he could not be better supported or buoyd up, than by her favour towards him; and the better to introduce himself, he entered into a treaty with Monsieur de Rouvigny (who was at that time the King of France's minister in England, who mistakingly thought that Duke to be still in his former favour with the King) about a stricter alliance between England and France, to be transacted with all secresy, only between that Duke on our King's part, and Madame for the King of France. In prosecution whereof, he sent over his great confident Sir Ellis Leighton, with recommendations from Monsieur de Rouvigny, to manage affaires with Madame. In the mean time, the King kept the secret, and suffered this mock treaty to go on, that he might the better cover the reall one, of which neither Madame nor that Duke had the least knowledge; whose cheif drift in his own new project was to keep himself up at the head of the ministry.

This management was made a secret to his R. H. and to Lord Arlington. But after Sir Ellis was come back from France, and had settled a correspondence with Madame, his R. H. came accidentally to the knowledge of it, and at last received a full account of the whole transaction from Sir Ellis Leighton himself; and then gave notice of it to Lord Arlington; which served not a little to make the breach wider between him and the Duke of Buckingham, and to make him more firm in his R. H. interest, (whereunto Sir Thomas Clifford, that Lord's great friend, and a very stout and loyall man, did very much contribute), thō he still supported the creatures he had brought in, in opposition to the Duke. 1st Life James II. p. 442-445.

About the beginning of May in the same year, Madame, the King's only sister now living, came to Dover to meet her brother, which she had long desired to do, and which was now made easy to her, upon the King of France's coming then into Flanders to visit his new conquests: But this her journey prov'd to be unfortunate in many respects, and not only hurtfull to our King's affaires in generall, but particularly to those good measures (which) had been ta ken as to the Catholick religion. I have already mentioned how the private treaty was signed and exchanged by the two Kings, and that some of the mony, in pursuance of it, had been paid to the King; for thō the French allways shewed a strong inclination to have their own work done first, and to begin with the war against Holland, yet that King yielded at last to the convincing reasons that were given him to the contrary, as has already been said. But now again, still looking upon it as more advantageous for their own temporall concerns, to change those measures then taken, and knowing the great influence which, in all likelyhood, Madame would have upon the King her brother, it was resolved, by his Most Christian Majesty, to make use of her to bring that about which he so much desired: For which reason he consented to her journey, tho for. merly he had been adverse to her making a visite to her brother in England, as also Monsieur was, for reasons of his own. She very

willingly undertook this commission, hoping thereby further to ingratiate herself with that King, and to be more considered in France, by shewing the power she had over the King her brother. She had indeed a mind to stay in England, not only out of love to her bro, ther, but she presumed upon his temper and the ascendant she should have over him; and beleeved, that if once she could compass her living with him, she might govern all things here.

When her coming over was first proposed, the Duke did not like it, fearing the ill consequences it might have, and afterwards did happen; and as dexterously as he could, without appearing downright against it, he did his utmost to hinder it, but without effect. Also an accident happen'd at that time, which did very much facilitate Madame's prevailing upon the King her brother; for a late new act of Parliament coming just at that time to be put in execution against Conventicles, the King thought it necessary to leave the Duke behind him in London, to prevent any disorder that might happen upon the first Sunday in which the Conventicles were to be shutt up and suppres'd, which fell upon the 10th of May; so that Madame arrived at Dover three or four days before the Duke could come thither. In which time, she had so prevail'd with the King, that, when the Duke arrived there, he found all the former measures broken, and the resolution taken to begin out of hand with the war with Holland; and it was no little surprise to his R. H. that both Lord Arlington and Sir Thomas Clifford, being gained by Madame, had concurred in it, who were the only two there present that knew of the secret treaty. They, meeting the Duke upon his first entring into Dover, before he had seen the King, told him what had been done; who answer'd them, he was very sorry for it, for he was sure it would quite defeat the Catholic design; because, when once his Majty was engaged in such an expensive war as that would be, and was not absolute master of affaires at home, he unavoidably would run in debt, and must then be at the mercy of his Parliament, which, as matters had been ordered, were not likely to be in very good humour; and therfor, tho they had given. very large supplys for the former Dutch war, in all probability they would not do the same now, since that war was of their own proposall, wheras this is undertaken without their advice, and (in) conjunction with France; for which reason alone, they would not approve of it; and besides, it would give them a jealousy and suspicion of what was further intended. They answered; That as to what his R. H. feared of the King's running in debt, there would be no danger of it, since his Majty being to have fifty ships out, to which the French were to joyn thirty, that charge might be easily supported by the customes, which they reckoned at six hundred thousand pounds, and that such a fleet, they thought, would be sufficient to deal with the Dutch; and that if the war succeeded, it was not much matter what people suspected. The Duke told them, he was sure they took wrong measures as to the sea expence, for tha

the number of ships they mentioned might cost no more, and that he thought he should be able to look the Dutch in the face with eighty such ships as those, and fire ships proportionable; yet the necessary convoys for the preservation of trade, and the security of the plantations with a recruit of ships which must be got ready to joyn the fleet after an engagement, would go near to cost as much more, not to reckon the land forces which, upon this occasion, must of necessity be raised. "All this, and more, the Duke afterward represented to the King, but could not prevaile to get that fatall Dutche war put off. Whilst Madame stayd at Dover, she prevailed with the King to pass by his displeasure to the Duke of Buckingham, and got him restored again to his Majesties favour and trust; and when his R. H. found fault with her for so doing, she ingenously told him, she did it to make her court to the King, who she saw had a mind to be press'd to do it. She also made the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Arlington friends; and had at that time so much credit with the King, by reason of the opinion he had of her go d understanding, and of his kindness to her, that she should have persuaded him to have done almost any thing she had a mind to. After about a fortnight's stay at Dover, she was call'd back to the French court, being upon their return towards Paris; and a litle after her arrival at her own house at St Cloud, she dy'd of a sudden and violent distemper, which seized her but the evening before, to the great surprise and grief of all the Royall Family. The manner of her death gave some suspicion that she was poyson'd; but the phisitions, when she was oppened, declared she was not.

This voyage of Madame's into England made a noise beyond sea; and the Dutch were much alarm'd at it, whose jealousy was increased by the Duke of Buckingham's being sent soon after into France, insomuch that Monsieur Vanbeuning, their minister here, desir'd he might be impower'd to assure De Witt, that that Duke was sent upon nothing prejudiciall to his Masters.'

*

The year 1672 began with preparing the fleet with as little noise as might be, to have it in readiness to begin the war in the spring with the Dutch, in pursuance of the treaty above mention'd with France. Of the King's Cabinet Councill were then the Duke of Buckingham, Duke of Lauderdale, Earle of Arlington, Lord Clifford, and Lord Ashly Cooper, afterward Earle of Shaftesbury and Chancellor of England, and none more zealous than he for carrying on the war with Holland. Now, thō none of them but Lord Arlington and Clifford had knowledge of the secret treaty with France, which gave the first rise to this war, yet there were not wanting other specious reasons enough, to make the others enter into it; which were afterwards sett forth in his Majties declaration of war, published on the 28th of March of the present year. The war being thus resolved on, the first business was to provide money sufficient to carry it on; for which they could find no other expe

dient, but stopping all payments in the Exchequer, with an allowance of interest of six per cent. to the persons unpayd, and this for the space of a year.'

Though his Royal Highness was, in his own judgment, against entering into this war before his Majesties power and authority in England had been better fixed and less precarious, as it would have been, if the private treaty first agreed on had not been altered '

It is not for the purpose of animadverting on the atrocity of this conspiracy that we have laid these curious extracts before our readers. The unanimous opinion of mankind has already been pronounced on this subject. But the above is an account of this plot, in the spirit, if not in the words, of one of the ringleaders. It is of no small importance to the world to see in what light such transactions are viewed by Kings and Princes. This was a conspiracy to impose upon the people of England a system which they dreaded and detested. It could not be accomplished without the previous acquisition of absolute power, by the ordinary means of military force. Violent resistance, long and bloody struggles, were evidently foreseen. It was a project which required the spirit and vigour of youth in the two Royal Brothers; and which could not be postponed without danger, to an age of infirmity and irresolution. Small as the army then illegally kept up was, it was chiefly trusted as the means of enslaving the nation. Officers, educated in the exercise of despotic power in colonial possessions not administered by the constitution of England, were selected for the command of some important fortresses. Noblemen infatuated by loyalty, or blinded by bigotry, were put into command of others. The Duke of York was to employ his popularity in the navy, to seduce from the cause of their country that gallant body, the only armed force who are not the natural enemies of freedom. The King and the Duke trusted only two Cabinet Ministers with this criminal secret. They carried on the negociation for a year, during which they cheated Buckingham, Lauderdale, and Shaftesbury. Buckingham, however, too acute not to discover the path to royal favour, tried a similar underplot of his own, into which Charles affected to enter, in order to hide the grand conspiracy which he thought mature for execution. He deceived Buckingham by this pretended acquiescence. He deceived the Dutchess of Orleans through Buckingham. He deceived his family, his ministers, his subjects, and all Europe. Even the Duke of York, the most faithful of accomplices, neither trusted the King, nor was trusted by him. Buckingham's mock treaty was kept secret from him, and he detected it. The object, as has already been observed, was the overthrow of the

fundamental laws by which the King reigned, and the Duke claimed to inherit. It was to subvert that which he was bound to maintain, by every obligation, civil, moral, or religious. The slightest attempt for the same purpose by any of his subjects, would have been justly punished as a crime of the deepest dye. To crown all, he was to call in the aid of a foreign prince, the general oppressor of Europe, and to receive clandestinely from him the reward of treachery to his own country. Every sentiment of royal dignity, every spark of national feeling, must have been extinguished. The first fruits of his league with the Tyrant of Europe, was to be an unjust war, for the partition of the territory of the only commonwealth that could serve as a barrier against the power of France, or as a safeguard to the religion and liberties of England.

,

This is, perhaps, the only occasion in which we can hear a great Prince speak of his own participation in such projects. And it is very remarkable that James and his biographer survey this plan with perfect seeming complacency. Not a symptom of remorse, nor even of regret, is betrayed, in this narrative of every crime that can be committed against society. The language in which all these frauds and perjuries, and meannesses and enormities are spoken of by the Royal historian, is also not a little instructive: The great work,' which was to be accomplished before the war for the partition of Holland, is at first gently described as the settling or establishment of Catholic religion in England.' As this establishment was to be effect ed by an army, and by fortresses, and by foreign money, it evidently involved the establishment of despotism. But no doubt is left by the words of our biographer. H. R. H. was against entering into this war, before his Majesty's power and authority had been better fixed and less precarious, as it would have been, if the private treaty first agreed on had not been altered;' i. e. if the Royal power, delivered from the restraints of law, and rendered absolute by the help of foreign money and military force, had established the Roman Catholic religion on the ruins of the laws, and in defiance of the people. The only circumstance in these transactions which James, on a subsequent survey of his own life, could, it seems, disapprove, was the imprudence of having attempted the plunder of Holland before England had been enslaved. In a passage which relates to the year 1681 (1st Life James II. p. 750), we have the good fortune to learn James's manner of representing such matters to himself, in his own words, which are quoted by the biographer from King Ja. Mem. tom. 9. p. 176. "The Dutchess of Portsmouth prevailed with his Majesty to make her a grant of ten thou