward-islands. The bill imported, That the overplus arising from these funds should be accounted for to parliament. Six hundred thousand pounds of this money was allotted for the purposes of the civil list: the rest was granted for the jointure of fifty thousand pounds per annum, to be paid to queen Mary d’Esté, according to the stipulation at Ryswick; and to maintain a court for the duke of Gloucester, son of the princess Anne of Denmark, now in the ninth year of his age; but the jointure was never paid; nor would the king allow above fifteen thousand pounds per annum for the use of the duke of Gloucester, to whom Burnet, bishop of Salisbury, was appointed preceptor.

COGNIZANCE TAKEN OF FRAUDULENT ENDORSEMENTS OF EXCHEQUER BILLS.

The commons having discussed the ways and means for raising the supplies of the ensuing year, which rose almost to five millions, took cognizance of some fraudulent endorsements of exchequer bills, a species of forgery which had been practised by a confederacy, consisting of Charles Duncomb, receiver-general of the excise, Bartholomew Burton, who possessed a place in that branch of the revenue, John Knight, treasurer of the customs, and Reginald Marriot, a deputy-teller of the exchequer. This last became evidence, and the proof turning out very strong and full, the house resolved to make examples of the delinquents. Duncomb and Knight, both members of parliament, were expelled and committed to the Tower; Burton was sent to Newgate; and bills of pains and penalties were ordered to be brought in against them. The first, levelled at Duncomb, passed the lower house, though not without great opposition, but was rejected in the house of lords by the majority of one voice. Duncomb, who was extremely rich, is said to have paid dear for his escape. The other two bills met with the same fate. The peers discharged Duncomb from his confinement; but he was recommitted by the commons, and remained in custody till the end of the session. While the commons were employed on ways and means, some of the members in the opposition proposed, that one fourth part of the money arising from improper grants of the crown, should be appropriated to the service of the public; but this was a very unpalatable expedient, as it affected not only the whigs of king William’s reign, but also the tories who had been gratified by Charles II. and his brother. A great number of petitions were presented against this measure, and so many difficulties raised, that both parties agreed to lay it aside. In the course of this inquiry, they discovered that one Railton held a grant in trust for Mr. Montague, chancellor of the exchequer. A motion was immediately made, that he should withdraw; but passed in the negative by a great majority. Far from prosecuting this minister, the house voted it was their opinion, That Mr. Montague, for his good services to the government, did deserve his majesty’s favour.

A NEW EAST INDIA COMPANY CONSTITUTED BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT.

This extraordinary vote was a sure presage of success in the execution of a scheme which Montague had concerted against the East India company. They had been sounded about advancing a sum of money for the public service, by way of loan, in consideration of a parliamentary settlement; and they offered to raise seven hundred thousand pounds on that condition: but before they formed this resolution, another body of merchants, under the auspices of Mr. Montague, offered to lend two millions at eight per cent, provided they might be gratified with an exclusive privilege of trading to the East Indies. This proposal was very well received by the majority in the house of commons. A bill for this purpose was brought in, with additional clauses of regulation. A petition was presented by the old company, representing their rights and claims under so many royal charters; the regard due to the property of above a thousand families interested in the stock; as also to the company’s property in India, amounting to forty-four thousand pounds of yearly revenue. They alleged they had expended a million in fortifications; that during the war they had lost twelve great ships, worth fifteen hundred thousand pounds; that since the last subscription they had contributed two hundred and ninety-five thousand pounds to the customs, with above eighty-five thousand pounds in taxes; that they had furnished six thousand barrels of gunpowder on a very pressing occasion: and eighty thousand pounds for the circulation of exchequer bills, at a very critical juncture, by desire of the lords of the treasury; who owned that their compliance was a very important service to the government. No regard being paid to their remonstrances, they undertook to raise the loan of two millions, and immediately subscribed two hundred thousand pounds as the first payment. The two proposals being compared and considered by the house, the majority declared for the bill, which was passed, and sent up to the house of lords. There the old company delivered another petition, and was heard by counsel; nevertheless the bill made its way, though not without opposition, and a formal protestation by one-and-twenty lords, who thought it was a hardship upon the present company; and doubted whether the separate trade allowed in the bill, concurrent with a joint stock, might not prove such an inconsistency as would discourage the subscription. This act, by which the old company was dissolved, in a great measure blasted the reputation of the whigs, which had for some time been on the decline with the people. They had stood up as advocates for a standing army; they now unjustly superseded the East India company; they were accused of having robbed the public by embezzling the national treasure, and amassing wealth by usurious contracts, at the expense of their fellow subjects groaning under the most oppressive burdens. Certain it is, they were at this period the most mercenary and corrupt undertakers that had ever been employed by any king or administration since the first establishment of the English monarchy.

The commons now transferred their attention to certain objects in which the people of Ireland were interested. Colonel Michelburn, who had been joint governor of Londonderry with Dr. Walker during the siege of that place, petitioned the house in behalf of himself, his officers, and soldiers, to whom a considerable sum of money was due for subsistence; and the city itself implored the mediation of the commons with his majesty, that its services and sufferings might be taken into consideration. The house having examined the allegations contained in both petitions, presented an address to the king, recommending the citizens of Londonderry to his majesty’s favour; that they might no longer remain a ruinous spectacle to all, a scorn to their enemies, and a discouragement to well affected subjects: they likewise declared that the governor and garrison did deserve some special marks of royal favour, for a lasting monument to posterity. To this address the king replied, that he would consider them according to the desire of the commons. William Molineux, a gentleman of Dublin, having published a book to prove that the kingdom of Ireland was independent of the parliament of England, the house appointed a committee to inquire into the cause and nature of this performance. An address was voted to the king, desiring he would give directions for the discovery and punishment of the author. Upon the report of the committee, the commons in a body presented an address to his majesty, representing the dangerous attempts which had been lately made by some of his subjects in Ireland, to shake off their subjection and dependence upon England; attempts which appeared not only from the bold and pernicious assertions contained in a book lately published, but more fully and authentically by some votes and proceedings of the commons in Ireland. These had, during their last session, transmitted an act for the better security of his majesty’s person and government, whereby an English act of parliament was pretended to be re-enacted with alterations obligatory on the courts of justice and the great seal of England. The English commons, therefore, besought his majesty to give effectual orders for preventing any such encroachments for the future, and the pernicious consequences of what was past, by punishing those who had been guilty thereof: that he would take care to see the laws which direct and restrain the parliament of Ireland punctually observed, and discourage everything which might have a tendency to lessen the dependence of Ireland upon England. This remonstrance was graciously received, and the king-promised to comply with their request.

The jealousy which the commons entertained of the government in Ireland, animated them to take other measures that ascertained the subjection of that kingdom. Understanding that the Irish had established divers woollen manufactures, they in another address entreated his majesty to take measures for discouraging the woollen manufactures in Ireland, as they interfered with those of England, and promote the linen manufacture, which would be profitable to both nations. At the same time, receiving information the French had seduced some English manufacturers, and set up a great work for cloth-making in Picardy, they brought in a bill for explaining and better executing former acts for preventing the exportation of wool, fullers earth, and scouring clay; and this was immediately passed into a law. A petition being presented to the house by the lustring company, against certain merchants who had smuggled alamodes and lustrings from France, even during the war; the committee of trade was directed to inquire into the allegations, and all the secrets of this traffic were detected. Upon the report the house resolved, That the manufacture of alamodes and lustrings set up in England had been beneficial to the kingdom; that there had been a destructive and illegal trade carried on during the war, for importing these commodities, by which the king had been defrauded of his customs, and the English manufactures greatly discouraged; that, by the smuggling vessels employed in this trade, intelligence had been carried into France during the war, and the enemies of the government conveyed from justice. Stephen Seignoret Rhene, Baudoin, John Goodet, Nicholas Santini, Peter de Hearse, John Pierce, John Dumaitre, and David Barreau, were impeached at the bar of the house of lords; and, pleading guilty, the lords imposed fines upon them according to their respective circumstances. They were in the meantime committed to Newgate until those fines should be paid; and the commons addressed the king, that the money might be appropriated to the maintenance of Greenwich hospital. The house having taken cognizance of this affair, and made some new regulations in the prosecution of the African trade, presented a solemn address to the king, representing the general degeneracy and corruption of the age, and beseeching his majesty to command all his judges, justices, and magistrates, to put the laws in execution against profaneness and immorality. The king professed himself extremely well pleased with this remonstrance, promised to give immediate directions for a reformation, and expressed his desire that some more effectual provision might be made for suppressing impious books, containing doctrines against the Trinity; doctrines which abounded at this period, and took their origin from the licentiousness and profligacy of the times.

SOCIETY FOR THE REFOrMATION OF MANNERS.

In the midst of such immorality, Dr. Thomas Bray, an active divine, formed a plan for propagating the gospel in foreign countries. Missionaries, catechisms, liturgies, and other books for the instruction of ignorant people, were sent to the English colonies in America. This laudable design was supported by voluntary contribution; and the bill having been brought into the house of commons for the better discovery of estates given to superstitious uses, Dr. Bray presented a petition, praying that some part of these estates might be set apart for the propagation of the reformed religion in Maryland, Virginia, and the Leeward islands. About this period, a society for the reformation of manners was formed under the king’s countenance and encouragement. Considerable collections were made for maintaining clergymen to read prayers at certain hours in places of public worship, and administer the sacrament every Sunday. The members of this society resolved to inform the magistrates of all vice and immorality that should fall under their cognizance; and with that part of the fines allowed by law to the informer, constitute a fund of charity. The business of the session being terminated, the king on the third day of July prorogued the parliament, after having thanked them in a short speech for the many testimonies of their affection he had received; and in two days after the prorogation it was dissolved.*

* On the fifth day of January, a fire breaking out at
Whitehall through the carelessness of a laundress, the whole
body of the palace, together with the new gallery, council-
chamber, and several adjoining apartments were entirely
consumed; but the banqueting-house was not affected.

THE EARL OF PORTLAND RESIGNS.

In the month of January the earl of Portland had set out on his embassy to France, where he was received with very particular marks of distinction. He made a public entry into Paris with such magnificence as is said to have astonished the French nation. He interceded for the protestants in that kingdom, against whom the persecution had been renewed with redoubled violence: he proposed that king James should be removed to Avignon, in which case his master would supply him with an honourable pension; but his remonstrances on both subjects proved ineffectual. Louis, however, in a private conference with him at Marli, is supposed to have communicated his project of the partition-treaty. The earl of Portland, at his return to England, finding himself totally eclipsed in the king’s favour by Keppel, now created earl of Albemarle, resigned his employments in disgust; nor could the king’s solicitations prevail upon him to resume any office in the household, though he promised to serve his majesty in any other shape, and was soon employed to negotiate the treaty of partition. If this nobleman miscarried in the purposes of his last embassy at the court of Versailles, the agents of France were equally unsuccessful in their endeavours to retrieve their commerce with England which the war had interrupted. Their commissary, sent over to London with powers to regulate the trade between the two nations, met with insuperable difficulties. The parliament had burdened the French commodities with heavy duties which were already appropriated to different uses; and the channel of trade was in many respects entirely altered. The English merchants supplied the nation with wines from Italy, Spain, and Portugal; with linen from Holland and Silesia; and manufactures of paper, hats, stuffs, and silks, had been set up and successfully carried on in England by the French refugees.

THE KING DISOWNS THE SCOTTISH TRADING COMPANY.

By this time a ferment had been raised in Scotland by the opposition and discouragements their new company had sustained. They had employed agents in England, Holland, and Hamburgh, to receive subscriptions. The adventurers in England were intimidated by the measures which had been taken in parliament against the Scottish company. The Dutch East India company took the alarm, and exerted all their interest to prevent their countrymen from subscribing; and the king permitted his resident at Hamburgh to present a memorial against the Scottish company to the senate of that city. The parliament of Scotland being assembled by the earl of Marchmont as king’s commissioner, the company presented it with a remonstrance containing a detail of their grievances, arising from the conduct of the English house of commons, as well as from the memorial presented by the king’s minister at Hamburgh, in which he actually disowned the act of parliament and letters patent which had passed in their favour, and threatened the inhabitants of that city with his majesty’s resentment in case they should join the Scots in their undertaking. They represented that such instances of interposition had put a stop to the subscriptions in England and Hamburgh, hurt the credit of the company, discouraged the adventurers, and threatened the entire ruin of a design in which all the most considerable families of the nation were deeply engaged. The parliament having taken their case into consideration, sent an address to his majesty representing the hardships to which the company had been exposed, explaining how far the nation in general was concerned in the design, and entreating that he would take such measures as might effectually vindicate the undoubted rights and privileges of the company. This address was seconded by a petition from the company itself, praying that his majesty would give some intimation to the senate of Hamburgh, permitting the inhabitants of that city to renew the subscriptions they had withdrawn; that, as a gracious mark of his royal favour to the company, he would bestow upon them two small frigates then lying useless in the harbour of Burnt Island; and that, in consideration of the obstructions they had encountered, he would continue their privileges and immunities for such longer time as should seem reasonable to his majesty. Though the commissioner was wholly devoted to the king, who had actually resolved to ruin this company, he could not appease the resentment of the nation; and the heats of parliament became so violent that he was obliged to adjourn it to the fifth day of November. In this interval the directors of the company, understanding from their agent at Hamburgh that the address of the parliament and their own petition had produced no effect in their favour, wrote a letter of complaint to the lord Seafield, secretary of state, observing that they had received repeated assurances of the king’s having given orders to his resident at Hamburgh touching their memorial, and entreating the interposition of his lordship that justice might be done to the company. The secretary in his answer promised to take the first convenient opportunity of representing the affair to his majesty; but he said this could not be immediately expected, as the king was much engaged in the affairs of the English parliament. This declaration the directors considered, as it really was, a mere evasion, which helped to alienate the minds of that people from the king’s person and government.

{WILLIAM, 1688--1701.}

HE EMBARKS FOR HOLLAND.

King William at this time revolved in his own mind a project of far greater consequence to the interest of Europe--namely, that of settling the succession to the throne of Spain, which in a little time would be vacated by the death of Charles IL, whose constitution was already exhausted. He had been lately reduced to extremity, and his situation was no sooner known in France than Louis detached a squadron towards Cadiz, with orders to intercept the plate fleet, in case the king of Spain should die before its arrival. William sent another fleet to protect the galleons; but it arrived too late for that service, and the nation loudly exclaimed against the tardiness of the equipment. His catholic majesty recovered from his disorder, contrary to the expectation of his people; but continued in such an enfeebled and precarious state of health, that a relapse was every moment apprehended. In the latter end of July king William embarked for Holland, on pretence of enjoying a recess from business which was necessary to his constitution. He was glad of an opportunity to withdraw himself for some time from a kingdom in which he had been exposed to such opposition and chagrin. But the real motive of his voyage was a design of treating with the French king remote from the observation of those who might have penetrated into the nature of his negotiation. He had appointed a regency to govern the kingdom in his absence; and, as one of the number, nominated the earl of Marlborough, who had regained his favour and been constituted governor of the duke of Gloucester. At his majesty’s departure, sealed orders were left with the ministry directing that sixteen thousand men should be retained in the service, notwithstanding the vote of the commons by which the standing army was limited to ten thousand. He alleged that the apprehension of troubles which might arise at the death of king Charles induced him to transgress this limitation; and he hoped that the new parliament would be more favourable. His enemies, however, made a fresh handle of this step to depreciate his character in the eyes of the people.

FIRST TREATY OF PARTITION.

Having assisted at the assembly of the states-general, and given audience to divers ambassadors at the Hague, he repaired to his house at Loo, attended by the earls of Essex, Portland, and Selkirk. There he was visited by count Tallard the French minister, who had instructions to negotiate the treaty concerning the Spanish succession. The earl of Portland, by his majesty’s order, had communicated to Secretary Vernon the principal conditions which the French king proposed; he himself wrote a letter to lord chancellor Somers, desiring his advice with regard to the propositions, and full powers under the great seal, with blanks to be filled up occasionally, that he might immediately begin the treaty with count Tallard. At the same time he strictly enjoined secrecy. The purport of Portland’s letter was imparted to the duke of Shrewsbury and Mr. Montague, who consulted with the chancellor and Vernon upon the subject, and the chancellor wrote an answer to the king as the issue of their joint deliberation; but before it reached his majesty, the first treaty of partition was signed by the earl of Portland and sir Joseph Williamson. The contracting powers agreed, that in case the king of Spain should die without issue, the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, with the places depending on the Spanish monarchy, and situated on the coast of Tuscany or the adjacent islands; the marquisate of Final, the province of Guipuscoa, all places on the French side of the Pyrenees, or the other mountains of Navarre, Alva, or Biscay, on the other side of the province of Guipuscoa, with all the ships, vessels, and stores,--should devolve upon the dauphin in consideration of his right to the crown of Spain, which, with all its other dependencies, should descend to the electoral prince of Bavaria, under the guardianship of his father; that the duchy of Milan should he settled on the emperor’s second son, the archduke Charles; that this treaty should be communicated to the emperor and the elector of Bavaria, by the king of England and the states-general; that if either should refuse to agree to this partition, his proportion should remain in sequestration until the dispute should be accommodated; that in case the electoral prince of Bavaria should die before his father, then the elector and his other heirs should succeed him in those dominions; and should the archduke reject the duchy of Milan, they agreed that it should be sequestered and governed by the prince of Vaudemont. It may be necessary to observe that Philip IV., father to the present king of Spain, had settled his crown by will on the emperor’s children; that the dauphin was son to Maria-Theresa, daughter of the same monarch, whose right to the succession Louis had renounced in the most solemn manner; as for the electoral prince of Bavaria, he was grandson to a daughter of Spain. This treaty of partition was one of the most impudent schemes of encroachment that tyranny and injustice ever planned. Louis, who had made a practice of sacrificing all ties of honour and good faith to the interest of his pride, vanity, and ambition, foresaw that he should never be able to accomplish his designs upon the crown of Spain while William was left at liberty to form another confederacy against them. He therefore resolved to amuse him with a treaty, in which he would seem to act as umpire in the concerns of Europe. He knew that William was too much of a politician to be restricted by notions of private justice; and that he would make no scruple to infringe the laws of particular countries, or even the rights of a single nation, when the balance of power was at stake. He judged right in this particular. The king of England lent a willing ear to his proposals, and engaged in a plan for dismembering a kingdom in despite of the natives, and in violation of every law human or divine.

INTRIGUES OF FRANCE AT THE COURT OF MADRID.

While the French king cajoled William with this negotiation, the marquis d’Harcourt, his ambassador to Spain, was engaged in a game of a different nature at Madrid. The queen of Spain, suspecting the designs of France, exerted all her interest in behalf of the king of the Romans, to whom she was nearly related. She new-modelled the council, bestowed the government of Milan on prince Vaudemont, and established the prince of Hesse Darmstadt as viceroy of Catalonia. Notwithstanding all her efforts, she could not prevent the French minister from acquiring some influence in the Spanish councils. He was instructed to procure the succession of the crown for one of the dauphin’s sons, or at least to hinder it from devolving upon the emperor’s children. With a view to give weight to his negotiations, the French king ordered an army of sixty thousand men to advance towards the frontiers of Catalonia and Navarre, while a great number of ships and galleys cruised along the coast, and entered the harbours of Spain. Harcourt immediately began to form his party; he represented that Philip IV. had no power to dispose of his crown against the laws of nature and the constitution of the realm; that, by the order of succession, the crown ought to descend to the children of his daughter in preference to more distant relations; that if the Spaniards would declare in favour of the dauphin’s second son, the duke of Anjou, they might train him up in the manners and customs of their country. When he found them averse to this proposal, he assured them that his master would approve of the electoral prince of Bavaria rather than consent to the succession’s devolving upon a son of the emperor. Nay, he hinted that if they would choose a sovereign among themselves, they might depend upon the protection of his most christian majesty, who had no other view than that of preventing the house of Austria from becoming too formidable to the liberties of Europe. The queen of Spain, having discovered the intrigues of this minister, conveyed the king to Toledo, on pretence that the air of Madrid was prejudicial to his health. Harcourt immediately took the alarm. He supposed her intention was to prevail upon her husband in his solitude to confirm the last will of his father; but his doubts were all removed when he understood that the count de Harrach, the Imperial ambassador, had privately repaired to Toledo. He forthwith took the same road, pretending to have received a memorial from his master with a positive order to deliver it into the king’s own hand. He was given to understand that the management of foreign affairs had been left to the care of cardinal Corduba at Madrid, and that the king’s health would not permit him to attend to business. The purport of the memorial was, an offer of French forces to assist in raising the siege of Ceuta in Barbary, which the Moors had lately undertaken; but this offer was civilly declined. Harcourt, not yet discouraged, redoubled his efforts at Madrid, and found means to engage cardinal Portocarrcro in the interests of his master. In the meantime Louis concluded an alliance with Sweden, under the pretext of preserving and securing the common peace by such means as should be adjudged most proper and convenient. During these transactions king William was not wanting in his endeavours to terminate the war in Hungary, which had raged fifteen years without intermission. About the middle of August, lord Paget and Mr. Colliers, ambassadors from England and Holland, arrived in the Turkish camp near Belgrade, and a conference being opened under their mediation, the peace of Carlowitz was signed on the twenty-sixth day of January By this treaty, the emperor remained in possession of all his conquests; Caminieck was restored to the Poles; all the Morea, with several fortresses in Dalmatia, were ceded to the Venetians; and the czar of Muscovy retained Azoph during a truce of two years: so that the Turks by this pacification lost great part of their European dominions. The cardinal primate of Poland, who had strenuously adhered to the prince of Conti, was prevailed upon to acknowledge Augustus; and the commotions in Lithuania being appeased, peace was established through all Christendom.

In the beginning of December the king arrived in England, where a new parliament had been chosen and prorogued on account of his majesty’s absence, which was prolonged by contrary winds and tempestuous weather. His ministry had been at very little pains to influence the elections, which generally fell upon men of revolution-principles, though they do not seem to have been much devoted to the person of their sovereign; yet their choice of sir Thomas Lyttleton for speaker, seemed to presage a session favourable to the ministry. The two houses being convened on the sixth day of December, the king in his speech observed that the safety, honour, and happiness of the kingdom would in a great measure depend upon the strength which they should think proper to maintain by sea and land. He desired they would make some further progress in discharging the national debt; contrive effectual expedients for employing the poor; pass good bills for the advancement of trade, and the discouragement of profaneness; and act with unanimity and despatch. The commons of this new parliament were so irritated at the king’s presuming to maintain a greater number of troops than their predecessors had voted, that they resolved he should feel the weight of their displeasure. They omitted the common compliment of an address; they resolved that all the forces of England, in English pay, exceeding seven thousand men, should be forthwith disbanded; as also those in Ireland exceeding twelve thousand; and that those retained should be his majesty’s natural born subjects. A bill was brought in on these resolutions and prosecuted with peculiar eagerness, to the unspeakable mortification of king William, who was not only extremely sensible of the affront, but also particularly chagrined to see himself disabled from maintaining his Dutch guards and the regiments of French refugees, to which he was uncommonly attached. Before the meeting of the parliament, the ministry gave him to understand that they should be able to procure a vote for ten or twelve thousand, but they would not undertake for a greater number. He professed himself dissatisfied with the proposal, observing that they might as well disband the whole as leave so few. The ministers would not run the risk of losing all their credit by proposing a greater number; and, having received no directions on this subject, sat silent when it was debated in the house of commons.

Such was the indignation of William, kindled by this conduct of his ministry and his parliament, that he threatened to abandon the government, and had actually penned a speech to be pronounced to both houses on that occasion; but he was diverted from this purpose by his ministry and confidants, and resolved to pass the bill by which he had been so much offended. Accordingly, when it was ready for the royal assent, he went to the house of peers, where having sent for the commons, he told them that although he might think himself unkindly used in being deprived of his guards, which had constantly attended him in all his actions; yet, as he believed nothing could be more fatal to the nation than any distrust or jealousy between him and his parliament, he was come to pass the bill according to their desire.

At the same time, for his own justification, and in discharge of the trust reposed in him, he declared that in his own judgment the nation was left too much exposed; and that it was incumbent upon them to provide such a strength as might be necessary for the safety of the kingdom. They thanked him in an address for this undeniable proof of his readiness to comply with the desires of his parliament. They assured him he should never have reason to think the commons were undutiful or unkind; for they would on all occasions stand by and assist him in the preservation of his sacred person, and in the support of his government, against all his enemies whatsoever. The lords presented an address to the same effect; and the king assured both houses he entertained no doubts of their loyalty and affection. He forthwith issued orders for reducing the army to the number of seven thousand men, to be maintained in England under the name of guards and garrisons; and hoping the hearts of the commons were now mollified, he made another effort in favour of his Dutch guards, whom he could not dismiss without the most sensible regret. Lord Ranelagh was sent with a written message to the commons, giving them to understand that the necessary preparations were made for transporting the guards who came with him into England, and that they should embark immediately, unless out of consideration to him, the house should be disposed to find a way for continuing them longer in the service; a favour which his majesty would take very kindly. The commons, instead of complying with his inclination, presented an address, in which they professed unspeakable grief that he should propose anything to which they could not consent with due regard to the constitution which he had come over to restore, and so often hazarded his royal person to preserve. They reminded him of the declaration, in which he had promised that all the foreign forces should be sent out of the kingdom. They observed, that nothing conduced more to the happiness and welfare of the nation than an entire confidence between the king and people, which could no way be so firmly established as by intrusting his sacred person with his own subjects, who had so eminently signalized themselves during the late long and expensive war. They received a soothing answer to this address, but remained firm to their purpose, in which the king was fain to acquiesce; and the Dutch guards were transported to Holland. At a time when they declared themselves so well pleased with their deliverer, such an opposition in an affair of very little consequence savoured more of clownish obstinacy than of patriotism. In the midst of all their professions of regard, they entertained a national prejudice against himself and all the foreigners in his service. Even in the house of commons, his person was treated with great disrespect in virulent insinuations. They suggested that he neither loved nor trusted the English nation; that he treated the natives with the most disagreeable reserve, and chose his confidants from the number of strangers that surrounded him; that after every session of parliament, he retired from the kingdom to enjoy an indolent and inglorious privacy with a few favourites. These suggestions were certainly true. He was extremely disgusted with the English, whom he considered as malicious, ignorant, and ungrateful, and he took no pains to disguise his sentiments.

THE COMMONS ADDRESS THE KING.