The old East India Company complained bitterly of Kidd's outrages in the Indian seas, declaring that they would bring it into trouble with the Great Mogul. In the beginning of December a motion was made in the Commons that "the letters patent granted to the Earl of Bellamont and others of pirates' goods were dishonourable to the king, and contrary to the laws of nations and the laws and statutes of the realm, invasive of property, and destructive of trade and commerce." There was a violent debate, in which the Tories contended that the Lord Chancellor Somers had knowingly affixed the Great Seal to the commission to enrich himself, his colleagues, and the king, out of the plunder of unfortunate merchants. The motion was rejected by a large majority; the character of Somers stood too high for such a charge to reach him. But the Opposition did not rest here; it was determined to wound the king and his Government in every possible quarter.
There lay a cause in Ireland much more dangerous to the king and his Chancellor than the affairs of Captain Kidd. William had promised not to bestow any of the confiscated lands there without consent of Parliament. In disregard of his word he had conferred immense estates on his Dutch favourites, Portland, Albemarle, Athlone, and his French one, Lord Galway (Ruvigny), as well as on his mistress, Mrs. Villiers. The Commons, therefore, appointed Commissioners to inquire into the royal grants there. These Commissioners were the Earl of Drogheda, Sir Francis Brewster, Sir Richard Leving, Hamilton, Annesley, Trenchard, and Langford. The four last-named Commissioners were earnest supporters of the Commons' inquiry; but it was soon perceived by them that the Earl of Drogheda, Brewster, and Leving were in the interest of the Government. When they came to draw up their report, those three Commissioners vehemently dissented, and made an appeal to each House of Parliament, declaring that the report had not their concurrence, and that it was not borne out by the evidence laid before them. They complained that the other Commissioners had endeavoured to overbear them in a most arbitrary manner, trying to influence them by letters and instructions which they alleged they had received from members of the Commons. The Commons, however, regarding Drogheda, Brewster, and Leving as tools of the Court, paid no attention to their remonstrance. They received the report signed by the other four, who, on their part, complained that in the prosecution of their inquiry they had been greatly hindered by the backwardness of the people of Ireland to give information for fear of the vengeance of the grantees, and from reports industriously spread that the inquiry, through the influence of the Crown and the new grantees, would come to nothing. The three dissentient Commissioners agreed to much of this, but attributed the fear of the people to the grantees at large, and not to those recently favoured by Government. They affirmed that John Burke, commonly called Lord Bophin, had agreed to pay to Lord Albemarle seven thousand five hundred pounds for procuring from the king letters patent restoring him to his honours and estates. They gave amazing details of the wholesale plunder of cattle, horses, sheep, etc., from the Catholics, which had never been accounted for to the Crown. The report stated the persons who had been outlawed since the 13th of February, 1689, for participation in the rebellion amounted in England to fifty-seven, but in Ireland to 3,921; that the lands confiscated in Ireland since that period amounted to 1,060,792 acres, with a rental of £211,623; which, at twenty years' purchase were of the value of over £4,000,000; that some of these lands had been restored to their ancient proprietors, but chiefly by heavy bribes to the persons who had betrayed his Majesty's trust in them. They then gave a list of seventy-six grants under the Great Seal, amongst which stood prominent those to Lord Romney, who as Lord Sidney had been Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, consisting of 49,517 acres; two to the king's recent favourite, Keppel of Guelderland, made by William Earl of Albemarle, amounting to 106,633 acres; to William Bentinck, Lord Woodstock, the son of Portland, 135,820 acres; to Ginkell, Earl of Athlone, 26,480 acres; and to Ruvigny, the Huguenot, Earl of Galway, 36,148 acres. After all the deductions and allowances, they valued the estates forfeited since the 13th of February, 1689, and not restored at £2,699,343—a ridiculous over-estimate.
The Commons instantly set themselves to frame a Bill of Resumption of all the grants. They ordered the report of the Commissioners, the speeches and promises of the king regarding these forfeited estates, and their former resolutions regarding them, to be printed, that the whole country might judge of this matter for itself. And they resolved that any member of the Privy Council who should procure or be concerned in procuring grants from the Crown for their own purposes, should be deemed guilty of a high crime and misdemeanour. As the Tories were the means of carrying this Resumption Bill, the Whigs, to avenge themselves, moved by way of amendment that all grants made since the 6th of February, 1684, should be resumed, and the Tories were caught in their own snare, for they could not with any show of consistency oppose a measure of their own originating. Therefore the Bill passed, and they were compelled to disgorge all the Crown property they had settled on themselves from the accession of James. Ministers proposed to insert a clause to reserve one third of the forfeited property for the king's own disposal; but the Commons would not listen to it, and resolved not to receive any petition from any person whatever concerning the grants. That justice might be done to purchasers and creditors in the Act of Resumption, they appointed thirteen trustees to hear and determine all claims, to sell to the highest purchasers, and to appropriate the money to pay the arrears of the army. The Lords introduced some alterations, but the Commons rejected them, and to prevent the Bill from being lost in the Lords they consolidated it with a money Bill for the service of the year. The Lords demanded a conference, and the Commons, exasperated at their interference in a money Bill, prepared to go greater lengths. They assumed the aspect of the Commons in Charles I.'s time. They ordered the doors to be closed, and called for a list of the Privy Councillors. They then moved that John, Lord Somers, should be expelled from the service of the king for ever. The resolution was not carried, but the temper of the House was such as made wise men tremble for an approaching crisis. The king was disposed to refuse to pass the Bill even if the Lords did; but when the Commons left the Bill in the hands of the Lords, and that House was warned on all sides that they would have to pass the Bill, or the consequences might be fatal, he gave way, though with undisguised resentment. The Commons were proceeding with a fresh resolution for an address to his Majesty, praying that not any foreigner, except Prince George of Denmark, should be admitted to his Majesty's Council in England or Ireland, the resolution being aimed at Portland, Albemarle, and Galway, when the king sent a private message to the peers, desiring them to pass the Resumption Bill, and on the 11th of April he went down to the House, and gave it the royal assent. He then ordered the Earl of Bridgewater, in the absence of Somers, who was ill, to prorogue Parliament, and it was accordingly prorogued to the 23rd of May without any speech.
William left England in the beginning of July, but before his departure he endeavoured to persuade Somers to give way to the rancour of the Commons, and resign the Seals. Somers refused to resign voluntarily, arguing that it would imply a fear of his enemies, or a consciousness of guilt; but William, who knew the necessity of leaving a better feeling behind him if possible, sent Lord Jersey to Somers for the Seals, and offered them successively to Chief Justice Holt, and to Treby the Attorney-General; both declined, however, what would have turned the enmity of Parliament on them, and William was eventually obliged to bestow them on Nathan Wright, one of the Serjeants-at-Law, a man of no mark and very indifferent qualifications for the office. William offered the government of Ireland to Shrewsbury; but he, too, declined the office, and set out for Italy. Every one seemed afraid of engaging in his Government, so bitter was the Parliament against him. Even his trusty Portland, now absolutely groaning under the weight of riches which William had heaped upon him, retired from his place in his household, and Lord Jersey was appointed Chamberlain, and Lord Romney, Groom of the Stole. William had never left the kingdom in circumstances of so much unpopularity, and scarcely had he gone when the Duke of Gloucester, the only child of the Princess Anne, died at the age of eleven (July 30, 1700). This gave fresh hopes to the Jacobites. They sent a messenger to St. Germains with the news, and began to bestir themselves all over the kingdom. In truth, the outlook was very gloomy for the Protestant succession. No such successor was as yet appointed. The health and spirits of William were fast sinking. His person and government were extremely unpopular. The House of Brunswick had treated his advances with marked contempt, but they now came forward, urged by the critical state of things, and made their first visit of acknowledgment to the king. The Princess Sophia, Electress Dowager of Hanover, was the person on whom the eyes of the Protestants were now turned; but the nation was in a state of much uncertainty. It was rumoured that even Anne had sent a conciliatory letter to her father, and the public mind was disturbed by fears of a disputed succession, and of the reviving chances of a Stuart king.
William during this year had been busy concluding the new treaty of partition. Tallard, Portland, and Jersey had assisted in it. It was signed by them in London early in March, and by Briord and the Plenipotentiaries of the States at the Hague on the 25th of October. It had substituted the Archduke Charles, the second son of the Emperor, for the deceased Electoral Prince of Bavaria, as heir to Spain with the Spanish Flanders and colonies; but the Dauphin was still to possess Naples and the other Italian States, with Lorraine and Bar, which the Duke of Lorraine was to exchange for Milan. In case of the archduke dying, some other son of the Emperor was to succeed, but not the king of the Romans, for it was stipulated that Spain and the Empire, or France and Spain, were never to be united under one crown. The first treaty was made known to the different Powers, and excited much astonishment and disapprobation. The Emperor of Germany, notwithstanding his son was made successor to the Spanish monarchy, Flanders, America, and the Indies, was not conciliated. He expressed his amazement that the kings of other countries should take it upon them to carve up the Spanish monarchy without the consent of the present possessor and the Estates of the kingdom. He denied the right of these Powers to compel him to accept a part when he was heir to the whole, and to pronounce his forfeiture of even that part if within three months he did not consent to this unwarrantable proceeding. The other princes of Germany were unwilling to excite the enmity of the House of Austria by expressing their approval of the scheme, and Brandenburg, which was just now in treaty with the Emperor for the acknowledgment of Prussia as a kingdom, which was signed on the 16th of November, of course united with him. The Italian States were alarmed at the prospects of being handed over to France, and the Swiss declined to sanction the treaty. In Spain the aristocracy, who had vast estates in Sicily, Naples, and the other Italian provinces, and who enjoyed the viceroyalties, and governorships, and other good offices there, were greatly incensed at the idea of all these passing to the French.
The miserable and dying king was in agonies. He had already made a will, leaving the crown and all its dependencies to the Emperor, but neither he nor the Emperor had taken the precaution of securing the Italian provinces by marching a strong army thither—probably from fear of arousing Louis to a premature war. He now called a Council of State to deliberate on the succession; but the unfortunate prince had to deliberate with a Council which had long been bought over by the French. Only two of the Council had the patriotism to vote that the question should be submitted to the Cortes; they were overborne by the voices of the rest, who had been corrupted by Harcourt, the French Minister. Amongst them were prominent the Marquis de Monterey and Cardinal Portocarrero. They advised that they should consult the faculties of law and theology, and these faculties were already bribed by France. The French faction persuaded further the starving people that all their troubles had been produced by the partisans of Austria; and the enraged mob surrounded the palace and demanded to see the king, who was compelled to show himself, though he was too weak to stand without help. All this time the condition of the king of Spain was frightful. His conscience, accustomed to be swayed by his religious advisers, was torn to and fro by the contending exertions of Portocarrero and the queen. Portocarrero was a man of vast influence; he was not only cardinal but Archbishop of Toledo, and affected a deep concern for the king. Charles, intensely attached to his own family, and having a strong persuasion that its claims were the claims of the nation, was yet so tortured by the arguments of the priests of the opposite factions, and the entreaties of the queen, that no poor soul was ever in so dreadful a purgatory. At length, after the most violent contests, he sank in passive weakness, and on the 2nd of October he signed the will dictated by France. Having done it, he burst into tears, and sighed out "Now I am nothing!"
But this signing was effected in deepest secrecy; neither the queen nor any one but a small junto of the French faction was aware of it. As Charles, however, still lingered between life and death for a month yet, the French made every preparation for the event, and Portocarrero took possession of the Great Seals, and dispersed all his agents, so as to secure the transfer of the crown to France. On the 1st of November, 1700, the unhappy monarch died, at the age of thirty-nine, and the will was made known, to the consternation of the queen and the Austrian and English ambassadors, who were till that moment in profound ignorance of it. As soon as the news reached Paris, Count Zinzendorf, the Imperial ambassador, presented himself at Versailles, and inquired whether the king meant to abide by the treaty of partition or accept the will. The Marquis de Torcy answered for Louis that he meant certainly to abide by the treaty. But this was only to gain time. Louis had long made up his mind, and when he heard that Charles was dead, he exclaimed, "There are no longer any Pyrenees." William's statesmanlike plans had been foiled by his confederate's treachery.
William had returned to England towards the end of October, a few days before the death of the King of Spain. He was deeply chagrined at this unexpected event, but, in the present temper of England—disgusted with his proceedings with Louis for the partition of Spain—he could not openly complain. Not the less, however, did he unburthen his feelings to his friend the Pensionary Heinsius. Writing to him, he said, "I never relied much on the engagements with France, but I must confess that I did not think they would on this occasion have broken, in the face of the whole world, a solemn treaty before it was well accomplished." He confessed that he had been duped, and that he felt it the more because his English subjects did not disguise their opinion that the will was better than the partition, against which one party had complained because of the large amount given to France, the other at the injustice of forestalling the wishes of the French, and both at the secrecy with which the negotiations had been conducted. He expressed his deep anxiety regarding the Spanish Netherlands, which, it seemed, must fall into the hands of France, and as to what barrier was to be set up between them and Holland; and he concluded by saying that he should bear all the blame for having trusted to France after his experience that no trust was to be put in it.
But, besides his health and the mortification of Louis's triumphant deceit, William had plenty of troubles from the temper of his Parliament, and the state of the factions which harassed his Government. With such gloomy auspices came in the year 1701. The king had now replaced the retiring Whigs of his Ministry by Tories. Lord Godolphin was made First Commissioner of the Treasury; Lord Tankerville succeeded Lord Lonsdale, deceased, as Privy Seal; Lord Rochester was sent as Lord-Lieutenant to Ireland; and Sir Charles Hedges was appointed Secretary of State. By their advice Parliament was dissolved, and writs were issued for the meeting of the new one on the 6th of February.
When Parliament met, it was found that the late Speaker, Sir Thomas Littleton, had absented himself from the House, and the Tories proposed in his stead Robert Harley, who was now fast rising into favour with that party. The king had requested Littleton, in fact, to withdraw, that the Tories might get in their man; but there was such a ferment in the House that it was obliged to be adjourned till the 20th. Then the Whigs brought forward Sir Richard Onslow, but he was defeated by a majority of two hundred and forty-nine to one hundred and twenty-five. This showed that a strong Tory Commons had been returned, and yet it was not true that all the Tories were unanimous. There was, indeed, a considerable breach in the party. Those of them who had been passed over in the selection of the Ministry, or had other causes of pique against the Government, remained in opposition, and occasioned the king and their own party no little embarrassment. Amongst these were the Duke of Leeds, the Marquis of Normanby, the Earl of Nottingham, Seymour, Musgrave, Howe, Finch, and Showers. It was strongly suspected, too, that Louis had made use of Tallard to bribe some members of Parliament and of the Government to an awful extent to oppose any measures for war and Continental combinations.