reasonable that I should satisfy my own Pleasures as it is for him to gratify his Ambition And seeing my Parliament have very bad Impressions of the Treaties betwixt him and me as containing mysterious and dangerous Articles it 's but reasonable that I should draw a Vail over their Eyes by seeming now to come to an absolute Rupture that we may afterwards carry on our Designs with less Suspicion but if none of those Reasons will satisfy him I am not solicitous for I know that he can as little be without me as I can be without him and that a mutual Friendship is indispensably necessary for the carrying on of either our Designs and if he will be disgusted at this Treatment he may remember how he forbad me his Dominions at the Instance of a Rebel and Usurper and how little Care he hath had of my Reputation ever since but hath continually expos'd me both as to the Affair of betraying Monsieur Rohan the suffering of it to be printed at Paris that he and I engag'd in this War against the Dutch on purpose to destroy the Protestant Religion ordering his Squadron to abandon my Fleet in the Day of Battel and grasping all the Country to himself when he over-run the Hollanders by Land without the least Design of making me a Sharer according to our Agreement But let him be well or ill pleas'd I cannot help it My Parliament have not only testify'd their Dislike of his Alliance and this present War but have begun to attaque me in the Persons of my Ministers who have hitherto been so necessary both for the promoting of my Prerogative and Pleasures and therefore in prudence I am oblig'd to clap up a Peace not being able to deal both with the Parliament at home and the Dutch abroad though I must confess that it is not without a sensible Regret that I must perceive both him and my self robb'd of our Prey when it was just betwixt our Teeth CHAP. 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 IT may be thought strange that a Parliament of such stanch Church-men should be so uneasy with their Soveraign and contrary to their professed Principles wound me so furiously through the sides of my Ministers they condemn the Puritans for insisting so much against Strafford and Laud whereas they themselves are as violent against the Duke of Buckingam Earl of Lauderdale and Earl of Arlington Whence I find that let them pretend what they will their Loyalty is measured by their supposed Interest My being obliged to concede to them in one thing hath emboldned them to press upon me to yield in another So that having obliged me to put an End to the War they are resolved to deprive me of the Sweets of Peace and to rob me of those Ministers in whom I delight because of their Agreement with me in Practice and Design If I suffer them to be brought to trial it will not only discourage others from serving me afterward but endanger both my Reputation and Safety and bring me to Repentance when it is too late as my Father did after he abandoned Strafford I must not therefore run such a risk for if I leave them to the Vengeance of the Commons they will secure themselves by accusing me and consequently break all my Measures therefore it is necessary for me to prorogue the Parliament and if I can be otherwise supplied with Money shall never call them more but rid my self of that pernicious Divan who are an ungrateful Check upon all Monarchs My Father found by sad Experience the mischievous Inconvenience of making use of them and what King is there who will not be easily convinc'd of the danger of having such an Assembly to controul them in their Designs dive into their Secrets and chain up their Hands that I must neither favour what Religion I think fit marry what Wife I please nor make such Alliances as I think advantagious and for my Interest without their Consent and Limits or rather Fetters of their imposing And thus my ill-natured Subjects do continually stun my Ears with their Clamours against Popery not that they have any true Regard to the contrary Religion which they profess as may be seen by their Practice but because of their temporal Interest Then they break in upon the Peace of my own Family so that I must neither gratify a Wife to suffer her to educate a Child in her own Religion though perhaps the same may be also most agreeable to my own Opinion Nor must any of my Children or near Relations be suffered to marry with Roman Catholicks for fear of the dangerous Consequence to their beloved Heresy And thus though they pretend to believe that Monarchy is the only Government of Divine Right and that I hold my Crown from God alone by lineal Succession they load me with such Fetters that they convert my Diadem to a Crown of Thorns and how desirable soever a Throne may seem to be yet by those Restraints they would make it sweeter to the Fancy than the Enjoyment This dangerous Temper must be obstructed in time and a Method found out to divert their Zeal and give it some other Current The Phanaticks were the last who had them under their Feet and have still a great Interest in the Nation whereas the Catholicks have now been dispossed for an Age and have no other Prospect but the Favour of the Court to recover their Footing Then the Course which does naturally offer it self to my View is to alarm the Nation with the Danger of relapsing into the Disorders of 1641. which issued in the Destruction of the Church and Monarchy The Puritans usher'd in their Rebellion by Clamours against the Invasions of their Civil Rights by an unlimited Prerogative and of their Religion by Innovations in Doctrine and Discipline and that therefore it is a Shame for them who pretend to so much Loyalty and to despise others upon the account of contrary Principles to be found tracing their Footsteps The Clergy I am sure will be sensible of the Danger and will no doubt be ready to take the Alarm and when the Pulpits are on my side I can diffuse what Opinions and Notions I please through the Nation and if once the Clergy be possessed with an apprehension of the Danger they are in of losing their Benefices by the Fanaticks and that the Gentry who did formerly smart by Sequestrations be effectually put in mind of their former Sufferings and the Probability of running headlong into the same Inconveniencies by pursuing the Methods which they are now upon I doubt not but the Current will
to resist my self or any having my Commission though I should command them to do things contrary to the standing Laws as levying of Money without Consent of Parliament c. Or though I should either deliver my self up to the French King or by Fortune of War fall into his Hands and either willingly or by constraint command my Subjects to do such things as are contrary to my Royal Dignity Or in case that a Popish Successor should by Force of Arms endeavour to establish the Catholick Religion So that I find the Doctrine of Passive Obedience though inculcated from the Pulpit as a necessary Article of Faith on pain of Hell and Damnation hath not obtain'd universal Belief amongst the Church-of England-Laity whatever it hath done amongst their Clergy and consequently that the latter are not fit for me to rely upon as not being able enough to defend me against that Party who prov'd too strong for them and my Father both for I am now fully satisfied that such of the Church of England as agree with the Dissenters in Politicks would also quickly unite with them in Ecclesiasticks if they would but allow them a sufficient Latitude of Practice So that hence I have ground enough to perswade the Clergy to declare against all such as Presbyterians in Masquerade and secret Enemies to their Church-Government which they do not believe to be jure divino else they would never boggle at swearing not to alter it I have also this to comfort me that I am not suspected alone by those Peers but the Bishops do now come in for a share it being plainly perceiv'd by the contrary Party that though they took care for their Discipline they took none for their Doctrine that they might be as good as their Promise to the Popish Lords that the Oath should be so form'd as not to bear hard on them which is still an Encouragement to me to think better of the Catholick Religion than the Reformed for the Catholick Clergy I find much truer to their Interest than those of the Church of England If the English Bishops did believe the Truth of their own Religion they would certainly be more concerned for its Doctrine than Discipline and not more sollicitous to secure the latter against Dissenters than the former against Catholicks or if they were Men who made conscience of Oaths themselves they would never be for imposing such Oaths upon others as are contrary to their own Practice for if they thought it unlawful to endeavour any Alteration in their Church they would never make choice of such Men for Preferments as Preach and Write against her Doctrine of Predestination Those Prelates do exactly resemble the Pharisees who bound heavy Burdens upon the Shoulders of their Disciples while they would not touch them themselves with one of their Fingers and so though there have been several Alterations made in the Prayers and Rites of the Church since the Reformation by them and their Predecessors yet they would oblige others by Oath never to endeavour the like but to maintain their Church as now established by Law which swears them to maintain the old Popish Canons revived by the First of Elizabeth which is indeed of a piece with the last Act of Uniformity that makes Popish Priests capable of Benefices without Re-ordination if they turn Protestants and yet unchurches all their Reform'd Brethren abroad and declares their Ordination invalid It 's true that all this is for my Interest and contributes exceedingly to the advancement of my Designs but at the same time though I love the Treason I hate the Traitor and can put no Confidence in those Men who being false to that which they call their own Interest can never be true to mine and hence I perceive that though they profess otherwise their Religion is the same with my own for as I pursue my Pleasures they pursue their Profits as their summum bonum and if they may but acquire it they care not by what Methods Who then can blame me for disbelieving that Religion which they who are the Fathers of the Church do manifestly disbelieve themselves or how can I be blamed for favouring Popery as best suited to my Designs when Protestant Bishops approve of their Ordination Canons Ceremonies and Government and by the choice which they make of Ecclesiasticks for Preferments and the Tenderness which they have shew'd to the Catholicks in the management of this Test it 's evident enough that they have no dislike to their Doctrines However I am in a great measure obliged to them for standing by me in this Point though I perceive their principal Motive was to have their own Government rendred as Absolute as my own and that it should be equally if not more dangerous for any Man to mutter against the Church as it is to speak Treason against the State However if this Oath could be pass'd I should be happy in my Government and rendred abundantly more Absolute than now I can pretend to be the present Oath of Allegiance and the Laws not being comprehensive enough but loaded with ungrateful Restrictions And as for the Bishops I know how to deal with them if ever they should happen to grow uneasy the Wounds of my Sword will be sooner felt than those of their Pastoral Staff and having rendred themselves unacceptable to the Nation by concurring so much with the Court and being so violent against Dissenters they cannot well recover their Interest there and so must be forc'd to comply with me by which means I can easily protect the Crown against the Efforts of the Mitre CHAP. 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. THE Lords having made so much opposition to my Designs it 's my Interest now to gain the Commons and own their Pretensions against the Privileges of the Peers for if by this means I could render the Upper House useless I should be the better able to deal with the Lower or if both of them fall by their mutual Heats I shall be a certain Gainer by their Destruction or if the Commons once find that I am for them it may further their passing the Test with more ease The Bishops I am sure of in the House of Lords and of my Pensioners high Churchmen in the House of Commons who I 'm sure will vote according to the Direction of the Court The Cavalier's Conscience is govern'd by the Bishop and the indigent Courtier must live by the Crown so that both their Votes I may depend upon The Phanatick I can take off by hopes of Liberty so that I shall only have the staunch Country-man to oppose me and it 's hard if I be not able to weather the Point against him But my Designs are still very apt to miscarry and the Earl
manage the Plot Whereupon my Lord Russel Algernon Sidney c. were out off The Earl of Essex ' s being murdered in the Tower The Trial and Sentence of Mr. Speke and Mr. Braddon for endeavouring a Discovery thereof The Continuance of the Surrender of Charters c. p. 303. Copies of two Papers written by the late King Charles II. Published in 1686. by King James ' s Authority who attested that he found them in his Brother 's Strong Box written in his own Hand p. 309. A brief Account of Particulars occurring at the happy Death of our late Soveraign Lord King Charles II. in regard to Religion faithfully related by his then Assistant Mr. Jo. Hudleston p. 316. ΕΙΚΩ'ΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ ' ΔΕΥ'ΤΕΡΑ CHAP. I. On his Majesty's being converted into the Catholick Church THIS I know will be offensive to my Subjects if it should take air and therefore in Policy am obliged to conceal it but that I am secure enough as to God and my own Conscience I have no reason to doubt 'T is the Catholick Church whereof I am now a Member and it 's that Church which in the Bibles of the Hereticks themselves is called the Pillar and Ground of Truth then why should I scruple to submit my self to her Direction Did not my Grandfather K. James though he maul'd Bellarmine give the Pope the Title of Most Holy Father and declare his Readiness to meet the Church of Rome half way Did not my Father whom the very Hereticks acknowledg a Martyr in like manner give the Pope those Titles which they call Names of Blasphemy If he had thought the Catholick Religion damnable or believed that the Church of Rome teaches the Doctrine of Devils would he ever have taken a Catholick Princess into his Bosom or granted such Concessions in favour of her Religion and suffered it to spread so much in his Dominions Would he have imployed the Irish in his Armies after they had cut the Protestants Throats or would he ever have made Arch-Bishop Laud his Favourite who brought such Innovations into the Church of England and declared his good liking to a Cardinal's Cap if the Church of Rome were but a little reformed So that I am safe enough as to what concerns my Soul having not only the Sentiments of the Bishop of Rome positively for me but also those of the alterius orbis Episcopus not at all against me Then surely I may venture my Salvation on the same bottom with my Mother and embarque in a Church which uncontrovertibly appears not to have been altogether disrelishing to my Father Let it go which way it will I am of the surest side the Catholicks say that out of the Church of Rome there is no Salvation and Protestants acknowledg that in the Church of Rome there is Salvation and though it should be true what I have learn'd from my Tutor Hobbs and am indeed inclin'd to believe that all Religion is but a Trick of State to keep the People in obedience yet a Profession of Religion is necessary for a Prince as well as others according to Machiavel's Maxim Plebem dum vis fallere finge Deum and certainly that Religion of which it is a Fundamental Principle that Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion is most agreeable to a Prince who would maintain or advance his Prerogative for where it is allowed as amongst all Protestants to examine the Dictates of their Ghostly Fathers in relation to the Church it must unavoidably follow that the People will also claim the like Privilege to canvass the Orders of their Civil Fathers in relation to the State Then let the Hereticks talk as they please of the Kings of the Earth giving their Power to the Beast I see that it is undoubtedly the best Expedient for any Monarch who designs to be absolute to be an obedient Son to the Church of Rome who can insure him not only his Subjects Persons but also their Consciences and Purses seeing they must do and believe as the Church will have them True it is my Misfortune that a Protestant Bishop and several Protestant Lords who have follow'd me hither are privy to my Conversion which might indeed prove fatal to my Affairs if it were not their Interest as well as mine to conceal it but seeing their Restitution depends on mine I have no reason to fear that they will divulge it And for the Satisfaction of the Church of Rome though I have no Cause to profess to be of the Religion of Protestants who murdered my Father and give the Ignominious Character of an Idolatress to my Mother yet seeing the Principles of the Catholick Church allow Mental Reservation and that Christ himself did not reject Nicodemus thô a Night-Disciple the Roman Catholicks cannot be angry that I still profess my self a Protestant especially seeing thereby I shall be the more capable of doing them Service and thus I find my self obliged to give an early Assent to my Grandfather K. James's Maxim which he had from Lewis XI of France who never learn'd any other Latin Words viz. Nescit regnare qui nescit dissimulare Nor do I know why it should be any greater Stain to my Honour to feign my self a Protestant for the Crown of Great Britain than it was to my Grandfather Henry the IV. to feign himself a Catholick for the Crown of France and may my Endeavours have the same Success but a happier Exit And seeing the World will have it that there is a God I can lose no more but a little Breath to make some Addresses if there be none but seeing it 's safer to venture with the bulk of Mankind than to rely on the Efforts of some Men of Wit I am resolved to lift up the following Prayer O thou Almighty Being who createdst the Heavens and the Earth by whom Kings reign and Princes decree Justice to thee I refer my Cause for a final Decision Thou art King of Kings who puttest down one and settest up another and therefore the fittest for me to make Application unto I have been taught by those who call themselves thy Ambassadors and would have me to believe it to be thy Law that Kings are accountable to none but thy self as being thy Vicegerents and Gods on Earth Vindicate therefore the Justice of my Cause against those Men who have not only usurp'd my Throne but thine for I am accountable to none but thee Give Success to my Arms and Endeavours against them And seeing thou hast said that Vengeance is thine and thou wilt repay it let not the hoary Heads of those who shed my Father's and thy Vice-gerent's Blood go down in Peace to the Grave And give me Strength O thou most High to execute Vengeance upon a bloody Nation Thou who didst grant Samson ' s Desire to be reveng'd on the Philistines for his two Eyes listen to my Petition I request thee that I may be aveng'd for my Father's Blood and the unjust Vsurpation of my own Throne CHAP.
II. On his Majesty's accepting of the Scots Proposals and taking the Solemn League and Covenant in Scotland THE Order of Nature is strangely inverted when the Head is become the Tail I who ought to give Laws to my Subjects must now receive Laws from them and it adds to the Misery of my Fate that I must obey My Father by his Stiffness did lose both his Crown and his Life and to preserve the one and obtain the other I must comply My Mother who had no small Influence on his Refusal does now press me to accept the Terms so that at once I must abjure my Religion and Prerogative that I may the better advance them both It 's true that this will reflect upon my Honour but of two Evils I must chuse the least If I do not comply my Prerogative is lost for I shall never be admitted to possess my Crown if I don't abjure the Church of Rome I can never promote her Interest nor be rendred capable of doing her Enemies Hurt My Mother who is known to be a Princess of Sense lays an Obligation of Duty upon me to submit Her Zeal for the Catholick Religion is known and as a Daughter of France she is better instructed in the Pretensions of the Crown than to advise to any thing that may really lessen the Prerogative in the Conclusion and therefore I am resolved to take the Advice which she gave me in her Letter not doubting but that according to her Suggestion there I shall after my Restitution find an Opportunity to free my self from my Bonds Nor can it reflect upon my Parts to be govern'd by my Mother whose Counsels were Oracles to so great a Monarch as my Father For the Roman Catholick Princes they know my Mind I sent the Marquess of Montross to the King of Spain and other Ministers to the Courts of Austria and Poland to sollicite their Assistance for my Restitution on which the Advancement of the Church of Rome does so much depend I have likewise the Advice of the Council of France to comply with the Scots so that I am safe enough as to any Reflections from those of the Roman Communion though I profess my self to be of another I have also tried what may be expected from the Assistance of the Irish before I would accept of the Proposals of the Scots but seeing they cannot defend themselves I am sure they are unable to restore me and therefore I must depend upon the latter though much against my Mind But Heaven it seems thinks fit to humble me so far that I must rely on the Fidelity and Assistance of those whose Stubbornness and Rebellion laid the Foundations of my Father's Ruine But why should I despond is it not possible that the Fates may have put this Opportunity in my hand to revenge his Blood upon them and the Neighbouring Kingdom according to the solemn Vow which my Brother James and I have made to sacrifice thousands to the Memory of our Father and ten thousands to the Resentments of our dear Mother And as the Scots by their Rebellion were first in the Transgression may they atone for it by being first in the Punishment True they are a cunning People and if they smell the Design it ruines my Affairs but I must manage them with Prudence The Presbyterians are now on the Top of the Wheel and testify'd an Aversion to my Father's Blood which affords me a specious Pretext of caressing them but if they find me too easy it will render me cheap and therefore I must stand aloof for a time Some of their Commissioners I have already bought off and those will certainly espouse my Cause I must allarm them with their Danger from the English Sectaries and the Designs of that new-rais'd Commonwealth This will be a Pretence for bringing in the Cavaliers to defend their Country against the Common Enemy which will divide the Presbyterians amongst themselves and if I once get but part of them on my side it will cover my Designs against the whole I must pretend to be zealous for their Covenant and bewail the Sins of my Father's House I must admit some of their Ring-leaders for my Chaplains and that will attract the Applause of the Mob I must indulge the Nobility of my Court in their Practices and that will defend me against the Rigour of their Church I must profess a great Passion for the Liberties of the Subject and that will procure me the Concurrence of their States And by these Methods I hope to accomplish my Designs for when they are engaged against one another in the first Place and Cromwell and his Republicans in the next let the Loss fall on which side it will it is my Gain I shall be rid of so many dangerous Enemies and their Fall will be the Rise of my Throne for if the Presbyterians prevail they are for Monarchy though limited and when their old Friends but present Enemies the Independants are subdued it will be easy for me to scrue it a Pin higher and render it absolute If the Sectaries carry the Prize and who knows but it may be so for Fortune favours mad Men their Anarchy will quickly make the Nations weary and pave the Way for my Restoration for the Presbyterians who are for a National Church will never be quiet under a Congregational Frame and being also as I have said for a King in their Principles which are two main Heads of Agreement betwixt them and the Church-of England-men they will quickly prove too strong for the divided Sectaries who disagree in their Models both for Church and State My Design it 's true may seem Inglorious but there are Precedents which I am not asham'd to follow My Grandfather King James was sworn to maintain the Church and State of Scotland as he found them but yet made considerable Alterations in both My Father was obliged by his Coronation-Oath to govern according to the Laws and yet did advance his Prerogative above them My Grandfather Henry the IVth of France dissembled both with his Protestant and Catholick Subjects and yet his Reign is famous to Posterity But what need any farther Argument Did not the Council of Constance determine that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks Then why should I stand upon such a Cobweb-Objection as the Violation of an Oath to Protestants especially seeing I have now such an Opportunity as if lost can never be regain'd The English are already fallen off to a Commonwealth and the Scots if I do not accept of their Terms will quickly send me such a Message as they sent my Father That if he did not think it worth his while to come to Scotland and receive their Crown they might perhaps be inclin'd to make choice of another Soveraign The Roman Catholicks and Church of England-men I am sure of and the Presbyterians I may be sure of if I comply with their Measures so that it is best striking the Iron while it
and injur'd Prince might afford me a safe Retreat in this Kingdom yet I find that I cannot be safe from Insults because I advis'd that the Cardinal should be remov'd On the Consummation of the Marriage and the young Prince's Birth Hymen I have found exorable but Mars continues obstinate I have been successful in my Love though not by my Sword My next great Care must be to keep the thing secret else it will rejoice my Enemies and disgust my Friends the former that I have so much degraded my self and rid them from the Fear of my Foreign Allies and the latter that I have thus put my self out of a Condition of relieving them from the Yoak of a tyrannous Usurper so that the Sweets which I enjoy are mix'd with sowr and my Stars have still a malign Influence The same Precautions must be us'd as to my Brother and we must weather this Point as well as we can As my Comforts increase so do my Cares I have a Queen and a Prince but cannot provide for them as I ought However there 's Vengeance entail'd upon my Enemies for here 's one more of the Line to revenge his Grandfather's Blood CHAP. 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 SInce the Kingdoms to which I have a natural and hereditary Right would not entertain me it 's no wonder that this to which I have only a Title should refuse it so that my unlucky Fate hath now stripp'd me of all my Possessions both Real and Titular I have no reason to complain of France's dealing thus with Princes of the Blood when Britain and Ireland have done so by their natural Soveraign Bless me how strange a thing is it that the Arms of a traiterous Subject should be able not only to expel me from my own Dominions but disturb my Repose in those of others and how dishonourable and unnatural is it for one Monarch to countenance Rebellion against another But why should I say thus it is just with Princes as it is with the Pope he would impose his Infallibility upon others when he does not believe one word of it himself So we would have our own Subjects to obey us without Reserve as being obliged by God so to do and yet we countenance the Rebellions of one another's Subjects Thus did my Father make a shew at least of countenancing the French Hugonots against their natural Soveraign My Grandfather King James though a great Admirer of Kingcraft did in some sort espouse the Elector Palatine's Quarrel against his Soveraign the Emperor And my Predecessor Queen Elizabeth supported the Netherlands in their Rebellion against the King of Spain So that in short my Church-of England-Subjects may boast of their Loyalty what they please but I think they have very small Reason for they that make no Scruple to countenance the Rebellion of others will make no Conscience of rebelling themselves if ever they have occasion And thus if there be any thing like Divine Justice I am punished for the Sin of my Forefathers and as they countenanc'd the Rebellions of other Princes Subjects against them now others countenance the Rebellion of mine against me so that amongst us we shall expose the Dignity of Monarchy and make all our Pretensions be look'd upon as a Cheat. But it 's in vain to dispute the Fates have decreed it and I must obey so that rather than be sent from this Kingdom with Disgrace or any publick Remark I 'l abandon it willingly of my own Accord and save my Honour as much as I can CHAP. 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 INstead of being a Monarch of three potent Kingdoms I am now become a Citizen of the World and must be content to reside where I can find Reception It 's hard that Lewis XIV should have dealt thus with me and that the Advice of a Priest should take place to the Disadvantage of a Prince of the Blood Royal of France that he who covets the Title of the most Christian King should not be more hospitable to a Prince who suffers for the most Christian Cause that France should make a League with the Murderers of my Father and yet erect a Monument to render the Jesuits eternally infamous for stabbing of Henry IV my Grandfather that the French King who pretends to be Absolute himself should so far approve of my Subjects Rebellion against me appears with a very bad Aspect He 's not so much afraid of the Influence of the bad Example as willing to keep the King of Great Britain humble for fear I should pursue my Title to France and knowing that Republicks are unfit for Conquest he is rather inclinable to favour the New Commonwealth and prefer his Interest to his Reputation Nor is it the French King alone who opposes my Designs but my Mother I perceive has a hand in the pie though I suppose she is misled by an Overcharge of Zeal It 's not my Interest that any of my Brethren should openly profess the Romish Religion for that were a way to obstruct our Return and yet she not only sollicites but threatens my youngest Brother if he do not openly profess himself of that Church an Evidence that she had but little regard to my Father while alive when she tramples so avowedly upon his Commands now that he 's dead if the Εικον Βασιλικε was truly his wherein he not only advises me against any Change of my Religion but all the rest of his Children and though it 's true that I have changed mine in Obedience to a higher Command viz. that of Christ's Successor upon Earth and for the advancing of my own Interest yet it is not publickly known and by Consequence is not scandalous but for my Mother thus openly to scandalize the World by influencing my Brother to an avowed Breach of my Father's Commands is no sutable Return for that last Message which he sent her that his Thoughts had never strayed from her So that either she must not believe that Book to be his or is very impolitick to take such Measures However I will make the best Improvement of it I can and send for him away from under her Conduct which will be a good Argument for my Friends in England to prove that I am firm in my Religion and I will endeavour to perswade her that I do it out of Policy because I would not come to a Rupture with her My Brother James's being commanded out of France does justify the Policy of my former Conduct in not staying till I was sent away which though disgraceful enough to him would have been much more so to me Having had such slender Entertainment amongst Papists it
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
divert the Current which I cannot attempt with hopes of so much Success any other way as that of laying the whole Burden upon the Fanaticks and the Suggestions of the Dutch it being both their Interests to create Differences betwixt the Parliament and me and that therefore I thought fit to prorogue them that they may have time for second and more moderate Thoughts because the Enemy would reap more Advantage from our Divisions than they could flatter themselves with the hopes of from their own Arms and that therefore it 's more their Interest to secure me and themselves from our only Competitors and Rivals at Sea abroad and the Fanaticks who are the Brands of intestine Discord at home the present Evils under which we labour than to trouble themselves about such remote Consequences as the Fears of the Growth of Popery because of my Brother's marrying with a Catholick Princess And in the mean time that my Friends amongst the Clergy and others who will certainly espouse the Defence of my Practice may have Ground-work for plausible Arguments I will publish a Proclamation for putting the Laws in execution against Papists forbid them my own Court and that of my Brother which though it may seem very hard and severe upon our good Friends the Roman Catholicks yet none of them who are Men of Thoughts will be much offended at it when they consider that he and I both have chosen Wives of that Religion and especially that I take care to have my Brother's Marriage solemniz'd the very next day after the Proclamation And to cut off all Pretence of Excuse from the Church of England whom I design to engage in the Cause with my self the Marriage shall be consummated by one of their own Bishops at Dover that Place being already famous for the Alliance which broke the Triple League on the Influence of my Sister the Dutchess of Orleans And thus I shall retrieve my late Losses and strengthen my Alliances with France by matching my Brother with an adopted Daughter of that Crown there being no more reason for the Parliament's opposing of the Match with this Popish Princess than that which was talk'd of with the Arch-dutchess of Inspruck Whence I perceive that though the Clamour to enrage the Populace be the Danger of Religion yet there 's nothing but Policy and Interest at bottom and that they thought an Alliance with the House of Austria not so dangerous to their own Liberties as one with the House of Bourbon and their Argument from Conscience hath receiv'd a mortal Wound when the Bill that English Princes should marry none but Protestants was thrown out of the House of Lords by the unanimous Vote of the Bishops Bench though their Lordships at the same time did as unanimously vote for a Test to make their own Form of Church-Government unalterable And certainly if they who call themselves the Fathers of the Protestant Church have so little Zeal for the Main of their Religion I may be allowed a greater Latitude on that Head and even to oppose it when those ghostly Fathers have given Instructions to their Clergy to represent the Dissenter as a more dangerous Enemy than the Papist CHAP. 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 Distenters 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 THE Commons having shew'd so much Warmth against my Declaration of Indulgence I thought that my Speech would have proven a very good Expedient to have set the Lords at Variance with them especially when I professed so much Zeal for the Upper House but I find that though they differ in respect of their own particular Privileges yet they are agreed in the common Heads of Religion and Liberty and consequently in the defence of them against my Designs as appears by their conjunct Address wherein they complain of Papists being admitted into Places of Power and Trust and especially into Military Commands and instead of standing by me against the Commons they have only resolv'd that my Answer to them in referring the Points in controversy to a Parliamentary Decision is good and gracious By the Vote of the Commons for Ease to Protestant Dissenters I perceive that they are now jealous that those Penal Laws were at first framed for the destruction of the Protestant Interest but seeing they have denied me the Privilege of dispensing with those Laws I shall take care to have them kept on foot and this will be sufficient to render all their Efforts against me faint and of no effect which would be formidable enough if the Strength of the Protestants were united And whereas they think that they have done mighty things in excluding Papists from Places of Power and Trust by their Sacramental Test it demonstrates sufficiently how little they are acquainted with the Principles or Practices of the Catholicks who can have a Dispensation to do what they please for the advancement of their Interest And that moreover there are abundance of Church-Papists who make no Scruple of Conformity whereas the Dissenting Protestants who are the greatest Enemies to my Measures cannot comply with the said Test so that instead of excluding their Enemies they shut out their Fellow-Protestants or at least will be sure to manage it so as to make it have that Effect and I doubt not to reap very good Advantage from this Method and to make it appear to the common Observer that this manner of Procedure is wholly as it is indeed in a great part owing to the Rancour of the Episcopal Party and not to the Designs of the Court for I make no question but that the Church-of England-Clergy will speedily take the Alarm of the Hazard that threatens their Constitution if once Dissenters have Ease and be admitted into the Church so that my Enemies are not aware of my Advantage against them by having the Pulpits of the Nation on my side By the Influence of the Bishops who depend so much upon me I can make the Pulpits speak in the Court-Dialect and libel the Proceedings of the Commons as the Result of Fanatical and Republican Consults which being pronounced ex Cathedra and having the Shadow of Divine Authority and that of the Civil Magistrate to back it will have a more universal Effect than their private Murmurings in Clubs and Conventicles And though this Test may in some measure incommode the bigotted Catholicks in my Service at home yet I will order it so as it shall not reach those who are in my Service abroad and there I can have a Nursery of Sword-men fit for my purpose and provide for my Catholick Officers till such time as the Design for introducing of Popery and Absolute Monarchy be ripe CHAP. XLIX Vpon the Complaints
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
to give them a Diversion CHAP. 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 THough I be unsuccessful and incumbred at home yet my Allie the French King is fortunate abroad and like a true Politician does order his Affairs so as to make himself a Gainer both by Peace and War Whether he gives Obedience to Mazarine's Dictates as an obedient Son or tractable Scholar I shall not determine but sure I am he puts his Commands in practice and values Treaties no more than as they conduce to his Interest However it 's more politick for him to seize those Towns as granted to him by Agreement under the Notion of Dependancies than under any other Pretence whatsoever And this I rejoice in not only as it contributes to promote the common Design but also because I have the Practice of so great a Monarch as an Argument for my own Conduct and the Authority of so great an Ecclesiastick as Cardinal Mazarine to justify me in point of Principle But however well pleased I am with this Matter I cannot be satisfied with his Treatment of my Brother who is a kind of Exile for following his Dictates and therefore deserved kinder Entertainment at his hand but I smell his Design he is unwilling that his civil Reception abroad should extinguish his Desire of returning home because he knows that his Presence is necessary here to confirm the drooping Catholicks and keep Life in his Party for I know that he is jealous lest I should concur with my Parliament rather than admit of an Interruption of my Pleasures As for the Unkindness of the Spaniard it is no Surprize for whatever Good-will they have to the Advancement of the Catholick Interest yet they are angry at us for promoting that of France in opposition to theirs And seeing the Case is so I am resolved that my Brother shall return home But I must first rid my self of this Session of Parliament the Commons being so much overacted with Zeal that they have presented me with an Address wherein they promise to defend my Person and the Protestant Religion and to revenge any Violence that may be offered to me They exclaim'd formerly against the Scots Covenant for measuring their Endeavours to defend my Father according as he stood up in defence of their Religion and now they themselves run into the same Error though the great Doctors of their Church pretended to teach and believe that Loyalty was an essential Point of their Religion for now they join the Defence of my Person and that of the Protestant Religion together which is as much as to say that if I don't concur with them in the defence of the one they will take no Care for the defence of the other Then as for the revenging of any Violence that may be offered to my Person I know what they aim at but can provide for the defence of my self better than they or at least in a way more agreeable to my Design The Catholicks are not such Fools as to cut me off now for that were the way to ruine their Affairs seeing my Brother's Interest is not yet establish'd so that I have no Fears on that Head yet Neither have I any reason to trust their fair Promises now that they have deprived me of the Defence of an Army which was modelled to my Mind Besides it 's below a Monarch to own that he needs the Defence of any one part of his Subjects against another when he himself is born to defend the whole However I must submit to the Humour of the Multitude and seeing I can neither have Money from France nor them to maintain my Army I can the more easily dispense with having them disbanded And by conceding this Point I shall put some stop to the Jealousies of the Nation and my proroguing the Parliament to save the Popish Lords whose Trial the Commons do so earnestly demand will be of so much the easier Digestion And by this Favour to the Catholicks I shall engage them more firmly on my side for the Interest of those Lords whose Preservation depends on mine will prevent Assassinations from the Bigots of their Party and during the Recess of Parliament we shall have leisure to recover our lost Ground and find out Expedients for taking off the Evidence of the Popish Plot that may not be so obnoxious to a Discovery as those which have been made use of hitherto which have rather confirm'd than discredited the Belief of the Plot. CHAP. LXXI On the Insurrection at Bothwell-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 HAD my Subjects of the Episcopal Communion in England been as true to my Interest as their Brethren in Scotland my Affairs would have appeared e're now in a better Posture The former are nothing so steady to the Interest of Monarchy and Episcopacy as the latter which may easily be evinc'd from the Endeavours which the English Parliaments have used both to establish Liberty to Dissenters by a Law and to limit the Succession and Administration of their Kings My Episcopal Subjects in Scotland do on the contrary make no scruple to put my Commands in execution though against the Letter of the Law and by a just Severity upon their Brethren the Presbyterians beyond what the Laws in their strictest Interpretation will allow they have procured this Insurrection which happen'd very opportunely for my Affairs By this means I have not only humbled the Presbyterians there and suppressed their rebellious Field-Conventicles but have a plausible Pretence for making the Laws still more severe against them forfeiting their Estates to gratify my hungry Courtiers cutting off such of their Preachers as I have in my hands and ridding the Country of so many rebellious Fellows as I have taken Prisoners so that I shall be sufficiently reveng'd on the pestilent Hereticks for the Lives of so many of my Friends the Catholicks as they have cut off on account of the Plot which I was obliged to give way to to prevent being suspected thereof my self I shall also gain this by the Scots Insurrection that the Duke of Monmouth whom I imployed as General to suppress it will be thereby rendred the less popular amongst the Presbyterians in that Nation and their Friends the Dissenters
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
Loyalty yet in truth I cannot commend their Policy that they should not have taken more care to avoid such plain Contradictions in their Test as furnish Objections against it not only to the Phanaticks but also to many of their own Party It 's true they are the more excusable that herein they were out-witted by some of the opposite Faction who though they had a hand in the framing it refuse it themselves but I took care to have had the Earl of Argile beheaded for his Behaviour in that Affair whereby I should not only have punish'd him for his own and his Father 's former Rebellions but have also deprived the opposite Faction of a Head but the cross Fates have decreed his Escape Yet I am so much a Gainer by the Affair that his forfeited Estate will reward some of my zealous Friends and his Sentence will terrify the rest of my Enemies as it hath pleased my Church-of England Zealots because of his Inclination to the Scotish Kirk This Behaviour of the Parliament and Church of Scotland will mightily strengthen my Friends of the Church of England in their espousing mine and my Brother's Cause which will not a little contribute to the running down of the Dissenters our irreconcileable Enemies in both Nations CHAP. 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 manage the Plot Whereupon my Lord Russel Algernon Sidney c. were cut off The Earl of Essex's being murdered in the Tower The Trial and Sentence of Mr. Speke and Mr. Braddon for endeavouring a Discovery thereof The Continuance of the Surrender of Charters c. THE Citizens I perceive continue still tumultuous and are mighty tenacious in asserting the Right of chusing their Magistrates though there is a Quo Warranto against their Charter It is therefore my Interest to punish those who incourage them that for time to come they may be deterr'd from such Practices and therefore I shall order it so that my Lord Grey Alderman Cornish and such other noted Citizens as countenance their Proceedings shall be indited as Rioters and I doubt not of having them found guilty accordingly which will both reflect upon their Credit and affect their Estates But all this while I play at nothing but small game and this way of proving Plots by Consequence and Inferences is not so satisfactory to the Publick for the Faction evades them by alledging that all those things with which they are charg'd amount to no more than a zealous Appearance for their Liberties to which they have a Right by Law so that I must find out a Method to charge their Ringleaders with something of a more heinous Nature that may appear odious in the Eyes of the World and not only render the Persons but the Cause also hateful By which means I shall be justified in cutting off the Chief of the Faction as the Lord Russel Algernon Sidney c. and afford a plausible Pretext for committing the Earl of Essex and others But seeing it will be look'd upon as improbable that such Persons as the Duke of Monmouth Earl of Essex Lord Russel Colonel Sidney Mr. Hambden c. should be concern'd in any mean or base Design against my Life or my Brother's by way of Assassination I have taken order that the Plot shall consist of two Parts viz. one of levying War against me to overturn the Government in Church and State whereof those great Men above-named shall be given out as the Managers which as it will justify the Reasonableness of my having declared the Duke of Monmouth illegitimate so it will be the more readily believ'd that he is engag'd in such a Design to revenge that Affront The other part of the Plot which shall be given out as a Design to have assassinated my self and the Duke of York I have by the Advice of some of my Confidents laid it so as to have it charg'd upon meaner Persons as Walcott Rumbold c. And being provided with the Lord Howard of Escrick and other Evidences fit for my purpose the Matter shall be sworn boldly home And thus shall I revenge my self on those Men who have appear'd with so much Zeal against me and my Brother and rid our selves of such dangerous Enemies And at the same time to make the Belief of the Plot obtain amongst the People I will order a Day of Thanksgiving for the Discovery which will give the Clergy an occasion to run down the Phanaticks and assert the Truth of their Design to overturn the Church and State under the specious Pretext of consulting how to preserve and maintain their Religion and Liberties By this means I may go on to cut off their Ring-leaders securely and the Lord Russel and Algernon Sidney particularly the former for having dar'd to carry up the Bill of Exclusion to the House of Lords and because he is popular and the apparent Heir to a great Estate of Church-lands which will make him vigorous in his Opposition to Popery and the latter because of his being an old Rebel against my Father a Person of Antimonarchical Principles and one whom the Faction admires for his Counsel and Conduct I know what will be urg'd in their Defence as that their innocent Discourses and Meetings are aggravated that the Evidence against them is infamous and defective and that my Attorney and others are mov'd with Bribes and the Prospect of Preferments from the Court to harangue them out of their Lives but those Cobweb-Objections I can easily break now that the Tide runs with as much Violence against them as they carried it formerly against the Catholicks for which I am obliged to my Bishops and Clergy who have espous'd the Business with so much Zeal because I have turn'd the Chase upon the Phanaticks And to engage them yet further I have ordered some of the Scots Presbyterian Gentry c. who lurk'd about Town to be sent to Scotland that so the Plot given out to be carried on in both Nations by the Phanaticks and Republicans may acquire the more universal Credit The Death of my Lord Russel I perceive is a great Mortification to the Party who are now as much dejected as they were formerly elevated in the time of the Popish Plot and seditious Parliaments But that which pleases me most is the bringing of the Protestant Interest in my Kingdoms so low and splitting them to pieces by a Wedg of their own tho I have been deserted in a great measure both by my Friends of France and Rome But my Brother I perceive carries the thing too far and I find it generally suspected that all was not fair in relation to the Earl of Essex yet the News of his having cut his own Throat was of singular Use to advance the Credit of the