DE FOE'S REMARKS.

61

informers, and the invention of sham plots, which formed a pretext for getting rid of its troublesome opponents. By such means, some of the best blood in the nation was spilt upon the scaffold, or by private assassination. "Nothing

is more certain," says De Foe, "than that in the late reigns, evidence was first suborned and procured to invent crimes, and forma charge, and juries were packed to bring the persons in guilty, right or wrong; by which means innocent men were hurried to execution in sundry places. Innumerable oppressions, murthers, and invasions of property followed; and the Parliament of England has been put to the trouble of reversing the sentences and attainders of such persons as suffered by the exorbitant and cruel proceedings of those times, thereby tacitly declaring the said executions to be murther in their nature, and illegal in their method."*

Review ii. 333.

CHAPTER V.

Boldness and Indiscretion of the Catholics.-Address of the King.-Popish Plot. Involved in Mystery.-Sensation produced by the Discovery.—Sir William Temple's Account of it.-Expectation of the Catholics at this Time.-Reasonably grounded.—Their turn to suffer.-Violence of the Parliament.-Character of Titus Oates.-Many Catholics put to Death. The King's cold-blooded Cruelty.-He ridicules the Plot.-And employs Papists.-De Foe's Reflections upon the Popish Plot.-His Description of a Protestant Flail. Carries one himself.— He enlists early in the Popular Party-Curious Instance of Credulity.-Change in the Temper of the Nation.-De Foe's Account of the Origin of Whig and Tory.--He is present at a Meeting with Oates and Bedloe.-The Duke of York openly professes himself a Catholic.-The Bishops attempt his Conversion.Their curious Interview.-Project in Parliament to set aside the Duke.The King's fraudulent Conduct towards the Dissenters.-A Spirit of Liberty awakened.-De Foe's Reflections upon the Bill of Exclusion.— The King Attacks the Charters.-In which he is defended by Sprat.His curious Notion of Providence.-The City resigns its Charter.- De Foe's Account of the Proceedings in Common-Hall.-Sham Plots.-Coke's Remark upon them.-Many Patriots sacrificed.-De Foe's Remarks upon the Death of Sydney—And upon the Infatuation of the Times.-Johnson's Remarks upon the Death of Stephen College.

1678-1683.

THE epidemical disease of the times was a dread of popery. Inspired with the hope of seeing their religion once more restored under the sanction of a prince of their own faith, it is no wonder if the Catholics acquired boldness, and gave way to acts of indiscretion." The Papists," observes an English historian, "became every day more and more elated; and, in order to conceal their own dissensions, made heavy complaints of the Dissenters. They were full of

BOLDNESS OF THE CATHOLICS.

says,

63

boasting, and often maltreated their adversaries; laying their own crimes to the charge of others. However, the London Dissenters supported themselves by their integrity, and the rights of citizens." The same writer "The Papists, in defiance of the law, went about in arms, behaving with insolence, and boasting of foreign assistance. The ancient laws passed against them, through the king's connivance, were not put in execution. Hence, they became so audacious, as even to make preparations for war. Whereupon, the Commons made loud clamours against the artifices of the court; saying, the king himself was not sufficiently secured, and that his person was now in danger."+

All this was in the natural course of things; for the parliament had divided, and thereby weakened the Protestant interest, and had betrayed the constitution into the hands. of a prince, whose intentions were too glaring to be mistaken. In eluding the complaints that were now so loudly expressed against the Papists, the king displayed his usual address, amusing the people with jests and diversions, and setting the Protestants at variance amongst themselves. All his exertions, however, could not repress the rising torrent.

But whatever real danger existed from the Papists, it was greatly aggravated by the bigotry of Protestants, whose credulity kept pace with their intolerance. With minds so well prepared by prejudice, there wanted but little to convince them of the reality of a plot that has never been sufficiently established, and must therefore be recorded amongst the dark events of this inglorious reign. The king's government, being directed to dishonest purposes, was carried on wholly by mystery and intrigue. Sham plots were continually invented, and charged to the account of the Presbyterians or Papists, as best suited the design; but whilst these found amusement for the parties that in

*

Cunningham's Great Brit. i. 29.

+ Ibid, p. 48.

vented them, and fed the prejudices of others, the Court was conspiring to subvert the liberties of the nation.

That a plot was now on foot to overturn the Protestant religion, was no new discovery; for it had been in existence from the moment the king ascended the throne, and he had himself performed the part of chief conspirator. The lapse of time, assisted by desperation at delay, would have a tendency to ripen it for execution; but that there was any design at this time to remove the king by means of assassination, is beyond the bounds of credibility, unless, indeed, it was the manufacture of France. Charles's temporizing policy, and the little dependance that was to be placed upon his engagements, were no secret to the French king, who might justly think that he was not to be trusted, and that he might make a better market of his brother. The jesuits who made no scruple to sanction such a method for the furtherance of their religion, stimulated by zeal, and assisted by a knowledge of the disposition of James, might enter into such a view of the subject; but whether this was the case or not, it is certain that Charles entertained no apprehensions from that quarter.(P)

It was the year 1678 that gave birth to what historians have termed the Popish plot, the professed object of which is said to have been the murder of the king, and the establishment of the Roman Catholic religion. Although the accounts given of it bore upon their face the most improbable

(P) The feelings of the Catholics at this time, may be illustrated by the following anecdote. "Sir Ellis Leighton used to go over into France in the time of King Charles the Second's government, only to curse it out of hearing, and to give himself that vent abroad, which was not so safe at home. The burden of his complaint was, That whereas the king had promised to set up the Roman Catholic religion, which he might do by the strength of his guards every day, he would rather play a d---d long church game, which would last longer than his life. It proved 30 (adds the relator) but for all that it was a wiser game than his successor's, who opened shop too soon, and seemed to be in haste in every thing he did." Johnson's Notes to the Pastoral Letter, p. 4.

EXPECTATIONS OF THE CATHOLICS.

65

and contradictory circumstances, and even attested by men of profligate character, they nevertheless obtained very general credit, and aroused the nation to a degree of fury that bordered upon madness. The extraordinary sensation produced by its discovery, is thus described by Sir William Temple: "I never saw greater disturbances at home, than had been raised by the plot, and the pursuit of it in the parliament; and observed, that though it was generally believed by both houses, by city and country, by clergy and laity; yet, when I talked with some of my friends in private, who ought best to know the bottom of it, they only concluded that it was yet mysterious; that they could not say the king believed it; but, however, that the parliament and nation were so generally and strongly possessed with it, that it must of necessity be pursued as if it were true, whether it was so or no."* This extraordinary confession, whilst it speaks volumes upon the subject, forcibly illustrates the policy of this reign.

It happened unfortunately for the English Catholics, that their expectations were at this time raised to a very high pitch; but founded more upon the encouragement of the court, than upon any design against it. Coleman, secretary to the Duke of York, in a letter to Father Le Chaise, observes, "We have here a mighty work upon our hands, no less than the conversion of three kingdoms; and, by that, perhaps, the subduing of a pestilent heresy, which has domineered over a great part of this northern world a long time." He adds, "There was never such hopes of success since the death of Queen Mary, as now in our days, when God has given us a prince who is become zealous of being the author and instrument of so glorious a work!"+ For their anxiety to see the re-establishment of their religion, no one can reasonably

VOL. 1.

Temple's Works, ii. 491.

+ Coleman's Second Letter, p. 21.

F