[699] This cunning, self-interested man, who had been introduced to the house by Lord Russell and Lord Cavendish, and was connected with the country party, tells us that Danby sent for him in Feb. 1677, and assured him that the jealousies of that party were wholly without foundation; that, to his certain knowledge, the king meant no other than to preserve the religion and government by law established; that, if the government was in any danger, it was from those who pretended such a mighty zeal for it. On finding him well disposed, Danby took his proselyte to the king, who assured him of his regard for the constitution, and was right loyally believed. Reresby's Memoirs, p. 36.
[700] "There were two things," says Bishop Parker, "which, like Circe's cup, bewitched men and turned them into brutes; viz. popery and French interest. If men otherwise sober heard them once, it was sufficient to make them run mad. But, when those things were laid aside, their behaviour to his majesty was with a becoming modesty." P. 244. Whenever the court seemed to fall in with the national interests on the two points of France and popery, many of the country party voted with them, though more numerous than their own. Temple, p. 458. See too Reresby, p. 25 et alibi.
[701] The king, according to James himself, readily consented to the marriage of the princess, when it was first suggested in 1675; the difficulty was with her father. He gave at last a reluctant consent; and the offer was made by Lords Arlington and Ossory to the Prince of Orange, who received it coolly. Life of James, 501. When he came over to England in Oct. 1677, with the intention of effecting the match, the king and duke wished to defer it till the conclusion of the treaty then in negotiation at Nimeguen; but "the obstinacy of the prince, with the assistance of the treasurer, who from that time entered into the measures and interests of the prince, prevailed upon the flexibility of the king to let the marriage be first agreed and concluded."—P. 508.
[702] Kennet, p. 332; North's Examen, p. 61; Burnet. This test was covertly meant against the Romish party as well as more openly against the dissenters. Life of James, p. 499. Danby set himself up as the patron of the church party and old cavaliers against the two opposing religions; trusting that they were the stronger in the House of Commons. But the times were so changed that the same men had no longer the same principles, and the house would listen to no measures against nonconformists. He propitiated, however, the prelates, by renewing the persecution under the existing laws, which had been relaxed by the cabal ministry. Baxter, 156, 172; Kennet, 331; Neal, 698; Somers Tracts, vii. 336.
Meanwhile, schemes of comprehension were sometimes on foot; and the prelates affected to be desirous of bringing about an union; but Morley and Sheldon frustrated them all. Baxter, 156; Kennet, 326; Parker, 25. The bishops, however, were not uniformly intolerant. Croft, Bishop of Hereford, published, about 1675, a tract that made some noise, entitled "The Naked Truth," for the purpose of moderating differences. It is not written with extraordinary ability; but is very candid and well designed, though conceding so much as to scandalise his brethren. Somers Tracts, vii. 268; Biogr. Brit. art. Croft; where the book is extravagantly over praised. Croft was one of the few bishops who, being then very old, advised his clergy to read James II.'s declaration in 1687; thinking, I suppose, though in those circumstances erroneously, that toleration was so good a thing, it was better to have it irregularly than not at all.
[703] Charles received 500,000 crowns for the long prorogation of parliament, from Nov. 1675 to Feb. 1677. In the beginning of the year 1676, the two kings bound themselves by a formal treaty (to which Danby and Lauderdale, but not Coventry or Williamson, were privy), not to enter on any treaties but by mutual consent; and Charles promised, in consideration of a pension, to prorogue or dissolve parliament, if they should attempt to force such treaties upon him. Dalrymple, p. 99. Danby tried to break this off, but did not hesitate to press the French cabinet for the money; and £200,000 was paid. The Prince of Orange came afterwards through Rouvigny to a knowledge of this secret treaty. P. 117.
[704] This army consisted of between twenty and thirty thousand men, as fine troops as could be seen (Life of James, p. 512): an alarming sight to those who denied the lawfulness of any standing army. It is impossible to doubt, from Barillon's correspondence in Dalrymple, that the king and duke looked to this force as the means of consolidating the royal authority. This was suspected at home, and very justly: "Many well-meaning men," says Reresby, "began to fear the army now raised was rather intended to awe our own kingdom than to war against France, as had at first been suggested."—P. 62. And in a former passage (p. 57) he positively attributes the opposition to the French war in 1678, to "a jealousy that the king indeed intended to raise an army, but never designed to go on with the war; and to say the truth, some of the king's own party were not very sure of the contrary."
[705] Dalrymple, p. 129. The immediate cause of those intrigues was the indignation of Louis at the Princess Mary's marriage. That event which, as we know from James himself, was very suddenly brought about, took the King of France by surprise. Charles apologised for it to Barillon, by saying, "I am the only one of my party, except my brother."—P. 125. This, in fact, was the secret of his apparent relinquishment of French interests at different times in the latter years of his reign; he found it hard to kick constantly against the pricks, and could employ no minister who went cordially along with his predilections. He seems too at times, as well as the Duke of York, to have been seriously provoked at the unceasing encroachments of France, which exposed him to so much vexation at home.
The connection with Lords Russell and Hollis began in March 1678, though some of the opposition had been making advances to Barillon in the preceding November. Pp. 129, 131. See also Copies and Extracts of some Letters written to and from the Earl of Danby, published in 1716; whence it appears that Montagu suspected the intrigues of Barillon, and the mission of Rouvigny, Lady Russell's first cousin, for the same purpose, as early as Jan. 1678; and informed Danby of it. Pp. 50, 53, 59.
[706] Courtin, the French ambassador who preceded Barillon, had been engaged through great part of the year 1677 in a treaty with Charles for the prorogation or dissolution of parliament. After a long chaffering, the sum was fixed at 2,000,000 livres; in consideration of which the King of England pledged himself to prorogue parliament from December to April 1678. It was in consequence of the subsidy being stopped by Louis, in resentment of the Princess Mary's marriage, that parliament, which had been already prorogued till April, was suddenly assembled in February. Dalrymple, p. 111. It appears that Courtin had employed French money to bribe members of the Commons in 1677 with the knowledge of Charles; assigning as a reason, that Spain and the emperor were distributing money on the other side. In the course of this negotiation, he assured Charles that the King of France was always ready to employ all his forces for the confirmation and augmentation of the royal authority in England, so that he should always be master of his subjects, and not depend upon them.