: the test, the oath of supremacy and the subscription against transubstantiation were sufficient to exclude the catholics from office the obligation of receiving the sacrament after the rite of the established church was necessary as far as regarded them; but it operated effectually to the exclusion of the dissenters. Thus the latter, by the establishment of the test, placed themselves in a much worse situation than before. They forfeited the benefit of the king's declaration; they remained subject to the intolerant laws passed against them since the restoration; and, in addition, they entailed on themselves and their posterity a new disability, that of holding employment, civil or military, under the crown. by land. NAVAL ACTIONS. DISGRACE OF SHAFTESBURY. ADDRESSES AGAINST LAUDERDALE AND BUCKINGHAM. IMPEACHMENT OF ARLINGTON. -CONCLUSION OF PEACE. DESIGN OF EXCLUDING THE Duke of YORK. REPEATED PROROGATIONS OF PARLIAMENT. - INTRIGUES OF MONMOUTH. OF ARLINGTON. PROCEEDINGS OF THE POPULAR APPEALS. ANOTHER SESSION. MOTION FOR DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT. -PROCEEDINGS IN SCOT- Campaign In Holland, the rapid success of the French had provoked, instead of subduing, resistance. De Witt, who had so long governed the republic, fell a victim with his brother to the vengeance of an infuriated mob; the prince of Orange took on himself the proud task of liberating his country; and the absence of contending factions gave a more uniform direction to the national efforts, and inspired with greater confidence the princes who dreaded the ascendancy of France. During the winter, Louis made no additional conquests; in the summer the reduction of Maestricht was the only exploit which distinguished his May 13. arms. After a succession of marches and operations in Flanders, undertaken for the sole purpose of masking his real object, he suddenly sate down before that fortress, which capitulated after an obstinate defence of twentyJune 1. three days. Monmouth, who led the English auxiliaries, June 23. commanded under him with the rank of lieutenant-ge neral. His want of military experience was supplied by the counsels of Montal; his personal courage won the applause of the king and of the army. tions. In England, the liberal supply, voted by parliament, Resignagave new vigour to the preparations for war. A fleet of more than sixty sail of large ships was equipped, and an army of eight thousand men was raised and encamped at Blackheath for foreign service. But at first all men fixed their eyes on the duke of York, anxious to learn whether he would take or refuse the test. His conversion to the church of Rome still remained a matter of mere suspicion : but it was observed that, at Easter, when the king received the sacrament, James did not accompany him ; and March 30. soon afterwards the fact became public by his voluntary resignation of all the offices which he held under the crown. At the same time, and for the same reason, the lord Clifford relinquished the treasurer's staff in op- June 19. position to the advice and entreaty of the king. By those who were acquainted with his aspiring character, and able « I Buckingham (Sheffield, works, ii. 24.) says that, « a sure and easy - attack was kept back till his day of commanding, that he might have the credit of the success.» This insinuation is groundless. On that occasion, says Louis in a letter to Charles, « Il fit tout ce qui se pouvoit pour signaler davantage sa conduite et sa valeur. Je ne dois pas même oublier que le lendemain les assiégés étant sortis sur la demi-lune à la faveur d'un fourneau, il fut à eux l'épée à la main au premier bruit de la sortie, et leur fit quitter le logement. » Louis, iii. 412. That this was not mere compliment appears from the following passage in the king's journal of the siege. Le duc de Monmouth s'acquit à la tête des mousquetaires uné grande réputation.» Ibid. 375. See also James, i. 493. 2 Evelyn, ii. 380. The king had employed lord Clifford to prevail on James to take the sacrament with him at Christmas: but the duke replied, that his conscience forbade him. James, i. 482. to judge how much it must have cost him to suppress at once the hopes which he had so fondly cherished, it was supposed that he had bound himself by promise to follow the duke of York; but that prince declares that Clifford was actuated by motives of conscience, and pronounces his conduct the more honourable, as it was the less to be expected from one who had so recently become a proselyte. By his resignation the ambition of Arlington was again awakened, but was again doomed to be disappointed. The king, by the advice of James and Clifford, gave the staff to Arlington's enemy, Sir Thomas Osborne, who Aug. 15. was soon afterwards raised to the peerage, by the title of viscount Latymer. sea. Actions at By the retirement of James, the command of the combined fleet, amounting to ninety sail of the line, devolved on prince Rupert. With so formidable a force, it was expected that he would sweep the Dutch navy from the face of the ocean: but he performed nothing worthy of his reputation; and, though he fought three actions with De Ruyter, neither received nor inflicted considerable injury. His friends complained that his powers were limited by unusual restrictions, and that his ships wanted « 'Evelyn (ii. 383.) says, « I am confident he (Clifford) forbore receiving the communion, more from some promise he had entered << into to gratifie the duke, than from any prejudice to the pro<< testant religion, tho' I found him wavering a pretty while. » The duke, on the contrary, says: « the test ousted him of the place of lord « treasurer of England, and of being any longer a privy counsellor ; α who, tho' a new convert, generously preferred his conscience to « his interests. » James, 484. These passages prove that those writers are incorrect, who represent him all along as a catholic.- Besides lord Clifford, lord Belasyse, Sir Thomas Strickland, and several others in eminent stations, resigned. Marvell, i. 458. stores and provisions: an officer, who was present, asserts, that he was too closely leagued with the country party to obtain a victory, which might render their opponents lords of the ascendant. He was ordered to take under his protection the army commanded by Schomberg, and to land it on the coast of Holland. Schomberg, unacquainted with naval etiquette, affixed the colours of his regiment to the mast of his vessel, as a signal to the officers in the other transports; but Rupert considered his conduct as an act of insubordination or insult : two shots were fired through the rigging; and orders were given to sink the general's vessel, unless the flag were immediately struck. Schomberg reluctantly submitted, and the armament proceeded to the Dutch coast; but no landing was effected. Rupert, having alarmed the July 23. inhabitants on several points, from the Maese to that of the Ems, ordered the military force to return to Yarmouth, where it remained encamped during the rest of Aug. 2. the season. Schomberg, attributing both the violence of the prince with respect to the flag, and his refusal to land the army in Holland, to personal dislike, sent him a challenge; but Charles interfered to prevent the meeting, and the general quitted the English service. ' A congress had been held at Cologne, under the me- Congress at Cologne, diation of the king of Sweden. But the States had now a brighter prospect before them, and scornfully refused conditions which they would have gladly accepted in Buckingham (Sheffield), ii. 25-9. See also a letter from the king to Rupert, in which he calls the raising of the flag « a casual and << inoffensive error, laments the mortification of Schomberg, and is << not willing that the quarrel should be carried any further. » Lansdowne, MSS. 1206, p. 158. XII. 20 |