The History of England from the Accession of James II, Vol. 3

T >> Thomas Babington Macaulay >> The History of England from the Accession of James II, Vol. 3

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It was determined that Preston should carry to Saint Germains the
resolutions and suggestions of the conspirators, John Ashton, a
person who had been clerk of the closet to Mary of Modena when
she was on the throne, and who was entirely devoted to the
interests of the exiled family, undertook to procure the means of
conveyance, and for this purpose engaged the cooperation of a
hotheaded young Jacobite named Elliot, who only knew in general
that a service of some hazard was to be rendered to the good
cause.

It was easy to find in the port of London a vessel the owner of
which was not scrupulous about the use for which it might be
wanted. Ashton and Elliot were introduced to the master of a
smack named the James and Elizabeth. The Jacobite agents
pretended to be smugglers, and talked of the thousands of pounds
which might be got by a single lucky trip to France and back
again. A bargain was struck: a sixpence was broken; and all the
arrangements were made for the voyage.

Preston was charged by his friends with a packet containing
several important papers. Among these was a list of the English
fleet furnished by Dartmouth, who was in communication with some
of his old companions in arms, a minute of the resolutions which
had been adopted at the meeting of the conspirators, and the
Heads of a Declaration which it was thought desirable that James
should publish at the moment of his landing. There were also six
or seven letters from persons of note in the Jacobite party. Most
of these letters were parables, but parables which it was not
difficult to unriddle. One plotter used the cant of the law.
There was hope that Mr. Jackson would soon recover his estate.
The new landlord was a hard man, and had set the freeholders
against him. A little matter would redeem the whole property. The
opinions of the best counsel were in Mr. Jackson's favour. All
that was necessary was that he should himself appear in
Westminster Hall. The final hearing ought to be before the close
of Easter Term. Other writers affected the style of the Royal
Exchange. There was a great demand for a cargo of the right sort.
There was reason to hope that the old firm would soon form
profitable connections with houses with which it had hitherto had
no dealings. This was evidently an allusion to the discontented
Whigs. But, it was added, the shipments must not be delayed.
Nothing was so dangerous as to overstay the market. If the
expected goods did not arrive by the tenth of March, the whole
profit of the year would be lost. As to details, entire reliance
might be placed on the excellent factor who was going over.
Clarendon assumed the character of a matchmaker. There was great
hope that the business which he had been negotiating would be
brought to bear, and that the marriage portion would be well
secured. "Your relations," he wrote, in allusion to his recent
confinement, "have been very hard on me this last summer. Yet, as
soon as I could go safely abroad, I pursued the business."
Catharine Sedley entrusted Preston with a letter in which,
without allegory or circumlocution, she complained that her lover
had left her a daughter to support, and begged very hard for
money. But the two most important despatches were from Bishop
Turner. They were directed to Mr. and Mrs. Redding: but the
language was such as it would be thought abject in any gentleman
to hold except to royalty. The Bishop assured their Majesties
that he was devoted to their cause, that he earnestly wished for
a great occasion to prove his zeal, and that he would no more
swerve from his duty to them than renounce his hope of heaven. He
added, in phraseology metaphorical indeed, but perfectly
intelligible, that he was the mouthpiece of several of the
nonjuring prelates, and especially of Sancroft. "Sir, I speak in
the plural,"--these are the words of the letter to James,--
"because I write my elder brother's sentiments as well as my own,
and the rest of our family." The letter to Mary of Modena is to
the same effect. "I say this in behalf of my elder brother, and
the rest of my nearest relations, as well as from myself."810

All the letters with which Preston was charged referred the Court
of Saint Germains to him for fuller information. He carried with
him minutes in his own handwriting of the subjects on which he
was to converse with his master and with the ministers of Lewis.
These minutes, though concise and desultory, can for the most
part be interpreted without difficulty. The vulnerable points of
the coast are mentioned. Gosport is defended only by palisades.
The garrison of Portsmouth is small. The French fleet ought to be
out in April, and to fight before the Dutch are in the Channel.
There are a few broken words clearly importing that some at least
of the nonjuring bishops, when they declared, before God, that
they abhorred the thought of inviting the French over, were
dissembling.811

Every thing was now ready for Preston's departure. But the owner
of the James and Elizabeth had conceived a suspicion that the
expedition for which his smack had been hired was rather of a
political than of a commercial nature. It occurred to him that
more might be made by informing against his passengers than by
conveying them safely. Intelligence of what was passing was
conveyed to the Lord President. No intelligence could be more
welcome to him. He was delighted to find that it was in his power
to give a signal proof of his attachment to the government which
his enemies had accused him of betraying. He took his measures
with his usual energy and dexterity. His eldest son, the Earl of
Danby, a bold, volatile, and somewhat eccentric young man, was
fond of the sea, lived much among sailors, and was the proprietor
of a small yacht of marvellous speed. This vessel, well manned,
was placed under the command of a trusty officer named Billop,
and was sent down the river, as if for the purpose of pressing
mariners.

At dead of night, the last night of the year 1690, Preston,
Ashton and Elliot went on board of their smack near the Tower.
They were in great dread lest they should be stopped and
searched, either by a frigate which lay off Woolwich, or by the
guard posted at the blockhouse of Gravesend. But, when they had
passed both frigate and blockhouse without being challenged,
their spirits rose: their appetite became keen; they unpacked a
hamper well stored with roast beef, mince pies, and bottles of
wine, and were just sitting down to their Christmas cheer, when
the alarm was given that a vessel from Tilbury was flying through
the water after them. They had scarcely time to hide themselves
in a dark hole among the gravel which was the ballast of their
smack, when the chase was over, and Billop, at the head of an
armed party, came on board. The hatches were taken up: the
conspirators were arrested; and their clothes were strictly
examined. Preston, in his agitation, had dropped on the gravel
his official seal and the packet of which he was the bearer. The
seal was discovered where it had fallen. Ashton, aware of the
importance of the papers, snatched them up and tried to conceal
them; but they were soon found in his bosom.

The prisoners then tried to cajole or to corrupt Billop. They
called for wine, pledged him, praised his gentlemanlike
demeanour, and assured him that, if he would accompany them, nay,
if he would only let that little roll of paper fall overboard
into the Thames, his fortune would be made. The tide of affairs,
they said, was on the turn, things could not go on for ever as
they had gone on of late and it was in the captain's power to be
as great and as rich as he could desire. Billop, though
courteous, was inflexible. The conspirators became sensible that
their necks were in imminent danger. The emergency brought out
strongly the true characters of all the three, characters which,
but for such an emergency, might have remained for ever unknown.
Preston had always been reputed a highspirited and gallant
gentleman; but the near prospect of a dungeon and a gallows
altogether unmanned him. Elliot stormed and blasphemed, vowed
that, if he ever got free, he would be revenged, and, with
horrible imprecations, called on the thunder to strike the yacht,
and on London Bridge to fall in and crush her. Ashton alone
behaved with manly firmness.

Late in the evening the yacht reached Whitehall Stairs; and the
prisoners, strongly guarded, were conducted to the Secretary's
office. The papers which had been found in Ashton's bosom were
inspected that night by Nottingham and Caermarthen, and were, on
the following morning, put by Caermarthen into the hands of the
King.

Soon it was known all over London that a plot had been detected,
that the messengers whom the adherents of James had sent to
solicit the help of an invading army from France had been
arrested by the agents of the vigilant and energetic
Lord President, and that documentary evidence, which might affect
the lives of some great men, was in the possession of the
government. The Jacobites were terrorstricken; the clamour of the
Whigs against Caermarthen was suddenly hushed; and the Session
ended in perfect harmony. On the fifth of January the King
thanked the Houses for their support, and assured them that he
would not grant away any forfeited property in Ireland till they
should reassemble. He alluded to the plot which had just been
discovered, and expressed a hope that the friends of England
would not, at such a moment, be less active or less firmly united
than her enemies. He then signified his pleasure that the
Parliament should adjourn. On the following day he set out,
attended by a splendid train of nobles, for the Congress at the
Hague.812

FN 1 Letter from Lady Cavendish to Sylvia. Lady Cavendish, like
most of the clever girls of that generation, had Scudery's
romances always in her head. She is Dorinda: her correspondent,
supposed to be her cousin Jane Allington, is Sylvia: William is
Ormanzor, and Mary Phenixana. London Gazette, Feb. 14 1688/9;
Narcissus Luttrell's Diary. Luttrell's Diary, which I shall very
often quote, is in the library of All Souls' College. I am
greatly obliged to the Warden for the kindness with which he
allowed me access to this valuable manuscript.

FN 2 See the London Gazettes of February and March 1688/9, and
Narcissus Luttrell's Diary,

FN 3 Wagenaar, lxi. He quotes the proceedings of the States of
the 2nd of March, 1689. London Gazette, April 11, 1689; Monthly
Mercury for April, 1689.

FN 4 "I may be positive," says a writer who had been educated at
Westminster School, "where I heard one sermon of repentance,
faith, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, I heard three of the
other; and 'tis hard to say whether Jesus Christ or King Charles
the First were oftener mentioned and magnified." Bisset's Modern
Fanatick, 1710.

FN 5 Paris Gazette, Jan 26/Feb 5 1689. Orange Gazette, London,
Jan. 10. 1688/9

FN 6 Grey's Debates; Howe's speech; Feb. 26. 1688/9; Boscawen's
speech, March 1; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Feb. 23-27.

FN 7 Grey's Debates; Feb. 26. 1688/9

FN 8 This illustration is repeated to satiety in sermons and
pamphlets of the time of William the Third. There is a poor
imitation of Absalom and Ahitophel entitled the Murmurers.
William is Moses; Corah, Dathan and Abiram, nonjuring Bishops;
Balaam, I think, Dryden; and Phinchas Shrewsbury,

FN 9 Reresby's Memoirs.

FN 10 Here, and in many other places, I abstain from citing
authorities, because my authorities are too numerous to cite. My
notions of the temper and relative position of political and
religious parties in the reign of William the Third, have been
derived, not from any single work, but from thousands of
forgotten tracts, sermons, and satires; in fact, from a whole
literature which is mouldering in old libraries.

FN 11 The following passage in a tract of that time expresses the
general opinion. "He has better knowledge of foreign affairs than
we have; but in English business it is no dishonour to him to be
told his relation to us, the nature of it, and what is fit for
him to do."--An Honest Commoner's Speech.

FN 12 London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9

FN 13 London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9; Sir J. Reresby's Memoirs.

FN 14 London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9; Lords' Journals.

FN 15 Burnet, ii. 4.

FN 16 These memoirs will be found in a manuscript volume, which
is part of the Harleian Collection, and is numbered 6584. They
are in fact, the first outlines of a great part of Burnet's
History of His Own Times. The dates at which the different
portions of this most curious and interesting book were composed
are marked. Almost the whole was written before the death of
Mary. Burnet did not begin to prepare his History of William's
reign for the press till ten years later. By that time his
opinions both of men and of things, had undergone great changes.
The value of the rough draught is therefore very great: for it
contains some facts which he afterwards thought it advisable to
suppress, and some judgments which he afterwards saw cause to
alter. I must own that I generally like his first thoughts best.
Whenever his History is reprinted, it ought to be carefully
collated with this volume.

When I refer to the Burnet MS. Harl. 6584, I wish the reader to
understand that the MS. contains something which is not to be
found in the History.

As to Nottingham's appointment, see Burnet, ii. 8; the London
Gazette of March 7. 1688/9; and Clarendon's Diary of Feb. 15.

FN 17 London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9

FN 18 Don Pedro de Ronquillo makes this objection.

FN 19 London Gazette, March 11 1688/9.

FN 20 Ibid.

FN 21 I have followed what seems to me the most probable story.
But it has been doubted whether Nottingham was invited to be
Chancellor, or only to be First Commissioner of the Great Seal.
Compare Burnet ii. 3., and Boyer's History of William, 1702.
Narcissus Luttrell repeatedly, and even as late as the close of
1692, speaks of Nottingham as likely to be Chancellor.

FN 22 Roger North relates an amusing story about Shaftesbury's
embarrassments.

FN 23 London Gazette March 4. 1688/9

FN 24 Burnet ii. 5.

FN 25 The Protestant Mask taken off from the Jesuited Englishman,
1692.

FN 26 These appointments were not announced in the Gazette till
the 6th of May; but some of them were made earlier.

FN 27 Kennet's Funeral Sermon on the first Duke of Devonshire,
and Memoirs of the Family of Cavendish, 1708.

FN 28 See a poem entitled, A Votive Tablet to the King and Queen.

FN 29 See Prior's Dedication of his Poems to Dorset's son and
successor, and Dryden's Essay on Satire prefixed to the
Translations from Juvenal. There is a bitter sneer on Dryden's
effeminate querulousness in Collier's Short View of the Stage. In
Blackmore's Prince Arthur, a poem which, worthless as it is,
contains some curious allusions to contemporary men and events,
are the following lines
"The poets' nation did obsequious wait
For the kind dole divided at his gate.
Laurus among the meagre crowd appeared,
An old, revolted, unbelieving bard,
Who thronged, and shoved, and pressed, and would be heard.
Sakil's high roof, the Muses' palace, rung
With endless cries, and endless sons he sung.
To bless good Sakil Laurus would be first;
But Sakil's prince and Sakil's God he curst.
Sakil without distinction threw his bread,
Despised the flatterer, but the poet fed."
I need not say that Sakil is Sackville, or that Laurus is a
translation of the famous nickname Bayes.

FN 30 Scarcely any man of that age is more frequently mentioned
in pamphlets and satires than Howe. In the famous petition of
Legion, he is designated as "that impudent scandal of
Parliaments." Mackay's account of him is curious. In a poem
written in 1690, which I have never seen except in manuscript,
are the following lines
"First for Jack Howe with his terrible talent,
Happy the female that scopes his lampoon;
Against the ladies excessively valiant,
But very respectful to a Dragoon."

FN 31 Sprat's True Account; North's Examen; Letter to Chief
Justice Holt, 1694; Letter to Secretary Trenchard, 1694.

FN 32 Van Citters, Feb 19/March 1 1688/9

FN 33 Stat. I W.&M. sess. i. c. I. See the Journals of the two
Houses, and Grey's Debates. The argument in favour of the bill is
well stated in the Paris Gazettes of March 5. and 12. 1689.

FN 34 Both Van Citters and Ronquillo mention the anxiety which
was felt in London till the result was known.

FN 35 Lords' Journals, March 1688/9

FN 36 See the letters of Rochester and of Lady Ranelagh to Burnet
on this occasion.

FN 37 Journals of the Commons, March 2. 1688/9 Ronquillo wrote as
follows: "Es de gran consideracion que Seimor haya tomado el
juramento; porque es el arrengador y el director principal, en la
casa de los Comunes, de los Anglicanos." March 8/18 1688/9

FN 38 Grey's Debates, Feb. 25, 26, and 27. 1688/9

FN 39 Commons' Journals, and Grey's Debates, March 1. 1688/9

FN 40 I W. & M. sess. I c.10; Burnet, ii. 13.

FN 41 Commons' Journals, March 15. 1688/9 So late as 1713,
Arbuthnot, in the fifth part of John Bull, alluded to this
transaction with much pleasantry. "As to your Venire Facias,"
says John to Nick Frog, "I have paid you for one already."

FN 42 Wagenaar, lxi.

FN 43 Commons' Journals, March 15. 1688/9.

FN 44 Reresby's Memoirs.

FN 45 Commons' Journals, and Grey's Debates, March 15. 1688/9;
London Gazette, March 18.

FN 46 As to the state of this region in the latter part of the
seventeenth and the earlier part of the eighteenth century, see
Pepys's Diary, Sept. 18. 1663, and the Tour through the whole
Island of Great Britain, 1724.

FN 47 London Gazette, March 25. 1689; Van Citters to the States
General, March 22/April 1 Letters of Nottingham in the State
Paper Office, dated July 23 and August 9. 1689; Historical Record
of the First Regiment of Foot, printed by authority. See also a
curious digression in the Compleat History of the Life and
Military Actions of Richard, Earl of Tyrconnel, 1689.

FN 48 Stat. I W.&M. sess. I. c. 5.; Commons' Journals, March 28.
1689.

FN 49 Stat. I W.& M. sess. I. c. 2.

FN 50 Ronquillo, March 8/18. 16S9.

FN 51 See the account given in Spence's Anecdotes of the Origin
of Dryden's Medal.

FN 52 Guardian, No. 67.

FN 53 There is abundant proof that William, though a very
affectionate, was not always a polite husband. But no credit is
due to the story contained in the letter which Dalrymple was
foolish enough to publish as Nottingham's in 1773, and wise
enough to omit in the edition of 1790. How any person who knew
any thing of the history of those times could be so strangely
deceived, it is not easy to understand particularly as the
handwriting bears no resemblance to Nottingham's, with which
Dalrymple was familiar. The letter is evidently a common
newsletter, written by a scribbler, who had never seen the King
and Queen except at some public place, and whose anecdotes of
their private life rested on no better authority than coffeehouse
gossip.

FN 54 Ronquillo; Burnet, ii. 2.; Duchess of Marlborough's
Vindication. In a pastoral dialogue between Philander and
Palaemon, published in 1691, the dislike with which women of
fashion regarded William is mentioned. Philander says

"But man methinks his reason should recall,
Nor let frail woman work his second fall."

FN 55 Tutchin's Observator of November 16. 1706.

FN 56 Prior, who was treated by William with much kindness, and
who was very grateful for it, informs us that the King did not
understand poetical eulogy. The passage is in a highly curious
manuscript, the property of Lord Lansdowne.

FN 57 Memoires originaux sur le regne et la cour de Frederic I,
Roi de Prusse, ecrits par Christophe Comte de Dohna. Berlin,
1833. It is strange that this interesting volume should be almost
unknown in England. The only copy that I have ever seen of it was
kindly given to me by Sir Robert Adair. "Le Roi," Dohna says,
"avoit une autre qualite tres estimable, qui est celle de n'aimer
point qu'on rendit de mauvais offices a personne par des
railleries." The Marquis de La Fork tried to entertain His
Majesty at the expense of an English nobleman. "Ce prince," says
Dohna "prit son air severe, et, le regardant sans mot dire, lui
fit rentrer les paroles dans le ventre. Le Marquis m'en fit ses
plaintes quelques heures apres. 'J'ai mal pris ma bisque,' dit-
il; 'j'ai cru faire l'agreable sur le chapitre de Milord . . mais
j'ai trouva a qui parler, et j'ai attrape un regard du roi qui
m'a fait passer l'envie de tire.'" Dohna supposed that William
might be less sensitive about the character of a Frenchman, and
tried the experiment. But, says he, "j'eus a pert pres le meme
sort que M. de la Foret."

FN 58 Compare the account of Mary by the Whig Burnet with the
mention of her by the Tory Evelyn in his Diary, March 8. 1694/5,
and with what is said of her by the Nonjuror who wrote the Letter
to Archbishop Tennison on her death in 1695. The impression which
the bluntness and reserve of William and the grace and gentleness
of Mary had made on the populace may be traced in the remains of
the street poetry of that time. The following conjugal dialogue
may still be seen on the original broadside.

"Then bespoke Mary, our most royal Queen,
'My gracious king William, where are you going?'
He answered her quickly, 'I count him no man
That telleth his secret unto a woman.'
The Queen with a modest behaviour replied,
'I wish that kind Providence may be thy guide,
To keep thee from danger, my sovereign Lord,
He which will the greatest of comfort afford.'"

These lines are in an excellent collection formed by Mr. Richard
Heber, and now the property of Mr. Broderip, by whom it was
kindly lent to me; in one of the most savage Jacobite pasquinades
of 1689, William is described as

"A churle to his wife, which she makes but a jest."

FN 59 Burnet, ii. 2.; Burnet, MS. Harl. 6484. But Ronquillo's
account is much more circumstantial. "Nada se ha visto mas
desfigurado; y, quantas veces he estado con el, le he visto toser
tanto que se le saltaban las lagrimas, y se ponia moxado y
arrancando; y confiesan los medicos que es una asma incurable,"
Mar. 8/18 1689. Avaux wrote to the same effect from Ireland. "La
sante de l'usurpateur est fort mauvaise. L'on ne croit pas qu'il
vive un an." April 8/18.

FN 60 "Hasta decir los mismos Hollandeses que lo desconozcan,"
says Ronquillo. "Il est absolument mal propre pour le role qu'il
a a jouer a l'heure qu'il est," says Avaux. "Slothful and
sickly," says Evelyn. March 29. 1689.

FN 61 See Harris's description of Loo, 1699.

FN 62 Every person who is well acquainted with Pope and Addison
will remember their sarcasms on this taste. Lady Mary Wortley
Montague took the other side. "Old China," she says, "is below
nobody's taste, since it has been the Duke of Argyle's, whose
understanding has never been doubted either by his friends or
enemies."

FN 63 As to the works at Hampton Court, see Evelyn's Diary, July
16. 1689; the Tour through Great Britain, 1724; the British
Apelles; Horace Walpole on Modern Gardening; Burnet, ii. 2, 3.

FN When Evelyn was at Hampton Court, in 1662, the cartoons were
not to be seen. The Triumphs of Andrea Mantegna were then
supposed to be the finest pictures in the palace.

FN 64 Burnet, ii. 2.; Reresby's Memoirs. Ronquillo wrote
repeatedly to the same effect. For example, "Bien quisiera que el
Rey fuese mas comunicable, y se acomodase un poco mas al humor
sociable de los Ingleses, y que estubiera en Londres: pero es
cierto que sus achaques no se lo permiten." July 8/18 1689.
Avaux, about the same time, wrote thus to Croissy from Ireland:
"Le Prince d'Orange est toujours a Hampton Court, et jamais a la
ville: et le peuple est fort mal satisfait de cette maniere
bizarre et retiree."

FN 65 Several of his letters to Heinsius are dated from Holland
House.

FN 66 Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; Evelyn's Diary, Feb. 25
1689/1690

FN 67 De Foe makes this excuse for William

"We blame the King that he relies too much
On strangers, Germans, Huguenots, and Dutch,
And seldom does his great affairs of state
To English counsellors communicate.
The fact might very well be answered thus,
He has too often been betrayed by us.
He must have been a madman to rely
On English gentlemen's fidelity.
The foreigners have faithfully obeyed him,
And none but Englishmen have e'er betrayed him."

The True Born Englishman, Part ii.

FN 68 Ronquillo had the good sense and justice to make allowances
which the English did not make. After describing, in a despatch
dated March 1/11. 1689, the lamentable state of the military and
naval establishments, he says, "De esto no tiene culpa el
Principe de Oranges; porque pensar que se han de poder volver en
dos meses tres Reynos de abaxo arriba es una extravagancia." Lord
President Stair, in a letter written from London about a month
later, says that the delays of the English administration had
lowered the King's reputation, "though without his fault."

FN 69 Burnet, ii. 4.; Reresby.

FN 70 Reresby's Memoirs; Burnet MS. Hart. 6584.