Читать книгу A History of England, Period III. Constitutional Monarchy - J. Franck Bright - Страница 15

Disastrous campaign. 1693.

The money thus collected was soon spent upon another disastrous campaign. Louis, in spite of the exhausted condition of his country, made extraordinary efforts in all directions. As far as the English only were concerned, the two great events of the campaign were the battle of Landen and the destruction of the Smyrna fleet. Louis, using his late conquest, Namur, for his point of departure, had formed two armies, one under Boufflers, the other under Luxemburg, and hoped to repeat the triumph of former years by the capture of either Liège or Brussels. But he found it was impossible to take either of those cities without fighting a pitched battle with William. In spite of the earnest request of his generals, he withdrew to Versailles, and removed the army of Boufflers to the Rhine. Though thus weakened, Luxemburg, by a threatened Battle of Landen. July 19. attack upon Liège, induced William to reduce his forces to save that town, and then falling upon him at Landen, defeated him after a battle, the stubbornest and bloodiest of the war. William's skill somewhat neutralized the effect of his defeat, and Charleroi was the only new acquisition of the French in the Low Countries.

The loss of the Smyrna fleet made perhaps even greater impression upon the English than the defeat of Landen. The fleet, in which was accumulated more than a year's supply for the Eastern markets, and which numbered 400 ships, was to be convoyed in safety from London through the Straits of Gibraltar. After passing the Channel Loss of the Smyrna fleet. June. unopposed, the English admirals, supposing that the danger was over, withdrew towards England with their ships of war, and the trading fleet passed onward, guarded only by Rooke with about twenty men of war. Off St. Vincent it fell in with the whole combined navy of France, for the squadrons of Toulon and Brest had joined, and were lying in wait for their rich prey off the coast of Spain. The convoy was completely broken up, many vessels destroyed, while the others fled for safety in all directions. The loss of the English was estimated at many millions. The disaster would certainly have been much worse had not two Dutch ships which formed part of the convoy gallantly sacrificed themselves, and engaged no less than eighteen of the enemy's fleet.

In other parts of Europe the armies of France were equally successful. Catalonia had been invaded and Rosas taken. Catinat had defeated the Duke of Savoy in the great battle of Marsiglia (Oct. 3). The Turks had compelled the Germans to raise the siege of Belgrade. Yet, in spite of these successes, France was so worn out, that hints of a desire for peace began to reach the English King.

The possibility of being called upon to settle this great point, and the necessity of taking speedy advantage of his enemy's weakness, brought more clearly home to William the great difficulty which had beset his reign. For the position which was necessary to enable him William's difficulty with regard to his Parliament. to engage authoritatively in the affairs of Europe, for the money required for the pay of his army, and for the subsidies by which alone the allies were kept true to their engagements, he was dependent upon Parliament. For at the Revolution the Parliament had taken upon itself the supreme authority of the nation. Yet upon that Parliament he was unable to rely; for the representative body, though conscious of its power, had not yet learnt to use it advantageously. It was that worst of all forms of supreme power, a large disorganized assembly. Well aware that, both as head of a confederacy and as a general, freedom of action was necessary for him, William had kept as far as possible the management of foreign affairs in his own hands, and had sought to win the favour of all parties by a judicious impartiality. In the main he had been well supported in his foreign policy; but faction was so rife, the increasing divergence of opinion so great, and the capricious character of the Lower House so evident, that he could take no important step with confidence. He could not answer for a year's continuance of the war spirit, nor be certain that any steps he might take with regard to peace would be acknowledged even by his own ministers. It became necessary, if possible, to introduce some order and organization into this uncertain body. It would be better to risk a formal opposition of a certain number, and be sure of unanimity in his own administration, than to be at the caprice of a He forms a united Whig ministry. popular assembly. William therefore listened to the suggestions of Sunderland, and determined to place himself entirely in the hands of the Whig party, that party to which he owed his elevation to the throne, and which was pledged to the continuation of the war. During the next two years a change in ministry was gradually carried out, which ended by the establishment in 1696 of the first united ministry in English history. It was led by the chiefs of the Whig party, of which the leaders were Somers, Halifax, Russell and Wharton (known afterwards as the Junto).

Parliament during these years was occupied in financial arrangements to meet the constant drain of the war, and in perpetual party struggles which terminated in the complete triumph of the Whigs, and in the substitution of the leaders of that party for their Tory rivals in all the chief offices of the administration. The first trial of strength between the parties arose upon the question of the naval administration of the former year. The whole nation smarted under the disasters which had followed on the great victory of La Hogue, Party struggles. which the Whigs had attributed not only to the maladministration of the two Tory admirals to whom the fleet had been intrusted, but also to treachery. It was impossible, they argued, that Louis could have denuded the Channel of his fleet, and allowed a junction of his admirals so far south as St. Vincent, unless he had had good reason to believe that the rich prey he desired would fall into his hands but weakly guarded. The Tories, who were unable to deny the maladministration, were anxious to exclude the word "treacherous" from the motion. The Whig party was however triumphant, and by a considerable majority the word was retained. But though the general assertion of treason was thus made, the Commons, as was not unusual, shrunk from fixing the treason upon any particular person, and each individual accused was acquitted by a small majority. Enough had been done, however, to give the King a fair opportunity of re-establishing Russell, the great enemy of Nottingham the Secretary, at the head of the Admiralty, and thus taking one step towards his Whig ministry. It was impossible for Nottingham to remain in office with Russell; he was consequently removed from the Secretaryship, and a fresh vacancy thus created, which, after some delay, caused by the conscientious scruples of Shrewsbury, who felt keenly the fault he had once committed in tampering with the Jacobites, was filled by that nobleman, one of the Whig chiefs. At the close of the session, therefore, William found himself with most of his chief officers belonging to the Whig party. Trenchard and Shrewsbury were Secretaries. Russell was the head of the Admiralty. Somers was Lord Keeper, and Montague Chancellor of the Exchequer. The only two Tories of importance left were Caermarthen, Lord President, and Godolphin, at the head of the Treasury. But the character of the latter minister led him to devote himself almost exclusively to his official business, of which he was master. Caermarthen was therefore, in fact, the only important element of discord in the administration.

Montague owed his elevation to the continued success of his financial plans. A fresh loan, known as the Lottery Loan—because though the whole rate of interest was low, in exceptional cases chosen by Establishment of the Bank of England. lottery it was very high—was successfully negotiated, and more important than this, the Bank of England was triumphantly established. Banking with private goldsmiths had come into fashion within the last two reigns, when the convenience of cheques in the place of ready-money payments had become obvious, while the advantage to the banker who had the use of the ready money was also plain. The fault of the system was its insecurity, which had been proved by the not unfrequent bankruptcy of one or other of the banking goldsmiths. A Scotchman of the name of Paterson had some years previously suggested the plan of a national bank, by which the Government should obtain some of the advantages of the banker, and the public, while gaining the convenience of cheques, should have a better security than private goldsmiths offered. This scheme Montague now adopted. He borrowed rather upwards of a million, and formed the lenders into a banking company, allowing them to treat the loan to Government as part of their capital, the interest of which, secured upon taxes, gave them the requisite supply of ready money. They were bound to pursue no other business except banking, yet, even with this restriction, so desirable did the plan seem, that it was at once triumphantly carried through. As a contingent advantage to Government, it is to be observed that the company, which included many of the chiefs of the moneyed interest, were pledged, for their own preservation, to support the present settlement of the throne. Their existence depended upon the regular payment of the interest upon their loan, which it was scarcely possible that the Jacobites, if successful, would pay. The importance of this point became very obvious afterwards, when, in more than one crisis, the credit of Government was saved by advances from the Bank. One other important measure The Triennial Act passed. Dec. 1694. was carried by this Parliament, and that also was in accordance with the principles of the Whigs. This was the Triennial Act, limiting the duration of Parliament to three years. The King, always jealous of his prerogative, had already once refused his assent to this Bill; but now, having placed himself in Whig hands, he withdrew his opposition, and the Bill was passed.

He was indeed in no position to enter into a struggle with his Parliament. A great blow was falling on him, which unhinged him more than any difficulties or defeats had yet done. This was the Death of Queen Mary. Dec. 20. death of his wife, who had sickened of the smallpox, and, after a short illness, died on the 20th of December 1694. Her death caused universal sorrow in England and among the Protestant interest on the Continent, while it raised the hopes of James and his friends, who believed, not without a show of reason, that William succeeded in holding his place chiefly by means of the popularity of his Queen. Their hopes proved ill founded, for though at first the King seemed so broken-hearted that he declared he could never again lead an army, when once he had conquered his first grief, he resumed his old energy, and success such as he had never yet met with attended his efforts both at home and abroad.

Expulsion of Trevor for venality, March 1695,

Meanwhile in England there was no cessation in the strife of parties. The Whigs pursued their triumphant course, and combined to remove the last of their opponents from the Government. Trevor, a Tory, had in the early part of the reign been made Speaker of the House, chiefly for the purpose of carrying out Caermarthen's plans of corruption. Employed in corrupting others, it was not likely that he should be himself above corruption. Suspicions of his venality having arisen, the Whigs proceeded to examine the accounts of the City of London and of the East India Company, which, after much contest, had obtained a renewal of its charter. The Committee found that the City had paid Sir John Trevor in the preceding session 1000 guineas for forwarding a local Bill. The proof was too clear to be questioned. Trevor from the chair had to put the question whether he was guilty or not of high crime and misdemeanour, and to declare before all men that "the Ayes had it." He saved himself from the unutterable ignominy of announcing his own expulsion by feigning illness. A new Speaker, Foley, who did not belong clearly to either party, was elected in his place.

The accounts of the East India Company afforded the Whigs even greater triumph. Sir Thomas Cook, who was the head of the Company, confessed to having disbursed very large sums to secure the charter, but would give no particular accounts. The Commons, determined not to be thwarted, passed a Bill condemning him to refund all the money thus spent, in addition to a heavy fine, unless he made a full confession. In the Upper House the Bill was strongly opposed by Lord Caermarthen, now Duke of Leeds, who, laying his hand upon his heart, solemnly averred that he had no personal interest in the matter, and was moved by public considerations only. It was finally arranged that a joint Committee of the two Houses should inquire into the expenditure of the money that had been secretly spent, and that if Cook confessed he should be held guiltless. The joint Committee met; the King and the Duke of Portland, whose guilt in the matter had been suggested by the Tories, were proved perfectly innocent. But £5000 were traced, if not to the Duke of Leeds himself, at all events to his confidential man of business. Articles of impeachment were made out against him. They could not, however, be brought forward, because the man of business, who would have supplied necessary evidence, had made his escape to Holland. The Duke of Leeds continued to assert his innocence, but confessed that he had allowed money to be paid to his steward, considering this a very different thing from taking it himself. It also appeared that the money had been refunded the very morning of the first sitting of the joint Committee. Though and of Caermarthen. May. foiled of their impeachment, the Whigs and the Commons had done their work. Leeds was obliged to retire from active life, and was never afterwards employed in the administration. The sole discordant member of the Government was thus got rid of.

Success abroad. June 1694.

Abroad likewise affairs took a turn more favourable to England and the Whigs. Just before the death of Mary the war had entered into a somewhat new phase. The navies of the two great powers had transferred the scene of operations to the Mediterranean. Thither Tourville had gone from Brest, and thither Russell, with the English fleet, had followed him. He had found means to keep the French fleet in harbour, and to do good service to the general cause by the relief of Barcelona, which was on the point of falling into the hands of the French.

Treachery of Marlborough.

The absence of the French fleet from Brest, which led to the supposition that the harbour must be unguarded, seemed to afford an opportunity for an attack in that quarter. An expedition was planned; the forces were intrusted to Talmash, while the Duke of Leeds' son Caermarthen commanded the fleet. It gave occasion for a new act of villany on the part of Marlborough; though the plan was kept a profound secret, he contrived to worm it out, and as had happened once or twice before in his career, he used his knowledge only to lay the details of the plan before James, and to secure the destruction of the English expedition. Vauban, the great French engineer, was sent down to re-fortify the place. Every vantage-ground was crowned with batteries, and into the trap thus laid for him Talmash had rushed headlong to meet his death, in company with 700 English soldiers (June 7, 1694). Marlborough's treachery in this instance was rather personal than political. Talmash alone of the English generals could in any way compete with him, and he knew that at his death or failure William, who it must be recollected did not know the full extent of his treachery, would be obliged to restore him to his command. His treacherous plan succeeded. He was again employed, though so thoroughly mistrusted, that William refused when he went abroad to give the regency to Anne, which he well knew would be but to give it to Marlborough. But the death of Mary, which occurred at the close of the year, while it excited the other Jacobites to action, for a time rendered Marlborough true to William; for it was followed by a reconciliation between the King and the Princess Anne, and Marlborough was now content to wait till the King's death for the completion of his designs. The more earnest Jacobites followed a different course, and it was in the midst of a conspiracy aimed against his life by Fenwick, Charnock, and Porter, that William set out for Flanders (May 1695).

In that country he had no longer the same formidable enemy with whom to contend. Luxemburg was dead, and his place was ill supplied by Villeroy and Louis' illegitimate son, the Duke of Maine, who was sent to learn the art of war under him. As Flanders was Campaign in Flanders. 1695. expected to be the great seat of war, the bulk of the French army was placed under Villeroy in that country. Boufflers, with 12,000 men, guarded the Sambre. William, however, had set his heart upon regaining Namur. Judicious feints deceived Villeroy as to his intentions, and suddenly his own army, that of the Brandenburgers and that of the Elector of Bavaria, marched straight against the city. Boufflers had just time to throw himself with his troops into the town. A body of troops under the Prince of Vaudemont had been left to watch Villeroy in Flanders. When that general advanced, the Prince could not hold his isolated position, and only succeeded in making good his retreat through the cowardice of the Duke of Maine. Villeroy advanced almost unopposed. He took the towns of Dixmuyde and Deynse, the garrisons of which, contrary to the terms of capitulation, were sent prisoners to France; and hoping by threatening the capital to draw William from Namur, he approached and ruthlessly and uselessly bombarded Brussels. But, undisturbed by Villeroy's manœuvres, William energetically pursued the siege. He was assisted by Cohorn, who had originally fortified the town, and had seen it taken by the skill of his great rival Vauban. Vauban had since much increased the fortifications, and Cohorn was eager to regain his honour by capturing it. At length, after some fierce assaults, in which the English under Lord Cutts, who for his bravery under fire got the nickname of "the Salamander," had greatly distinguished themselves, the town surrendered, but the castle still held out. It became evident to Villeroy that the actual presence of his army could alone raise the siege. Drawing troops from all the neighbouring garrisons, he approached with 80,000 men. But William now felt himself strong enough to give him battle without withdrawing from his operations. For three days the armies remained in presence, and William lay expecting the attack, but Villeroy judged his position too strong to be taken, and withdrew. The fate of the fortress was now sealed, but Boufflers thought that his honour demanded that he should stand an assault; nor was it till the English had succeeded at the cost of 2000 men in making a lodgment in the Surrender of Namur. Aug. 26. place that he consented to treat, and for the first time in history a French marshal surrendered a fortress to a victorious enemy. Having gone through the ceremony of surrender, Boufflers was much surprised and enraged at being arrested on his road to France. His angry exclamations against the breach of the terms of capitulation were met by the reply, that William was only following the example of Louis with regard to the garrisons of Dixmuyde and Deynse. He was kept in honourable imprisonment till those garrisons were restored.

William's triumphant return. Oct. 10.

It was thus no longer as a beaten and unfortunate, though skilful general, that William returned to England. The Triennial Bill having come into operation, the present Parliament would have come to a natural conclusion the following year. It had on the whole acted so much in favour of William and the Whigs, that William, could he have prolonged it, would probably have been willing to do so. But he wisely judged that it would be better to call his new Parliament while still popular from his successes, than to wait the chances of the New Whig Parliament. Nov. 22. future year. The event proved that he was right. A brilliant triumphant progress through England was followed by the return of a Parliament with an immense majority favourable to the war and to the Whig interests. Four Whigs were returned for London. Westminster followed the example of the neighbouring city, and so great was the enthusiasm that even the great Tory leader Seymour, whose interest in Devonshire was believed to render his return for Exeter sure, was defeated in that town. The Parliament thus assembled had very important work before it, and, acting in unison with the King, his ministry, and the whole country, carried it through to a noble conclusion.

Re-establishment of the currency.

This important work was the re-establishment of the currency. The English coin had originally been of hammered metal, it was constantly liable to inequality in weight, and being left with raw edges, easily clipped. In Charles II.'s reign this defect had been partially cured by the use of machinery, and words had been printed round the edges of the coin; but as the bad hammered coinage was allowed to be current side by side with the new milled coinage, the better coinage had either been hoarded or had left the country, as invariably happens, when some part of the coinage of the country is of less intrinsic value than the rest. Consequently the evil became worse. Coin was more constantly clipped, and as it wore out was more easily counterfeited. Its defects at length became so obvious that shopkeepers refused to take it except by weight; thus causing heavy suffering to the lower orders, who generally received their wages by tale, and had to pay by weight, and every little transaction became the occasion of a dispute. So far had the evil gone, that when trials were made in different parts of the country, the coinage had proved on an average to be little more than half its proper weight. A re-issue of coin became absolutely necessary. The arrangements fell into the hands of Somers and Montague, of John Locke the philosopher, and Isaac Newton the mathematician. In devising their plan two great questions met them. By whom should the expense be borne? How could the inconvenience of the short supply of coin which must inevitably follow when the present coinage was called in be best alleviated? A very large minority wished to avoid the difficulty by keeping the present money in circulation, but lowering its nominal value. This plan, which was in fact to perpetrate a fraud upon all creditors, was not likely to find favour with the four sagacious men with whom the question rested. Two schemes recommended themselves chiefly to their attention. Locke proposed that, after a certain fixed date, the coin should be valued by weight only. This prevented any deficiency in the circulating medium, as the present money would not be withdrawn from circulation, but it threw the whole expense of bringing the nominal and real value of the coin into harmony, not on the Government, but on the individual possessors of the coin. It was evidently fairer that, where the evil was a national one, the nation should bear the expense. Somers suggested that, with extreme secresy, a proclamation should be prepared, saying that in three days the hammered coin should pass by weight only, but that those who held it might bring it in parcels to the mint, where it should be counted and weighed, and immediately restored, with a written promise of a future payment of the difference between the nominal and real value of the coin. Thus the money would be withdrawn from circulation only for the short time necessary to count it, while the nation would subsequently pay the difference. But for this plan secresy and suddenness were necessary, or the intervening period would have given opportunity and temptation for unlimited mutilation of the coinage. Secresy would have rendered it impossible to consult Parliament, and Montague, in the existing state of party feeling, shrank from the responsibility this implied. It was therefore determined to act in a perfectly honest, simple and straightforward manner; and immediately on the opening of Parliament, a Bill was framed in accordance with certain resolutions previously taken. By these it was declared that the old standard should be kept up, that milled coin should alone be used, that the loss should fall on the nation, not on individuals, and that the 4th of May following should be the last day on which hammered coin should be allowed to be used. The advantage of the good understanding between the Government and the Bank now became evident. To meet the expense of the new coinage, £1,200,000 was wanted. The Bank advanced it without difficulty on the security of a window tax, which took the place of the much hated hearth tax, and which lasted on almost to our own time. At last the critical day, the 4th of May, drew near. Fortunately the country was in an enthusiastic mood. Two great Jacobite plots, closely connected, which had been concocted during the previous summer, had been discovered. These were Berwick's plot for a general insurrection of the Jacobites and for an invasion from France; and a plot concocted at St. Germains, intrusted to Barclay, for the assassination of William on his road from Kensington to Richmond. Invasion and assassination are the two forms of conspiracy which the English people cannot bear; and the full discovery of these schemes, with the proved certainty that both Louis and James were fully conscious of all their atrocious details, roused the nation for an instant to an unusual unanimity of enthusiasm, and enabled Parliament to set on foot a great association, signed by hundreds of thousands, who pledged themselves to stand by the King, to support the war, and to pursue with vengeance any attempt upon his life. Good tempered and loyal though the people were the crisis was a fearful one. The operations of the mint were very slow. £4,000,000 of the old coinage lay melted in the treasury vaults. As yet scarcely any new silver had appeared. Money was not to be had either for trade or for private payments. Large employers somehow contrived, with a certain quantity of the old coinage which had not been clipped, to pay the wages. But the greater part of England lived on credit; and it is probable that even thus the crisis would scarcely have been got over, had it not been for an expedient of Montague's, who issued Government securities, bearing interest at threepence a day on £100. These are what are known now as Exchequer bills, and form a floating debt due by Government. They were eagerly used, and with the paper issues of the Bank and the free use of cheques and credit by all, the dangerous time was tided over.

William's want of money.

But the most alarming feature was not the difficulty in the commercial world, but the difficulty felt by Government and by the King himself in provisioning the troops and carrying on the war. In the midst of the commercial crisis the Bank of England had met with great difficulties; the goldsmiths, who had always hated their great rival, took the opportunity of attempting to destroy it by villanous means, they bought up all the Bank paper on which they could lay hands, and suddenly bringing it forward, demanded immediate payment. The Bank directors with great courage gained time by refusing to pay the nefarious claim, and referring their enemies to the courts of law. By means of calls on their subscribers they continued to pay by far the greater part of the private and just claims upon them, but they did not appear to be in a position to assist the King when he suddenly wrote home to say that £200,000 were absolutely necessary.

The Land Bank a failure.

William had hoped that his wants would have been met by the establishment, in accordance with a favourite plan of the Tories, of a Land Bank, as a rival to the Bank of England. This somewhat absurd scheme had been invented by a projector of the name of Chamberlain, who supposed that every proprietor of land possessing that security ought to have the disposal of at least as much money as his land was worth, and therefore suggested a bank which should lend money entirely upon landed security, overlooking the difficulty that land is not always at hand and payable on demand as money is. Harley, the representative of the Tories, now offered to advance the Government £2,500,000 at 7 per cent. The payment of his interest was to be secured by a tax upon salt. If half that sum should be subscribed before August, and half of that half paid up, the subscribers were to be incorporated as the Land Bank. This Bank was expressly intended to suit the wants of the country gentry, and to injure the moneyed interest. The company was therefore bound to lend no money but on mortgage, and to lend on mortgage at least half a million a year. It was not allowed to receive more than 3½ per cent. interest on these mortgages. Now, as the ordinary rate of interest on mortgages was nearly 7 per cent. it was plain that no capitalist would lend his money at half of the ordinary profits. It might have been plain also that the landed gentry whose chief object was to borrow were not likely to lend. It was not therefore very obvious where the capital was to come from. The King, however, hoping to obtain money on easy terms, headed the list of subscribers with £5000. When the Land Bank was called upon to advance its promised loan, it was found that the whole subscriptions consisted of no more than £6200. So eager was the Government for money, that it offered to give the Bank its charter in exchange for a loan of £40,000 only, but the subscriptions never rose beyond £7500, and the scheme proved completely abortive.

The Bank of England supplies the money. Aug. 15.

The King was compelled therefore to apply to the Bank of England, which by his patronage of the Land Bank he had done his best to injure. True to their political creed, a full court of subscribers consented to advance the necessary £200,000, without one dissentient voice. The Government was saved, and the connection between the Bank of England and the Whig party sealed for ever. Meanwhile, Newton's efforts as Master of the Mint had been ultimately successful. Provincial mints had been established, and from them and from the mint in London £120,000 of coin was turned out every day. By August the crisis was over, and a period of unbroken commercial prosperity began.

But although marks of commercial prosperity were already visible, the financial difficulty was not entirely over. When William, who had been abroad during the worst of the difficulty, opened Parliament upon his return (Oct. 20), he had to confess that, although the crisis had passed without disturbance in England or great disaster abroad, there was still need for some exhibition of continued firmness on the part of Parliament. In fact, the plan of reducing the standard of the coin was so plausible, and had impressed itself so deeply on the ignorance of the masses, that a very large party both in and out of Parliament were still anxious to have recourse to that step, and till all chance of such a measure was gone no speculators were willing to put the new money in circulation, and it was constantly hoarded. Consequently a scarcity of money still prevailed; and not only in England, but throughout Europe, there was a very general feeling that England was ruined, that the source of wealth which had hitherto supplied the European coalition with the means of war was dried up, and that peace was inevitable. But in the midst of these difficulties the triumph of the Whigs was complete. The Parliament stood firm, and carried by a triumphant Credit of England restored. majority three resolutions, which destroyed all the hopes of the enemies of England. First, that the Commons would assist the King to prosecute the war with vigour; secondly, that under no circumstances should the standard of money be changed; thirdly, the Parliament pledged itself to make good the deficiencies in Parliamentary funds established since the King's accession. The first promise was at once abundantly fulfilled by munificent grants for the war; the second caused the immediate production of the hoarded coin; while upon the third was framed Montague's plan known by the name of the General Mortgage. Taxes set apart to meet the interest of various loans had proved insufficient. The deficit was no less than £5,160,000. It was now ordered that, should the proceeds of the old funds and new taxes now set aside for the purpose prove insufficient, the general funds of the country should be charged with the liquidation of the debts. By such means as these the credit of the country was finally re-established.

The Assassination plot.

The discovery of the Assassination plot, and the enthusiasm to which it gave rise, has been already alluded to. It was one of two Jacobite conspiracies, matured in the middle of the crisis, when it was a common belief that the Government would never be able to pass securely through the dangers which surrounded it. One of these conspiracies was for a general rising of the Jacobites and a simultaneous invasion of England from France. The completion of this plot was intrusted to James's natural son, the Duke of Berwick, and in it, had it been carried out, would have been involved all the best of the Jacobite gentry of England. But side by side with it was a baser conspiracy, among the more unprincipled and desperate friends of James, for the assassination of the King. The management of this conspiracy, which is known by the name of the Assassination Plot, was intrusted to Sir George Barclay, a Scotch refugee. It seems certain that the scheme was sanctioned by James himself, as Barclay was sent over with a few select followers and a considerable sum of money, authorised to do any acts of hostility which might conduce to the service of the King. It was also certainly known to the Duke of Berwick, who was informed of every step in its progress. He was too honourable himself to take a declared part in it, but did not feel called upon in any way to interfere in the matter. His own mission proved unsuccessful. The English Jacobites were willing to rise, but not till a French army appeared in the country. On the other hand, Berwick could only assure them that, after the failures which had already taken place, no French army would enter the country till the Jacobites were actually in arms. On this point the negotiations broke down, and Berwick, unwilling to be mixed up with the darker schemes of Barclay, hastened to leave England before the fatal day should arrive. This day, the 15th of February, had been already fixed. Barclay had succeeded in collecting about forty men, some supplied from France, some English Jacobites of desperate character. With these it was determined to assault the King on his return from hunting in Richmond Forest. Every Saturday he was in the habit of going thither, crossing the Thames by boat near Turnham Green. The spot chosen was a narrow swampy lane leading up from the river. But, just before the time fixed, William received from Portland information that there was a design upon his life. He was induced to postpone his hunting, although he gave little faith to the information, which had been received from most untrustworthy sources. But in the course of the following week fresh information was brought by a gentleman of the name of Pendergrass, who was known to be an honourable man. Every precaution was taken to allay the suspicions of the conspirators, and on the very day when the attempt should have been made several of the leaders were arrested. The troops were set in motion, the Lord Lieutenant of Kent repaired to his county, and Russell hastened to take command of the fleet to oppose the intended invasion. French troops had been already collected at Calais, and Louis, who had been informed of the scheme, though he had not actually authorized it, had determined to take advantage of the opportunity its success would offer.

Excitement in the country. Feb. 24.

The measures taken proved sufficient. When the King went in state to Parliament, and explained what had been done, the enthusiasm of the House was roused. Two Bills were rapidly passed, the one suspending the Habeas Corpus Act, the other ordering that the Parliament should not be dissolved by the death of William, and an association was set on foot by which the House of Commons bound itself to stand by King William, to avenge his murder, and to support the order of succession settled by the Bill of Rights. Throughout the country the feeling excited was very strong. Means were taken in all the cities of England to search thoroughly for conspirators, the house of one of them was razed to the ground by the populace, and one after the other most of them were captured. Three of them, Charnock, King and Keyes, were brought to trial. Only a few months before, a Bill which had Arrest and execution of the conspirators. occupied the public attention through several sessions had received the royal assent. By this the procedure in the case of trials for treason had been changed. Before the passing of that Bill a prisoner charged with treason had not been allowed to see the indictment before he was brought to the bar. He could not put his witnesses upon oath, nor compel their attendance, nor was he allowed the service of counsel, while the Crown enjoyed all the advantages of which he was deprived. The Bill enacted that all the above-named disabilities should be removed. The opposition to this Bill had been grounded chiefly upon the advantage it appeared to give to traitors at a time when the Government was notoriously open to their attacks; and Parliament had, by way of compromise, postponed till the 25th of March 1696 (at that time the beginning of the new year) the operation of the Act. The prisoners claimed, not without some show of reason, a postponement of the trial till that date. But their request was overruled, the trial was proceeded with at once, and they were all condemned and executed (March 24).

But, by the witness of two of the informers, Porter and Goodman, a more important person had been implicated, if not in the present Trial of Sir John Fenwick. Aug. plot, yet at least in one of a similar nature which had been set on foot immediately after the Queen's death. This was Sir John Fenwick, a man highly connected, who had brought himself prominently forward as a Jacobite intriguer, and had earned the personal dislike of William by a public insult to the Queen. By the law of Edward VI. two witnesses were necessary to prove the guilt of treason, and Fenwick's chief hopes lay in his being able to bribe either Porter or Goodman to leave the country. His first attempt on Porter failed. Porter informed the Government, received the money, and gave up the agent who offered it him. Fenwick then attempted to gain time by making a confession. This was drawn up with great art: while none of the real facts were brought to light, accusations, only too well founded upon fact, were brought against Marlborough, Godolphin, Russell, and Shrewsbury. It was asserted that Marlborough had promised to bring over the army, Russell the navy, while Godolphin only held office by the leave of the exiled King. William, with great wisdom, although he knew how much truth there was in these accusations, absolutely ignored them, and ordered the trial of Fenwick to be proceeded with without delay. But some of the contents of the confession became known, and the Whigs decided that, for the honour of the party, it could not be passed over in silence. Godolphin, the last remaining Tory in the Government, they would have been unwilling to acquit; he was induced to resign, and the course was now clear. It was of the highest importance that a real confession should be got from Fenwick, but this he now refused to give, as he had just received information that his agents had contrived to get Goodman, the second witness against him, out of the country. Exasperated by seeing, as they thought, the enemy, who had tried to undermine the character of their chiefs, slipping from their grasp, the Whigs brought the question before the House. The confession was voted false and scandalous, and rather than let their victim escape, in the heat of their anger, they determined to have recourse to the dangerous expedient of a Bill of Attainder (Nov. 13). This attempt, which, as it superseded the law of the land by an exercise of the power of Parliament, had an unconstitutional and revengeful appearance, met with the strongest opposition, but was carried in the Lower House by a small majority. The question became one of party, and finally, after a long struggle, it passed the House of Lords by a majority of only seven. Great interest was made for the prisoner, His execution. Jan. 28, 1697. but William refused to listen to any request for pardon, and Fenwick was executed. William's inflexibility is better explained by his desire to shield the Whig party, whom Fenwick would certainly have accused during his trial, than by the supposed existence of a personal hostility between himself and his prisoner.

Complete triumph of the Whigs. April 16.

This troublesome business having been got rid of, the session closed in complete triumph for the Whigs, among whose leaders promotions were freely distributed. Somers was raised to the Peerage and made Lord Chancellor, Russell became Earl of Orford, and Montague became First Lord of the Treasury. This triumph of the party reached its climax in the course of the year, when the war was brought to an end, and the policy of William and the Whigs vindicated by the signature of the Peace of Ryswick.

During the critical year 1696 want of money had paralyzed the action of both armies in the Netherlands, the destruction of the Louis desires peace. French magazines at Givet had rendered it difficult for Louis to maintain his troops, while William, though England was by no means exhausted as France was, was as completely hampered by the want of ready money. Louis had indeed in the course of the year made overtures for peace, but the improvement in his prospects, caused by the conduct of the Duke of Savoy, who had deserted the coalition, joined his army to the French under Marshal Catinat, and successfully insisted that Austria and Spain should declare the neutralization of Italy, had induced him to recede from one of the fundamental conditions of peace—the recognition of William as King of England. The negotiations had been broken off, but succeeding events induced Louis, in 1697, to renew his proposals. The Assassination Plot had failed; William was more popular and better supported than he had ever been; the country had passed successfully through its period of crisis, had emerged more powerful than ever and more determined to support the war, and the great French military project for the capture of Brussels had been thwarted by the rapidity of William's movements. Louis therefore now, for the first time in his life, offered reasonable terms, consenting to resign many of the conquests he had made during the war, to give back Lorraine to its Duke, Luxemburg to Spain, Strasburg to the Empire, and to acknowledge the King of England. William, Opposition of the coalition. who was never carried away even by his most impetuous feelings, much as he hated France, at once recognized the justice of these offers and the wisdom of accepting them. He found however much difficulty in managing the coalition. The two great powers who had done the least to support the war now did all in their power to frustrate the pacification. Spain, moved by a foolish vanity little suitable to its weak condition, made demands which it was impossible that Louis should grant, while the Emperor, moved by selfish policy, would have been only too glad to continue a war, carried on chiefly at the cost of England, till the death of the Spanish King, which was every day expected. He would then, he imagined, be able to secure by means of the European coalition his succession to that monarchy. At length, after many difficulties, plenipotentiaries from France and the coalition were assembled (March 1697), the one party at the Hague, the other at Delft, and conferences were held at Ryswick, which lies nearly equidistant between these two towns. But the ceremonies of diplomacy, the ridiculous details of precedence, seemed to promise that the negotiations would be dragged out to an interminable length. William was not to be so treated. Having made up his mind that peace was desirable and that the terms offered were fair, he was determined that the peace should be speedily made. While the plenipotentiaries were wasting their time at Ryswick, a series of private meetings took place between Portland and Marshal Boufflers, between the armies, a few miles from Brussels. A few meetings sufficed to Terms of peace. settle the terms, which were reduced to writing on the 6th of July. Beyond the general terms of treaty already offered by France, some personal questions between William and Louis had to be settled. A mutual promise was exchanged that neither king would countenance assaults upon the other. William was to be acknowledged as King of England, and the Princess Anne as his successor. Mary of Modena was to receive whatever sum of money the English Law Courts held to be her due; and though Louis, with his usual magnanimity, refused to stipulate that James should leave France, it was understood that he should withdraw either to Avignon or to Italy. Spain and the Emperor still refused to accept the proffered terms. Louis declared that, unless they were accepted by the 21st of August, he should no longer hold himself bound by them. The day passed, and, as was to be expected, the French King raised fresh demands; he would no longer surrender Strasburg. But the opposition of Spain had already been crushed. The disasters of the year had brought that country to reason; Vendome had captured Barcelona, and a French fleet, joined by the buccaneers of the West Indies, had taken and sacked Carthagena. William therefore, though much vexed at the obstinacy of the Emperor, which involved the loss of Strasburg, found himself able to accept the new terms, in concert with all the great powers of the coalition, with the exception of the Emperor, and at length, on the 10th of Treaty of Ryswick. Sept. 10. September, a treaty was concluded between France, Holland, Spain and England. France surrendered all the conquests made since the Treaty of Nimeguen, and placed the chief fortresses of the Low Countries in the hands of Dutch garrisons; William was recognized as King of England, Anne as his successor, and all assistance was withdrawn from James. A month later the Emperor also consented to treat. By this second treaty all the towns acquired since the Peace of Nimeguen, with the exception of Strasburg, were restored, together with Fribourg, Brissac, Philipsburg, and all French fortifications on the right bank of the Rhine. Lorraine was restored to its Duke, Leopold, who granted however a passage through his dominions for French troops. The Elector of Cologne was recognized, and the rights of the Duchess of Orleans upon the Palatinate compromised for money. William and the European coalition were thus triumphant. Louis had for the first time to withdraw to his own boundaries, and the succession of England was secured. At the same time France gained what had now become absolutely necessary, time to recruit her strength, and leisure to prepare for that great struggle which all men saw to be imminent, when the death of Charles II. of Spain, without a direct heir, should leave the succession of that great monarchy to be disputed among the various claimants.

The joy of England at the conclusion of the war was enthusiastic. The King made a triumphal entry into London, and was everywhere received with enthusiasm. The crowning point of his reign had been reached. Almost without knowing it, he had solved the great constitutional question of the time, and, supported by a ministry in harmony with the Commons, and the national representatives in harmony with the people, had triumphantly brought to conclusion the great objects of his life, established the Protestant succession in England, and proved to Louis the necessity of respecting the rights and feelings of the rest of Europe.