ΕΙΚΩ'ΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ ' ΔΕΥ'ΤΕΡΑ THE POURTRAICTURE OF HIS SACRED MAJESTY King Charles II. With his Reasons for turning Roman Catholick published by K. James Found in the Strong Box. Printed in the Year MDCXCIV The CONTENTS I. ON his Majesty's being converted into the Catholick Church Page 1. II. On his Majesty's accepting of the Scots Proposals and taking the Solemn League and Covenant in Scotland p. 6. III. On his Majesty's Coronation in Scotland upon taking the Covenant and other Oaths to govern according to the Laws of that Kingdom p. 15. IV. On the Divisions amongst the Scots Presbyterians upon his Majesty's bringing his Father 's old Friends into Places of Power and Trust about him p. 18. V. On his Majesty's Defeat at Dumbar p. 20. VI. On the Defeat of his Majesty's Forces at Innerkeithing c. and his raising another Army to march into England p. 22. VII On his Majesty's Defeat at Worcester p. 24. VIII On his Majesty's Escape to Whiteladies from thence to Spring-Coppice and then to Boscobel house where he was conceal'd some time by the Penderels after he left the Royal Oak p. 28. IX On his Majesty's being in the Royal Oak p. 31. X. On his Majesty's being conceal'd at Boscobel house Entertainment there by the Penderels and Journey thence to Mr. Huddleston ' s. p. 34. XI On the Proclamation against entertaining his Majesty and offering 1000 l. to any that would discover him p. 38. XII On his Majesty's leaving Mr. Huddleston ' s and riding before Mrs. Jane Lane to Bristol c. in order to his embarquing for France p. 40. XIII On his Majesty's Journey to Trent and parting with Mrs. Lane there in order to his embarquing at Charmouth a small Village near Lime and his Disappointment by the Skipper's Wife who lock'd her Husband up that he should not carry him p. 45. XIV On his Majesty's Return to Trent and lodging at an Inn in Broad-Windsor in his way amongst Rebel-Souldiers where one of their Women were brought to bed and his Concealment in a Place at Trent where Recusants used to retire p. 47. XV. On his Majesty's imploying my Lord Wilmot to procure Money for his Transportation his hiring a Ship being known by one Smith an Inn-keeper and his Arrival near Havre de Grace in France p. 49. XVI On his Majesty's being conducted to Paris met by his Brother the Duke of York and entertained at the French Court p. 51. XVII On his Majesty's offering his Mediation betwixt the Prince of Conde ' s Faction and that of Cardinal Mazarin supported by the French King and the Odium which he thereby brought upon himself from both Parties p. 53. XVIII On Mrs. Lane ' s Arrival in France His Majesty's being disappointed of Mademoiselled ' Orleans and treating with the Duke of Lorrain for the recovering of Ireland p. 55. XIX On his Majesty's falling in love with one of his own Subjects in France his marrying her and having a young Prince by her who was afterwards created Duke of Monmouth p. 59. XX. On the French King 's concluding a Treaty with Oliver by which his Majesty and the Royal Family were to be excluded France and his going thereupon into the Low-Countries p. 62. XXI On his Majesty's travelling into Germany and the Low-Countries The Duke of Glocester ' s being importun'd and threatned by his Mother to turn Roman Catholick and the Duke of York's being charg'd to depart France p. 64. XXII On his Majesty's being invited into the Spanish Netherlands by Don John of Austria in name of his Catholick Majesty upon the Rupture betwixt Spain and France p. 68. XXIII On the Defeat of the Spanish Army and the Surrender of Dunkirk to the English p. 70. XXIV On Oliver ' s Death Richard ' s being declar'd Protector outed by Lambert and the Army c. p. 72. XXV On his Majesty's being invited to a Treaty on the Frontiers of Spain betwixt the French and Spanish Ministers about a Peace betwixt those Crowns Sir George Booth ' s Defeat The Confusions which the Nations were cast into by Lambert and General Monk ' s carrying on the Designs of restoring his Majesty p. 74. XXVI On General Monk's having brought the Design of his Majesty's Restoration to Perfection His Majesty's Declaration from Breda and Entertainment of the Presbyterian Ministers there who were sent over to him p. 76. XXVII On his Majesty's being proclaim'd by the Parliament His magnificent Entrance into London and injoying the Countess of Castlemain the first Night p. 80. XXVIII On the Parliament's condemning the Regicides and appointing an Anniversary Humiliation on the Day of King Charles I' s Murder p. 83. XXIX On his Majesty's dissolving the Parliament which called him in and summoning another p. 85. XXX On the Presbyterian Plots set on foot Novemb. 1661. Sir J. P' s forging treasonable Letters to that effect His Majesty's appointing a Conference at the Savoy betwixt the Conformists and Nonconformists and influencing the House of Commons to offer Reasons against any Toleration p. 89. XXXI On his Majesty's selling of Dunkirk to the French King for 500000 l. p. 92. XXXII On the Parliament's beginning to grow sensible of the Incouragement given to the Catholick Religion by his Majesty's Declaration Decemb. 1662. Their Petition on that head and his Majesty's publishing a Proclamation against Papists thereupon p. 94. XXXIII On the News of some more Plots by the Phanaticks against his Majesty both in England Scotland and Ireland The Execution of the Earl of Argyle Lord Wariston c. in Scotland and some of those concerned in the Plots in England and Ireland p. 96. XXXIV On his Majesty's making War upon the Dutch Anno 1664. p. 99. XXXV On the Parliament's voting to stand by his Majesty till he had a Redress for the Injuries done to his Subjects by the Dutch The King 's great Care to have his Fleet ready before theirs putting them off by fair Promises seizing their Bourdeaux Fleet without declaring War c. p. 101. XXXVI On the French King 's making Peace with the States Several Skirmishes with various Success The Victory at Sea by the Duke of York and the Plague which broke out in London in 1665. p. 103. XXXVII On the meeting of the Parliament at Oxford because of the Plague at London The King's Speech to them about the Dutch War and Supplies The Chancellor's Enlargement on it The Act for banishing Nonconformists five Miles from Corporations p. 107. XXXVIII On the Dutch's recalling their Ambassador from England The King's Letter by him to the States and the French King and his Majesty's Declarations of War against each other p. 111. XXXIX Vpon the Sea-fights with the Dutch May and July 1666. both sides pretending to the Victory And the French's lying by though they came as if they design'd to assist the Dutch p. 113. XL. On the firing of London p. 114. XLI On the Parliament's meeting at Westminster after the Fire His Majesty's Demand of more Money
Their Address against Papists His Majesty's Proclamation on that Head The Prosecution of Protestant Dissenters Declaration of War against Denmark The Insurrection in Scotland in 1666. The burning of his Majesty's Ships at Chattam by the Dutch c. p. 119. XLII On the murmuring of the People at the Consumption of the Treasure His Majesty's granting leave to the Parliament's Commissioners to take the Publick Accounts His raising an Army of 30000 Men and disbanding them On the Parliament's being displeased with it The Sessions of Parliament in July October and February 1667. His Majesty's Speeches to them Proclamation against Papists Displacing of Chancellor Hide and League with the Dutch c. p. 124. XLIII On the Proclamation against Dissenters in 1669. Inviting the Dutch and Swedes into a League with us proposing a nearer Alliance with the Dutch and forcing the Treaty of Aix La Chappelle upon the Spaniards and the French p. 128. XLIV On the Interview betwixt his Majesty and his Sister the Dutchess of Orleans at Dover and her Advice to him to break the Triple League and concur with the French King to destroy the Dutch and the Protestant Religion and render himself absolute in England Her leaving one of her Maids of Honour created afterwards Dutchess of Portsmouth behind her and her own Death speedily after her Return into France p. 131. XLV On Colonel Blood ' s Attempt to steal the Crown A Proclamation against Papists to please the Parliament The second War with the Dutch The shutting up of the Exchequer The falling upon the Dutch Smyrna Fleet before War was declared and the Declaration of War thereupon p. 141. XLVI On the Dutch's surprizing our Fleet in Southwold-bay the Duke of York being Admiral His Majesty's Declaration to the Dutch The Progress of the French in the Vnited Provinces His Majesty's and the French King's Proposals to the Dutch and their rejecting them and making the Prince of Orange Stadtholder p. 148. XLVII On his Majesty's suffering the Parliament to meet Novemb. 1673. His Speech to them concerning the Indulgence and the Dispensing Power and the Necessity of raising more Forces for carrying on the Dutch War Several unsuccessful Fights with the Hollanders The Letter from the Dutch to influence the Parliament who addressed against the Match betwixt the Duke of York and Dutchess of Modena The Prorogation which ensued thereupon A Proclamation against Papists and the Consummation of the Marriage p. 154. XLVIII On his Majesty's Speech to the House of Lords upon the Address of the Commons against his Declaration of Indulgence The Answer of the Lords thereunto The Vote of the Commons for Ease to Protestant Dissenters and that part of their Address which desired that all in Places of Power and Trust should take the Sacrament according to the Church of England p. 163. XLIX Vpon the Complaints of the Commons that Ireland was like to be over-run with Popery because of his Majesty's Proclamation allowing Papists to live in Corporations and giving them equal Liberties to the English Their Address concerning the Danger of the Protestant Interest there and that Mr. Richard Talbot should be remov'd from all Publick Imployment and denied Access to Court And their Address concerning English Grievances with Reflections on the Miscarriages of his Majesty's former Designs of being impower'd to raise Money without Parliament on extraordinary Occasions and having an Vniversal Excise settled on the Crown p. 166. L. On his Majesty's making Application to the Parliament of Scotland upon his failing of Money from the Parliament of England the Scots insisting first upon the Redress of their Grievances and sending Duke Hamilton and others to London for that end p. 172. LI. On the Spanish Ambassador's Proposals for an Vnion betwixt England and Holland and declaring that they must break with England if the same were not accepted The Manifesto of the Dutch to the Parliament of England wherein they appeal to them for the Righteousness of their Cause The Parliament's Endeavours thereupon for a Peace and his Majesty's agreeing to it without including the French King p. 178. LII On his Majesty's proroguing the Parliament because of their impeaching his Ministers forming Bills against Popery and for the marrying of those of the Royal Family with Protestants and educating their Children in that Religion Clamours rais'd in the Nation that we were running back to 41. The Court's mediating a Peace betwixt France and Holland and sending 10000 of their own Subjects into the French King's Service p. 185. LIII On the meeting of the Parliament again April 1675. Their falling upon Bills for the Benefit of the Nation and being diverted by the sudden bringing in of a Test into the House of Lords to be imposed upon all in Places of Power or Trust Civil Military or Ecclesiastical obliging them to declare their Abhorrence of taking up Arms against the King or any commissionated by him and to swear that they would not at any time endeavour the Alteration of the Government either in Church or State p. 190. LIV. On the Debate betwixt the Lords and Commons about the Lords hearing of Appeals from any Court of Equity with the Behaviour of the Bishops in that Affair and the Opposition which they met with from the Earl of Shaftsbury c. p. 199. LV. On the meeting of the Parliament after the Prorogation His Majesty's Demand of Money to build Ships The Commons insisting upon the Bill for a Habeas Corpus Against sending Men Prisoners beyond Sea Raising Money without Consent of Parliament Against Papists sitting in either House For the speedier convicting of Papists and recalling his Majesty's Subjects from the French Service and the Duke of Buckingham ' s Speech for Indulgence to Dissenters p. 202. LVI On the Motion for an Address by the House of Lords for dissolving the Parliament The Address's being cast out by the Majority and the Protestation of the Country Lords thereupon p. 205. LVII On the filling of the Benches with durante beneplacito Judges The publishing of some Books in favour of the Papists and Prerogative The French King 's letting loose his Privateers amongst the English Merchants And the sending of Ammunition from his Majesty's Stores to the French King p. 211. LVIII On the meeting of the Parliament after the long Prorogation Febr. 1676. His Majesty's Demand of Money recommending a good Correspondence to the two Houses The Question whether the Parliament was not dissolv'd by that unprecedented Prorogation Sending some Lords to the Tower for insisting on it The granting of Money by the Commons p. 218. LIX On the Commons throwing out the Bill intituled An Act for securing the Protestant Religion and another for the more effectual Convicting and Prosecution of Popish Recusants p. 224. LX. On the Address of the Commons concerning the Danger from the Power of France and their Progress in the Netherlands His Majesty's Answer It s not being thought satisfactory by the Commons who presented a second to which his
Majesty delay'd giving Answer and the Cause why His demanding of Money when he did answer Their giving 200000 l. and Adjournment with the Cause of it p. 227. LXI Vpon the Duke of Crequis ' s arriving from France with a great Train and meeting his Majesty at New-market The Affairs treated of there The meeting of the Parliament again Their insisting upon a League with Holland and his Majesty's Answer p. 231. LXII Vpon the Prince of Orange ' s Arrival at Whitehall and Marriage with the Lady Mary eldest Daughter to the Duke of York The Address of the Commons thereupon and their insisting upon the Alliance with the Dutch and War against France p. 238. LXIII On the raising an Army on pretence of a War with France The modelling of them The sending of Duke Lauderdale to Scotland to bring down an Highland-Army upon those Parts of the Low-lands which were most Presbyterian The private Treaty with France The Discovery of it by the Commons Their Address to his Majesty to dismiss the French Ambassador Their Vote in May 1678. That the King be desired to enter into Alliance with the Emperor King of Spain and Princes of Germany His Majesty's Answer Their second Address against Duke Lauderdale and other Ministers and Vote to give no Money till they were secured from Popery and Arbitrary Government The Treaty of Nimeguen and the Behaviour of his Majesty's Plenipotentiaries there p. 241. LXIV On his Majesty's acquainting the Parliament that there was a Peace in agitation His Desire to keep up his Army and Navy till it were concluded The Resolve of the Commons for supporting the King in the War against France or provide for disbanding the Army His Majesty's Answer thereupon and the Commons continuing their Resolution to disband the Army though the King desired the contrary p. 249. LXV On the relieving of Mons by the Prince of Orange with the Assistance of the Duke of Monmouth and the English Forces The Defeat given to the French at that time and their King's Complaint that it was contrary to his Majesty's private Articles The concluding of the Peace Recalling our Forces Quartering them in the Country His Majesty's being in a Consult with the Duke of York Lord Clifford c. which was over-heard and the Person who listened kick'd down Stairs by the said Lord. p. 252. LXVI On the Discovery of the Popish Plot in August 1678. by Dr. Oates and others The Design of the Jesuits against his Majesty's Life Sir Edmundbury Godfrey ' s taking Dr. Oates his Depositions The seizing of Coleman Secretary to the Dutchess of York and his Papers and the murdering of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey thereupon p. 258. LXVII On his Majesty's Apology to the Parliament October 21 1678. for keeping up his Army His demanding of Money and acquainting them with the Plot and Danger from Popery The Vote of the Commons upon the Plot and Orders to apprehend the Earl of Powis and four other Popish Lords Their passing of the Bill for raising the Militia and his Majesty's refusing it The Execution of Coleman and some other Plotters of less note p. 263. LXVIII On the Bill for excluding Papists from both Houses of Parliament with a Clause excepting the Duke of York The Dissolution of the Parliament as prosecuting the Popish Plot. The calling of another and ordering the Duke of York to withdraw out of the Kingdom before they met His Majesty's Speech to them and Declaration confessing his Error in governing by Cabals His dissolving of his Privy-Council and chusing another whence the popular Members did quickly desire to be discharged p. 268. LXX On the French King 's seizing several Places in Flanders c. as depending on those which were confirm'd to him by the Peace of Nimeguen His and the Spaniards Vnkindness to the Duke of York at that time in the Netherlands The Address of the Commons to stand by his Majesty and the Protestant Religion Their disbanding of the Army The Discovery of Endeavours to make the Witnesses of the Popish Plot retract their Evidence And the proroguing of the Parliament upon their growing warm about the Trial of the Popish Lords in the Tower p. 273. LXXI On the Insurrection at Bothwel-bridg in Scotland The sending the Duke of Monmouth thither to suppress it which he effected The Execution of several Presbyterian Ministers upon it and the Execution of several Jesuits for the Popish Plot and Endeavours to stifle the same by the Meal-tub-Plot which prov'd abortive p. 277. LXXII On the dissolving of the Parliament July 12. 1679. and calling another against October 7. The Return of the Duke of York in the mean time and his being sent to Scotland The proroguing of the Parliament after their being chosen The acquitting of Sir George Wakeman and others of the Plotters by the then Lord Chief Justice The burning of the Pope c. in effigie The presenting of a Petition by the Citizens for the sitting of the Parliament and Abhorrence of Petitions presented by others p. 281. LXXIII On the Court 's being disappointed of receiving Money from Rome and France The meeting of the Parliament October 22 1680. The Proceedings of the Commons against such Justices as obstructed Petitions for the sitting of the Parliament The passing of the Bill of Exclusion against the Duke of York in the House of Commons nemine contradicente The rejecting of it by the Lords The Trial and Execution of the Lord Stafford The impeaching of the Judges Their Denial of a Supply to the King His Majesty's Message to them and dissolving them because of their Obstinacy p. 285. LXXIV On the calling of another Parliament to meet at Oxford Febr. 1680. The seizing of Fitz-Harris with seditious Libels designed to have been lodged with Protestant Peers and Commons The seditious manner of the London Members going to Oxford His Majesty's Speech to the Parliament when they met there Their Impeachment of Fitz-Harris and Dissolution p. 289. LXXV On his Majesty's Declaration that the Duke of Monmouth was not lawfully begotten p. 295. LXXVI On the Protestant Plot. The Trial and Execution of Stephen Colledge The Commitment of the Lord Howard of Escrick and the Earl of Shaftsbury with his Trial and Acquitment The Quo Warranto against the Charter of London and other Corporations The imposing of Sheriffs upon the City of London The Commitment of Sir Thomas Pilkington and Mr. Shute then Sheriffs for opposing it The calling of a Parliament in Scotland where the Duke of York represented his Majesty as Commissioner The Test enacted there and the Act for settling the Succession upon the Duke The Trial and Condemnation of the Earl of Argyle for explaining the Test and his Escape p. 298. LXXVII On the finding of my Lord Grey Alderman Cornish and other Citizens guilty of a Riot for countenancing the Election of the City-Magistrates The Discovery of the Conspiracy to assassinate his Majesty and the Duke of York at Ry-house and the Council of six to
though I have hitherto gain'd nothing by this Rupture with Holland but that Fortune hath favoured them as well as me in small Rencounters yet I am resolv'd to push it on as far as I can and let that proud Monarch know that he is not the sole Inheritor of Henry the IV's Glory and Grandeur On the Victory The Poets are in the right when they represent Justice blindfold for in good earnest it seems that she determines Causes by chance and that the good things of this World are made for those who can catch them and if there be any such thing as a Deity it sees not as Men see nor does it act according to those Rules which are in vogue amongst us Mortals The Dutch pretend to have that which they call Religion and Justice on their side and in truth if that which is esteemed the Rule of both be true their Pretensions are not ill founded and yet the Victory hath fallen to me Then seeing we are not certain what be the Rules and Decrees of the higher Powers it 's rational for Men to follow their own Inclinations and gratify their natural Appetites as much as they can The contrary Principle seems very unreasonable that we who look upon our selves as a happy Race of Creatures should yet labour under a severer Restraint and that we should be denied the pleasing of what 's visible for the pretended Safety of some I do not know what invisible Substance But from this Victory I shall be sure of these following Fruits In the first place that it will give Credit to my Arms which have not hitherto been reckoned successful and in the next it will magnify my Brother's Conduct which will still contribute to render me the more formidable It will also create Disorders in Holland which may be improved to my great Advantage and it will secure me from the Murmurs of the Rabble at home who always measure the Justice of a Cause by its Success and it will be a prevailing Argument with the Parliament to go chearfully on with their promised Supplies But my Joys are neither long-liv'd nor unmix'd for though I be Conqueror by the Sword I 'm consum'd by the Plague which rages in the Bowels of my Capital City No doubt the Phanaticks will say that it is for the Sins of me and my Family as Israel was plagu'd for David's numbring of the People but as my Subjects are not so well deserving as his I am not obliged to be so much concern'd as he was nor am I indeed any further than that it weakens and renders me less able to carry on the War and will be esteem'd by my Enemies as the Hand of God against me But for the Reflection of the Phanaticks I can easily turn it upon themselves that it 's a just Punishment upon the Nation for their unnatural Rebellion and the horrid Murder of their King and my Father and if this be once given out at Court I am sure it will be eccho'd again from the Pulpit and as that will justify the utmost of my Severity in Scotland by free Quarter c. on the Presbyterians there it will also defend my Proceedings against their Brethren in England to keep them in Prisons at London c. till they die of the Contagion here And as for my self and my Court we can remove to a Place of better Air. And though the Bills of Mortality do increase to a prodigy it 's a just Vengeance on the rebellious City and if it come to the worst that I should want Men to carry on the War I can quickly make up a Peace abroad and when my Subjects are diminished I am the less in hazard by a Rebellion at home CHAP. XXXVII On the meeting of the Parliament at Oxford because of the Plague at London The King's Speech to them about the Dutch War and Supplies The Chancellor's Enlargement on it The Act for banishing Nonconformists five Miles from Corporations AS this City afforded a safe Retreat to my Father from his rebellious Subjects at London it furnishes me with the like during the Pestilence which hath seiz'd upon that City for their Rebellion And as the Londoners had Influence upon the then Parliament to increase their Obstinacy I doubt not but the University will have Influence upon this to heighten their Loyalty My Business is now to applaud the Parliament for their advising me to a War with Holland which hath hitherto been so successful And as it will convince them that I am willing to make them Sharers of my Glory it will render them the more willing to make me a Sharer of their Purses But lest those amongst them who are firm Protestants should perceive my Design and blame my Conduct for leaguing with Popish Princes to procure the Destruction of the Dutch I must hide my Designs under a pretence of repaying them in their own Coin and that my stirring up the Bishop of Munster against them is only because they have given an ill Character of me to Foreign Protestant Princes And considering that it was necessary for the Nation 's Glory that those stubborn Republicans who had broke the Power of Spain should be humbled by England the Parliament have no reason to be angry at my supplying the Bishop of Munster with Money And at the same time I will pretend that I am willing to come to a Peace upon reasonable Propositions and give my Lord Chancellor Order to insist and enlarge upon those Heads and to declare the Affronts which the Dutch put upon the Royal Family before my Restoration which as it will incense the Cavaliers in the House it will silence those who are fanatically inclin'd And the better to colour my Demands of Money I must take care to have the ill Condition that my Magazines for Arms and Naval Stores were in represented to the full and the Pains and Charges which I have been at magnified to the life The Parliament I find have answered my Expectations and not only ordered me sufficient store of Money to carry on the War but have given a Gratuity to my Brother the Duke notwithstanding of its having been represented by some that his Cowardice under pretence of want of Repose gave the Dutch an Opportunity to escape better than they would have done otherwise And that nothing may be left unattempted which may tend to the Ruine of the Protestant Interest he and I have not only delivered up Monsieur Rohan who came to acquaint me with the French King's Designs to ruine his Protestant Subjects and to propose Measures which might have prevented it and advanc'd my own Glory as he imagin'd but by my Sollicitation I have also got the strictest of my own Protestant Subjects declar'd uncapable of Trust except they comply with that which is contrary to their Consciences and their Preachers to be banish'd five Miles from Corporations which is a thing of mighty Consequence to the carrying on of my Design for by this
and the Crown if the Dissenters should not be rendred uncapable of disturbing either When I once inspire them with these Sentiments they will the better concur with my Declaration against Denmark for siding with the Rebellious and Heretical Dutch and by this Means my Brother of France and I shall reach a fatal Blow indeed to the Northern Heresy by the Concurrence of the Hereticks themselves for as my Church-of England-Subjects will certainly assist me on the Considerations above-mentioned so the French Hugonots concur with their Monarch to destroy those of their own Religion they being also scrued up to a high pitch of Loyalty by the Cunning of the Court and the Management of their Clergy And thus when we have deprived our Heretical Subjects of all Support from abroad it will be the easier for us to destroy them at home How unhappily are all my fine Projects blasted and my Designs against the Dutch not only miscarried but they have put theirs in execution against me burnt my Royal Navy in my own Haroours and ride without Controul upon my Coasts This is indeed an intolerable Disgrace but I must study how to repair it The Want of Money were a plausible Excuse but considering the Tax which I lately had it will not be practicable and therefore I must indeavour to excuse it by charging it on the Treachery of the Dutch during the time of a Treaty which though it is not likely to obtain Belief amongst knowing Men yet it will do much to put a stop to the Murmurs of the Vulgar and in the mean time I must study how to work a Revenge and not suffer them long to triumph in their Success I perceive the French King takes advantage of my Circumstances and hath deluded me on purpose to carry on his own Designs by giving out that the Dutch would have no Fleet at Sea this Summer Let him hug and bless himself for his good Success I may find an Opportunity to make him repent it May he flatter himself as a great Politician and fram'd by Nature for the Empire of the World I can sooner accomplish my Designs than he can do his and satisfy my Desires with those things which I look upon as my Summum Bonum Whereas he can never satisfy his Ambition and as he makes me to subserve his Designs his Money shall also subserve mine and while he pleases himself with the Thoughts of conquering Europe I will indulge my self in such Conquests as are more agreeable to my Nature though at the same time I am resolved to give a check to his growing Greatness by clapping up a Peace with the Dutch and Danes and thus I shall revenge my self on him for dealing so dishonourably with me as to suffer it to be printed at Paris that my Design against Holland was for advancing Popery CHAP. XLII On the murmuring of the People at the Consumption of the Treasure His Majesty's granting leave to the Parliament's Commissioners to take the Publick Accounts His raising an Army of 30000 Men and disbanding them On the Parliament's being displeased with it The Sessions of Parliament in July October and February 1667. His Majesty's Speeches to them Proclamation against Papists Displacing of Chancellor Hide and League with the Dutch c. IT 's not without reason that the King of England is by Foreigners call'd Rex Diabolorum for my Subjects are truly head-strong and ill to govern What mutinous Murmurs do sound in my Ears daily and grievous Complaints of exhausting their Treasure when in the mean time the Nation is neither well govern'd at home nor secure against the disgraceful Insults of our Enemies abroad The Seeds of the old Rebellion begin to spring again so hard a Matter it is to cure this Nation of the Distemper However in Policy I am obliged to humour them a little and to please them will offer to give the Parliament an Account which way the Money that they gave me hath been spent I know that their Commissioners will scarcely be Proof against Gold so that I can easily take them off if they become too inquisitive This yielding a little will give me an Opportunity to renew my Blow with the greater Force And from their Complaints of the Nation 's not being secur'd against Foreign Insults I shall take the Opportunity to raise an Army in the Interval of Parliament but model them so as to render them fit for my Design if possible both of raising Money without Parliaments and advancing the Interest of the Church of Rome If I cannot have all the Officers avowed Papists I shall at least order it so that they be not Haters of the Church of Rome for none shall be promoted without Father Patrick's Approbation To encamp them near the City will be most commodious that so they may overawe both it and the Parliament But alas I find that my Design is perceiv'd and the Commons being met are resolv'd to defeat it My Aim was glorious indeed but my Success unanswerable so that Nature seems to have design'd me for the Conquest of Women but not of Men. A Prince who has not the Command of his Subjects Purses can never say that he has the Command of their Persons for I must comply with the Parliament because I want Money or otherwise I am sure they 'l give me none The Army that I rais'd must again be disbanded else they 'l never be satisfied nor have their Jealousies removed so that I find I must take another Method If the Catholicks grumble at the Slowness of my Progress they may remember that the Work in hand is Church-work I am resolv'd never to sacrifice my own Quiet to any Party or Profession of Religion but now that I have re-obtain'd my Throne will labour to keep it having already experienc'd the Misery of being reduc'd to Travel They may be also convinc'd from my Failure in this Attempt that I want not Will but Power to serve them and that to hurry on the Design by Force is the way to ruine both them and me It 's true that 's a very great Mortification to a Soveraign to receive a Check from those who ought to obey him but whatever it hath had upon others it shall have no great Influence upon me who am resolv'd to pursue Ease and Pleasure as my chief Good But the Parliament having taken the Alarm I must sweeten them by soft Speeches which with the Assistance of my Friends in the House will take off their Edg. I will tell them that they shall follow their own Methods in bringing those who have received the Publick Money to an account and that their Grievances shall be redressed I know that the disbanding of the Forces on their Desire the displacing of my Lord Chancellor Hide and dismissing of Papists from my Guards will be acceptable to them And to please them yet further I will publish a Proclamation against Papists and that none shall frequent the Popish Chappels of Somerset-house
their Territories as having no other way to save them from their Enemies That I may the better accomplish my Designs upon them I must take care if possible to divide them and for that end will publish a Declaration inviting such of them as are either well affected to me or weary of the Oppression which they groan under at home to come hither with their Effects and Ships to England where they shall enjoy the Privileges of my natural Subjects And as this will create a Jealousy amongst themselves and occasion a general and mutual Distrust so it will in some measure take off the bad Opinion which my Subjects may have conceiv'd of me for engaging in this War against their Protestant Neighbours And to prevent the Fanatical Murmurs which have a tendency that way I will issue a Proclamation forbidding all publick Discourse amongst the People on that Subject And to consummate their Ruine I 'll send over new Plenipotentiaries to the States under a pretence of concerting Measures to stop the Progress of the French Conquests but really to assure them in what they have got and to prevent their depriving me of my due share lest Lewis XIV treat me as Aesop's Lion treated his Fellow-Hunters who would be satisfied with no less Dividend than the whole By this Means I shall still bring some of the weaker sort to have a good Opinion of me and in the mean time shall have the Opportunity to attempt the bringing off of the Prince of Orange from the States by putting him in hopes of enjoying the Soveraignty while my Plenipotentiaries shall have Instructions to take care that my Interest be assured with the French King and then when both of us insist upon high Terms the Dutch must either submit or be undone Though Plots be well laid they don't always hold for the Dutch continue refractory let us do what we can I thought that my Interest and Authority might have prevail'd with my young Nephew the Prince of Orange especially when tempted with the Proffer of Soveraignty but I find he is Proof against all such Allurements the Blood of the Family of Nassau has got the Ascendant in him so that I am afraid there 's not a sufficient Alloy of mine I doubt that the Consequence will prove that my Mother's Present of her eldest Daughter instead of being serviceable to her Design will utterly ruine it for that Family seems to be destin'd for the Bane of unlimited Prerogative and they have for a long time been the invincible Champions of the Northern Heresy I do also foresee an impending Storm from the House of Austria upon me and France as if the Fates had resolv'd to turn the World upside down and make that Family which did propagate the Catholick Religion with so much Zeal a Bulwark now for the Defence of Heresy It 's strange that the Emperor after he had intimation that the Design of this War was to root out Heresy from the Western World should yet oppose me and my Brother of France but let the greatest of the Bigots pretend what they will I find that their Interest is their chief Religion and that confirms me in the Opinion that the whole of Religion is a Cheat. However I resolve to go on with my Proposals and back my Brother the French King in his Demands of a full Liberty to the Roman Catholicks not only to profess their Religion openly but also to enjoy the Publick Churches And that this may be the better effected I must stand by him till he have the best of the Towns which he hath taken from the Dutch ascertained to him and a yearly Gratuity the Payment of which may reduce them to Poverty For my own part I resolve to insist upon having the Flag and that they shall strike to me on their own Coasts that so I may assure my self of the Dominion of the Seas and some of their best Towns I will demand for Security that they shall faithfully perform their Contracts with me to pay me a Million for by-past Damages and 10000 l. per annum for their fishing on my Coasts By this Means I doubt not but a fatal Blow may be given to those Heretical Republicans and the Family of Orange quite destroy'd to the great Satisfaction of all good Catholicks to whom they have been irreconcileable Enemies and I can easily wipe off the Odium by charging the Prince with Ingratitude for the Royal Favours bestowed on him by my Family But I find that the stubborn Dutch are neither to be frightned nor flattered now that they have declared the Prince of Orange their Stadtholder Nor could they give a greater Instance of their bidding Defiance to France than by massacring the De Witts who were thought to be its Pensioners There 's no doubt but that they will look upon themselves as betrayed by me when I sent over Plenipotentiaries on pretence to favour them and that yet I should enter into a new Alliance with France against them and they will exclaim against my Unkindness to my Kinsman the Prince of Orange but they may remember that the French Massacre was carried on under pretence of an Alliance with the head of the Protestants and that it can be no Crime for so near Descendants of the Royal Family of France as I and my Mother to follow so great an Example of our Predecessors The matching of my Sister with the Family of Orange was design'd as a Kindness to our selves and not to them So that if they do not answer our Design on their part it 's but reasonable that there should be a Breach on ours And seeing the Dutch by their Example and Incouragement bid defiance to my Arms in so contemptuous a manner it 's but reasonable that I should chastise them for their Insolence and not sit down patiently under such a Diminution of my Glory and I doubt not but my Brother of France and I shall find Means to stir up the Bishops of Cologne and Munster who are Neighbours to the Dutch and consequently the greatest Haters of them both because of their Form of Government and Heresy to take part with us against the House of Austria And to prevent the Protestants Belief that the chief Design is against their Religion we shall influence the Duke of Hanover by our Gold to join with us and he being a Protestant it will make our Design the less perceptible CHAP. XLVII On his Majesty's suffering the Parliament to meet Novemb. 1673. His Speech to them concerning the Indulgence and the Dispensing Power and the Necessity of raising more Forces for carrying on the Dutch War Several unsuccessful Fights with the Hollanders The Letter from the Dutch to influence the Parliament who addressed against the Match betwixt the Duke of York and Dutchess of Modena The Prorogation which ensued thereupon A Proclamation against Papists and the Consummation of the Marriage HOW uncomfortable is it for a Monarch to be limited and not to have
of Shaftsbury with others of the Country Lords have got so much Influence on the Humours of the Nation that my Project I fear will certainly fail Their Arguments for preserving the Rights of the Lords as an essential Part of the Government and a necessary Check on aspiring Monarchs are so popular and taking that they charm the Vulgar who are made to believe that the Upper House is their chief Security for the peaceable Enjoyment of their Rights and Properties which may be otherwise destroyed by partial Judges who depend on the Court for their Honours and Preferments and are consequently influenc'd by them in their Sentences However I am obliged to the good Will of the Bishops who do herein behave themselves like true and loyal Subjects and advise the Lords to quit their Pretensions though thereby they lay themselves open to Lashes as concurring to destroy that Government the Preservation of which for ever without any endeavour of Alteration they did so much press to have the People sworn to but herein they act conformable to their great Principle that Monarchy and the Lineal Succession is of Divine Right and not being the Creature of Man's Constitution ought not to be subject to humane Limitation but to God alone from whom it has its Being The Lords however are deaf to all Insinuations either from the Danger of a Rupture with the Commons or me at this Juncture which puts me under a Necessity of proroguing the Parliament and rather to hazard the Loss of the Test than the Quiet of my Government for I find that Kings have always been Losers whenever they came to a War with their Barons and People and I am not without Reason to think that this Debate betwixt the two Houses is rather fomented to obstruct the Test than out of any Kindness to my Prerogative which is sufficiently evident from the inconsiderable Subsidy which the Commons have voted me CHAP. LV. On the Meeting of the Parliament after the Prorogation His Majesty's Demand of Money to build Ships The Commons insisting upon the Bill for a Habeas Corpus Against sending Men Prisoners beyond Sea Raising Money without Consent of Parliament Against Papists sitting in either House For the speedier convicting of Papists and recalling his Majesty's Subjects from the French Service and the Duke of Buckingham's Speech for Indulgence to Dissenters HAving during this Interval of Parliament taken sufficient Care to insinuate the Danger of open Rebellion such as that in 1641. if the Parliament persist in their late Methods and to make all those who refuse such Sums as I think best to desire odious to the Church as Presbyterians I thought fit to let them meet again to try whether this Method had had any Influence on them or if the last Prorogation had any way cool'd them But though the Money which I desired was to strengthen my Fleet for the Honour of the Nation which I concluded that they would the more easily grant because in the former Session they complain'd that the French were grown stronger than us at Sea yet still I meet with a Repulse and instead of Money am answered with Complaints and Libels against my Administration By withholding of Money they make me unable to give Rewards and now they are about depriving me of the Power of inflicting Punishments By their Bill of Habeas Corpus they would deliver Criminals from the Irksomness of long Imprisonments at home and yet will not agree that they should be sent Prisoners abroad They are moreover so stubborn as to deny me Money for support of the Monarchy and yet will not suffer me to raise any without their Consent Now their Fears of Popery and Slavery come upon them afresh which with redoubled Clamours they send abroad into the Country to inspire the Mob with their own Sentiments and fill the Nation with endless Jealousies Hence come their Bills for disabling Papists from sitting in either House by which they would rob me of the Assistance of my best Friends Nor are they content to stay there but they are also for having them speedily convicted and punish'd according to their sanguinary Laws which in my time shall never be granted Nor do their Designs rest here but as they will not allow me an Army at home they are now for my calling back such as I have abroad being afraid that they should learn too much of the French Methods of an undisputed Submission to the Dictates of their Prince All those disloyal Practices are fomented by Dissenters and others who are of Antimonarchical Principles for which in time I hope for a Revenge and at present am resolved to give them a Diversion by reviving the Quarrel betwixt them and the Lords and while they are hot in the Contest about their own Principles they will remit their Violence against the Papists and forget the Kindness which they intended to Dissenters for I have always observed this in their Temper that when they were kind to the one they were severe to the other and when any Man is disgusted with that which they call Tyranny in the State and Concurrence with it in the Church they strait have an Inclination to favour the Phanaticks and Republicans How could it have happened else that the Duke of Buckingham whose Father was a Sacrifice to the Resentments of the Faction should now make Harangues for an Indulgence to Dissenters So that I plainly perceive that all the Enemies to the Glory of my Crown do nestle themselves amongst that rebellious Herd Yet herein at least I shall reap an Advantage that the Church will more cordially espouse my Quarrel and oppose such Causes as are favoured by their Enemies whose Bodies in due time I shall bequeath to the Gallows whilst the Clergy pretend to send their Souls to Hell CHAP. LVI On the Motion for an Address by the House of Lords for dissolving the Parliament The Address's being cast out by the Majority and the Protestation of the Country Lords thereupon HOW unhappy is it for a Monarch to be tied up to the Humours of his People and thus it must be so long as Parliaments have any share in the Government and till the Prince be made Absolute by the Power of the Sword I thought to have rendred my Parliaments insignificant and altogether useless to the Ends for which they are chose and by continuing this Parliament so long had well nigh effected my Design having brib'd most of them to change their Interest and taken such Methods as to make not a few of them change their Religion so that instead of acting according to their Original Commission from the Country they were wholly led by the Dictates of the Court but now an evil Spirit of Contention having seiz'd upon the Lords they begin to controul me as Consiliarii nati and those whose Interest it is to keep the Government steady and therefore move to have this Parliament dissolv'd because they can no more be called the Representatives of
Enjoyment of Heaven it self And by the sacrificing of Coleman I shall gain this Point that the Vulgar will think I prosecute the Plot in good earnest whereas at the same time I punish him for his too great Freedom of Speech and prevent his using the like for time to come Nor can the Papists themselves blame me for it when they consider how much I am expos'd in his Letters which discover my Intrigues with France and Rome and that he was so much a Fool as to have Copies of them by him CHAP. LXVIII On the Bill for excluding Papists from both Houses of Parliament with a Clause excepting the Duke of York The Dissolution of the Parliament as prosecuting the Popish Plot. The calling of another and ordering the Duke of York to withdraw out of the Kingdom before they met His Majesty's Speech to them and Declaration confessing his Error in governing by Cabals His dissolving of his Privy-Council and chusing another whence the popular Members did quickly desire to be discharged MY Pensions and Favours have been ill bestowed since they are useless to me now in my greatest Strait The Current of the House runs so strong upon the Plot that I must find out some Method to stem the Tide They are now so bold as to strike at my Brother which is as much as if they should bid me to look to my self I have gain'd one Point by the Assistance of the Bishops and Court-Lords that though the Bill to prevent Catholicks from sitting in Parliament was principally levelled against him yet I have got a Clause added to except him and though it 's true that this is a declaring him a Papist to the World yet the Reasons for my doing so out-weigh the Inconveniences for now the Catholicks will be the less pressing upon me to declare my self of their Party when besides the Stratagem which I formerly used to make my Brother declare himself by threatning that I would sue for a Divorce and marry another Wise by whom I might have Children I have now got his Religion declar'd in Parliament But because this will rather alarm than appease the Nation I don't find it convenient to continue this Parliament any longer lest they should at last become head-strong and ungovernable And rather than be control'd by them to whom I have given so much Money to so little purpose I had rather have my Designs check'd by another for I have but small Hopes of having a better But this Advantage I shall reap from the Dissolution that it will stop the farther Enquiry into the Popish Plot for a time and give my Friends the Catholicks a Breathing by which they may recover from their Consternation and take such Measures as are best for their Interest At the same time I shall have some liberty to enjoy my Pleasures for that 's the way whither the Biass of my Soul inclines and without dissolving this factious Divan I could neither have so well provided for my Brother's Safety nor the Desires of those charming Beauties in whose Caresses I place my chief Happiness for I had rather repose my Head in Venus's Lap than be strutting in the Field with Mars's Helmet The Dissolution of the Parliament at such a Juncture I know will render me liable to abundance of Censures and amongst others that I have done it to stifle the Discovery of the Plot I must therefore take such Measures as will serve me for a Shield against this Accusation which together with the calling of a new Parliament may be an Argument for me in the Mouth of my Friends Nor can I think of a better Expedient than by ordering my Brother to leave the Kingdom for a time but with all Assurances imaginable of my inviolable Friendship And this with the suffering of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's Murderers to be brought to Trial will at least blind the Eyes of the unthinking sort and make my Pretences of having dissolved the Parliament on the account of their frequent Entrenchments upon my Prerogative the more credible The new Parliament being met I laid before them my Designs to unite the Minds of my Subjects that in order thereunto I had excluded the Popish Lords from the Parliament executed several of the Plotters and Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's Murderers that I had moreover disbanded as much of the Army as I had Money to do it with and will disband the rest when they enable me that to take away all Subject of Cavil I had discharged my Brother from my Dominions and that I was ready to join with them in any good Laws against Popery and to drive the nail home did plainly confess my having been formerly misled by Cabals and declare my Resolution of governing henceforth by the Advice of my Parliaments and Privy-Council and to please them further did choose such Persons for Members of the latter as were known to be Zealots both for their Liberties and Religion By this Method I quieted the Ferment in which the Generality of People were and sav'd my self from a sudden and tumultuary Revolution and at the same time my Friends the Catholicks had leisure to provide for themselves and my Brother withdrew from the impending Storm with Safety But this I perceive was not durable for the popular Privy-Counsellors finding that I only made use of them for the Credit of my Affairs did quickly grow weary and desire to be dismissed and now my new House of Commons insisting on the same Courses which the former had taken go on to impeach the Popish Lords in the Tower and have voted a Bill to disable my Brother from inheriting the Imperial Crown of this Realm and to make this go down the more smoothly with the People they assign as the Cause of their Vote that the Hopes of his Succession hath been the chief Cause of this Conspiracy for the Destruction of my self and altering the Government By this Means they would possess the Kingdom with Fears of unavoidable Ruine to their Liberties and Religion if the Duke be not excluded from succeeding to the Crown and endeavour also to insinuate their Loyalty in taking care for my Preservation but I have no great mind to trust to their Friendship their Predecessors in 1641. were as ample in their Protestations of Loyalty as they and yet took up Arms by my Father's Authority against his Person and never made any stay till they cut off his Head I know my self to be much more criminal in their Sense than ever he was and that my Concurrence in the Popish Plot can be demonstrated with much more Ease than ever could his Commission to the Irish Rebels And I have no reason to doubt but they will think that a Concurrence with the Papists to cut off the English Protestants is a Crime of as heinous a Nature as that of destroying the Irish Protestants and will certainly decree it as severe a Punishment and therefore I cannot be blamed if for my own Preservation I study how
considerable though not successful for had the Plot but taken and those seditious Libels been found upon the Persons to whom they were intended by the Penny-post it would have afforded a plausible Pretext for charging them with a Plot and then I could have rid my self of so many dangerous Enemies by colour of Law The Commons are sensible enough of the Importance of the Design and therefore have impeach'd Fitz-Harris in order to have a full Discovery who set him at work which to be sure they would take care to publish through the Kingdom but by my Interest in the House of Lords I have got that Impeachment rejected and the Heat of the Commons in this together with the Posture which the London-Members came in to the Parliament at Oxford will furnish Pretence enough for dissolving them it being altogether intolerable that Subjects should put such mutinous Affronts upon their Prince as to distinguish themselves by Badges in their Hats with printed Motto's upon them to insinuate as if I had a Design to introduce Popery and Slavery So that I doubt not but to make a good Improvement of this extraordinary Heat discovered by the Citizens and can easily make it a sufficient Ground-work to build a Plot on that shall not be so apt to tumble down about the Ears of the Workmen as those which have hitherto been attempted for here 's Overt-act plain enough It 's not to be supposed that the Citizens and their Members did come in this posture without previous Consultation nor can it be thought that those Lords and Commons who have so frequently complain'd of my Administration publickly and are so much incens'd now at my opposing their Design of excluding my Brother should never have talk'd about those Affairs in private Cabals and propose Expedients to deliver themselves from that which they call Popery and Slavery the two things of which they are so much afraid And if I can but prove any such Consults or Conferences as I need not despair of effecting it by some false Brethren of their own let them extenuate the matter as much as they please by alledging that it was no more than what was talk'd in Parliament and agreeable to the Association propos'd by the Commons according to the Pattern of that signed in Queen Elizabeth's time upon the account of Jealousies of the same Nature I say let them make those and a hundred more such Apologies if I can fasten it upon them I shall prove it a Plot and punish them accordingly for it And if I succeed in this as I have no great reason to doubt but I shall seeing the Judges are made to my purpose it will not only justify all the Measures which I have taken hitherto but also such Severities as I may have occasion to put in practice in time to come for if once I get a Protestant Plot to be believed and fix'd upon those Lords and Commons who have always been most averse to my Designs and made the greatest Clamour against the Court then all that they have from time to time alledged of my Purposes to introduce Popery and Slavery will be look'd upon as the effect of Envy and a mere Contrivance for the better carrying on of their Designs to overturn the Government in Church and State And if once I get but some of them convicted by colour of Justice then I may charge the Design upon the whole Party with Confidence and I am sure to be seconded by the Pulpit and the Bench whose Arguments against the Phanatical Plotters will have so much the more Weight that the Parliament by their Influence would proceed to thwart me in the matter of the Succession which is unalterable by Divine Right notwithstanding of the fair Proffers which I made to them in my Speech of concurring with the Trial of the Lords in the Tower and hearkning to any Expedients by which the Protestant Religion might be preserved and the Monarchy not destroyed And seeing the Fathers of their own Church do own their Loyalty to be an essential Part of their Religion and Monarchy to be of Divine Right and that rather than break the Chain of Succession they are content to have a Popish King which the other Party think so dangerous to their Religion I may very well be excus'd to value the Monarchy and Succession at least as much as they and I am sure that I can't well value it higher seeing it's apparent that they prefer it to their Religion as probably thinking that to be the more disputable Point of the two And if it be so as I have very great Reason to believe it is I am the more confirm'd in my Scepticism as to all Religion for that Monarchy is not thought to be the only Form of Government by Divine Institution is apparent enough because there are so many Republicks both Protestant and Popish which are all of them defended as lawful Governments by the greatest Doctors of both Churches But seeing the Popish Clergy value their Religion above all sorts of Government or Governours as appears by their exauctorating Kings and defending their Murder or Dethronement when they fall off to Heresy I have reason to conclude that they are the more serious of the two and with the other Arguments which they urge as the Antiquity Universality and Infallibility of their Church this is to me a strong Presumption that their Religion is the truest of the two seeing it has evidently more Influence upon its Followers of which it has also the greatest Number and amongst those a great many Men of undeniable Learning and Parts CHAP. LXXV On his Majesty's Declaration that the Duke of Monmouth was not lawfully begotten HEre I find a mighty Struggle of Nature against declaring my Son illegitimate but seeing I have got over those things which foolish Bigots reckon Divine why should I stand upon that which is merely humane It 's known to the World that I have violated those Oaths which I made to God then why should I scruple to deny that I was ever under a Matrimonial Vow to any Woman but Queen Catharine I had rather be esteem'd wicked than weak and have it said that I was unchaste than foolish as every one will conclude me to have been in doing as much as in me lay to sacrifice the Interest of my Crown to an impotent Passion for a handsom Woman and that for the Satisfaction of my present Desires I should have hazarded a Deprivation of all my future Dignities by contracting such a mean Alliance as would not have excited the Compassion but expos'd me to the Contempt of other Sovereign Princes It 's true my Brother James may for one reason justly condemn me in his Heart because I would not let him disown his Match upon the Foresight of my Restoration though in strictness he has no Reason seeing our Circumstances do so much differ His Father-in-law would have resented such an Injury to the utter Disappointment of my
by tricking some silly Fifth-Monarchy-men into a Plot yet if I give it only a little finer turn and alledg that it 's the Vengeance of Heaven upon this City for their being so instrumental in the late Ruine both of Church and State and not preventing my Father's Murder the Pretext will be plausible and taking with the Church for their great Patrons such as Heylin and others have oftentimes declared their Dislike of the Bulk and Populousness of the City and hate it because inclinable to the Puritanical Side so that these things being prudently insisted upon and the Clergy's Dislike of the City encouraged its Desolation and Ruines will be the less regarded and the Odium wear off from the Papists by degrees though at the same time they have wisely destroyed that which was look'd upon as the great Bulwark of the Protestant Religion And I have also reason to be very well satisfied that hereby they have exhausted the great Treasure of Rebellion But the main Danger is lest the Committee of Parliament appointed to dive into the Causes of the Fire should trace it as far as St. James's and Whitehall and then it will lie upon me and my Brother but if this should be the case I know of a Remedy viz. to call it a Forgery of the Dissenters to bring a Calumny upon the Royal Family and the Church of England who are their Adherents then to be sure though the Matter be as clear as Sunshine the Bishops and their Clergy who know they must stand and fall with me will maintain my Credit for their own Interest lest they should be utterly overthrown as in my Father's time And the better to cover my Design I must renew all my former Protestations of Zeal for the Protestant Religion and advise the Citizens in the first place to rebuild their Churches where they may worship God and mourn for their Sins which have brought on such desolating Judgments and this together with contributing something towards the Re-edification of the City and bewailing their Losses on all publick Occasions will conciliate their Respect and beget a good Opinion of me which will be sufficient to obviate all the Misrepresentations which the greatest of my Enemies can make of me and thus shall the Protestant Interest languish as by a Consumption in the Vitals while I smite it secretly under the fifth Rib. I know that the censorious Phanaticks will say that this Fire was carried on by the same Hand that manages the War against the Dutch and that the City is justly punish'd thereby for not opposing but rather concurring with me and that I have repaid them as I have done all my other Friends the Dutch the Spaniards and the English and Scots Presbyterians so that for their assisting me with their Treasure to carry on the War against the Dutch I and my Party have consumed their Substance But having taken care to have that Faction look'd upon as my Enemies whatever they say against me will be reckoned Spite and therefore though it be true it won't be much credited And for any Improvement which the Dutch may make of it as that I am punish'd by Fire in my own Capital City for endeavouring to bring Fire and Sword upon them I can easily hear them and laugh at their Folly for ascribing that to Providence which is my own Action and looking upon that as my Punishment which I esteem my Advantage and so far from being their Gain that it is their irreparable Loss for the Puritanical Citizens were their true Friends It 's indeed no small Cause of Triumph to the Roman Catholicks that instead of the Fall of Babylon as the Hereticks call Rome which they expected in 1666. the greatest City of the Reformation should lie in Ashes with 89 of their Churches which were polluted with Heresy 13200 of their Houses 150000 l's Worth of their Books and in the whole to the Value of betwixt nine and ten Millions of their Goods so that for once the Catholicks have put the Writ de Haeretico comburendo very effectually in execution upon their Houses the Fire or Plague of God having not long before consum'd above a Million of their Persons And if there be any such thing as a Deity the Catholicks might very well say now as in their Letter to my Lord Mounteagle which discovered the Powder-plot in my Grandfather's time that God and Man had agreed to punish this Heretical Generation CHAP. XLI On the Parliament's meeting at Westminster after the Fire His Majesty's Demand of more Money Their Address against Papists His Majesty's Proclamation on that Head The Prosecution of Protestant Dissenters Declaration of War against Denmark The Insurrection in Scotland in 1666. The burning of his Majesty's Ships at Chattam by the Dutch c. THough the Catholicks have not been able to blow up the Houses of Parliament with all the Lords and Commons yet they have consum'd the City which was both the Fountain of the Hereticks Treasure and Strength And to disable the Party further I have conveen'd the Parliament who I doubt not will dive to the bottom of their Purses and supply me with Money to ruine their Brethren the Heretical Dutch Though the Parliament hath been liberal enough in parting with their Money yet I find they are alarm'd at the Increase and Growth of Popery and accordingly have importun'd me with an Address It is not time for me yet to pull off my Vizard and therefore I must grant a Proclamation to please them but the Priests and Jesuits shall still have Protection as Attendants belonging to my Consort the Queen Their Brethren the Dissenters shall pay for this Animosity of theirs against the Papists and I will take care that the Laws shall be put in execution against them Let them remind me of my Declaration from Breda promising Ease to tender Consciences as much as they please I am at liberty to change my Measures according to my Interest The Presbyterians of Scotland have been condignly punish'd by Fines Free-quarter and Military Execution which hath happily procur'd an Insurrection according to my Desire So that now the greatest of my Rigour will be justified and when they pretend to be Sufferes for Religion I can accuse them of Rebellion This furnishes me with a justifiable Pretence to cut off some of their Ringleaders at present and endeavour the Extirpation of the rest by degrees And this I am sure to have approved by the Church of England because the Presbyterians obliged themselves to the Extirpation of Prelacy by their Covenant This will also serve to heighten the Resentments of the Episcopal Party against the Dutch when I represent how the Phanaticks act in concert with them and do manifestly favour their Designs by beginning an intestine War when I am engaged with them abroad Whence they will easily be perswaded of the necessity of complying with my Measures against both especially when I insinuate the Danger that there is to the Church
the Purles of his Subjects at command for him to be obliged to use Intreaties to his People who ought to receive his Dictates without Controul But Necessity has no Law the Constitution of this Government being such that English Kings are but a sort of Royal Beggars I must try if my Parliament will let me have Money now that I am disappointed as to my Hopes of seizing the Dutch Smyrna and Spanish Plate Fleets and that my Supplies from France come but slowly in I know that they are jealous of their Privileges have an envious Eye at my Prerogative and are particularly startled at the Dispensing Power therefore I must sweeten them by my Speech and indeavour to possess them with an Opinion that my Design therein was only to secure my self from Tumults and Insurrections at home while I was engaged in a War abroad which cannot be thought an unreasonable Fear by any thinking Man considering the Troubles which the Puritanical Party gave to my Father And as to their Objection that more Favour has been shewn to Papists than Dissenters I can easily answer it that the latter are abundantly more Loyal than the former and have been fast Friends both to my Father and my self and yet they were only allowed their Worship in private whereas the other Party had theirs in publick but as for dispensing with the Executive Part of the Law I am resolv'd to hold it as long as I can Their Fears that I shall make use of the Forces which I raise to subvert their Liberty and Property I must endeavour to dispel by fair Promises and the Interest of my Clergy and Pensioners and at the same time possess them with a Necessity of my raising more Forces for the Honour and Defence of the Nation that we may not be insulted over by the ungrateful Dutch whom my Predecessor Queen Elizabeth did raise from the Dust I have cull'd out the Earl of Shaftsbury for Lord Chancellor who may do me very great Service because a Popular Man so that I shall make use of his Influence and Eloquence both to palliate my having shut up the Exchequer and to demonstrate the Necessity of a War with the Dutch and at the same time of granting an Indulgence to the Papists I perceive that the bad Influences of my Stars are not yet exhausted for though I lay my Designs with all imaginable Policy they do often miscarry Who would have thought that so many fair Promises back'd with the Earl of Shaftsbury's Eloquence and the Interest and Influence of my Pensioners should have miscarried in Parliament and yet to my great Regret I do find that it has so that nothing will serve but a renouncing of my Dispensing Power and fresh Assurances that never any thing of that Nature shall be attempted again which rather than want Money I am resolv'd to comply with for if I could but once get a Standing Army on foot I should soon be able to retrieve it And in the mean time I shall take care to have all this Clamour against the Dispensing Power and Standing Army imputed to the Jealousies and envious Surmises of the Phanaticks and Republicans And from this Obligation laid upon me to recal my Act of Indulgence I shall at least reap this Advantage that it will heighten the Animosities betwixt the Dissenters and Church-men for I can easily bring it about to have the Refusal of it wholly imputed to the latter And though I have no reason to be well satisfy'd at the Check which is hereby put upon my Prerogative yet it hath thus much of a Cordial in it that I perceive the Episcopal Party wholly irreconcileable to the Presbyterians which at some time or other will very much forward my grand Design and at present it has had so much Influence as to procure me a considerable Sum though to avoid the Reproaches of the Phanatical Party the Parliament won't own that it is for carrying on the War against the Dutch but to supply my extraordinary Occasions If it were not that I question the Being of a Deity I should be apt to conclude that God fights for the Hollanders who have obtain'd some fresh Advantages against me at Sea and though they labour under the greatest of Pressures that can be they do also make good their Cause against the Power of France by Land And those pernicious Hereticks being sensible of the Apprehensions which my Parliament have that the Consequences of this War may be fatal to the Protestant Interest they have taken the most effectual Method that can be to possess that Heretical Divan that the French King and my self aim at nothing less than the Subversion of their Religion and the Liberties of their State with that of the Spanish Netherlands Nor have I any other way to save my self from the Influences of this Accusation than by insisting on the necessity of destroying those States to preserve our own Trade and to prevent the Incouragement which they give to those who are Enemies to the establish'd Discipline of our Church There is but too much Truth in the common Proverb That after one Mischief comes another for so I find it by sad Experience Though the Dutch and the Phanatical Party be both of them hated by the Church of England yet they have Influence enough to foment Jealousies in the Parliament that their Religion and Liberty are both in danger And hence comes the Address of the Commons against my Brother's Match with the Dutchess of Modena because a Catholick Princess and proposed by the French King 'T is true that this may indeed seem inconsistent with my reiterated Protestations of taking all imaginable Care to secure the Protestant Religion and the Peoples Liberties but amongst so many Concessions I may certainly venture on one Dram of Prerogative and tell them that the Marriage is concluded by my Authority that in Honour I cannot be worse than my Word and if this will not satisfy them I 'll cool them by a Prorogation What ill Fate is this that attends all my Measures I did reasonably hope that this Prorogation would have diverted the Commons from insisting on their Address against my Brother's Match but it seems that the Jealousy which they have conceiv'd has taken deeper Root than to be pull'd up so soon and therefore I find my self under a necessity to prorogue them again seeing they press me so hard to dissolve the Match because hitherto only concluded by Proxy They are become very sagacious and discern that this Marriage will engage me in new Alliances which may be dangerous to the Protestant Religion and that the Princess having so many Relations in the Court of Rome the Secrets of my Court must needs be open to them and therefore they are about to render Catholicks uncapable of sitting in either House of Parliament but this is too much for me to concede and if granted would ruine my Design intirely and therefore I must find out some Method to
turn as strongly upon the Phanaticks and Republicans as it does now against the Catholicks and Courtiers especially when back'd by my Authority and made the Path-way to Preferment in Church and State for I shall henceforth take care that none be advanc'd in either but such as are willing to concur with my Designs For the carrying on of which it is necessary that some acute Pens be set at work to defend my Proceedings and draw such Vails over them as cannot be seen through by ordinary Observers It is also necessary for that end that I imploy some fit Persons to negotiate a Peace betwixt France and Holland which as it will be a plausible Argument of my Aversion to have that Protestant State destroyed it will give the French King an Opportunity to concert his Measures at leisure render his Protestants less useful to him at home and the easier to be destroyed and enable him to assist me in advancing my Prerogative for which end he shall have 10000 of my Subjects in his Service who after they have acquired Experience and Reputation in his Wars will be useful to me for training up others and be ready at hand to quell my rebellious Subjects in case of intestine Troubles The old Cavaliers may be now very useful to me and whereas they have hitherto complain'd of being neglected I will incite them by hopes of having their old Services rewarded to publish their former Sufferings afresh and declare that the Parliament is taking the same Methods which did formerly ruine the Church and the State by which Means I shall bring their Procedure to be hated and animate the Royalists and zealous Church-men against them CHAP. LIII On the Meeting of the Parliament again April 1675. Their falling upon Bills for the Benefit of the Nation and being diverted by the sudden bringing in of a Têst into the House of Lords to be imposed upon all in Places of Power or Trust Civil Military or Ecclesiastical obliging them to declare their Abhorrence of taking up Arms against the King or any commissionated by him and to swear that they would not at any time endeavour the Alteration of the Government either in Church or State THE Want of Money obliges me to let the Parliament sit after so long a Prorogation but to my great Grief I perceive that the Vitals and noble Parts of the Nation are in danger by this Contagion of rebellious Principles which hath rag'd so long amongst them Insomuch that whereas it might have been justly expected that this long Prorogation should have cool'd them they fall upon the old Theme of Bills for the Advantage of the Nation but I am resolv'd to give them a Diversion by the Cavalier and High Church-man whom I have inspir'd with a Desire of Revenge for old Injuries and put them in hopes of better Success than formerly if they should have occasion of fighting the old Quarrel over again seeing now they are possessed of the Arms Forts and Ammunition of the Nation and are sure of one to head them who will never be guilty of such a precipitant Action as to leave their Enemies in possession of London divest himself of the Power of the Militia or lodg his Power in the Hands of the Parliament So that the Church and I shall mutually gratify one another and maintain both Monarchy and Episcopacy to be of Divine Right and not to be bounded by humane Laws We have made considerable Steps towards this already the Act for regulating Corporations hath excluded all Men of different Principles from the Magistracy the Act of Uniformity hath shut them out from the Ministry and the Act of the Militia hath left them no Place in the Army So that it only remains for laying on the Top-stone of the whole Fabrick that we get this Test to be universally imposed and then we take away all Opportunity from the Parliament to alter any thing in Church or State and confine them to their proper Work of raising Money The Bishops who have their Dependance upon me must be taught to instruct their inferiour Clergy to make use of their Learning to justify and not to examine what their Superiours command And seeing this Oath secures their beloved Government and Discipline to Perpetuity they can neither in Gratitude nor Interest decline their Concurrence to promote the same in favour of the Crown which with so much Zeal they desire for the Mitre If this can be obtain'd the Act of Oblivion will be made void and then we can take a sweet Revenge on the Phanaticks and Republicans The better to make it pass we must endeavour to possess the Parliament that it 's a necessary and moderate Security for the Church and Crown and will be the most effectual Preservative that can be thought on against such Rebellions as that of 41. The Necessity of it may easily be instructed from the Swarms of Phanaticks and Men of dangerous Principles which abound in the Nation And all who refuse to give this moderate Security shall be look'd on as tainted with this rebellious Leaven But I find that I must still lay my Account to meet with Opposition for those Lords who value themselves as being Patriots to their Country but in reality a factious Cabal oppose this Bill with Vigour as incroaching on the Birth-right of the Peers striking at the Root of the Government taking away Freedom of Debate from the Houses of Parliament which have part of the Legislative Power obliging them to abjure all Endeavours to alter the Government of the Church whatever the Necessities of the State or Christian Compassion to Dissenters may require and therefore they have protested against it but however I have this Satisfaction that it is carried against them and committed And my Lords the Bishops have behav'd themselves bravely in it by endeavouring not only to have those Protesting Lords personally punished but the Liberty of exhibiting Reasons with their Protestations abolished because of their pretending a Christian Compassion to Dissenters Nor did they shew themselves less my Friends in rejecting the Proviso's offer'd by the Protesting Lords to secure the Freedom of Debate to Members of Parliament and prevent Dangers from Popish Recusants And though they could not answer yet they could out-vote the Arguments brought against Assertory Oaths in point of Doctrine and Promissory Oaths though held unlawful by Grotius and generally ineffectual to keep ill Men out of the Government though they may exclude some conscientious Persons And as the Bishops cannot justify this their Procedure without an assurance of Infallibility which they do not pretend to it shews that they do not believe the Religion which they profess and teach And seeing I perceive this to be common among Priests of all Religions it cannot but justify me though I should openly profess my self to be of none I perceive the Country Lords have found out my Design to swear them not to oppose an Arbitrary Government by binding them up not
the Country seeing they have their Dependance wholly upon the Court and don't vote according to the Mind of those that chose them So that they are in the same Design with my self to swallow up the Peoples Liberties provided they may have some Court-Preferments The Lords do also insist upon the frequent Calling of new Parliaments which they alledg from the Records to have been their ancient Privilege and plead the Prescriptions of many hundreds of Years What pity that all those Monuments of Rebellion should not have perish'd in the great Conflagration that they might never have risen up in Judgment against me but seeing they are extant and so violently urg'd I 'll do the best I can to divert their Force I can insinuate to the Commons that these Proceedings of the Lords are not the Effect of any Zeal for the People but merely a Desire of Revenge upon the Lower House for their late controverting of their Privileges and an Aversion that any Commoner by his Service to the Crown should merit an Advancement to a Dignity equal with their own By these and such other Arguments as I can suggest I doubt not to have the present House of Commons on my side And suppose it true that they are not the real Representatives of the Nation as having forfeited that Title by going contrary to the Peoples Interest and Instructions yet the very Name of their Concurrence adds Credit to my Conduct and I doubt not but abundance of the Members who have found the Sweets of the Privilege of the House which protects them from their Creditors and many times confirms their Titles to Estates by Prescription because while they are Parliament-men they are secured in the Possession I say I have no reason to doubt but such Men will be against a Dissolution It was a wise and commendable Practice in my Predecessor Henry the VIIIth to make Parliaments long-liv'd for by that means he had the Opportunity of making them for his purpose and left a happy Precedent for his Successors Let the Murmurers grumble as much as they please and object the Custom of holding Parliaments thrice a Year before the Conquest and the Act of Edward III. that Parliaments should be holden once a Year or oftner I am not tied to those antiquated Rules If those Kings did not know the Extent of their own Prerogative I am not therefore obliged to allow any Intrenchments on mine But since Henry the VIIIth could protract the Duration of a Parliament beyond its former Length and the Customs of his Predecessors I may certainly be allowed to exceed the Examples of my Predecessors since his time especially having the Clergy on my side who have preach'd up the Prerogative higher than ever it was in former times and will defend my Practice by the Authority of their Gods But I am not to be so easily drawn from what 's my Interest by the Allegations or Addresses of some factious Lords for it 's my Wisdom to foment the Misunderstanding betwixt them and the Commons as much as I can and if I could but once bring them to have a mutual Distrust of one another and possess the Commons with an ill Opinion of the Arrogance of the Lords and their incroaching too much upon the Privilege of the Members who knows but it might procure such a Surrender to me as that which was lately made to the King of Denmark by his People who could not bear with the Contempt shewed to them by their Nobles and therefore did all of a sudden devolve the whole Power upon the King and render him Absolute Or if no such thing should happen yet by making the House for my purpose I can with the more Ease attain my Desires and if once the Commons were brought to comply the Popish Lords Court-Lords and Bishops will easily cast the Vote in the Upper House But let things go as they will I am sure of this one infallible Method I can possess the Clergy by means of the Bishops that if this Parliament be dissolv'd the Mitre and Crown are both in danger and then all those who are Enemies to my Designs shall be threatned with Hell and Damnation as opposing themselves to God's Ordinance to which they ought to be subject for Conscience-sake And on the other hand I am very sure that those Gentlemen of the House of Commons who have spent some hundreds and thousands of Pounds for the Advantages which they had a Prospect of enjoying by being Parliament-men will never submit willingly to a Dissolution nor be content to put themselves to the hazard of a new Choice And I am sure of my Pensioners for their Usefulness to themselves and me both ceases with their not being Parliament-men for as in that case they cannot do me any Service so neither can they tell where to have Subsistence I have had the good Fortune to put a Check upon those factious Lords and to throw out their Address by the Majority of Votes in which the Bishops were all on my side so happily are the Interests of the Church and Crown united Hence I find the Advantage of dissembling a Zeal for Religion though in my Heart I believe the whole to be a Cheat for my professing my self to be the grand Patron of the Church of England sets all the Clergy at work for me and they having the Conduct of the Peoples Consciences are useful Tools for any Soveraign The Country Lords have protested against the Votes for rejecting the Address and inserted their Reasons in the Journals of the House but it signifies nothing seeing they have lost their Cause however it shall remain as an Indictment against them and now that I have their Names as my Enemies on record I shall take care on occasion to treat them as such and make them odious to the Country by charging all the Miscarriages and Heats in Parliament and consequently the Obstruction of whatever might have been advantagious to the Publick upon them CHAP. LVII On the filling of the Benches with durante beneplacito Judges The publishing of some Books in favour of the Papists and Prerogative The French King 's letting loose his Privateers amongst the English Merchants And the sending of Ammunition from his Majesty's Stores to the French King HAving been hitherto unsuccessful in my Attempts of following French Counsels raising a Standing Army bribing Parliament-men and contriving Oaths to swear the People into Arbitrary Government I must try some new Methods and endeavour to carry on my Designs by Shadow of Law for which end it is necessary that I make a Reform amongst my Judges and instead of granting their Commission ad vitam aut ad culpam will make them hold them by a new Tenure of durante beneplacito by which they will be bound to their good Behaviour and not dare to disoblige me but give out my Will as the Oracles of the Law and then I can effect that by a Shadow of Justice which is not
Arms and Ammunition for my self to equip my French Auxiliaries and assert my Right or at least have furnish'd the French Catholicks with Weapons against my Heretical Subjects at their own Expence And if the Church-of England-men should murmur against this Procedure it 's but a small Degree above what was done by my Father whom they have canoniz'd for a Saint and a Martyr it being well enough known that he assisted the French King with his Men of War against his Hugonot-Subjects of Rochel which considering the Claim that the Kings of England have to the Crown of France is much the same with what I have now done So that they cannot condemn me without condemning him nor condemn him without condemning themselves CHAP. LVIII On the Meeting of the Parliament after the long Prorogation Febr. 1676. His Majesty's Demand of Money recommending a good Correspondence to the two Houses The Question whether the Parliament was not dissolv'd by that unprecedented Prorogation Sending some Lords to the Tower for insisting on it The granting of Money by the Commons THE Greatness of my Expence requiring proportionable Supplies and my Returns from France not being sufficient I must once more adventure on a Session of Parliament not doubting but my Pensioners will for their own Interest gratify my Desires I know that this long Prorogation is beyond all Precedent but I think that I have the best Authority to make one of any Body and I am furnish'd already with a very plausible Pretence that such a long Recess was absolutely needful to allay so great a Heat as happened betwixt the Houses last Sessions But however that the Honour of the Nation lying at stake I found it necessary to call them together for a Supply to enable me to rig out my Navy on which so much of our Strength and Reputation depends The March of my Brother the French King with his Army into Flanders I know will alarm and make them apprehensive of their own Danger which will probably induce them to part with Money for their own Defence But I perceive that my Difficulties are not quite over for now both Houses begin to question my last Prorogation and think that it was really a Dissolution yet the Commons I find the most tractable of the two because there my Pensioners are most numerous so that they have pass'd it over and fall to their Business but the factious Lords I find still more obstinate and daring insomuch that they offer to maintain that the last Prorogation was illegal and contrary to all the Laws of Parliament even before the Judges and are so confident that they demand to have their Opinion in it but though I can rely upon their Determination yet I don't think fit to gratify the opposite Faction so far especially seeing I am sure of the Majority in any Question by the Influence of the Court-Lords and Bishops and therefore their Impertinence in falling foul upon my Prorogation as a thing without Precedent shall be punish'd by an Imprisonment in the Tower of the same Nature which I shall order so that it shall appear to be the Act of their Fellow-Peers and not mine And thus the Ring-leaders of the Faction the Duke of Buckingham Earls of Salisbury Shaftsbury and Lord Wharton shall have time to consider of the Question in their Confinement and by this Means others will be deterred from the like Boldness and the Freedom of Debate which hath been hitherto claim'd and allow'd in Parliament be visibly infring'd of which there is an absolute and very great Necessity and now more than ever when some of the Members have had the Impudence to upbraid the House to their Face that a great part of them are Out-laws abundance Papists and no small number Pensioners And though I cannot but commend the Prudence of my Friends in the House in not sending the Authors of such scandalous Reflections to the Tower because they know them to be true yet such things must be prevented if possible otherwise I and my Government shall fall into Contempt However my Pensioners were rather willing to bear this Affront than to do any thing that might make their Dissolution or Prorogation necessary and that they may show themselves worthy of my Allowance have granted me Money and that very frankly without an Appropriating Clause So that I am at liberty to spend it how I please And as they have been generous in their Grant they have been no less as to the Terms having quitted all their other Pretensions for an Habeas Corpus Act. And thus I find the Advantage of having those who depend upon me chosen for Parliament-men though I be at the Expence of their Election my self For what Privy-Counsellor is there that will not justify the most Arbitrary Proceedings of the Council-Table in the House rather than lose his Place in Council and represent all the Proceedings of State to the Advantage of the Crown rather than lose his Prince's Favour What Lawyer is there that will not put a favourable Construction upon the Sentence of the Judges rather than be subjected to the Frowns of the Bench or excluded all Hopes of mounting it himself What Captain of the Fleet or Navy but will be for the maintenance of a Standing Force as knowing that he cannot otherwise have a standing Pay Or will he not rather defend the Procedure of his superiour Officers than hazard the losing of his Commission And will he not be ready to declare his Abhorrence of that traiterous Position of taking up Arms against the King or any commissionated by him What Commissioner of the Customs or Excise is there that will not rather give the Court a Vote than lose his Commission Or which of my Domesticks will be so bold as to vote against me in Parliament And therefore I am resolved never to part with my Privilege of having those who depend upon me chosen for Parliament-men that being the most effectual and least obnoxious Method that can be taken to render my self Absolute for they are at the same time the Representatives of the Country and my Pensioners and Servants and so long as they have vendible Souls and have most from me I need not doubt of their being on my side and when others who are hungry perceive their Fellows to be not only treated with Money but also at good Tables on the Charge of the Court it will make them willing to take the same Measures that they may enjoy the same Advantages And in the next place I shall take care to have the Sheriffs modell'd to my purpose and then they will determine the double Elections as I would have them And if the injured Fanatick or Republican complain of the Sheriff yet the Majority of the Judges can easily vacate his Fine By this Means those of my Party will always know their own Strength in the House so that the Intrenchments made upon the People will be judg'd the Affection of the Parliament-men to the
Effects by the French which will afford them a Million to carry on the War that they will ruine our Plantations abroad disturb our Trade by their Capers that they are better provided both of Ships and Ammunition than we that if we should engage in a War with the Dutch they would slip the Coller by a separate Peace and that it 's not possible to make any firm Alliance with those of such different Principles and Interest as the Emperor and Princes of Germany But I find that the other Party are not so easy to be put off They pretend not to press me to make War but to make Leagues to prevent War that now is the critical Season to prevent the growing Greatness of France that the same Inconveniences will happen as to our Trade if the War be not begun till three or four Years hence that we may as well defend our Plantations and Sea-Trade as the Dutch can do theirs that it 's the Effect of the Male-administration of this Reign that the French are stronger by Sea than we that the Dutch and German Princes will be as firm in their League with us as they are in that with one another and that the Dutch would assist us in such things for our Fleet as we were defective in that the want of a Trade with France would rather be an Advantage than otherwise to the Nation because their imported Goods which we could live without do exceed what we export to their Country a Million per annum and that my selling of Dunkirk and making War on the Dutch in 1665. hath contributed to their over-grown Greatness and abundance of such seditious Reflections However I testify my Contempt of them by a profound Silence until I find a convenient time and mean while by the Interest of my Pensioners and Servants in the House I have got some Money to further my Designs according to my Demand My Fate is chequered with Variety of Fortune The Success of the French against the Netherlands where they have taken some Towns and defeated the Prince of Orange will embolden me to carry it with the more Authority against my refractory Subjects and give a plausible Pretence for demanding more Money else I cannot be in a condition to defend them against such a powerful Enemy And whereas they may alledg that the 200000 l. which they have lately given is enough to supply my present Occasions until such time as they meet again I can answer that that Sum is otherwise applied so that the Country shall not be able to see into the true Reason of their Adjournment at this Juncture but will probably be induced to believe that it is because of their having denied me Money and during their Recess I shall have leisure to entertain the spendid Embassy which is coming hither from my Brother of France and concert such Measures as may either render all such factious Divans as Parliaments wholly useless or at least order it so as I shall not be so much subject to their capricious Humours but by this seeming Difference betwixt them and me the Nation will be brought to have a good Opinion of this present House of Commons who will thereby have the better Opportunity to gratify me and deserve their Pensions and therefore I made a Demand of 600000 l. which I knew they could not grant that they might have an occasion of refusing it and at the same time afford me one of adjourning them with a plausible Pretext CHAP. LXI Vpon the Duke of Crequis's arriving from France with a great Train and meeting his Majesty at New-market The Affairs treated of there The meeting of the Parliament again Their insisting upon a League with Holland and his Majesty's Answer HAving adjourned the Parliament I must now make ready to meet the French Embassy and London being a Place where there are too many Spies upon my Actions I design to choose New-market as the fitter Place there we may confer with more Freedom and Security and adjust Matters better to our Mind I know that my mutinous Subjects will load this Conference with many aggravating Reflections but if I can carry my Point I shall not value that My Brother of France I know will plead for the Continuance of my Subjects in his Service because they have not a little contributed to the Glory of his Arms and he will also insist on the Abolition of all Claims on the account of the Prizes which his Subjects have made of mine and other things of that Nature which shall be granted according as I find him liberal in his Supplies of Money Those Demands especially the latter are fit to be made that the private Agreement betwixt him and my self may be conceal'd and for the other it must also be regulated by my own Interest and that of the Design which we carry on in conjunction for by a firm Union betwixt us we shall add Strength to our common Endeavours and may in time bring things to a happy Conclusion But seeing I have no Reason to despair of effecting my part by a Form of Law considering what Party I have in both Houses I will prepare to entertain the next Session of Parliament and contrive Arguments to make them liberal of their Fellow-Subjects Purses which will be the most effectual Method that I can think of to accelerate my Designs The Parliament being now met I have renew'd my Demands of Money because they alledg that it was not according to the Methods and Rules of Parliament for them to grant me any more at the Close of the last Sessions when the House was so thin but that Objection being vacated by their meeting now in a full Body it might have been thought that they should have fallen upon the Money of Course but instead of that they insist again upon an Alliance with Holland as the only mean of withstanding the French By which I perceive that the Phanatical Jealousies gain ground they are not satisfied to have me declare War my self but they would yoke me with the Dutch who will be sure to inspect my Conduct severely and then I must act against France in good earnest I find that all the Objections that I can make as that such a League would alarm the French if imparted before made and that such things are of great Consequence and require time to be concerted are easily seen through and the Commons having taken Umbrage from the extraordinary French Embassy alledg that my Brother of France and I understand one another's Minds Wherefore I find it necessary to send for the House and in a publick Speech assure them on my Royal Word that my calling them together was not only a Design to get Money as some do insinuate and tell them positively that I will neither hazard my own Safety nor theirs by declaring against France or leaguing with the Dutch till they supply me with Money to act and speak as I should and that therefore it will be
their Fault and not mine if their Security be not provided for By this means I shall amuse the Publick and prevent the general Disgust of the Nation And if I can but preserve my Honour with the People I shall despise the Reflections of particular Men for herein I think Saul acted truly like a Monarch that though Samuel had denounced the Anger of God against him for disobeying his Commands he was not in the least solicitous about that but pray'd that the Prophet would honour him before the People he took care of his Concerns for this Life let it fare with him as it would for what was to come But to what I say my self my Friends shall have Instructions to add the Right of making Peace and War is in me alone that if they with-hold Money I will neither declare War nor make Leagues that I have already exhausted my own Treasury in rigging out 44 Ships of War to preserve their Trade and convoy the Merchants and yet the City of London is so ungrateful as to refuse me Credit for 200000 l. and therefore if my People perish it 's their own Fault Those Suggestions will be readily imbib'd and diligently improv'd by the Courtiers and Clergy and then let my Enemies insist as much as they please upon the Necessity of shutting the Door towards France else our Treasure and Trade will creep out and their Religion and Tyranny creep in I am sure to have the Advantage of them when my Dictates shall be delivered from the Pulpits once per Week as the Oracles of Heaven And thus I shall make void all their Efforts for lessening the Power of France which I perceive they dread as carrying with it the Bane of their Heresy and Republican Principles and therefore it 's as necessary for my Design that the Power of the French King be kept up as it is necessary for theirs that it should be brought low I am unhappy that notwithstanding of all my Pensions an Address for an Alliance with the States c. should be carried in the House and have but two Negatives against it especially considering that they alledg it to be unprecedented to grant any Money till the Wars and Alliances for which they are demanded be signified in Parliament which plainly implies their Distrust of me that though I should have the Money yet I would not answer their Address which is so mischievously composed and so strongly back'd with popular Reasons that it seems to be calculated for possessing the Subjects that I would never suffer the French King to increase his Strength so much to the manifest Hazard of my Kingdoms if I were not engaged in the same Design with him I do also perceive that the Allegations of my Friends in the House of their intrenching upon my Prerogative by directing me with whom to make Alliances is nothing regarded but their Practice defended by former Precedents of Parliaments who have not only advised to Alliances but also confirm'd them as in the Reigns of Edward III. Richard II. and Henry V. c. And though my Pensioners were more serviceable in voting against the Manner and Words of the Address than formerly that there should be one yet they are worsted by a considerable Majority so unhappy is it for a King to depend upon the Humour of his Subjects which is as unconstant as the Waves of the Sea and liable to the Tossings of every Wind for however complaisant they have formerly been yet now they are all on a fire again about Popery and France So that I find my self under a Necessity of cooling them by an Adjournment and checking them by a severe Speech for intrenching on my Prerogative of making Peace and War in such an unprecedented manner while King and Parliament were not at mutual Enmity By which they would seem to claim a Privilege not only of directing me what Alliances to make but also to insinuate that it were not in my Power to make any without their leave so that I shall be look'd on by Foreigners as a King merely in Title I shall also take care that their Proceedings shall not dare to appear in print Whereas my Speech shall publickly proclaim their Disloyalty and the Speaker being made to my purpose I shall hinder the Commons from debating the Adjournment or diving into the Intrigues of the Court for if ever they begin to meddle in it he shall have Orders to quit the Chair by which the House must break up of Course and then the French shall have liberty to pursue their Conquests without Interruption by the Clamours of my Heretical Parliament who as also those that they represent shall be duly chastis'd in time convenient CHAP. LXII Vpon the Prince of Orange's Arrival at Whitehall and Marriage with the Lady Mary eldest Daughter to the Duke of York The Address of the Commons thereupon and their insisting upon the Alliance with the Dutch and War against France THe safest and most secure way of ridding ones self of an Enemy is to smite them under the fifth Rib while they imbrace them on pretence of Kindness And as Charles the IXth of France and Queen Katherine contriv'd the Destruction of the Protestants under the Covert of a Marriage with their Chief the King of Navar I may carry on the like Design by matching my Niece with the Prince of Orange Saul gave his Daughter Michal to David to be a Snare to him Nor is it out of any Kindness to my Nephew the Prince of Orange that I do now marry him upon my Niece He hath not hitherto behaved himself so like a dutiful Nephew as to deserve such a Favour having not only been the chief Support of the War against the French but incouraged the Dutch boldly in their Wars against my self But it may be this Match may take him off or at least will afford me an Opportunity of attempting it with more Vigour and Frequency than hitherto However let the Success as to that be what it will this Advantage I am sure of reaping from it that my Protestant Subjects will be thereby pleased and their Jealousies as to my Design of introducing Popery and Arbitrary Government abated so that being the less suspected I shall go on with the more Success and forward my Purpose My Parliament I perceive are pleas'd with this Alliance and have therefore ordered me an Address of Thanks yet their Fears and Jealousies are not so much quieted as to leave me at freedom from their Solicitations but still they insist on my not admitting any Treaty of Peace by which the French may be left in possession of any thing that they have taken since the Pyrenaean Treaty and confine their Promises of Support to my making a War with France How happy are unlimited Monarchs whose Will is their Law and whom their Subjects dare not controul but my Stars have not yet blessed me with any such Influences I cannot imagine how this phanatical discontented Humour hath
got so much the Ascendant of this which was once a Loyal Parliament or that my Pensioners and Friends should come so far short of their wonted Devoirs Perhaps the late Checks which they have met with by my Speech and Adjournments have given them some Umbrage to suspect that they are not long-liv'd and therefore they would now endeavour to recover their Credit with the Country They discovered before by the Motions which some of my Friends made of impowering me to raise what Money I pleas'd upon extraordinary Occasions that I was grown weary of Parliaments themselves and that my Bounty to them would cease with their Usefulness to me and therefore are taking care to make their Fortunes another way and so run out violently for a War with France I must humour them a little to further my own Ends and pretend to be for such a War that I may once get their Money and then I can lay it out which way I please I shall also make an Advantage of it another way by obliging the French King to open his Coffers on pretence that I must otherwise comply with my Parliament And by this Means I shall be sure to have Money one way or other If the Commons must be gratified with a War on France it 's but reasonable that it should be carried on at their Expence and therefore I will demand no less than a Million I know that my PRetences of Alliances with the Dutch and Agreement to the Prohibition of a Trade with France will be irresistible Arguments to carry my Demand and those I am resolv'd to improve to the utmost CHAP. LXIII On the raising of an Army on pretence of a War with France The modelling of them The sending of Duke Lauderdale to Scotland to bring down an Highland-Army upon those Parts of the Low-lands which were most Presbyterian The private Treaty with France The Discovery of it by the Commons Their Address to his Majesty to dismiss the French Ambassador Their Vote in May 1678. That the King be desired to enter into Alliance with the Emperor King of Spain and Princes of Germany His Majesty's Answer Their second Address against Duke Lauderdale and other Ministers and Vote to give no Money till they were secured from Popery and Arbitrary Government The Treaty of Nimeguen and the Behaviour of his Majesty's Plenipotentiaries there THE Parliament having given Money it remains for me to improve it and that they may be induc'd to believe that it shall be applied to the Ends for which it was given an Army shall be rais'd but such as I hope will put me in a Condition that I shall stand in no more need of Parliamentary Supplies The principal Posts in Church and State are already so well fill'd with Persons suted to my Designs that I can scarcely have better And now I must take care to model the Army to have most of the Souldiers if possible composed of such Men as are either Catholicks or but Protestants in Name and the Officers in like manner either altogether Catholicks or such who by taking the Test to qualify them for their Office may nevertheless advance the Catholick Cause for which Reason I am happy in the Constitution of the Church of England it being so framed that moderate Catholicks may easily comply with it The Army being form'd my next Care must be how to get them paid for the Money granted by the Parliament will quickly be consum'd upon them and my necessary Pleasures and therefore seeing the French King and Catholicks press me to the furtherance of their respective Designs it 's highly reasonable that the same should be carried on with their own Money I having done my part in being at the Expence of raising an Army they are obliged to maintain them and if to the 300000 l. per annum which the French King is obliged to pay towards it the Conclave of Rome and the Catholicks in England will contribute their Shares the Work will be done and I shall no more stand in need of such tumultuous Divans as Parliaments who instead of granting me Money which is their only Province do dive into my Counsels and obstruct my Measures It will render me obnoxious to Discovery and Censure to keep a Correspondence with France and Rome in my own Person and therefore I think it adviseable to do it by my Brother who can better keep the Pope and Cardinal Howard to their Promise than I can do and if the Business should happen to be perceiv'd he being a Subject can easily make his Escape and retire a while till I weather out the Storm That I may prevent as much as in me lies all Impediments of what Nature soever I have also taken care to put Scotland out of a Condition to oppose me as remembring very well that the Presbyterians of that Nation were the first who made head against my Father and therefore I have consum'd the Substance of the richest and most phanatical part of the Kingdom by bringing down an Army of Popish Highlanders to take Free Quarter upon them for which the frequent and numerous Meetings of the Presbyterians hath furnish'd me with a Pretence I having taken such Methods that either they should have no Meetings at all for hearing Sermons by their own Ministers or be obliged to meet in the Fields and not in Safety there neither except they put themselves in a Posture of Defence and if they do that I carry my Point and have a fair Opportunity of charging them with Rebellion and taking my Measures against them accordingly I am also secure as to the meeting with any Obstruction from Ireland having indulged the Papists in that Kingdom so far as they have got the Ascendant and put such Men in all Places of Power and Trust as are sincere and cordial for my Designs so that I had no Reason to despair of bringing things to a good Issue if the Influences of my Stars which are always malignant had not discovered my private Treaty with France and rais'd a new Ferment of Jealousy amongst the Commons who upbraid the Court for want of Sincerity that at the very time when they talk of an actual War they should enter into secret Treaties with their Enemies And hence I am importun'd by another seditious Address that I should immediately proclaim and declare War against the French King recal my Ambassador from his Court and dismiss his from mine So that notwithstanding of the severe Check which I gave them by my Speech the last time that they presum'd to give me such Directions they persist still in the same Method And to expose me to my Subjects in revenge of my having expos'd them formerly in the Gazette for their Disobedience they have publickly declar'd that they have a Bill ready to assist me with Money if once I declare War which they solicite me to undertake that the French King may be so reduced as to be no longer terrible to my
receiving Money from Rome and France The Meeting of the Parliament October 22 1680. The Proceedings of the Commons against such Justices as obstructed Petitions for the sitting of the Parliament The passing of the Bill of Exclusion against the Duke of York in the House of Commons nemine contradicente The rejecting of it by the Lords The Trial and Execution of the Lord Stafford The impeaching of the Judges Their Denial of a Supply to the King His Majesty's Message to them and dissolving them because of their Obstinacy NO wonder that those who are avowed Enemies to my Designs should refuse me Money when those who are zealous for the same and promised Assistance both by Men and Money do now fail me that the Court of Rome who compass Sea and Land to make Proselytes should deny Money when it is only required to propagate their Faith may justly seem strange but as for the French King 's doing so it 's easy to conceive that he hath been thereunto influenc'd by Reasons of State It was his Interest to create Jealousies and Discontents betwixt me and my Subjects not only to prevent our uniting against him but that both of us might fall as an easier Conquest though it 's horribly inglorious for him to take such Methods But why should I say thus seeing all the great Princes that ever aspir'd to the Universal Monarchy did make use of Fraud as well as Force However during my Life I shall prevent his Design to cheat me of my Crown and if I can carry on my Work without him as it is the more hazardous it will be also more glorious and by the Divisions which have from time to time been carefully nourished amongst my Protestant Subjects I doubt not but in time I may obtain my Desires without his Assistance The Parliament being met they are as bad to the full as I suspected and tread in the same Steps with their Predecessors and discharge their Fury upon such of my Justices as obstructed Petitions for their sitting and accuse them as Betrayers of the Rights and Liberties of the People because they witnessed their Zeal for the Prerogatives of my Crown Nor does their seditious Procedure stop here but they have unanimously voted a Bill for excluding my Brother from the Crown cut off the Earl of Stafford for his Accession to the Plot and impeach my Judges The Fall of that Lord I must needs lament but it is as venial for me to let him fall a Sacrifice to popular Vengeance as it was for my Father to give up the Earl of Strafford to his rebellious Parliament though he was much more necessary to him than ever this Lord was to me But as for the excluding of my Brother and impeaching of my Judges I must never give way to it for that would infallibly issue in the Destruction of my self My stubborn Subjects have depriv'd me of my Army so that I cannot establish my Authority by the Sword and if I suffer my self to be likewise bereft of my Judges then I shall be utterly disabled from carrying on my Design either by Military Power or the Shadow of Law As to the Exclusion of my Brother from succeeding to the Crown it can in no manner be admitted And here I have a very good Plea against them The Clergy have preach'd up the Divine Right of a Lineal Succession and if that be so I can maintain my Argument by the Laws of God and I doubt not but my Judges will give it out as the Laws of the Land If I should give way to his Exclusion it would weaken my self for then my Enemies might reasonably act with the greater Boldness against me when they should be in no fear from my Successor to punish such a Practice The Lords having thrown out the Bill by the Influence of the Bishops Bench is enough to justify me in the Eyes of the World for why should I consent to the disabling of my own Brother from succeeding to me upon the account of his being a Roman Catholick when the Protestant Bishops who are the ghostly Fathers of their Church make no Scruple to own his Right of Succession and testify their Hatred against the Bill In this they have done me remarkable Service and I doubt not but their Example will have Influence on the Clergy But to prevent all Suspicion as much as is possible that I have any Design to re-establish Popery I will send them a Message that I am ready to agree to any other Expedients for securing them against it And thus when I have made such Proffers and have the Bishops and their Clergy on my side it will look very presumptuous in any Party whatever so much as to whisper a suspicious Word of my Intentions And if the Commons adhere tenaciously to their Bill and refuse to drop it there 's none who will dare to blame me if I dissolve them CHAP. LXXIV On the calling of another Parliament to meet at Oxford Febr. 1680. The seizing of Fitz-Harris with seditious Libels designed to have been lodged with Protestant Peers and Commons The seditious manner of the London-Members going to Oxford His Majesty's Speech to the Parliament when they met there Their Impeachment of Fitz-Harris and Dissolution THE City of London being a perfect Nest of Rebellion it 's reasonable to give them a Mortification by summoning the Parliament to meet elsewhere and as Oxford hath been always signal for Loyalty both to my Father and my self I will gratify that Place with the meeting of this Parliament which will engage the Clergy more firmly on my side especially the young Nursery which is now a breeding up there And as by this Method I shall oblige my real Friends it 's probable that it may cool the Courage of my Enemies especially when they find themselves at a distance from their factious Accomplices at London and surrounded with my Souldiers and Guards at Oxford It is not without some appearance of Reason that my stubborn Subjects do boast of the Divine Care and Providence which seems to watch over their Persons Religion and Liberties for not only the Plots of Catholicks against them have been discovered and baffled but all my Designs of fastning Plots against them upon the Government have miscarried The Disappointment of this which was managed by Fitz-Harris may be of very ill Consequence if there be not care taken to prevent or at least baffle his Discovery which he has been such a Fool as to make now that he is taken How unhappy have I and my Courtiers been in the Tools that we chose to carry on our Designs for every one of them have not only discovered whatever they were imploy'd in but also who set them at work which incenses the Nation against the Court But without attempting we can never be sure of any thing and it is some Satisfaction when we do miscarry to be able to say with Phaeton Magnus tamen excidit ausis This Design was
Crown and not be charg'd on my aspiring Humour or Ambition And I know that a Parliament of such a Constitution will rather do any thing than hazard my Displeasure and not dare to impeach any Man because they know their own Guilt and so those who are my Tools for promoting the Catholick Religion and Arbitrary Government shall pass unpunished But that the Nation may not perceive my Intrigue and thereupon grow tumultuous the Commons shall have leave now and then to talk of Grievances and also to name those who are the Instruments of them but if they exceed their Bounds they shall be kick'd from one Adjournment to another chastised by Prorogations and Abatements of their Pensions and kept in obedience by Threatnings of Dissolution I have already some Experience of the good Effects of these Methods for now they have voted me double that Sum for building of Ships that they thought sufficient last Sessions and continued the double Excise upon Beer and Ale and have taken care to make the Nation have a good Opinion of their being still a legal Parliament when so great a Number of the Gentry of the Nation are appointed Collectors of the Money which they have given CHAP. LIX On the Commons throwing out the Bill intituled An Act for securing the Protestant Religion and another for the more effectual Convicting and Prosecution of Popish Recusants BY committing the factious Lords to the Tower my Designs run on more smoothly in the Upper House insomuch that those Bills pass'd them without any Opposition but they have not had the same Acceptation amongst the Commons who have thrown out the first after once reading and the second in the same manner with a Note of Disgrace as being contradictory to its own Title I perceive that the Commons though they don't love their Religion for Religion sake yet they have no mind to part with it because of their Interest for if Popery were introduced Arbitrary Government would find its way more easy and then they could neither be assur'd of their Places nor Pensions so that I must contrive some new Method But were I as happy in the Church-of England-Laity as I am in their Clergy there would be no need of such Precaution which makes me smile at the Apology of the Commons who are so very careful about the Credit of their Bishops tho they don't look upon their Concurrence with those Bills to be any way hurtful to their Reputation By this Method they diminish the Authority of their Church and exalt their own Wisdom above that of their spiritual Fathers whom they believe to be appointed by Divine Right to oversee and take care of the Affairs of the Church Nor can the Weakness of their Apology pass without a Remark that they should think it worth while to excuse them as not being the Contrivers and Promoters and yet own that they did not oppose those Bills nay they plainly confess that some of the Bishops were of the Cabal that hatch'd them Certainly it can never be safe to intrust one's self in that Church which owns that her Guides are blind or to commit one's Conscience to the Direction of such as don't know how to direct their own But if the Commons had hit upon the true Reason of the Concurrence of their Bishops they would find it to have been because the Mitres and Ceremonies which is all that they mean by their Church would be sufficiently secur'd though Popery were established and they being in present Possession might merit a Continuance by promoting the Catholick Interest under-hand Nor can I believe that the Commons don't perceive this seeing the Bishops advance such Clergy-men daily who incline mightily to the Church of Rome in the Doctrine of Justification which Luther their great Patron own'd to be Articulus stantis cadentis Ecclesiae and yet they won't admit of one Man to enjoy a Benefice who does not accept of Episcopal Ordination and conforms to the Ceremonies whence it 's manifest and apparent that by these they understand the Church And the Commons themselves though they seem now to differ a little from the Bishops yet make use of this Distinction to keep all but those of their own Communion out of any Publick Imployments And I am apt to think that could they but secure their own Interest in a Change as well as the Bishops can do theirs they would never make so much to do in opposing Popery which I am convinc'd by my own Experience is a Religion best suted of any to such as would live in those Enjoyments which Precisians call carnal Delights and that the greatest part of the Members are such I have reason to know for I am sure it has and does daily cost me Money And hence I conclude that it does not proceed from any Religious Principle that the present House of Commons do seem more opposite to have a Popish King than the Bishops CHAP. LX. On the Address of the Commons concerning the Danger from the Power of France and their Progress in the Netherlands His Majesty's Answer It s not being thought satisfactory by the Commons who presented a second to which his Majesty delay'd giving Answer and the Cause why His demanding of Money when he did answer Their giving 200000 l. and Adjournment with the Cause of it MY Subjects are now upon another Scent and from the Affairs of their Religion and Property at home are come to consider of the State of Affairs abroad I could be very glad that they should have forborn any such Motion but shall take proper Methods to render it ineffectual The Phanaticks and Commonwealth's-men do still foment Jealousies and having put Checks upon my Designs at home they are now for curbing my Allies beyond Sea and putting a stop to the French Conquests The Netherlands being look'd upon as the natural Barrier of England I must not positively refuse to assist them but shall form such plausible Pretexts as will excuse my Delay And in the mean time though I cannot go on with my part of the Design the French King may go on with his However I have promised them to use all Means in my Power for the Safety of my Kingdoms but that does not satisfy and therefore they presented me with another Address wherein they not only petition as becomes Subjects but boldly direct as if they were Masters by which they do manifestly entrench upon my Power of making Peace and War By proffering to assist me to the uttermost against France no doubt they think they have acquitted themselves bravely though it is no more than what in Duty they are bound to do let me be engaged in what War I please But seeing they press so much for my making of Alliances with the Dutch c. and to make an actual War with France I must give my Friends Instructions to argue against it in the House from the Inconveniences which may attend it as the seizing of our Ships and