A correspondence between the Court of St. Germains and the English Jacobites, ranging from October, 1693, to August, 1694, brought to light by Macpherson, shows what was going on at that period. “It is His Majesty’s desire,” said an agent of the Exile, “that the Bishops and non-swearing Clergy send one or two of their number, especially one of the Bishops, to him, with all convenient speed, instructed by the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury [Sancroft], and the rest of the most considerable of them, to inform His Majesty of the readiness they were in last year to have joined him at his landing, and to have preached loyalty and due obedience to the people; and to bring assurances, under the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury’s hand, that they are in the same disposition still, and will join His Majesty whenever he shall land. For the same end, to encourage the people to come into their duty, and because that there may be some danger in inserting of names, ways of writing in white must be found out, and the paper sent by the boat, and not be brought by any of the persons who are sent. This is of the last importance for the King’s service, and therefore, tho’ difficult in appearance, must be complied with; and it’s hoped that there may be no danger, considering how safe all things come. The King is sorry he cannot put his own hand to this. The King’s affairs depend upon the punctual doing of what he desires, as you shall know in due time. The person sent may come safe by Holland. He must likewise bring as good an account as he can, of the number and names of the non-swearing Clergy; and likewise, how the non-swearing Clergy stand affected, and what the King may expect from them, with the best account he can of the state of the King’s affairs in general.”[277] “You are,” it is said in another letter, “to let the Bishop of Norwich [Lloyd] know from us, how much we are pleased with his zeal and faithfulness in our service, to assure him of our favour, and to return him our most hearty thanks.”[278]
1693.
Assurances were sent from this side the water to the plotters abroad, full of the spirit of revolt. “His Majesty [James] has likewise for him, six Protestant Bishops and 600 Ministers who have not taken the oaths, and almost all the Ministers of the Church of England who have taken the oaths; that is to say, as one of their Bishops writes to me, four parts in five are ready to join the King, or to preach in their churches to stir up the people in his favour,—500 of them having been ready to join him last year, in order to convince Protestants that their religion was in no danger, and in order to preach their sentiments to the inhabitants of the country, thro’ which the King should pass.”[279]
JACOBITES.
Another of these conspirators assured his accomplices abroad, that he would unite with his regiment a company of Clergymen of the Church of England, who were determined to serve as volunteers in this expedition; and he hoped also, by a stratagem, to seize the Prince and Princess of Orange, and to bring them as prisoners to His Majesty.[280]
Captain Crisp declared that the Bishop of Exeter was entirely in the King’s interest; and that five parts of seven in the county of Cornwall were on the same side.[281]
1694.
Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe, Sir John Fenwick, Major-General Sackville, and several other persons of quality and distinction, maintained that the persons mentioned, having made an exact inquiry through all the counties of England, found that the mind of the nation in general was entirely alienated from the Prince of Orange, by losses suffered at sea, by heavy taxes, by the interruption of commerce within and without the kingdom, and by the general disorder occasioned through a change in the circulation of the coin. It is distinctly affirmed, “that four parts out of five of the Clergy are disposed to declare for the King;”[282] and His Majesty was earnestly besought to think of some way to reconcile the Church party, and those of the Dissenters who were in Parliament, as it would contribute much to His Majesty’s service.[283] This was before the death of Mary, afterwards intrigues did not end in foolish, harmless, and untruthful correspondence. A conspiracy was formed to attack William when driving over a piece of bad road between Brentford and Turnham Green, but the conspirators were betrayed, and the bubble of vengeance immediately burst. Charnock, Keyes, and King, Roman Catholic Jacobites—who, with others of the same faith in religion and politics, had been deeply involved in this affair—suffered for their offence, the last-named declaring at the foot of the gallows, that what he had done was to be attributed to his own sinful passions, not to any Roman Catholic doctrine on the subject of tyrannicide. Two others of higher grade—Sir John Friend, belonging to the Jacobite nonjuring class, and Sir William Parkyns, a Jacobite, but a juror too—on the 3rd of April, also suffered death for their share in the conspiracy. The fate of these knights created immense excitement, chiefly on account of a circumstance which brings their execution before us. Jeremy Collier has been already mentioned as a distinguished nonjuring Divine, and a great sensation was produced in the vast crowds round the fatal tree by the sight of this clergyman—in company with two others less known, named Cook and Snatt—performing some peculiar religious rites at the last moment of the culprits’ lives. The three Divines were observed in the cart, not only praying with the unhappy men, but laying hands upon them as they knelt down—Collier solemnly pronouncing over them the form of absolution, prescribed in the Visitation of the Sick. A paper, professedly written by Friend, and delivered to the Sheriff, contained a prayer for King James’ restoration, and stated that the writer was a member of the Church, “though,” he adds, “a most unworthy and unprofitable part of it (meaning the nonjuring part), which suffers so much at present for a strict adherence to the laws and Christian principles.
For this I suffer, and for this I die.”[284]
JACOBITES.