DISGRACE OF SHAFTESBURY. 237 IV. Oct. 27. met again on the 27th, and were informed that his CHAP. majesty could not in honour break a contract of A.D. 1673 marriage which had been solemnly executed. But his opponents in the lower house were not to be deterred; their plan of operations had been previously arranged, and they proceeded to resolve that a second petition, of the same import with the first, should be presented; that no supply should be granted, unless the obstinacy of the Dutch made it necessary, till the country was secured from the danger of popery and popish counsellors, and the existing grievances were redressed; that a test should be imposed to distinguish between Protestant and Papist, and render the latter incapable, not only of office, but of sitting in either house of parliament; that the standing army was a grievance which ought to be redressed; and that (as had been done by the long parliament in the time of Charles I.) the king should be petitioned to appoint a day of general fasting, that God might avert the dangers with which the nation was threatened. These Nov. 4 votes created alarm in the court; and Charles, hastening to the House of Lords, prorogued the parliament. By this decisive measure, the hopes of the opposition were disappointed, and Shaftesbury became the victim of his own policy. Calculating on the easy, irresolute disposition of the king, he had anticipated victory instead of defeat, and probably expected to retain his high office, while his colleagues should be excluded from the royal counsels. Charles, having granted him a full pardon for all offences Nov. 9 against the crown, demanded the great seal, which he gave to Sir Heneage Finch, with the office of 1 Com. Journals, Oct. 20, 27, 30, 31; Nov. 3, 4. James, i. 485. Burnet, ii. 31. IV. CHAP. lord keeper;' and the disgraced minister, hitherto A.D. 1673. the adviser of the most arbitrary measures, openly proclaimed himself the adversary of the court and the champion of the liberties of the people. He walked daily in the Exchange, accompanied by some of the young nobility, entered into familiar conversation with the merchants, and feelingly deplored to them the miseries of the nation, the depression of trade, and the danger which threatened religion. In the estimation of his new associates, his political conversion had obliterated the guilt of his former transgressions; he was applauded as a persecuted patriot, a martyr to the liberties of his country; and, doubtful as it was whether he believed or not in revelation, theologians were found to describe him from the pulpit as the saviour of religion, and to foretell that his fame, like that of the woman mentioned in the gospel, should live throughout future generations. He failed, however, in his attempt to procure an address to the king from the common council. Charles had many friends in the capital; and the leading citizens, on the signification of the royal disapprobation, refused their concurrence.2 The votes of the House of Commons had spread consternation among the courtiers, and Arlington conjured the king either to prevent the departure of 1 The reader will recollect that in 1614 it was resolved, that for the future no attorney-general should sit in the House of Commons, because, by his office, he is an assistant of the House of Lords. In consequence, in the years 1620, 1625, 1640, when members of the House of Commons were appointed to the office, new writs were issued by the speaker. On the elevation of Finch to the Chancery, North succeeded as attorney-general, but did not, as others before him, vacate his seat. Though some members complained, he was permitted to remain in the house. All his successors have continued to sit without molestation. 2 James, i. 488. Parker. 66, 267, 271. Macph. Pan. i. 69. MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF YORK. 239 IV. the Italian princess from Paris, or to insist that James CHAP. after his marriage should withdraw from public no- A.D. 1673. tice, and lead the life of a country gentleman. But Charles replied, that the first was incompatible with his honour, and the second would be an indignity to his brother. The duchess left Paris, James with a small retinue met her at Dover, and Crew, bishop of Oxford, declared the marriage lawful and valid.1 Nov. 21. Here, however, the earl of Berkshire, a Catholic, probably at the request of the king, advised the duke to solicit permission that he might retire to Audleyend, both for his own quiet and the royal convenience. James indignantly refused his interest, he said, required that he should be on the spot to oppose his enemies; his duty forbade him to desert his brother without the royal command. From Dover, Nov. 26 he returned to the palace of St James's, where the duchess, by her youth, and beauty, and innocence, disarmed the malevolence of party, and became a general favourite with the court. Charles, however, partook of the common alarm. He refused her the use of a public chapel, which had previously been stipulated; he ordered the officers of the household to prevent all Catholics, or reputed Catholics, from entering the palace, or coming into the royal presence; Dec. 10. he forbade, by an order of council, any popish recusant to walk in the park, or visit at St. James's, and he instructed the judges to enforce with rigour the execution of the penal laws against the Catholics. 1 James, i. 486. Temple, ii. 288. The ceremony was merely the following:-" The bishop asked the duchess and the earl of Peter"borow whether the said earl had married the duchess of York as "proxy of the duke, which they both affirming, the bishop then "declared it was a lawful marriage."— Ibid. James, i. 487. Kennet, 296. L. Journ. 595. James, i. 499. СНАР. IV. - Jan. 7. By these regulations the king hoped to satisfy the A.D. 1674. more moderate of his opponents. When the houses met after the prorogation, he addressed them with that air of candour, affability, and cheerfulness, which was so natural to him; and was followed by the lord keeper in a long and eloquent speech, describing the object of the measures lately adopted, imputing to the States insincerity in the negotiation, extolling the king's attachment to the doctrines and worship of the established church, and demanding a supply as equally necessary for the attainment of peace and the prosecution of the war. But neither the affability of the king, nor the eloquence of the minister, could make any impression on the leaders of the party, who were now supposed to act under the guidance of Shaftesbury. 1. It was too late to resume the question of the duke's marriage; they therefore began with the presentation of three addresses, praying the king to enjoin a public fast, that the whole nation might implore the protection of the Almighty for the preservation "of church and state against the under"mining practices of popish recusants;" to command all papists not householders to remove to the distance of ten miles from the capital during the session of parliament; to order that the names of all popish householders within the distance of five miles should be enrolled at the sessions, and to direct the militia of London, Westminster, and Middlesex to be ready Jan. 12. Burnet, ii. 30, 37. These orders were executed with such severity, that within the course of two months seven Catholic peers were compelled to appeal to the House of Lords for protection; namely, the marquess of Winchester for himself and his servant; the earl of Norwich for himself and his two sons; and the earl of Cardigan, the viscount Montague, and the lords Petre, Arundel, and Belassye, for themselves.-L. Journ. xii. 613, 621, 622, 635, 642. IV. at an hour's notice, and the militia of the country at CHAP. a day's notice, to suppress any tumultuous meetings A.D. 1674 of papists or other discontented persons. It cannot be pretended that there existed any real ground for these precautions and insinuations; but the experience of the civil war had shown how efficacious such addresses were in exciting vague and alarming jealousies in the minds of the people, and in directing their attention to the parliament as the faithful guardian of religion and liberty and similar proceedings were at present adopted in furtherance of the projects of the party whose great aim was believed to be the exclusion of the duke of York from the throne. To each address Charles returned a gracious and satisfactory answer.1 2. They proceeded next to vote the removal from office of all counsellors "popishly affected, or other"wise obnoxious or dangerous." Who, it was asked, advised the alliance with France and the rupture with Holland, the declaration of indulgence, and the suspension of payment to the public creditor, the levy of an army without the advice of parliament, and the placing of a foreigner at the head of that army, the marriage of the duke of York, and the prorogation of last November? Let inquiry be made; let a mark be placed on the authors of such evil counsels; let them be incapacitated from repeating their pernicious advice, and from inflicting new injuries on the nation." It was a maxim with the court, introduced by Clarendon and followed by his successors, to leave the parliament, in show at least, to the unbiassed exercise 1 L. Journal, xii. 594, 598. C. Journ. Jan. 7, 12. On the Ist of August, 1673, the duke of York told the French envoy that he was afraid of being excluded from the succession.-Dalrymple, ii. App.98. 2 C. Journ. Jan. 12, 13, 14. |