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
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
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
time so that according to this Doctrine there is no other Church nor Interpreter of Scripture but that which lies in every Man 's giddy Brain I desire to know therefore of every serious Considerer of these things whether the great Work of our Salvation ought to depend upon such a Sandy Foundation as this Did Christ ever say to the Civil Magistrate much less to the People that he would be with them to the End of the World Or did he give them the Power to forgive Sins St. Paul tells the Corinthians Ye are God's Husbandry ye are God's Building we are Labourers with God This shews who are the Labourers and who are the Husbandry and Building And in this whole Chapter and in the preceeding one St. Paul takes great pains to set forth that they the Clergy have the Spirit of God without which no Man searcheth the deep things of God and he concludeth the Chapter with this Verse For who hath known the Mind of the Lord that he may instruct him But we have the Mind of Christ Now if we do but consider in humane Probability and Reason the Powers Christ leaves to his Church in the Gospel and St. Paul explains so distinctly afterwards we cannot think that our Saviour said all these things to no purpose And pray consider on the other side that those who resist the Truth and will not submit to his Church draw their Arguments from Implications and far-fetch'd Interpretations at the same time that they deny plain and positive Words which is so great a Disingenuity that 't is not almost to be thought that they can believe themselves Is there any other Foundation of the Protestant Church but that if the Civil Magistrate please he may call such of the Clergy as he thinks fit for his turn at that time and turn the Church either to Presbytery Independency or indeed what he pleases This was the way of our pretended Reformation here in England and by the same Rule and Authority it may be altered into as many more Shapes and Forms as there are Fancies in Mens Heads 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 UPON Thursday the Fifth of February 1685. between seven and eight a Clock in the Evening I was sent for in haste to the Queen's Back-stairs at Whitehall and desired to bring with me all things necessary for a dying Person Accordingly I came and was order'd not to stir from thence till farther notice being thus obliged to wait and not having had time to bring along with me the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar I was in some Anxiety how to procure it In this conjuncture the Divine Providence so disposing Father Bento de Lemos a Portugez came thither and understanding the Circumstance I was in readily proffer'd himself to go to St. James's and bring the most Holy Sacrament along with him Soon after his Departure I was call'd into the King's Bed-chamber where approaching to the Bed-side and kneeling down I in brief presented his Majesty with what Service I could perform for God's Honour and the Happiness of his Soul at this last Moment on which Eternity depends The King then declared himself That he desired to die in the Faith and Communion of the Holy Roman Catholick Church That he was most heartily sorry for all the Sins of his Life past and particularly for that he had deferred his Reconciliation so long That through the Merits of Christ's Passion he hoped for Salvation That he was in Charity with all the World That with all his Heart he pardon'd his Enemies and desired Pardon of all those whom he had any wise offended and that if it pleased God to spare him longer Life he would amend it detesting all Sin I then advertis'd his Majesty of the Benefit and Necessity of the Sacrament of Penance which Advertisement the King most willingly embracing made an exact Confession of his whole Life with exceeding Compunction and Tenderness of Heart which ended I desired him in farther sign of Repentance and true Sorrow for his Sins to say with me this little short Act of Contrition O my Lord God! with my whole Heart and Soul I detest all the Sins of my Life past for the Love of Thee whom I love above all things and I firmly purpose by thy Holy Grace never to offend Thee more Amen Sweet Jesus Amen Into thy Hands Sweet Jesus I commend my Soul Mercy Sweet Jesus Mercy This he pronounced with a clear and audible Voice which done and his Sacramental Penance admitted I gave him Absolution After some time thus spent I asked his Majesty if he did not also desire to have the other Sacraments of the Holy Church administred unto him He reply'd By all means I desire to be Partaker of all the Helps and Succours necessary and expedient for a Catholick Christian in my Condition I added And doth not your Majesty also desire to receive the precious Body and Blood of our dear Saviour Jesus Christ in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist His Answer was this If I am worthy pray fail not to let me have it I then told him it would be brought to him very speedily and desired his Majesty that in the Interim he would give me leave to proceed to the Sacrament of Extreme Unction he replied With all my Heart I then anointed him which as soon as perform'd I was call'd to the Door whither the Blessed Sacrament was now brought and delivered to me Then returning to the King I entreated his Majesty that he would prepare and dispose himself to receive At which the King raising up himself said Let me meet my Heavenly Lord in a better Posture than in my Bed But I humbly begg'd his Majesty to repose himself God Almighty who saw his Heart would accept of his good Intention The King then having again recited the forementioned Act of Contrition with me he received the most Holy Sacrament for his Viaticum with all the Symptoms of Devotion imaginable The Communion being ended I read the usual Prayers termed the Recommendation of the Soul appointed by the Church for Catholicks in his Condition After which the King desired the Act of Contrition O my Lord God c. to be repeated This done for his last spiritual Encouragement I said Your Majesty hath now received the Comfort and Benefit of all the Sacraments that a good Christian ready to depart out of this World can have or desire Now it rests only that you think upon the Death and Passion of our dear Saviour Jesus Christ of which I present unto you this Figure shewing him a Crucifix lift up therefore the Eyes of your Soul and represent to your self your sweet Saviour here crucified bowing down his Head to kiss you his Arms stretched out to imbrace you his Body and Members all bloody and pale with Death to redeem you and as you see him dead and fixed upon the Cross for your Redemption so have his Remembrance fixed and fresh in your Heart Beseech him with all Humility that his most precious Blood may not be shed in vain for you and that it will please him by the Merits of his bitter Death and Passion to pardon and forgive you all your Offences And finally to receive your Soul into his blessed Hands and when it shall please him to take it out of this transitory World to grant you a joyful Resurrection and an Eternal Crown of Glory in the next In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen So recommending his Majesty on my Knees with all the Transport of Devotion I was able to the Divine Mercy and Protection I withdrew out of the Chamber In Testimony of all which I have hereunto subscribed my Name JO. HVDLESTON ERRATA PAge 105. line 2. read happier Ibid. l. 3. after Restraint supply than the Brutes
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
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
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 FOrtune begins now to look upon me with a more favourable Aspect when the Great Potentates of Europe court me to be present at a Treaty of Peace which if concluded may tend to my Restoration without being obliged to my own Subjects and then I may introduce the Catholick Religion in an open manner as the Condition of the Assistance which is granted to me by Catholick Princes But alas the malign Influences of my Stars are not yet exhausted for the Treaty is turn'd only to a Cessation of Arms the French are very cold in their Caresses and the Spaniards have only granted me some Complimental Honours Nor have I been more successful in my Subjects Indeavours Sir George Booth and his Party are defeated so that I find the Presbyterians were more successful against my Father than ever they have been since for him or me And the Church-of England-men though they will expect to reap the greatest Benefit from my Restoration are very slack in their Endeavours towards it The only thing which looks with a favourable Aspect as to my Affairs is that the Nations are madded with so many Changes of Government and always subjected to the Tyranny of the Army Their Parliaments the Conservation of whose Privileges had a great share in beginning the War are also trampled under foot which I know must exceedingly disgust the People The main Anchor of my Hopes is General Monk whom I must caress with great Promises to carry on my Designs under a pretence of being zealous against me till such time as he may safely declare himself for me The Scots I know are weary of the English Usurpation and many of the Presbyterians there do still think that I am their Friend so that it will be easy for him to secure my Interest in that Nation and while he summons their Gentry to abjure me by the Tender he may form the Plot for my Restoration CHAP. 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 NOW Fortune is surely sated with my Miseries and instead of her Frowns vouchsafes me her Smiles My Designs at length have prov'd successful and now I am mounting to the Top of the Wheel but that Lady is so fickle and unconstant that I must be careful of the Measures which I take and give my Subjects kind Words now if I would have them to be my Servants for ever The English Loyalty is purer than that of the Scots who demanded much harder Terms from me and seeing I swore the greater I may very well promise the lesser being resolved to keep them both alike And seeing the Puritans complain'd of being persecuted in my Father's Reign I must promise an Indulgence to tender Consciences and in short take all possible Methods to sweeten my Subjects till such time as I be settled upon the Throne and then I shall punish the stubborn Schismaticks with a Vengeance for their old Rebellion But I must be very cautious and counterfeit a deal of Piety before the Puritanical Parsons who are sent over to me I must prepare some Prayers in their own canting Dialect and order them to be brought where they may hear me at them in my Closet and for once I 'll imitate Oliver who used always to pray with an audible Voice by which he drew his Followers into a great Opinion of his Piety He 's a cursed Pattern indeed but according to the Proverb Fas est ab hoste doceri And if I can but impose upon those Leading Priests the Cant will take universally amongst the Party and I shall carry on my Designs with the more Facility It 's true that according to the common Notion of the World this may seem Atheistical but seeing the Catholick Church will avouch that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks it cannot be unlawful for me to dissemble with them and if there be a God he is not certainly such as we have him represented else he had never pav'd my Way to the Throne seeing he must know that I never design'd to keep one Word of my Promises so that I have no reason to suffer any Disquiet in my Thoughts upon that account for when those who call themselves Divines and make it their Trade cannot agree whether there be only one God and no Persons or one God and three Persons nor yet as to the Rule which he hath left to direct us nor the Meaning of that which some of them pretend to be the Rule let meaner Persons trouble themselves about these Speculations I 'll concern my self how to live like a King And seeing in their own Dialect they call me a God upon Earth they shall obey my Will as the Vice-gerent of Heaven And since it is uncertain whether there be either a God or a Heaven I 'll ease my self of the Trouble of my Prayers for time to come as I have already done for some time past and yet I perceive that my Affairs go on and prosper while theirs who do not only pray but also howl and whine are on the Declension and certainly their God must be a very unkind Soveraign to suffer the best of his Subjects for so they must be if the Bible be his Word to lie under the greatest Affliction Surely I would not do so to the best of my Subjects if I could help it but if they be such Fools as to think that Afflictions make them the fitter for Heaven qui decipi vult decipiatur for my part if I can I 'll take my pleasure here and venture upon what is to come hereafter There is still one dangerous Rock more on which I must beware of splitting and that is lest the People be jealous of my Designs on their Civil Liberties for let them clamour and talk of Religion as much as they will I find that to be pinch'd in the other is their principal Grievance so that Stiffness in Religion is a thing peculiar to the Scots Presbyterians and their bigotted Followers However I must be high in my Protestations that there is nothing which I do so much lay to heart as the Advancement of the Protestant Religion and the Conservation of the Privileges of Parliament that all the Unkindnesses which I and mine have met with from Protestants have not been able to alter my Opinion as to the former nor have all the Invasions which they have made upon my Prerogative been able to put me out of Conceit with the latter but that I shall always look upon their Counsel as the best and be ready to comply with such Measures
as they propose for the Advancement of Religion and Liberty CHAP. 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 MY Designs have taken and my Subjects are thereupon returned to their Duty so that now I am recall'd by the Consent of the Nation who were wearied by the Oppressions of the late Anarchy I may now with Safety put off my Vizard in some measure and say with Pope Sixtus V. that it 's needless to stoop any longer now that I have found the Keys The People I perceive are come to a high Flight of Loyalty so that my small Escapes will not be taken notice of And seeing all this Solemnity is for me why should not I chiefly reap the Sweets of it If the Subjects indulge themselves as to Wine and Women upon this occasion why should the same be denied to their Soveraign The best way to carry on my Designs is to begin my Reign with Jollity which will be grateful to those who have been so long restrain'd from Liberty By this means I shall be sure to have the strongest Party for all Mens natural Inclinations which the Precisians call Lusts and Corruptions will be certainly for me and if once they get a Vent will break out like an Inundation now that they have so long been under a Restraint The youthful Nobility and Gentry will certainly adore my Reign on this account as August and Splendid and the Churchmen will be glad to be from under the Checks and Grimaces of the Puritans so that the Whole being immers'd in Jollity and Pleasure they 'l quickly leave off the Cant of Religion and Property and they who do otherwise will be made the Subject of publick Ignominy Why may not I have the Countess of Castlemain as well as David had Bathsheba The Solemnity of this Day is a much more excusable Tentation than his viewing of a beautiful Woman from the top of his House If I be privately reproach'd as having invaded another Man's Property I can tell them publickly that Princes are not to be limited as private Men they have a Right to the Persons and Goods of their Subjects and who ought to say to a King What dost thou If I keep them from incroaching upon one another they may very well allow me my Liberty I am accountable to none but God and him I will venture to take in my own Hand the Advancement of the Catholick Church will atone for all other Miscarriages so that as to this I have no reason to be sollicitous a good End will hallow the worst of Means and seeing those who are called the debauchedst of Men have sometimes Pangs and Gripes of Conscience a Licentiousness of Practice is the best Method of the World to reduce such to the Church of Rome because Pardons may be had for the highest of Crimes so that a Man may enjoy the Pleasures of Sin and not only be freed from the Punishment due to it but also assur'd of Heaven at last And herein the Pope does as much as Mahomet though under a Vail of greater Modesty and secures to his Followers the Pleasures both of this World and that which is to come so that I shall take care by this Method to pave the way for the Return of Popery and make it appear that Debauchery is look'd upon by me as the best Test of Loyalty as indeed it will be for sure I am that Debauchees as foolish Men call those who indulge the innocent Appetites of Nature will never be Enemies to a Reign which allows them in it but on the contrary will be my surest Defence against all the Attempts of the Puritanical Precisians CHAP. XXVIII On the Parliament's condemning the Regicides and appointing an Anniversary Humiliation on the Day of King Charles I's Murder NOW when the Kingdom is in a Ferment of Loyalty I must take care to revenge my Father's Death wherein I shall be sure of the Concurrence of the Parliament because that same Hand which cut off his Head cut off their Privileges but I must push it further than I 'm afraid they will be willing and by my Friends and Pensioners procure an Act for an Anniversary Commemoration of my Father's Murder by which I shall blazon his Vertues to all Posterity and load his Enemies with the Height of Reproach which will mightily tend to the Establishment of my Prerogative for by crying out against his Murder all manner of Opposition against Soveraigns will be condemn'd I am sure of having the Church of England's Assistance because those that destroyed him did also destroy them so that they will certainly defend his Cause as their own and the more that they extol my Father the more they depress their own Enemies so that I need not doubt but the Church-men will express themselves with all the Hyperboles imaginable to display the Horridness of the Murder and the Piety and singular Vertues of their Martyr which will be of special Use to support my Pretensions to an absolute Monarchy for when the Generality of the Pulpits ring with Declamations for Passive Obedience it will create an Universal Abhorrence of all such as are for any manner of Resistance which the Church-men will find themselves oblig'd to promote that they may throw Dirt upon the Presbyterians who are Enemies to their Hierarchy And thus by keeping the Protestants at Enmity amongst themselves and the stiffest and most obstinate amongst them under the Hatches I shall be the better enabled to destroy the whole and bring in Popery by Degrees if not by Head and Shoulders But as to the Regicides to have them condemned has been no hard matter because the Parliament did never approve of their Proceedings and from their Condemnation I shall reap this Advantage that the Means must fall under the same Censure with the Instruments and all things which contributed to my Father's Death as a pretended Zeal for Religion and the Privileges of the People will be look'd upon as certain Marks of Disloyalty CHAP. XXIX On his Majesty's dissolving the Parliament which called him in and summoning another THis Parliament hath done all that I am to expect from them and therefore it 's expedient that I should dissolve them it not being safe to trust too much to a Parliament that has such an Alloy I must summon another which will be fitter for my purpose and bring in as many of my Companions in Exile as I can Their Spirits are imbitter'd by their former Sufferings and their Purses are still sensible of their Sequestrations which will make them the more eager for a Revenge and to help it on I will still keep them low and feed them with Promises to carry on my Designs I must now begin to think of my Engagements to the Catholicks and towards the better accomplishing of them must restore the Bishops which I can easily do now that the House is fill'd with
my Friends who will be glad of such a Revenge upon the Presbyterians I have weather'd the Point in other things of as great Consequence so that I need not despair of succeeding in this Let the Scots Phanaticks upbraid me with the Breach of Covenant and the English Roundheads with my Declaration from Breda I am not concern'd to regard such Trifles The former was tyrannically impos'd both upon me and my Subjects and the latter was only an Essay of Policy When I was under Restraint I might abate of my Prerogative but now that I am at Liberty I may as lawfully regain it for I can never be divested of my native Right They both say that I am God's Vice-gerent and therefore if I part with my own Prerogative I part with his but if I must follow my own Inclination I had rather say with the noble Pharaoh Who is the Lord that I should obey him And if the Puritans call themselves Israelites I 'm resolv'd to keep them in Bondage and though I don't allow them Straw will exact the Tale of the Brick I shall expect as much Loyalty and Obedience from them as from those who have my Favour and if I find them come short they shall be sure to smart for it They are a Company of idle Enthusiasts and therefore say Let us go serve the Lord but they shall serve him in my way or not at all I have already overturned their Babel in Scotland or have rather indeed kept it under as I found it for Oliver had pretty well humbled them to my hand and instead of an Indulgence there shall be a strict Uniformity in England which will set the Episcopal Party and the Presbyterians together by the Ears and then the Catholicks may take their Advantages to promote their Religion and I shall improve the Opportunity to advance my Prerogative When the Pulpits are once emptied of the Presbyterian Parsons who preach up such rigid Morals I 'll take care that the Bishops shall not imploy Precisians but Men of a more courtly and complaisant Temper who will allow a greater Latitude both in Doctrine and Example that the Church may have no reason to upbraid the Loosness of the Court Nor shall I value the moross Reflections of Fanaticks upon my Principles and Practice but contemn them as unworthy of a Monarch's Regard I am happy in the Model of this present Parliament for they have given me as much as I can at present desire they have made me an Offering of the Peoples Purses Privileges and Lives have enacted such Laws as will make one Protestant devour another and do every thing according to my own Mind How great is the Change betwixt mine and my Father's Days when the Parliament thought they could never restrain him enough and my Parliament think every thing too little for me Thus the Triennial Act which secur'd the Peoples Properties and was with so much Struggling obtain'd from my Father is now made a Sacrifice to my Prerogative so that their chiefest Fortress is surrendred at once They have not only provided for my living in Slpendor but also taken care of my Reputation And lest some sharp-sighted Fellows should perceive my Design of introducing Popery they have forbid it to be spoken of on pain of Praemunire though at the same time I be in actual Correspondence with the Pope so that I find my Pensions are well laid out and though at present they be expensive yet they are but like the putting of a small Quantity of Water into a Pump to draw out an hundred times more CHAP. 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 DIvide and Command was Machiavel's Maxim and I find it very necessary for me to put in practice that my Subjects may not unite against me as formerly against my Father That I may the better revenge my Father's Death and my own Injury upon the Puritans I must find a way to make them be thought guilty of Plots against the Government which will be readily believ'd because they join'd with the Parliament against my Father and look upon themselves as oppress'd and betray'd by me and I need not doubt of its being believ'd by those of the Church of England who are their irreconcileable Enemies for when the one is up the other must go down and then I shall reap this Advantage from it that the Pulpits will thunder Invectives against them and bring the general Odium of the Nation upon them by which some of them will be obliged to comply which will create Divisions amongst their own Party And some of the moderate Churchmen will be displeased at the Severities used against the Presbyterians and by this Means I shall break all the Protestants to pieces amongst themselves To give my Accusation the Face at least of Probability I must take care to have treasonable Letters lodged with their chief Patrons for which Sir J. P. is a very fit Instrument It will also be a very proper Method to suborn Fellows to talk of treasonable Designs amongst such of them as are unwary and if they cannot be indicted for High Treason they may very well be pursued for Misprision of Treason and if they themselves be brought to confess that they heard of such Designs others will believe that they had actually a hand in contriving them and when once some of them are convicted by Publick Justice and executed accordingly it will confirm the Belief of a Plot and strike a Terror into the rest But that the State may not bear all the blame I must bring in the Church for a share and though I appoint them by Commission to confer with the Nonconformists about Methods for a Comprehension yet they shall have private Instructions not to comply And that they may not at first perceive my Design I shall take care to insinuate that their conceding in one thing will occasion all the rest to be call'd in question and then by the Influence of the Bishops in the House of Lords and of the Members of the Clergy's Choice in the House of Commons I shall bring it to pass that the Phanaticks shall fall into a general Disgrace and be reputed not only such in Name but in Deed and not at all worthy of a Toleration which I reckon the best Politicks that I can put in practice to ruine the most zealous Professors of the Protestant Religion first and then the rest will quickly be brought to comply with my Designs and abandon that Religion of which they have little or nothing but the Name or at least render it odious and of small Esteem by walking unanswerably to its Principles And if any cunning Fellow shall smell out my Design I have provided against his daring to speak of it by the Act
against those who shall declare me a Papist or that I have a Design to introduce Popery And though those who are sharp-sighted may laugh at such a Provision as rather giving than taking away Cause of Suspicion yet when it dare not be openly talk'd of amongst the Vulgar it will not obtain a common Belief And the Church of England whom I support against the Phanaticks will certainly support me against their Censures And thus when I have made one Party of Protestants to bait the other sufficiently if the Church of England prove refractory afterwards to my Designs then I shall endeavour by remitting the Rigour of the Law to ingage the Dissenters on my side to favour an universal Toleration by which my Friends the Papists may have ease if the Episcopal Party begin to grudg at my Favours towards them or to fear that at last they may dispossess themselves CHAP. XXXI On his Majesty's selling of Dunkirk to the French King for 500000 l. THis I know will be censured as an impolitick Action and the shutting my self out of the Continent whereunto this Town opened a Door by which I might have invaded France and the Netherlands when I pleased It 's true that it was a Monument of England's Glory but such an one as being erected under the Conduct of an Usurper is not for the Credit of me nor my Family and therefore lest it should be an Allurement to re-intice my People to a Commonwealth I will make it a Sacrifice to my Cousin the French King Not that I owe so much to his Kindness but that he may supply my present Necessities with his Money And to testify my farther Resentments of that impious Rebellion the Citadels which Oliver built shall be raz'd throughout my Dominions and the Towns which held out against my Father dismantled and if it were not that the Consequence would be fatal to my self every one of them should be sowed with Salt their Inhabitants made to pass under Saws of Iron and have their Flesh torn with the Briars and Thorns of the Wilderness But I must pretend other Causes to the People lest they should be enraged as that I won't keep up Garisons amongst them when there is no need to disturb their Commerce nor leave it in the Power of other Kings to do it when the Places which are capable of being garison'd are dismantled though in reality it is to prevent the Rebels from nestling there or having recourse to them to favour their Rebellion the best way to be rid of the Harpies being to destroy their Nests And that I may free my self at once as much as is possible from that viperous Brood as I have already disbanded the Army under pretence that I would not keep up one in time of Peace but in reality because I would not have such a Body of well-disciplin'd Troops of their Principles together lest at any time they should make head against me as against their former Masters the Parliament Richard c. So now I 'll forbid their old Officers to stay within 20 Miles of London and the Remainders of the Troops I 'll send to fight against the Spaniards in my Wife's Quarrel and if they never return as I hope few of them will I can very well bear the Loss CHAP. 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 IT 's a mischievous thing for a Soveraign to be limited and to be obliged to act the King only by halves How happy is my Brother of France who is not troubled with such Fetters but his Will does pass for an uncontroulable Law I abhor those Parliaments for they are nothing else but Spies upon Kings and dive into their most reserved and hidden Intrigues I find they begin to suspect my Religion and grudg at the Favours which I show to the Papists and therefore I must proceed slowly and surely Their Zeal to my Prerogative is regulated by their own Interest which makes them oppose my Dispensing Power So that I find I am only absolute against Phanaticks and Republicans but when I come to meddle with the Church of England my Power is limited and the Parliament must then be Sharers of the Soveraignty Their Petitions against my Administration may issue in Remonstrances against my Government as it happened in my Father's time and therefore it is my Interest to flatter them a little and by a Proclamation against the Papists to create an Opinion of my Firmness to the Protestant Religion in the Publick draw Money from the Purses of the Commons and so to recoil to give the stronger and heavier Blow CHAP. 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 I Find that I shall bring my Designs about by Degrees and under the Notion of Plotters execute Vengeance upon mine Enemies without incurring the Censure of being bloody or cruel It 's true that it may seem hard that I should take the Earl of Argyle's Head who was the Person that set the Crown upon my own But during this Extacy of Loyalty in which the Nations are at present the Method of such Proceedings will be the less taken notice of and it 's absolutely necessary for my purpose that the Earl of Argyle should be taken out of the way the Greatness of his Power and his Zeal for his Religion may otherwise prove great Impediments to my Designs I have Pretences enough against him because of his Activity in the Parliament's Rebellion and his Death will be acceptable to the Church of England because he was Head of the Presbyterians and the Friends of the late Marquiss of Montrosse and all the Cavaliers will concur with my Design against him and though there is no doubt but that he will profess his Innocence on the Scaffold yet the Authority of a publick Sentence will be of greater Weight or at least restrain the People from open Murmurings By his Death I shall have also this farther Advantage that the Power of his Clan will be thereby reduced and neither be formidable to my self nor Successors it being the Interest of all Crowns to guard against too potent Subjects As to Sir Archibald Johnston of Wariston though he be not so great in Power yet he is nothing inferiour to the other in Policy but indeed far above him and as the Trojans ow'd their Destruction more to Vlysses's Counsels than Achilles's Arms it 's my Interest to rid my self of a Politician who is my Enemy as soon as of one who is greater in Power and Quality And though it be reckon'd no great Policy for a Monarch newly re-establish'd to cement his Throne with
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
St. James's or Foreign Ambassadors but those who belong to my Mother the Queen Consort and the Ambassador's own Families though at the same time I shall take care that they suffer no Damage for contraveening it And to pluck up their Jealousies by the very Roots that I may give them the more surprizing Blow I will make a defensive Alliance with the Dutch and Swedes which will remove all their Fears as to the head of Religion And another for an effectual Mediation of Peace betwixt France and Spain which will look with a favourable Aspect towards their Civil Rights but in the mean time I shall connive at the Progress of the French Arms in the Spanish Netherlands the better to make way for our Designs upon Holland The Parliament being thus sweetned I will move for Money to rig out another Fleet which as soon as I obtain they shall be adjourned and prorogued so as they may not trouble me with their Importunities to assist the Netherlands for I know they will be unwilling of the French King's Neighbourhood though the same will be convenient for me to accomplish my Designs for in that case they will be prevail'd upon by their Fear to allow me a standing Army that I may always be provided against such a potent Enemy and then in a little time I shall rule by the Sword and command their Money to spend upon my Pleasures CHAP. 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 IF I cannot ruine the Interest of the Hereticks in General yet I can keep those under who are obnoxious to the Laws which were happily procured during the Height of the Church of England's Zeal and Loyalty And seeing all my other Measures fail me I am resolv'd to drive the Nail that will go That Phanatical Crew are my greatest Enemies and therefore I have reason to deal with them as such Their Rigidity of Principles and Austerity of Practice render them odious to all Men who love their Pleasures and they are no less hateful to me because of their Politicks as having an inveterate Prejudice against the Prerogative and being great Patrons of the Privileges of Parliament so that from those of their Kidney I meet with the greatest Obstructions for which I have sworn and will take a Revenge It being moreover my Interest to nourish mutual Animosities amongst my Protestant Subjects and make the two Factions irreconcileable that so I may keep them from uniting against me in defence of their Common Religion and Liberties By this Method I have humbled the Kingdom of Scotland and I doubt not but it will have the same effect in England It 's necessary however for the concealing of my Design to invite the Dutch and Swedes to a League who both of them being Protestant States it will possess the common People that I have still a Zeal for that Religion but in reality I shall hereby ensnare the Dutch and render them more liable to the Fury of France My being divided from them by the Sea will furnish me with Excuses for delaying to give them Assistance or if I send them any Forces I can prevent their being serviceable make use of them as I find Opportunity to seize some of their Towns or find occasion of Quarrel and join the French However this Triple League will please my Parliament and to impose further upon them I will propound a nearer Alliance with the Dutch and bring the French and the Spaniards to a Treaty of Peace which my Subjects will look upon as the securing of themselves but at the same time I will take care to maintain the French Interest and secure them some considerable Posts upon the Frontiers that so the Door may be open for a new Invasion whenever he sees his time However I must not be wanting to have my Conduct in this Point applauded to the height as also my Care for the Honour Safety and Commerce of my Subjects in this Affair magnified the better to obtain a Subsidy from the Parliament The Spaniards I know are dissatisfied at this Treaty because it obliges them to a Surrender of a great part of their Country and the French are not well pleased to be stopp'd in their Career but I must prefer my own Interest to both It 's for my Reputation to be successful in so weighty an Affair and it will make me the more valued at home when they see that I have so much Influence abroad CHAP. 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 THE Messenger is enough to procure Acceptance to the Message for who can deny the Request of such a beautiful Princess though she were not my Sister The Message of it self is very acceptable though infinitely full of hazardous Intrigue It will reflect upon my Honour to break that League of which I was in a manner the Author and invited all the Princes of Europe to join in it It 's true I am pretty well accustomed to breaking of Compacts so that this will not be my first Essay and though others may not only hate but contemn me for it yet this Satisfaction I shall certainly reap from it that thereby I outwit so many Sovereign Princes whereas hitherto I have only deceived my own Subjects Though this League be made with more honourable Persons yet it was far from being so solemn as the Scots League and Covenant so that as to what concerns Conscience I may as well do the less as the greater and in this I have an Advantage which I wanted in that as having Lewis the XIVth for a Partner in the Crime if it be one and it 's pretty manifest to all that know us that we never intended to be Slaves to our Word To destroy the Dutch and the Protestant Religion and render my self absolute in England are all Glorious Designs but not so easy to be practis'd as propos'd For my Concurrence in the first I can form plausible Pretexts enough and if that were once accomplish'd the other will be the more easily effected Great Designs ought to be deeply weighed and therefore I must give a cautious Answer but not engage in a positive Promise yet something I must say to please the Messenger in order to obtain my Desires of her which I must confess Nature seems to abhor but my heightned Passion will neither admit any Limits nor Denial How happy are they in those Parts of the World where they know no such
the Populace the several Companies must be influenc'd to make Complaints on that Head against them or if they won't yet I can assert it boldly in my Declaration It 's true that the Phanatical Part of my Subjects perceive my Design and mutter it where they dare do it with Safety but a Royal Declaration will be sufficient to weigh down the Clamours of such And though they complain of the Injuries done to my Subjects in the Foreign Plantations by the French yet all these must be buried in Oblivion so that I shall order such Complaints to be received but the Grievances shall never be redressed I must also represent the Dishonour done to the Nation by the Dutch's refusing to strike to the English Flag and the Affronts put upon my self by scandalous Medals and Pictures which my Pensioners and Friends in the House of Commons will take care to aggravate to the Height It will be a meritorious piece of Service at this time to find occasion of Quarrel with the Dutch now when they are out in pursuance of the Triple League to prevent the Progress of the French in the Netherlands It is not to be supposed that they will be guilty of such a manifest Breach as to refuse to strike to my Fleet or any of my Men of War in my own Seas and therefore I will order a small Yatch to sail through their Navy on their own Coast and upon their not striking as in such a case they will scarcely think themselves oblig'd to do I shall have Ground enough to found a Quarrel My next Care must be to prevent the Dutch's coming to a Treaty or offering Satisfaction and to declare War when they come near a Conclusion that so the French may have Opportunity of over-running their Country and they and I shall divide the Spoil But this being a Design of great Importance I must take care to keep it secret and therefore it 's fit that I should put out of the Council all those that are disaffected to the Intrigue on the pretence of its being contrary to the Interest of England and the Protestant Religion A War with the Dutch being resolved on my next Care must be to provide Money which are its Sinews The pursuit of my Pleasures which are the chiefest Good that my Soul desires have drain'd my Treasury so that I must think of some Method to fill it again My Subjects are averse to this War against their Fellow-Protestants and will not easily be brought to contribute for carrying it on but having decoyed abundance of the wealthiest of them to bring their Money into the Exchequer upon hopes of great Gain I am resolv'd to shut it up and apply the Money found there to the Use of the War This will be an effectual Means to drain the Purses of my Heretical Subjects and if they murmur I shall make use of their own Money to chastise them but I am in no hazard of a Rebellion upon this account for although the Loss will affect the whole Nation yet immediately it reaches only to few None put in Money into the Exchequer but those who have enough left behind and for such they 'l be loth to hazard the Loss of the rest by any Tumult or Sedition especially when Passive Obedience is preach'd to them daily from the Pulpits that their Lives and Fortunes ought all to be at the Service of their Prince who has Power to make use of them as he thinks fit according to the several Exigencies of State This being one certain Method of procuring Money to carry on the War at the Charge of my Heretical Subjects I have another in view to make the Dutch contribute toward it themselves and that is by seizing their Smyrna Fleet before War be declared This it 's true will look ill but the Catholick Maxim that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks absolves me from all Guilt and if I be successful in the War as I have very great Reason to hope then I can justify the Action by the Event as I did formerly when I fell upon their Fleet before Cadiz and yet I have weather'd out all the Storms of Reproach which were impending over me upon that Account To blind my Subjects still further I must pretend that nothing but unavoidable Necessity could have prevail'd with me to have shut up the Exchequer but that the Welfare and Advantage of particular Persons must always give way to that of the Publick that it 's better to seize the Money of a few to make use of it in Defence of the whole than suffer Foreigners to invade us and hazard our All that seeing all my Neighbours are preparing for War it 's not fit that I should lay my self open to Surprize and my Treasure being spent and my Revenues anticipated it 's but reasonable that I should take the first Money that comes to hand for defence of the Publick Then as to my attacking the Dutch I must justify it by charging them with Ingratitude to this Nation notwithstanding of the many Favours conferred upon them by my self and Predecessors and I am sure of having the Clergy on my side because of the Hatred which they have against the Dutch both upon the account of their Government in Church and State and they together with the Court-Party will raise a Clamour sufficient to drown the Murmurs of the Phanaticks whom I have also endeavoured to take off by dispensing with the Laws which are in being against them CHAP. 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 THE Dutch by their Diligence have ballanced my Dissimulation and surprized me instead of my surprizing of them This is a remarkable Disgrace to my Brother and me and will strengthen the former Reflections that have been made on our Conduct confirm the World in the belief of the Unsuccessfulness of our Arms and make my Subjects curse our Amours as the fatal Causes of all their Ruine It 's true that his Carriage in this Affair is highly to be blamed that he should be so intent on the satisfying of his Passion for a Woman when his chief Passion ought to have been the acquiring of immortal Honour for me and himself by executing Vengeance on the Heretical Dutch But why should I upbraid him with it seeing this Temper is hereditary to him and me both I must excuse it to the People as the Fortune of War and in the mean time comfort my self with the Success of my Allies the French who have well nigh over-run them by Land though they have had the better of me by Sea and that Element does now triumph over their Country upon which they so lately triumph'd over me they being under a necessity of drowning
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
to have it introduc'd here and therefore concur with the Phanatical Members to oppose the keeping up of a Standing Army and as they have excluded their Brethren the Dissenters they are also unwilling that the Roman Catholicks should be Sharers with them in Places of Power and Trust so that my Episcopal Subjects are indeed very Loyal but it 's on this Condition that they alone may enjoy the Bag and if either I or any of my Successors shall put out our hands and touch them in their Property I make no doubt of it but they will curse us to our Face and therefore I must take care to drive on cunningly but not furiously so that when I have a mind to be reveng'd on any of my Enemies I must represent them as Fanaticks and Commonwealths-Men then shall I be sure to have them baited from the Pulpits nor shall they find any more favourable Treatment when they come before the Benches CHAP. 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 MY Case is very desperate when I must have recourse to the Poorest of my Subjects for Money and that the Richest refuse it My Father and Grandfather took such Measures as tended to the keeping of Scotland low so that it 's no wonder that that Nation should have fail'd them in their Distress They were obliged by their Coronation-Oaths to live some part of their time there lest the Substance of the Kingdom should be spent in England by the Nobilities being obliged to frequent the Court but Reasons of State induc'd them to do otherwise for the Scots being a People tenacious of their Privileges and zealous for their Religion did oppose their Measures for advancing the Prerogative whence it became necessary to humble them lest their Example should have had bad Influence on the two other Kingdoms My Father it 's true would have proceeded further and design'd to have chastis'd their Contumacy with the Sword but how unsuccessful it proved in the Event is too late and recent to be forgotten their Kindness to me was truly remarkable in declaring me their King immediately upon his Murder but I am afraid that my treatment of them since hath effac'd those good Impressions which they had of me then seeing I have not only overturn'd the Presbyterians who were at that time my greatest Friends but cut off the Chief of their Patrons and brought the whole Party under the lash Cursed be the Necessity which occasions my application to them and may those Disciples of Passive Obedience the Church-of England-Men be dealt with in the same manner as they have dealt with me They pretended to receive me without any previous Terms and to own the Divine Right of my Succession to the Throne but now when I have settled the Discipline of their Church and brought the Dissenters under their feet they are also for disputing my Commands and confining my Prerogative within narrower Limits I must now try whether their Brethren the Episcopal Party in Scotland will be any thing more ingenuous and if they can really perform what they have so solemnly promised they have undertaken to assist me with 22000 Horse and Foot where-ever I shall have occasion then surely they may let me have the Money and save their Men which would do my business in an effectual Manner and that no means may be left unattempted I will send the Earl of Lauderdale their great Patron to perswade them to it But my cursed Fate continues inauspicious and I find that the Party in Scotland are very insignificant being not so much as able to grant me one Subsidy but instead of that I am presented with an Address of their Grievances and a smart Remonstrance against Lauderdale's Ministry back'd by the greatest of the Peers of Scotland whose Noise and Complaints have reach'd me in England and until those be redressed they won't so much as hear of any Overtures for Money I was made to believe that an unbounded Loyalty had been so universally diffused through that Kingdom that the Episcopal Party ador'd and the Presbyterians fear'd me but Experience teaches the contrary else what means this bleating of the Sheep and lowing of the Oxen the Episcopal Party though they alone are capable of being admitted to Parliament either cannot or will not give me Money and their Libel of Grievances are but an old Presbyterian Remonstrance newly vamp'd being an Impeachment of my Administration both in Church and State and including Desires in favour of the Dissenters They complain of the Monopoly of Salt which hath increased the price of it so much that what was formerly had for 4 cannot now be bought for 20s though the Inconvenience of this Monopoly was represented to me They do also murmur against the Impositions on Brandy and Tobacco and that the Lords of the Articles who were originally no more than a Committee of the Parliament's appointment are now advanc'd above Parliaments themselves That the Mint and Coinage are corrupted Persons ignorant and insufficient created Judges That the Bishop of Edinburgh and others of the Clergy are countenanc'd in preaching reflectingly upon the Parliament That Magistrates are illegally imposed upon the City of Edinburgh That eminent Offices are accumulated upon single Persons and conclude this Point with the Male-administration of my Revenue and the Earl of Lauderdale's excessive Greatness In the next place they complain of the Severity of the Laws against the Presbyterians and that my own Power is too great in Church-Affairs so that the Nations seem resolved to join Complaints against my Government and how fatal the Issue of that may be I can easily conjecture from by-past times therefore I must dismiss Duke Hamilton with a favourable Answer and promise a Redress of Grievances in Parliament that so I may allay their present Heat 'T is happy for me that I have two other Kingdoms by which I can overawe them or else their Address had been back'd by the Sword and they would probably have brought me on my Knees before their Parliament as they have done several of my Predecessors or have cut off my Head but I shall henceforth endeavour to put them out of a Capacity to deal so by me or any of my Successors And whereas the Presbyterians do tenaciously adhere to the pretended Liberties of their Fore-fathers instead of Rods by which they were chastis'd by my Father I shall henceforth order it so that they shall be punish'd with Scorpions that they may be rendred altogether unable to raise any Rebellion at home or assist the Parliament of England and the Protestants of Ireland abroad I will take such effectual Course to render them contemptible that they shall not henceforth have the Vanity as in my Father's time to think that the Representation of their Pressures can find
any Acceptance with their ancient Allies of France to whom they recommended themselves formerly by their Military Services so that at once I shall revenge upon them the Blood of all my Predecessors whom they have murdered and turn the best of their Country into a Hunting Field And herein I doubt not of the Concurrence or at least Connivance of the English Nation because of the ancient Enmity betwixt the two Kingdoms and if once the Scots be subjected I shall with the more Ease bring England under the Yoke CHAP. 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 MY Stars seem to threaten me with a Series of bad Influences I can neither have Money from my Subjects of Scotland nor England nor yet the wonted Supplies from France and now the Spaniards are not only become Mediators but threaten me if I continue the War with the Dutch What a mighty Change is this that they who did formerly seek their Destruction should now interpose for their Preservation and treat their formerly Rebel-Subjects with that Respect which is due to the best of their Allies And that his Catholick Majesty whose Predecessors were the greatest Champions for Popery and Absolute Monarchy should now become the Patron of Hereticks and Republicans I may hence observe that Princes pursue different Measures according to their different Interests and support those at one time whom at another they seek to destroy The Spaniard though esteem'd the most bigotted Papist yet prefers his Interest to his Religion and thinks it better to save the Heretical Dutch than to perish with them and to preserve their Commonwealth rather than to lose a Limb of his own Monarchy And seeing all the Neighbouring Monarchs pursue what they think their different Interests and summum bonum by such Methods as they themselves think best I may certainly be allowed to pursue my Pleasures which I reckon my chief Happiness by such Methods as I my self think convenient The Dutch take advantage from the Discontents of my Subjects and labour to foment Jealousies betwixt them and me and according to their Republican Humour would make the Parliament judg of my Actions whereby they would insinuate themselves into my Peoples Favour and blacken my Designs as much as they can Accordingly I do find that they have their Aim and the Commons have declared their Sentiments for a Peace so unhappy a thing it is when the Head and the Members don't agree and that Soveraign and Subjects drive different Designs I must try what Influence a Speech will have upon the Commons when larded with Promises of securing their Religion and Property and tell them that our Enemies place their greatest Hopes in our Divisions and seeing they prepare for a War it will be very dishonourable for the English Nation to be threatned into a Peace especially seeing the best way to procure an honourable Peace is to treat with the Sword in hand and to have a good Fleet ready to oppose them which cannot be effected without a large Supply I have also taken care to inform the House as to my Treaties with France of which they have had hitherto very frightful Representations but cannot prevail with them to believe what I say so far have their Jealousies got the Ascendant over them that Popery and Arbitrary Government are ready to break in upon them wherein the Earl of Shaftsbury proves a very ill Instrument and foments their Jealousies by discovering my Intrigues so mischievous a thing is it when great Courtiers fall off from their Duty so that now the Commons will listen to nothing without a firm Security for their Religion and Property and the better to insinuate to the People the greatness of their Danger they have made application to me to appoint a Fast desire that the Trainbands of London may be raised to suppress the tumultuous Meetings of the Papists and accuse my chief Ministers of Designs against the Nation for which they would have them banish'd my Presence for ever These are woful Circumstances to which I am reduc'd and afford me but a melancholy Subject of Meditation when I consider what Pains and Expence I have been at to deliver the Nations from the Bigotry of Religion by testifying how little I value it in my own Practice and how careful I have been to discourage it in others that now when my Parliament hath concurr'd with me for so many Years to ruine their dissenting Brethren at home and Protestant Neighbours abroad they should at last become refractory and obstinate and from an over-heated Zeal for Religion pursue the same Measures themselves which they have condemned in others I reckon'd that the indulging of a Licentiousness in Practice would at last have extinguish'd all Sense of that which they call Religion but the Event shews that I am mistaken The Phanaticks whom I have prosecuted will say that the Judgment of God hath pursu'd me and created a Difference betwixt me and my Parliament who did so unanimously concur to promote their Ruine and this Cant they will buz and spread about the Nation and value themselves upon their Foresight as having so long ago foretold what is now come to pass and by this Means work upon the present Fears and Ferment of the Nation but I shall fall upon a Method to be even with them afterwards and infallibly turn the Tables upon them In the mean time I must make the best Improvement of my present Circumstances that I can and seeing there is no avoiding of a Peace with the Dutch I must seek for a Pretence to come off with Honour for which the Marquiss de Fresno's Proposals in name of his Catholick Majesty come very opportunely for seeing they are new Proposals I can easily give out that they are more advantagious than the former and by seeming to advise with the Commons whether it be meet for me to accept of them or not I shall both please them and salve my own Reputation for my Allies the French will by this Means see that my concluding of Peace is the Effect of Constraint and not of Choice seeing I can neither have Money nor the Parliament's Consent to carry on the War and if the French King should complain that I act dishonourably in concluding a Peace without him it will be a plausible Answer that I am not Absolute as he is So that having neither Men nor Money at Command without my Parliament's Concurrence I am under a Necessity of discontinuing a War which they are against And seeing he hath fail'd me in his promised Supplies he cannot be angry that I seek for them elsewhere it being every whit as
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
down-right Popery The Miscarriage of the Father may very well serve as a Warning to the Son He fell in an Attempt less obnoxious and I have no great reason to hope for better Success in one which is more displeasing The People are very well satisfied with as much of Popery as Queen Elizabeth left and whoever designs to introduce more must do it insensibly by promoting such Clergy-men as are Well-wishers to it bringing in Favourers of the Roman Catholicks into the University by side-Winds and filling all Places of Power and Trust with those who are for the Design But it is not safe for me to trust my self to the Conduct of such furious Men as Clifford who has not Prudence enough to govern himself It can not be defended by any sort of Politicks to treat a Person who is capable of divulging an important Secret in that manner as he did the Gentleman who overheard us at the door that being the very Method to have it made publick and therefore though for the Conveniency which I should thereby reap in the Administration of my Government I could wish as well as he or any other that Popery were establish'd yet seeing I believe that all Religion is the Contrivance of Politicians I shall never hazard my own Quiet for any one sort of it As for the last Proposal of getting Money from the Parliament I am resolv'd to try it and must be preparing my Arguments before-hand to move them to grant it CHAP. 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 NEver was there any Prince so much expos'd to the Capricio's of Fortune as my self So that of all Men alive I am the least obliged to offer Incense at her Altars In my Youth I was expell'd my Dominions by Phanaticks and Enthusiasts since my Restoration I have been continually perplex'd by the perverse and stubborn Humours of the Church-of England-men though I restored their Discipline and now my Life is sought after by the Roman Catholicks whom I have so much oblig'd in the whole Course of my Reign even to the hazard of my Crown and Government I perceive that my seeming Neutrality enrages the Bigots of all Parties against me And hence the Jesuits do now seek to dispatch me because I am not willing to follow my Lord Clifford's Advice and go their pace They promise themselves undoubted Success in their Designs considering the French King's Power my Brother's Zeal for their Church and the Constitution of my present Army and because I am not willing to push on further than I conceive is for my Interest they are therefore willing to rid themselves of me O ungrateful and mischievous Generation I am now convinc'd that it 's not without Reason that the Society of the Jesuits is hateful even to some Catholick Countries and that their Motto Cavete vobis Principes is proper enough for them yet such are my Circumstances that I dare not testify my Hatred to their Order because of their revengeful and vindictive temper They who did not spare two Henries of France though professed Catholicks will never spare me who am esteem'd a Protestant and therefore though I do not love them I dare not avow that I hate them for they are not only to be dreaded for their Courage but for their Conduct which is very observable in this Particular They know that I have all along kept down the Phanaticks and therefore if they had succeeded in their Murder would have fathered it upon them and for this end have by their Interest amongst my Courtiers got Mr. Cleypool Son-in-law to the late Usurper committed to the Tower as having had a Design against my Person This they did reasonably conclude would have obtain'd Belief amongst the Vulgar because of the Disgrace I put on his Father-in-law's Corps and my Severity against the whole Herd of Dissenters and by this means the Church of England should have been so inflam'd against the Phanaticks that they would have done the Jesuits Work to their hand by ruining their Brethren and so weakning themselves Yet thanks to my Stars I have escaped the Snare and now being warned can provide for my own Safety though it will be a very hard Matter to escape their Fury Nor do I know any better Method than by my Brother's Interest to assure them of being favourably dealt with and make as if I did not believe the Accusation By this means I shall prevent those Efforts of their Revenge which their own Preservation may put them upon if they think that I do really believe them guilty for I doubt not but my Brother and they both will be ready to capitulate with me on these Terms that they may enjoy my Protection against the Resentments of the Nation who are terribly incens'd by Dr. Oates's Discovery and the Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey for taking his Depositions Nor am I indeed any further pleas'd with this Detection of the Conspiracy than as to what concerns my own personal Danger for my Measures were well laid to have effected what they do so violently desire but their Precipitance and too much Haste hath spoiled all By Dr. Oates's Treachery to the Catholicks with whom he was engaged it 's easy to observe that Conspiracies are dangerous and that all Men are not to be intrusted with Secrets of State for let Ecclesiasticks of all Perswasions inculcate the binding Force of Oaths as much as ever they please yet when it comes to their own turn they break or observe them according as their Interest directs The Danger of Conspiracies may be further observed from Coleman's Conduct Princes had need to be well assured of the Fidelity of those whom they intrust with their Secrets Could any Man have imagin'd that one in his Station should have been so blab-tongu'd or that he would not have been more careful to have conceal'd his Papers It 's for my Brother's Interest and mine both that he should suffer Death though it 's our Policy to feed him with Hopes of a Reprieve at the Gallows left out of Revenge for our dropping him he should discover what he knows And tho the Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey be barbarous yet it 's justifiable enough by Reasons of State it 's better that he should fall than that the Crown should be made to totter as it must certainly have done if what Coleman had told him should have been publickly known for I could neither in Honour nor Safety have abandon'd my Brother which would both have endangered my Throne and Reputation it being impossible for him to have been brought to a publick Trial without a Discovery how far I am concern'd in the Plot. However to prevent popular Tumults which would
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
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