Class HA 4-4-5 
 
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 PRESENTED BY 
 
Epochs of Modern History 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 C. COLBECK, M. A. 
 
 77ie ENGLISH RESTORA TIONand L O UIS XIV. 
 
 OSMUND AIRY, M. A. 
 
EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
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EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY 
 
 THE 
 
 ENGLISH RESTORATION 
 
 AND 
 
 LOUIS XIV. 
 
 FROM THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA 
 TO THE PEACE OF NIMWEGEN 
 
 BY 
 
 OSMUND AIRY, M. A. 
 
 ■m ■ 
 
 ONE OF H ,M. INSPECTORS OF SCHOOLS 
 
 EDITOR OF THE ' LAUDERDALE PAPERS' 
 
 CORRESPONDING MEMBER OP THE COUNCIL OF THE SCOTTISH 
 
 HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 WITH THREE MAPS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
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GERMAN! 
 
 Shewing the Territorial Provis ions ~51p 
 of the Peace <ii Westphalia 
 
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 18 
 
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 EXPLANATION. 
 
 Ceded to Brandenburg: 
 Kastern Pomerania, Magde- 
 burg, Halberstadt, Minden. 
 
 Ceded to Elector or'Baxonj: 
 I.usatia. 
 
 Ceded to France: 
 Metz, Tout, Verdun (Already 
 French, now formally ceded), Al- 
 sace. »a tar as lelimylnu to Aus- 
 tria, Breisach. Phihpeburu. 
 
 Ceded to Sweden: 
 
 Western Pomerania, l.ofKuoen, 
 Bishoprics of Bremen and Yer- 
 den, town of Witmar. 
 
 Ceded to Brunswick: 
 Bishopric of Usnabruck. 
 
 Ceded to Bavaria: 
 Upper Palatinate. 
 
 Ceded to Mecklenburg: 
 •fchwerin, Katzeburg. 
 
 Acknowledged as independent. 
 
 United Netherlands, Switzer- 
 land 
 
 18 
 
 80 
 
M6I L Z klH 
 
 u 6 7 
 
 
 Transfer 
 
 D of C&L 
 
 Press of Wm. F. Fell & Co., 
 1220-24 Sansom St, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The epoch of European history with which I have 
 here attempted to deal is an epoch of Restorations ; 
 Restorations which assume widely differing forms, in 
 correspondence with the varying circumstances of 
 the countries in which they take place. 
 
 In France, after a period of fierce internal strife, 
 during which all antagonistic influences exhaust 
 themselves in a vain struggle with the tenacious 
 purpose of Mazarin, and sink into helplessness, the 
 triumphant monarchy emerges as a despotism of an 
 almost oriental type. That despotism is conferred 
 upon a Prince of great capacity and of boundless 
 ambition, with all the instruments of ambition ready 
 to his hand. 
 
 In England, a different scene is witnessed. The 
 revolution had overthrown three great institutions, 
 the Monarchy, the Parliament, and the Church. All 
 three are now restored, under the old forms ; the 
 Parliament first, and then in natural sequence the 
 Monarchy and the Church. And when the settlement 
 is complete, it is seen that the first and the last have 
 gained immensely, and that what they have gained 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 the Crown has lost. Acting in strict harmony, the 
 Parliament and the Church assume towards the King 
 a dictatorial attitude ; and from their dictation he 
 partially escapes by a gradually deepening subser- 
 vience to Louis XIV.— a subservience rendered easy 
 from the fact that Parliament has as yet no direct 
 control upon foreign policy. 
 
 The union of the two monarchs leads to a third 
 restoration, that of William of Orange. By the 
 combined attack of France and England, the United 
 Provinces are brought to the brink of destruction. 
 They escape from the peril by throwing off a con- 
 stitution ill adapted for confronting immediate 
 national peril, and by placing once more the execu- 
 tive power, though with many limitations, in the 
 hands of a single man, the representative of the 
 house under whom independence had been won. 
 
 The treatment of this period, in a form as con- 
 densed as is required by the plan of the series, has 
 been rendered difficult by two facts. It is in the 
 first place a period of incessant diplomatic intrigue, 
 on the part of every ruler concerned ; and all diplo- 
 macy is secret and personal. And thus, while 
 avoidance of detail is a prime object, details of which 
 many seem, not merely important, but essential to a 
 clear understanding of the story, press in on every 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 side to an extent scarcely to be appreciated by any 
 one who has not somewhat attentively considered 
 the subject. 
 
 There is secondly the fact that, in England at 
 least, there are no great figures around whom interest 
 and sympathies may gather. No prominent politician 
 acts from a great motive — no one, after the fall of 
 Clarendon, even from an honest or unselfish motive 
 — and no one seems to live in the open light of 
 day* There is no great cause definitely present to 
 men's minds to strengthen the moral fibre, wearied 
 with the tension of twenty years. The Parliament is 
 possessed by vague wants and vaguer terrors ; it dis- 
 plays a low moral sense, and is ruled by a spirit of 
 unreason, though by the very law of its being it half 
 unconsciously feels its way towards the goal of 1689. 
 The character and purposes of the King, his detest- 
 able private example, the influence of his mistresses, 
 the potency of back-stairs intrigue, afford the oppor- 
 tunity for all who unite ambition and capacity with 
 cunning, frivolity, or shamelessness, to come to the 
 front and to prosper. 
 
 In writing the chapters devoted to the Fronde, I 
 have drawn largely from the ' Histoire de France 
 pendant la Minorite de Louis XIV.' and the 'His- 
 toire de France sous le Ministere de Mazarin,' of 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 M. Cheruel, which from the impartial and exhaustive 
 use displayed by the writer of authorities previously 
 unknown or neglected must be held to supersede 
 former works on the subject. The voluminousness, 
 however, the abundance of detail, and the somewhat 
 provoking looseness of the arrangement of these 
 volumes, render the conception of persons and events 
 in their due proportions a matter of the utmost 
 difficulty. The ' Histoire de France ' of M. Henri 
 Martin, and especially the ' Franzosische Geschichte' 
 of Professor Ranke, have been constantly referred 
 to, to lessen this difficulty; while in one or two 
 instances I have been aided by Dr. Kitchin's 'History 
 of France ' and Mr. Perkins's ' France under 
 Richelieu and Mazarin.' 
 
 For the part played by Louis XIV. outside France 
 during the years 1660-1678 I have relied principally 
 upon M. Mignet's ' Negociations relatives a la Suc- 
 cession d'Espagne,' supplemented, on all questions 
 regarding the connection between Louis XIV. and 
 Charles II. , by Ranke's 'History of England prin- 
 cipally in the 17th century;' while with respect to 
 the Dutch Republic, my chief authority has been 
 the 'Jean de Witt' of M. Pontalis. Macgregor's 
 ' Holland and the Dutch Colonies ' has also been 
 found useful in enabling me to give a brief descrip- 
 
Preface. ix 
 
 tion of the commercial supremacy of the Dutch. 
 The Parliamentary debates, as recorded in Vol. IV. 
 of the ' Parliamentary History,' have of course been 
 indispensable in questions of home politics ; while a 
 few facts of interest and importance are drawn from 
 the inspection of original documents, such as the 
 Essex and Sheldon papers, which have not yet been 
 printed. 
 
 The plan of the series does not admit of reference 
 to authorities. This requires mention, as not only 
 the statements, but possibly here and there the actual 
 phrases, of the writers who have been consulted may 
 be noticed. 
 
 I regret that the assigned limits have forbidden 
 the introduction of an account of Scotland during 
 the period, or of the remarkable scope and activity 
 of English commercial enterprise. 
 
 In conclusion, I wish to acknowledge two personal 
 obligations: to Mr. S. R. Gardiner, who in the midst 
 of his own labours has found time, now and con- 
 tinuously during several years, to give advice and 
 ungrudging assistance to one who is but a novice in 
 the craft of which he is a master ; and to my friend 
 Mr. W. L. Sargant, who has aided me with the 
 revision of the proof sheets throughout the book. 
 
 OSMUND AIRY. 
 
 Birmingham, October 2, 1888. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 General Effect — Germany — France — Sweden — Spain — 
 Summary I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PRELUDE TO THE FRONDE. 
 
 Richelieu and Privilege — Mazarin and the Reaction — The 
 Prince of Conde -Encroachments of the Parlement — 
 The English Rebellion and the Fronde 9 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDF. 
 
 Concessions of the Court — Beginning of Revolution — The 
 Cardinal de Retz — Measures of Mazarin — Mazarin and 
 Cond6 — Beginning of Civil War — The Twelve Weeks' 
 War 33 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE NEW FRONDE. 
 
 Defection of Conde — The Fronde in the Provinces ... 51 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE REBELLION OF CONDE. 
 
 Failure of Conde — Majority of Louis XIV. — Cond6 in 
 Rebellion — Reaction in Paris 6; 
 
xii Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CLOSE OF THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Defeat of Conde and Safety of France — The English Alli- 
 ance — Peace of the Pyrenees 74 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 RESTORATION OF MONARCHY IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Conditions of the Restoration — Partial Fulfilment of the 
 Declaration of Breda K , 88 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TRIUMPH OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH — RELATIONS WITH 
 THE CONTINENT. 
 
 Persecution of Dissent — First Connection with France. . 99 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LOUIS AND SPAIN — THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 
 
 Personality of Louis XIV. — His Claims to the Spanish 
 Succession and the Spanish Low Countries — The Dutch 
 Republic 109 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LOUIS AND THE SPANISH LOW COUNTRIES. 
 
 Negotiations with De Witt — Death of Philip IV. — Rejec- 
 tion of the French Claims 120 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ENGLAND — PERSECUTION OF DISSENT — THE DUTCH WAR. 
 
 The King's Attempt to Favour Popery — Persecution of 
 Protestant Dissent — Causes of the Dutch War — Pre- 
 parations of England and the Republic — The War, 
 1665— Dutch Alliances— The War, 1666— The Dutch 
 in the Thames — Treaty of Breda 126 
 
Contents. xiii 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 DIPLOMACY OF LOUIS — INVASION OF THE SPANISH LOW 
 COUNTRIES. 
 
 French Treaties with Portugal and the Rhine Princes — In- 
 vasion of the Low Countries — Treaty of Eventual 
 Partition 146 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE FALL OF CLARENDON 155 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE AND THE PEACE OF 
 AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 
 
 Various Projects of Charles — The Triple Alliance — Peace 
 of Aix-la-Chapelle 162 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FAILURE OF THE KING'S ATTEMPTS AT TOLERATION. 
 
 Toleration During Recess — Persecution During Session . . 172 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LOUIS'S PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF THE UNITED 
 PROVINCES. 
 
 The Treaty of Dover — Treaties with Sweden, and Princes 
 of the Empire — Treaty of Neutrality with Leopold . . 1 85 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CHARLES II. AND THE CABAL. 
 
 The Cabal — Stop of the Exchequer — Declaration of In- 
 dulgence — Dutch War 201 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE DUTCH REPUBLIC BEFORE THE WAR. . . 207 
 
xiv Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 INVASION OF THE UNITED PROVINCES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 French Occupation — Murder of the De Witts — Close of 
 the French Attack — Failure of First Coalition Against 
 Louis — Second Coalition Against Louis 212 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE PARLIAMENTARY CONFLICT IN ENGLAND. 
 
 The Test Act — Refusal of Supplies — Shaftesbury in Oppo- 
 sition — Peace with the Dutch 229 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 LOUIS — WILLIAM — CHARLES — PARLIAMENT. 
 
 Campaign of 1674 — William of Orange — The Non-resist- 
 ing Test — Reverses of Louis — Secret Treaty with 
 Charles II — Campaign of 1676 — The War and Parlia- 
 ment 238 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE PEACE OF NIMWEGEN. 
 
 Marriage of William and Mary — Capture of Ghent and 
 Ypres by Louis — Secret Treaties with Charles — The 
 Disbanding Question in the English Parliament— Peace 
 Between Louis and the Republic — Peace with Spain — 
 Peace with the Emperor, &c. — Conclusion 259 
 
 Index 279 
 
THE 
 
 ENGLISH RESTORATION 
 AND LOUIS XIV. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. 
 
 i. General Effect. 
 The Peace of Westphalia (Oct. 28, 1648), which closed 
 the desolating struggle of the Thirty Years' War, ushered 
 in a new phase of European history. With the exception 
 of Russia, Poland, and Turkey, not yet to be regarded as 
 European nations, and of England, absorbed in her own 
 internal settlement, there was not a country in Europe 
 which did not henceforth work under new conditions. 
 The political map was designed afresh ; the old names 
 indeed were retained, but new conceptions were asso- 
 ciated with them ; France, Germany, the Empire, Spain, 
 and the countries of the North, meant from this moment 
 something profoundly different, both individually and 
 relatively, from what they had previously meant. 
 
 The power of the Austrian house was worn out. The 
 I 
 
2 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 
 
 Spanish branch had lost its old influence in Italy ; its 
 armies had been shattered at Rocroy and Nordlingen ; 
 it had been compelled through sheer weakness to aban- 
 don the struggle with the United Provinces, and it was 
 hampered by domestic troubles ; while the German 
 branch, territorially and politically dissociated from the 
 Spanish, had now to relax completely her failing grasp 
 upon the Princes of the Empire and the Free Towns. 
 Sweden had become dominant in the North, but with- 
 out a preponderance so great as to render her a danger 
 to European peace. France was for the time more than 
 satisfied with the position in which she was left by the 
 treaties, and was regarded by the secondary states not as 
 a menace, but as a guarantee of their independence. 
 
 It was still more important that ideas which had in the 
 past generally ruled the relations of peoples were osten- 
 tatiously abandoned, and a new groundwork of inter- 
 national policy was accepted with universal consent. 
 
 Hitherto community of religion had been the recog- 
 nised basis upon which alliances had been made and 
 The new wars waged. But the Thirty Years' War is 
 
 principle.- t h e l as t war of religion in Europe. The Peace 
 of Westphalia did for European repose what Henry of 
 Navarre had done for French unity. Waves of religious 
 emotion, indeed, did afterwards from time to time 
 momentarily influence a country's policy, but only as 
 incidental adjuncts to secular considerations. For the 
 first time in the history of Christendom the wishes and 
 decrees of the head of the Catholic Church were openly 
 ignored. In vain the papal nuncio strove to maintain the 
 influence of Rome ; in vain he protested in her name 
 against the attacks which by the toleration of heretics 
 and the secularisation of ecclesiastical property were 
 dealt to the Church ; and in vain, when the treaties were 
 
1648. Peace of Westphalia. 3 
 
 concluded and had become the law of Europe, the Holy 
 See declared them 'null, invalid, disavowed, without 
 force, and without effect.' The thunders of Rome fell 
 upon unheeding ears ; the ecclesiastical idea had been 
 replaced by a policy which boldly declared its national 
 and secular origin. Henceforward it is the independence 
 of individual states, or, to use a phrase as old as the reign 
 of Elizabeth, the ' Balance of Power,' which becomes the 
 ruling principle of international life. 
 
 2. Germany. 
 
 For Germany three things were done. In the first 
 place there was granted an amnesty, partial indeed 
 within the hereditary domains of the Em- political 
 peror, but complete and comprehensive over amnesty, 
 the rest of the Empire. This amnesty was no mere par- 
 doning of political offences on the one side or the other, 
 but an absolute re-establishment of those who had been 
 dispossessed of their territories during the war. 
 
 The religious difficulty was overcome by a compromise, 
 based on the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, between the 
 rival faiths and between the rival branches Compromise 
 of Protestantism. All questions of ecclesias- on re|i 6>° n - 
 tical property were determined by actual possession in 
 1624, that year being chosen as lying between 1618, the 
 year when the Thirty Years' War began, and 1627, when 
 Catholicism was again in the ascendant ; while a recon- 
 stitution of the extraordinary commissions of the Diet 
 with equal representation of Catholics and Protestants 
 provided for the settlement of all future disputes. 
 
 Finally, the relations of the Emperor to the States of 
 the Empire were so revised as to modify pro- independence 
 foundly the political constitution. Under ofthe States. 
 Ferdinand II. and Ferdinand III. the increasing power of 
 
4 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 
 
 the Austrian house had gone far to stifle the independence 
 of the Princes of the Empire, and this independence 
 they now recovered. At the very base of the new settle- 
 ment lay the condition that henceforth the free consent 
 of the States of the Empire assembled in Diet should be 
 necessary for all action on the part of the Empire as a 
 whole. Still more important was it that each State now 
 secured the right of making foreign alliances, so long as 
 these were not directed against the Emperor, the Empire, 
 the public peace, or the treaty itself. This was the work 
 of French diplomacy. Mazarin took care to 
 
 French influ- . , r i i_ 
 
 ence in this do in Germany the reverse 01 what ne was 
 sett ement. k ent U p 0n doing in France. There we shall 
 see him ready to sacrifice all to render the central power 
 supreme over every form of independent and local action ; 
 at home his aim was to weaken the central power to the 
 utmost. He followed the steps of Richelieu in crushing 
 the feudal idea in France ; he replaced and supported it 
 in Germany. His object was that when occasion should 
 arise it might be easy to create, among these independent 
 Princes, leagues which should paralyse the Emperor's 
 power of offensive action against France, whilst they 
 opened the way for her arms to the heart of the Spanish 
 Low Countries. 
 
 3. France. 
 Treaties of peace usually betoken a step in the rise 
 or fall of nations. For the power of the Austrian house 
 the Peace of Westphalia was a striking mark 
 
 Advantages . . 
 
 gained by of decline; for France it was the visible 
 
 completion of a great bound to European 
 supremacy. It was emphatically a French triumph ; and 
 as her efforts had been great, so, for her patronage of the 
 new Germanic federation, France reaped a rich reward. 
 She was enabled at length to relinquish victoriously one 
 
1648. Peace of Westplialia. 5 
 
 part of her life-and-death struggle with the house of 
 Austria ; while, by the condition that the Emperor and 
 Empire were not to interfere in the war still to be fought 
 out with Spain, she was set free to continue and to bring 
 to a glorious termination twelve years later a conflict 
 which had lasted with varying fortune since the time of 
 Francis I. 
 
 The defenceless position of Paris, within but a few 
 days' march of an enemy's fortresses, had ever been a 
 source of anxiety to French statesmen. To 
 make her strategically, as she was historically, French 
 the heart of France, was the principal aim the extern 
 of their diplomacy. That aim was now in frontier 
 
 1 ■* secured. 
 
 a great measure realised. By the cession of 
 Upper and Lower Alsace, with Sundgau and the pre- 
 fectures of ten imperial towns, France gained the coveted 
 Rhine frontier. By the possession of Old Breisach and 
 the right of placing a garrison in Philippsburg, she se- 
 cured two advanced posts in Germany ; while the stipu- 
 lation that between Basel and Philippsburg no fortress 
 might be established on the right bank of the river, 
 several existing strongholds being dismantled, placed the 
 whole of the Upper Rhine, with the exception of Strass- 
 burg and places belonging to immediate vassals of the 
 Empire, unreservedly in her hands. At the same time 
 commerce and navigation were made free throughout 
 its course. Thus, while Austria was no longer able to 
 join hands with Spain in the Netherlands, inasmuch as 
 the intervening States were now independent, and the 
 Emperor could not inarch through them without their 
 leave, France had secured a riverway into the heart of 
 the United Provinces. The whole Rhine valley indeed 
 was at her mercy, for the great ecclesiastical electorates 
 of Treves and Mayence were in her interest. She 
 
6 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 
 
 obtained moreover the full recognition of her rights to 
 the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, with their 
 ' districts,' a right which she had claimed and practically 
 exercised since their conquest by Henry II., and she 
 thereby secured a new and easy road, avoiding the 
 strong fortress of Stenai, to the frontier of the Spanish 
 Low Countries. Lastly, the undisputed possession of 
 Pinerolo, which she had acquired in 1632, opened to her 
 a path through the passes of the Alps into Piedmont. 
 
 By all these acquisitions France had placed herself 
 beyond the possibility of a sudden attack on her eastern 
 The north- frontier. For the full accomplishment, how- 
 tieVn™yet n ' ever > of her ambition she had to wait. To 
 secured. th e north-east lay the Spanish Low Coun- 
 
 tries, with their line of well-nigh impregnable fortresses. 
 For securing them, or at least for neutralising the danger 
 which they threatened, every French minister had his 
 scheme. Richelieu had proposed to form of them a free 
 state ; Mazarin desired to conquer them ; the Dutch pro- 
 posed to divide them with France. It will be seen that 
 in this direction the ambition of France was for a time 
 frustrated ; that, though a great step was made at the 
 Peace of the Pyrenees (1659), the Spanish Low Countries 
 were to form the object of thirty years more of intrigue 
 and of war. 
 
 4. Sweden. 
 
 Sweden, supported by France, made good her claim 
 to a heavy share in the spoils of victory. She obtained 
 the whole of nearer and part of further Pomerania, with 
 the reversion of the rest on the extinction of the male 
 branch of the Brandenburg house. She thus secured 
 the towns of Stettin, Gartz, Dam, and Golnau, with the 
 islands of Riigen and Wolin, which gave her complete 
 command of the mouths of the Oder on both banks, 
 
1648. Peace of Westphalia. 7 
 
 while the cession of the town and harbour of Wismar, 
 the archbishopric of Bremen, and the bishopric of Ver- 
 den, placed in her power the navigation of the Elbe. 
 All these she held as immediate fiefs of the Empire, and 
 thus claimed for Bremen, Verden, and Pomerania three 
 voices in the Imperial Diet. She was also allowed to erect 
 a sovereign court at Wismar, with a university at Greifs- 
 wald. She had thus assured to her a communication 
 with the Scandinavian States and her dominion of the 
 Baltic ; and not only was placed in a position of marked 
 though not crushing supremacy in the north of Europe, 
 but gained a distinct hold upon Germany, both territori- 
 ally and consultatively, which lasted until the Treaty of 
 Stockholm in 1720. 
 
 5. Spain. 
 
 From all participation in that part of the Peace of 
 Westphalia which concerned France and the Emperor 
 Spain was rigorously excluded. Exhausted and bankrupt 
 from the war with France and the struggle with the 
 Dutch, she had long been anxious for peace. But the 
 terms demanded by Mazarin in 1646 had been too much 
 for her pride. That minister was bent upon wresting from 
 her the barrier of fortresses which made French safety 
 or extension to the north-east impossible. Mazarin's 
 For this purpose he proposed to exchange °ff tr s. 
 the Spanish Low Countries for Catalonia and Roussillon, 
 then in the possession of France. But Spain hoped, in 
 view of the confusion caused in France by the civil 
 troubles, then nearly at their height, to regain Catalonia 
 and Roussillon by force of arms. The Spanish Netherlands 
 she determined to save in another way. She resolved to 
 bow to necessity, and to close her long and profitless 
 struggle with her rebellious subject. The Dutch on their 
 side were at the time not unwillin to dissolve their long- 
 
8 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 
 
 standing alliance with France. They were alarmed at her 
 rising power, and at the prospect of a French army in 
 occupation of the Spanish Low Countries, which at pres- 
 ent formed a barrier between themselves and French 
 ambition. Spain sedulously fostered this feeling, and on 
 January 30, 1648, concluded a treaty at Munster whereby 
 she at last acknowledged the complete independence of 
 c . , the United Provinces. She ceded to them 
 
 Spain makes 
 
 peace with all the places in Brabant, Flanders, and 
 
 the Dutch. _ . r 1 • 1 1 1 
 
 Lunburg, of which they were then in posses- 
 sion, afterwards known as the ' Generality ; ' and she 
 even granted liberty of conscience to all Dutch subjects 
 in her territory. Lastly, she consented to close the navi- 
 gation of the Scheldt and adjoining waterways, and so to 
 ruin Antwerp, her great commercial centre, for the benefit 
 of its Dutch rival Amsterdam. 
 
 Germany reconstituted upon a decentralisation basis, 
 under the protection of France, which now became the 
 Summary of foremost European power; the supremacy 
 the peace. Q f Austria in central Europe destroyed ; 
 
 Sweden in a position of commanding strength in the north ; 
 the Spanish monarchy severed from Austria and left face 
 to face with France ; Switzerland formally detached from 
 the Empire; the United Provinces a new and indepen- 
 dent kingdom : such is a rough political map of Europe 
 after the Peace of Westphalia. 
 
Prelude to the Fro7ide. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PRELUDE TO THE FRONDE. 
 
 I. Richelieu and Privilege. The Prime Ministership. 
 Upon turning our eyes from the external grandeur of 
 France to her internal condition we behold a strange con- 
 trast. It well illustrates the tenacity of purpose which 
 was the leading characteristic of Mazarin, that even while 
 the last formalities of the treaty which made France the 
 arbiter of Europe were taking place, he with the youthful 
 King and the Queen mother were voluntary exiles from 
 the seat of government. So completely occupied indeed 
 were the minds of all but the minister himself and a few 
 of his fellow workers with the beginnings of civil discord, 
 that this great settlement passed almost without remark. 
 To ninety-nine out of every hundred Frenchmen the 
 treaty between the Crown and the malcontents of Paris, 
 under cover of which the court returned to the capital, was 
 of infinitely greater interest than the Treaty of West- 
 phalia, which was signed on the same day, and which 
 expressed the change which had passed over the face of 
 Europe. 
 
 To realise the meaning of the disturbances which, 
 under the name of the 'Fronde,' went far during five 
 years to render France powerless to take advantage of 
 the position she had just gained, it will be necessary to 
 refer somewhat in detail to the principle which had con- 
 sistently guided the policy of Richelieu and of his pupil 
 Mazarin. 
 
 This principle was by all means and at all costs' to 
 render the Crown supreme over every rival influence. 
 
io English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1624. 
 
 Henry IV. had understood that what France needed was 
 national unity. Richelieu had felt that the first condition 
 Richelieu °f national unity was the unquestioned and 
 
 determines unlimited authority of the central power. His 
 
 to make the J r 
 
 monarchy whole career was one unfaltering struggle 
 with the spirit of privilege. He determined to 
 turn the great feudal dignitaries into courtiers, the Parle- 
 vients into mere courts of registration of the royal will. 
 Beneath the Kingship all ranks of society were to occupy 
 one common level of subservience. From the King was 
 to issue all national activity ; in him were to centre all 
 national aspirations. 
 
 His earliest and most critical struggle was against the 
 governors of provinces. These grandees had during the 
 wars of religion well-nigh shaken off even the semblance 
 of submission to the royal authority ; they raised troops, 
 Struggle levied taxes, administered justice, made war 
 
 governors or alliances, and were in every respect inde- 
 
 of provinces, pendent sovereigns of their provinces. They 
 had even learned to regard their governments as hered- 
 itary rights. They thus formed a barrier to all attempts 
 at centralisation. 
 
 Richelieu therefore endeavoured to make their func- 
 tions purely military, and to render the governorship as 
 costly and as powerless as possible. Every opportunity 
 was taken to replace the governors whom he found in 
 office in 1624 by men devoted to himself. Exile, the 
 prison, and the scaffold were ruthlessly used. By their 
 readiness to engage in plots against him they played 
 into his hands. Of the nineteen governors whom he 
 found in 1624, four only remained at his death ; the 
 other fifteen posts had been filled by men devoted to 
 his interests, or had been absorbed into the monarchy. 
 
 A still more effective blow against the genius of 
 
1624. Prelude to the Fronde. 11 
 
 feudalism was the revival of the institution of ' intend- 
 ants.' These officers, chosen from the hour- The in- 
 geoisie, nominated and dismissed at will by tendauts - 
 the King, were devoted to the power to which they owed 
 their existence, and it was specially laid down that they 
 might not be the relatives or dependents of the governors. 
 Their power was immense, extending at first only to mat- 
 ters of justice and police, but before long to finance, 
 taxation, and every department of government. By 1648 
 there were thirty-five of these officers with fixed posts in 
 all the provinces, who, grasping little by little the whole 
 provincial administration, and guided and supported by 
 the central authority in their resistance to the governors 
 and all local bodies, were the essential machinery of the 
 central system. As such they were always the first object 
 of attack at the hands of the classes whose privileges 
 they had destroyed. 
 
 Richelieu's task was an easy one in dealing with the 
 general body of the noblesse. He had indeed no inten- 
 tion of destroying their privileges. Equality 
 before the King was his main object, and he 
 judged that the surest way to secure that equality was a 
 separation of classes so decided that union was an impos- 
 sibility. The 5th chapter of his ' Testament politique ' 
 is thus headed : ' Combien il est important que les di- 
 verses parties de l'etat demeurent chacune dans l'etendue 
 de ses bornes.' He therefore did all in his power to confirm 
 them as a superior caste ; while, as the means of sustain- 
 ing their position, he gave them the exclusive right to 
 almost all offices of dignity and emolument, and allowed 
 them to engage in commercial undertakings without 
 derogation to their rank. But he had no intention of 
 permitting them to remain a political power. The con- 
 spiracies which they raised against him were crushed or 
 
12 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1626. 
 
 nipped in the bud, and their leaders coldly and inexor- 
 ably put to death, while the executions of De Boutteville 
 and Des Chapelles, who had insolently defied the edict 
 against duelling, taught their whole body that the King's 
 commands might not be lightly disobeyed. The blow, 
 however, which strikes the imagination most was one 
 which marks in a vivid manner how great a space of 
 Destruction of r ' me separated the political and social con- 
 the castles. ditions of England and France. The France 
 of Richelieu is the England of Henry II. By the ' ordon- 
 nance ' of July 31, 1626, it was commanded that through- 
 out the kingdom the fortifications of all towns and castles 
 not needed for the defence of the frontiers should be 
 destroyed. As in England, these castles were the haunts 
 of oppression, and formed the greatest burden of the 
 peasant class. Accordingly ' an immense outburst of joy 
 rose from the common people, first throughout Britanny, 
 and then throughout France. Since the days of Louis 
 the Fat the monarchy had struck no greater blow for 
 national unity against feudal oppression and anarchy ; 
 all that remained of feudalism was stabbed to the heart.' 
 Richelieu's dealings with the Church were conceived 
 with the same view. Whilst he vehemently upheld the 
 Gallican liberties, as the concrete expression 
 of national life, against the papal claims, he 
 was equally determined to allow no such independence 
 in regard to the Crown. More than once he attacked in 
 detail all the clerical immunities from taxation, and com- 
 pelled holders of benefices to recognise the full lordship 
 of the King, while on several occasions ordinances of a 
 sweeping nature were issued, without consultation with 
 Rome, for the reform of both the regular and secular 
 clergy. New and frequent restrictions were also applied 
 to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and the civil power inter- 
 
1639- Prelude to the Fronde. 13 
 
 vened in many matters hitherto considered to be purely 
 religious in their nature. 
 
 The local governing bodies had by the time of Riche- 
 lieu ceased in a great degree to possess political power ; 
 and the cardinal, faithful to his policy of The bour _ 
 balancing class against class, had no desire geoisie. 
 to compass their further degradation. Occasionally, how- 
 ever, they formed centres of disturbance, and they were 
 then put down with a high hand. Thus Troyes, Dijon, 
 and many other towns suffered the loss of part of their 
 liberties, while at La Rochelle, where in 1628 the Protes- 
 tant schism in its political aspect was finally destroyed, 
 the municipal institutions were completely remodelled. 
 Privas, Uzes, Nismes, Anduze, and Montauban suffered 
 the same treatment in 1629. The revolt through sheer 
 distress of the croquatits in Guienne in 1637, and of the 
 nus-pieds in Normandy in 1639, led to a general annul- 
 ling of privileges in these two provinces. 
 
 The jealousy of Richelieu was still keener with regard 
 to assemblies of a wider scope, such as the Etats Gen'e- 
 raux and the Etats Provinciaux. The former £tats Gine- 
 indeed, which corresponded with our English jj»i« and 
 Parliament, were never summoned through- ciaux. 
 out his career; while the latter, which after 1626 were 
 the only political bodies remaining with the right of ap- 
 proaching the sovereign, were diligently suppressed. The 
 absence of any union or real legislative power among 
 them rendered his task easy, and at his death Burgundy 
 and Languedoc were the only two provinces where the 
 Etats Provinciaux retained so much as their old con- 
 stitution. 
 
 With the Parlements of the provinces, and The 
 
 ... •,, T-.7 rr-.- 1 Parlements. 
 
 especially with the Parlcment of Pans, the 
 
 conflict was more severe and prolonged. Originally this 
 
14 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1641. 
 
 latter body was merely a part of the royal council, 
 charged with the administration of justice, and with the 
 duty of recording the decisions of the council itself. It 
 was also allowed the right, called the droit de remon- 
 trances, of making observations upon these decisions. 
 From this right, in the middle of the fifteenth century, 
 had sprung the claim to refuse to record the edicts unless 
 their ' remontrances ' were acted upon. At the same 
 period the members acquired fixity of tenure of their 
 offices, and, a little later, hereditary right. The Parle- 
 tnent of Paris naturally became the incarnation of privi- 
 lege in its most selfish and aggressive form. Taking 
 advantage of every moment of weakness on the part of 
 the central authority, it had grown in strength until it had 
 assumed the right of direct intervention in State affairs, 
 and of representing the Etats Generaux when that body 
 was not sitting. To Richelieu this pretended sovereignty 
 formed a permanent obstacle to the national welfare, and 
 he determined to crush it. The struggle lasted without 
 cessation for fourteen years. In vain Richelieu endeav- 
 oured by menaces, by creations of new offices, by the 
 exile and imprisonment of leading members, to bend the 
 Parlement to his will. So incessant and so galling was 
 its opposition, especially in the refusals to register the 
 financial edicts rendered necessary by the enormous 
 Declaration expenses of the war, that in 1641 he deter- 
 ofi64i. mined on a decisive step. In his famous 
 
 manifesto of that year he set forth the principles upon 
 which alone the State could prosper. The complete 
 equality and entire submission of all men before the King 
 is the first condition for national grandeur and stability ; 
 whensoever this had been lost sight of, as in the evil 
 days of Henry III., misfortune had followed. The royal 
 authority was now again threatened by the exorbitant 
 
1643. Pt-ehtde to the Fronde. 15 
 
 claims of the Parlement. They were thereupon forbidden 
 in the most express terms to take henceforward any 
 cognisance whatsoever of State affairs. Whilst allowing 
 the ancient droit de remoiitrances, the declaration insisted 
 upon the immediate registration of all edicts and declara- 
 tions put forth from a lit de justice, or formal sitting of 
 the King and Parlement, whether those remoiitrances 
 were attended to or not. The application moreover of 
 this right was confined to matters of pure finance ; in all 
 questions of State administration the edicts were to be 
 published and registered without any deliberation what- 
 soever. And to emphasise the determination of the 
 court, the offices of several members who had been for- 
 ward in resistance were suppressed by the King ' de 
 notre certaine science, pleine puissance, et autorite" 
 royale.' From this moment the Parlement ceased to be, 
 constitutionally, a political assembly. We shall indeed 
 see it during the disturbances which followed the great 
 Cardinal's death raising itself for a few years, only to sink 
 into a dependence upon the central authority still more 
 complete than before. 
 
 It is probable that the events which were passing in 
 England contributed to this decisive action of Richelieu ; 
 in any case it is an interesting commentary upon the 
 relative positions of the Crown and its subjects in the two 
 countries, that during the months of the imprisonment of 
 Strafford and Laud, and less than three months before 
 the execution of the prime minister of Charles by the 
 English representative Parliament, the prime minister of 
 Louis was able by an act of masterful despotism to reduce 
 to the position of a mere court of record of the royal will 
 a turbulent and dangerous body of hereditary magistrates, 
 who had nothing in common with an English Parliament 
 but the name. 
 
1 6 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1643. 
 
 Thus, then, before he died, Richelieu had altered the 
 
 whole face of government. Every element of local or 
 
 corporate resistance had well-nigh disap- 
 
 Summary of r .... TT . e 
 
 Richelieu's peared, or existed only in name, lie lett 
 Prime lhe two ideas occupying the whole field — the old 
 Ministership. jj ea Q f fae absolute monarchy, and the new 
 idea, which he created in France, and which Mazarin 
 after a hard struggle sustained, of the irresponsible prime 
 ministership. It was in the fact that to Louis XIV., at 
 the death of Mazarin, there descended both of these — 
 the prestige and power of royalty, and the prestige and 
 power of the premiership, that his extraordinary position 
 was in a great degree owing. And it was the struggle, 
 the selfish and frivolous struggle, of the privileged 
 classes against the new creation, and not against the 
 monarchy, that constituted the Fronde. 
 
 2. Mazarin and the Reaction. 
 The absolutism established by Richelieu had lasted too 
 short a time to crush out of his opponents the memory 
 Partial °f their f° rmer influence. The instincts of 
 
 reaction. privilege were awake and vigilant, and their 
 
 opportunity speedily came. Louis XIII. died but a few 
 months after his great minister. He had faithfully car- 
 ried out Richelieu's policy ; but even during those months 
 the iron rule had been relaxed so far as to awaken the 
 hope of a great reaction. The State prisoners were re- 
 leased. The Parlement began at once to reclaim and to 
 exercise that interference in State affairs off which Riche- 
 lieu had so haughtily warned them ; the banished mem- 
 bers returned to Paris and the suppressed offices were re- 
 Claims of established. A declaration issued by Louis 
 Parlement. h a d imposed upon the Queen, at his death, 
 a council by which her regency would be entirely con- 
 
1 643. Prelude to the Fronde. 17 
 
 trolled, and this declaration had been registered by the 
 Parliament on the following day without resistance. Only 
 four days after the King's death, however, the Parlement, 
 by way of asserting its authority, abolished this council 
 on the ground that such a limitation of the regent's func- 
 tions was contrary to the principles of the French mon- 
 archy, and placed the whole power unreservedly in the 
 Queen's hands. Both Richelieu and the Parlement had 
 deceived themselves. The Cardinal, to whom the Queen 
 had naturally enough been a life-long enemy, and who 
 expected that her first wish would be to make peace with 
 the house of Austria, of which she was a _, _ 
 
 I he Queen 
 
 daughter, and for the overthrow of which he regent made 
 had striven so fiercely, had hoped by Louis's 
 declaration to fetter her independence of action. The 
 Parlement, anxious to assert its strength, and hoping to 
 find in the enemy of Richelieu the enemy of Richelieu's 
 policy, had now placed her by their own action in a po- 
 sition from which she was able before long to complete 
 his work. 
 
 They were soon enlightened. Thoughtful men looked 
 forward with dread to a policy of revenge. The Queen 
 was advised to choose a councillor committed 
 
 . Til Mazarin 
 
 to no faction, and she chose, to the surprise succeeds 
 and disgust of Richelieu's opponents, his 
 pupil and confidant Mazarin. A Princess of Spain, guided 
 by an Italian adventurer of low birth, was to complete 
 the ruin of the Spanish monarchy and the consolidation 
 of the French people. From first to last Mazarin served 
 the Queen through every crisis with unfailing skill, and 
 she sustained him against all assaults with unswerving 
 fidelity. 
 
 The fame of Mazarin has suffered from the fact that 
 he followed Richelieu. Undoubtedly he will always 
 c 
 
1 8 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1643. 
 
 occupy a lower place in the world's history than his great 
 predecessor. His character was not so heroic, his per- 
 sonality so imposing, his energy so fierce, his conceptions 
 so grandiose, his grasp so comprehensive, or his spirit so 
 lwh ; where Richelieu struck, he bribed ; 
 
 His character: 
 
 contrast with where Richelieu defied, he bent the knee. 
 The contrast at the outset of his career is 
 thus described by the master hand of the Cardinal de 
 Retz : ' L'on voyait sur les degres du trone, d'ou l'apre et 
 redoutable Richelieu avait foudroye plutot que gouverne 
 les humains, un successeur doux et benin, qui ne voulait 
 rien, qui etait au desespoir que sa dignite de Cardinal ne 
 lui permettait pas de s'humilier, autant qu'il l'eut souhaite, 
 devant tout le monde.' None the less Mazarin stands 
 before us throughout his career as the one man of his 
 time in France ; alone not merely in coolness and clear 
 sight and good sense, but in that which most distinguishes 
 a man from the mass of men, the distinct perception of a 
 distant goal, and an unfaltering determination to reach 
 it. If he had not the force of Richelieu, he was at least 
 as supple and vigilant ; if he did not show himself so 
 masterful of the present, it was perhaps because he saw 
 the future more clearly, and fixed his eye too exclusively 
 upon that. His patience, fertility of resource, and tenacity 
 of purpose were exhaustless. Brought up in the Italian 
 school of policy, expediency was his only guide. All 
 lines of conduct were of merit in his eyes, whatever 
 moral verdict might be passed on them by others, accord- 
 ing as they tended, even while apparently leading him 
 far from the direct road, to bring him in time nearer to 
 his object; he knew neither close friendships nor lasting 
 hatreds, for either of them might prove a hindrance 
 to this progress. And if, in founding a great policy, 
 Richelieu had to overcome colossal difficulties, he had 
 
1 643. Prelude to the Fronde. 19 
 
 advantages which Mazarin, in his conflict to carry that 
 policy to a triumphant conclusion, conspicuously lacked. 
 Richelieu was a Frenchman of gentle birth, and he was 
 the irresponsible minister of a King in the plenitude of 
 his power. Mazarin was a foreigner, scarce able to speak 
 the language of the country he aspired to rule, and his 
 task was, while his mind was filled with a far-off design, 
 to uphold without flinching, sometimes in exile and in 
 danger of his life, at a period when every turbulent and 
 selfish element of political life held riot, the authority 
 of an infant King. 
 
 At the outset of their career the hands of Mazarin and 
 the Queen Regent were strengthened by an, opportune 
 event. On May 19, 1643, the desperate Battle of 
 valour of Enghien and his horsemen swept b\£y%' 
 away the renowned Spanish infantry at l6 43- 
 Rocroy. By this feat of arms, which marks the trans- 
 ference of military supremacy from the Spanish to the 
 French race, a lustre was thrown upon the policy of 
 Richelieu which was of course reflected on the new 
 government. At the same time the support of the King's 
 uncle, the fickle and characterless Orleans, and of 
 Enghien's father, Conde, were for the present secured for 
 the court by liberal promises. 
 
 The first attack upon Mazarin came, not from either 
 of the great interests which had been depressed, but 
 from a faction of persons who, while with- 
 
 ... . , Beaufort 
 
 out judgment or principle, were active and and the 'im- 
 unscrupulous enough to be dangerous. The por 
 Duke of Beaufort, grandson of Henry IV. and Gabrielle 
 d'Estrees, whose only respectable quality was that of 
 personal courage, had collected around him his father 
 Vendome, his insignificant brother Mercceur, and a 
 number of the less reputable noblesse, who had not 
 
20 English Restoration and Lotas XIV. 1643. 
 
 dared to raise their heads against Richelieu. With the 
 most 'paltry designs they mingled the most high-sounding 
 maxims, and called themselves after the Roman patriots 
 whose deeds they professed to emulate. The ridiculous 
 side of the affair was soon recognised by the ready wit of 
 the laughter-loving Parisians. It was the age of nick- 
 names ; Beaufort, whose handsome figure and licentious 
 life made him popular among the lower bourgeoisie, was 
 soon known as the ' Roi des Halles,' ' King of the Market- 
 place,' while his adherents were styled the ' Importants." 
 With them were joined the returning exiles, Guise, 
 Elbceuf, Epernon, and others ; while the court ladies, 
 delighted at a new excitement, and led by the famous 
 Duchess of Chevreuse and Mme. de Montbazon, threw 
 themselves eagerly into the plot. Gallantry, as was 
 fitting, caused the breaking up of the intrigue. A quarrel 
 for precedence between Mme. de Montbazon and Eng- 
 hien's sister, Mme. de Longueville, led to the disgrace 
 of the former. Beaufort, who was her lover, deter- 
 mined to avenge her by the assassination of Mazann. 
 Warned of the danger, and recognising the feebleness 
 of the conspiracy, Mazarin at once struck his blow. 
 Beaufort was arrested and imprisoned; Vendome, the 
 Duchess of Chevreuse, and the other leaders were 
 exiled from Paris, and the party disappeared amid 
 universal ridicule. Mazarin now felt strong enough 
 to resist with steadiness the claims of the grandees. 
 Elbceuf and Epernon indeed received governments; 
 but Bouillon was refused Sedan, and though Vendome 
 demanded the important government of Britanny, the 
 queen took it into her own hands. 
 
 Opposition of Meanwhile the Far/ement was eagerly ex- 
 the ParUment. crc i s i n g its reasserted claim to interfere in 
 State matters. The aristocracy of the robe was a more 
 
1 644. Prelude to the Fronde. 21 
 
 dangerous enemy than that of the noblesse, and a powerful 
 means of attack was now furnished them. 
 
 It was no fault of Mazarin that the finances of France 
 were in a desperate condition. The expenses of the war 
 had been enormous, and the constitutional state of 
 machinery of taxation was not calculated for finance. 
 the strain. At Richelieu's death the revenue had been 
 anticipated for three years, supplies having been bor- 
 rowed at exorbitant interest. Nor can the prodigality of 
 the first year of the regency, when the current phrase, 
 ' La Reine est si bonne ' well expressed the incapacity of 
 Anne of Austria to resist the importunity of the courtiers, 
 and when the indispensable support of Orleans and 
 Conde could be secured only by enormous bribes, be 
 laid to his charge. The state of things that had to be 
 faced at present was that the expenditure, which in 1642 
 was 99 millions of livres, had risen in 1644 to 124 mil- 
 lions, of which no less than 59 millions were absorbed 
 by the rapacity of the courtiers and the farmers of the 
 taxes. But it was the manner in which Method of 
 these sums were raised, more than the sums collection. 
 themselves, which led to opposition. The bankers who 
 provided the loans had duties assigned to them in repay- 
 ment, which they themselves collected. There was thus 
 every opportunity for oppression and embezzlement. 
 The bankers grew enormously rich. What however 
 most roused the anger of the people was the knowledge 
 that £mery, the controller-general of finance, a man of 
 the vilest character, was the worst trafficker in the spoil, 
 and that he was protected by Mazarin. 
 
 The taille, a direct tax upon property, which was 
 levied almost entirely upon the peasantry, 
 
 .... ,- , • .... The taille. 
 
 and which was peculiarly vexatious in its inci- 
 dence, had at first been excluded from the bankers' opera- 
 
22 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1644. 
 
 tions. It now however fell into their hands, and became 
 a terrible burden. Provinces which had never seen an 
 enemy were devastated as though a destroying army had 
 passed over them, and popular revolts broke out in several 
 quarters. Expedients still more desperate were resorted 
 to : twelve millions were borrowed at twenty-five per 
 cent. ; two hundred fresh offices were created for sale ; 
 a tax of joyeux avenemcnt was levied upon all royal 
 officers, the towns, communes, corporations, persons ex- 
 empted from the taille, and innkeepers. Permanent dues 
 to the Crown were redeemed for cash ; grants of domain 
 lands revoked ; dues for bequests rigidly exacted from 
 the clergy. And when all was done, the greater part of 
 the money thus raised was swallowed up in the repay- 
 ment of loans. 
 
 Emery now took the step which led to the first direct 
 
 collision with the Parlement. Charles I.'s abuse of the 
 
 law of ship-money may have suggested to him 
 
 The toisd. ., , rii n-ii • > \ 
 
 a similar abuse or the law called the toise, by 
 
 which in 1548 the building of houses outside the walls 
 
 of Paris had for a special purpose been forbidden. In 
 
 January 1644 a tax of 40 sous was laid on every toise of 
 
 land thus built upon ; and the government declined to 
 
 allow appeals to be carried before the Parlement. Parle- 
 
 metit at once declared this to be a violation of their 
 
 privileges. The refusal of the court to give way was met 
 
 by what came perilously near to an armed revolt. The 
 
 mob threatened to burn down Emery's house. The 
 
 more violent section of the Parlement openly avowed that 
 
 a general rising was what they wished to bring about. 
 
 The government recoiled before the danger. Some 
 
 Taxe des other method had to be found. The toise had 
 
 aues. fallen upon the poorer classes ; Emery now 
 
 proposed to raise the necessary supplies from the rich, 
 
1 645. Prelude to the Fronde. 23 
 
 and by the taxe des aises, a kind of forced loan, he hoped 
 to obtain eighteen or twenty millions. The Parlement 
 willingly gave up the detested money-lenders to be 
 spoiled. But they insisted on complete exemption for 
 themselves and for all officials connected with them or 
 with the university, as well as for merchants of only mod- 
 erate wealth. 
 
 These exceptions reduced the receipts to insignifi- 
 cance. . Emery once more fell back in March 1645 upon 
 the toise. The riotous opposition of the younger mem- 
 bers was this time met with firmness by the court. The 
 deputation which was summoned by the Queen to give an 
 account of their conduct received a scolding Severity of 
 as from our own Queen Elizabeth. Barillon, the coutt - 
 one of the presidents and an adherent of the ' Impor- 
 tants,' was arrested, and three other leading malcontents 
 were exiled. 
 
 In this state of things Mazarin looked anxiously 
 abroad ; again Enghien came to his aid by the victory of 
 Nordlingen (August 3, 1645). The prestige Battle of 
 thus gained was at once turned to advantage, August" 26 "' 
 On September 5 the boy-king was brought to l6 45- 
 Paris to hold a lit de justice. From any de- The lit de 
 crees passed at this, the most solemn cere- J usttce - 
 mony known to the constitution, there was no escape 
 short of civil war. For such an extremity matters were 
 not yet ripe, and the Parlement ceased open opposition. 
 The government wisely withdrew both the toise and the 
 taxe des aises. But an immense number of new offices 
 were created ; taxes on divers trades, and many other 
 expedients for raising money were registered ; the clergy, 
 the great trading companies, and the officials of the 
 sovereign courts, were compelled to contribute largely. 
 For a year no further difficulty was experienced. 
 
24 
 
 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 
 
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1645. Prelude to the Fronde. 25 
 
 3. The Prince of Conde. 
 Great as was the service which the successes of 
 Enghein (now to be known as Conde, his father having 
 died) had rendered the Government, his 
 
 , . Conde and 
 
 position was the cause of much anxiety to the Petits- 
 Mazarin. Whether for generalship or per- } " aitres - 
 sonal prowess he formed the most brilliant military- 
 figure of the time. As a great cavalry leader he has had no 
 equal. Marlborough was not more calm nor Rupert more 
 impetuous. To him were given the face and figure that 
 beseem the warrior, the ringing voice to rally a squadron 
 reeling from the charge, the ' eagle eye ' which notes 
 every desperate chance, the instantaneous decision which 
 compels the fate of battle. He became the idol of the 
 proud and warlike youth who had fought and conquered 
 with him at Rocroy and Nordlingen, and who, emulating 
 his cool carelessness in danger and his desperate valour 
 in action, formed the nucleus of that household brigade 
 which earned for itself so terrible a fame throughout 
 Europe. Supreme as he was however in the battlefield, 
 Conde's character was marred by unfortunate weaknesses ; 
 he was foppish, irritable, intemperate in thought and 
 language, and inordinately vain. His followers imitated 
 the defects of their ' master,' and what was pardonable in 
 the great soldier became absurd in them. With their 
 wonted readiness the Parisians took hold of the poorer 
 side of their character, the supercilious airs, the foppish- 
 ness of dress, and they have come down to us as the 
 Petits-maitres. Intoxicated with his well-earned glory 
 and with the adulation of this band of worshippers ; 
 influential alike by the enormous wealth and power 
 which he had inherited, and by his near relation to the 
 throne ; Conde now began to evince a dangerous am- 
 bition. In this ambition he was firmly withstood by 
 
26 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1646. 
 
 Mazarin and the Queen ; to allow one man to become so 
 powerful was to throw up the game. The check sank 
 deep into Conde's mind. To the contempt of the noble 
 for the bourgeois and of the warrior for the statesman, 
 was now added a feeling of active hostility which at no 
 distant time was to bear fruit. 
 
 4. Encroachments of the Parlement. 
 
 This however was not the danger that was momentarily 
 pressing upon the government. The financial troubles 
 were again urgent. In addition to indirect taxation, 
 which raised no opposition from the people, £mery now 
 put in action one of the edicts of 1645 by which all posses- 
 sors of lands held on an annual rental to the Crown were 
 ordered to redeem that rent by payment of a year's 
 revenue. The peculiar sting of this lay in the fact that 
 while the rent had not been changed since the middle 
 ages, and was therefore practically nominal, the revenue 
 had continually increased. The bourgeoisie were at once 
 in arms against the ' rachat.' For three days 
 
 e rac a . ^ p a j a i s Royal was besieged by a crowd of 
 angry citizens. The announcement that a lit de justice 
 was to be held to bear down opposition intensified the 
 excitement. Dangerous talk was heard. The successful 
 insurrection of Massaniello in Naples was quoted. During 
 the night the firing of musketry was heard in the streets ; 
 the bourgeois were trying their arms. Urged on by their 
 necessities the government nevertheless were firm ; the 
 lit de justice was held ; the operation of the ' rachat ' was 
 indeed postponed, but money was again raised by new 
 creations, especially of maitres de requetes. 
 
 Condition _,. ,-», • 1 i , t . 
 
 of the The young King and Mazarin had to listen 
 
 country. tQ some pi a j n speaking. ' For ten years, 
 
 sire,' said Omer Talon, the president, ' the country dis- 
 
1648. Prelude to t/ie Fronde. 27 
 
 tricts have been ruined, the peasants compelled to lie 
 upon straw, their furniture sold for the payment of taxes. 
 And for ten years, to minister to the luxury of Paris, 
 millions of innocent folk are obliged to live upon rye 
 and oat bread, and their only protection is their poverty. 
 Their souls, and nothing else, are their own, and that is 
 only because they cannot be sold.' The historian of the 
 French Revolution finds its direct cause in the state of 
 misery to which the peasantry were reduced under the 
 administrations of Richelieu and of Mazarin. 
 
 Over the creation of mattres de reguetes serious op- 
 position again broke out. The existing officials loudly 
 denied the right to create new offices during the mi- 
 nority of the King. Belonging as they did to the haute 
 bourgeoisie , officially connected with the Parlement, and 
 in some cases allied to the noblesse, they were a danger- 
 ous body to attack. The Parlement gladly made their 
 cause its own. It now went a step further Continued 
 than hitherto in its encroachments. It re- menfcTof" 
 fused at first to vote the edicts registered at the Parlement. 
 lit de justice, except that of the rachat, and some others 
 which it allowed with modifications. In the end how- 
 ever it shrank once more from open conflict. None the 
 less it continued its examination of the edicts ' sous le 
 bon plaisir du roi.' The example told upon the pro- 
 vinces. Both in Britanny and at Toulouse there was 
 open and violent resistance. 
 
 A last resource was now discovered by the ingenuity 
 of Emery. The 'Paulette,' so named after its originator, 
 Paulet, who lived in the reign of Henry IV., The 
 was an annual tax paid by all officials who 'Paulette.' 
 had a right to the heredity of their offices. Once in 
 every nine years it was subject to revision before re- 
 newal, and 1648 was the year at which a fresh revision 
 
28 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 
 
 was due. fimery now, in addition to ceasing all pay- 
 ments to the creditors of government for a year (a device 
 afterwards imitated by Charles II. in the ' Stop of the 
 exchequer ') and of salaries to the inferior officials, 
 determined to demand as a condition of renewal a fine 
 of four years' salary. In the hope of avoiding the oppo- 
 sition of the Parlement the fine was not to be levied 
 upon that body. But the bribe was refused. On the 
 Bond of contrary the Parlement signed a bond of 
 
 union. union, May 13, 1648, with the other sover- 
 
 eign courts, and decided to send deputies to a confer- 
 ence in the Chamber of St. Louis. The court immediately 
 recognised the significance of such a step, and determined 
 to oppose the meeting with resolution. It was not to be 
 imagined that an assembly so formed would limit its 
 action to the single purpose for which it was ostensibly 
 convened. Two leading deputies were arrested, others 
 were exiled from Paris, and threats of severer measures 
 were thrown out. 
 
 Suddenly, at the moment when the court seemed" in 
 command of the situation, events occurred which com- 
 The court pelled Mazarin to temporise Orleans joined 
 
 yields. fa^ malcontents ; Beaufort, the leader of the 
 
 ' Importants,' had escaped from Vincennes ; the pro- 
 vinces were stirring for revolt. Abroad, too, matters 
 were going ill : the Spaniards had taken Courtrai, and 
 were gaining ground fast. A conference was therefore 
 opened with the Parlement, at which Mazarin made 
 a striking representation of the danger of its action. 
 Discord, he said, was giving to Spain greater advan- 
 tages than she could gain by force of arms. The 
 refusal of supplies would speedily make useless all the 
 expenditure of blood and treasure already incurred. 
 Catalonia must be abandoned ; the alliance with Swe- 
 
1648. Prelude to the Fronde. 29 
 
 den and other powers to whom France gave subsidies 
 must be broken off. His words were vain. Personal 
 and selfish interests were supreme. Mazarin saw that 
 resistance at the moment was useless. He succeeded in 
 inducing the haughty Queen to bend before the ' ca- 
 naille,' as she called them in her anger, to promise the 
 release of the imprisoned members and the acceptance 
 of the demands of the Parlement. Parle- _ 
 
 1 he 
 
 ment at once sent deputies to the Chamber Chamber of 
 
 - ^ 1 , r 1 r St. Louis. 
 
 of St. Louis ; and thus, at first in defiance 
 of the Queen, and at length, on June 30, 1648, with her 
 consent, was formed a body which became, as was 
 anticipated, a permanent political assembly, sitting dur- 
 ing its own pleasure, like our Long Parliament, for the 
 reform of the kingdom. The aristocracy of the robe had 
 won a definite victory over the ministerial power. 
 
 5. The English Rebellion and the Fronde. 
 
 Between the five years' barren turmoil of the Fronde, 
 and the contemporary struggle of the English Parliament 
 with Charles I., there are points of superficial similarity 
 sufficiently striking to suggest comparison. In both cases 
 the conflict arose from the ill-defined character of the pre- 
 rogative in relation to the other powers of the State, and 
 in both the prime-ministership, the special characteristic 
 of absolutism, was in the first instance the object of attack. 
 In both, the contending forces, under the stress of war, 
 each summoned to its help foreign aid ; and in both, the 
 anti-absolutist party established in defiance of the con- 
 stitution a permanent assembly, the one in the Chamber 
 of St. Louis, the other in the Long Parliament. 
 
 But here resemblance ceases. The differences between 
 the two movements were radical and profound. How 
 real was the one, how purposeless in comparison was the 
 
30 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 
 
 other, may be inferred from the fact that whereas the 
 English movement reacted constantly upon the French, 
 the events of the Fronde received not the slightest atten- 
 tion from even if they were known to, those who in 
 England were engaged in a conflict which absorbed every 
 quality of heart and brain. 
 
 The English contest was at once accentuated and 
 ennobled by religious and intellectual antagonism of the 
 intensest character. It was a contest of modes of thought. 
 An earnest faith in the righteousness of their cause, an 
 enthusiastic conviction in the direct interposition of God 
 in their behalf, sustained the noblest of Charles's antago- 
 nists in every reverse, and carried them forward to every 
 victory ; and it is this which clothes the English rebellion 
 with tragic dignity. To the Fronde this religious element 
 was utterly wanting And so there was in it no trace of 
 heroism. For Falkland, eagerly welcoming the death 
 which saved him from witnessing longer the agony of his 
 country ; for Hampden, praying with his last breath for 
 her relief; for Milton, sanctifying rebellion by a divine 
 eloquence, it has absolutely no figures to show. 
 
 So, too, in face of the struggle of great principles 
 which constituted the English rebellion, family ties were 
 unhesitatingly if mournfully sacrificed, and gallantry and 
 intrigue were powerless ; in the whole annals of the civil 
 war scarcely a woman's name occurs. But the pages of 
 the Fronde are crowded with the names of women, beau- 
 tiful, clever, and brave, but licentious and unprincipled, 
 who swayed the fortunes of the fight at the caprice of their 
 amours or the ambition of their families, who had each 
 of them her price, and to gain whom occupied the con- 
 stant attention of Mazarin and his opponents alike. We 
 look in vain to the leaders of the Fronde for self-sacrifice 
 or the idea of duty, for far-reaching sight or for control- 
 
1648. Prehide to the Fronde. 31 
 
 ling force. We look in vain for an Eliot, a Pym, or a 
 Cromwell. We find instead De Retz, whose highest 
 ambition was to be a leader of faction, and whose strongest 
 motive was personal hatred of Mazarin ; who, despising 
 his dupes, merely amused himself with revolt; we find 
 Beaufort, vain, silly, and petulant, the darling of shop- 
 keepers' wives ; Conde, leading more than once the here- 
 ditary enemies of his country against his King with no 
 higher object than the satisfaction of his vanity ; Orleans, 
 slothful, timid, and blown about with every varying 
 wind of fortune. Beside them there flash across the 
 stage, with all the picturesque garb and incident of 
 the time, many gay and gallant figures, as brilliant 
 in their contrast with the sombre men of the English 
 revolution as the causes for which they contested were 
 light and fleeting in comparison with the stern purposes 
 of that great fight. The contrast is expressed in the 
 names. A fronde was a sling used by boys in their 
 play. The English movement was indeed a Revolution. 
 The French movement was but a mischievous bur- 
 lesque of a revolution ; and as such it is fitly known by 
 a name derived from the sport of gamins and school- 
 boys. 
 
 To these, the profoundest of the differences which 
 forbid comparison, there are others little less striking to 
 be added. The English Parliament represented freely 
 and directly the whole English people. The Parlement 
 of Paris was a body of permanent officials, who, though 
 they had acquired considerable power, possessed con- 
 stitutionally no legislative or even deliberative functions, 
 represented no interests but their own, and discovered in 
 every action the inveterate selfishness of a narrow and 
 grasping caste. In England the intimate connection 
 between all the members of the social body, the sym- 
 
32 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 
 
 pathy — the comradeship indeed — between nobles and 
 commoners, governed and governing classes, made co- 
 operation not merely feasible but natural, and enabled 
 the whole nation from highest to lowest to take in the 
 struggle an eager and a constant part. In France the 
 baneful division of classes, long existing and sedulously 
 encouraged by Richelieu, was fatal to all such common 
 action. The bourgeoisie had no support in an im- 
 poverished and despairing peasantry, and though for a 
 time officialism might enlist the scornful support of an 
 idle and arrogant noblesse, the unnatural alliance gave 
 way as soon as a common danger was removed. The 
 English movement was national, the French was per- 
 sonal. 
 
 One more difference of far-reaching import must be 
 noticed. Old and venerable as was the idea of monarchy 
 in England, its place in the English mind v/as disputed 
 and in many cases occupied by the representative idea, 
 which had grown up with it side by side. And so it 
 happened that, though destroying forever all hope for 
 royal absolutism, the English revolution was eminently 
 constructive. The Parliament saw more clearly than 
 the King what they wanted, and this they were able to 
 obtain without a King. The machinery of government 
 was ready to their hand. The destruction of monarchy, 
 as a temporary measure, was therefore possible without 
 national disintegration. Very different was it in France. 
 Even previous to the ministry of Richelieu the idea of the 
 sacredness of monarchy had been all-pervading, and he 
 had striven to raise it to the rank of a religion. It had 
 absorbed into itself all other ideas of government, and it 
 never entered into any Frenchman's head that monarchy 
 could be dispensed with for a day. And thus the French 
 movement was as eminently destructive. It is impossible 
 
1648. The Parliamentary Fronde. 33 
 
 to see even now what could have taken the place of the 
 French absolutism except disastrous and illimitable con- 
 fusion, had either officialism or grandeeism triumphed. 
 It was the sense of this that led to the final failure of the 
 Fronde. How different were the issues in the two coun- 
 tries may be judged from the party cries. In England 
 the Royalist cried ' God and the King ! ' his opponent 
 answered with ' God and the Parliament ! ' In France, 
 even while the King was a child, there were but two 
 serious variations upon 'Vive le Roi ! ' ; they were 'Vivent 
 le Roi et les Princes ! ' and ' A bas le Mazarin ! ' 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 
 
 i. Concessions of the Court. 
 The first, or Parliamentary, period of the Fronde pos- 
 sessed a certain title to respect. Amid the mob of in- 
 terested officials, turbulent nobles, intriguing character of 
 priests, and clamorous bourgeois, were to be mentary la " 
 found men who represented the highest type Fronde. 
 of citizen life, whom neither Anne of Austria nor the mob 
 of Paris could terrify, nor Mazarin cajole. And though 
 violence, folly, selfishness, and confusion marked its 
 course, and though all zeal for the welfare of the country 
 was soon forgotten in the indulgence of an unreasoning 
 hate of Mazarin, this movement had, nevertheless, the 
 merit of attacking, however interestedly and however 
 inopportunely, a taxation that had become ruinous, and 
 an administration of reckless waste. 
 
 For a while Mazarin appears not to have recognised the 
 gravity of the situation. He was ignorant in a great degree 
 
 D 
 
34 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 
 
 of the constitution of the country, and it was the intrigues 
 in the court which appeared important to him. And now, 
 at the very moment when the Chamber of St. Louis had 
 established its position as an imperium in imperio of the 
 most threatening character, he was occupied with the 
 endeavours of the Duke of Longueville, who had mar- 
 ried the sister of Conde, to acquire the right to sit among 
 the Princes of the blood. He was however soon 
 _ , , awakened. The thirty-two delegates were 
 
 Demands of . . . 
 
 the chamber already busy in claiming the control of every 
 branch of the administration. With a just 
 instinct they first fell upon the Intendants, by whose ap- 
 pointment Richelieu had dealt so severe a blow to vested 
 interests and local privileges. They demanded the dis- 
 missal of these officers, and the transference of their duties 
 to the 3,000 petty officials whom they had superseded. 
 They then asked for the remission of a quarter of the 
 taille, and of all arrears since 1647, the annulling of all 
 contracts with the financiers regarding it, and the strict 
 appropriation of the supplies gained from it to the pur- 
 poses of the war. A Chamber of Justice was to be 
 created to investigate the extortions of the farmers of the 
 taxes. The proposal that no tax should in future be levied 
 unless previously voted by the Parliament was doubtless 
 prompted by the action of the Long Parliament in Eng- 
 land, as was also the claim that no one should be detained 
 in prison for more than twenty-four hours without being 
 brought to trial before his proper judges. The trading 
 classes demanded the abolition of all monopolies and 
 abuses in the sale of necessaries, and the protection of 
 native industries. No new offices were to be created with- 
 out the consent of Parliament, and there should be no 
 diminution of salaries. All these demands of the Chamber, 
 whiqh were endorsed and presented by the Parlcment, 
 
1648. The Parliamentary Fronde. 35 
 
 were in direct denial of the doctrine that to the Crown 
 alone belonged all legislative authority. 
 
 Furious at the arrogance of the ' canaille,' Anne of 
 Austria for a time refused to listen to these demands. 
 But Mazarin, now fully alive to the danger, concessions 
 and especially to the precariousness of his of the court - 
 personal position, induced her to temporise. fernery 
 was dismissed. The Intendancies, all but three, were 
 revoked. A diminution of one-eighth of the taille was 
 offered, and the desired Chamber of Justice was decreed. 
 The late appointments which had caused so much jeal- 
 ousy were revoked, the diminished salaries restored to 
 the original sums, and the Paulette renewed. The right 
 of the Parlement to verify financial edicts was acknowl- 
 edged. The Queen, in her own phrase, ' threw roses at 
 the Parlement.' 
 
 In return for these concessions the court demanded 
 that the Chamber of St. Louis should be dissolved, and 
 that the Parlement should return to its purely judicial 
 functions, which had lately been much neglected. The 
 Frondeurs, in reply, pointed out the omission of any 
 satisfactory mention of the point upon which they felt 
 most strongly, arbitrary arrest ; and they urged the 
 summoning by the Crown of a general assembly com- 
 posed of the different Chambers. Again Mazarin had 
 great difficulty in calming the Queen, who, as he told 
 her, was valiant as a soldier who does not recognise 
 danger, and who was for immediate conflict. He him- 
 self was looking eagerly abroad, and was waiting only 
 until his hands should be again strengthened by a strik- 
 ing military success. 
 
36 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 
 
 2. Beginning of Revolution. 
 In the end of August great news arrived. On the 
 20th Cond6 gained the victory of Lens, which well 
 nigh completed the ruin of the Spanish 
 Lens^Aug. military strength. The opportunity was in- 
 Arrest of stantly seized. While the ' Te Deum ' was 
 
 Rroussei and being chanted for the victory. Broussel and 
 
 iilancinesnil. ° . 
 
 Blancmesnil, two of the councillors who had 
 been foremost in opposing the court, were arrested by 
 the Queen's orders. Within an hour the people, sedu- 
 Riots in lously nursed for sedition by Mazarin's op- 
 
 Pans, ponents, were in uproar. They thronged 
 
 the city, threw up barricades, and let down the chains 
 which barred the narrow streets. In an incredibly short 
 time Paris was an impassable camp, and the whole city 
 was in arms. And now, while the cry of ' Vive le Roi ! ' 
 was shouted as loudly as ever, was heard with it the 
 watchword of the next five years, ' Point de Mazarin ! ' 
 
 3. The Cardinal de Retz. 
 
 During all the troubles that had now opened upon 
 
 PVance, no influence was more actively exerted for mis- 
 
 „ chief than that of lean Francois Paul de 
 
 J he . . , . 
 
 Cardinal Gondi, better known by his later title of 
 
 Cardinal de Retz. Of Italian birth, he had 
 risen by the favour of Richelieu and by his own talents 
 and craft, until, having taken Orders, he became, after 
 a youth of dissipation, coadjutor to his uncle the aged 
 Archbishop of Paris. A duellist and a libertine, with no 
 spark of religious feeling, and hating his profession, he 
 looked to it nevertheless to secure for him an eminent 
 place in the turmoil of politics. To increase the import- 
 ance of his office he asserted and maintained his right 
 of precedence even over the Duke of Orleans, and in- 
 
1648. The Parliamentary Fronde. 37 
 
 sisted upon the fullest recognition of his ecclesiastical 
 rank. By the careful performance of all the outward 
 duties of his place, by a well-feigned humility, by pro- 
 fuse almsgiving, and by an ostentatious attention to the 
 interests of the poor, be secured among them a danger- 
 ous influence. Diminutive in stature, and with signal 
 disadvantages of person, he possessed a charm of 
 tongue with which it was as easy for him to sway the 
 passions of the mob or the councils of the Parliament, 
 as to seduce women or entice men into conspiracy. 
 Conspiracy, indeed, was the aim of his existence. He 
 is the unique example of a man of great and powerful 
 mind deliberately setting before himself as the highest 
 attainable object the position of a successful faction- 
 leader. Such a title, he declared, was the most honour- 
 able that he could find in ' Plutarch's Lives.' At the 
 age of eighteen he had written a history of the conspir- 
 acy of Jean Louis de Fiesque, in which are laid down 
 all the rules of successful treason. Higher qualities 
 were, he declared, needed to form a successful faction- 
 leader than to form a great emperor of the universe, 
 and Catiline was a greater man than Caesar. For the 
 career of his adoption he was admirably suited by the 
 endowments of his Italian birth. He had the supple 
 resoluteness, the ready resource, and the absolute un- 
 scrupulousness of his countrymen. He was free from 
 all personal ties other than that of a licentious but calcu- 
 lating attachment to one or two of the women whose 
 names are notorious among the female leaders of the 
 Fronde. Of statesmanship he possessed no trace ; and 
 the cause for which he fought, so long as it was the cause 
 of confusion, was a matter of indifference to him. His 
 action was at present decided by an intense jealousy of 
 Mazarin, and by the perception that in opposition to him 
 
38 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 
 
 could be found the fullest opportunity for the exercise of 
 his powers. But he valued good taste in treason as he 
 valued it in any art. His natural feeling for the fitting 
 in time and place had made him keep aloof from the 
 ' Importants,' for whom, as for many of his later asso- 
 ciates, he professed a hearty contempt. 
 
 Now however he considered his time was come. 
 Arrayed in his ecclesiastical vestments he went to the 
 Palais Royal and urged upon the Queen the release of 
 Broussel. ' Rather would I strangle him with my own 
 hands,' was the passionate reply. The royal guards 
 were ordered out to disperse the crowd, but they were 
 stopped by the first barricades. De Retz accompanied 
 them and endeavoured, he says, to soothe the tumult. 
 On his return to the court he was received by Anne with 
 bitter sarcasm : ' Vous avez bien travaille, Monsieur ; 
 allez vous reposer.' The insult sank deep, and hence- 
 forth he pursued a course of bitter enmity to the Queen 
 and Mazarin. 
 
 For two days the mob remained under arms ; loss of 
 life took place, and the royal officers were insulted and 
 attacked. The Parlement passed in a body through the 
 seething streets to demand the release of the prisoners. 
 Twice they were repelled with anger by Anne. On their 
 third visit the president Mole informed the Queen that 
 if she did not give way he would not answer longer for 
 the consequences. At the entreaties of Mazarin and 
 The court Orleans she at length consented to a corn- 
 
 gives way. promise. The Parlement gave up its preten- 
 sions to interfere in State administration, with some 
 minor exceptions ; and in return Broussel was set at 
 liberty. His entry on August 28 was one long triumphal 
 procession ; the people, in a delirium of joy at their 
 victory, flung themselves at his feet, and addressed him 
 
1648. The Parlia7ne7itary Fronde. 39 
 
 as their saviour and protector. Having offered his thanks 
 at Notre Dame, he was escorted to the Grand Chamber 
 and there received the congratulations of the Parhment. 
 The frenzy-fit which had seized the people then passed 
 off with the picturesque rapidity which had marked its 
 beginning. Within a few hours the barricades had dis- 
 appeared, the mob had melted away, and Paris was in 
 absolute repose. It was as if a troubling dream had come 
 suddenly to an end. 
 
 4. Mazarin's Measures. The Court Leaves Paris. 
 
 But Mazarin was not deceived. He foresaw further 
 attacks ; and he resolved to be beforehand with his 
 opponents. On the very day after the return Mazarin's . 
 of Broussel he drew up for the Queen notes ftoring^oyal 
 of the course of action to be pursued. An authority. 
 agreement with De Retz and the other leaders of the 
 opposition must be ostentatiously concluded. The court 
 must then leave Paris. Suspicion must be lulled until 
 Conde's return, and a blow must then be struck which 
 should at once restore the royal authority. In the 
 meantime the malcontents were to be divided by all 
 possible means. Circumstances were favourable to this 
 design. To the whole trading class these troubles meant 
 confusion and loss. Already the guilds had met the 
 principal shopkeepers, and had determined to meddle in 
 nothing against the King's service. The Queen took 
 pains to gain over the provost of the merchants, the 
 commander of the city militia, and the captains of the 
 quarters. Mazarin himself treated directly with many 
 members of the Parlement, and was so successful that 
 even Broussel and Blancmesnil appeared at court. This 
 however served only to exasperate the younger members. 
 Acting under the instigation of De Retz they met pri- 
 
40 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 
 
 vately and determined to attack Mazarin personally by 
 agitating for the revival of the edict of 1617, which pro- 
 scribed all foreigners who interfered in the government 
 of France. 
 
 Mazarin now carried out his plan. At six in the morning 
 of September 13 the court left Paris for Ruel, ten miles 
 Departure of distant, where it was joined by Orleans, 
 the court. Conde, and the Duke of Longueville. This 
 
 was followed by the dismissal of Chateauneuf and the 
 arrest of Chavigni, old rivals of Mazarin, who were cabal- 
 ling with the disaffected members of the Parlement. Far 
 from intimidating, this blow served only to irritate that 
 jealous body. A deputation was sent to the Queen to de- 
 mand the release of Chavigni, the return of the court, and 
 the presence of the Princes of the blood at the delibera- 
 tions of the Parlement. These demands were angrily re- 
 jected, Conde especially distinguishing himself by the 
 violence of his language. The decrees of the Parlement 
 were annulled by the Council, and it was half decided to 
 supplant that body by royal commissions. The Parle- 
 ment on its side prepared for defensive war. All business 
 was discontinued, the city was secured against a surprise, 
 and provisions were laid in for the expected siege. 
 
 5. Mazarin and Cond£. 
 Everything in this contest is spasmodic, except the 
 will and the design of Mazarin. The uncertain temper 
 of Conde, to whom all men looked as possessing the 
 power of the sword, had especially to be reckoned with. 
 It was well known that, much as he despised the 
 Frondeurs, his hatred of Mazarin was a still more power- 
 ful feeling. He had hitherto passionately refused to join 
 in harassing the Crown. But now De Retz had little 
 difficulty in persuading him to consent to a conference 
 
1648. The Parliamentary Fronde. 41 
 
 at which his jealousy of the Cardinal should be gratified 
 by the latter's exclusion. Mazarin did not care to con- 
 test the point. Whether the hatred against him was genu- 
 ine may be doubted, but there is no doubt 
 as to the vehemence of its expression at this sents toa"" 
 time. No story of his crimes was too wild for conference 
 
 y irom which 
 
 credit ; he was a robber, a traitor, a gambler, Mazarin is 
 
 ... , , , , excluded. 
 
 a usurer, an atheist, and a debauchee ; to 
 sack and burn Paris, to ruin France for his own greed, 
 and to keep her at war with foreign nations that he might 
 the better maintain himself in his usurped authority, 
 were represented to be the objects of his life. 
 
 The conference lasted ten days. It resulted in the 
 declaration of Oct. 22, 1648, in which the 
 
 . Declaration 
 
 greater number of the claims made by the of Oct. 22, 
 Chamber of St. Louis were conceded. But * 4 
 the root idea of the constitution, that in the King's pres- 
 ence nothing could be refused or combated which he 
 personally announced, was preserved in the retention of 
 the power to hold lits de justice, while as to arbitrary 
 arrests a verbal promise, never intended to be kept, was 
 all that could be wrung from Anne. ' If I consent to 
 such requests,' said the Queen, ' my son would be no 
 better than the King of a pack of cards.' 
 
 Mazarin now devoted himself to again fixing the fickle 
 humour of Conde. The task was not an easy one. But 
 the Prince could not yet forget that he was of 
 royal blood, and he had the true caste con- secured by 
 tempt for the ' gens de chicane ' of the Parlia- Mazarm - 
 ment who pretended to tutor the King of France. His 
 own interests moreover had not yet been awakened 
 against the court. Mazarin, ever watchful and patient, 
 was therefore before long successful. Conde yielded to 
 the flatteries of the Queen and to the assurances of the 
 
42 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1649. 
 
 Cardinal that the government should be conducted solely 
 by his advice. In December the compact was closed by 
 the cession to Conde of the governments of Stenai and 
 four other important places. Bribery on a similar scale 
 was equally successful with Orleans. 
 
 6. The Court leaves Paris a second time. Beginning 
 of Civil War. 
 
 The court had meanwhile at the desire of the mer- 
 chants returned to Paris. But the atmosphere was no 
 Return of ^ ess charged with trouble than before. Dis- 
 the court. appointed at the non-fulfilment of the 
 
 Declaration of October 22 the Parlement were again in 
 uproar. De Retz, fully in his element, stirred up the 
 flame of sedition to the utmost. He found assistance from 
 the authors of the innumerable pamphlets known as 
 ' Mazarinades,' libellous writings against the Cardinal 
 The* Ma- anc ^ tne Queen, which, without pretensions 
 zarinades.' to literary merit, tickled the ears of the 
 Parisians with their mendacious and brutal allusions. 
 Mazarin pointed out to the Queen that the revolution in 
 England had been preceded by a similar phenomenon, 
 and bade her remember that when, in order to stop such 
 writings, Charles I. had sacrificed Strafford, he had but 
 begun his own downfall by encouraging the Parliament 
 to cry for further concessions. 
 
 Secure for the time in the support of Conde and 
 
 Orleans, the court now determined upon force. Mazarin 
 
 had long planned to retire to St. Germain, 
 
 Second ... . 
 
 withdrawal occupy the strategic points, and prevent the 
 of the court. entrance of provisions into Paris. At three 
 in the morning of January 5, 1649, the Queen left the 
 Palais Royal a second time in haste and secrecy. At St. 
 Germain she was joined by Mazarin, the Princes, ana the 
 
1649. The Parliamentary Fronde. 43 
 
 court. ' Paris, on its awakening, heard with stupor and 
 affright of the departure. The citizens saw war, siege, 
 and famine at their gates.' Undismayed however the 
 Parlement met. All available measures of defence were 
 taken ; provisions were hastily collected ; the gates were 
 shut and guarded. The civil war had begun. 
 
 7. The Twelve Weeks' War. 
 
 Mazarin had been quietly preparing for this decisive 
 action by collecting troops in the neighbourhood of Paris; 
 and although they were yet too few to form any real 
 blockade, he was able so far to hinder the entry of 
 supplies that serious inconvenience was soon felt. The 
 shopkeepers, with a considerable body within the Parle- 
 me7it, were anxious to come to terms. But the earnest 
 opponents of absolutism, with the discontented noblesse 
 and the lower classes, were bent upon resistance. De Retz 
 was ceaselessly active, and under his influence the mob 
 was soon in a state of wild excitement ; the houses of 
 known adherents of the court were pillaged, and any who 
 attempted to escape to Ruel ran serious risk of their 
 lives. An army of 12,000 men was raised, Organisa- 
 De Retz furnishing a regiment of cavalry at tlon of Pans - 
 his own expense ; and a heavy war-tax was voted for 
 their payment. A royal edict ordering the Parlement to 
 retire to Montargis was met by a vote to demand the 
 immediate dismissal and banishment of Mazarin. 
 
 The Frondeurs had indeed raised an army, but it was 
 one that could not be trusted to meet the regular troops, 
 and it was without leaders who could be opposed to 
 Conde, the general du Mazarin, as he was now called. 
 The want was partially supplied by the arrival of the 
 Duke of Elbceuf, an old opponent of Richelieu ; he was 
 at once named commander-in-chief. His dignity, how- 
 
44 English Restoration and Lords XIV. 1649. 
 
 ever, was short-lived. The divisions within the Conde 
 family and the jealousy of Mazarin were skilfully made 
 use of by De Retz and the Prince's sister, the Duchess 
 of Longueville. They sent secretly to St. Germain to 
 offer the post to Conti, Conde's brother, a youth both 
 Desertion of physically and mentally infirm ; and on the 
 the kading r ni S ht of January 7 Conti, Longueville, Mar- 
 nobles, sillac, and La Mothe Houdancourt deserted 
 the court. They were soon joined by Beaufort and by 
 Bouillon, the brother of Turenne. 
 
 Danger threatened from two other quarters. Turenne, 
 the general of greatest repute in France after Conde, and 
 Turenne's greatly Conde's superior in tactical skill, 
 
 thTrevohin was on tne Iront i er w i tn a large body of 
 Normandy. troops, partly French and partly Alsatian 
 mercenaries, whom he was endeavouring to induce to 
 follow him against the royal forces. Normandy, where 
 the Longueville family was powerful, was preparing for 
 revolt. The dangers however were well and coolly met. 
 Normandy rose, but the Duke of Longueville, who had 
 been sent thither by his wife, was completely kept in 
 check by Harcourt for the King. And when Turenne 
 had resolved to march to Paris, he found that before he 
 could do so he should have to fight his own troops. The 
 mercenaries had been made safe by the distribution of 
 300,000 livres. Never had Mazarin applied money to 
 better purpose. Turenne at once retired to Heilbronn, 
 and thence to Holland, until the end of the twelve 
 weeks' war. 
 
 Meantime, within Paris, the insurrection was in full 
 swing. The Bastille and the arsenal had been taken by 
 the Frondeurs ; while the surprise of Charenton at the 
 junction of the Marne and Seine secured for a time a 
 free entry for provisions. But here the successes of the 
 
1 649. The Parliamentary Fronde. 45 
 
 Froncleurs ceased ; an attempt by Beaufort to take Corbeil 
 was ignominiously defeated. More than one sortie was 
 driven back, and Charenton was recaptured by Conde 
 on February 8. 
 
 A natural reaction, headed by the clergy, began to 
 declare itself. For a time the violent section fought hard 
 to keep the upper hand. An emissary of the court who 
 was found distributing loyal literature was closely im- 
 prisoned. A herald from the King to the Reaction in 
 Parlement was refused admittance on the favour of the 
 curious ground that heralds could pass only court, 
 between enemies and equals, and that to receive him 
 would be to admit that the Parlement was the enemy and 
 the equal of the King. Still the credit of the irreconcil- 
 ables was daily growing less, the process of disintegration 
 being aided by the vexatious nature of the devices for 
 raising money. 
 
 To provide a fresh stimulus for this flagging spirit De 
 Retz now began to intrigue directly with Spain. The 
 Spaniards were ready enough to meet these intrigues 
 advances, for they were anxious to avenge WIth ^P ain - 
 their defeats in the field at Rocroy and Lens, and their 
 discomfiture in diplomacy by the Treaty of Westphalia. 
 On February 19 Conti informed the Parlement that an 
 envoy of the Archduke Leopold, the governor of the 
 Low Countries, prayed for audience. This envoy was a 
 monk, sent indeed by the Archduke, but whose address to 
 the Parlement was actually prepared for him by De Retz. 
 His admission however roused forcible protests from the 
 moderate party. ' Can it be,' exclaimed the president de 
 Mesmes, ' that a Prince of the blood proposes to grant, 
 amid the fleurs-de-lis, an audience to the representative 
 of the bitterest enemy of the fleur-de-lis ? ' Further 
 checks in skirmishes with the royal troops led to bicker- 
 
46 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1649. 
 
 ings among generals who were rebels from selfishness 
 „„ . , alone, while the inconvenience and positive 
 
 Effect of the r 
 
 execution of distress which were now beginning to be felt 
 were doing their natural work. An event 
 moreover had occurred abroad which had a remarkable 
 effect. The execution of Charles I. in England, so far 
 from encouraging the Frondeurs, shocked the conscience 
 of a people who, whatever else they might be fighting 
 against, had no thought of fighting against monarchy; 
 while the presence of Henrietta Maria in Paris, in need so 
 great that she owed to De Retz the provision of a fire in 
 the bitter winter weather, served to heighten the effect. 
 Moreover, the news of Longueville's fiasco in Normandy 
 and of Turenne's flight to Holland had by this time 
 reached the harassed and disheartened city. Tired of 
 rebellion which was not successful, of exac- 
 
 A conference 
 
 determined tions from which no results were forthcom- 
 ing, and of leaders who showed no capacity 
 for leadership, the Parlement on February 28 decided to 
 send deputies to treat with the court, though forbidden 
 to hold communication with Mazarin. 
 
 It was characteristic of Mazarin that he never at any 
 time took public notice of personal slights. He was per- 
 Mazarin's fectly willing now to humour the more violent 
 
 treatment of members of the Parliament when they refused 
 
 personal J 
 
 attacks. to treat with him in person. An arrangement 
 
 was made by which the parties to the conference met on 
 March 4 in separate rooms, and communicated with each 
 other only thi"ough their secretaries. 
 
 The following conditions were agreed to. The Parle- 
 _ , . ment was to show its obedience by coming to 
 
 Conditions . . . 
 
 of the St. Germain to attend a lit de justice ; it was 
 
 to hold no assembly without the royal permis- 
 sion during 1649 ; all its arrets passed since January 6 were 
 
1 649. The Parliamentary Fronde. 47 
 
 to be annulled, including those against the Cardinal, as 
 also those by the Council against the Parlement; the troops 
 in Paris were to be disbanded, and the inhabitants were 
 to lay down their arms ; the Bastille and arsenal were to 
 be given back to the King ; and a second envoy who had 
 come from the Archduke was to be at once dismissed. 
 On the other hand the King was to set all prisoners at 
 liberty, to grant a general amnesty, and to return to Paris 
 as soon as his affairs would allow; the declarations of 
 July and October were to be confirmed ; the claims of the 
 Parliaments of Rouen and Aix were to receive favourable 
 treatment ; and finally the right of the Parlement to take 
 part in State affairs was at length to be admitted by the 
 appointment of a member of the Parlement to assist in 
 the negotiations with Spain. 
 
 Nothing but necessity would have wrung this from 
 Mazarin. He knew however that Turenne had again 
 offered an army to the insurgents, that the Archduke was 
 about to invade France, and that if he did so the siege of 
 Paris would have to be raised. For a moment it seemed 
 as if even now the concessions were to no purpose. The 
 energy of De Retz still kept up the violence of the extre- 
 mists. The signature of Mazarin to the treaty made them 
 furious ; they inveighed against the weak compliance of 
 their representatives ; they demanded that the treaty 
 should be burnt. Language borrowed from England was 
 for the first time heard : ' The Kings made the Parlia- 
 ments, it is true, but the people made the Kings.' The 
 cry for a republic was actually raised. 
 
 Once more it appeared prudent to give way. Leopold 
 was already on French soil ; his vanguard „ , 
 
 , , , , Further 
 
 had reached Pontavert on the Aisne. The concessions 
 
 court receded so far as to relinquish the litde 
 
 justice and the interdiction of the assemblies. Should 
 
48 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1649. 
 
 this concession not satisfy the Frondeurs, it was deter- 
 mined to attack Paris with all possible force, while the 
 Weimarian general Erlach with the mercenaries in the 
 pay of the court faced the Archduke. Meanwhile every 
 effort was made to detach the generals of the Fronde 
 from the Parlement. It was a mere question of money. 
 With the single exception of De Retz, they handed in the 
 personal demands upon the concession of which they 
 
 offered to come over to the court. ' Roche- 
 Mercenary 
 spirit of the foucauld demanded the tabouret for his wife, 
 
 and for himself eighteen thousand livres ; 
 Conti claimed a position in the Council and the govern- 
 ment of some strong place ; Longueville wanted an im- 
 portant government in Normandy, with reversion to his 
 children ; Elbceuf asked for the payment of large sums 
 which he claimed to be due to him and his wife ; Beau- 
 fort demanded Britanny for his father, Vendome, and 
 money for himself; Bouillon asked for himself a vast sum 
 of money as compensation for the loss of Sedan, and for 
 Turenne the government of Alsace and Philippsburg; 
 Houdancourt required 700,000 livres.' Their greed was 
 satisfied sufficiently to win them for the time. Mazarin 
 steadfastly refused to grant away provinces or strong 
 places, and they like true hagglers took what they could 
 get in money and in promises. On April i, all coher- 
 ence of resistance being thus at an end, the Parlement 
 met under a strong guard, for fear of the mob, and ratified 
 the peace. It was obvious, however, that an arrangement 
 which had been brought about by necessity on either 
 side and by which neither party had gained its objects, 
 was destined to be but a truce. The discontent with 
 Mazarin remained as it was, the nobles were neither 
 contented nor intimidated, and the Government felt 
 that it had succeeded in obtaining a virtual victory 
 
1 649. The Parliamentary Fronde. 49 
 
 less by its own strength than by the weakness of its 
 enemies. 
 
 Had the provinces to any considerable extent espoused 
 the cause of the Fronde, Mazarin could scarcely have 
 escaped complete discomfiture. But Britanny, the most 
 important, had remained thoroughly loyal ; Champagne 
 and Poitou, though excited, were easily kept in sub- 
 mission, and the revolt in Normandy had no popular 
 basis. In Aix in Provence the Frondeurs had taken 
 up arms. By wise conciliation however Mazarin had 
 secured their submission without bloodshed, „ , . 
 
 ' Behaviour 
 
 and had induced the Parlement of Aix, by of the 
 
 .. ... , ii 1 provinces. 
 
 some increase of its privileges, to annul all the 
 acts passed during the late troubles. The really serious 
 outbreak was in Guienne, where a feud was Outbreak in 
 raging between £pernon, the governor, and Guienne. 
 the Parlement of Bordeaux. The result was disastrous 
 to the Bordelais. On May 16 the rebels were defeated 
 in a battle which soon became a massacre in which three 
 thousand men were slaughtered. Mazarin seized the 
 opportunity to endeavour to re-establish the Intendants 
 in the provinces. Foiled in this, he partially gained his 
 end in another way, by choosing commissioners from the 
 Parliamentary families, and by thus associating the 
 Parlement itself with the reorganization of the provincial 
 administration. 
 
 During the daily complications of this struggle Maza- 
 rin had with unwavering firmness been conducting the 
 negotiations for peace with Spain. Firmness The war 
 indeed was needed; for Spain, relying upon Firmnlssof 
 his difficulties, had been endeavouring to Mazarin. 
 impose hard conditions. It is significant of his confi- 
 dence in the momentary character of those difficul- 
 ties that from the Treaty of Westphalia he steadfastly 
 
50 English Restoration and Loins XIV. 1649. 
 
 refused the slightest concessions. Even now, though the 
 Spaniards were on French soil, and though Ypres and 
 St. Venant had both fallen into their hands, his only- 
 thought was to win some brilliant success in the field, 
 which, like the victories of Rocroy and Lens, should 
 smooth the path at home. Harcourt therefore, the ablest 
 of the royal officers after Conde, was sent to besiege 
 Cambrai, while in order to be near the seat of war the 
 court took up its quarters at Amiens. The Spaniards 
 however were able to throw reinforcements into the place 
 and the siege had to be raised. The check was bril- 
 liantly redeemed by the capture of the fortress of Conde, 
 commanding the junction of the Aisne and the Scheldt. 
 And although this place had in turn to be abandoned, the 
 great point had been gained of proving that France was 
 still in a state of elastic vigour. 
 
 Mazarin meanwhile continued his dealings with the 
 leaders of the Fronde. His first step was significant of 
 N tia- the character of the time. Through the agency 
 
 tjons with Q f one of her lovers he secured the Duchess 
 
 the leaders . . 
 
 of the of Chevreuse, the chief instigator of the plots 
 
 with Spain, and through her he gained over 
 in turn the support of many of his most dangerous op- 
 ponents. Two important exceptions however occurred 
 to his conquests. Beaufort declined all bribes. He pre- 
 ferred to remain the ' Roi des Halles.' De Retz, though 
 he attended the court, steadfastly refused to see Mazarin. 
 At length, on August 18, 1649, it was thought safe for 
 the court to return. The King's cortege was accompanied 
 through the streets with enthusiastic cries of 
 
 Return of , . 
 
 the court to welcome. Even the hatred against Mazarin, 
 always probably more fictitious than real, ap- 
 peared to have vanished, and he was everywhere received 
 with respect. The Parliamentary Fronde was at an end, 
 
1 649. The New Fro7ide. 51 
 
 and to all appearances the danger and confusion were 
 past. As a matter of fact a storm, to which the last had 
 been child's play, was about to break upon Mazarin. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE NEW FRONDE. 
 
 I. Defection of Conde. 
 Hitherto the government had been on the whole sup- 
 ported by Conde. This support was now to be with- 
 drawn. The great captain, with no sound Disaffection 
 cause of complaint, was literally in the sulks. of <-'° nd6 - 
 He considered the reward of his merits and services 
 insufficient ; he was jealous of the permanent political 
 support which, by the marriages of his nieces, Mazarin 
 was acquiring among the great families, especially that 
 of Vendome, and he could not brook the supremacy of 
 the Cardinal in the councils of the Queen. Regarding 
 himself as the first man in the kingdom, within measur- 
 able distance of the crown ; urged on by the adulation of 
 the young noblesse, and by the comparison which De 
 Retz drew between himself and the great Duke of Guise; 
 he now determined to break with Mazarin. It is the 
 course of folly and treason into which he was led by this 
 enmity that constitutes the struggle of the New Fronde. 
 
 Unlike the Parliamentary Fronde, this movement had 
 absolutely no title to respect. The ostensible and in 
 some respects the real cry of the former was 
 
 1 ' Character of 
 
 the cry for reform. But the leaders of the the New 
 New Fronde never even pretended to desire 
 reform. Their contempt for the bourgeois magistracy 
 was as deep as was their hatred for the patient minister 
 
52 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1649. 
 
 who stood ever in their path. It was a barren, aimless, 
 and intensely selfish struggle for power, the last riot of 
 the feudal spirit in France. 
 
 An opportunity for a quarrel was soon found. Conde, 
 besides presenting demands on his own account, required 
 that Longueville should have the government 
 Conde with of Pont de l'Arche in Normandy, a fortress 
 which practically dominated Rouen. Stead- 
 fast to his policy of refusing to weaken the royal authority 
 by the grant of fortresses, Mazarin braved the prince's 
 anger. Conde, furious at the rebuff, publicly quarrelled 
 with the Cardinal when asked to sign the contract be- 
 tween Mercceur, Vendome's son, and Laura Mancini, 
 Mazarin's niece. In a moment all the Cardinal's enemies 
 rallied to the attack. Conde determined to strike his 
 blow by inducing the Parlement once more to bring for- 
 ward the proscription law of 161 7 (see p. 40). Mazarin 
 met the danger in characteristic fashion. He advised the 
 Queen to write a letter to himself, ordering him to take 
 Conde's advice regarding the nomination of all generals 
 _ and principal officers of the Crown. No one 
 
 Temporary *■ * 
 
 reconciiia- was to be removed, no benefices to be filled 
 up, no important resolution come to, without 
 his assent ; and Mazarin was to promise to support 
 Conde's interest under all circumstances. Finally the 
 minister was to require the Prince's consent to any 
 marriage of members of his family. These terms were 
 accepted by Conde, who in return promised Mazarin his 
 support and friendship. The submission was in appear- 
 ance complete, and the result was probably what Mazarin 
 had intended. The Frondeurs, indignant at this treaty 
 with the common enemy, broke with Conde. Mazarin at 
 once turned the feeling to his own advantage. He bought 
 up Mme. de Montbazon, Beaufort's mistress, and under 
 
1 649. The New Fronde. 53 
 
 her influence the Duke at length promised all that was 
 asked him. Through the Duchess of Chevreuse, who 
 had an old grudge against Conde's sister the Duchess 
 of Longueville, and who recognised that in the end the 
 Prince would have to yield to the astuteness of Mazarin 
 and the firmness of the Queen, he secured the inactivity 
 of De Retz (to whom, it is said, the Duchess sacrificed 
 her daughter's honour in payment), and of those who 
 followed his lead. Conde himself by two intemperate 
 acts came to his aid. By his demand for 
 
 • Conde 
 
 the title of ' Prince for his friends, La estranges the 
 Rochefoucauld, Bouillon, and La Tremouille, 
 he insulted the rest of the noblesse ; and the Queen and 
 Mazarin did their best to encourage the opposition which 
 was excited. Still greater was the irritation caused by the 
 admission of two of the friends of Mme. de Longueville 
 to the privilege, most coveted of all distinctions by the 
 ladies of the court, of being seated in the presence of the 
 Queen. The guerre des tabourets, as it was Guerre des 
 called from the ' tabouret ' or footstool placed tabourets. 
 before the chair, divided the court. The noblesse appealed 
 to the Queen; Conde passionately defended his sister's 
 friends. The Queen and Mazarin desired nothing better 
 than to throw upon Conde the odium of asking for the 
 distinctions objected to, and to acquire the credit of sup- 
 pressing them. They therefore revoked the nominations, 
 and earned the formally expressed gratitude of the whole 
 body of the noblesse. 
 
 Not content with these acts of arrogance, Conde was 
 now showing a reckless want of patriotism in encourag- 
 ing the Parlement of Bordeaux to a second revolt, thus 
 weakening France in the part most open to p rog ress of 
 Spanish attack. This was the more culpa- the war - 
 ble, as the Spaniards had been making way on the 
 
54 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1649. 
 
 north-east. They had taken La Motte-au-Bois, and 
 were threatening Dunkirk and Bergues. To preserve 
 these two important places was, in all the agitations of 
 the moment, Mazarin's constant anxiety. It was in this 
 attitude of anxious hope and of unwavering determina- 
 tion to yield no inch of ground to the foreign enemies of 
 France that the real greatness of Mazarin's character was 
 most conspicuous. 
 
 Meanwhile the breach between the Frondeurs and 
 
 Conde had been rendered complete. A fictitious plot 
 
 was enacted, the authorship of which was 
 
 Complete 
 
 breach be- _ equally ascribed to, and equally denied by, 
 and the the Cardinal and the Frondeurs. A riot 
 
 Frondeurs. wag exc } te( i among the Paris mob, during 
 which a shot was fired into Conde's carriage, and one 
 of his retainers wounded. Conde was persuaded that 
 his own assassination had been intended. He demanded 
 justice, and Mazarin affected eagerly to espouse his 
 cause. Beaufort, De Retz, La Boullaie, and Broussel 
 were formally indicted for conspiracy. Each day they 
 appeared in court with their friends and retainers, all 
 well armed. Conde and Orleans brought bands of 
 gentlemen similarly prepared for fight into the great 
 hall of justice. It seemed momentarily probable that 
 the trial would be changed into a sanguinary conflict. 
 In the end the Frondeurs managed so to prolong the 
 proceedings that the whole affair was postponed to De- 
 cember 29. 
 
 But before that day another change had come over the 
 shifting scene. Conde by his insolent egotism was inces- 
 Conde'sin- santl Y P la y in g into Mazarin's hands. He 
 science. now rouse( j to exasperation the haughty 
 
 spirit of Anne of Austria, who had long been chafing 
 under his control. By his threats and violence he had 
 
1650. The New Fronde. 55 
 
 compelled her to undergo the humiliation of consenting 
 to receive at court one of his most vicious dependents, 
 who had insulted her by a declaration of love. He had, 
 too, in the face of her commands, supported the Duke of 
 Richelieu, grand-nephew of the great Cardinal, in a mar- 
 riage which brought him entirely under his own influence, 
 and in an audacious seizure of Havre, the most important 
 harbour and fortress of the kingdom. The danger of 
 allowing this power to remain in Conde's hands was too 
 great to be permitted to continue. Anne and Mazarin, 
 supported by Orleans, whose jealousy of Conde had been 
 sedulously fostered, determined on a step for which the 
 isolation which Conde had created for himself rendered 
 the moment favourable. They determined to arrest the 
 Prince. Heavy prices had of course to be paid for the 
 support indispensable to the success of so bold a stroke. 
 The interest of Beaufort was gained by the gift of the 
 admiralty to his father Vendome, after it had been re- 
 fused to Conde, with reversion to Beaufort himself, and 
 by that of the viceroyalty of Catalonia to Mercceur. The 
 nomination to a cardinalate was promised to De Retz, 
 and heavy gratifications were given to his friends and to 
 those of Mme. de Chevreuse. The utmost Arrest of 
 secrecy as to the intention of the court hav- c°nti e 'and 
 ing been maintained, Conde, Conti, and Longueviiie. 
 Longueville were then suddenly arrested on January 
 18, 1650, and imprisoned at Vincennes. 'The net has 
 been thrown well,' said Orleans, ' it has caught at once 
 a lion, a monkey, and a fox.' An attempt of Conde's 
 immediate friends to create a tumult in Paris served only 
 to show how little he could count upon support there. 
 On the 19th the Queen informed the Parlement of the 
 reasons for the step, and that body, as tired as herself 
 of Conde's masterfulness, received the communication 
 
56 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1650. 
 
 with the utmost respect. The bourgeois, mindful of the 
 destruction of their houses and gardens in the suburbs 
 during the siege, were equally inclined to concur, and 
 Paris remained absolutely peaceful. 
 
 2. The Fronde in the Provinces. 
 
 The capital had been secured ; it remained to pacify 
 the kingdom. Condehad warm partisans in Normandy, 
 Burgundy, Guicnne, Berri, Champagne, and Limousin ; 
 while Turenne at Stenai, a strong fortress commanding 
 the Meuse, and the great roads to Luxemburg and Sedan, 
 was a constant danger. 
 
 But Mazarin's activity was all-sufficing ; and his skill 
 and patience in dealing with the danger, in conciliating 
 where conciliation was possible and in pressing the 
 advantage he had gained by the imprisonment of Conde, 
 were remarkable. He was well aware that that imprison- 
 ment could not last long ; he was determined therefore 
 that when the Prince was again at liberty he should find 
 himself deprived of his former sources of mischievous 
 Danger in power. Nopmandy presented the most press- 
 
 Normandy. j n g ^ a nger. Any disturbance there, closing 
 as it did the highway of the Seine, threatened distress 
 and even famine to Paris. The Duke of Longueville's 
 officers held the fortresses of Pont de l'Arche, Dieppe, 
 Rouen, Caen, St. Lo, Cherbourg, and Granville. The 
 Duchess had escaped thither and was doing her best to 
 excite resistance. Following the plan he ever afterwards 
 adopted, Mazarin decided, while taking ample measures 
 for the safety of the other threatened quarters, to lead the 
 Queen and the young King into the province. Before 
 starting he made sure of the fidelity of Paris by the 
 distribution of heavy bribes to the leading members of 
 the Parlement. Orleans was left in command, but a 
 
1650. The New Fronde. 57 
 
 devoted adherent of the Cardinal, Michel le Tellier, was 
 placed at his side. 
 
 The court reached Rouen on February 5, having re- 
 ceived on the way the submission of Pont de 1 'Arche, the 
 governor of which was easily won by a heavy The court in 
 bribe. Within fifteen days Normandy was Normandy, 
 safe. The Duchess of Longueville had been compelled 
 to fly ; Dieppe had been secured by force of arms, and 
 Havre had been obtained from Richelieu by the gift of the 
 tabouret to his wife. A bribe of 12,000 crowns bought 
 the submission of the Chateau of Caen ; and the title of 
 Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Normandy to the head of 
 the turbulent family of Matignon secured St. Lo, Cher- 
 bourg, and Granville. All disaffected garrisons and 
 officers were changed, and the fortifications of Pont de 
 1' Arche were destroyed. Titles of nobility, judiciously 
 distributed among the members of the Parlentent of 
 Rouen, gained the sympathies of the bourgeoisie. On 
 the 2 1 st the court returned to Paris, bringing in their 
 train the Duke and Duchess of Richelieu, with several 
 of the leading noblesse of Normandy, as virtual hostages 
 for the fidelity of the province. 
 
 Similar successes had been obtained in the other parts 
 of the kingdom. Dijon, the capital of Burgundy, had 
 surrendered, with many more of Conde's strongholds. 
 Stenai, and Bellegarde on the Saone, were the only 
 strong places in the north of France which still defied 
 the royal authority. 
 
 In spite of the submission of Dijon, the temper of the 
 people in Burgundy still threatened disturbance, and 
 Mazarin at once decided to try there also The court in 
 the effect of the King's presence. By lavish Burgundy, 
 bribery he again assured the steadfastness of his jealous 
 and temporary allies. The Duchess of Chevreuse was 
 
58 English Restoration and Louis X/V. 1650. 
 
 especially insatiable in her demands and Mazarin was as 
 ungrudging in satisfying them. During the whole of this 
 expedition, his correspondence shows him incessantly 
 occupied with keeping unbroken the brittle cords which 
 bound for a time De Retz, Beaufort, Orleans, and the 
 Duchess to his designs. 
 
 The court reached Dijon in the middle of March. The 
 siege of Bellegarde was at once undertaken in spite of the 
 The siege difficulties attending the rainy season. Ma- 
 
 of Befle- Ure zarm strengthened his force by calling to its 
 g^rde. aid the troops from Weimar who had refused 
 
 to follow Turenne, and he heightened the enthusiasm of 
 the soldiers by bringing the young King within the lines. 
 A curious scene, very characteristic of the nature of the 
 fight, now occurred. The cries of ' Vive le Roi ! ' which 
 went up from the royal troops were raised with equal 
 enthusiasm by the besieged upon the walls. They sent 
 word to Louis that in honour of his arrival the fire from 
 the place would be suspended for the whole day, nor 
 would it be directed towards the quarter where his tent 
 was placed. On April u, thanks to Mazarin's good sense 
 in giving the most favourable conditions, the place sur- 
 rendered. The commander was taken into favour, and 
 the garrison of 800 cavalry was incorporated with the 
 royal army. 
 
 Stenai now remained the sole rampart of the rebel 
 cause in the north of France. There Turenne had 
 Treaty been joined by the adventurous Duchess of 
 
 SpaTn^nd Longueville, who was indefatigable in keep- 
 
 Turenne. j n g the spirit of confusion awake among the 
 
 Frondeurs in Paris, the discontented Bordelais, and 
 wherever opposition to Mazarin was possible. She nego- 
 tiated, too, an alliance with Spain, which was met by a 
 royal declaration, registered by the Parlement on May 
 
1650. The New Fronde. 59 
 
 16, that the Duchess, Bouillon, Turenne, and La Roche- 
 foucauld, were guilty of high treason and outlawed, and 
 that their property was confiscated to the Crown. This 
 new alliance had little effect. The Spaniards indeed 
 took Catelet on June 2 ; but they failed before the heroic 
 resistance of the governor of the town of Guise. No com- 
 mon purpose existed between Spain and Turenne ; the 
 former cared only for the enfeeblement of France ; the 
 latter for securing the family government of Sedan. 
 
 Scarcely had the court returned from Burgundy, when 
 it was called away to Guienne, where, under the insist- 
 ance of the mother of Conde, the hatred of Revolt in 
 Epernon the governor, and offers of help Guienne. 
 from Spain, the smouldering mass had broken into open 
 flame. 
 
 Bordeaux shut its gates against the royal forces, and 
 refused to accept an amnesty from the benefits of which 
 were excluded only those who had treated with Spain. 
 For all acts of severity on the part of the Government 
 they exacted full reprisals, and prepared for a vigorous 
 resistance to a siege. That this should last but a short 
 while was for Mazarin of the utmost importance, for he 
 was confronted by dangers on every side. Intercepted 
 despatches proved that Bouillon was directly communi- 
 cating with Spain. In Italy things were going badly, for 
 Porto Longone and Piombino had fallen before the Span- 
 ish attack. In the north the Spaniards had taken La 
 Capelle, Vervins, and Marie ; Turenne had 
 
 Progress 
 
 captured Rethel and Chateau Porcien, and of the 
 
 , a ■ ... Spaniards 
 
 the nying peasantry were carrying dismay and 
 into Paris itself. There too the faction of JitauorVm 
 the Princes was continually strengthening Paris - 
 itself, while the streets were placarded by still another 
 party, who appealed to the people to seek their safety 
 
60 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1650. 
 
 in the reconciliation of the various members of the royal 
 family and in the banishment of Mazarin. Orleans was 
 wavering once more, and conspiracies had been discov- 
 ered in Normandy. Mazarin felt the urgent necessity of 
 having his hands free. At length, on September 29, he 
 secured his end with the appearance of victory, by a 
 treaty with the Bordelais that, in token of obedience, the 
 town should suffer a royal entry at the head of the army, 
 should lay down their arms, and should 
 with raze their fortifications ; while in return 
 
 Epernon was removed, the exiled council- 
 lors restored, and a complete and comprehensive am- 
 nesty granted to the city. 
 
 Mazarin at once turned to face his enemies at Pans 
 and to take the offensive against Turenne. He refused 
 further bribes to De Retz, and he determined at all costs 
 to reconquer Rethel and to check the alarming advance 
 of Spain. With infinite pains he managed to keep the 
 Frondeurs still divided, and having removed the prison- 
 ers to Havre for greater security, set out 
 
 Campaign 
 
 of Rethel, with the court for the seat of war, reaching 
 
 Reims on Dec. 5. Siege was at once laid 
 to Rethel. Mazarin himself, though suffering severely 
 from gout and gravel, took up his quarters in the camp 
 to encourage the soldiers, and displayed the utmost 
 activity in providing not only for the greater matters of 
 organisation, but for all those details in which the well- 
 being of an army consists, down to the men's great-coats. 
 So vigorously was the place attacked that it surrendered 
 on Dec. 13. Scarcely had the garrison marched out 
 when Turenne appeared to relieve it. His men how- 
 ever were tired, and, vigorously pushed by the royal 
 troops, he retreated to an impregnable position on 
 rising ground about twenty-two miles from Rethel. It 
 
1650. The New Fronde. 61 
 
 appeared, however, not for the first or last time, as 
 though when engaged in this unpatriotic warfare the 
 greatest masters of the art lost their skill and judgment. 
 Turenne allowed his army to descend from „ , . 
 
 J Battle of 
 
 the heights and spread itself over the inter- Rethel, Dec. 
 vening valley. Without an instant's hesi- 15 ' I5 °* 
 tation the royal marshal, Du Plessis-Praslin, dashed at 
 them with his whole force. Turenne was in a few 
 minutes utterly routed. Almost the whole of his infan- 
 try, 3,500 strong, were slain, the royal troops refusing 
 quarter to all of French blood. Champagne was cleared 
 of the enemy, and even Stenai itself prepared for a siege. 
 One thing in especial was proved by this 
 campaign. With or without Conde, the of the royal 
 royal troops could be counted upon. That arm y- 
 this was due to Mazarin's ceaseless care to render the 
 service popular, that the tendency of a standing army to 
 rally to the Crown had been strengthened vastly by his 
 management, is clear. He doubtless felt that, come 
 what might, he would have to depend upon force in the 
 end. It was for this reason that he had caused the young 
 King to live among the troops. It was for this, too, that 
 he was eager for a brilliant success at Rethel, and that 
 he displayed such care for the personal comfort of his 
 soldiers. That care did not cease with success. ' I 
 despatched last evening,' he wrote to Le Tellier on the 
 i6th, 'a great train of bread, wine, lint, and medicines, 
 with surgeons to help the wounded, and in addition I 
 have sent my own carriages to convey the disabled per- 
 sons of quality, with money for distribution among the 
 officers.' 
 
 Mazarin might well look back with pride upon what 
 he had accomplished. Tortured as he was with disease, 
 surrounded by open and secret enemies, and onlv wield- 
 
62 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1650. 
 
 ing his power in the name of an infant King, he had 
 allowed no note of weakness to escape him, and had met 
 What every danger with wary and supple resolu- 
 
 accom-" had tion - B Y the imprisonment of Conde he had 
 plished. declared that the Crown should no longer be 
 
 defied by any subject, however powerful. By dexterous 
 management he had secured temporary quiet in the capital, 
 and he had then, first in Normandy, next in Burgundy, 
 afterwards in Guienne, and now in Champagne, stifled in- 
 testine war and driven the stranger from the soil ; and as he 
 returned to Paris he could boast that no town in France 
 save Stenai refused obedience to the King. He had cre- 
 ated an army devoted to the Crown ; and while stretching 
 conciliation to its limits in the endeavour to unite all 
 Frenchmen to labour for one object, he had steadfastly 
 refused during the worst periods of danger and doubt 
 to yield the slightest concession to Spain. Mazarin was 
 a great card-player, and it was said that he always rose 
 from the table a winner, whatever might have been his 
 losses during the game. This aptly illustrates his conduct 
 of great affairs. No view of his character is more false 
 than that which represents him as a mere political adven- 
 turer. That is the view which contemporaries, blinded by 
 the storms through which his piercing eye saw land and 
 safety, might fairly take. But ultimate success in designs 
 far distant and hidden from the eyes of others was all he 
 cared for ; in his determination to compass that he never 
 wavered, and he played the great game of politics with a 
 patience, a coolness, and a dexterous use of every turn 
 of statecraft that compel our wonder even now. 
 
165 1. The Rebellion of Conde. 63 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE REBELLION OF CONDE. 
 
 i. Failure of Conde. Majority of Louis XIV. 
 Mazarin returned to Paris as a conqueror. He might 
 well have hoped to find his path easy. But the jealousy 
 of ministerial absolutism turned his very sue- Exiieof 
 cesses to his disadvantage. Before the year Mazarin. 
 was out, De Retz was attacking him with all the old 
 vehemence before the Parlement, which passed a vote 
 demanding his dismissal. It was sustained by the 
 assemblies of the clergy and of the provincial nobility 
 which De Retz had brought together in Paris, and by 
 Orleans, whose fickle support had once more been 
 secured by this master of intrigue. The authority of the 
 regency had from the first rested upon the alliance of 
 Mazarin with either Conde or Orleans ; it now stood 
 defenceless. 
 
 Once more the Queen, mindful of Charles I. and 
 Strafford, refused to give up her servant. But Mazarin, 
 who recognised that it was in hatred of himself alone 
 that the various parties were united, with calmer wisdom 
 determined to withdraw. On the night of February 6, 1651, 
 he secretly left Paris. At Lillebonne, on the 10th, he heard 
 from Anne that she had been forced to give Release of 
 orders for the release of the Princes. Before the Pnnces - 
 the messenger had reached Havre he was there in per- 
 son. If the Princes were to be set free, he was deter- 
 mined to secure if possible their gratitude by releasing 
 them himself. This done he left France, and sought the 
 protection of the Elector of Cologne, But though absent, 
 
64 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 165 1. 
 
 he was none the less powerful. More than once, while 
 in the thick of the confusion, he had appeared partially 
 bewildered. From a distance he had a far more complete 
 control of the situation, and the skill with which he 
 guided the Queen through all her difficulties was most . 
 remarkable. 
 
 For the moment it doubtless seemed to Conde, as he 
 entered Paris amid the enthusiasm of the streets, that 
 Difficulties tne game was in his hands. To wrest the 
 of Conde. regency from the Queen, summon the Etats 
 
 Generaux, and frame a new constitution, appeared well 
 within his power. He soon recognised that such a 
 scheme was hopeless. The Parlement feared that their 
 privileges would be weakened ; De Retz, the Duchess of 
 Chevreuse, and their friends, had no intention of sub- 
 ordinating themselves to Conde. Longueville, Mole, 
 Bouillon, and many others, were alienated by his arro- 
 gance, while the house of Vendome was divided through 
 the affection of Mercceur for Mazarin's niece, whom he 
 shortly married. Conde was soon driven to see that his 
 only chance of supremacy lay in coming to terms with 
 the Queen herself. 
 
 His conditions were such that, had they been granted, 
 he would have been virtual King of France. Without 
 hesitation Mazarin urged the Queen to reject them, and 
 to form in turn a close agreement, with the Frondeurs. 
 They demanded a Frondeur ministry, and the nomina- 
 tion to a cardinalate for De Retz ; and on these terms they 
 . ,. , engaged to further the recall of Mazarin, and 
 
 Alliance of ° ° 
 
 the Queen to allow the court to leave Pans. The mere 
 Frondeurs suggestion of Mazarin's recall however 
 
 cfndT brought about in turn an alliance between 
 
 Conde and the Parlement. The Prince left 
 Paris and refused to return until the chief official adherents 
 
165 1. The Rebellion of Conde. 65 
 
 of Mazarin had been dismissed. The Queen replied that 
 she would sooner go into a cloister. Once an d D f 
 again Mazarin succeeded in persuading her thTl^rii" 11 
 to give way. He felt the necessity of not ment - 
 allowing the understanding between Conde and the 
 Parlement to become permanent, and he knew that with 
 time his best friend would probably be Conde himself. 
 His hopes were fully justified. By his insolent refusal to 
 visit the Queen and the King, and by his general arro- 
 gance, the Prince rapidly alienated his friends in the 
 Parlement, and thus robbed himself of his only support. 
 
 Across the troubled scene of the last five years the 
 monarchy had been guided up to an event of supreme 
 importance. On September 7, with the full Majority of 
 concurrence of the Parlement, which had sept S 7 XIV ' 
 been gratified by a fresh decree against l6 si- 
 Mazarin, and with every circumstance of rejoicing, was 
 celebrated the majority of Louis XIV. 
 
 The proceedings of the day, in which royalty appeared 
 to the people in all its splendour, as the personification 
 of the unity and power of France, are recorded in great 
 detail. From one of the tribunes of the Parlement the 
 ambassadors of the foreign powers looked down upon 
 the inauguration of the epoch which was to establish the 
 supremacy of France ; from the other the exiled widow 
 of Charles I. gazed upon a scene which must have added 
 by contrast a bitterness to the downfall of all her hopes. 
 From the crowd of great nobles one figure alone was 
 absent. As Louis prepared to set out for the Parlement 
 a letter was handed him, in which Conde expressed his 
 regret that fear for his personal safety prevented him from 
 attending the ceremony. The contemptuous refusal of 
 the young King to open the letter well illustrated the 
 changed conditions of the contest. From the moment 
 
 F 
 
66 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1651. 
 
 the majority was declared, the Princes of the blood, until 
 now rivals of the Crown, became subjects and subjects 
 alone. Nothing was left for Conde but submission or 
 fighting. Should he choose the latter he would no longer 
 be fighting only against evil advisers; he would be a 
 rebel against a King in the plenitude of his authority, 
 supported by the instincts of a nation. 
 
 2. Rebellion of Conde. 
 
 Into rebellion however he threw himself with charac- 
 teristic impetuosity. At Bordeaux he was enthusiastically 
 Conde takes received. The great families of La Roche- 
 up arms. foucauld, Rohan, La Force, La Tremouille, 
 
 also upheld his cause in the south of France ; Daugnon 
 brought him a fleet ; Marsin, the royal governor of Cata- 
 lonia, carried over his best troops. Thus strengthened, 
 and liberally supplied with money and men by Spain in 
 return for the possession of a harbour on the Dordogne, 
 he determined to defy the Crown. A royal declaration 
 was at once issued depriving the Prince of all his honours 
 and governments, and attainting him of high treason ; 
 and the declaration was registered by the Parlement on 
 December 6. 
 
 Conde had underrated the resources of the government. 
 An immediate progress through Poitou, Sain- 
 
 Successes of 4 . 
 
 the Govern- tonge, and Anjou secured the quiet of these 
 districts. Harcourt defeated La Rochefou- 
 cauld, relieved Cognac, and took La Rochclle from 
 Daugnon. Conde, who had hastened to succour La 
 Rochelle, was himself beaten at Tonnai-Charente, and 
 was compelled to fall back upon the Dordogne. He now 
 sought for allies. 
 
 In one powerful quarter he had great hopes. There 
 had for long been existing among the Bordelais a strong 
 
1 65 1. The Rebellion of Conde. 67 
 
 Republican feeling, and this had been carefully en- 
 couraged by agents from England. As 
 early as 1650 the help of England had been applies to 
 formally asked against the government, and 
 an offer made in return of a port on the Gironde, and of 
 La Rochelle. These offers were now renewed. 
 
 Cromwell however prudently sent to the south of 
 France to ascertain the real position of affairs. His 
 messenger reported that, secure in their religion through 
 Mazarin's wise observance of former promises, the 
 Huguenots gave no sign ; that the Fronde was a frivolous 
 and discredited faction ; and that as for Conde himself, 
 ' stultus est et garrulus, et venditur a suis Cardinali.' 
 
 In another direction Conde was equally unsuccessful. 
 The Duke of Lorraine, for eighteen years a duke without 
 a duchy, was always ready to sell himself 
 and the army with which he wandered on Duke of 
 the frontier to the highest bidder. Conde 
 now applied to him, and Spain seconded the request. 
 But Mazarin, by holding before him the prospect of a 
 repossession of his estates, succeeded for the time in 
 baffling this design. 
 
 The moment had now come for Mazarin to reappear 
 on the scene. Since the middle of October he had 
 transferred his quarters to Dinant, on the Return of 
 frontier. Thence he had kept up an active Mazarin. 
 correspondence with such of the governors of the pro- 
 vinces and commanders of the northern fortresses as were 
 in his interest, and he had collected there a well-equipped 
 force of 7,000 men — the Mazarins — devoted to himself. 
 With this army he crossed the frontier on _ 
 
 Turenne 
 
 December 24, and undeterred by the fulmi- joins the 
 
 nations of the Parlement, which went so far 
 
 as to set a price upon his head, marched rapidly through 
 
68 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1652. 
 
 France and joined the King and Queen at Poitiers on Janu- 
 ary 30, 1652. He had brought with him, as the first-fruits 
 of the King's majority, something more important than 
 even his army or his counsel : he had brought Turenne. 
 They came at a critical moment. Conde indeed had 
 again been outmanoeuvred on the Dordogne. But danger 
 _ . . . was threatening from the north. The Duke 
 
 Critical ° 
 
 state of of Nemours had collected a mixed army of 
 
 French and Spaniards, and was now march- 
 ing to join the forces under Beaufort, which Orleans, 
 who had once more changed sides, had raised between 
 the Loire and the Seine. 
 
 The emergency was boldly met by Mazarin. He led 
 the court to the Loire, and at once took the offensive. 
 Battle of On March 29 Beaufort and Nemours were 
 
 llarch^o beaten by Turenne at Jargeau. They imme- 
 
 l6 5 2 - diately marched to Montargis to place them- 
 
 selves between Paris and the royal forces. 
 
 At this moment Conde suddenly arrived in their 
 camp. Disheartened at his failure in Guienne, and 
 warned of the danger on the Loire, he determined to 
 Battle of take the command there. He at once made 
 
 A, rUj"' h' s presence felt. Falling by night upon one 
 
 l6 5 2 - division of the King's army, he routed it, and 
 
 almost captured the court. The skill of Turenne, who 
 came up in haste, and who with numbers not a third of 
 those of Conde prevented him from pursuing his advan- 
 tage, alone averted a complete disaster to the royal cause. 
 
 Conde hereupon betook himself to Paris. Orleans 
 was there in his interest, with a considerable force. 
 Condi goes But the Parlcmcnt, though still hating Maza- 
 Stateof'the rm > was unwilling to oppose directly a King 
 capital. whose majority had been declared. And 
 
 above all, there was steadily forming itself among the 
 
1652. The Rebellion of Conde. 69 
 
 wearied bourgeoisie a fresh party, who saw in the success of 
 the Crown their only chance of the repose for which they 
 longed. Thus foiled Conde turned to the mob. Anarchy 
 was soon raging, for Turenne was gradually hemming in 
 the city, and the people were furious with the Parlemcnt, 
 which seemed powerless to bring their mis- K . f 
 eries to an end. The news that Turenne Etampes, 
 
 11 i -r>i e i 1 -it- • May 4, 1652. 
 
 had avenged lileneau by a brilliant victory 
 over Conde's Spanish forces at Etampes on May 4 
 increased the frenzy. The populace clamoured for some- 
 thing that should end their suspense, and turned their 
 anger against the Parlement and Conde alike. An 
 attack by the royal forces enabled Conde to draw the 
 people into participation in the rebellion. With an armed 
 but undisciplined mob he inflicted a serious check at 
 St. Cloud upon Turenne, who thereupon undertook 
 instead the siege of Etampes, in which the remains of 
 Conde's force were shut up. The siege failed through a 
 strange intervention. The Duke of Lorraine 
 
 Appearance 
 
 marched from the frontier, and appeared of the Duke 
 before Paris, with his bandit army of 10,000 
 men, wasting the country as he came. He had come in 
 the pay of Spain to help the princes. He kept his word 
 by a peaceful agreement with Turenne that the siege of 
 Etampes should be raised, and then, outmanoeuvred by 
 that commander, and moved by a bribe from Mazarin 
 higher than Conde could offer, returned to the frontier 
 after a fortnight's stay. The troops of Conde succeeded in 
 escaping from Etampes and reached the suburbs of Paris. 
 But the city guards, angry at the devastation which they 
 witnessed, shut the gates, and refused them entrance. 
 They encamped therefore at St. Cloud, and there Cond6 
 joined them. 
 Meantime Paris was given up to anarchy. The mem- 
 
70 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1652. 
 
 bers of the Parlcmcnt were attacked in the streets, and 
 at length that body suspended its sittings. Many fled to 
 the court. Mazarin and Turenne, reinforced by 3,000 
 men, now determined to strike the long-deferred blow. 
 On July 2, Conde's army was caught on the march in the 
 Defeat of streets of the Faubourg St. Antoine. A 
 
 Faubourg ° murderous conflict of several hours, in which 
 St. Antoine. t | ie p r j ncc displayed his accustomed bravery, 
 resulted in his total defeat. Hemmed in between Tu- 
 renne and the walls of Paris, he would have been utterly 
 crushed had not his friends within the city, at the moment 
 when Turenne was preparing a final attack, thrown open 
 the gates to his shattered troops, and checked the further 
 advance of the royalist forces by a cannonade from the 
 Bastile. The immediate result was further violence and 
 massacre in Paris, encouraged by Conde himself. The 
 Hotel de Ville, in which the general assembly of the city, 
 which had replaced the Parlcmcnt, was in session, was 
 set on fire by the mob, and many of the notables were 
 cut down as they endeavored to escape from the flames. 
 Provisional Conde then coerced the remnants of the Par- 
 govemment. lement to consent to an administration, in 
 which Orleans was Lieutcnant-General of the kingdom, 
 himself Commander-in-chief, Beaufort Governor of the 
 town, and Broussel Provost. 
 
 The court had meanwhile to meet a fresh danger. At 
 the beginning of July the Archduke Leopold, who had 
 Spanish J ust taken Gravelines, and was besieging Dun- 
 
 invasion, kirk, sent a large force with Lorraine's troops 
 
 to the aid of Conde. Turenne retired to 
 Compiegne, and determined to defend the line of the 
 Oise with his 8,000 men. The enemy numbered 20,000, 
 and had the Spanish general listened to the prayer of 
 Conde, and, with the Prince's help, attacked the royal 
 
1652. The Rebel lio7i of Conde. 71 
 
 troops, the result could hardly have been in doubt. But 
 thus decisively to end a war which was every day 
 weakening their great enemy was far from the interests 
 of Spain. At the critical moment she recalled her army, 
 and the danger thus disappeared as soon almost as it 
 had arisen. Lorraine and Conde were easily held in 
 check during the whole of September by the superior 
 generalship of Turenne. 
 
 3. Reaction in Paris. Royal Entry. 
 In other ways the sky was brightening. The massacre 
 of the Hotel de Ville had disgusted all reasonable men. 
 A great reaction took place in Paris. The Reaction in 
 bourgeoisie refused to pay the taxes de- Paris, 
 manded by the provisional government. Conde's army 
 rapidly dwindled away ; on August 9 he could muster 
 only 1,200 men. To separate their friends in the Parle- 
 ment from their enemies, the court now Tlie p ar i e . 
 ordered that body to leave Paris and resume fnmtoi 
 
 J Jruntoise. 
 
 its sittings at Pontoisc. Mole, the president, 
 and some thirty members obeyed the summons, and their 
 numbers increased day by day. The court thus gained 
 the advantage of securing the registering of their acts 
 according to the constitution. So greatly did Louis 
 appreciate their services that to the end of his reign he 
 paid all the members who attended the session of August 
 7-October 20 a pension of 6,000 livrcs, under the title 
 of Pensions de Ponioise. 
 
 It did not at first appear that this step was for the 
 interest of Mazarin. The Parlemcnt of Pontoise de- 
 manded his dismissal. This, however, was obviously a 
 prudent step, as it removed Conde's last excuse. The 
 demand was acceded to with the old readiness, and on 
 August 19 Mazarin left the court to reside at Bouillon. 
 
72 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1652. 
 
 Within Paris the party of order continually improved 
 its position. So strong was it that on September 24 the 
 bourgeoisie and the clergy determined to invite Louis to 
 Growth of return. The provost of the merchants, the 
 the reaction. principal magistrates, the six trade com- 
 panies, with De Retz at the head of the priesthood, 
 carried the invitation to St. Germain. Turenne mean- 
 while had once more outmanoeuvred the Duke of Lor- 
 raine, and compelled him to lead his bands from France. 
 Flight of Conde, bitterly disappointed, hastened with 
 
 Conde. the remnants of his army to do the same. 
 
 The fickle resolutions of Orleans were easily overcome. 
 Beaufort was induced to give up his governorship for 
 100,000 livres, and on October 21, 1652, amid a scene of the 
 Return of wildest rejoicing, Louis XIV. at last entered 
 
 the court, his capital. An amnesty was passed for all 
 
 occurrences since February 1651, and all decrees issued 
 in the interval, including those against Mazarin, were 
 cancelled. Mazarin, however, did not at once return. 
 He was busy in putting the army of Champagne into 
 such order that Turenne was shortly able to drive Conde 
 to La Capelle and to retake all the towns held by the 
 prince except Rethel and St. Menehould. He was too 
 and nf perhaps unwilling again to appear promi- 
 
 Mazarin. nently until he had heard of the exile of his 
 
 rival Chateauneuf, of the complete dispersion of the 
 leaders, male and female, of the Fronde, and of the 
 arrest of De Retz. He entered Paris on February 3, 
 Humiliation l6 53- The earliest opportunity was taken 
 °/ lt ;e for asserting the triumph of the principles of 
 
 Farlement. . ° . „ . , 
 
 Richelieu and Mazarin. On the very day 
 after the entry a lit de justice was held, at which the 
 Parlement was once again forbidden to assume any con- 
 trol over State affairs, or to meddle with finance. 
 
1653. The Rebellion of Condk. 73 
 
 Paris was now secure ; but the provinces were still 
 agitated. In Provence, Burgundy, and Saintonge, quiet 
 was soon restored. The struggle in Guienne however 
 was serious and prolonged. Bordeaux was under a 
 reign of terror, ana the violent section of _ . . 
 
 Submission 
 
 its Parlement, known as the Ormee, from of the 
 the fact that its meetings were held in a provl 
 grove of elm trees, refused all the offers of the Crown. 
 Its tyranny however became intolerable to the respect- 
 able citizens, and led to a dispersion of Conde's faction. 
 On August 3, 1653, Bordeaux, vigorously pressed by the 
 royal troops, opened its gates. 
 
 With this submission the long struggle of the Fronde 
 came to an end. Its result was to leave the monarchy 
 supreme. The conflict between royalty and Conclusion 
 the spirit of feudalism had ended in the com- ~ f the , T . 
 
 r jronde. Its 
 
 plete triumph of the cause which best satis- main results, 
 fied the yearning for order and the sentiment of national 
 unity. The great nobles had failed because as time went 
 on it became more clear that they had nothing to offer 
 the nation, and that their cause was the cause of civil 
 confusion. They now exchanged their fruitless preten- 
 sions to independence for the high commands, the titles, 
 and the pensions which Mazarin showered among them, 
 for all the gilded servitude of the court. The heads of 
 great houses who had stood in arms against the King 
 henceforth found their chief honour in filling the number- 
 less offices which were created in the household, while 
 the younger members of the noblesse were encouraged to 
 seek a career in the one profession which was not beneath 
 the dignity of their order. The Parlements, the only other 
 bodies whose pretensions could be dangerous, were sternly 
 kept within the original limits of their constitution. But 
 while henceforth they were allowed to occupy themselves 
 
74 English Restoration and Loins XIV. 1654. 
 
 with the judicial functions alone, Mazarin was ever care- 
 ful that no cause should be given them for discontent by 
 interference with those functions. They became once 
 more bodies of magistrates, constituting a legal caste. 
 All the machinery of a purely centralised administration 
 was rapidly reorganised, and in especial the Intendants, 
 the favourite institution of both Richelieu and Mazarin, 
 were immediately restored. 
 
 Even now, before she could claim that supremacy in 
 Europe to secure which had been throughout all the 
 troubles the guiding ambition of Mazarin as it had been 
 of Richelieu, France had much to accomplish and many 
 dangers to overcome. She had to win back the con- 
 quests which Spain, nerveless and inefficient as she had 
 become, had been able to wrest from her during the 
 years of confusion : Piombino, Forto-Longone, and 
 Casalc, in Italy ; Dunkirk, Mardyck, Gravehnes, Fur- 
 nes, and other towns, in Flanders; Catalonia in Spain. 
 And she had first to face the final efforts of Conde. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CLOSE OF THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 
 
 I. Defeat of Conde and Safety of France. 
 The Prince had now taken the last step in treason. 
 He had formally enlisted in the service of Spain, and 
 Conde's w ' m a mixed force of 30,000 men appeared 
 
 invasion. m F ra nce in the spring of 1654. Turenne 
 
 could only bring 16,000 to oppose him, but the spirit 
 Sieges of of his troops was high. Soon the interest of 
 
 SiTnai tne war centrc( l around two places, Arras 
 
 June 1054. and Stenai. The latter was besieged by the 
 French on June 19, while Arras was at the same moment 
 
1 6 54. Close of the War with Spain. 75 
 
 attacked by Conde. All Europe stood watching the strife, 
 for the first success would probably decide the war. Paris 
 was in a ferment of expectation ; while circumstances 
 known only to Mazarin invested the issue with singular 
 importance. Conde was indefatigable, but he was 
 feebly seconded by his Spanish colleagues whose punc- 
 tilious pride had been annoyed by his arrogance. Within 
 Arras a very different spirit reigned. The defences of the 
 town were weak and the inhabitants were Spanish ; but 
 the governor had no thought of surrender, and the offi- 
 cers of the garrison swore to one another to die at their 
 posts. Meantime their brethren outside Stenai, encour- 
 aged by the presence of Louis, pushed the siege with such 
 vigour that on August 5 the town capitulated ; and the 
 besiegers at once hurried off to attack Conde before 
 Arras. A desperate effort of the Prince to _ 
 
 Complete 
 
 carry the place before these forces came up success of 
 failed. On the 24th Turenne by a night 
 attack forced his lines, and compelling him to retreat 
 in confusion, pursued him almost to the walls of Brus- 
 sels. 
 
 The northern frontier was now safe. The treason of 
 Harcourt, the governor of Alsace and Philippsburg, who 
 had taken possession of Breisach, and had Security of 
 assumed the position of an independent the frontiers, 
 prince, gave Mazarin an opportunity of securing also the 
 frontier of the Rhine. Unable at first to bribe the com- 
 mander, the Cardinal bribed his men. Harcourt, find- 
 ing himself defenceless, listened to the minister's offers 
 of 50,000 livrcs, and Mazarin took the governments of 
 Alsace and Philippsburg into his own hands. 
 
 Before the beginning of the next campaign took place 
 a scene which marked the distance over which the mon- 
 archy had moved since the beginning of Mazarin's career. 
 
76 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1655. 
 
 On March 20, 1655, a lit de justice was held for imposing 
 taxes, rendered necessary by the war. Louis was hunt- 
 ing at Vincennes when the news reached him that the 
 Parlement was discussing the new acts with the view of 
 remonstrating. Suddenly he appeared un- 
 the royal announced in the Palais de Justice, in the 
 
 dress in which he had ridden hard from 
 Vincennes, and with marks of anger in his face. Inter- 
 vening at once in the discussion, he expressed his sur- 
 prise at this audacity, curtly forbade the continuation of 
 the proceedings, and then left the hall as abruptly as he 
 had entered it. The Parlement never again ventured to 
 incur a similar rebuke. 
 
 The same lesson was taught in a still higher quarter. 
 The Pope refused to declare that a vacancy had been 
 caused in the archbishopric of Paris by De Retz's forced 
 resignation in prison. A compromise was arranged ; but 
 the Pope insisted that the terms of the agreement should 
 receive the sanction of the assembly of the clergy and 
 of the Parleinent. Mazarin unhesitatingly refused the 
 condition. In the most emphatic terms he laid down 
 the doctrine that the absolute and despotic power in 
 France was with the King, and that no organisation 
 whatsoever in the kingdom could pretend to the smallest 
 share; and it illustrates the national and anti-papal 
 character of the Gallican Church that Mazarin was 
 strongly supported by the clergy in this position. 
 
 The summer campaign of 1655 was little more than a 
 military parade on foreign ground. Everywhere France 
 Campaign was now on tne offensive. Fortress after 
 of 1655. fortress was captured, and in November the 
 
 leaderless army of the Duke of Lorraine, who had been 
 arrested by the Spaniards and imprisoned in Madrid, 
 was taken into French pay. Fortune had been more 
 
i655- Close of the War with Spain. 77 
 
 evenly balanced in Italy and Catalonia, though there too 
 the French had more than held their own. 
 
 2. The English Alliance. 
 Mazarin was now bent upon an enterprise which, if 
 successful, must finish the war. A deadly blow would be 
 struck at the strength of Spain if Dunkirk, Mazarin 
 Mardyck, and Gravelines — the possession fosecure eS 
 of which was of vital importance to her com- England, 
 munication with Flanders as well as enabling her to ruin 
 French commerce on that coast — could be wrested from 
 her. For this the co-operation of some maritime power 
 was necessary, and Mazarin determined at all costs to 
 secure England. With Cromwell, the only diplomatist 
 by whose astuteness he confessed himself baffled, he had 
 been negotiating since 165 1, but up to this moment with 
 no result. In 1654 the Protector found himself courted 
 by both the great powers. He told them the terms on 
 which his help might be had. In each case they were 
 dictated by the two main principles of his policy — the 
 desire to make England mistress of the seas, with a 
 foothold on the continent, and the desire to protect 
 Protestantism. From Spain he must have Calais, when 
 taken from the French, freedom of trade with the 
 American colonies, and a cessation of all attacks by the 
 Inquisition upon English merchants in Spain. The first 
 condition met with no favour in Spain, since it would 
 place her communication with the Netherlands at the 
 mercy of England, To the second and third she returned 
 a flat refusal ; to grant them, she said, would be giving up 
 the King's two eyes. From France Cromwell demanded 
 Dunkirk, when captured from the Spaniards, and promise 
 of toleration for the Huguenots ; and Mazarin was ready 
 to accede to these terms. Mutual jealousies however 
 
78 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1657. 
 
 and varying interests hindered an understanding, and 
 the massacre of the Protestant Waldenses in Piedmont 
 by the Duke of Savoy would have caused the negotiations 
 to be broken off had not Mazarin yielded to Cromwell's 
 demand and compelled the Duke to grant the survivors 
 favourable terms. 
 
 At length on November 3, 1655, a treaty was signed 
 at Westminster, based upon freedom of commerce 
 Treaty of an d an engagement that neither country 
 
 West- should assist the enemies or rebels of the 
 
 minster, 
 
 November 3, other; Mazarin consented to expel Charles 
 II., James, and twenty named royalists from 
 France. Cromwell similarly agreed to dismiss from Eng- 
 land the emissaries of Conde. 
 
 But Mazarin was soon anxious for a more effectual 
 bond. The French army had sustained a grievous dis- 
 Victory of aster by a victory of Conde at Valenciennes, 
 Va"erf- at which threatened the loss of all the advan- 
 
 ciennes, tages of the campaign. The financial em- 
 
 1656. barrassments too were very great. The 
 
 army was unpaid, and peasant risings were taking place 
 in various parts of the kingdom. 
 
 Cromwell had equally good reasons for drawing closer 
 to France, for Spain was preparing actively to assist 
 Charles II. French and English interests thus coinciding, 
 Treaty of an alliance was signed at Paris on March 23, 
 
 Niarch2~, l &57 • Gravelines and Dunkirk were to be 
 
 l6 57- at once besieged both by land and sea. Eng- 
 
 land was to send 6,000 men to assist the French army. 
 Gravelines was to become French and Dunkirk English ; 
 should the former fall first it was to be held by England 
 until Dunkirk too was taken. Mazarin disarmed the 
 hostility felt by the French clergy to such an alliance 
 with heretics by a clause preserving the Catholic religion 
 
1657- Close of the War with Spain. 79 
 
 in any towns taken by the English. The danger that 
 England might gain too strong a hold on the continent 
 was guarded against by her promise to attack no other 
 towns in Flanders. 
 
 The alliance was not a moment too soon. The cam- 
 paign of 1657 had opened disastrously. The tide was 
 however turned by the arrival of the English contingent. 
 Montmedy was immediately besieged, and capitulated on 
 August 4. The effect was again to make Mazarin hang 
 back from further effort, since it seemed possible now to 
 make peace with Spain, and thereby avoid an English 
 occupation of Dunkirk. But Cromwell would stand no 
 trifling, and his threats were so clear that Capture of 
 Mazarin determined to act loyally and with- October 3, 
 out delay. On September 30 Turenne laid l65 ?- 
 siege to Mardyck, which protected Dunkirk, and took it 
 in four days. It was at once handed over to the Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 Mazarin had meanwhile gained an important diplo- 
 matic success. The Emperor Ferdinand III. had died 
 on April 1, 1657. Mazarin knew that in breach of the 
 Treaty of Westphalia he had been constantly sending 
 help to Spain, and that Leopold, his son, was now 
 doing the same. He determined to seize the oppor- 
 tunity of depriving his enemy of so important a source 
 of support. For the next eighteen months he ex- 
 hausted all the resources of diplomacy to oppose Leo- 
 pold's succession to the imperial title, putting forward 
 first Louis XIV., and then the Elector of Bavaria, as 
 rival claimants. 
 
 To secure his election Leopold found himself com- 
 pelled by the electors whom Mazarin had won by whole- 
 sale bribery to sign a 'capitulation,' by which he bound 
 himself to observe with scrupulousness the terms of the 
 
80 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1658. 
 
 Peace of Westphalia. And on August 14 Mazarin 
 managed further to form the Rhine League, by which six 
 Formation °f tne electors, with the King of Sweden, 
 Rh ,he joined with France in an engagement to corn- 
 
 League, pel Leopold during three years faithfully to 
 
 observe his word. The expense incurred by 
 France was ruinous ; but the need of neutralising Leo- 
 pold's sympathies with Spain was immediate, and the 
 value of the influence gained in German affairs was of 
 vital importance to Mazarin's future plans. 
 
 Meanwhile the great blow had been struck in the north. 
 At the demand of Cromwell a fresh agreement had been 
 Siege of made in the spring of 1658 by which the 
 
 Dunkirk. siege of Dunkirk had without further delay 
 
 been begun. Under Turenne's command, and encouraged 
 by the presence of Louis, the combined English and 
 French forces worked with desperate energy against the 
 almost insuperable difficulties of the position, aggravated 
 as they were by bad weather, want of provisions and 
 munitions of war, and irruptions of the ocean. On June 
 10 Turenne learned that Don John of Austria and 
 Conde, accompanied by the Dukes of York and Glouce- 
 ster at the head of some English royalist regiments, 
 had arrived at Furnes, intending to force his lines. 
 Leaving sufficient men to continue the siege he at once 
 marched to meet them. So confident were the Spanish 
 commanders in their numbers, and so inefficient was Don 
 John himself, that all proper precautions were neglected. 
 Conde, knowing to whom he was opposed, foresaw the 
 coming disaster. Turning to the young Duke of Glouce- 
 ster, he asked him if he had ever seen a battle. The 
 Duke replied that he had not. 'Then,' said Conde, 'in 
 half an hour you shall see how one can be lost.' 
 
 He was not deceived. The picked Spanish infantry, 
 
1658. Close of the War with Spain. 81 
 
 supported by the English and Irish auxiliaries under 
 James, held the dunes or low sandhills on Battle of 
 the right. Straight up against them, sinking ^nF""^' 
 deep in the sand at each step, went the l6 5 8 - 
 Ironsides with an impetuous valour which was the 
 wonder of all who saw. Conde on the left met Tu- 
 renne's onslaught with such desperate energy that he 
 twice repulsed him, and nearly broke through his lines. 
 But in the end the discipline of the Ironsides and the 
 skill of Turenne won a crushing victory. 
 
 Dunkirk immediately surrendered, and on the 25th 
 was in Cromwell's possession. Two months later Grave- 
 lines also fell. A short and brilliant cam- Surrender 
 paign followed, in which Don John and jun^^and 
 Conde, shut up in Brussels and Tournai ofGrave- 
 
 lines, August 
 
 respectively, were compelled to remain in- 29, 1658. - 
 active while fortress after fortress fell into French hands. 
 A few days after the fall of Gravelines Cromwell died ; 
 but Mazarin was now near his goal. Utterly defeated on 
 her own soil, beaten too by the Portuguese at Elvas, and 
 threatened in Milan, her army ruined, her treasury bank- 
 rupt, without a single ally in Europe, Spain stood at last 
 powerless before him. The rest he felt was but the work 
 of diplomatic skill, and in diplomatic skill, now that 
 Cromwell was dead, he had no master. To Death of 
 him the prospects of peace were at least as September 
 welcome as to Spain ; for France, so terrible 3. 1658. 
 was her exhaustion after thirty years of ceaseless foreign 
 and civil war, maintained only by taxation of crushing 
 severity, was from every corner of her devastated depart- 
 ments literally crying aloud for repose. 
 
82 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1659. 
 
 3. Peace of the Pyrenees. 
 
 The treaty between France and Spain dealt in the 
 first place with accomplished facts. By a preliminary 
 Preliminary arrangement in February 1659, all the con- 
 agreement. quests made by France previous to the 
 English alliance were to remain hers for ever ; but the 
 places captured by Turenne in the last campaign (except 
 Mardyck which was held by France, and Dunkirk which 
 was retained by England), with Valence and Mortara 
 in Italy, and several towns in Catalonia, were to be 
 restored to Spain. Artois (with the exception of Aire and 
 St. Omer), Roussillon, and Alsace, became French soil; 
 while by the cession of many fortresses in Luxemburg, 
 Hainault, and Flanders, her foot was planted firmly in 
 the Low Countries. 
 
 Bound in honour and gratitude to do what they could 
 for Conde\ the Spanish ministers urged his restoration, 
 not only to all his possessions, but to his governments 
 and dignities as well. The demand was at this stage 
 formally and decisively refused by Mazarin. 
 
 But it was the future rather than the present which as 
 usual most occupied Mazarin's thoughts. Just as in the 
 The Spanish Peace of Westphalia he had been looking to 
 mamage. fiie f u t ure weakening of the power of Austria 
 
 when he helped to secure the independence of the sepa- 
 rate German States, so now he was looking to the future 
 absorption of the Spanish monarchy into that of France, 
 when treating for what had long been looked to as a fore- 
 most condition of peace between the two kingdoms, the 
 marriage of Louis with the Infanta. 
 
 The grounds of his expectation lay in the peculiarity 
 of the Spanish law of succession, a peculiarity which 
 dated from the eleventh century. Not only did the crown 
 descend to the daughter where no male heirs in direct 
 
1659. 
 
 Close of the War with Spain. 
 
 83 
 
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84 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1659. 
 
 descent were living, but, contrary to the custom of Europe, 
 it was by her carried to her husband. It was this law 
 „ by which in 12 17 Castille and Leon, and in 
 
 Spanish law 
 
 of inherit- 1479 Castille and Arragon, were united; 
 
 and which by the marriage of Jeanne la 
 Folle, the heiress of the Spanish monarchy, to Philippe 
 le Belle, the heir to the Austrian dominions and the Low 
 Countries, made their son Charles V. the sovereign of 
 nearly half the known world. 
 
 But in 1612, when the marriage of Louis XIII. and 
 Anne of Austria opened up the possibility of a combina- 
 tion still more threatening, the union namely of the 
 French and Spanish crowns, the general alarm of Eu- 
 rope and the national jealousy in Spain brought about 
 a breach of this law. The contract of marriage then 
 drawn up contained an entire renunciation by Anne of 
 
 all pretensions to the Spanish throne for her- 
 
 Kenuncia- * 
 
 tion of Anne self and for her descendants, and this renun- 
 and Louis ciation was after the marriage reaffirmed 
 
 X1IL both by herself and Louis XIII. A similar 
 
 renunciation was now insisted upon on the part of Marie- 
 Therese and Louis XIV. 
 
 Mazarin exhausted all his art to evade the Spanish 
 demand. The prospect of this succession had been fore- 
 Renuncia- most in his mind ever since 1646, when he 
 Maria" Th* was hoping to come to terms with Spain 
 rebe and before the Peace of Westphalia. And now 
 
 although there seemed no present likelihood 
 of the renunciation being referred to, since in 1658 and 
 1659 two sons were born to Philip IV., and the claims of 
 the Infanta would be dormant during their lives, yet, 
 these sons being both delicate (one died in 1660 and the 
 other in 1661), his anxiety to avoid the renunciation was 
 as great as though no such obstacle existed. 
 
1659- Close of the War with Spain. 85 
 
 Failing in this, Mazarin as usual gained his ends by 
 indirect means. He demanded a dowry of 500,000 
 crowns with the Infanta, of which one-third was to be 
 paid on the day before the marriage, and he refused to 
 proceed with the treaty until this demand was agreed to. 
 He then instructed his secretary Lionne, to whom was 
 entrusted along with Don Pedro Coloma the task of 
 drawing up the contract, to procure the inser- insertion of 
 tion of a clause setting forth that the validity xt^n% to" 
 of the renunciation should be dependent dowry 
 upon the punctual payments of these sums. After much 
 diplomatic fencing, the skill of Lionne overcame the 
 reluctance of Coloma, and this condition, which contains 
 the key to the French policy of the next four years, was 
 duly included in the contract. Whether from inability to 
 raise the money, or more probably because, Coloma hav- 
 ing died in the interval, the condition was overlooked by 
 the Spanish ministers, the first sum had not 
 
 1 -it 1 • 11 1 he renun- 
 
 been paid when the marriage took place, and ciation 
 the renunciation was therefore invalid. On 
 the next day Mazarin and Lionne were able to congratu- 
 late one another upon having thus completely outwitted 
 Spain. 
 
 The question of Portugal had next to be settled. 
 That kingdom had in 1640 recovered its independence, 
 and the Duke of Braganza, under the title of John IV., 
 had since worn the crown. He had from that time been 
 a thorn in the side of Spain, and had been actively 
 assisted by France. So anxious was Mazarin not to lose 
 this source of support in the future, that he actually offered 
 to restore to Spain all the French conquests Mazarin 
 in the Low Countries if the independence regarding 
 of Portugal might be recognised in the treaty. Portugal. 
 But Spain had set her mind upon reducing this rebellious 
 
86 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1659. 
 
 province. All that Mazarin could obtain for her was 
 a truce of three months, while on the part of the King 
 of France it was promised that he would never, directly 
 or indirectly, give to her any aid whatsoever, public or 
 secret. It will however be seen that when a convenient 
 time came, this promise was easily evaded. 
 
 On one other point Mazarin found himself compelled 
 to give way. Conde's future again occupied a large part 
 Restitution of the conferences which he held with Don 
 of Conde, l u j s de Haro at the Isle of Pheasants in the 
 
 Bidassoa river. De Haro threw over the preliminary 
 treaty in this respect, and demanded in the most pressing 
 manner that Conde should be fully restored. Mazarin 
 at length yielded. The Prince was reinstated in his 
 possessions, honours, and dignities, receiving the govern- 
 ment of Burgundy, with possession only of Dijon and 
 St. Jean de Losne, instead of Guienne, and the dignity of 
 Grand Master of the Household for his son. But Mazarin 
 gained an ample equivalent. Avesnes, one of the most 
 valuable towns in Hainault, with Philippeville and Marien- 
 burg, as well as the territory of Conflans under the Pyre- 
 nees, were ceded to France, while the Duchy of Juliers 
 was restored to her ally the Duke of Neuburg. Moreover, 
 as Mazarin said, Conde now gained no more than he cer- 
 tainly would have received after giving in his submission 
 to the King. 
 
 Finally, the Duke of Lorraine was provided for. He 
 was re-established in his duchy, with the exception of 
 Duke of Moyenvic and the districts of Bar and Cler- 
 
 Lorrame. mont, Stenai, Dun, and Jarmetz, which be- 
 
 came French. He was compelled to promise that he 
 would join no league against France, and would allow her 
 armies to pass freely through his territory. 
 
 The importance with which this settlement was in- 
 
1 659. Close of the War with Spain. 87 
 
 vested throughout Europe was seen in the presence at 
 the place of conference of deputies from Sweden, Austria, 
 Germany, the Commonwealth of England, and the exiled 
 Charles II. Sweden and the Rhine League were clamor- 
 ous for the aid of France against the Emperor, who 
 again, in defiance of the treaty of Westphalia, had invaded 
 Pomerania. The affairs of England, too, received much 
 attention. 
 
 Both Spain and France were well disposed towards 
 Charles. But it was important for France to have the 
 good-will of England in view of a possible Arrange- 
 renewal of the war ; and England at present ^"reKng 
 meant the Commonwealth. Mazarin there- England, 
 fore declined Charles's offers (including his proposal to 
 marry the Cardinal's niece Hortense Mancini, and, when 
 restored, to hand over the government of Ireland), and 
 refused to help in his restoration ; further, he satisfied 
 Lockhart, the English ambassador, by agreeing that 
 Charles should not be allowed to employ the forces which 
 Conde would leave when taken back into favour. With 
 respect to the war which continued between Spain and 
 England, it was agreed that France should preserve a 
 complete neutrality. 
 
 Such were the principal provisions of the Peace of the 
 Pyrenees, which gave a short period of repose to southern 
 Europe. For Spain it was what the Peace of West- 
 phalia had been for Austria, a confession of weakness 
 and mark of decline. For France it was, as that Peace 
 had also been, a fresh step towards European supremacy. 
 But France, though she had gained much, though her 
 boundaries were now the Rhine and the crest of the 
 Pyrenees, though she had prepared for the future by the 
 formation of the Rhine League and the Spanish mar- 
 riage, and though she had established a foothold among 
 
88 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 
 
 the fortresses of the north-east, had, unhappily both for 
 herself and Europe, been unable to force from Spain that 
 incomplete complete rampart for Paris, the determina- 
 fulfilment of ti on to secure which had been the main 
 
 the desires 
 
 of Mazarin. reason for the earnestness with which 
 throughout all the difficulties of the last fifteen years she 
 had bent herself to the war. And so it was that what 
 might have been a lasting peace was indeed only a 
 truce. The attempt to make good this unfulfilled desire 
 forms the subject-matter, so to speak, of the intrigue and 
 the fighting of the next eighteen years. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 RESTORATION OF MONARCHY IN ENGLAND. 
 
 i. Conditions of the Restoration. 
 Louis XIV., after the fever fit of the Fronde, had en- 
 tered upon his sovereignty by the right of conquest, un- 
 Charles II. shackled by any constitutional authority, 
 wfthofit an d unbound by any conditions. In Eng- 
 
 wri " en land, too, monarchy was within a year 
 
 conditions, ' J 
 
 and yet after the Peace of the Pyrenees, re-estab- 
 
 sufferance. lished amid all the signs of popular rejoic- 
 ing, and with greetings as apparently servile as those 
 offered to Louis himself. And yet Charles was bound 
 hand and foot by conditions the failure to fulfil which 
 would in all probability have relegated him once more 
 to a wandering life among the courts of Europe. 
 
 That this was so arose from the all-important fact that, 
 speaking roughly, he was restored by those who had 
 overthrown his father and who were responsible for his 
 own exile. The fleet, the army, the fortresses, were in 
 
i66o. Restoration of Monarchy in England. 89 
 
 their hands. England had, it is true, shaken off at 
 length the military despotism by which Cromwell had cut 
 right athwart the most cherished traditions of English 
 life. Like an unstrung bow, she had fallen back upon 
 her old ways of life. She had restored her Parliament, 
 and then, Parliament and monarchy being co-ordinated 
 in the English mind, she had restored her King. ' This 
 government was as natural to them as their food or 
 raiment, and naked Indians dressing themselves in 
 French fashion were no more absurd than Englishmen 
 without a Parliament and a King.' 
 
 But having thrown off, first the despotism of Charles I., 
 and then the despotism of military force, the country had 
 no thought of taking another. The new reign must take 
 account of the feelings which had grown up during the 
 overthrow and abeyance of monarchy. That Charles 
 fully recognised the position was seen in his own words 
 some months later to the House of Lords, when he 
 spoke of ' those who brought or permitted us to come 
 here.' The people might, it was hoped, in their impa- 
 tience be deceived by the professions made ; but made 
 they must be. The Declaration of Breda The 
 was admirably suited to the object in view. Declaration 
 By the most careful expression of deference 
 to the authority of the Parliament Charles trusted to lull 
 suspicion until he was steady enough upon the throne to 
 use his constitutional power of dissolution at a favourable 
 moment, and thus to secure a parliament more to his 
 wishes. 
 
 The foremost question in men's minds was, how far 
 the spirit of retaliation was likely to go. Had the Restora- 
 tion, instead of beimr the re-establishment of T , 
 
 Indemnity. 
 
 Parliamentary government, been the work of 
 
 a victorious Royalist movement, the passions roused would 
 
go English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 
 
 have been quenched, the accumulated injuries of years 
 avenged in torrents of blood. But the Declaration 
 granted a general pardon to all who within forty days 
 after its publication should by any open act return to 
 loyalty and obedience, excepting only such persons as shall 
 hereafter be excepted by Parliament. The King's word 
 was indeed solemnly passed for an absolute oblivion of 
 all acts committed against him or his father. In the 
 letter to the Speaker accompanying the Declaration, how- 
 ever, a significant hint was given, ' If there be a crying 
 sin for which the nation may be involved in the infamy 
 that attends it, we cannot doubt that you will be as solicit- 
 ous to redeem and vindicate the nation from that guilt and 
 infamy as we can be.' 
 
 The question of the Church was treated under the same 
 
 conditions. The Presbyterian was looking forwards with 
 
 eager anxiety, the Anglican Churchman with 
 
 The Church. _,. . . . . 
 
 exultant hope. To quiet the one, but in terms 
 which might afterwards leave the field clear to the other, 
 Charles proclaimed on his own account a complete ' lib- 
 erty to tender consciences,' declaring himself ready ' to 
 consent to such an Act of Parliament as, upon mature de- 
 liberation, shall be offered to us for the full granting that 
 indulgence.' 
 
 The re-settlement of the land was next dealt with. 
 During the wars many estates had changed hands. The 
 Crown lands and those of Church dignitaries 
 had been confiscated by the Commonwealth 
 and sold. About them nothing was said in the Dec- 
 laration. As to private estates, either granted away by 
 the Commonwealth or sold by distressed Royalists, the 
 decision was left absolutely in the hands of Parliament. 
 
 In another matter the Declaration expressed how 
 completely the Restoration, was one of sufferance. It 
 
1660. Restoration of Monarchy in England. 91 
 
 concluded with a promise to consent to any Act of Par- 
 liament ' for the full satisfaction of all arrears due to the 
 officers and soldiers of the army under the 
 command of General Monk,' and to receive 
 them into the royal service ' upon as good pay and con- 
 ditions as they now enjoy.' 
 
 The recognition of the absolute authority of Par- 
 liament in questions regarding the Church and the land, 
 the complete waiving of a desire for personal vengeance, 
 the satisfaction of Monk's army, these were the condi- 
 tions under which Charles was allowed to return to Eng- 
 land. 
 
 The composition of the executive government expressed 
 the nature of the compromise. The Privy Council was 
 really nominated by Monk, and was composed in a great 
 degree of leading Presbyterians. Out of this however was 
 formed a small committee, which practically The 
 had the whole control of affairs. Edward ministry. 
 Hyde, now Earl of Clarendon, was Lord Chancellor, and 
 was so supreme that the years from 1660 to 1667 are fitly 
 named the ' Clarendon administration.' With him was 
 Ormond, who projected into this reign the high-toned vir- 
 tues of the old Cavalier stock ; Southampton the Lord 
 Treasurer, and Nicholas the Secretary ; these four repre- 
 senting the principle of legitimacy in its purest form. On 
 the other hand Monk and his confidant Morrice were in- 
 cluded, while Lord Robartes, who had fought against the 
 king, was made Viceroy of Ireland. Scotland was placed 
 under Middleton, a rude soldier of fortune who had served 
 on both sides. 
 
 2. Partial Fulfilment of the Declaration of Breda. 
 
 The Indemnity Bill was taken up at once. Charles 
 
 and Clarendon were determined that in this respect the 
 
92 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 
 
 Declaration should be carried out as loyally as the pre- 
 vailing temper might allow ; and they managed at least 
 Partial to confine the spirit of retaliation within intel- 
 
 mdemnity. ligible lines. A broad distinction was drawn 
 between the regicides, those namely who had committed 
 the ' crying sin,' and all others. About the former the 
 majority of the House of Commons had little hesitation ; 
 the true Presbyterian abhorred the crime of the king's 
 death as much as the Royalist. They began on June 5 
 by excepting from the benefits of the Act five of the 
 judges 'for life and estate ' ; on the 8th three more were 
 added ; and the next day twenty more, ' for pains and 
 penalties not extending to life.' It was not until July 11, 
 and then only in consequence of an urgent message from 
 Charles, that with some further additions the bill passed 
 the Lower House. In the Lords a far more savage spirit 
 reigned. The Earl of Bristol was the spokesman of the 
 majority, when he complained that the bill was miserably 
 inadequate, though he thought that delay was even a 
 worse evil than an incomplete revenge. On July 20 the 
 Lords resolved that all who had signed the warrant 
 should die ; and three days later they included ' all who 
 were concerned ' in the murder. Once more Charles in- 
 tervened. But for his promise, he told the Lords 
 plainly, neither he nor they would have been there ; his 
 own honour and the public security alike demanded an 
 indemnity for all except those immediately guilty of his 
 father's death. With amendments which the Commons 
 would not accept the bill passed the Lords on August 10. 
 Feeling in I n tne conferences between the Houses the 
 
 the Lords. feeling of the Lords was expressed in a de- 
 mand for the death of four members of Cromwell's 
 High Court of Justice in revenge for the death of four of 
 their own number condemned by that court, the victims 
 
1660. Restoration of Monarchy in England. 93 
 
 to be chosen by the relatives of the slain peers. The 
 Commons however refused to entertain the proposal, 
 'hoping,' in full accord with Charles and Clarendon, 
 ' that their Lordships would not have the sacrifice of the 
 King's blood to be mingled with any other blood.' At 
 length, on August 29, the bill passed. Besides the ex- 
 ceptions already mentioned, Hacker and Axtell, who 
 were not among the King's judges, were excepted for 
 life ; while in the case of Vane and Lambert, though 
 they, as men of mischievous power and activity, were 
 excepted, it was understood that a pardon should be 
 granted them ; and it was further determined that those 
 who had given themselves up should be tried, but, if 
 convicted, should not be executed without a special Act 
 of Parliament. 
 
 The trial which followed is famous because Orlando 
 Bridgeman, interpreting the events of the last thirty 
 years, then established the present view of monarchical 
 immunity and ministerial responsibility. The Tria i of the 
 king's person, he laid down, is inviolable ; he regicides. 
 is directly subject to God alone ; and no authority what- 
 soever can exercise coercive power over him. The full 
 responsibility of ministers was affirmed with equal em- 
 phasis. 
 
 With the exceptions mentioned every act against the 
 State committed between June 1, 1637, and June 24, 1660, 
 was forgotten. At the price of some twenty lives the 
 universal fear was removed. It should not be forgotten 
 that it was principally owing to Charles and Clarendon 
 that, after a civil war which had its roots in the deepest 
 feelings which can stir men's minds, after a despotism 
 which, triumphant as it placed England among European 
 nations, had roused the bitterest resentment, the restora- 
 tion of the old order was accomplished with bloodshed 
 
94 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 
 
 which, when compared with the provocations which 
 seemed to call for vengeance, was well-nigh insignifi- 
 cant. 
 
 Life was now safe ; it remained to give the same 
 security to property. With regard to the Crown lands, 
 Settlement those of the Church dignitaries, and in a few 
 of the land. cases those of private owners who had been 
 forcibly dispossessed, no action was taken either by the 
 court or the Parliament until the dissolution ; they then 
 in the natural course of law, since their confiscation had 
 been illegal, reverted to their original owners. The ques- 
 tion of private estates however was a different one. 
 Those Royalists who had voluntarily sold their lands 
 looked eagerly forward to regaining them. But here, to 
 their indignant disappointment, Clarendon stood firm in 
 his assertion of the sanctity of private contract, and the 
 Bill of Sales decreed the confirmation of all transfers 
 made with the owners' consent. Probably to no act of 
 his administration did Clarendon owe more odium, as for 
 none did he deserve more credit, than to his integrity in 
 this affair. 
 
 Another matter of the first importance for the stability 
 
 of the restored government was then taken in hand. Both 
 
 Charles and the Commons were eager for the 
 
 Disbanding " 
 
 of the disbanding of the army. To the King, prin- 
 
 cipally composed as it was of the soldiers who 
 had served Cromwell, and whose acquiescence in Charles's 
 return was largely mixed with sullen jealousy, it formed 
 a standing menace ; in the presence of such a force the 
 monarchy could not breathe freely. But Charles had 
 another reason, little guessed at the time. It is now 
 known that he had formed the deliberate intention of 
 dissolving Parliament as soon as the troops were dis- 
 banded, wresting all the power from the Presbyterians, 
 
1660. Restoration of Monarchy in England. 95 
 
 and with the help of foreign money raising an army for 
 himself, independent of any other authority. His people 
 were as eager for the disbanding as he was. The cost 
 of maintenance alone, 70,000/. a month, was no light 
 burden. But of all the feelings roused by Cromwell's 
 rule, hatred of his military despotism was the deepest ; it 
 finds eloquent expression throughout the reign, and has 
 entered the statute book in the Mutiny and Riot Acts. 
 In the debate on August 30 William Morrice aptly ex- 
 pressed the general feeling when he said that as long 
 as the soldiery continued there would be a perpetual 
 trembling in the nation ; they were inconsistent with the 
 happiness of any kingdom. The keeping of the army on 
 foot was like a sheep's skin and a wolfs skin, ' which, if 
 they lie together, the former loses its wool.' ' The na- 
 tion,' he said, ' can not appear like itself whilst the sword 
 is over them.' Monk willingly co-operated in the step 
 though it at once robbed him of his extraordinary posi- 
 tion. His utmost wishes were satisfied. The rude soldier 
 of fortune had fallen upon times which gave ample scope 
 for his peculiar genius. He had played the game with 
 incomparable dexterity, and had won the stakes. He 
 had been made Gentleman of the Bedchamber, Knight 
 of the Garter, Master of the Horse, Commander-in-chief, 
 and Duke of Albemarle, with a pension of 7,000/. a year ; 
 and he had nothing more to desire. 
 
 In England fourteen regiments of horse and eighteen 
 of foot, in Scotland one of horse and four of foot, were 
 disbanded. Charles however took advantage of the 
 sudden rising of a few fanatics in the streets of London 
 to retain the Coldstream Guards and a regiment of 
 horse, with one of the regiments which formed the gar- 
 rison of Dunkirk, in all about 5,000 men. 
 
 One instance of the growth of modern constitutional 
 
96 English Rcstoratio7i and Lout's XIV. 1660. 
 
 ideas was the doctrine of ministerial responsibility laid 
 down by Bridgeman. Another was the adoption of the 
 principle that the whole nation should pay to get rid of an 
 abuse, even when a single class is benefited by its aboli- 
 tion. In settling the royal revenue the feudal 
 
 Abolition of . ~ ' , , 
 
 feudal tenures, which pressed solely upon the 
 
 landed interest, with the Court of Wards were 
 swept away, and the money was raised instead from the 
 excise which, having been raised originally by the Long 
 Parliament to defray the expenses of the war against 
 the King, was now perpetuated. It is no wonder that 
 vehement debates took place upon the proposal, and 
 that while political economists like Ashley Cooper and 
 Maynard were supporters of the change, it was opposed 
 both by crotcheteers like Prynne, and by statesmen like 
 Annesley. 
 
 There remained but one question, but that a question 
 of supreme importance — the settlement of Church govern- 
 ment. The Restoration had been the joint work of Epis- 
 copalian and Presbyterian ; would it be possible to recon- 
 cile them on this question too ? The Presbyterian indeed 
 was willing enough for a compromise, for he had an un- 
 easy feeling that the ground was slipping from beneath 
 his feet. Of Charles's intentions he was still in doubt; 
 but he knew that Clarendon was the sworn friend of the 
 Church. The Churchman on the other hand was eagerly 
 expecting the approaching hour of triumph. It soon ap- 
 peared that as King and Parliament, so King and 
 Church were inseparable in the English mind ; that 
 indeed the return of the King was the restoration of the 
 Church even more than it was the restoration of Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 In the face of the present Presbyterian majority how- 
 ever it was necessary to temporise. The former incum- 
 
1660. Restoration of Monarchy in England. 97 
 
 bents of Church livings were restored, and the Commons 
 took the Communion according to the rites _ „ , 
 
 The Presby- 
 
 of the Church ; but in other respects the terians kept 
 Presbyterians were carefully kept in play ; '" p ay ' 
 Charles taking his part in the elaborate farce by appoint- 
 ing ten of their leading ministers royal chaplains, and 
 even attending their sermons. 
 
 The state of things was faithfully reflected in Parlia- 
 ment. As early as July 9 words had been used which 
 concisely expressed the determination of the Church. 
 ' There was,' said Heneage Finch, the Solicitor-Gen- 
 eral, ' no question as to her religion ; and, for the rest, 
 he knew of no law for altering the government of the 
 Church by Bishops.' In any case, he hoped, 'they would 
 not cant after Cromwell.' It was not to be expected that 
 a Presbyterian majority should tamely fall in with this 
 ignoring of past years. After prolonged debate, and 
 amid a scene of unusual disorder, the question was 
 shelved by a resolution desiring Charles to select a 
 number of divines to debate the whole matter. He will- 
 ingly undertook the task, but was soon undeceived re- 
 garding the likelihood of a compromise. A barren dis- 
 cussion was begun in writing between the Anglican and 
 Presbyterian divines. ' We agree with you in the main,' 
 said the Presbyterians, ' but we wish certain minor mat- 
 ters altered.' ' If you agree with us in essentials,' the 
 Anglicans replied, 'it is mere " scruple-mongering " to 
 dispute about trifles.' 
 
 Charles now took the matter more completely into his 
 own hands by issuing a Declaration. Refusing on the 
 ground of constraint, to admit the validity Royal 
 of the oaths imposed upon him in Scotland, ^^3^1 
 by which he was bound to uphold the Cove- tical affairs, 
 nant, and not concealing his preference for the Anglican 
 
 H 
 
98 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 
 
 Church as ' the best fence God hath yet raised against 
 popery in the world,' he asserted that nevertheless, to 
 his own knowledge, the Presbyterians were not enemies 
 to Episcopacy or a set liturgy, and were opposed to the 
 alienation of Church revenues. The Declaration then 
 went on to limit the power of bishops and archdeacons 
 in a degree sufficient to satisfy many of the leading 
 Presbyterians, one of whom, Reynolds, accepted a 
 bishopric. Charles then proposed to choose an equal 
 number of learned divines of both persuasions to discuss 
 alterations in the liturgy ; meanwhile no one was to be 
 troubled regarding differences of practice. 
 
 The majority in the Commons at first welcomed the 
 Declaration. The scheme was indeed wide enough to 
 take in all but an insignificant fraction of the Presbyte- 
 rians, and a bill was accordingly introduced by Sir Mat- 
 thew Hale to turn the Declaration into a law. But 
 „ ., . Clarendon at any rate had no intention of 
 
 Failure of „. 
 
 attempt to thus baulking the Church of her revenge. 
 Declaration Anticipating Hale's action he had in the in- 
 intoalaw. terval been busy in securing a majority 
 against any compromise. The Declaration had done its 
 work in gaining time, and when the bill was brought in 
 it was rejected by 183 to 157 votes. Parliament was at 
 once (December 24) dissolved. The way was now open 
 for the riot of the Anglican triumph. Even before the 
 new House met the mask was thrown off by the issuing 
 Dissolution of an order to the justices to restore the full 
 ° fthe liturgy. The conference indeed took place 
 
 Convention *>J r 
 
 Parliament. i n the Savoy Palace. It failed, like the 
 Hampton Court Conference of James I., because it was 
 Savoy Con- intended to fail. Upon the two important 
 ferenee. points, the authority of bishops and the 
 
 liturgy, the Anglicans would not give way an inch. 
 
1 66 1. Triumph of Anglican Church. 99 
 
 Both parties informed the King that, anxious as they 
 were for agreement, they saw no chance of it. This 
 last attempt at union having fallen through, the Govern- 
 ment had their hands free; and their intentions were 
 speedily made plain. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TRIUMPH OF ANGLICAN CHURCH. RELATIONS WITH 
 THE CONTINENT. 
 
 i. Persecution of Dissent. 
 The extent of the reaction which had followed far more 
 than it caused the Restoration, was disclosed when the 
 new Parliament met on May 8, 1661. Its 
 
 ' Composition 
 
 composition was ominous to the Presbyte- of the new 
 
 . t, ,. .111 Parliament. 
 
 nans. A Parliamentary movement had be- 
 come a Royalist revel. There now appeared, in a House 
 of more than 500 members, but fifty-six of the old ma- 
 jority. The great mass of the members were prepared 
 to go all lengths in favour of the Church, and Clarendon 
 in his opening speech looked forward with confidence to 
 their providing that ' neither King, laws, nor Parliament 
 may be so used again.' 
 
 For a time the existence of an assembly actuated by 
 such a spirit was a source of the greatest danger. The 
 decrees of the Convention Parliament were in the eye of 
 the law illegal until confirmed by a constitu- Confirma- 
 tionally appointed body. Among them was BHlof *' 
 the Indemnity Bill, and there now appeared Indemnity. 
 a serious prospect of some tampering with this, the pri- 
 mary condition of the Restoration settlement. Fortu- 
 nately Charles was firm to this part at least of his en- 
 gagements. His earliest message to the House — and 
 
 LofC. 
 
ioo English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1661. 
 
 the need of such a message marks the danger — was a 
 distinct refusal to pass any bill whatsoever until this Act 
 should ^e put beyond dispute. 
 
 The Commons then applied themselves to repairing 
 the breaches of the constitution. Having imposed the 
 Reconstruc- taking of the Sacrament according to the 
 tlon - prescribed liturgy on all their members, they 
 
 first ordered the ' Solemn League and Covenant ' to be 
 burnt by the hangman. They then restored the bishops 
 to their seats in the House of Lords, a step to which 
 Charles was personally opposed as tending to raise a 
 serious obstacle to the accomplishment of his desire for 
 toleration of the Catholics. An Act was next passed 
 strengthening the law of high treason, and rendering in- 
 capable of public employment any one who should affirm 
 the King to be a heretic or a papist ; the Long Parliament 
 was declared to be dissolved, and the assertion that there 
 could be any legislative authority in either or both Houses 
 without the King was rendered a penal offence. Parlia- 
 ment then, in the full tide of loyalty, declaring it to be 
 Control of their duty to ' undeceive the people who have 
 
 given 1 to'the been poisoned with an opinion that the militia 
 kin s- of the nation was in themselves or in their 
 
 representatives in Parliament,' handed back to the King 
 the entire control of the sea and land forces. With 1641 
 in their minds, they passed a bill to limit the right of 
 petitioning, and declared that no war, offensive or defen- 
 sive, could be lawfully levied against the King, to whom 
 also the power of veto was restored. At one point how- 
 ever they stopped short. There was not the slightest 
 intention of making the Crown independent. The Con- 
 vention Parliament had already given Charles a life 
 revenue of 1,200,000/. It was well known that this was 
 insufficient, but there was no proposal to increase it. 
 
1662. Triumph of Anglicati Church. 101 
 
 On November 20, 1661, the Houses reassembled in a 
 state of great excitement. Rumours had been spread of 
 Presbyterian plots in various parts of the country ; and 
 even without this incentive the majority were eager for 
 a drastic expression of Anglican supremacy. The chief 
 seats of Presbyterian feeling were the corporations of 
 towns, and it was these bodies which in corporation 
 many cases returned members to Parlia- December 
 ment. By the Corporation Act (December '9. 1661. 
 19, 1661) this source of Presbyterian influence was swept 
 away at a blow, and a cogent argument offered to weak- 
 kneed Presbyterians to reconcile themselves with the 
 dominant Church. Three conditions were declared 
 essential for admission into any municipality ; the re- 
 nunciation of the Solemn League and Covenant; the 
 acceptance of an oath denying the lawfulness of taking 
 arms against the King, and especially of ' that traitorous 
 position of taking arms by his authority against his person 
 or against those commissioned by him ;' and finally the 
 taking the Sacrament according to the English Church. 
 The bill passed in the Commons without difficulty ; in 
 the Lords however it met with considerable opposition at 
 the hands of Ashley Cooper, now Lord Ashley, and other 
 noblemen of the old Presbyterian party, helped in this 
 instance by the Lord Treasurer, Southampton. 
 
 The determination of the Commons was increased by 
 the knowledge that Charles himself, in spite of his con- 
 currence in this Act, was opposed to strin- 
 gency towards the Dissenters. His financial t heKing° his 
 necessities gave them the complete control declaration 
 
 r of allegiance 
 
 of the situation, and they now used their to the 
 power to wring from him a personal decla- 
 ration of allegiance to the Church. On March 1, 1662, 
 he addressed the House, complained of the unworthy 
 
102 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1662. 
 
 suspicions against him, declared himself as zealous for 
 the Church and as much ' in love with the Book of 
 Common Prayer* as could be wished, and expressed 
 his desire that the House should pass an Act of 
 Uniformity at once. He was supplied with money, 
 and was then called upon to fulfil his part of the 
 bargain. 
 
 The Corporation Act had practically destroyed Pres- 
 byterianism in the State. The Act of Uniformity now 
 Act of destroyed it in the Church. It first declared 
 
 Uniformity, that no one mitrht hold a living in the Church 
 
 May 19, fe & 
 
 1662. unless he had, before St. Bartholomew's Day, 
 
 August 24, 1662, publicly read the service from the new 
 Prayer Book, which had been undergoing revision by 
 Convocation in the sense most objectionable to the Pres- 
 byterians, and had declared his ' unfeigned assent and 
 consent' to everything contained therein. To express 
 in the strongest manner the exclusiveness of the Church, 
 and to stamp her with that national and political character 
 which she has ever since held, all connection with the Pro- 
 testant churches of the Continent was broken off, by the 
 clause which forbade any one whose orders had been ob- 
 tained abroad, to continue in his benefice or to administer 
 the sacraments without re-ordination by the bishop. 
 The Act further provided that all incumbents, holders 
 of university offices, schoolmasters, and private tutors, 
 should, in addition to taking the oaths prescribed by the 
 Corporation Act, renounce the Covenant, promise to 
 conform to the Liturgy and to ' endeavour no change or 
 alteration of government either in Church or State.' 
 The same tests, omitting only the renunciation of the 
 Covenant, were imposed upon all the military forces of 
 the kingdom, and upon the lord-lieutenants and deputy- 
 lieutenants. 
 
1 662. Triumph of Anglican Church. 103 
 
 In the case of the clergy no circumstance of aggrava- 
 tion was omitted. The day named for submission had 
 been chosen with rare malice. The great special 
 tithes, their chief support, would, since they hardships of 
 were not due till Michaelmas, pass to the new 
 incumbents; and, no provision being made for the main- 
 tenance of the deprived ministers, as had been made in 
 the case of the Anglican clergy ejected under the Com- 
 monwealth, they would be thrown on the world destitute 
 of support. A still more flippant disregard for justice was 
 shown in the fact that, as the Revised Prayer Book was not 
 published until St. Bartholomew's Eve, the Presbyterians 
 were called upon to express their ' unfeigned assent and 
 consent ' to everything contained in a book they had not 
 yet seen. 
 
 From their fellow Dissenters the Presbyterians received 
 no encouragement. The Catholics and members of the 
 Protestant sects, except in the case of a few The other 
 Independents, held no benefices, and were Dissenters, 
 therefore untouched by the Act. Nor had they any cause 
 to love the Presbyterians, whose hand had formerly been 
 heavy upon them. Moreover they were anxious about 
 their own fate, and they might well hope that, if the lot 
 of the Presbyterians were made the same as their own, 
 their large numbers must before long lead to a general 
 measure of toleration. 
 
 They found hope in an unexpected quarter. Both 
 Charles and Clarendon were opposed to the rapid growth 
 of the persecuting spirit, the former because of the ob- 
 stacles it placed in the way of favouring the Catholics, 
 Clarendon from fear of disturbance and revolt. On 
 March 17 the Chancellor endeavoured in vain to introduce 
 a clause enabling the King to dispense with the provisions 
 of the Act, declaring that it was recommended by Charles 
 
104 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1662. 
 
 himself. The Act being passed, and Parliament being pro- 
 rogued, Charles, in compliance with the petition of the Pres- 
 byterians, which was supported by Monk and 
 baffled in Manchester, declared his intention of sus- 
 
 toVuspend pending its execution for three months. Now 
 the law. however he was deserted by Clarendon, who, 
 
 while glad to see a Parliamentary recognition of the dis- 
 pensing power, would not as a constitutional lawyer favour 
 a claim to an autocratic use of it by the Crown ; and he only 
 gave way when Charles told him that his own honour was 
 pledged to this course. The vehement opposition of the 
 bishops, especially of Sheldon, the representative of the 
 irreconcilable section of the Church, speedily convinced 
 Charles of the impossibility of success, and the design was 
 put aside. The spectacle was presented of the Presbyte- 
 rians, who usually placed the law above the prerogative, 
 calling upon the King to suspend the law by an uncon- 
 stitutional use of power, and of the bishops, generally the 
 staunch upholders of the prerogative, resolutely opposing 
 its exercise. 
 
 The Presbyterians were determined to refuse the terms 
 of Uniformity. They adhered to their determination in 
 spite of liberal offers from the king of bishoprics and 
 Thefarewel deaneries. On Sunday, August 17, from all 
 s" Bartholo- tne Presbyterian pulpits in the city, the clergy 
 mew's Day. w ] 10 re f use d to conform preached their fare- 
 well sermons to crowded and sympathetic congregations ; 
 and on the next Sunday no fewer than 2,000 clergymen, 
 the best of the great Presbyterian body, retired into 
 voluntary poverty and professional exile. Henceforth 
 Presbyterianism was the creed, not of a large part of the 
 English Church, but of a Dissenting sect; the Church of 
 England had taken its final shape, the shape which it 
 holds to this day. 
 
1662. Relations with the Continent. 105 
 
 We get a glimpse of the difficulty of carrying out this 
 Act of Uniformity, and of its results, in one part at least 
 of the country, from the reports of SethWard, then Bishop 
 of Exeter, to Sheldon. In December 1663 he tells the 
 archbishop that at least fourteen of the j ustices of the peace 
 for Devonshire alone ' are accounted arrant Effects of 
 Presbyters, and some of them esteemed as the Act. 
 dangerous as any men within the diocese ; those there- 
 fore in Exeter who have obeyed the laws have been 
 checked and discouraged for their labour.' Some of the 
 most populous places had stood void, he says, ever since 
 the passing of the Act, and complaints were almost uni- 
 versal, ' either that they have no minister, or a pitiful 
 ignorant one, or the minister hath complained of want of 
 sufficient maintenance.' One minister whom he had put 
 in prison had told him that ' after his removal he staid 
 some months to see whether any other would supply his 
 place ; but at length, finding that no man was put in 
 his stead, and that the people went off, some to atheism 
 and debauchery, others to sectarianism (for he is a Pres- 
 byterian), he resolved to adventure to gather his flock 
 again. And he had gathered a flock of 1,500 or 2,000 on 
 Sunday last when he was taken from the pulpit and 
 brought away.' 
 
 2. First Connection with France. Royal Marriages. 
 Sale of Dunkirk. 
 
 The restoration of monarchy in England had been 
 accomplished without the intervention of a single foreign 
 power. But scarcely was the crisis over before Charles 
 and the various continental Governments sought to take 
 mutual advantage of the change. 
 
 Charles's object was a simple one ; it was to get money. 
 The revenue settled upon him by Parliament was quite 
 
106 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660 
 
 inadequate to the various calls of government, the payment 
 of debts incurred abroad, the satisfaction of royalist de- 
 Charies's mands, and the expenses of his more disrepu- 
 
 objects. table pleasures. Still less was it sufficient to 
 
 enable him to gratify the desire which he fitfully enter- 
 tained throughout his reign of ruling as Louis XIV. ruled, 
 of establishing an intelligent despotism, independent of 
 Parliament, founded upon armed force and the sympathy 
 of Dissent, which might enable him to carry out his prom- 
 ised toleration of Catholicism. He determined therefore 
 to secure his freedom from control by other means, and 
 this determination, however unsteadily maintained, is the 
 keynote of his foreign policy throughout the reign. 
 
 His first application was to the Dutch; and from them, 
 as the price of an alliance, he demanded two millions. 
 
 ., .. The renewal, however, of the Navigation Act 
 
 He applies . . 
 
 to the of 165 1 (see p. 119), by which their carrying 
 
 trade had in a great measure been destroyed, 
 formed an insuperable obstacle to union. Charles had 
 plenty of alternatives, for Spain, France, and Portugal 
 and to were approaching him with rival offers. In 
 
 Spain. September 1660 he let the Spaniards under- 
 
 stand that his alliance was merely a question of price. 
 They offered him whatever money he might want, but 
 they demanded that Jamaica and Dunkirk should be re- 
 stored to them. The proposal was at once refused, and 
 the plan for Charles's marriage with the second daughter 
 of Philip IV. being rejected by that monarch, the nego- 
 tiations were broken off. 
 
 With far greater satisfaction Charles turned to France. 
 
 He was the son of a French princess, and he 
 
 First con- . . 
 
 nection with had received great kindness from his cousin 
 
 Louis. An alliance between the two crowns 
 
 was from the dynastic and personal point of view ob- 
 
1 66 1. Relations with the Continent. 107 
 
 viously a natural one. On Louis's side considerations of 
 state-craft pointed in the same direction. At the Peace of 
 the Pyrenees the French King had bound himself to give 
 no aid to Portugal, then in rebellion against Spain, and he 
 had acceded to the condition that that country should not 
 be included in the treaty. Openly the promise was kept ; 
 secretly it was systematically broken. But Louis now saw 
 the means of supplying indirectly from England more 
 effective help. 
 
 For many years the course of events had in general led 
 to friendliness between Portugal and England, and a 
 formal renewal of the alliance had been long 
 under consideration. In September 1660 a Portugese 
 marriage was proposed between Charles and 
 the Infanta Catherine. Portugal offered as dowry the 
 cession of Tangier and Bombay, freedom of commerce 
 in Brazil and the East Indies, perfect religious liberty for 
 English subjects in all Portuguese territories, and a sum 
 of 500,000/. Charles was in return to assist Portugal 
 with 3,000 men and 1,000 horses, and to put eight frigates 
 at her disposal. 
 
 To hinder this marriage Spain had recourse to every 
 device of intrigue and menace. Louis in turn spared no 
 pains to accomplish a match by which, without formally 
 violating his engagements, his old enemy could be so 
 weakened. The result was a signal victory of French 
 influence. The English Privy Council unanimously ap- 
 proved the marriage, and the contract was signed on 
 June 23, 1661. In a speech couched in terms of studied 
 insult to Spain Charles communicated his intention to the 
 newly elected Parliament, and there too it was received 
 with acclamation. To enable him to carry out the terms 
 of the contract Louis sent Charles a sum of 80,000/. Ten 
 English men-of-war, with 3,000 men from the Scotch 
 
108 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1661. 
 
 garrisons, sailed to the Portuguese coast. Even as early 
 as January 1662 it was noticed that English Protestant 
 congregations had been established in Lisbon. 
 
 Two other marriages of importance took place in the 
 royal family. That between James and Clarendon's 
 Marriages daughter, Anne Hyde, had been secretly 
 
 brcnherand celebrated before the Restoration; it was 
 sister, now publicly acknowledged. The personal 
 
 connection with France was still more firmly cemented 
 by the union of Charles's favourite sister, Henrietta, re- 
 nowned for beauty, wit and ability in intrigue, and pos- 
 sessing great influence over Charles himself, with Louis's 
 younger brother, the Duke of Anjou,' who afterwards 
 became the Duke of Orleans. 
 
 By the Portuguese marriage Louis had made the first 
 step in securing a hold on Charles, and thereby on 
 English affairs. But on the other hand it was, by the 
 vast commercial advantages it secured to England, and 
 from the aggressive alliance which it carried with it 
 against the chief papal power of the world, entirely con- 
 sonant with the Cromwellian policy of making us, in 
 Dryden's magnificent phrase, 'freemen of the Continent.' 
 Very different was a step which emphatically marked the 
 policy of isolation henceforth pursued, and which formed 
 another aid to the realisation of French ambition. 
 
 As late as the summer of 1661 Clarendon had urged 
 upon the Commons the necessity of maintaining Dunkirk, 
 Sale of an d the danger of its ever again being in 
 
 Dunkirk. hostile hands ; and Parliament had proposed 
 
 its perpetual annexation to the Crown. The expense 
 incurred for the defence of Portugal, however, the King's 
 desire to be independent of Parliament, the absence of 
 any wish for continental influence, and the connection 
 with France, all contributed to suggest the advisability of 
 
1662. Louis and Spain. 109 
 
 raising money by the sale of the town to that power. 
 Strong arguments were easily forthcoming. It cost 
 120,000/. a year, it brought no trade, it had a dangerous 
 harbour, and its defence from the land side was extremely 
 difficult. On the other hand, if it fell into an enemy's 
 power, it could easily be blockaded by England from the 
 sea. The cost of the maintenance of Tangier, Jamaica, 
 and Bombay, and the probability of war with either 
 France or Spain if it were retained, were dwelt upon. 
 Clarendon at length gave way ; after some haggling the 
 price was fixed at 200,000/., less than the cost of two 
 years' maintenance ; and in November 1662, to the great 
 scandal of the Protestant powers, but with scarcely a dis- 
 sentient in the Privy Council, and without a murmur in 
 Parliament, Dunkirk was handed over to the French. 
 It was understood that the money was to be used, not for 
 the ordinary occasions of the Crown, but only for press- 
 ing accidents, such as the quelling of an insurrection. 
 Charles looked to it to provide himself with an army. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LOUIS AND SPAIN. THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 
 I 660- I 662. 
 
 The death of Mazarin in March 1661 found Europe in a 
 state of almost absolute repose. The Peace of West- 
 phalia had reformed the constitution of the Europe at 
 German Empire ; the Treaty of the Pyre- peace, 
 nees had confirmed a truce in the long warfare of France 
 and Spain ; while the relative positions of Sweden, Den- 
 mark, and Poland had been settled by the Treaties of 
 Copenhagen and Oliva in 1661. The independence of 
 
no English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 
 
 the Dutch Republic had been recognised. The mon- 
 archy was permanently re-established in England. 
 
 1. Personality of Louis XIV. 
 
 Already however the agencies which were to put an 
 end to this short breathing space were at work. Of these 
 none was more potent than the ambition and the power 
 of Louis XIV. That monarch was the central figure of 
 Europe, the despotic sovereign of a united country and 
 the master of a superb army. Mazarin and the Fronde 
 had schooled him well. To repress his passions, to keep 
 Character of down the princes of the blood, to be distant 
 Louis xiv. with his courtiers, to be secret in his busi- 
 ness, to cultivate his natural talents for dissimulation, 
 to work hard — these were to be the principles which 
 should make him a great king. Above all, the Cardinal 
 had urged him, with his dying breath, to have no prime 
 minister. He was to succeed to a double power and 
 prestige, those of the monarchy and those of the prime 
 ministership. He took possession of both parts of his 
 inheritance at once. On the day after Mazarin's death 
 he announced to the council his intention of taking the 
 government solely upon himself. His ministers — his 
 gens d'affaires, he called them — were henceforward to 
 look to him for instructions. 
 
 His mother and the courtiers laughed at what they 
 imagined was but a passing whim. But the whim lasted 
 more than fifty years. During all that time no man in 
 his kingdom worked harder than he. No despatch was 
 signed, no agreement sealed, no money paid without his 
 knowledge. His energy and diligence were no more 
 remarkable than his ability. Devoid of political morality, 
 he looked upon the state of Europe with an eye piercing 
 and cynical, while the despatches written by himself to 
 
1 66 1. Louis and Spain, in 
 
 his ambassadors in all the European courts are models 
 of clearness of expression and correctness of insight. 
 
 2. LOUIS CLAIMS (i) THE WHOLE SPANISH SUCCESSION, (2) THE 
 IMMEDIATE POSSESSION OF THE SPANISH NETHERLANDS. 
 
 It was in his efforts to establish his claim upon the 
 succession to the Spanish monarchy that these qualities 
 were first exercised. Should Philip IV. and his only son 
 die, as seemed probable, without the birth of any other 
 male heir in the meantime, Louis was determined to up- 
 hold the right of his wife. That right, as has been seen, 
 was rejected by the Spaniards on the ground that both 
 she and Louis had signed a renunciation. Louis replied 
 in the first place that the Spaniards had themselves 
 rendered that renunciation invalid by the non-payment 
 of the dowry, and, secondly, that no renunciation could 
 be upheld which was contrary to a fundamental law of 
 the Spanish monarchy. 
 
 In June 1661 the hereditary prince was on his death- 
 bed. Another child was about to be born to Philip IV. 
 and his second wife. Should this be a son the question 
 of renunciation would of course not be raised, and the 
 French ambassador was ordered in that case merely to 
 press for the payment of the dowry. On November 1 
 the prince died ; but a week later another boy, the future 
 Charles II., was born, and Louis's path to the succession 
 to the whole Spanish monarchy was thus completely 
 barred for the time. 
 
 His claim, too, had been contested from another side. 
 The second daughter of Philip III., unlike Louis's mother, 
 the elder daughter, had signed no renuncia- 
 tion of her rights. She had married the late Emperor's 
 Emperor Ferdinand, and was the mother of c aim ' 
 the present Emperor Leopold, who therefore claimed in 
 
112 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1662. 
 
 her right. To this Louis again had a double answer : first, 
 the old one of the inherent invalidity of all these renun- 
 ciations ; secondly, that in any case it would be neither 
 his mother nor the Emperor's, but the present unmarried 
 Infanta who, if she married, would transmit her right to 
 her husband and descendants ; and, therefore, unless 
 she married the Emperor, neither he nor his children 
 could claim in any case. This contention of the Em- 
 peror, like that of Louis himself, fell of course into 
 abeyance at the birth of the new prince. 
 
 But though the prospect of grasping the whole 
 Spanish monarchy had thus for the time faded away, 
 T . , . the ingenuity of Louis's advisers had su<r- 
 
 Louis claims ° J ° 
 
 the Low gested another plan by which he might 
 
 Theywi de- compass that portion of it most immediately 
 volutionis. important to him. By a local custom of 
 Brabant, referring solely to private property, and in 
 force in some only of the provinces of the Low Countries, 
 it was established that if a man married twice, the suc- 
 cession went to the children of the first marriage, to the 
 exclusion of those of the second. This local custom — 
 the jus devolutionis , as it was called — Louis audaciously 
 determined to invoke in order to form a claim, at Philip 
 IV. 's death, to the whole of the Low Countries. That 
 king had married twice, and Louis had married the 
 only daughter of the first marriage. The death of the 
 hereditary prince, her brother, left her, therefore, if the 
 local and private custom was to hold with regard to the 
 succession — a contention ridiculed by the Spaniards — 
 the heiress to the Low Countries, to the entire exclusion 
 of the children of Philip's second marriage, the present 
 infanta and the boy just born. 
 
 Louis had meanwhile been endeavouring to compass 
 his object by diplomacy. Hopeless of conquering Por- 
 
1662. 27;<? Dutch Republic. 113 
 
 tugal by force, Spain, aware of the help which Louis was 
 unavowedly sending to it, though ignorant of his con- 
 nection with Charles II. of England, now, by promises 
 of eventual consent to the nullity of the renunciation, 
 and by urging the argument that England . 
 
 would, if not checked, grow too powerful at desires a 
 sea, endeavoured to draw the French mon- against 
 arch into a coalition against that country. England. 
 Louis's answer was short and decisive. Ridiculing the 
 idea of England growing too powerful, he declared that 
 to justify him in the eyes of Europe for such a step he 
 must have striking advantages offered him. Louis's 
 His terms were, (1) a secret revocation of terms, 
 the renunciation ; (2) the immediate possession of Franche 
 Comte, Luxemburg, Hainault, and Cambrai ; and, failing 
 the revocation, the towns of Aire and St. Omer as well. 
 On these conditions alone would he consent to break with 
 the King of England. 
 
 But Spain was not yet brought low enough to listen 
 to such humiliating terms, and though Louis changed his 
 tone to one of menace, he found himself 
 
 Negotia- 
 
 unable to move the court of Madrid from tions broken 
 its attitude of passive resistance to all his 
 claims. In October 1662 the negotiations were finally 
 broken off. Louis had meanv/hile been looking else- 
 where for means of accomplishing his ends. 
 
 3. The Dutch Republic. 
 In striking contrast to the success of the monarchical 
 principle in France and England was the development 
 of the power of the Dutch Republic. By the 
 side of the absolute monarchy and the caste the consti- 
 feeling of France, and the threefold system 
 of King, Established Church, and Parliament in Eng- 
 I 
 
H4 English Restoration and Loin's XIV. 1660. 
 
 land, was reigning a form of government in which there 
 was neither arbitrary power, aristocratic privilege, nor 
 ecclesiastical supremacy. It consisted of a league of 
 seven provinces, each province preserving perfect inde- 
 pendence as regarded its internal affairs, but contributing 
 its share to mutual defence. The province in its turn 
 was a federation of towns, each of which bore to its 
 province the same relation as that of the province to 
 the whole federated body. The town was thus the unit 
 of national life, the basis of the constitution. Its govern- 
 ment was in the hands of a town council of varying 
 number, a merchant oligarchy, for the most part self- 
 elected, who delegated their executive power and finan- 
 cial administration to a ' regent ' ; and it possessed com- 
 plete autonomy in its own concerns. It sent deputies to 
 the Provincial Estates, which regulated the entire internal 
 affairs of that province, administrative, financial, military, 
 and judicial. Similarly each province sent deputies to 
 the States General, who, assisted by a Council of State 
 composed of twelve members selected from the different 
 provinces, voted upon the imperial questions of the Re- 
 public — peace, war, and measures for defence — fixed the 
 contingent of each province to the army and fleet, and 
 had the right of concluding alliances and of nominating 
 the commanders-in-chief both by land and sea. Each 
 province however was bound to obey the States General 
 only if its own deputies agreed in the decision ; and simi- 
 larly each town was bound to obey the decision of the 
 Provincial Council only if its deputies had concurred. 
 
 Admirably adapted for the encouragement of local 
 ambition, and for the training of a large proportion of the 
 
 . , . citizens in the public service, such a consu- 
 
 lts defect. . . , , • , , r 
 
 tution was evidently unsuitable for crises 
 
 when a common danger demanded immediate action on 
 
1660. The Dutch Republic. 115 
 
 the part of the Republic as a whole. The need of a cen- 
 tral authority overriding the individual interests or pre- 
 judices of each province or town was then keenly felt. 
 The history of the Republic therefore shows a tendency to 
 fall back in times of national peril upon the principle of a 
 limited monarchy, and. when that danger is over, to revert 
 to the original constitution. The struggle by which its in- 
 dependence was secured had been carried out under the 
 House of Orange. To this family it had for a time given 
 the supreme military and civil authority, in the person of 
 the first ' Stadtholder,' William of Orange; and this 
 authority, legally elective, had gradually become heredi- 
 tary. Four members of the Orange house successively 
 ruled over the Seven Provinces, and it was not until 165 1 that 
 the attempt of William II., the husband of Mary, daughter 
 of Charles L, to acquire absolute sovereignty by a coup 
 d'etat, led to the abolition of the stadtholdership. The 
 autonomy of each town and province was then re-estab- 
 lished, and, to render impossible the recurrence of an 
 attempt at absolutism, the military command was so 
 divided that for purposes of foreign war the army was 
 well-nigh useless. 
 
 The Republic had shaken off the domination of a per- 
 son ; it now fell under the domination of a single province. 
 Holland was overwhelmingly preponderant supremacy 
 in the federation. She possessed the richest, of Holl;ind - 
 most populous, and most powerful towns. She contrib- 
 uted more than one-half of the whole federal taxation. 
 She had the right of naming the ambassadors at Paris, 
 Stockholm, and Vienna. The fact that the States General 
 met on her territory — at the Hague — necessarily gave her 
 additional influence and prestige. It was through her 
 energy that the attempt of William II. had proved abor- 
 tive. She now stepped into the vacant place. With the 
 
n6 English Restoration and Loins XIV. 1660. 
 
 Stadtholder's power that of the States General also, as 
 representing the idea of centralisation, had largely disap- 
 peared. The Provincial Estates of Holland, therefore, 
 under the title of 'Their High Mightinesses,' became the 
 principal power — to such an extent, indeed, that the term 
 John de ' Holland ' had by the time of the Restoration 
 
 Witt and become synonymous among foreign powers 
 
 of Orange. with the whole Republic. Their chief min- 
 ister was called 'The Grand Pensionary,' and the office 
 had been since 1653 filled by one of the most remarkable 
 men of the time, John de Witt. 
 
 John de Witt therefore represented, roughly speaking, 
 the power of the merchant aristocracy of Holland, as op- 
 posed to the claims of the House of Orange, which were 
 supported by the noblesse, the army, the Calvinistic clergy, 
 and the people below the governing class. Abroad the 
 Orange family had the sympathy of monarchical Govern- 
 ments. Louis XIV. despised the Government of ' Mes- 
 sieurs les Marchands,' while Charles II., at once the uncle 
 and the guardian of the young Prince of the house of 
 Orange, the future William III. of England, and mindful 
 of the scant courtesy which, to satisfy Cromwell, the 
 Dutch had shown him in exile, was ever their bitter and 
 unscrupulous foe. 
 
 The empire of the Dutch Republic was purely commer- 
 cial and colonial, and she held in this respect the same 
 position relatively to the rest of Europe that 
 commercial England holds at the present day. To this 
 powe1 ' supremacy many causes had contributed. 
 
 Her geographical position, between northern and southern 
 Europe, the rivers from central Europe reaching the sea 
 on her shores, her extended coast-line, made her a con- 
 venient centre for the reception and distribution of the 
 wealth of all the lands of the earth. The natural barren- 
 
1 523-1670. The Dutch Republic. 117 
 
 ness of the land, and the incessant struggle to keep a 
 footing against the inroads of the ocean, had formed a 
 thrifty, hardy, and patient race, while the abundant fish- 
 eries on her coasts had made of a large part of her pop- 
 ulation the most skilful and daring sailors of the world. 
 Speedily her fleets went farther afield. As early as 1523 
 no fewer than 2,000 vessels, making three voyages a year, 
 were reaping rich harvests in English and Scotch fishing 
 grounds; in 1547 eight ships of war attended to defend 
 them from attack, and in 1635, such importance did the 
 Dutch attach to this source of their wealth that they paid 
 a sum of 30,000/. for permission to fish that summer in 
 the English waters. But meantime, and chiefly from a 
 cause of a different nature, the trade of the world had 
 been gradually drifting into their hands. While central 
 Europe was being desolated by the Thirty Years' War the 
 United Provinces formed a haven of rest for industry ; 
 and while every other nation was driving out, by war or 
 religious persecution, the best of her working population, the 
 exiles found a ready welcome in a land in which religious 
 toleration was a fundamental law. Under this constant in- 
 flux of skill and enterprise, aided by a wise commercial 
 policy, the wealth of the country increased with vast 
 rapidity, while through her navies, developed out of the 
 fishing fleet, and formed of vessels which, though far 
 roomier than those of other countries, were manned with 
 fewer hands, she was year by year acquiring a colonial 
 empire in every continent, and absorbing the carrying 
 trade of the world. In 1604, Raleigh, in a remarkable 
 memoir to James I., complained that English enterprise 
 was confined to fetching coals from Newcastle to London; 
 and at the same date the fleets of the Republic were to be 
 found in the East Indies, the Moluccas, Java, Guinea, 
 Ceylon, the Malaccas, Sumatra, the Cape of Good Hope, 
 
Ii8 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1651. 
 
 Brazil, the Coromandel Coast, Malabar, and had captured 
 the chief Portuguese possessions in Asia and Africa. By 
 1669 John de Witt was able with truth to say that 'the 
 Hollanders had well-nigh beaten all nations by traffic out 
 of the seas, and become the only carriers of goods 
 throughout the world.' And in 1670 their position is thus 
 described in the ' Lex Mercatoria ' : — ' The commerce of 
 Holland, which may be termed universal, reassembles in 
 the United Provinces this infinite number of merchan- 
 dizes, which it afterwards diffuses in all the rest of Europe. 
 It produces hardly anything, and yet has wherewith to 
 furnish other people all they can have need of. It is with- 
 out forests and almost without wood, and there is not seen 
 anywhere else so many carpenters, which work in naval 
 construction. Its lands are not fit for the culture of vines, 
 and it is the staple or mart of wines, which are gathered 
 in all parts of the world, and of brandies drawn from them. 
 It has no mines nor metals, and yet there is found almost 
 as much gold and silver as in New Spain or Peru, as 
 much iron as in France, as much tin as in England, and 
 as much copper as in Sweden. The wheat and grains 
 that are there sowed hardly suffice for nourishment of a 
 part of its inhabitants, and it is notwithstanding from hence 
 that the greatest part of its neighbours receive them, either 
 for their subsistence or trade ; in fine, it seems as if the 
 spices grew there, that the oils were gathered there, that 
 it nourished the precious insects which spin the silk, and 
 that all sorts of drugs for medicine or dyeing were in the 
 number of its products and of its growth ; its warehouses 
 are so full, and its merchants seem to carry so much to 
 strangers, that there is not a day that ships do not come in 
 or go out, and frequently entire fleets.' 
 
 This is the more remarkable as in 165 1 a rude blow 
 had been struck at the commercial supremacy of the 
 
l654- The Dutch Republic. 119 
 
 Dutch. In that year the famous Act of Navigation had 
 been passed in England, by which it was provided that 
 no merchandise, the produce of Asia, Africa, Navigation 
 or America, should be imported into England Act of lf SI< 
 in any but English-built ships, commanded by an English 
 master, and navigated by a crew three-fourths of whom 
 should be Englishmen ; nor any European goods ex- 
 cept in English ships or in ships belonging to the 
 countries from which these articles originally came. No 
 fish might be exported from or imported into England or 
 Ireland except of English taking. By this law the carry- 
 ing trade with England was utterly destroyed. It led to 
 a repetition of the great duel between the two countries. 
 In 1652 Tromp, to signify his power to sweep the seas, 
 sailed down the Channel with a broom at his masthead. 
 Naval battles, the like of which had never been seen, 
 filled the next two years. But in 1654, when the master- 
 fulness of Cromwell and the genius of Blake had finally 
 triumphed, the Republic was forced to make ~ 
 
 r r 1 reaty with 
 
 peace on terms which showed that the com- England, 
 mand of the sea was passing to her enemy. 
 Not only was she compelled to assent to the Navigation 
 Act, as well as to other conditions no less humiliating, but 
 she even agreed that ' Dutch ships, as well of war as 
 others, meeting any of the ships of war of the English 
 Commonwealth in the British seas shall strike their flag 
 and lower their topsails.' It was not to be expected that 
 with her traditions and resources she would contentedly 
 bear this badge of inferiority. Her feeling at the time of 
 the Restoration was a burning desire to recover her old 
 position. 
 
l2o English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1662. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LOUIS AND THE SPANISH NETHERLANDS. 
 
 i. Negotiations with DeWitt. 
 It was obviously of importance to Louis to secure at least 
 the benevolent neutrality of the Republic should he de- 
 cide to carry out his- enterprise on the Spanish Nether- 
 lands. De Witt, in like manner, was looking round for 
 support in case the personal antipathy of Charles II. and 
 the rivalry between the Dutch and English should lead to 
 a renewal of war ; while, foreseeing a moment when he 
 might have upon his frontier no longer the nerveless 
 power of Spain but the victorious armies of France, he 
 was anxious to avoid the chance of this force being turned 
 against the Republic. 
 
 Under these feelings a treaty was easily concluded in 
 April 1662, whereby France and the Republic guaran- 
 teed each other's European possessions, with 
 between their commercial and maritime interests, and 
 
 ?u ra ?? ean j d arranged for mutual defence if attacked. 
 
 the United ° 
 
 Provinces, Liberty of fishing was reciprocally granted, 
 
 April 1662. . _ , , 
 
 and France agreed to levy no more import 
 duties upon Dutch shipping. 
 
 De Witt's immediate object however was by all means 
 to keep the Spanish Low Countries as a barrier between 
 the United Provinces and the oncoming power of France. 
 But he could take no overt step until Louis had acknowl- 
 edged the designs which he had already guessed. To 
 secure this acknowledgment became therefore the object 
 of his diplomacy. 
 
 Three plans had been put forward for the treatment 
 
1663. Louis and the Spanish Netherlands. 121 
 
 of the Spanish Low Countries. Richelieu had favoured 
 the plan of ' cantonment,' by which they were Three 
 to be formed into an independent catholic s'panifhLow 
 republic; Mazarin was bent upon their be- Countries, 
 coming part of the French dominions ; the Dutch had 
 more than once suggested equal partition with France. 
 But as the power of France grew more threatening, the 
 Dutch in their anxiety to have her ' amicum sed non 
 vicinum,' leaned more and more to the plan of canton- 
 ment, and even affected to listen to a fourth proposal by 
 Spain, that the ten Spanish provinces should form a de- 
 fensive league with the Republic. 
 
 Louis was as anxious to avoid a premature disclosure 
 of his design as De Witt was to extract it. The astute- 
 ness of the Grand Pensionary however secured the first 
 diplomatic success. He formally pressed upon Louis 
 various solutions of the difficulty, especially that of ' par- 
 tial cantonment,' by which France and the Republic 
 should each take the strategic towns on their respective 
 frontiers, while the rest of the country became an inde- 
 pendent republic ; he represented that the great Dutch 
 towns, tempted by the Spanish promises of wide com- 
 mercial privileges, were so eager for the defensive league 
 just mentioned that he should not be able much longer 
 to withstand the clamour ; and he declared that however 
 friendly he might personally be to French interests, he 
 could not actively assist them until Louis's intentions were 
 distinctly expressed. After many months of Louis dis- 
 diplomatic fencing he was rewarded. For Devolution 
 once off his guard, Louis permitted D'Es- design. 
 trades, the French ambassador, to place the devolution 
 claim formally before De Witt. 
 
 De Witt, having unmasked Louis, at once changed 
 his tone. He replied that the claim, founded upon a 
 
122 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1664. 
 
 purely local custom of Brabant, could not be entertained 
 for a moment; and in spite of Louis's haughty anger, 
 De Witt h e exposed his reasons for so treating it in 
 
 rejects it. a m ost able historical memoir. Then, com- 
 
 ing boldly to the point, he declared that a pursuance of 
 the design would drive him to accept the Spanish league. 
 Moreover, he said, the Emperor, now contracted to the 
 Infanta, possessed a claim of at least equal right in the 
 eyes of Europe, and he should be ready therefore to 
 entertain proposals from Vienna. 
 
 Firm however as was De Witt's tone, he was sur- 
 rounded by difficulties. The activity of the partisans of 
 the House of Orange was daily increasing ; and he 
 Difficulties knew that the acceptance of the Spanish 
 of De Witt. league would excite their most vehement 
 opposition and imperil his own power. He was how- 
 ever released from the need of fully declaring himself by 
 the action of the principal towns, which refused to concur 
 in the plan of partial cantonment, on the special ground 
 that the continuance of the closure of the Scheldt (see p. 
 8), by which measure the trade of their great commercial 
 rival Antwerp had been effectually crippled, was not pro- 
 vided for. Freed from the necessity of further entertain- 
 „ , , , ing the French scheme, De Witt now suc- 
 
 Endofthe ° . 
 
 negotiation, ceeded in convincing the towns of the m- 
 4 ' advisability of accepting the Spanish proposal. 
 
 He thus secured a full knowledge of the ultimate objects 
 of Louis without being bound to any definite course. 
 
 Louis, too, was well satisfied. The Spanish league had 
 been the one thing he feared, and that danger was past. 
 The Republic was for the time driven to inaction. He 
 himself was sure of his own power to strike when the 
 proper moment should come ; and though the devolution 
 claim had been unhesitatingly rejected by De Witt, the 
 
1663. Louis and the Spanish Netherlands. 123 
 
 great advantage had been gained of making it familiar to 
 men's minds. He now pursued his design in another 
 quarter. 
 
 2. Death of Philip IV. Rejection of the French 
 Claims. Louis and Spain. 
 
 Day by day Spain was falling into greater decrepitude. 
 Her treasury was exhausted, her armies unequipped and 
 inefficient, her navy had practically ceased Decline of 
 to exist, her diplomacy was despised. The Spain, 
 failure to reconquer Portugal became ever more apparent, 
 and she was even compelled to stand idle while the 
 Moors insulted her coasts with impunity. 
 
 Philip IV. looked forward with acute pain to the dis- 
 ruption which threatened his kingdom. It was more than 
 doubtful whether his infant son would sur- Condition of 
 vive himself. The unhappy boy appeared the Infant. 
 indeed in his physical infirmities to be no inappropriate 
 symbol of the condition of the monarchy to which he 
 was heir. At four years of age he was still at his nurse's 
 breast ; his head was not properly formed ; neither his 
 hair nor teeth were grown ; he was unable to walk with- 
 out assistance, and he was incessantly subject to fevers, 
 eruptions, and bleedings. 
 
 Philip had determined to secure what support he could 
 for the tottering monarchy by marrying the young Infanta, 
 Margaret Elizabeth, to the Emperor Leopold, .. . 
 
 7 , . .... Marriage of 
 
 naming her at the same time heir to the the infanta 
 monarchy should the male line become ex- Emperor 
 tinct, to the exclusion of all other claims ; Leopold, 
 and the contract was signed on December 18, 1663. The 
 news of the intended marriage had been announced to 
 Louis in May ; he coldly replied that he trusted it would 
 entail no conditions prejudicial to his interests. 
 
124 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1665. 
 
 Affairs in the Portuguese war had meanwhile been going 
 from bad to worse. On January 18, 1663, the Spaniards 
 Disasters in had been severely beaten, in great measure 
 Portugal. through the generalship of the Frenchman 
 
 Schomberg, and the valour of the English contingent. 
 The campaign of 1664, though not marked by any deci- 
 sive battle, was little less disastrous. In 1665 a final effort 
 was determined upon, and Caracena, esteemed the best 
 Spanish general of the day, was called from his govern- 
 orship of the Low Countries to take the command. 
 Nothing however could stay the ever hastening descent. 
 On June 17 was fought the great and decisive battle of 
 Villa Viciosa, resulting in the utter defeat of the Spanish 
 army. The blow killed Philip IV. He let the despatch 
 Death of which brought the tidings drop from his 
 
 Philip IV. hand, exclaiming, ' It is God's will !' and daily 
 and visibly fell to his grave. He died on September 17, 
 1665. 
 
 Spain however still possessed men who refused to 
 accept all as lost. Upon the removal of Caracena, the 
 Castel Low Countries had been placed under the 
 
 the d Low in Marquis of Castel Rodrigo. Skilful, enter- 
 Countries. prising, and devoted to his country, he 
 
 determined, so far as the want of money or decent 
 government at Madrid would allow, to place his province 
 in a condition to meet an attack from France. To create 
 a chain of forts which should replace those which the 
 Peace of the Pyrenees had put into French hands, and 
 in every way to expel French influence, were his great 
 objects. His first general order forbade the inhabitants 
 to wear the French dress or to follow the French fashion 
 of the hair. Not until he applied to the Emperor for 
 leave to raise troops in Gemany did he give Louis an 
 excuse for interference. The use of the conditions in- 
 
1665. Louis and the Spanish Netherlands. 1 25 
 
 serted in the Treaty of Westphalia and of Louis's bond 
 with the German princes was at once apparent. He 
 wrote to those whose territories blocked the road into the 
 Low Countries, urging them to refuse a passage to the 
 troops, and at the same time made such vehement com- 
 plaints at Madrid that orders were sent to Castel Rodrigo 
 to drop this part of his design. The Governor then 
 proceeded to carry out a long-contemplated scheme. By 
 the Peace of the Pyrenees Louis had acquired a free 
 passage across the Lys at St. Venant. To render this 
 acquisition useless, Castel Rodrigo determined to turn 
 the course of the river by a canal starting above the 
 town, which would have left it high and dry, and placed 
 a new water defence between him and France. Once 
 more however Louis complained at Madrid, and once 
 more the harassed and enfeebled court gave way. 
 
 The terms of Philip IV. 's will were looked to with the 
 utmost anxiety by Louis. They were found to justify that 
 anxiety to the full. The succession was left W m of 
 first to the young Prince Charles and his Philip IV. 
 descendants, then to the Infanta and her children. Not 
 a word was said as to the French claims, but the dowry 
 provided by the Treaty of the Pyrenees was to be paid 
 in full. 
 
 Had Louis's hands been free, he would doubtless now 
 have pressed his devolution claim to the Low Countries, 
 which the Spanish council had unanimously rejected. 
 But he was for the moment embarrassed. _ , 
 
 Embarrass- 
 
 He was at war with England, in compliance mem of 
 
 T 
 
 with his treaty of April 1662 with the Dutch; 
 
 he was, too, engaged in a diplomatic dispute with Sweden 
 
 and in a quarrel with the Pope, and complications had 
 
 arisen in Savoy. He again saw himself compelled to 
 
 wait. 
 
126 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1663. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ENGLAND. PERSECUTION OF DISSENT. THE DUTCH 
 WAR. 
 
 i. The King's Attempt to Favour Popery. 
 The English Parliament had separated in May 1662, 
 gratified by their triumph over the Presbyterians in the 
 Corporation and Uniformity Acts. They met again in 
 February 1663, to find themselves confronted by an 
 enemy whom they feared and detested with a still keener 
 English hate and terror. The dominant factor in the 
 
 regarding feverish politics of this reign is to be found 
 
 Popery. j n ^g feeling of the ordinary English mind 
 
 regarding Popery. The Churchman might despise and 
 persecute the Presbyterian ; the Presbyterian, like the 
 Scots, might regard the other sects as the advocates of 
 the devil himself; but in all of them hatred of Popery 
 was the master impulse. Foxe's Book of Martyrs was 
 favourite reading, and the fires of Smithfield were in the 
 English imagination still alight. Another Armada seemed 
 to hang like a dark cloud upon our shores, and a fresh 
 Gunpowder Plot might at any moment burst forth. There 
 was no atrocity which was not natural to the Papists ; 
 the very debauchery of the court was laid to their charge ; 
 and the cry which greeted the early Christians in Rome, 
 ' Christianos ad leones !' never rang in their ears more 
 pitilessly than the execrations which, when the panic rose 
 to its height, were hurled at the ' Bloody Papists.' 
 
 To the Englishman, then, it was the first duty of his 
 King to hate and combat ' this last and insolentest 
 attempt on the credulity of mankind.' But first to his 
 
1663. England and Catholicism. 127 
 
 astonishment, and then to his indignant fury, he found, 
 or thought he found, that Charles was of altogether 
 another mind. Charles indeed had abun- Charles 
 dant reasons for wishing to alleviate the hdpthe° 
 lot of the Catholics He was himself a Catholics. 
 Catholic, had been befriended while in exile by Catholic 
 princes, and had made promises of favour which he 
 earnestly wished to fulfil. Among his father's most 
 faithful adherents had been many of the proscribed 
 creed, and more than others they had been the mark for 
 fine, imprisonment, and confiscation. He was at this 
 very time in formal communication with Innocent XI. 
 for a reconstitution of the English Church, whereby, 
 while retaining its national and independent character, 
 it should nominally acknowledge the Holy See as its 
 head. 
 
 These considerations had led to his former attempt to 
 put off the execution of the Act of Uniformity for three 
 months. 
 
 He now repeated the attempt. On December 26, 1662, 
 during the recess, he issued a declaration expressing his 
 intention of doing his best to induce Parlia- His 
 ment to mitigate the rigour of that measure, declaration. 
 and to concur with him ' in making some Act for that 
 purpose, as may enable him to exercise, with a 
 more universal satisfaction, that power of dispensing 
 which he conceived to be inherent in him? This declara- 
 tion drew from Sheldon a letter in which the iniquity of 
 the proposal, ' as tending to set up that most damnable 
 and heretical doctrine of the Church of Rome, whore of 
 Babylon,' was set before him in the plainest language. 
 Undeterred, the King met Parliament on February 18, 
 1663, with a speech in which he declared himself 'in 
 nature an enemy to all severity for religion and con- 
 
128 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1663. 
 
 science,' and, while asserting that he had no intention of 
 favouring the Papists, though he owed them gratitude and 
 Speech to admitted their claims to indulgence, and 
 
 Parliament. desiring that laws might be made to hinder 
 the spread of their doctrine, he asked for such a power of 
 indulgence, ' to use upon occasions,' as might not need- 
 lessly force them out of the kingdom, or give them cause 
 to conspire against its peace. 
 
 Before the words were well out of the King's mouth all 
 men saw before them in tangible shape the enemy they 
 dreaded most. They had kept out the fox, said William 
 Coventry, were they now to let the wolf into the fold ? 
 They did not know that Charles was himself a Catholic. 
 But there was much going on to cause suspicion, and in 
 every place where he wrote ' Dissent ' the English mind 
 read ' Pope of Rome.' 
 
 lie was not long left in ignorance of the feelings he 
 had roused. Within a week the Commons answered his 
 appeal in a remonstrance of the boldest character. Such 
 an indulgence, they said, 'will establish schism by a law. 
 It will no way become the gravity or the wisdom 
 of a Parliament to pass a law at one session for uniformity, 
 Remon- and at the next session (the reason for uni- 
 
 siiance o formity continuing just the same) to pass 
 
 Commons. another law to frustrate or weaken the exe- 
 cution of it. It will expose your Majesty to the restless 
 importunity of every sect or opinion. It will be a cause 
 of increasing sects and sectaries, whose numbers will 
 weaken the Protestant profession so far that it will become 
 difficult for it to defend itself against them . . . and 
 in time some prevalent sect will, at last, contend for an 
 establishment, which, for aught can be foreseen, may end 
 in Popery.' 
 
 Charles now knew the conditions on which he might 
 
1663. England and Catholicism. 129 
 
 expect to continue to rule. At all hazards Popery was to 
 be kept out of the kingdom, by the maintenance of a 
 dominant State Church. A bill introduced in the House 
 of Lords enabling him to dispense with the Act of Uni- 
 formity was to his great disgust opposed by Clarendon 
 and Southampton, and had ultimately to be dropped. 
 He was made to understand that supply ,,. , 
 
 1 r ' Charles 
 
 would depend upon the immediate issue of compelled 
 a proclamation banishing all Catholic priests, the Catholic 
 and he yielded. Then, taking him at his P rlcsts - 
 word as to hindering the growth of Popery, the Parlia- 
 ment ' heartily laboured therein.' He now however put 
 an end to the session. His object was to keep the matter 
 as far as possible in his own hands, and to secure the 
 sympathy of the Dissenters; but he saw how keen was 
 the anger caused by the over-confident tone of the 
 Catholics, who had thought themselves secure in his 
 favour, and before the Houses separated he promised 
 that he would in the next session himself suggest bills for 
 realising the purpose which the Parliament had at heart. 
 On other questions the reaction against the principles 
 of the Pong Parliament was still in full force. The 
 Triennial Act had secured Parliamentary government by 
 declaring that if the king did not summon a fresh Parlia- 
 ment within three years from a dissolution, the Peers 
 were to undertake the duty ; if they failed, the sheriffs of 
 each county, and in the last resort the electors them- 
 selves. An impression had got about that this meant 
 that no Parliament might sit for more than three years. 
 Skilfully availing himself of this to raise The 
 jealousy in a body whose continuance was Tricnmal' 6 
 thus threatened, and using to the utmost the I!iU - 
 influence of bribes and of the ' King's friends,' as those 
 members who were attached to the court were called, 
 J 
 
130 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1664. 
 
 Charles so prepared the ground that on the reassem- 
 bling of the Houses in March 1664 he ventured to tell 
 them that, much as he was 'in love with Parliaments,' 
 he ' never would suffer a Parliament to come together 
 by the means prescribed by that bill.' Anxious no doubt 
 to narrow the scope of their differences with the King, the 
 Commons, while reasserting the principle of the Triennial 
 Bill, removed from it all the precautions which had given 
 it efficacy. The result of this abandonment of a strong 
 position was not shown until the end of the reign, when 
 for the last four years the King ruled absolutely and 
 without a Parliament. 
 
 2. Persecution of Protestant Dissent. 
 The Commons then resumed their favourite work. 
 The Act of Uniformity had of course led to the estab- 
 lishment of unauthorised religious meetings 
 Conventicle or ' conventicles,' against which the Anglican 
 May 17, clergy and the Commons inveighed as hot- 
 
 l664 - beds of schism and sedition. Charles, ever 
 
 unwilling to maintain resistance where attack was per- 
 sistent, and anxious for a supply, gave his assent to the 
 First Conventicle Act. This iniquitous measure, which 
 was to be in force for three years, first renewed the Act 
 of Uniformity of Elizabeth. It then absolutely forbade 
 meetings of more than four persons besides the house- 
 hold for religious services other than those allowed by 
 the Church. Three months' imprisonment or a fine of 
 5/. for the first offence, a double penalty for the second, 
 banishment for seven years to the American plantations 
 or a fine of 100/. for the third, and death for return or 
 escape, were the penalties of the Act. Sheriffs, justices 
 of the peace, or any persons commissioned by them, 
 were authorised to break up conventicles and imprison 
 
1665. Persecution of Dissent. 131 
 
 at will any who were present at or who permitted the 
 meetings. Even married women were liable to a year's 
 imprisonment unless their husbands paid a fine of foity 
 shillings. Many devices were resorted to for evading 
 these provisions. Sometimes, where houses were joined, 
 a hole was cut in the wall so that two or three congrega- 
 tions, each within the limits of the Act, might listen to a 
 sermon. In the records of the Baptist congregation at 
 Broadmead, near Bristol, we read of a conventicle being 
 held in an upper room, the stairs being purposely packed 
 so closely with women that the sheriff and his officers were 
 unable to force their way up until time had been given for 
 the minister and his congregation to escape by another 
 way. Nevertheless the sufferings were very great. Upon 
 the Quakers, who from the novelty and peculiarity of their 
 doctrines were more suspected and obtained less popular 
 sympathy than any others, the blow fell with special 
 weight. Pepys, on August 7, 1664, relates how he saw 
 several being dragged through the streets, and his only 
 comment is : ' They go like lambs, without any resist- 
 ance. I would to God they would conform, or be more 
 wise and not be catched.' 
 
 Before a year was over an Act still more cruel and 
 drastic was carried in the Commons without a division, 
 though again opposed in the Lords. During the desola- 
 tion of the Plague many of the clergy had fled. Without 
 authorisation the deposed Presbyterian minis- Five Mile 
 ters stepped into their pulpits and once more Act - 
 gathered eager congregations. But the vigilance of the 
 Anglican Church was not asleep. The old cry was raised 
 of ' schism and rebellion.' At the October session at 
 Oxford in 1665 it was determined ' to prepare a shibboleth, 
 a test to distinguish amongst those who will be peaceable 
 and give hopes of future conformity, and who of malice 
 
132 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1663. 
 
 and evil disposition remain obdurate.' Once more the 
 pressing need of supplies compelled Charles to give way. 
 For consenting to the Five Mile Act he obtained a grant 
 of a million and a quarter. No Nonconformist minister 
 was permitted henceforth to teach in schools, or to come 
 within five miles of any city, corporate town, or Parlia- 
 mentary borough, unless he had previously subscribed 
 an oath denying the lawfulness of taking arms under any 
 circumstances against the King or those commissioned 
 by him, and declaring that he would not ' at any time 
 endeavour any alteration of government in Church or 
 State.' The penalty was six months' imprisonment or a 
 fine of 40/. The infamous trade of informer, which had 
 been created by the Conventicle Act, and which was so 
 odious a feature of the reign, was encouraged by the 
 promise of one-third of the fine exacted. It was too 
 actually proposed, and the motion was only defeated by 
 six votes, that this oath should be imposed upon the 
 whole nation. 
 
 The machinery of persecution was now complete. The 
 Corporation and Uniformity Acts had settled forever the 
 limits of the Church. The Conventicle and Five Mile 
 Acts were the answer of the Church to the claim of Dissent, 
 not to legal recognition, but to the right to exist. 
 
 3. Causes of the Dutch War. 
 While the Anglican Church was exacting to the utmost 
 the vengeance she deemed her right for the injuries of 
 twenty years, and was asserting the supremacy which 
 was to exist in the same tyrannous form for nearly two 
 centuries, the country was reeling under the stress of a 
 great naval war. England and the Dutch Republic 
 were now engaged in the second part of that tremendous 
 contest for the commercial supremacy of the world, of 
 
1664. The Dutch War. 133 
 
 which the first had been fought out between Trornp and 
 Blake. The peace of 1654 had not only left the causes 
 of enmity untouched, but, in the confessions of inferiority 
 exacted from a high-spirited people, had established the 
 certainty of a renewal of the conflict. The mutual advan- 
 tages which the Protector and De Witt received from 
 their alliance had indeed secured the continuance of 
 peace during the Commonwealth ; and in Treat f 
 September 1662, in spite of the Navigation September 
 Act, a fresh treaty had been concluded be- 
 tween the two nations. This treaty in itself however only 
 served to advance the date of a rupture. It gave a mutual 
 liberty of fishing to both countries ; but otherwise it was 
 almost solely to the advantage of England. The invi- 
 dious demand for the salute by Dutch ships to the Eng- 
 lish flag in English waters was repeated and allowed ; 
 Poleroon, the richest of the Molucca Islands, was nomi- 
 nally restored to England ; and it was agreed that neither 
 country should afford protection to the rebels of the 
 other. 
 
 But while the forms of amity were thus preserved be- 
 tween the two Governments, the nations themselves were 
 actually in fierce and incessant strife in T c , 
 
 ' Informal 
 
 every quarter of the globe. The Committee war in the 
 of Trade reported to the Commons that the 
 English were almost driven out of the East and West 
 Indies, Turkey, and Africa, with a loss during the last 
 few years of seven millions sterling. Wherever the 
 Dutch had influence they compelled the natives to close 
 their ports against their rivals. Poleroon had not been 
 handed over according to the treaty, and the „ . . 
 
 & ■" Petition of 
 
 English had been deprived of the lucrative the House 
 
 slave trade from the Guinea coast to the Bar- 
 
 badoes. On April 2, 1664, the House presented a petition 
 
134 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1664. 
 
 to the King for the speedy redress of these wrongs, and 
 unanimously expressed their willingness to assist him 
 with their lives and fortunes. 
 
 The Dutch were in a state of equal irritation. The 
 acquisition of Bombay by England, in accordance with 
 the treaty with Portugal, had especially roused their jeal- 
 ousy. In the spring of 1664 Robert Holmes sailed on a 
 filibustering expedition along the African coast ; he cap- 
 tured eleven merchant vessels, and ousted the Dutch from 
 Goree, Cape de Verde, Cape Corso, and many other 
 Grievances places. In America the Dutch West India 
 of the Dutch. Company had for forty years possessed 
 Long Island and the opposite coast from the Connec- 
 ticut River to Delaware Bay. A force under Colonel 
 Nicholas drove them out, and Charles, after changing 
 the name of New Amsterdam to New York, handed the 
 country over to his brother James. Tobago and other 
 good harbours in the Antilles were similarly wrested from 
 the Zealand settlers. 
 
 The Dutch were not idle under these aggressions. De 
 Ruy ter was sent to the African coast with orders to ' make 
 war on the English and to do them all the harm he 
 could.' In October he captured the English vessels at 
 Goree, and took all their posts on the Guinea coast ex- 
 cept Cape Corso. The English retaliated by cutting off 
 the Dutch Bordeaux fleet, and after a severe action part 
 of that from Smyrna also. All Dutch ships lying in 
 British harbours were seized as prizes. 
 
 Thus the nations necessarily drifted into formal war. 
 ' Must we,' said the Dutch envoy to Monk, ' sacrifice our 
 commerce to yours ? ' ' Whatever happens,' replied 
 Monk, ' we must have our part, or the peace will not last.' 
 Even had the rulers been anxious for peace it could not 
 have been maintained. But every private and family 
 
1665. The Dutch War. 135 
 
 feeling in Charles's mind was enlisted against the Dutch. 
 He disliked them personally, and he declared that his 
 honour required him to be their enemy since Fcelin f 
 Cromwell had been their ally. His brother Charles and 
 
 A * rr 1 A> DeWitt. 
 
 James, an eager advocate 01 England s com- 
 mercial interests, who hated the Dutch as a Calvinistic 
 people, and who was ambitious of naval glory, sedulously 
 cultivated these feelings. Charles, moreover, saw in the 
 outbreak of war a chance of a liberal supply, and trusted 
 that the binding influence of a great national crisis might 
 bring to his side the classes disaffected to the Government. 
 De Witt similarly hoped to find in the contest a means of 
 frustrating the intrigues of the Orange faction. 
 
 4. Preparations of England and the Republic. 
 The declaration of war by England in March, 1665, 
 found the Crown, the people, and the Parliament for once 
 in complete harmony. A supply of 2,500,- English pre- 
 000/., the largest money grant hitherto given p-^ations. 
 by an English Parliament, was unanimously voted ; and 
 Charles's terms to the Dutch rose in proportion. He de- 
 manded compensation for injuries to British commerce, 
 the possession of various ports as pledges for payment, 
 the right of search of all foreign ships in the Channel, and 
 the renunciation by the Dutch of their fishing rights in 
 British waters. Men talked of ' giving the law to the 
 whole trade of Christendom,' and of making all ships 
 which passed through the ' narrow seas ' pay toll to Eng- 
 land. The number of vessels, with their armaments, 
 which the Dutch were to be allowed to keep was men- 
 tioned. The din of preparation resounded in every dock- 
 yard in the kingdom. Commissioners were appointed in 
 the principal ports for the sale of prizes ; and it was de- 
 clared that all ships, no matter from what country they 
 
136 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1665. 
 
 sailed, were liable to capture if there were three Dutch 
 sailors on board. Privateers were let loose in swarms ; 
 the war, it was said, must support itself. 
 
 No less high was the spirit of the Dutch. Heavy taxes 
 were cheerfully voted ; the navy was brought to its utmost 
 Dutch pre- efficiency, especially in the quality of the 
 parations. guns, and the army, as far as possible, was 
 
 reorganised. Entrenched batteries were erected at all the 
 exposed points of the coast ; the peasants were armed to 
 resist a possible landing. The sailors were to receive in- 
 creased rations, and liberal pensions were voted for the 
 families of all who should fall. Large rewards were offered 
 for the capture of prizes, and 2,000/. for that of the ad- 
 miral's flag-ship. For any captain who should strike to 
 the enemy or retire without orders there was to be but one 
 penalty — death. 
 
 De Witt now claimed from Louis the fulfilment of the 
 treaty of April 1662 (see p. 120). Louis however was 
 „ , much embarrassed. He was afraid that the 
 
 Embarrass- 
 ment of war might spread, and that he might be there- 
 by hampered in his design on the Spanish 
 Low Countries. Moreover, by declaring for the Dutch he 
 would lose England ; and from England he had the 
 widest hopes, for Charles had given him to understand 
 that, as far as he was concerned, France might have a 
 free hand in the Netherlands. On the contrary, if he 
 allowed the Dutch to succumb, De Witt would be over- 
 thrown, the House of Orange would be triumphant, and 
 the Republic would fall politically into dependence upon 
 England. The first great action had taken place before 
 he had made a move to redeem his promises, 
 
1665. The Dutch War. 137 
 
 5. The War, 1665. 
 
 In spite of the disorder which reigned at the Admi- 
 ralty, so vividly described by Pepys, an English fleet, 
 such as had never been gathered together 
 before, was ready fcr sea in the spring of 1 665. 
 No fewer than 109 large vessels, with thirty of smaller 
 size, manned by 21,000 men, many of them old Com- 
 monwealth sailors, and armed with 4,192 guns, sailed 
 under the command of James. The Dutch fleet, under 
 the veteran Opdam, was of the same size, but manned 
 with more numerous crews and armed with heavier guns. 
 This superiority was, however, corrected by the greater 
 knowledge of the art of sea warfare which the English 
 had learnt under Blake. ' Nothing,' says an eye-witness, 
 ' can equal the good order of the English ; their line 
 is perfect, and thus an enemy who comes near them has 
 to undergo their whole fire ; . . . they fight like a line of 
 cavalry in perfect discipline ; whilst with the Dutch the 
 various squadrons leave their ranks and come separately 
 to the charge.' 
 
 The fleets met off Lowestoft at 4 a.m. on June 3. The 
 explosion of Opdam's vessel was the turning-point of 
 the battle, and the Dutch withdrew in con- 
 
 . . _ . , , • 1 , 1 Battle off 
 
 fusion, Tromp with his squadron alone keep- Lowestoft, 
 ing up the fight. But for the negligence of June 3 ' l66s- 
 the English in ceasing the pursuit during the night, the 
 hostile fleet would have been annihilated. As it was, the 
 Dutch had lost, besides the admiral, three vice-admirals, 
 nineteen first-rates, and 7,000 men. The English loss 
 was four ships and 1,500 men ; that in officers, as in all 
 the battles of this war, being proportionately great. The 
 medal struck in London to celebrate the victory bore the 
 proud motto, ' Et pontus serviet.' 
 
 For a time deep discouragement weighed upon the 
 
138 English Restoration mid Louis XIV. 1665. 
 
 Dutch ; but the spirit of De Witt rose with disaster. The 
 Measures of penalties due for flight were sternly meted 
 De Witt. ouk Three captains were shot, six more 
 
 were degraded and had their swords broken above their 
 heads. A superb mausoleum was raised at the Hague in 
 honour of the dead. Light vessels put out to warn the 
 different merchant fleets at sea. Ruyter arrived oppor- 
 tunely with his Guinea squadron, while the East Indian 
 and Mediterranean fleets also reached Holland with but 
 small loss. 
 
 Meanwhile the Dutch had been attacked from another 
 side. Bernard Van Galen, Bishop of Munster, was the 
 last representative of those warrior prelates 
 t Iharles II. wno had been conspicuous in the Middle 
 p.isho'^if Ages. His youth had been passed in the 
 Minister, army, and his vast wealth enabled him to 
 
 June 1665. . 
 
 indulge the military tastes which he had re- 
 tained. His position on the Dutch frontier gave him at 
 this time special importance, and Charles II., who knew 
 that he had standing causes of jealousy with his neigh- 
 bours, had skilfully secured his assistance. In June 1665 
 an alliance had been concluded by which, in return for a 
 heavy subsidy, the Bishop engaged to maintain an army 
 of 30,000 men, and to attack the Dutch within two months. 
 The Republic was almost incapable of resistance, the 
 fortifications were out of repair, the best troops were on 
 board the fleet, and she could oppose this attack with but 
 7,000 untrained men. The British entered Dutch terri- 
 tory in October, took Zutphen, and overran the province 
 of Ovcryssel. 
 
 Upon the sea however the Dutch had once more 
 asserted their supremacy. A fresh fleet, raised by the 
 efforts of De Witt, had sailed, in the midst of the stormy 
 season, to challenge their foes wherever they might be 
 
1665. The Dutch War. 139 
 
 found. The challenge was in vain. London was panic- 
 striken by the Plague, the crews of the 
 English fleet were themselves infected, and ™1 n Dutch 
 the sixty ships at the mouth of the Thames masters of 
 
 J l the sea, 
 
 lay sullenly inactive. The Dutch were com- November 
 pelled at length to return to their own shores 
 without firing a gun. None the less the expedition had 
 served to raise the courage of their country, and to show 
 the English how far they still were from the victory to 
 which they had so confidently looked forward. 
 
 6. Dutch Alliances. 
 De Witt now again pressed Louis to fulfil his treaty 
 engagements. Otherwise he threatened that he would 
 make peace and enter into close alliance with the English. 
 For Louis this meant a serious obstacle to the carrying 
 out of his great project. He was moreover nettled at the 
 coolness with which Charles II. had, in the flush of a 
 first success, treated his offers of mediation. He there- 
 fore declared his intention of sending a fleet to join the 
 Dutch in the North Sea, and at the same time maintaining 
 a squadron in the Mediterranean. He pro- Louis fulfils 
 miscd to employ his diplomacy in their JriJhthe' 
 favour wherever he had influence in Europe, Dutch. 
 and to assist their intrigues with all Charles's discontented 
 subjects. As soon as he was informed of Charles's treaty 
 with the Bishop of Munster he sent a corps to join the 
 Dutch troops who were resisting that Prelate. The con- 
 duct of the French showed however how little their 
 sympathies lay with their nominal allies. They behaved 
 as if they were in an hostile country. They pillaged the 
 people and insulted their religion, they openly cursed the 
 Dutch cause, and they drank publicly in the market-place 
 of Maestricht to the healths of the King of England and 
 
140 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1666. 
 
 the Bishop of Munster. The French commander success- 
 fully avoided every favourable opportunity for attacking 
 the Bishop's troops, and indeed acted in such a way as 
 to raise to the utmost the ill-will already existing between 
 the two nations. 
 
 Nevertheless the fact that France was in alliance with 
 the Dutch, and had actually declared war against Eng- 
 Diplomatic land (January 1666), had given far greater 
 the C Dutch 0f weight to the diplomacy of the States-General. 
 1666, spring. They baffled Charles's ambassador in Swe- 
 den, and succeeded in restraining that country from 
 joining England ; they formed with Denmark an alliance 
 (February 11, 1666), by which she bound herself to place 
 forty ships at their disposal ; the Elector of Brandenburg 
 (February 16, 1666) promised to force the Bishop to make 
 peace, and the heads of the House of Brunswick-Liine- 
 burg in consequence offered their good will. Heavy 
 Bishop of subsidies were paid by the Dutch in each 
 
 Munster case. The result was that the warlike Bishop 
 
 makes peace, " 
 
 April, 1666. was compelled (April 1666) to renounce the 
 English alliance, and to sign an ignominious peace. 
 When the rival fleets again put to sea, in the early 
 summer of 1666, England was without an ally. From 
 Bergen to Bayonne there was not a friendly port open to 
 her ships. 
 
 Six months later (October 27, 1666), after the campaign 
 which has now to be described, these different treaties 
 „ , , were completed and confirmed by a closer 
 
 Quadruple 1 J 
 
 Alliance of defensive alliance for ten years between 
 October" ' the Republic, Denmark, Brandenburg, and 
 l666 - Brunswick-Liineburg, by which each power 
 
 agreed to assist the others with all its forces in case of 
 new aggression. It thus relieved the Republic from her 
 dangerous dependence on Louis. And it was the first 
 
1 666. The Dutch War. 141 
 
 sign of that tendency to coalition against France, which 
 
 henceforward is so marked a feature of the politics of 
 
 Europe. 
 
 7. The War, 1666. 
 
 Meantime great events had been passing on the sea. 
 On June 1, 1666, the fleets had met off the Dunes, and 
 during four days had waged the most terri- Battle of 
 ble sea-fight in history. Ruyter and Tromp, J une *• 
 with 100 vessels, were confronted by an English fleet 
 under Monk, rendered greatly inferior in numbers by the 
 necessity of despatching Rupert with twenty vessels to 
 meet the French fleet, which Louis, however, who only 
 desired to see the two great naval powers destroying one 
 another, carefully kept back. The battle raged from 
 midday until dusk. Some idea of the slaughter may be 
 gathered from the fact that in an English vessel which 
 went into action with 300 men but forty were left alive. 
 At six next morning the contest was re- Battle of 
 newed. The day's fighting went against June 2. 
 the smaller fleet, and Monk fell back sullenly and in 
 perfect order towards the English coast. The next day 
 however Rupert rejoined him, and, thus strengthened, 
 the English prepared for a third struggle. Ruyter sum- 
 moned all his captains to his own vessel, and told them 
 that upon the issue of that day depended not only their 
 own fate but that of the Republic. Fighting began at 
 nine in the morning and lasted with des- Battle of 
 peration for six hours, without advantage to J unc ">■ 
 either side. Then Ruyter hoisted the red flag, the signal 
 for a general and final effort. With such desperate 
 valour was he obeyed that he twice pierced his enemy's 
 line. Still it was only after incessant fighting, lasting till 
 dusk, that the English gave way ; and so shattered was 
 his own fleet that he did not attempt to pursue his advan- 
 
142 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1666. 
 
 tage. He had lost three vice-admirals, 2,000 men, and 
 four ships. On the English side 5,000 men had been 
 killed and 3,000 taken prisoners; eight ships of the line 
 had been sunk or burnt, and nine more had remained in 
 the hands of the Dutch. 
 
 Almost without the loss of a day each side prepared to 
 renew the struggle. The Dutch sailed from the Texel on 
 July 4. Before the end of the month an English arma- 
 ment, the finest and best equipped that had left her 
 shores, sallied from the Thames. On Au- 
 Au g ust4, gust 4 Monk and Ruyter met off the Norfolk 
 
 coast to try conclusions once more. After 
 another long day of carnage the Dutch, this time deci- 
 sively beaten, sought safety in confusion in the shallows 
 ot Zealand. 
 
 The English signalised their mastery by a daring and 
 successful act. In the harbour of Flie, at the entrance to 
 Destruction the Zuyder Zee, 160 merchant ships were 
 merchant riding in apparent safety. A single English 
 
 fleet - frigate, followed by five fire-ships, managed 
 
 to penetrate the narrow passages ; the fire-ships were let 
 loose, and the whole fleet, with the exception of nine 
 vessels, was destroyed. The loss was estimated at a 
 million sterling. 
 
 Internal troubles were at the same time pressing upon 
 DeWitt. As misfortunes collected round the Republic, 
 Difficulties men's thoughts turned more strongly to the 
 Th D Wltt e family under whom the early greatness of 
 faction. their country had been achieved. Five 
 
 provinces, with Zealand, the second in influence, at their 
 head, now declared for peace, and for the restoration of 
 the House of Orange. Even in Holland, De Witt's own 
 province, the cause made way. Haarlem and Leyden 
 were unanimous for the Prince. It was demanded that 
 
1667. The Dutch War. 143 
 
 he should be named captain-general of the cavalry, and 
 should have a place in the Council of State. Other 
 towns urged that the Republic should adopt him as the 
 child of the State, and undertake his education lest he 
 should grow up in English principles. 
 
 Unable otherwise to nullify the intrigues of the adhe- 
 rents of the Prince of Orange, De Witt determined to 
 follow this last suggestion. He himself under- The Trince 
 took, as Mazarin had formerly done with °j ° rai l g l e 
 
 ' J adopted by 
 
 Louis, to instruct the Prince in the art of the Republic, 
 government. Already the intelligence, power of dis- 
 simulation, and persistence of William's character were 
 such as to strike an intelligent observer. 
 
 In other respects De Witt was in good hope. Not 
 only had his indomitable energy enabled him once more 
 to send forth a fleet which in vain challenged Rupert at 
 the mouth of the Thames, and thus restored the honour 
 of the flag, but he found that England was England 
 herself anxious for peace. London was in anxious for 
 
 r peace, Janu- 
 
 ruins from the Fire. The navy, despite its ar y ^67 
 late successes, was in a desperate condition. The state of 
 the treasury compelled Charles to retrench his expenses; 
 this he did, not by any diminution in the shameless 
 extravagance of his pleasures, but by starving the navy 
 to such an extent that, although Parliament had made 
 another grant of 1,800,000/., England was obliged to act 
 strictly on the defensive, the sole office of her war ships, 
 as in the days of James I. (see p. 117), being to convey 
 the colliers from Newcastle to London. 
 
 From the Scotch came bitter outcries at the strangling 
 of their trade, which, owing to the rigorous protection 
 laws of England, was almost exclusively with the Dutch. 
 Ireland was equally distressed ; while, as for England 
 herself, her feelings were shown by the address of the 
 
144 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 
 
 Speaker on January 18, 1667, who, alluding to the terri- 
 ble exhaustion of the kingdom, prayed Charles in the 
 name of the people to put an end to this desolating war. 
 ' Evidently,' says Clarendon, ' the Dutch could endure 
 being beaten longer than England could endure to beat 
 them.' 
 
 Charles seized the opportunity of returning to his 
 natural personal connection with France. In February 
 1667 Lord St. Albans was secretly sent to 
 engagement Paris to conclude an engagement on the 
 Louis XIV. basis that England should enter into no con- 
 Charles II nection during 1667 with the house of Austria, 
 March 1667. while Louis was to support all Charles's 
 interests ' in or out of the kingdom.' The final form 
 which this intrigue took — an intrigue kept entirely secret 
 from the English ministers, and contained only in auto- 
 graph letters from both monarchs to the Queen Mother, 
 in whose house the negotiations had taken place — was 
 (1) each pledged himself not to enter during a year into 
 any alliance contrary to the interests of the other; (2) 
 Louis agreed to hold back the fleet with which he had 
 promised to help the Dutch ; (3) Charles was to allow 
 him a free hand in the Spanish Low Countries. 
 
 8. The Dutch in the Thames. Treaty of Breda. 
 
 Sweden having offered her mediation, a conference 
 met in May 1667 at the neutral town of Breda. For a 
 Conference at long while it was found impossible to come 
 Breda. to t ermS- Exhausted as both nations were, 
 
 neither had reduced the other sufficiently to gain the 
 commercial advantages on which they were bent. It was 
 now that De Witt, looking anxiously across the frontier 
 to the Spanish Low Countries, into which Louis had 
 already marched, determined upon a decisive stroke. 
 
1667. The Dutch War. 145 
 
 Suddenly, on June 7, when Charles was at a drunken 
 revel at the Duchess of Monmouth's, ' all mad in hunting 
 of a poor moth,' the sound of guns was heard in the 
 Thames. It was the Dutch fleet of sixty-one men-of-war, 
 which, under Ruyter and John De Witt's brother Corne- 
 lius, had come to revenge upon England the insult of 
 Flie. Mounting the Thames as far as Gravesend, and 
 driving the English vessels before them, The Dutch 
 they took Sheerness, sailed as far as Upnor, Thames'" 
 and along the Medway to Rochester, burnt J une 7. J 667. 
 three English men-of-war, and succeeded in capturing 
 the ' Royal Charles,' which was taken in triumph to 
 Holland. Then Ruyter sailed proudly along our coasts, 
 vainly challenging a contest at Harwich, Portsmouth, 
 Torbay, Dartmouth, and Plymouth. 
 
 The immediate effect of this daring blow was to extort 
 peace. On July 31, 1667, the Treaty of Breda was signed, 
 and a month later ratified. Its terms were X re j ty ? f , 
 
 Breda, July 
 
 the terms of a drawn battle. Each nation 31, 1667. 
 was to retain all conquests made, both before and during 
 the war, up to May 10, 1667, either in territory or ships ; 
 and the treaty of 1662 was annulled. The effect of this 
 was that England kept New York, and the Dutch 
 Surinam and Poleroon. The Act of Navigation was so 
 far relaxed that Dutch vessels were allowed to bring 
 Dutch, German, and Flemish goods into English ports. 
 The salute to English men-of-war in British waters was 
 again allowed, but only as a matter of courtesy. The 
 treaty of 1662, as far as it regarded commerce, was re- 
 newed. Each country was to protect the other against all 
 enemies whatsoever. At the same time trea- Treaties 
 ties were made by England with France and ^ 
 Denmark. France restored St. Christopher, Denmark. 
 and gave up Antigua and Montserat. England restored 
 
 K 
 
146 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 
 
 Acadia, or Nova Scotia. Denmark was admitted to com- 
 mercial equality. 
 
 The great struggle for the command of the sea and 
 the commerce of the world was over for the time, only 
 because the combatants, exhausted and bleeding, needed 
 repose. It had decided nothing, and had left behind it 
 hatred and mistrust. But hatred and mistrust yield to 
 the pressure of a common danger. Even before peace 
 was concluded, all eyes had been turned from Breda to 
 the victorious march of Louis's armies. The era of 
 French aggression in Europe had begun. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DIPLOMACY AND PREPARATIONS OF LOUIS. INVASION 
 OF SPANISH NETHERLANDS. 
 
 i. French Treaties with Portugal and the Rhine 
 Princes. 
 The years of the Dutch war had been on Louis's part 
 a time of incessant diplomatic activity in preparation for 
 Diplomatists the g reat design. Himself distinguished by 
 of France. a \\ t h e qualities which mark a master of 
 state-craft, he was served with implicit obedience by a 
 corps of the most accomplished diplomats that Europe 
 had yet seen. Lionne in Paris, Ruvigny and Colbert in 
 London, De Gremonville in Vienna, the Archbishop of 
 Embrun in Madrid, Pomponne and D'Estrades in 
 Sweden and the United Provinces — these and many like 
 them had, except in De Witt, Lisola, and, perhaps, 
 Arlington, no rivals. Well might a baffled English envoy 
 at Madrid exclaim, ' France has the gift of persuading 
 what she pleases here as in the rest of Christendom.' 
 
1667. Diplomacy and Preparations of Louis. 147 
 
 By his nominal alliance with the Dutch (p. 120) Louis 
 had prevented them from taking measures against an 
 aggression which would bring him to their frontier ; and, 
 by restraining his own fleet, had prevented them from 
 crushing their rival. When England seemed to be pre- 
 ponderating, he had on the other hand been instrumental 
 in gaining for the Republic, in 1666, the alliances which 
 had helped to give her heart for another effort. He had 
 secured from Charles, while peace was still pending, a 
 secret and personal engagement which assured the 
 neutrality of England for a time sufficient for his imme- 
 diate purpose. But previously to this he had scored 
 against her a brilliant diplomatic success in the Peninsula, 
 by counteracting her endeavours to bring about peace 
 between Portugal and Spain, and by forcing from the 
 former an offensive alliance with himself. By this treaty 
 (March 31, 1667) it was agreed that for a Treaty 
 heavy subsidy, armed help against Spain, between 
 Louis's guarantee of any treaty she might and France, 
 make with Spain after Spain herself had arc ' x 7 " 
 
 made peace with France, and his promise to compel Spain 
 to grant the title of King to her ruler, Portugal should 
 actively carry on the war, should grant considerable 
 commercial advantages to France, and should listen to no 
 proposals from Spain until France herself made peace. 
 He thus secured a potent source of distraction to Spain 
 whenever he might choose to strike his blow. 
 
 Secure of England, the Republic, and Portugal, there 
 now remained for Louis only one possible opposition of 
 importance to neutralise. From Leopold, Treaties 
 chief of the Austrian House, on account of Rhine" 5 
 his near relationship to Spain, the former Princes, 
 connection of the countries, and the proximity of the 
 Spanish Low Countries to his own dominions, the live- 
 
148 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 
 
 liest resentment might be expected. The means to 
 counteract this difficulty, at any rate for a time, had 
 already been provided by Mazarin, in 1658, by the for- 
 mation of the Rhine League (see p. 80), which renewed 
 its constitution every three years, and was still in exist- 
 ence in August 1667. Louis had too in 1664 formed 
 separate alliances with the King of Sweden, the Grand 
 Elector of Brandenburg, and the Electors of Saxony, and 
 Mayence, cemented by large subsidies. He had thus 
 made himself in a great measure the arbiter of German 
 affairs, and took frequent occasion to assert his position. 
 Naturally, however, as, thus fettered, the Emperor 
 grew less and less formidable to the Princes of the 
 Empire, these bonds had become relaxed. Jealousy of 
 France was taking the place of jealousy of the Emperor, 
 and in 1667 it seemed doubtful whether another pro- 
 longation of three years of the Rhine League would be 
 secured. Louis, therefore, at once (Oct. 28, 1667) made 
 secretly at a heavy cost fresh alliances with the Princes 
 along the Rhine, the Electors of Mayence and Cologne, 
 the Duke of Neuburg, and the Bishop of Munster, by 
 which they engaged to refuse a passage to Austrian 
 troops. At the same time he stirred up disaffection 
 among the Emperor's discontented subjects in Hungary, 
 hoping thus to distract his attention, as in the case of 
 Spain he had done by the help of Portugal. 
 
 2. Invasion of the Low Countries. 
 Never did a fairer prospect present itself to an ambi- 
 tious monarch. France was at this moment beyond 
 Readiness comparison the best administered country in 
 of Louis. Europe. The wounds of the Fronde had 
 
 been healed, and all classes seemed in contentment. 
 The energy and determination of Louis himself were 
 
1667. Invasion of Spanish Netherlands. 149 
 
 ably seconded by the devotion of the great administrators 
 who had learned their trade from Mazarin. colbertand 
 Colbert had removed abuses and reorganised finance, 
 finance with such success that Louis found himself in 
 1667 not merely free from debt, but with an easily col- 
 lected revenue of more than thirty-one millions of livres 
 beyond what had been with difficulty wrung Lionne and 
 from the people at the death of Mazarin. the navy. 
 Lionne had restored the navy, which Mazarin had per- 
 mitted to rot away. In 1661 the royal dockyards had 
 contained eighteen weatherworn vessels, scantily armed 
 and manned. In 1667 France possessed a fleet of no 
 well-built and amply-equipped ships, carrying 3,730 guns, 
 and manned by 21,915 men, exclusive of officers. 
 
 The army was superb. No fewer than 150,000 men, 
 officered by the veterans of the Fronde, were in constant 
 drill, field practice, and garrison duty. The utmost atten- 
 tion had been given by the war minister, Louvois, to rais- 
 ing the infantry, hitherto the weakest arm, Louvois and 
 to the standard of the unequalled cavalry, the army - 
 and every inducement had been offered the noblesse to 
 join its ranks. In the provinces near the Spanish Low 
 Countries Louis had massed 50,000 of his best troops, 
 while the whole country was covered with camps and 
 arsenals. ' The best means,' he says himself, ' I thought, 
 of doing something of importance was to surprise my 
 enemies by my diligence, and by entering their country 
 in arms before they should be ready to resist me. I 
 therefore got everything ready much sooner than was 
 customary. I collected everywhere corn, meal, fodder, 
 powder, bullets, guns, and everything the lack of which 
 might have delayed the march of my army. But particu- 
 larly I kept carefully exercising the troops immediately 
 about my person, in order that from my example the 
 
150 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 
 
 other leaders might learn to take the same care of those 
 of whom they had the command.' 
 
 A strong contrast to ihis energy was afforded by his 
 enemies. In spite of urgent warnings from the governors 
 of the Spanish Low Countries and Franche Comte, the 
 Unreadiness court of Madrid, sunk in lethargy, made no 
 ofSpam. preparations. At the moment when the 
 
 troops selected to accompany Louis on his march were 
 passing before him in review, the Spanish ministers were 
 congratulating themselves on his deceptive assurances 
 of peace. A few days later their eyes were opened by 
 receiving from him, in a lengthy volume entitled the 
 ' Livre des Droits,' a statement of his immediate claim 
 on the Spanish Low Countries, and the suggestion of the 
 „., , _ . future claim to the whole monarchy. Its 
 
 1 he Livie 
 
 dts Droits' arguments, which were answered by Lisola, 
 lier d'fetatet Austrian ambassador at London and the 
 de justice.' Hague, in ' Le Boucher d'Etat et de Justice,* 
 were thus summed up : ' France claims the Spanish Low 
 Countries by the right of marriage ; Spain owns them in 
 right of blood ; the provinces themselves owe allegiance 
 in virtue of their customs. The Queen of France is wife 
 of the first, sister of the second, and sovereign of the 
 third.' A few days later Louis forwarded this statement 
 to the various courts of Europe. He presented his enter- 
 prise not as a war — war indeed was not declared — but as a 
 mere entering into possession of his wife's inheritance. He 
 was going, he said, to travel in the Spanish Low Countries. 
 There was no further delay. On May 24, 1667, Louis 
 . . and Turenne crossed the frontier. Castel 
 
 Louis over- 
 runs the Rodrigo, with a total force of 20,000 men 
 
 south of the , . . . . r . r 
 
 Spanish Low scattered in garrisons in towns whose iortinca- 
 Countnes. tions were out of repair, could make no resist- 
 ance. Binch was taken on the 31st, Charleroi on June 2. 
 
1667. Invasion of Spanish Netherlands. 151 
 
 By the 18th Ath, Tournai, Douai, Courtrai, Oudenarde 
 were in French hands. In less than two months the whole 
 south of the Spanish Low Countries was at Louis's feet. 
 
 3. Treaty of Eventual Partition of the Spanish 
 Monarch y with Leopold. 
 
 Spain could not dream of effective resistance to Louis. 
 Her only hope was from outside. She speedily found 
 that from England nothing was to be expected, though 
 she was still ignorant of Charles's secret engagement 
 with Louis. Taking advantage however of the revolu- 
 tion in Portugal of November 1667, which had over- 
 thrown Don Pedro and placed his brother Alphonso on 
 the throne, and which had thus rendered the Spain recog- 
 alliance with Louis of no effect, she made a dependence 
 peace with that country, recognising her at of Portugal, 
 length as an independent kingdom. She 1668. 
 then turned to Leopold. The Spanish Low Countries, 
 forming part of the ' circle ' of Burgundy, one of the ten 
 ' circles ' into which, for certain administra- Applies to 
 tive and financial purposes the Empire was Leopold, 
 divided, was, as such, nominally under the protection of 
 the Empire, and Spain claimed a fulfilment of this duty. 
 But at the Peace of Westphalia the Empire had agreed to 
 give no assistance to Spain during her war with France, 
 and in 1658 Leopold had renewed the engagement on his 
 own account. Louis now took every step in his power to 
 secure the continued fulfilment of these promises. 
 
 His ambassador at Vienna, De Gremonville, perhaps 
 the ablest of his diplomatists, had the charge of manag- 
 ing the Emperor. He so completely sue- De Gremon- 
 ceeded in his task that even when Turenne v ' lle secures 
 
 the kmperor s 
 
 had captured Lille (August 27, 1667), hitherto inactivity, 
 deemed impregnable, and had routed the Spanish force 
 
152 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 
 
 sent against him ; and when Leopold, in consternation, 
 had yielded to the pressure from Madrid and ordered 
 large levies of troops, by taking the high hand he actually 
 compelled the Emperor to countermand his own orders. 
 Not a man was enlisted, and Louis, thus freed from anx- 
 iety, was able at the end of September to put his army 
 into winter quarters, and return from his victorious pro- 
 gress to his capital. 
 
 With the Diet of Ratisbon Louis was equally success- 
 ful. Publicly he assured the Princes that he would hold 
 his conquests in the Spanish Low Countries on the same 
 terms relatively to them and to the Emperor as those 
 TheDietof upon which Spain had held them. Pri- 
 Ratisbon vately he appealed to individual members 
 
 rctuses to » * ' 
 
 oppose Louis, by profuse bribery ; and he fomented the 
 divisions which already existed among them. 
 In October 1667 the Diet resolved to confine its action to 
 mediation, and to let the claim to protection of the ' circle ' 
 lapse. In one respect only Louis failed. He was unable 
 to secure another term of three years' continuance of the 
 Rhine League. 
 
 With the two great Protestant powers of the north, 
 
 Brandenburg and Sweden, he dealt separately. Firm 
 
 allies of France as their jealousy of the 
 
 Branden- 
 burg and Emperor had made them, they began now 
 
 promise to be alarmed rather at the prospect of an 
 
 neutrality. indefinite extension of French influence ; 
 and their anxiety was increased by the endeavours of 
 Louis to secure the Polish succession, likely soon to be- 
 come vacant by the abdication of John Casimir, for a 
 Prince of the French blood. Louis, to whom Poland was 
 merely one of the counters with which he played the 
 game, at once changed his tone. To secure the co-opera- 
 tion of Brandenburg he not only withdrew his own claim, 
 
1667. Invasion of Spanish Netherlands. 153 
 
 but promised to support the election of the Grand Elec- 
 tor's relative, the Duke of Neuburg. Won by this prom- 
 ise, by a generous subsidy, and by the engagement of 
 Louis to be moderate in his claims in the Spanish Low 
 Countries, and persuaded by their ministers, who, down 
 to the secretaries who wrote the draft, had their pockets 
 filled with French gold, both the Grand Elector and the 
 Duke agreed to preserve a strict neutrality and to refuse 
 a passage to the Emperor's troops. Sweden was treated 
 with less ceremony. By the force of plain threats she 
 also was induced to remain neutral. The arrogant spirit 
 of the French is shown by Lionne's boast that in case 
 France had any trouble from her she should be speedily 
 ' sent back into her forests.' 
 
 Louis had thus taken all indirect precautions against 
 Leopold intervening in the struggle. He now made use 
 of arguments still more convincing. With- Suggestion 
 out feint or reticence he laid before the ^^So'il^f 
 Emperor a project which, by its straight- the Spanish 
 
 , . . monarchy, 
 
 forward appeal to his selfishness, might October 1667. 
 induce him to break through those family and dynastic 
 interests which at present prevented his cordial alliance 
 with an enemy of Spain. This was no less than a 
 scheme of the partition of the whole Spanish monarchy 
 between Louis and himself should Charles II. of Spain 
 die childless. Already, in the beginning of 1667, the 
 idea had been mentioned tentatively ; and the negotia- 
 tions were resumed with the utmost secrecy in October. 
 So well was that secrecy maintained that not until a few 
 years ago was the existence of this intrigue and of the 
 treaty which resulted from it known to the world. 
 
 Between the first and second attempts Louis had 
 ascertained the conditions upon which the Dutch would 
 support him in coming to terms with Spain. They agreed 
 
154 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 
 
 that Louis should hold Franche Comte, Cambrai and the 
 Cambresis, Douai (with the fort of Scarpe), 
 
 Agreement 
 
 of Louis and Aire, St. Omer, Furnes, and Bergues, with 
 The 'alter- their dependances or districts; and that 
 natives.' Charleroi should be dismantled; or, as an 
 
 alternative, that he should retain what he had already 
 conquered. Louis now placed these conditions before 
 Leopold, along with the enticing project of partition. 
 By flattery of the Emperor and his ministers, 
 
 Treaty of } J , . 
 
 eventual by first proposing exorbitant terms, and then, 
 
 jamiaryio, as great concessions, withdrawing those 
 l668 - which had no importance for France; by 
 
 every device, indeed, known to diplomacy, even to down- 
 right lying, De Gremonville at length brought about an 
 agreement. If Spain should refuse to make peace with 
 France on the suggested conditions, the Emperor would 
 not help her, provided Louis did not push his conquests 
 further. In no case would France or Austria attack each 
 other in their own dominions. The eventual division of 
 the Spanish monarchy was then regulated. The Emperor 
 was to have Spain itself, except Navarre and Rosas; the 
 West Indies; Milan and the right of investiture to the 
 duchy of Siena ; and all the Spanish ports on the Sea of 
 Tuscany up to the frontiers of Naples ; while Louis was 
 to take the Low Countries and Franche Comte; the 
 Eastern Philippines; Navarre and Rosas; all Spanish 
 possessions in Africa ; with Naples and Sicily, except as 
 before arranged. Each power was to help the other to 
 overcome resistance on the part of its new subjects; 
 local rights were to be disregarded ; the agreement was 
 not to lapse until any child that might be born to Charles 
 was six months old ; and the treaties of Westphalia and 
 the Pyrenees were meanwhile to remain in full force. 
 
1663. The Fall of Clarendon. 155 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE FALL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 While Louis XIV., absolute ruler of a great kingdom, 
 was thus giving the law to Europe, Charles II. of England 
 was every day realising more clearly how narrow were 
 the limits of his own freedom. His Parliament had been 
 showing itself imbued with precisely the same views as 
 the Long Parliament of his father, except that, whereas 
 that had been Puritan, this was Anglican. Its enemies 
 were the same — Popery, military force.and an „, 
 
 ' J ' i emper of 
 
 uncontrolled use of the purse by the Crown. the Parlia- 
 Upon all three points the action of Charles 
 had excited bitter suspicion and discontent. It was 
 through that suspicion and discontent, aided by many 
 collateral causes, and most of all by the base desertion 
 of the King, a desertion less notorious than his father's 
 desertion of Strafford only because the circumstances 
 were less tragic and the personages less grandiose, that 
 Clarendon was now struck down. 
 
 The leading causes of his fall are easily discernible, 
 though, from the many purely personal questions which 
 were involved, it is impossible to give to each its just 
 value. In 1662 he had risked the King's favour by op- 
 posing the Declaration of Indulgence. In 1663 his 
 personal enemy, the Catholic Earl of Bristol, made an 
 ill-advised attempt to secure his impeachment for high 
 treason. But the charges were utterly frivolous ; 
 Charles gave no countenance to the proceeding ; Bristol, 
 as the King prophesied, only ' burnt his wings,' and 
 Clarendon remained the stronger for the attack. He was 
 
156 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1666. 
 
 however surrounded by enemies. Lady Castlemaine, 
 the most vulgar and abandoned of the women who 
 governed Charles, hated him with the hatred of disap- 
 pointed vanity and avarice. Not only had Clarendon 
 Clarendon's steadfastly declined to court her favour — 
 enemies. h e V /ould not even permit his wife to visit 
 
 her — but he had frequently refused to pass grants for her 
 from the King. It was at her house that those nightly 
 meetings were held at which a knot of young political 
 adventurers, to whose rise the all-absorbing power of the 
 Chancellor was an obstacle, met to plan his overthrow. 
 Ashley, Lauderdale, William Coventry, and Henry 
 Bennet, better known as the Earl of Arlington, whom 
 Clarendon had himself introduced to public life, and who 
 was now Secretary of State in the place of Nicholas, had 
 each his reasons for wishing his fall. The disappointed 
 cavaliers owed him a deep grudge for the Indemnity Bill 
 and the Bill of Sales ; the Catholics saw in him the repre- 
 sentative of Anglicanism ; the Presbyterians and other 
 dissenting sects laid their persecution at his door. He 
 was disliked by the courtiers for the reproach which the 
 decency of his private life cast upon their excesses. His 
 daughter's marriage with the presumptive heir to the 
 throne roused the jealousy of the nobility; while the 
 arrogance of his demeanour and his display of wealth 
 alienated the citizens of London. It was not least to his 
 disadvantage that the gravity of his deportment lent 
 itself to Buckingham's ready wit and mimicry. The 
 Bishops alone were his steadfast friends. 
 
 It was not until 1666 that grave political events placed 
 him in direct antagonism to the Parliament. The inces- 
 sant drain of money for the expenses at once of the 
 Dutch war and of the King's pleasures was gradually ex- 
 asperating the Commons. They had with enthusiasm 
 
1 666. The Fall of Clarendon. 157 
 
 voted an enormous supply in 1664, and had followed this, 
 in 1665, with another of half the amount. Even then 
 Charles had been compelled to accept a He opposes 
 proviso, suggested by suspicion of waste, tion'of na " 
 that the money should be applied strictly supplies. 
 to the war. As in the Parliament of Charles I. the 
 doctrine had been established that taxation could not be 
 raised without the consent of Parliament, so now was 
 established the equally important doctrine that neither 
 could it be spent without that consent. Clarendon's view 
 of the constitution, despite the lessons of the last twenty 
 years, was precisely the same as it had been when he 
 served Charles I. : 'The King was to work in combina- 
 tion with his Parliament ; but he was not to allow the 
 House of Commons to force its will upon the House of 
 Lords ; still less was he to allow both Houses combined 
 to compel him to give the royal assent to bills of which 
 his conscience disapproved.' He now incurred the dis- 
 pleasure of both the King and the Commons by vehe- 
 mently inveighing against this proviso as derogatory to 
 the Crown. 
 
 When however in September 1666 Charles demanded 
 yet another supply, the country gentlemen, upon whom 
 the weight of taxation chiefly rested, and who were 
 scandalised at the excesses of the court in which they 
 did not participate, determined, while offering a sum of 
 1,800,000/., to frame further safeguards. Avoiding a 
 direct attack upon the King, they declared their belief 
 that he had been cheated by the officials, and demanded 
 a public inspection of accounts. They ap- Opposes 
 pointed a committee to examine all persons Government 
 who could give information on the subject, expenditure, 
 and they introduced a bill to nominate Parliamentary 
 commissioners to investigate expenditure and punish de- 
 
158 English Restoration and Lotiis XIV. 1666. 
 
 faulters. Charles, anxious only for the money, did not 
 oppose the action of the Commons. Clarendon however 
 again stood between them and their desires. He declared 
 that they had exceeded their proper functions, that this 
 was 'a new encroachment as had no bottom,' an uncon- 
 stitutional expansion of their privileges, and that 'the 
 scars were yet too fresh and green of those wounds which 
 had been inflicted upon the kingdom from such usurpa- 
 tions.' He openly expressed his determination to oppose 
 the bill to the utmost of his power when it came before 
 the Lords, and he urged Charles to refuse his sanction 
 even if the Lords permitted it to pass. The further pro- 
 gress of the measure was stayed by a prorogation, and 
 before the next session Clarendon had fallen. The bill 
 of the Commons was then passed. Commissioners were 
 appointed who were members of neither House, and by 
 their investigation shameful disorganisation and pecula- 
 tion on a gigantic scale were brought to light. 
 
 But Clarendon had taken a step which brought him 
 Proposes a st ^ rnore directly into conflict with Parlia- 
 dissoiution. ment. He saw that the Government and 
 the Commons were in constant antagonism. He therefore 
 pressed the King to have recourse to a dissolution, the 
 constitutional method of getting rid of such a difficulty. 
 His advice was not followed, for Charles felt that the 
 present House contained a far larger number of his 
 personal adherents and of the court officials than were 
 ever likely to find seats again, and the bishops represented 
 the danger of the possible election of many Presby- 
 terians. The mere proposal however further increased 
 the excitement against Clarendon. 
 
 Greater still was the jealousy caused in all classes by 
 another suggestion, perhaps the only one for which 
 Clarendon can be justly blamed. How far Charles was 
 
1667. The Fall of Clarendon. 159 
 
 at the time endeavouring to realise his long-cherished 
 desire of creating a standing army is doubtful. It is how- 
 ever certain that, on pretence of guarding the suggests 
 coasts after the Chatham disaster, troops were supporting 
 
 r troops by 
 
 now raised without any reference to Parlia- forced con- 
 
 _,, uTi-i tributions. 
 
 ment. They were collected and equipped 
 by some of the great nobility at their own cost, but 
 their maintenance had to be provided for, and the 
 exchequer was empty. Though Parliament stood pro- 
 rogued, Charles determined to summon it at once. This 
 resolve was opposed by Clarendon on the formal ground 
 that it was unconstitutional to summon a prorogued 
 Parliament before the day named for its meeting ; and 
 to get over the difficulty he suggested that without waiting 
 for Parliamentary sanction royal letters should be sent 
 to the Lord-lieutenants and deputy-lieutenants of the 
 counties in which the troops were raised, authorising 
 them to call in provisions, while the other counties should 
 pay a proportionate subscription. That he honestly 
 believed this to be within the lines of the constitution is 
 clear, and nothing could more strongly prove how igno- 
 rant he was of the effect upon the English mind of 
 Cromwell's government by standing armies. The effect 
 was immediate. At the meeting of Parliament in July, 
 1667, the Commons unanimously voted an address pray- 
 ing the King to disband the newly raised troops. His 
 reply was to rally them on their suspicion that he should 
 dream of wishing for a standing army, and once more, 
 for reasons which are very obscure, to prorogue them. 
 This prorogation, too, was laid to Clarendon's advice. 
 
 It became certain that whenever Parliament should 
 reassemble Clarendon would be impeached. Among the 
 bishops alone could he look for support. Charles him- 
 self, while treating him with personal kindness, displayed 
 
160 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 
 
 the cool ingratitude of his race to the man to whom he 
 largely owed his peaceful and triumphant restoration. 
 Ingratitude He had indeed many causes of irritation 
 of Charles. aga i nst Clarendon. The Chancellor had 
 opposed his wish for toleration, had not spared the 
 most outspoken remonstrances upon the idle debauchery 
 of his life, and had thwarted him in at least one disgrace- 
 ful intrigue. He was tired of hearing on every side that so 
 long as his minister was in power he was but half a King. 
 Finally — and this was with Charles throughout life the 
 most potent argument — it was easier, in the presence of 
 popular clamour, to abandon than to support him. Just as 
 in later years, when consenting to the judicial murder of 
 Archbishop Plunket, Charles was not ashamed to exclaim, 
 ' I cannot save him because I dare not,' so now he was 
 heard to say, ' My own condition is such that I cannot 
 dispute with them.' On August 30, 1667 after a vain en- 
 deavour to induce Clarendon to resign, he sent him, ill as 
 he was at the time, and mourning the death of his wife, 
 orders to deliver up the Great Seal. He was rewarded 
 by receiving the assurance of May, Lady Castlemaine's 
 secretary, that ' he was now King, which he had never 
 been before.' 
 
 Personal dislike, unscrupulous attack, the virtues far 
 more than the weaknesses of his private character, the 
 disasters of the nation — the odium for which fell, as always, 
 upon the most prominent figure in the kingdom — and the 
 ingratitude of Charles, had all much to do with Claren- 
 don's disgrace. But the main cause is to be sought in the 
 inherent weakness of his political theory. He did not 
 , , instinctively feel, and therefore could not 
 
 Clarendon s J 
 
 weakness as guide, as Pym had guided, and Shaftesbury 
 a po 1 tcian. ^^ ^ some extent to guide, the desires of 
 his generation. He was purely a constitutional lawyer, 
 
1667. The Fall of Clarendon. 161 
 
 with views of the constitution which he thought beyond 
 argument or improvement. His sole guide was the law, 
 as he understood it. He had opposed Laud and the Star 
 Chamber because they were above the law, and he had 
 opposed Parliaments when they acted against the law. He 
 endeavoured to secure a clause in an Act of Parliament to 
 grant the King a dispensing power ; but he objected to the 
 King's use of that power without Parliamentary sanction 
 as an illegal extension of the prerogative ; just as he ob- 
 jected to the claim for appropriation of supplies and the 
 inspection of accounts as an illegal extension of Parlia- 
 mentary privilege. These essentially negative views had 
 not stood in the way, had rather been advantageous, at 
 the Restoration itself. They had indeed then taken a 
 positive aspect ; for Clarendon's business was to restore 
 the old Parliamentary monarchy in strict connection with 
 the old Anglican Church, to come back to the broad lines 
 of a constitution which he loved. For such a task his 
 firmness, integrity, knowledge of constitutional law, and 
 love of business, fitted him beyond any man of his time. 
 But, that task once finished, the weakness of a position 
 based upon negations showed itself. He had neither the 
 keenness to discern a coming change nor the elasticity of 
 mind to adapt himself to it when it came. Had he been 
 able to place himself at the head of the current of popular 
 opinion he might have died prime minister of England, 
 for his usefulness was incontestable. As it was he stood 
 in its way, and was swept aside to make room for more 
 supple men. 
 
 It is possible that Charles had hoped that by his action 
 he might save his old servant from further attack. But 
 he had misunderstood the temper of Parliament. Every- 
 thing that had gone wrong during Clarendon's adminis- 
 tration was laid to his initiative — the sale of Dunkirk, 
 
 L 
 
1 62 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 
 
 the entering upon the Dutch war, the disaster at Chatham, 
 the waste of public money. When the Commons met on 
 Pro osed October 10, 1667, they at once voted an im- 
 
 impeach- peachment. It was as extravagant as misjht 
 
 ment, and , , r 
 
 flight, Nov. have been expected. Of all the articles, 
 29 ' ' 7 ' one only — that in which he was accused of 
 
 promoting a standing army, the dissolution of Parliament, 
 and the supporting troops upon forced contributions — had 
 even plausibility. Conscious of the weakness of their 
 case, they applied, but in vain, to the Lords to commit 
 Clarendon on a general charge of treason. Clarendon 
 hesitated long what course to pursue. Hearing however 
 that Charles had ' wondered why he did not withdraw 
 himself,' he determined to take the hint, which indeed 
 soon became a positive command ; and on November 29 
 he fled to France, leaving Parliament to the barren ven- 
 gence of passing an Act banishing him forever, to which 
 Charles was forced to consent. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE AND PEACE OF AIX-LA- 
 CHAPELLE. 
 
 i. Various Projects of Charles. 
 
 Underlying the other causes of the Parliamentary 
 attack upon Clarendon had been the conviction that he 
 „ , , was directing English policy in the French 
 
 English . & ' p. . * ' 
 
 jealousy interest. It was this jealousy of the French 
 
 power, the jealousy of the nation as distinct 
 
 from the King, which now led to the formation of a great 
 
 European coalition against Louis. 
 
 The project of a close alliance between England and 
 
1667. The Triple Alliance. 163 
 
 the Republic had been discussed even before the close of 
 the late war. It first took shape in the mind . 
 
 of Sir William Temple, an intimate friend Dutch 
 of De Witt, and the most cultured of English Sir'w! 6 ' 
 diplomatists. He had fretted under the sue- 2 empl< Z; 
 
 r _ Sept. 1667. 
 
 cess of Louis in fostering a war whereby the 
 two great naval and Protestant powers destroyed one 
 another's strength, and he longed to repay him in kind. 
 De Witt had listened to his proposals readily. The sole 
 object of the Grand Pensionary was to stay the approach 
 of France towards the Dutch frontier, and he had tried 
 in vain to induce Louis to pledge .himself to hold his 
 hand. He had, too, reason to hope that Sweden, sore at 
 Lionne's arrogance, would throw in her lot with that of the 
 two other Protestant powers. His agent in London was 
 therefore directed to work upon the fears of Charles by 
 declaring that if England did not join the Republic the 
 Dutch would be driven to a close alliance with Louis, and 
 upon his pride by putting before him the headship of a 
 great Protestant coalition. At the same time he tried to 
 bring Louis to terms by letting him know that on the one 
 hand he was treating directly with Castel Rodrigo, and 
 on the other had good hopes of a league with Austria, 
 Sweden, and England. The implied threat drew from 
 Louis nothing but a curt and angry reply. 
 
 The focus of diplomatic intrigue was now transferred 
 to London Ruvigny, the French ambassador, a per- 
 sonal friend of Clarendon, was despatched „ , 
 to England in the utmost haste, well fur- French, 
 
 .■..,,.. . , . Dutch, and 
 
 nished with funds to enforce his arguments, Spaniards 
 and with instructions to renew to Charles English 
 himself the promise of French help against alliance. 
 his own subjects. Before however he reached London, 
 Clarendon had fallen, and he had to deal with Buck- 
 
164 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 
 
 ingham and Arlington, between whom the power which 
 the Chancellor had left behind was now divided. 
 
 He was received with perfect frankness. Charles 
 expressed the warmest personal regard for Louis, but 
 declared that Parliament would never consent to an alli- 
 ance with France ; and among all whom Ruvigny ap- 
 proached he found the conviction that England would not 
 stand idle while France was taking the whole of the 
 Spanish Low Countries. Louis, on receiving Ruvigny's 
 report, showed the liveliest anxiety. To soothe the Par- 
 liamentary opposition, rendered keener by the news that 
 Clarendon had landed in France, he forbade the fallen 
 minister to come to Paris. He instructed Ruvigny to 
 press upon Charles the shame of being a slave to his 
 Parliament, and the prospect of avenging the insult at 
 Chatham. Concealing the fact that he was at the 
 moment in active negotiation with De Witt, Charles re- 
 plied by hinting at generous offers from Spain. A large 
 supply of ready money, a part of the French conquests in 
 the Spanish Low Countries, and important commercial 
 advantages might, however, move him. Louis at once 
 (October) instructed Ruvigny to promise the money 
 Louis's demanded, increased facilities for trade with 
 
 offers. France and the Spanish Low Countries and 
 
 French aid in ships and money to conquer the Spanish 
 possessions in the West Indies. The question of places 
 in the Spanish Low Countries was, however, waived. 
 
 The diplomatic contest between France and the 
 Republic was accentuated by the personal rivalry of 
 Buckingham and Arlington. The former, 
 Arlington & va j n manj devoid alike of principle and 
 
 Bucking- political insight, was wholly in the French 
 
 interest ; he hoped to receive the command 
 of an English contingent in the service of Louis. 
 
1667. The Triple Alliance. 165 
 
 Arlington, equally vain and unscrupulous, had succeeded 
 to the principal direction of foreign affairs by his evident 
 capacity for business and coolness of judgment. He 
 may indeed be regarded almost as a statesman of the 
 first rank. It was greatly in his favour that he was the 
 only one of Charles's ministers with a knowledge of 
 European languages sufficient to enable him to converse 
 easily with foreign ambassadors. He perfectly under- 
 stood the temper of the English people ; and, having 
 married a lady from Holland, was inclined to the Dutch 
 rather than the French connection. The opportunity 
 now offered him of thwarting Buckingham tended in 
 the same direction. While therefore engaged, in apparent 
 concert with the latter, in preliminaries with Ruvigny 
 which he had no intention of seriously pursuing, he at 
 the same moment busied himself, with Charles's sanction, 
 but without Buckingham's knowledge, in direct and seri- 
 ous negotiations with DeWitt. 
 
 In pursuance of this policy, terms were placed before 
 Louis in December of a nature likely to insure their 
 rejection. Louis in return sent the draft of a treaty 
 equally distasteful to the English Government. Charles 
 hereupon asserted that England was so exhausted by 
 the late war that repose was absolutely _ . . r 
 
 1 * Rejection ot 
 
 necessary, and that he was therefore deter- French 
 
 , , ,. alliance. 
 
 mined upon a course of strict neutrality. 
 Louis was compelled to hide his irritation at this, the first 
 serious check to his diplomatic success, by proclaiming 
 that such neutrality was really more to his interest than 
 war, inasmuch as the Dutch, no longer fearing the union 
 of England and France, would lay aside much of their 
 jealousy with respect to his movements. Privately, how- 
 ever, he expressed profound disappointment. 
 
 It is a lively illustration of the political morality of the 
 
1 66 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 
 
 time, that simultaneously with these negotiations Charles 
 p ro , t was offering to Spain too his active alliance. 
 Spain His terms were, as always, ready money and 
 
 commercial expansion. He demanded a 
 heavy subsidy, permission to send a fixed number of 
 ships for unrestricted trade to Buenos Ayres and the 
 Philippines; privileges in Antwerp, which was again to 
 become the rival of Amsterdam ; and, through the exer- 
 cise of Spanish influence, free trade with the Hanse 
 towns. Both the poverty and the pride of Spain stood in 
 the way of the acceptance of such terms. 
 
 2. The Triple Alliance. 
 
 Nothing therefore now remained, if England was to 
 take action at all, but the acceptance of the union with 
 Charles de- the Republic proposed by De Witt, to com- 
 Dutch eS °" P e ^ Louis to bind himself to one or other of 
 alliance. \^ % < alternatives ' (see p. 1 54) ; and to this, 
 
 under Arlington's influence, Charles now found decisive 
 reasons for turning. Most of all, the hope that such an 
 alliance might put to rest the increasing clamour of Par- 
 liament was an argument which influenced a King who 
 habitually acted along the line of least resistance. Early 
 in January 1668 Temple was sent off in haste to the 
 Hague. 
 
 Two difficulties threatened to retard the conclusion of 
 the alliance. De Witt had dealt a severe blow to the 
 Difficulties Orange faction, and had offended Charles, 
 avoided. by obtaining the perpetual separation of the 
 
 stadtholdership from the command of the land and sea 
 forces. To this he wished for Charles's acquiescence, 
 and he now secured this acquiescence by affecting to 
 hang back from the treaty, on which the King was for 
 the moment bent. The other difficulty was that, while 
 
1668. The Triple AlZiance. 167 
 
 haste and secrecy were of the last necessity, the peculiar 
 constitution of the Dutch government, which required the 
 sanction of all treaties by the Provincial Estates, rendered 
 haste and secrecy impossible. It happened however that 
 during the late war the Provincial Estates had for urgency 
 delegated their power to a commission of eight members, 
 which was still undissolved. To this body the business 
 was referred, and upon their agreement the treaty was at 
 once ratified by the States General. Temple thus com- 
 pletely outwitted d'Estrades, the French ambassador at 
 the Hague, who reported to Lionne that some arrange- 
 ment was in the wind, but that it would be easy to secure 
 its defeat when brought, as the constitution demanded, 
 before the Provincial Estates. 
 
 On January 13, 1668, Temple succeeded in concluding 
 three separate treaties. By the first each power was 
 bound to assist the other, if attacked in Eu- The alliance 
 rope, with forty ships of the line, 6,000 ^ nd "{j e an 
 infantry, and 400 cavalry. By the second Republic, 
 
 J J J January 13, 
 
 they were to endeavour to restore peace be- 1668. 
 tween France and Spain on the basis of the ' alternatives,' 
 to obtain from Louis a cessation of arms until the end of 
 May, to guarantee the cession by Spain of the places to 
 which he would become entitled, and finally to induce 
 him, under this guarantee, to renounce further conquests 
 in the Spanish Low Countries, even if force should be 
 found necessary to compel Spain to observe the agree- 
 ment. 
 
 In these two treaties all sign of menace to Louis had 
 been sedulously avoided. The third, which was strictly 
 secret, was of a different character. It pro- The secret 
 vided that whichever of the parties refused treat y- 
 to consent to the ' alternatives,' force should be used to 
 compel her to accept peace. If France were recalcitrant, 
 
i68 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 
 
 the war upon her should not cease until she had been 
 reduced to the limits imposed by the Peace of the 
 Pyrenees. No protest was made against the future claim 
 of Louis to the Spanish monarchy, and it was doubtless 
 hoped that since the conditions of peace were those pro- 
 posed by Louis himself, the secret article would never be 
 called into play. 
 
 To this treaty Sweden gave her adhesion in April, 
 
 conditionally upon obtaining from Spain the payments to 
 
 which she laid claim. Such however was 
 
 Conditional . 
 
 accession of the poverty of Spain that she was unable 
 to find the money, and the difficulty was got 
 over only by England and the Republic guaranteeing the 
 payment at a future time. The signature of Sweden was 
 affixed on May 15. The treaty has thus become known 
 as the Triple Alliance. 
 
 Important as the Triple Alliance was, both in its 
 immediate effects, and as the first formal expression 
 of European resistance to the aggressions of Louis, it 
 _ , , was, so far as Charles was concerned, a 
 
 Charles s 
 
 viewofthe piece of gross political knavery. His hopes 
 were in reality steadily fixed on France, and 
 on the day after the treaty was signed he wrote both to 
 his sister Henrietta, who was in the confidence of Louis, 
 and to Louis himself, to explain his action as forced 
 upon him by his subjects. He had too the special 
 meanness to declare that it was the Dutch and not he 
 who had proposed and pressed the matter forward. By 
 the secret treaty he had cleverly and fatally compromised 
 the Dutch in the eyes of Louis, and had thus secured 
 their isolation if ever he should himself desire to attack 
 them again. 
 
i668. Peace of Aix-la-Chapellc. 169 
 
 3. Peace of Aix-la Chapelle. 
 
 In the face of this coalition Louis might well pause in 
 his career. The peace which Portugal had made with 
 Spain naturally tended in the same direction, Effect of 
 since it set free to fight in the Spanish Nether- Alliances 
 lands whatever forces Spain still possessed. Louis. 
 The three events — the Partition Treaty, the Triple Alii, 
 ance, and the peace of Portugal with Spain — now brougln 
 about a short period of repose for Europe. 
 
 But Louis had meanwhile had time to strike another 
 blow. On the mediation of the Pope he had, in Sep- 
 tember 1667, granted a truce of three months. At its 
 conclusion, in January 1668, the Diet asked for a further 
 period of three months during which terms might be 
 arranged ; but Louis, while consenting to keep open the 
 negotiations, refused a suspension of arms. The confi- 
 dence of Castel Rodrigo, who declared that Nature her- 
 self would enforce a suspension, incited him to an un- 
 expected enterprise. Winter campaigns had been till 
 then almost unknown in European warfare. But Louis 
 broke through the general practice. He determined to 
 overrun Franche Comte, which lay temptingly open to 
 attack. 
 
 His preparations were rapidly made. A corps of 
 15,000 men was placed under the command of Conde. 
 On the 2d, after sending notice of his intention to 
 all the European powers, he left St. Germain. In a 
 fortnight all was over The Spaniards could oppose 
 only 12,000 disorganised troops to Conde's corps cV elite ; 
 and by the 19th, before Europe had recov- 
 
 1 r 1 • , , Conquest of 
 
 ered from her surprise, the only places Franche 
 capable of offering resistance were in Louis's 
 hands. He now received from the English and Dutch 
 envoys the formal announcement of the Triple Alliance. 
 
170 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 
 
 Their communication was couched in terms of studied 
 compliment, the whole stress being laid upon the in- 
 tended compulsion of Spain. In accordance with the 
 treaty they asked for a suspension of arms until the end 
 of May. 
 
 To this Louis replied that Spain, by making peace 
 with Portugal, showed her intention of continuing the 
 war and that to grant the suspension demanded would 
 merely give her three months in which to strengthen 
 herself, while he, with 100,000 men ready to march, 
 Louis had to stand by with folded arms. To show 
 
 accepts the hj s anxiety to satisfy Europe however, he 
 
 terms of the ' J r 
 
 Triple would hold his hand until May 16, upon an 
 
 Alliance , . . ~ . r , 
 
 condition- undertaking that the ratifications of the treaty 
 
 a y " with Spain on the basis of the ' alternatives ' 
 
 were exchanged by that date, and would even give back 
 to Spain all he might have taken since March 31, the 
 date he had originally offered for the conclusion of an 
 arrangement. 
 
 This decision was arrived at only after long consider- 
 ation. In the unprepared condition of the other powers, 
 no less than in his own readiness for attack, in the 
 advice of Conde and Turenne, and in the feeling of Paris, 
 where the warlike spirit was so strong that it was ' a 
 mortal sin even to mention peace,' Louis had every 
 temptation to immediate war. Moreover he had, through 
 the treachery of Charles, learned with ex- 
 
 His reasons. ..... - , 
 
 cessive indignation of the secret provisions 
 of the Triple Alliance. Other considerations however 
 prevailed. The necessity of garrisoning any towns he 
 might capture would enfeeble his army ; while a general 
 European coalition would probably at once follow any 
 further attack. War would but consolidate^the Triple 
 Alliance, which was sure before long, if he were mode- 
 
i668. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 171 
 
 rate, to fall asunder by its own weight. Franche Comte 
 could be rendered powerless before he gave it up ; and 
 the towns which he already possessed in the Spanish 
 Low Countries would place the rest at his mercy when a 
 more favourable moment should arrive. 
 
 He therefore, on April 15, 1668, agreed to the follow- 
 ing terms. Up to May 31 he would accept whichever of 
 the ' alternatives ' Spain might choose. Dur- 
 
 , , , . Peace of 
 
 ing the next two months he should raise his Aixia-Cha- 
 terms. To the first ' alternative ' (see p. 154) pe e ' 
 he should add the possession of Luxemburg, or Lille and 
 Tournai ; to the second, that of Franche Comte, Cambrai, 
 and the Cambresis. Should nothing have been settled 
 by the end of July, the whole question would be open 
 to revision. England and the Republic bound them- 
 selves meanwhile to attack Spain after May 31 should 
 she refuse to concur, reserving for their action the 
 north-eastern, while he dealt with the south-western 
 portion of the still unoccupied part of the Spanish 
 Low Countries. 
 
 Without resources or prospects of efficient help, Castel 
 Rodrigo at length gave way ; though the pride, dilatori- 
 ness, and formality of the court of Madrid so effectually 
 seconded his reluctance that it was not until May 29 that 
 the treaty was finally concluded. Looking more to a 
 future war with France than to the present peace, he 
 decided to accept the second ' alternative,' since the first, 
 which included the French possession of Franche Comte, 
 would have closed all communication between the Spanish 
 Low Countries, the Empire, and Lorraine. The Dutch 
 too, he felt, would by this choice be alarmed at the 
 proximity of France, and would be more interested in 
 the continued defence of the rest of the Spanish Low 
 Countries. 
 
172 English Restoration and Loins XIV. 1668. 
 
 The advantages gained by Louis were immense. 
 
 Victory had, as it were, been given him by compulsion, 
 
 and he appeared before Europe as the 
 
 Advantages • * l * 
 
 gained by apostle of moderation. Confronted by a 
 
 formidable alliance, he had himself laid 
 down the conditions of peace ; and those conditions con- 
 tained not one word to hamper his action in that which 
 especially caused the fears of Europe — the prosecution 
 of his claim to the Spanish monarchy. The fortresses of 
 Charleroi, Binch, Ath, Douai (v/ith Scarpe), Tournai, 
 Oudenarde, Lille, Armentieres, Courtrai, Bergues, and 
 Furnes, with their districts, which were now secured to 
 him by treaty, constituted a veritable frontiere de fer, 
 the impregnable north-eastern frontier of France for 
 which Henri IV., Richelieu, and Mazarin had all striven. 
 Paris was now the real centre of the country, and the 
 way for the next leap to European supremacy was open 
 and easy. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 COMPLETE FAILURE OF CHARLES'S ATTEMPTS AT 
 
 TOLERATION AFTER THE FALL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 1667-1671. 
 
 i. Toleration during the Recess of Parliament. 
 The fall of Clarendon constituted a definite point of de- 
 parture in the history of the reign of Charles II.; for it 
 removed one obstacle to the fulfilment of his purpose of 
 _ , . , resting- his power upon the good-will and 
 
 Buckingham or r o 
 
 and Arling- gratitude of Dissent. Buckingham and 
 
 Arlington were naturally ready to espouse a 
 
 policy opposed to that of Clarendon. But their private 
 
 inclinations also led them towards toleration ; Bucking- 
 
1 668. Contest Regarding Toleration. 173 
 
 ham, as the husband of Fairfax's daughter, and the 
 patron of Protestant discontent ; Arlington, as a sym- 
 pathiser with the Catholics, even if he were not one 
 himself. 
 
 As long as the recess lasted they had their way. The 
 penal statutes were ignored, the prisons set open, and 
 the meeting-houses again thronged. The 
 
 ° ° Renewed 
 
 Presbyterians received ostentatious favour, attempt at 
 
 ... 1 j /-. 1.1 toleration. 
 
 while many old Commonwealth men again 
 appeared in public. A conference was held in which 
 Orlando Bridgeman (who as Lord Keeper of the Seals 
 had succeeded Clarendon), Lord Chief Justice Hale, and 
 some of the purest characters of both the Church and the 
 dissenting bodies took part, and a bill was drafted 
 whereby, upon some alterations of ceremonies and the 
 form of ordination, the Presbyterians were to re-enter 
 the Church, while the other sects whose principles for- 
 bade association with a State establishment were to have 
 three years' full indulgence. It was confidently hoped 
 that Parliament, rendered tractable by the Triple Alli- 
 ance, would give their consent to this proposal. 
 
 This hope soon proved groundless. The Commons 
 had indeed overthrown Clarendon, because he had 
 resisted their encroachments on the prerogative, and was 
 thought to favour France, not because he had opposed 
 toleration. Upon this question they had always been 
 more Clarendonian than Clarendon himself, and it was 
 now found that their views were but strengthened by 
 their late successes. 
 
 2. Persecution during the Session. 
 The intentions of the King had already leaked out, 
 and the Commons met (February 10, 1668) in a state of 
 excessive irritation to consider the speech from the 
 
174 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 
 
 throne. The usual demand for money occupied the first 
 place. Then followed a request that they would ' seriously 
 think of some course to beget a better union and com- 
 posure in the minds of my Protestant subjects in matters 
 of religion.' All mention of Catholics was carefully 
 avoided. 
 
 The reply of the Commons struck the prevailing note 
 of distrust. A subsidy of 300,000/. was indeed voted, 
 Anger of the but with a demand for definite application. 
 Commons. ^ searching inquiry was instituted into the 
 mismanagement of the Dutch war, and especially into 
 the Chatham disgrace. They next sought to restore the 
 Attempt to abandoned safeguards to the Triennial Bill 
 Triennial 6 ( see P* r 3°) b y entrusting the Chancellor 
 Bil1 - with the duty of issuing writs should the 
 
 King fail to do so within three years of a dissolution. 
 But the dislike to stultify themselves so soon, the in- 
 decency of pushing the King so hard, and the fact that 
 in Sweden, the only other country then under parlia- 
 mentary government, writs were issued by officials only 
 during a minority, furnished arguments to the court party ; 
 and a technical irregularity in the introduction of the bill 
 was made an excuse for waiving the question. Language 
 of unusual boldness was however heard in the debate, 
 and phrases such as ' compelling the king by law ' were 
 significant of the rising anger and distrust. 
 
 On the main issue there was among the vast majority 
 no hesitation. Charles was at once petitioned to pro- 
 Failure of claim the suppression of all unlawful assem- 
 attTmpt'at blies > whether Papist or Protestant. He well 
 toleration. knew that upon his answer depended a 
 continuance of the supplies which his extravagance ren- 
 dered necessary. The short-lived hopes of the Dissenters 
 came to an end. The desires of the King, the influence 
 
i668. Contest Regarding Toleration. 175 
 
 of Buckingham and Arlington, and the wishes of the 
 best men of both parties were alike powerless before the 
 angry determination of the Commons. 
 
 On March 1 1 they settled down to the consideration 
 of the last part of the King's speech. The minority 
 spoke with boldness and force. They urged that ' if a 
 man finds not his account in the government he lives 
 under he will never labour to support it,' and they repre- 
 sented vividly the evils which the persecuting Acts were 
 causing to trade. The dread of a standing army was 
 appealed to on both sides ; it was alternately Debates on 
 declared that toleration with its consequent p h r o P ^safs S 
 anarchy, and repression with its consequent March 1668. 
 discontent, would alike demand the maintenance of a 
 military force. The violent Churchmen used the old 
 language. The Presbyterians had, it was true, brought 
 about the Restoration, and were supporters of monarchy ; 
 and yet their tenets were destructive of proper govern- 
 ment : 'The king but "minister bonorum" ' — 'greater 
 than any one man, but less than the people ' — ' salus 
 populi suprema lex.' They must not be allowed a footing, 
 lest they destroy the whole. The charge that, though 
 by profession men of mercy, Churchmen carried things 
 with excessive severity, was met by the question, ' Must 
 a father yield authority to his son ? ' Leave was at length 
 given to introduce a bill to continue the Conventicle 
 Acts. 
 
 On April 8 the proposal that the King should be asked 
 to hold a conference of divines was fully debated. It 
 was argued that severity did but make Dissent respect- 
 able; that the justices refused to convict, because the 
 wife and children of the offender became chargeable on 
 the parish ; and that it was dangerous to make laws too 
 big to be executed. Waller likened the Church to an 
 
176 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 
 
 elder brother among the Turks who strangles his brethren 
 lest they should threaten the succession ; and he bade 
 the House take notice that Empson and Dudley were 
 hanged not for extortion but for pressing the penal laws. 
 The Tolerationists had the speaking to themselves; but 
 the majority had the votes, and the proposal was rejected 
 by 176 to 70. 
 
 Three weeks later, on the bill for continuing the Con- 
 venticle Acts, the advocates of severity had their way. In 
 Bill for con- va ' n tne Y wcr e urged ' to make the fire in the 
 tinuing Con- chimney and not in the middle of the room,' 
 
 venticlc ' 
 
 Acts, May and warned against making it so hot that it 
 would burn both the victims and their execu- 
 tioners. The prevailing sentiment was probably inter- 
 preted by a speaker who declared that if the Catholics did 
 not come under this bill he should ask leave to bring in 
 one to tolerate Popery. The bill was carried by 144 to 
 
 73- 
 
 For a while the attention of the House was distracted by 
 a famous controversy with the Lords, embittered by the 
 The Skinner jealousy aroused by their frequent and seri- 
 controversy. ous assum ptions and extensions of power 
 since the Restoration. A merchant named Skinner, who 
 complained that the East India Company had seized his 
 ship and cargo, and assaulted himself, laid his cause be- 
 fore the Privy Council instead of first appealing to the law 
 courts ; the Privy Council referred the matter to the Lords, 
 and the Lords awarded him heavy damages. The com- 
 pany thereupon appealed to the Commons, who at once 
 denied the legality of an original appeal to the Lords in a 
 case with which the ordinary courts were competent to 
 deal, declared the action of the Lords to be a breach of 
 privilege, and ordered Skinner into custody. They passed, 
 too, a vote that anybody who assisted in carrying out the 
 
1669. Contest Regarding Toleration. 177 
 
 order of the Lords should be deemed a betrayer of the 
 liberties of the Commons of England and an infringer of 
 the privileges of the House. The Lords thereupon com- 
 mitted to prison Sir Samuel Barnardiston, chairman of the 
 company and a member of the Commons, and fined him 
 500/. So violent was the quarrel, and so complete the 
 deadlock, that the opportunity was a good one for seeing 
 whether, if time were given for passions to cool, the 
 Commons might not at the same time be induced to waive 
 their opposition to toleration. Charles therefore, on May 
 8, 1668, ordered the House to adjourn itself, and after- 
 wards by successive adjournments put off its meeting until 
 October 19, 1669. 
 
 During this long interval the question of a dissolution 
 was again earnestly discussed. Not only were both Buck- 
 ingham and Arlington anxious to avoid par- ^.. . , 
 
 00 r Discussion of 
 
 liamentary attack, but they were confident of advisability 
 
 1 r 11 r 1 t-v- r of a dissolu- 
 
 the full support of the Dissenters for a new tion. 
 election, since their condition had aeain been _ , , 
 
 ' , ° Fresh tolera- 
 
 ameliorated as soon as Parliament had been tion during 
 
 ICCCSS 
 
 adjourned. The more pronounced sectarians 
 had been secured by Buckingham, and had offered a large 
 contribution towards the King's expenses in return for the 
 indulgence he promised. Charles had himself received a 
 Presbyterian deputation, and declared he still hoped to see 
 their body before long within the national Church. 
 
 It is probable that a dissolution would have secured his 
 objects. But the old fears again prevailed. Monk, who 
 still possessed great influence, urged that a Parliament 
 composed largely of the oppressed would seek for ven- 
 geance on their oppressors, and exclaimed that rather than 
 wait for that day he would leave England. Charles de- 
 termined once more to face his old Parliament, the meeting 
 of which could not indeed be longer delayed. During the 
 
 M 
 
178 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1669. 
 
 recess a spasmodic attempt had been made to bring the 
 expenditure within the revenue secured to the King for 
 life. But ' economy was an exotic at court,' and money 
 was again absolutely necessary. The Houses met on 
 October 19, 1669. 
 
 Had Charles been careful to maintain at least a mod- 
 erate execution of the penal laws, it is possible that the 
 Commons might at their coming together have accepted 
 some indulgence for Protestant Dissent. As it was, they 
 assembled possessed more than ever with the doctrines 
 that Catholicism was their arch-enemy, and that an over- 
 whelming and exclusive Anglican ascendancy was the 
 only means whereby to fight this enemy. Sheldon had 
 collected ex parte information as to the character of the 
 conventicles, and even before the meeting of Parlia- 
 ment had carried it to Charles and forced him to issue a 
 fresh proclamation to enforce the laws. 
 
 The session began with a strict examination into the 
 public accounts. The King was then thanked for his 
 Renewal of recent proclamation. The Commons next 
 bythe" 1 ' ™ appointed a committee to inquire into the 
 Commons. holding of conventicles in London, which 
 had aroused a blind dread of the return to a Common- 
 wealth regime. The committee reported that such meet- 
 ings were an affront to government, and an imminent 
 danger to Parliament and the general peace. Monk was 
 deputed to suppress them ; and it is noteworthy that this 
 suppression had now become a matter of pure police ; 
 the meetings were to be put down as politically danger- 
 The Lords' °us ; religion was not named. The House 
 original then, returned to the Skinner dispute, justi- 
 
 junsdiction, fi ec i the unrestricted right of petitioning the 
 Commons, which the Lords had called in question, and 
 again declared the action of the Upper House in claim- 
 
1 67 1. Contest Regarding Toleration. 179 
 
 ing original jurisdiction subversive of the rights both of 
 themselves and of the subject. They asserted further 
 that should the Lords at any time give a decision con- 
 trary to law, the subject had a right to appeal to the 
 Commons. The dispute was never settled, but the claim 
 of the Lords to original jurisdiction was allowed to 
 lapse, and has never been reasserted. 
 
 Somewhat later the Commons practically defeated the 
 Lords upon another question of great constitutional im- 
 portance, their claim to make alterations in money bills. 
 
 Such a claim had been made, and either al- 
 and to 
 lowed or contested, many times, without a alter money 
 
 final decision being arrived at. At length, 
 in April 1 67 1, the Lords reduced the amount of an im- 
 position on sugar, and this led to a resolution of the 
 Lower House to the effect that ' in all aids given to the 
 King by the Commons the rate of tax ought not to be al- 
 tered by the Lords.' The exclusive title of the Com- 
 mons to the giving aids, ' the only poor thing the Com- 
 mons can value themselves upon to their Prince,' or, in 
 other words, the only real hold they have upon the 
 Crown, was, in the words of the Attorney-General at 
 the conference between the Houses, ' so fundamental 
 that I cannot give a reason for it, for that would be a 
 weakening of the Commons' right and privilege, which 
 we can never depart from, being affirmatively possessed 
 of it in all ages, and negatively as to the Lords.' The 
 Lords, strong in the absence of proof to this effect, 
 brought forward many precedents to the contrary, the 
 relevancy and import of which was however challenged 
 with great subtlety by the managers for the Commons. 
 The question came to an end with the session, and, like 
 that of the judicature, has never been formally settled. 
 But, as with the latter, the Lords have tacitly given up 
 
180 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1670. 
 
 the point ; for, though they have not acknowledged the 
 privilege of the Commons further than as regards the 
 originating of money bills, they have, on the other hand, 
 never seriously questioned their right to the absolute ad- 
 justment of all questions of taxation and supply. 
 
 Hopeless of gaining his objects, Charles, on Decem- 
 ber 11, 1669, once more prorogued Parliament, and thus 
 ended a session which, lasting since February 10, 1668, 
 had not passed a single Act. The supply which had 
 been voted him was insufficient for the wide- reaching 
 purposes which it will be seen he had in view, and he re- 
 fused to accept it. He was already deep in secret negoti- 
 ation with Louis, presently to be related, and he had 
 hoped for assistance from Parliament large enough to en- 
 able him to treat with that monarch on independent terms. 
 The jealous parsimony of the Commons, who refused so 
 much as to take his debts into consideration, changed 
 his views. He determined to look to France for the 
 money. 
 
 When Parliament met for a new session on February 
 14, 1670, an unusual scene was witnessed. For the first 
 Charles tmie m English history the sovereign in 
 
 opens opening the proceedings was attended with 
 
 Parliament v & r ° 
 
 with military military pomp. It can hardly be doubted 
 that his design was thus to accustom the 
 people to the idea of a standing army. He met the 
 Houses with confidence begotten by his dealings with 
 Louis, and addressed them ' stylo minaci et imperatorio.' 
 But he had another reason for confidence. He had no 
 intention of hampering himself by a continuance of the 
 quarrel. On the contrary, he was resolved to extract 
 from Parliament an unstinted supply, which he would 
 use for the objects most distasteful to it. He knew the 
 one condition necessary, and he cynically determined to 
 
1670. Contest Regarding Toleration. 181 
 
 offer it himself. His speech did not for once contain a 
 word about toleration. The Commons understood that 
 they might have their swing of persecution. They 
 showed their instant recognition of the fact by voting a 
 supply of 300,00c/. a year for eight years. The Skinner 
 dispute having been got out of the way by his sensible 
 proposal that all the records connected with it should be 
 erased, Charles left them without demur to settle down to 
 their favourite work. So successful was this complete 
 surrender of the policy which he had pursued since his 
 restoration that, in the words of Andrew Marvell, ' the 
 King was never since his coming in, nay, all things con- 
 sidered, no King since the Conquest, so absolutely pow- 
 erful at home.' 
 
 On March 2 the bill for suppressing conventicles passed 
 its second reading on the old ground that 'seditious sec- 
 taries, under pretence of tender consciences, The second 
 do contrive insurrections at their meetings.' Bi^Ma'^h 
 It consisted of the former Act of 1664, with ^°- 
 somewhat slighter penalties for the listeners, but with the 
 addition of clauses which rendered it far more severe and 
 thorough in application. Preachers and teachers were 
 liable to a fine of 20/. for the first and 40/. for the second 
 offence. Constables withholding information were to be 
 fined 5/., and justices of the peace who refused to convict 
 were to pay 100/. for every such refusal. Informers were 
 further encouraged by the promise of half the fine. To 
 protect the arbitrary execution of the law, it was decided 
 that if any one appealed against a prosecution and was 
 nonsuited he should be mulcted in treble costs ; while 
 the climax of injustice was reached by the enactment that 
 <all clauses shall be construed most largely and benefi- 
 cially for the suppressing conventicles and for the justifi- 
 cation and encouragement of all persons to be employed 
 
1 82 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1670. 
 
 in the execution thereof. No warrant shall be made void 
 for any default in form ; and if a person fly from one 
 county or corporation to another, his goods and chattels 
 shall be seizable wherever they are found.' 
 
 This inhuman Act did not pass without protest. It was 
 argued that ' men have a kindness for persecuted people 
 Arguments ever since Henry VIII. and Mary ; ' the Dis- 
 agamst it. senters, it was said, ' are like children's tops ; 
 whip them and they stand upright, let them alone and 
 they fall.' ' A man that has no preaching near him,' said 
 Colonel Birch, an old Commonwealth man, ' will get it 
 where he can. Is it reasonable to punish men when 
 they must go four or five miles for a sermon ? To whip 
 them, and not to be able to tell them why you do so, is 
 unreasonable, they having no churches in many places 
 to go to.' When Waller demanded that the conventi- 
 clers should have no severer penalties than the Papists, 
 he laid himself open to the obvious retort that that was 
 just none at all ; and a reference to Louis XIV., who had 
 solved the religious difficulty in France by allowing the 
 Huguenots set and limited places of worship, was not 
 likely to have much weight with an assembly to whom 
 the name of France had become hateful. 
 
 The Lords eagerly seconded the Commons in passing 
 the bill. They attached to it however two provisos ; the 
 The Lords' first to insist upon their own immunity from 
 provisos. search, except by a warrant from the King 
 
 under his sign manual, or in presence of the lord-lieu- 
 tenant. The second ran thus : ' Provided always that 
 neither this Act nor anything therein contained shall ex- 
 tend to invalidate or avoid his Majesty's supremacy in 
 ecclesiastical affairs, or to destroy any of /lis JSIajestys 
 rig/its, powers, or prerogatives, belonging to the imperial 
 crown of this realm, or at any time exercised or enjoyed 
 
1670. Contest Regarding Toleration. 183 
 
 by himself or any of his Majesty s royal predecessors ; 
 but that his Majesty, his heirs and successors, may from 
 time to time, and at all times hereafter, exercise and 
 enjoy all such powers and authorities aforesaid, as fully 
 and as amply as himself or any of his predecessors have 
 or might have done the same ; anything in this Act or 
 any other law, statute, or usage to the contrary notwith- 
 standing.' It was not probable that the Commons would 
 pass an amendment under cover of which the dispensing 
 power might have been legally exercised. The words in 
 italics were rejected by 122 to 68 ; and the Lords wisely 
 refrained from insisting upon their view. On April 11, 
 1670, Charles gave his assent to the bill. Sheldon 
 hounded on the Bishops, and so severely was the Act 
 executed that a trustworthy witness declared soon after- 
 wards that there was scarcely a conventicle to be heard 
 of all over England. 
 
 Amid all this senseless cruelty one advance in consti- 
 tutional liberty deserves to be recorded. The Quakers 
 were especially obnoxious to the law. Find- Case of 
 ing the usual place of meeting in Grace- William 
 
 r _ ° Penn ; rights 
 
 church Street closed by soldiers, the cele- of juries, 
 brated William Penn, the most eminent of ep " ' 7 °' 
 their body, addressed the people in the open street. The 
 Conventicle Act not technically touching this meeting, 
 Penn and another Quaker, William Mead, were indicted 
 at the Old Bailey on September 1, 1670, for preaching ' to 
 an unlawful, seditious, and riotous assembly, which had 
 met together with force and arms.' The trial which fol- 
 lowed is notable in the history of English liberty, for the 
 jury for the first time asserted the right of juries to decide 
 in opposition to the ruling of the court. They brought 
 in a verdict declaring Penn and Mead 'guilty of speaking 
 in Graccchurch Street,' but refused to add ' to an unlaw- 
 
184 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1671. 
 
 ful assembly.' Then, as the pressure from the bench in- 
 creased, and as they were sent back time after time with- 
 out food, light, fire, or tobacco, they first acquitted Mead, 
 while returning their original verdict upon Penn, and then, 
 when that verdict was not admitted, gave in their final 
 answer, ' not guilty,' for both. The Recorder of London 
 fined the jurymen forty marks each for contumacy, and 
 in default of payment imprisoned them ; whereupon they 
 vindicated and established forever the right they had 
 claimed of finding verdicts against the ruling of the 
 bench, in an action before the court of Common Pleas, 
 when the Lord Chief Justice Vaughan declared their im- 
 prisonment illegal. 
 
 Protestant Nonconformity being now out of the way, 
 the Commons were at liberty to attack the other wing of 
 the forces hostile to Anglican supremacy. On March 10, 
 167 1, a remarkable petition was forwarded to the King, 
 in which were set forth at length the causes of the in- 
 Persecution crease of Popery and the remedies held to 
 cfsm^March be necessary. All Popish priests and Jesuits 
 l6 7'- were to be banished, with the exception of 
 
 those attached by treaty to the Queen's household and to 
 the foreign embassies. The existing laws against Popish 
 recusants were to be rigidly enforced. Attendance at the 
 chapels which by the exceptions mentioned were left un- 
 molested was to be forbidden to the King's subjects. No 
 civil or military office was for the future to be held by a 
 Papist, or one ' justly suspected' to be so. All Catholic 
 schools were to be closed, and the teachers punished. 
 Plunket, Catholic primate of Ireland, and Peter Talbot, 
 titular archbishop of Dublin, were to be arrested and 
 sent to England for trial. To the demands for the 
 banishment of priests and Jesuits, and for the enforce- 
 ment of the penal laws against Popish recusants, Charles 
 
1 668. Preparations of Louis for War. 185 
 
 yielded at once. Opinion had not however yet travelled 
 so far as to force him to grant the rest. Being now 
 secure of a further supply, the payment for this new 
 surrender, Charles immediately prorogued the Parliament, 
 which did not meet again for business until February 4, 
 1672. Before that time the great crisis of the reign had 
 been reached. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PREPARATIONS OF LOUIS FOR THE INVASION OF THE 
 UNITED PROVINCES. 
 
 I. The Treaty of Dover, June i, 1670. 
 The Triple Alliance had been entered into by Charles 
 against his personal inclinations. No one in his con- 
 fidence regarded it as more than a tempo- causes tend- 
 rary expedient, for the disruptive forces were u ng t |,° xrMe 
 as permanent as those which secured it Alliance, 
 were fleeting. The King's antipathy to the Dutch was 
 reinforced by desire of avenging the Chatham disgrace ; 
 the same informal war of merchants wherever the two 
 countries met in competition for trade, as had preluded 
 the late struggle, was being waged ; and the old dispute 
 of the flag had been revived. On the very day when 
 London was blazing with bonfires to celebrate the con- 
 clusion of peace, Clifford was heard to declare that for all 
 the rejoicing there must soon be another war. 
 
 That Louis should contentedly accept his rebuff at the 
 hands of the Dutch was still less to be expected. As 
 republicans, as traders, and as Protestants, they were 
 the objects of his haughty contempt. As promoters of 
 the Triple Alliance with its secret articles they were the 
 objects of his bitter anger. The arrogance of speech in 
 
1 86 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 
 
 which they were unwisely indulging, their ' fanfaronnades 
 de pecheurs' — an arrogance exhibited especially in a 
 medal in which France was represented as the sun 
 (which Louis had adopted as the symbol of his grandeur) 
 stayed in his course by the Republic — so rankled in his 
 mind that he never, he says, entered his council without 
 thinking how to make them pay dearly for the great role 
 they had assumed. But before attacking 
 mines to gain them he set to work to remove from them 
 all possible sources of support, to destroy 
 the coalition limb by limb ; and he began with England. 
 
 It is a mistake to regard Charles in what followed as 
 making a surrender of himself to Louis. He was for the 
 time master of his own game, and he exacted his own 
 terms. The game was not an easy one to play. He was 
 to break off an alliance upon which Parliament was most 
 earnestly bent ; he was to enter into fellowship with the 
 representative of European aggression and Catholic des- 
 potism, and these were precisely what Parliament most 
 dreaded. He had, too, to deal with the divisions in his 
 own council. The frothy egotism of Buckingham was 
 enlisted on the side of France; while Arlington openly 
 expressed the opinion that Louis was pretending to uni- 
 versal monarchy, and that his wing must be clipped. 
 
 The first approaches of Louis (April and May 1668) 
 were frustrated by Arlington's action. When Ruvigny 
 asked what offers he might place before his master, he 
 insisted that the first proposals should corne from France, 
 and in the teeth of Buckingham's influence induced the 
 King to send Temple as ambassador to the Hague — a step 
 Arlington which, from Temple's well-known sym- 
 
 a P French. t0 pathies, could only mean a determination to 
 alliance. maintain the existing alliance. But Louis 
 
 was not discouraged, for he had received the private 
 
1669. Preparations of Louis for War. 187 
 
 assurances of Charles that he would willingly treat ' as 
 between gentlemen,' and that he preferred his word to all 
 the parchment in the world. He now replaced Ruvigny, 
 whose Protestantism unfitted him for the work in hand, 
 by Colbert de Croissy, brother of his great finance 
 minister, with instructions at all cost to secure Arlington. 
 The strictest secrecy was to be observed, but, since 
 Charles had broken a previous informal agreement, any 
 fresh understanding must be precise, and signed by the 
 commissioners of the two Kings. 
 
 At the outset he again met with disappointment. 
 Charles frankly told Colbert (August 1668) that he was 
 almost the only man in his dominions in Louis's interest. 
 Arlington declared that trade was the English idol, and 
 any alliance would be judged by that test. Colbert 
 decided that it would be waste of money to offer him the 
 lavish bribe which Louis had suggested. 
 
 At one point however Arlington as well as Bucking- 
 ham could be reached. The return of Clarendon, then 
 an exile in France, would have meant to them political 
 downfall. Harping skilfully upon this fear, Louis so far 
 succeeded, that in February, 1669, Arlington himself 
 made advances to Colbert. 
 
 This change of tone was however probably due far 
 more to another event. The Duke of York had lately 
 declared his conversion to Catholicism, and conversion 
 with all a convert's ardour was urging his of James, 
 brother to the same course. Arlington was warmly 
 attached to Catholic views. He had now a good excuse 
 for deserting the Dutch, and ranging himself on the side 
 to which he knew his master inclined. From this 
 moment he became the eager promoter of the treaty. 
 
 Charles had hitherto sought favour for the Catholics 
 under cover of toleration for Protestant Dissent. For 
 
1 88 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1669. 
 
 Protestant Dissent, as such, he had no sympathy, and he 
 threw aside without reluctance that part of his scheme. 
 The other part however was always actively present to 
 his mind. The political view of the matter was as strong 
 as the religious ; only under a Catholic constitution, he 
 said, might a King of England hope to become absolute. 
 But an influence of a more personal kind was acting 
 upon the King. If there was one being for whom he felt 
 a genuine affection it was his sister Henrietta, the wife of 
 Louis's younger brother, the Duke of Orleans (seep. 108). 
 _,■.-, A devoted Catholic, she longed before all 
 
 Declaration . , ° . 
 
 of conversion things that her brothers might likewise find 
 the true road to salvation. She had suc- 
 ceeded with James. She now succeeded with Charles. 
 On January 25, 1669, the King in strict secrecy announced 
 his conversion to Arlington, Clifford, and Arundel. 
 
 He now placed the entire conduct of the proposed al- 
 liance in the hands of Arlington and Colbert. Bucking- 
 ham, as a Protestant and a babbler, was excluded from all 
 participation in the 'grand secret.' Personal negotiations 
 were at once opened with Louis. It was understood that 
 if Charles would join the French monarchy against the 
 Dutch he should be assisted in every way to establish an 
 uncontrolled authority in England, and to declare his 
 conversion. The frequent journeys of messengers be- 
 tween London and Paris soon aroused public notice and 
 jealousy. It was openly declared in the streets that a 
 compact was already concluded, and the price was named 
 for which English honour had been bought and sold. 
 
 Charles was already, he wrote to his sister in June 
 
 1669, making formidable preparations. He 
 
 prepara- was rapidly fortifying the principal ports of 
 
 the kingdom, and placing them in sure 
 
 hands. The number of his troops was being cautiously 
 
1669. Preparations of Louis for War. 189 
 
 increased, and he could fully rely upon their devotion. 
 Lauderdale, his viceroy in Scotland, had created an army 
 of 22,000 men, bound by Act of Parliament to march 
 when and whither he pleased within his dominions. 
 Ireland too, under Berkeley, was in good hands. He 
 was resolved to proclaim his conversion the moment he 
 felt safe. 
 
 But it is easy to reckon Charles's words at too high a 
 rate. A fixed resolve was utterly foreign to his nature, 
 and day by day, as his character deteriorated under 
 continual debauchery, he grew less capable of sustained 
 effort. Time after time we see him forming great de- 
 signs, and proceeding with them just so long as they do 
 not meet with formidable resistance. Careless as he 
 always appeared of public opinion, he never deceived 
 himself for long as to the facts of his position. He 
 never forgot his father's fate, and, as he humorously said, 
 he had no intention of again 'going on his travels.' 
 
 Temple meanwhile was doing his best to sustain the 
 alliance which his master had determined to betray. At 
 his instigation the States General formally complained to 
 Louis, on behalf of Spain, of infractions of the Treaty of 
 Aix-la Chapelle. Louis replied in the language of insult. 
 To the Dutch, he said, he refused any explanation ; but 
 
 he would willingly listen to any communi- 
 
 J ' His 
 
 cation from the King of England. Charles, difficulties; 
 though to satisfy Louis he repudiated Tern- deceiving 
 pie's action, was much disquieted. To ob- Parliament, 
 tain the supplies he needed from Parliament he felt that 
 he must be able to assure them with verbal accuracy 
 that the Triple Alliance was firm, and that there was no 
 danger of further attack upon the Spanish Low Countries. 
 It was arranged therefore that Louis should request 
 Charles to act as meditator between him and Spain in 
 
190 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1669. 
 
 the disputes which had arisen, and that by including 
 Sweden in the arbitration the opportunity should be 
 taken to separate her interest from that of the Dutch. 
 Sweden meanwhile, angry at the delay in the payment 
 by Spain of the promised subsidies, was threatening to 
 withdraw her guarantee of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 
 De Witt therefore urged Charles to maintain the coalition 
 by offering his security to Sweden that her claims should 
 be satisfied (see p. 168) ; and Charles, to avoid increas- 
 ing De Witt's growing suspicions, and for the reason 
 already mentioned, thought it prudent to give way. 
 
 Meanwhile some amusing fencing had taken place 
 between Charles and Colbert, upon the question whether 
 Charles and the King's declaration of war against the 
 Colbert. Republic should precede or iollow the an- 
 
 nouncement of his conversion. The object of Louis was 
 to attack the Dutch at the earliest moment ; Charles was 
 in no haste to bind himself to the cost and risks of a 
 great war. Upon the religious question, he said, he could 
 reckon upon the neutrality of the Dissenters, for they 
 hated the Church more than they hated Catholicism ; 
 with his troops and fortresses he should be strong enough 
 to carry the matter through. Colbert laid stress upon the 
 fact that in such a case the Dutch would stand before Eu- 
 rope as the champions of the Protestant cause, while the 
 difficulties which would necessarily arise at home would 
 prevent the King from using his strength for the war. 
 But if, sustained by the commercial jealousy of his own 
 people, he first declared war, he would have good ground 
 for demanding supplies ; with the troops and ships thus 
 provided he would find it easy, at the close of a success- 
 ful conflict, to secure a quiet acquiescence in his conver- 
 sion. To Charles's next suggestion, that Louis should 
 first begin hostilities, and that he himself should then 
 
i66g. Preparations of Louis for War. 191 
 
 carry out both parts of his scheme simultaneously, Louis 
 replied with an absolute refusal to begin the war without 
 the explicit concurrence of England. 
 
 Louis had been well served by the conduct of the Eng- 
 lish Parliament, which met on October 19, 1669. Charles, 
 in asking for a supply, had prided himself upon being 
 the happy instrument which had secured the Triple Alli- 
 ance and the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. He had used 
 language which, though not verbally mendacious — since 
 there was no intention of breaking the Treaty of Aix-la- 
 Chapelle — was intended to lead to the belief that the 
 Triple Alliance was equally firm. The fraud „ 
 
 ..... Distrust of 
 
 was a vain one. Disregarding his appeals the Com- 
 for supply and for the payment of his debts, 
 the Commons voted the inadequate sum of 400,000/. 
 Charles at once decided to go on with the negotiations 
 with Louis (see p. 180). 
 
 On December 18, 1669, Arlington submitted to Louis 
 demands which did credit to Charles's audacity. The 
 declaration of Catholicism was to precede Charles's 
 the war, at a date settled by Charles himself; f a r t S e r and 
 for this Louis was to give him 200,000/. and conditions, 
 armed help, should it prove necessary, against his own 
 subjects. For the war, in which he was to join only when 
 England had been pacified, he was to receive 800,000/. a 
 year; at its conclusion Minorca, Ostend, Walcheren, 
 Sluys, and Cadsand, with Spanish America at a future 
 time, were to pass into his hands ; the interests of the 
 Prince of Orange were to be preserved, and the Peace of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle maintained. On his side Charles was to 
 support Louis by land and sea in the Dutch war, and, 
 when the time came, in making good his claim on the 
 Spanish monarchy ; he was for the present to maintain 
 6,000 infantry in the French service. Louis replied that 
 
192 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1659. 
 
 rather than agree to such preposterous terms he would 
 wait until he could do the work himself. 
 
 Charles was however only playing a game of brag. On 
 January 24, 1670, he made further proposals, which for 
 the first time convinced Louis that he was in earnest. 
 They contained one provision however which showed how 
 well Charles knew the temper of his people. He told 
 Louis bluntly that no English captain would take orders 
 from a French admiral ; if therefore the fleets were 
 united, they must sail under English command. 
 
 The reconciliation which he secured with Parliament 
 in the session of February 10th, 1670, with its practical 
 result in the vote of 300,000/. a year for seven years (see 
 p. 181), greatly strengthened Charles's position in these 
 negotiations. He now began to hang back from the alli- 
 ance and to raise his terms ; and on every point — com- 
 mercial advantages, the command and numbers of the 
 fleet, the payment of subsidies in hard cash and not 
 in letters of exchange, even his demand that in the 
 powers given to the commissioners he should be styled 
 ' King of France ' — Louis found himself compelled to 
 yield. 
 
 His compliance was hastened by the action of De Witt, 
 who had at length become convinced that treason to the 
 Alarm of De Triple Alliance was being hatched in Lon- 
 Wltt- don. The Grand Pensionary determined to 
 
 send his leading diplomatist, Van Beuninghen, to ascer- 
 tain the truth, and frustrate, if he could, any such design. 
 Louis, who knew Van Beuninghen's reputation for per- 
 suasiveness, resolved to anticipate the visit. No one, he 
 felt, was so likely to overcome Charles's reluctance and the 
 few remaining difficulties as his sister Henrietta ; her in- 
 fluence over her brother was immense, and her hatred of 
 the States-General, on account of the dependent position 
 
1670 Preparations of Louis for War. 193 
 
 in which they kept her nephew, was keener than that of 
 Charles himself. She more than fulfilled her mission. 
 On May 5 she arrived at Dover, where 
 she was met by Charles; and on June I, of Dover, 
 1670, Colbert for France, and Arlington, * 7 °' 
 Clifford, Arundel, and Sir Richard Belings for England, 
 signed the celebrated Treaty of Dover, the ' Traite de 
 Madame,' as it was often called, though the terms had 
 practically been agreed upon between Arlington and 
 Colbert in March. A fortnight later the ratifications 
 were exchanged. When Van Beuninghen arrived all 
 was over, and nothing remained but to carry out the 
 farce by keeping him in play with feigned negotiations, 
 in which Charles's own ministers, Bridgeman, Trevor, 
 and Ashley, were equally his dupes. 
 
 By this famous compact Louis, at no great cost, se- 
 cured his immediate object. The Triple Alliance was 
 broken up. England was to join in war itscondi- 
 upon the Republic, and Louis was to choose tlons ' 
 the moment of declaration ; an English land force was 
 to serve under French command and in French pay ; 
 and when there should arise a failure in the Spanish male 
 line Charles was to help Louis by sea and land to make 
 good his claims upon that monarchy. But Charles was, 
 except for honour, no loser by the bargain, nor, he might 
 claim, was England. He was indeed to declare his con- 
 version; but, while he was at once to receive 150,000/. to 
 aid him in any difficulties which might arise, the date 
 was left entirely to himself. So long as the war lasted 
 he was to receive 225,000/. a year ; and at its conclusion, 
 Walcheren, Sluys, and Cadsand, giving him the com- 
 mand of the coasts of Zealand, were to be his share of 
 the spoil. The treaty of commerce was to be immedi- 
 ately concluded, and the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle 
 
194 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1671. 
 
 maintained. The supremacy of England at sea was 
 marked by the condition that France was to raise only 
 thirty vessels, to be regarded as auxiliaries to the fleet 
 equipped by England, and that the whole should be 
 under the command of an English admiral. 
 
 A new difficulty, giving occasion for one of the most 
 curious pieces of by-play in history, now arose. It was 
 „, , impossible to show the treaty as it stood to 
 
 1 he sham * J 
 
 treaty, janu- those servants of the king who were Protes- 
 tants — to Buckingham, Lauderdale, Bridge- 
 man, Trevor, Ashley, Ormond, or Rupert ; it was equally 
 impossible to keep the secret long. With Buckingham's 
 inordinate vanity however to play upon, the matter was 
 very simple. He was allowed to negotiate — in the belief 
 that the suggestion was his own — a fresh treaty. Led on 
 by the flattery of Louis, and still more by the feigned 
 hesitations of Arlington and Colbert, while Charles 
 looked on with infinite amusement, helaboured zealously 
 in preparing a draft (January 167 1) differing from the ori- 
 ginal one in only two important respects. All mention 
 of the conversion was omitted, the subsidy offered for 
 that purpose being now added to that to be given for the 
 war. The opportunity was then taken to secure still fur- 
 ther advantages for England. Goree and Worne were 
 added to the places to be given her ; and the commander 
 of the English land contingent was to take precedence of 
 all the lieutenant-generals of France. Louis had his way 
 on only one point. The nearer that Charles approached 
 the question of Catholicism the less agreeable grew the 
 prospect. He had indeed spoken confidently of his 
 forces in Scotland and Ireland, but they were composed 
 of Protestants, and, on this question, would fail him at 
 the pinch. He had regarded this second treaty as a way 
 out of the difficulty ; but Louis insisted on a secret arti- 
 
i6ji. Preparations of Louis for War. 195 
 
 cle, unknown to Buckingham, that in this respect the 
 first agreement should stand. The ostensible treaty was 
 then signed by Buckingham, Lauderdale, and Ashley. 
 Thus, among all the immediate advisers of the Crown, 
 there was not one who held his hand from this shameless 
 abandonment of an alliance which England had herself 
 sought. 
 
 The second treaty had fixed the spring of 1672 for 
 the declaration of war. Strangely enough, this was the 
 doing, not of Louis, but of Charles. He had now two 
 reasons for desiring prompt action. The advisability of 
 settling both the war and the religious question before 
 the next meeting of Parliament was urged upon him by 
 James ; and he happened, through the success of his 
 duplicity, and through his abandonment of toleration, to 
 be in possession of ample funds. On October 24, 1670, 
 he had opened Parliament with a speech in which he had 
 carried deception to the furthest point short of absolute 
 falsehood. The reputation he had acquired _ ,. 
 
 1 * Parliament 
 
 by the Triple Alliance and the commercial deceived by 
 treaties with Spain, France, Denmark, and large sup- 
 Savoy, was magnified. ' In a word,' so ran plles - 
 the speech, ' almost all the princes of Europe do seek 
 his Majesty's friendship, as acknowledging they cannot 
 secure, much less improve, their present condition with- 
 out it.' The necessity of raising the navy to proportions 
 which might challenge the daily increasing armaments 
 of France and the Dutch was dwelt upon. Not a hint 
 was dropped that the bonds of the Triple Alliance 
 were likely to be relaxed ; the first of Temple's, treaties 
 indeed, which bound England and the Republic to 
 mutual assistance in case of attack, was specially men- 
 tioned. Thoroughly deceived, the Commons answered 
 
196 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 
 
 the King's demand for still a further supply by a vote 
 for no less than 800,000/. 
 
 The importance of the Treaty of Dover can scarcely 
 be overrated. In spite of the advantages Charles had 
 extorted, Louis was the real gainer. Charles 
 T^at'y of had entered upon a course which, becoming 
 Dover - more and more one of subservience toFrance, 
 
 placed it henceforth in the power of Louis to neutral- 
 ise the influence of English opinion, and even to enlist 
 the material support of England in the interests of des- 
 potism and Catholicism. This political profligacy was 
 responsible for the miseries to which for more than a 
 generation Europe was subjected. Without England, 
 Louis would not have dared to attack the Dutch, for the 
 fleets of the Republic would have swept his commerce 
 from the seas ; while the cordial union of the two great 
 naval powers would have stood like a wall against his 
 schemes of aggression. Had England at this moment 
 possessed a King of lofty temper, proud to lead and apt 
 to control the current of national feeling, the chapter 
 of bloodshed and desolation which began at Dover and 
 ended at Utrecht would probably have remained un- 
 written. 
 
 2. Treaty with Sweden and the Princes of the 
 
 Empire. 
 Louis had now lopped the principal limb from the 
 Triple Alliance; he determined to detach the Swedes 
 also. For a long while his success seemed doubtful. 
 They would be glad, they said, to see the naval power 
 of the Republic crippled, but they had no wish to see 
 her ruined. To overcome their scruples, Charles, at 
 Louis's request, sent Henry Coventry in October 1671 
 
1 67 1. Preparations of Louis for War. 197 
 
 to support the French ambassador, Courtin. Between 
 Courtin and Coventry on the one hand, and the am- 
 bassadors of Spain, Austria, Brandenburg, and the Re- 
 public on the other, a daily diplomatic duel was waged 
 for several months. Sweden was poor, and the more 
 she was courted the higher she raised her terms. This 
 gave a decisive advantage to the longer purse and 
 clearer purpose of Louis. On May 6, 1672, he secured 
 a treaty for three years, by which Sweden Treaty be- 
 agreed to oppose any Princes of the Empire an^sJeden 
 who might attack him ; to send 16,000 men Ma v l6 7 2 > 
 into Pomerania, in order to defend his line of march ; 
 and to regard any breach of neutrality on the part of 
 Dutch garrisons in places belonging to the Empire as a 
 declaration of war. For this she was to receive 100,000/. 
 at once, and 150,000/. a year during the war. Her jeal- 
 ousy of Denmark — so great, said Lionne, that their dogs 
 would not hunt in company — was expressed by the de- 
 mand that Louis should guarantee the present peace 
 between them, but that Denmark should not enter the 
 alliance, except by the mutual consent of France and 
 Sweden. 
 
 Almost as important to Louis were the treaties which 
 in July 1 67 1 he succeeded in forming at Hanover, 
 Cologne, Munster, and Osnabruck. By lavish subsidies 
 and the promise of a share in the spoil, he and with 
 secured a free passage for his troops and the man pHnces 
 right of purchasing stores, while similar ad- J ul y I 7 61 - 
 vantages were to be refused to any forces which might be 
 sent by Leopold to the aid of the Dutch. The Elector of 
 Brandenburg however, who was an ardent Protestant, 
 and the other Princes of his family, rejected the proposals 
 of Louis. 
 
198 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1670. 
 
 3. Treaty of Neutrality with Leopold. 
 
 In all these cases the diplomacy of Louis had been 
 assisted by at least an apparent community of interest. 
 It was far different with the negotiations which he had 
 begun early in 1668 with the Emperor Leopold, first to 
 restrain him from joining the Triple Alliance, and later 
 to secure his neutrality when France attacked the Dutch. 
 De Gremonville, the negotiator of the Partition Treaty, 
 was entrusted with this affair also. He was alternately 
 assisted and hindered by the character of Leopold and 
 The Em- tne state of his councils. The Emperor, 
 
 P eror - originally destined for the Church, had the 
 
 tastes and bearing of a recluse. So irresolute was he, 
 that his own ministers declared him to be only a statue 
 which people could carry about and put up at their 
 pleasure. From week to week he wavered in his plans 
 as the arguments of De Gremonville, the pressure of 
 Spain and the Dutch, personal pique, the force of old 
 connections, the influence of his mother, his position as 
 head of the Empire, and the internal dissensions of his 
 heterogeneous kingdom, acted upon his mind. 
 
 From the date of the Triple Alliance De Gremonville 
 carried on single-handed, and with inexhaustible skill 
 and temper, a daily contest against all the influences 
 adverse to France. His plan was to give Leopold no rest, 
 but, by placing before him proposals which followed one 
 De Gremon- another as fast as each was rejected, to keep 
 Vllle - him in a constant state of nervous anxiety. 
 
 Incessantly craving audiences which Leopold could not 
 refuse, or conferring with his ministers, whose rivalry he 
 knew well how to foster and utilise, he positively bewil- 
 dered them with the innumerable arguments furnished 
 to him by Louis and Lionne, and by his own astuteness. 
 Unruffled by any insult and undeterred by any tempo- 
 
1670. Preparations of Louis for War. 199 
 
 rary check, with absolute confidence both in his master 
 and in himself, he was the one stable element in the sea 
 of warring interests by which he was surrounded. Not 
 until February, 1670, however could he claim any impor- 
 tant success beyond that of restraining Leopold from 
 taking decisive action. Even then the Emperor's promise 
 that he would not enter the Triple Alliance was but a 
 spoken one. He had however expressed himself willing 
 to leave the Dutch to their fate, provided Louis would 
 promise not to attack Spain ; and Louis had hastened to 
 cut the ground from under his feet by writing publicly to 
 the Pope, engaging not to do so for at least a year. 
 
 Further progress was now delayed by the masterful 
 action of Louis himself. Charles IV., the errant Duke of 
 Lorraine, restored to his estates by the Peace 
 
 ' Invasion of 
 
 of the Pyrenees, had in 1662 formally handed Lorraine by 
 them over to Louis, on condition that the August 1670. 
 Princes of Lorraine should be recognised as Vienna" 
 members of the royal family of France. He 
 received them again in 1663, upon giving up Marsal, the 
 key of the country, and admitting the sovereignty of 
 Louis to the great road from Metz to Alsace, with a 
 league's breadth of country the whole of its length. In 
 August, 1670, however Louis heard that the Duke was 
 intriguing against him with the Dutch and the Electors 
 of Treves and Mayence. Not sorry for the excuse, Louis 
 declared the treaty dissolved by this act, poured troops 
 into Lorraine, and in a few days had overrun the country. 
 This new aggression roused the utmost resentment at 
 Vienna. Not only was Lorraine a dependency of the 
 Empire, but Charles IV. was the brother-in-law of Leo- 
 pold. The refusal of Louis to attend to all remonstrances, 
 the reproaches of the German Princes, and the threats 
 of Spain that, as he had abandoned his family interests, 
 
200 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1671. 
 
 they would abandon him, once more turned the Emperor's 
 fickle resolution against France. 
 
 Louis now directed De Gremonville to employ his 
 utmost efforts to secure a written promise of neutrality 
 when the attack on the Dutch took place, 
 threatens the But this, in his present mood, the Emperor 
 Treat er °De- refused to give. Hereupon Louis, for the 
 cember 18, first time, indulged in threats. Since Leo- 
 pold reserved to himself the liberty of help- 
 ing the enemies of France, he should claim a similar 
 freedom for himself. The effect was immediate, for the 
 Emperor knew that it would be easy at any moment for 
 Louis to stir up war in Hungary. He therefore promised 
 his neutrality, so long as neither the Empire nor Spain 
 were attacked. Even then it required the further threat 
 of an immediate abandonment of the negotiations to 
 overcome the dilatoriness of the imperial court. It was 
 not until November, 1671, that, thoroughly wearied out, 
 Leopold signed a treaty promising that in case of the 
 expected war he would not interfere provided that the 
 Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle were preserved. 
 
 And thus was completed the circle of negotiations by 
 which Louis had during nearly four years been engaged 
 in securing that, when he attacked the Republic, she 
 should look around her in vain for support. The ability 
 and firmness with which his purpose had been main- 
 tained were as remarkable as that purpose was unscru- 
 pulous and base. 
 
1 67 1. Charles II. and the Cabal. 201 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CHARLES II. AND THE CABAL. 
 167I-2. 
 
 i. The Cabal. 
 The prorogation of April 22, 1671, left Charles once 
 more free from parliamentary control. The manner in 
 which, aided by the peculiar character of the executive 
 government, he used his liberty, led to the great crisis of 
 his reign. 
 
 The Privy Council, which in theory was always con- 
 sulted, had been found to be an inconveniently large 
 body. It had become the custom therefore The Cabal 
 to form within it a small committee, or p^ent*™" 1 
 ' cabal ' (a term at least as old as the reign Cabinet, 
 of James I.), of the members most in the King's confi- 
 dence, to which were referred not only foreign affairs, for 
 which it was primarily intended, but all matters of impor- 
 tance and secrecy. This ' cabal ' has been regarded as 
 the origin of the present ' Cabinet.' But the ' Cabinet ' is 
 representative of the people, at any rate of the House of 
 Commons, possibly in antagonism to the personal wishes 
 of the Crown ; whereas the ' Cabal ' was the representa- 
 tive of the Crown, often in spite of both Commons and 
 people ; neither existing nor ceasing to exist with any 
 direct reference to their opinion. Each member held his 
 place purely at the King's will ; he gave his advice, but 
 his duty then was to support whatever decision the King 
 might choose to adopt. 
 
 The Cabal, at the time of the Treaty of Dover, practi- 
 cally consisted of Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ash- 
 
202 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1671. 
 
 ley, and Lauderdale, though Bridgeman, Trevor, Ormond, 
 Rupert, and others were at times included. It was soon 
 noticed that the initial letters of these first five names 
 made up the word ' cabal,' and it is therefore to this par- 
 ticular Cabal that the title has been specially attached. 
 Among the five there was, besides the guilty knowledge 
 of one or other of the Treaties of Dover, but one bond 
 of union. All of them, though from the most various 
 motives, were in favour of toleration. 
 
 Sir Thomas Clifford was perhaps the most picturesque 
 
 figure of the Cabal. 'A valiant, incorrupt gentleman, 
 
 ambitious, not covetous, passionate, a most 
 
 Clifford. . , , . , ~ , 
 
 constant, sincere friend. An ardent Catho- 
 lic in sympathies, if not by actual conversion, he was as 
 ardent an advocate of an uncontrolled monarchy. ' Only 
 in the combination of religious freedom and royal despot- 
 ism did he see salva'ion for the State.' His temper was 
 vehement, his eloquence striking, his personal courage 
 conspicuous. The story is well known how, during the 
 former war, when on a visit to Arlington at Euston in 
 Suffolk, he and Ormond's son, Ossory, hearing the guns 
 off Harwich, leaped on their horses, galloped to the coast, 
 and put off in an open boat to join the fleet and serve as 
 volunteers through one of the bloodiest days in English 
 naval warfare. Though a poor man, his hands were 
 clean of bribes, and his life was remarkably pure. His 
 horoscope foretold him fame and fortune, but an early 
 death. He answered that he cared not for an early death 
 if before he died he might witness the triumph of the 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley, ancestor of the 
 Ashley present Earl of Shaftesbury, had been in 
 
 Cooper. tj ie forefront of political life since boyhood. 
 
 In the days of the Commonwealth he had striven 
 
1671. Charles II. and the Cabal. 203 
 
 against Cromwell in support of parliamentary govern- 
 ment, and after the Protector's death had taken a great 
 share in breaking down the despotism of the army ; in 
 spite of his present complicity in Charles's counsels he 
 was still a keen upholder of parliamentary rule. He was 
 violently anti-Catholic, not from any religious convic- 
 tions, but because, as he expressed it, ' Popery and 
 slavery go ever, like two sisters, hand in hand ; ' but he 
 had been a supporter of every attempt at toleration of 
 Protestant dissent, as being necessary for trade ; and in 
 the constitution which at his request John Locke drew up 
 for the new colony of Carolina toleration was a leading 
 feature. He had established a reputation for business 
 power, tact, and finesse ; and though he never affected 
 to censure the prevailing private and public immorality, 
 he shunned debauchery in his own person, and, like 
 Clifford, is free from any well established charge of 
 bribery. Small and slight in stature and of delicate 
 health, he had a soul as ambitious and fiery as that of 
 Clifford himself; and it was not until the end of his 
 career that his keen political foresight gave way under 
 the excitement of faction and the harassments of ill- 
 health. But though he possessed an intuitive perception 
 of those causes which had a great future before them, his 
 conduct was always liable to be modified by the determi- 
 nation to ride on the crest of the political wave ; and 
 while from his ready and incisive eloquence, his un- 
 ceasing activity, and his skill in party warfare which, in 
 its modern form, he may be said to have originated, 
 he was always formidable, he is far more often spoken of 
 with distrust than with admiration or respect. 
 
 John Maitland, Duke of Lauderdale, was only in the 
 second place an English politician. He was Charles's 
 irresponsible and almost absolute viceroy of Scotland, at 
 
204 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1671. 
 
 a time when Scotland was completely separated in 
 t , , , sympathies from England. He was, too. 
 
 Lauderdale. J r ° 
 
 the King s devoted personal adherent, eager 
 to carry out his slightest wishes, which he affirmed were 
 more to him than all human laws, and to pander to his 
 most shameless vices. Utterly dissolute as he was in 
 morals and religion, his early career as a Presbyterian 
 caused him to be regarded as a Protestant, and, as such, 
 he was excluded from knowledge of the Catholic plot. 
 
 There is one other person whose influence was more 
 powerful and lasting than that of the professional politi- 
 Louise de cians. This was a young Breton girl of 
 
 Keroualie. noble family, who came over in the train 
 of Henrietta, and who, by the beauty of her ' baby face,' 
 and a winning charm of manner and conversation which 
 formed a piquant contrast to the vulgar humours of 
 Lady Castlemaine and Nell Gwyn, completely capti- 
 vated Charles. It is more than probable that Louis 
 had determined that some permanent representative of 
 French influence should have a place in that scene of 
 female caprice which surrounded Charles's most intimate 
 life, and that it was this which Louise de Keroualie was 
 to supply. She soon became the chief intermediary be- 
 tween the monarchs, sharing in all their schemes of 
 statecraft, and displaying an independence of judg- 
 ment and a capacity for intrigue worthy of a practised 
 politician. Her influence was recognised by the hatred 
 with which she was popularly regarded as the agent of 
 France. 
 
 Upon Louise de Keroualie, better known as the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth, as upon the other women of 
 Charles's harem, the treasure of the country was 
 poured out in reckless profusion. It was not without 
 good reason that a caricature published in Holland rep- 
 
1672. Charles II. and the Cabal. 205 
 
 resented the King between two women, with his pockets 
 turned inside out. The supplies voted by Parliament, 
 the subsidies of Louis, ran like water through the hands 
 of these female favourites. Pensions, pat- Squandering 
 ents, monopolies, crown lands, reversions of of money. 
 lucrative posts, were showered upon them and their 
 children. Louise de Keroualle alone had before long an 
 annual income of 40,000/.; and in 1681 the enormous 
 sum of 136,000/. passed through her hands. It is no 
 wonder that, this being but one form of expenditure on 
 his pleasures, the sums received by Charles were all too 
 small, and that in August, 1671, his debts were reckoned 
 at more than three millions. 
 
 2. Stop of the Exchequer. Declaration of 
 Indulgence. Dutch War. 
 
 A state of things so desperate, with an expensive war 
 in prospect, suggested desperate remedies. All evidence 
 points to Clifford as the author of the Stop of the 
 confession of national bankruptcy known as Exchequer, 
 the ' Stop of the Exchequer,' though it is possible that a 
 similar step by Mazarin (see p. 28) may have suggested 
 it to Charles. It was customary for the bankers to 
 advance money to the Crown, on the faith of taxes 
 voted by Parliament but not yet collected, at an 
 interest of twelve per cent. It was now determined in 
 the Privy Council, though against the advice of Ashley, 
 to apply the whole proceeds of the taxes for 1672 to the 
 war, the bankers being left unpaid, while for the future 
 the interest on the money thus confiscated should be re- 
 duced to six per cent. The sum upon which by this 
 outrageous breach of faith Charles laid violent hands, 
 1 ,400,000/., was secured at the cost of the permanent ruin 
 of the royal credit and general commercial distress. 
 
206 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 
 
 Hundreds of private persons were left destitute, for the 
 bankers were compelled to suspend payment, and mer- 
 chants who had placed money in their hands were unable 
 to carry on their ordinary business. And after all, says 
 a shrewd observer, ' as it did not supply the expenses of 
 the meditated war, so it melted away, I know not how.' 
 
 For carrying through this scheme, the flagrant dis- 
 honesty of which was evidently obscured by his view of 
 the proper privileges of royalty (see p. 202), Clifford was 
 rewarded with a peerage and the Lord Treasurer's staff. 
 The second important measure which signalised the 
 spring of 1672 must be laid to the credit of 
 rffSS " Ashley. Trusting, no doubt, that at the 
 gence, 1672, close of the war he would be in a position to 
 
 March 15. r 
 
 dictate his own terms to Parliament, Charles 
 made another attempt to secure the dispensing power. On 
 March 15, 1672, he published the famous Declaration of 
 Indulgence. It was evidently drawn up by Ashley, 
 whose often expressed views were thus set forth in the 
 preamble : ' We do now issue this our Declaration, as 
 well for the quieting of our good subjects as for inviting 
 strangers in this conjuncture to come and live under us, 
 and for a better encouragement of all to a cheerful fol- 
 lowing of their trades and callings.' Charles then boldly 
 
 claimed the dispensing power. Looking to 
 ciaim^the tne 'unhappy differences in matters of re- 
 dispensing licrjon,' he declared himself ' obliged to make 
 
 power. ° . . 
 
 use of that supreme power in ecclesiastical 
 matters which is not only inherent in Us, but hath been 
 declared and recognised to be so by several statutes and 
 Acts of Parliament.' In the vain hope of conciliating the 
 Church, the declaration stipulated that the ' doctrine, dis- 
 cipline, privileges, and government of the Church as now 
 established' should be scrupulously observed. The suspen- 
 
1672. The Dutch Republic before the War. 207 
 
 sion of ' all manner of penal laws in matters ecclesiastical 
 against whatsoever sort of Nonconformists or recusants' 
 was announced ; while, in pursuance of a plan adopted 
 by Louis with marked success, but which had been on a 
 former occasion rejected by the Commons, certain places 
 were to be licensed for the worship of nonconforming 
 Protestants. Catholics however were to be allowed only 
 their former liberty to hold service in their private houses. 
 The issue of the Declaration had been hindered by 
 the conduct of Orlando Bridgeman, Keeper of the Seals. 
 That honest minister had already made difficulties in 
 the matter of the Stop of the Exchequer ; he now abso- 
 lutely refused to put the Great Seal to the Declaration. 
 The opportunity was taken to reward its author. Bridge- 
 man was removed, and Ashley, under the title of Earl 
 of Shaftesbury, was made Lord Chancellor. Two days 
 after the issue of the Declaration, the last great step for 
 which the members of the Cabal were jointly responsible 
 was taken. On March 17 war was declared against the 
 Dutch. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE DUTCH REPUBLIC BEFORE THE WAR. 
 
 The Republic had risen with remarkable elasticity from 
 the exhaustion of the late war. A national debt of twelve 
 and a half millions sterling was borne with ease. Her 
 population was rapidly increasing; her commerce was 
 expanding in every quarter of the globe, and her traders 
 were displaying their former exclusiveness. But this 
 absorption in the search for wealth, and their apparent 
 immunity from foreign invasion, forbade in her people 
 that spirit of watchfulness and that readiness to sink 
 
208 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 
 
 individual interests in the national welfare which result 
 from the constant imminence of danger. ' The character 
 of the Dutch,' said De Witt, ' is such that they will 
 take no steps for defence until the danger stares them in 
 the face.' 
 
 With all this apparent prosperity there existed, in the 
 claims of the Prince of Orange, an abiding source of 
 Political political instability. De Witt had indeed 
 
 instability ot secured the charge of his education as a 
 
 the ° 
 
 Republic. ward of the State, and was sedulously train- 
 
 De Witt and ... , T . .,,.. ,,- 
 
 the Prince of mg him, as Mazann trained Louis, to be fit 
 Orange. to g 0vern _ fh e < Perpetual Edict,' of Jan- 
 
 uary 1668, and the 'Act of Harmony' which followed, 
 had secured the separation of the civil and military com- 
 mands ; for the Stadtholderate was abolished in Holland, 
 while in the other provinces it was rendered incompatible 
 with the offices of Captain or Admiral General of the 
 Republic — offices which the Prince was to occupy only 
 when he reached the age of twenty-two. With the sym- 
 pathy however of both Louis and Charles, he soon began 
 to act for himself. Escaping in September, 1668, from 
 De Witt's surveillance, he hastened to Zealand, where 
 his party was strong, and was received with enthusiasm. 
 In 1670 De Witt was compelled to assent to his taking 
 his seat on the Council of State, and to his visiting Eng- 
 land. As war grew imminent his claims became more 
 acceptable ; the past was forgotten, except that under the 
 leadership of his house independence had been won. 
 The army and navy were enthusiastic in his favour. 
 In the spring of 1672, after taking an oath to maintain 
 the ' Perpetual Edict,' and with many limitations, he 
 was made Captain-General for one campaign, the office 
 to be continued for life should it seem fitting when he 
 had completed his twenty-second year. The Admiralty, 
 
1672. The Dutch Republic before the War. 209 
 
 so long as Ruyter was there to lead the fleet, was held 
 in reserve. 
 
 De Witt offered a signal example of the truth of his own 
 saying. He could not bring himself to believe that his 
 work was so soon to perish, though mysterious warnings 
 had reached him as early as February, 1668. When how- 
 ever his offers to assist Louis in his eventual designs upon 
 Spain and to settle the Spanish Low Countries favour- 
 ably to French interests were slightingly passed by, and 
 a complimentary address from the States-General to 
 Louis in Flanders, in the spring of 167 1, was received 
 with studied coldness ; when Louis refused to include 
 the Republic in the arbitration concerning his alleged 
 infractions of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle ; when the 
 French ambassador was removed from the _. ,„. 
 
 De Witt 
 
 Hague, and no successor sent; when heavy convinced of 
 duties were imposed upon Dutch goods Louis and° 
 entering France, and all attemps at retalia- Carles, 
 tion treated with contempt, the truth came upon him with 
 terrible clearness. In January, 1672, he made a final 
 appeal to Louis, offering to disarm completely if he 
 would do the same, and would remove the hostile 
 tariffs. Louis replied that he should complete his pre- 
 parations and should use his forces as best befitted his 
 dignity. 
 
 The awakening to the treachery of Charles had been still 
 slower and more painful. Here too he had tried every 
 means of conciliation. Hearing of the King's irritation 
 at the pamphlets, medals, and triumphal pictures which 
 glorified the Chatham achievement, and especially that 
 the captured ' Royal Charles ' was made a common show, 
 he had the moulds of the medals broken, the pamphlets 
 as far as possible suppressed, the royal arms removed 
 from the vessel and her name altered — concessions which 
 o 
 
2IO Eftglish Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 
 
 were viewed merely as signs of weakness. The recall of 
 Temple in July 1671 was made the occasion for a wanton 
 insult to the Dutch. The captain of the yacht sent to bring 
 back Lady Temple was ordered by Charles to sail through 
 their fleet in the Channel, to insist upon their lowering 
 their flags, and in case of refusal to take such action as 
 would compel them to fire upon him, and so appear the 
 aggressors — a scheme frustrated only by the self-restraint 
 of the Dutch admiral, Van Ghent. In December, Down- 
 ing, a well-known enemy of the Republic, was sent to suc- 
 Insultsto ceed Temple as ambassador to the Hague, 
 
 Dutch; w ith instructions to bring about a rupture. In 
 
 attack on ... 
 
 Smyrna the most offensive terms he demanded re- 
 
 paration for the insults of which Charles com- 
 plained, and specifically insisted upon the acknowledgment 
 of the maritime supremacy of England over all seas, 
 going so far as to require that whole fleets should lower 
 their flags to a single English warship. Even to this out- 
 rageous demand De Witt was willing to give way, pro- 
 vided the King would engage to assist the Republic against 
 France. As late as March 3, 1672, he endeavoured to con- 
 jure away the danger by the offer of a heavy personal 
 bribe to Charles. 
 
 Charles had wished to appear as the attacked party. 
 When he found the attempt useless, he began hostilities 
 by an act which Louis himself contemptuously character- 
 ised as sheer piracy. The Dutch merchant fleet from 
 Smyrna was lying at anchor off the Isle of Wight. Ad- 
 miral Holmes was ordered to attack without warning, and 
 to capture the convoy. But the Dutch were prepared, and 
 after a severe engagement (March 13) the fleet escaped 
 with the loss of only two vessels. War was declared by 
 England four days later. 
 
 As danger approached, the Dutch had done their best 
 
1672. The Dutch Republic before the War. 211 
 
 to secure allies. But their proverbial thriftiness stood 
 much in their way. They might undoubtedly have an- 
 ticipated France in securing Sweden had they been as open- 
 handed as Louis. Only in two quarters did they gain any 
 important success. The Grand Elector of 
 Brandenburg, the most powerful of the Ger- R e p "bitc° 
 
 man Princes, had been induced through his with Elector 
 
 01 oranuen- 
 
 vehement Protestantism and his jealousy of burg, April 
 the proximity of French troops to sign a treaty 
 in February, 1671, which became effectual in April 1672, 
 when he promised to aid the Republic with 22 ,000 men ; and 
 his adhesion brought with it that of the Elector of Mayence. 
 Spain too, convinced that if the United Provinces fell into 
 the hands of Louis nothing could save her Low Countries, 
 concluded with the Dutch a treaty of mutual defence. 
 
 But even so the case of the Republic seemed despe- 
 rate against the forces which Louis was prepared to launch 
 upon her. The retrenchment of expenses 
 after the peace had been unwisely made n ess r of P the " 
 upon the army. No less than 41,000 men Dutch 
 
 r ' ~ against a 
 
 had then been disbanded. Obligatory ser- land inva- 
 vice had become a dead letter. Among the 
 troops that remained there was little discipline. The 
 best among the officers had resigned their commissions 
 in consequence of their sympathies with the cause of 
 William. The commissariat was disorganised, the forti- 
 fications were in decay, and the country was almost 
 denuded of military stores. When war was declared, 
 there were, in spite of De Witt's utmost efforts, but 
 52,000 men with the standards. These were placed 
 under William as Captain-General, with Frederick of 
 Nassau, his natural uncle, and John Maurice, the Rhine- 
 grave, then a man of sixty-five years of age, in charge 
 of infantry and cavalry respectively. 
 
212 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 
 
 With these miserable forces the Republic prepared to 
 confront as best it might an army of 176,000 men, led by 
 Conde\ Turenne, Luxemburg, and the great 
 army. engineer Vauban, and admirably equipped 
 
 in every arm. This was the ' escort ' which, as Louis said, 
 permitted him 'to travel safely in the United Provinces.' 
 To face Ruyter's fleet of 135 ships he trusted chiefly to 
 England; but he had himself collected 120 vessels, 
 mounted with 5,000 guns. As a retort to the medal 
 which had so aroused his anger, he caused another to be 
 struck, in which the sun was portrayed dispersing the 
 frogs from a marsh, and bearing as its motto, in allusion 
 to the fact that it was through French assistance that the 
 Republic had been created, the words, ' Evexi, sed dis- 
 cutiam' — ' I raised them up, and I will disperse them.' 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 invasion of the united provinces. 
 
 1. French Occupation. 
 Louis had spoken of ' travelling safely ' in the United 
 Provinces. But none really regarded the enterprise as a 
 light one. Conde, who was not wont to count danger 
 highly, confessed the anxiety he felt ; he even prophesied 
 disaster. Temple compared Louis to a strong swimmer, 
 who plunges full of confidence into the water ; ' but a 
 strong current, the wasting of his strength, or an accident 
 will surely sweep him away.' Every provision was made 
 for a difficult and dangerous expedition. The magnifi- 
 cent force collected at Charleroi was complete through- 
 out its equipment. Vast stores were laid up at Neuss, a 
 little below Cologne; and the labour of transport was 
 thus saved over half the route. 
 
1672. Invasion of the United Provinces. 213 
 
 Had De Witt been seconded with ability, this advan- 
 tage would have been wanting to Louis. He had sent a 
 detachment of cavalry to surprise Neuss ; ^ ., 
 
 ,,-,.. Futile pro- 
 
 but the lack of discipline among the men, jects of 
 who betrayed their approach by a continuous 
 fusillade upon the fowls and geese along the route, 
 frustrated the design. His project for anticipating the 
 declaration of war by entering Brest, Rochelle, and 
 other open French ports, and destroying the ships which 
 were being fitted out there, was rendered futile by the 
 want of a strong central authority. The jealousy of 
 Zealand caused the failure of a still bolder design. This 
 was no less than to repeat the Chatham exploit ; to sail 
 up the Thames before the English fleet could issue out, 
 and there, in the heart of his kingdom, challenge the 
 power of Charles. Before the Zealand squadron had 
 joined the fleet the bulk of the English vessels were out 
 of the river; and though Van Ghent, with a number of 
 light ships, reached Sheerness, he could not force a 
 further passage. 
 
 Two routes were before Louis — by the Meuse or by the 
 Rhine. Blocking the former stood Maestricht, a strong 
 fortress garrisoned by Dutch troops. Sup- „„ „, 
 
 . ' * * 1 he Rhine 
 
 posing this obstacle overcome, and the line route chosen 
 of the Meuse followed, the army would be y 
 confronted before it entered Dutch territory by the Waal, 
 a deep and wide river, defended at the crossing point by 
 Nimwegen. If the Rhine route were chosen, it would be 
 necessary to capture four fortressess — Orsoy, Rhynberg, 
 Wesel, and Biirick — then in Dutch hands. Following 
 the right bank, the army would finally have to cross the 
 Yssel, which leaves the Rhine just above Arnheim. It 
 was determined to adopt the latter of these two plans. 
 On May 5 Louis joined the army at Charleroi. Marching 
 
214 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 
 
 swiftly along the Sambre, he led his forces near Liege, 
 on the Meuse. On the 15th Maseyck, a little north, and 
 Tongres, a little south, of Maestricht, were taken and 
 garrisoned, that place being thus completely masked. 
 Passing the Meuse at Vise, Louis reached his magazines 
 at Neuss on the 31st. Here the army was divided, Conde 
 crossing the Rhine at Kaiserwerth. On June 2 the for- 
 tresses were simultaneously attacked. By the 6th Tu- 
 renne had taken Orsoy, Biirick, and Rhynberg on the left 
 bank, while Wesel on the right surrendered to Conde. 
 Crossing at Wesel, Turenne rejoined Conde, and on the 
 nth the whole force was before the Yssel, faced by Wil- 
 liam with all the troops he could muster. Conde now 
 offered to wager that he would force a passage with a loss 
 of less than four hundred men. 
 
 A plan even less dangerous was adopted. By crossing 
 at Tolhuys, between the outflows of the Waal and the 
 Crossing of Yssel, the whole army might easily be placed 
 the Rhine at m the region between the Waal and the 
 
 lolhuys, ° 
 
 167;, Rhine known as the ' Betuwe.' Robbed of 
 
 the volume of the Waal, the river is here 
 easily fordable by cavalry. William had, moreover, 
 neglected to defend it in force. The celebrated ' passage 
 of the Rhine ' therefore, which, graced by the young 
 monarch's presence, aroused such enthusiasm in France, 
 has been described by Napoleon as an ' operation of the 
 fourth order.' It was made with only one serious mis- 
 hap. Conde, as he led the dash into the river, was 
 wounded in the wrist, and could take no further part in 
 the advance. The next day a bridge was thrown over 
 and the whole army crossed into the Betuwe. 
 
 The line of the Yssel being thus turned, William fell 
 back towards Amsterdam, with the regiments of Holland, 
 Guelders, and Utrecht, numbering some 12,000 men. 
 
1672. Invasion 0/ the United Provinces. 215 
 
 The rest refused to take part in the defence of any prov- 
 ince but their own, and were left uselessly cooped up in, 
 Arnheim, Nimwegen, and the Yssel for- Mistakes of 
 tresses. Had Louis followed Conde's advice, RoXfon's 
 to send his cavalry straight upon Amster- cavalr y , dash 
 
 3 ,1,1 to Muyden. 
 
 dam, the campaign would probably have 
 been ended at a blow. Yielding however to the presump- 
 tion of Louvois, he ordered Turenne to complete the 
 conquest of the Betuwe while himself, after investing 
 Nimwegen, crossed the Rhine once more below Arnheim, 
 took that town, and proceeded leisurely to reduce the 
 Yssel forts. The mistake was well-nigh redeemed by the 
 enterprise of the Count of Rochefort, who with 1,800 
 horsemen made a dash for Muyden, within sight of Am- 
 sterdam, in order to secure the sluices, passing William, 
 and capturing as he sped on, Rheuss, Amersfort, and 
 Naarden. A few of his men reached Muyden only to 
 find that at the critical moment John Maurice had thrown 
 in a garrison. Returning on his track, Rochefort on June 
 23 entered Utrecht, which William had abandoned when 
 the inhabitants refused to sacrifice their gardens and 
 villas for its defence. 
 
 Louis however, in spite of the check at Muyden, felt 
 sure of his prey. Advancing from the Yssel, he took up 
 his quarters at Utrecht, published a proclamation calling 
 upon the towns which still held out to surrender, under 
 the severest penalties of war, and waited for the submis- 
 sion of Amsterdam. 
 
 But that submission never came. As early Opening of 
 
 * the sluices ; 
 
 as April the supreme necessity had been defence of 
 
 , _ TTr . A ,, , . , . Amsterdam, 
 
 foreseen by De Witt. All had been in ^ J2j 
 readiness to open the sluices and cut the J une ,8- 
 dykes. On June 15 the memorable resolution was come 
 to. By the 18th the sacrifice was consummated. The 
 
216 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 
 
 sea poured in, placing a waste of water between Louis 
 and Amsterdam, and the province of Holland at least 
 was saved. The citizens worked with the intensest 
 energy to provide for their defence. The archives and 
 State treasures were transferred thither from the Hague, 
 and the States General held their sittings there. The 
 mills were set to grind powder instead of corn ; the regi- 
 ments which had followed William were taken into the 
 pay of Holland ; every fourth man among the peasantry 
 was enlisted ; marines and gunners were drawn from the 
 fleet. A strong force was sent to guard the shores of the 
 Zuyder Zee, while a swarm of light vessels rendered any 
 attempt of the French ships to make use of the inundation 
 hopeless. The resolution of the men of Holland rose day 
 by day, now that they were fighting for their own pro- 
 vince. The Republic had been well-nigh lost through 
 the want of imperial spirit; it was now saved by the 
 vigour of local patriotism. 
 
 A gleam of light came from Zealand. Louis had left 
 behind him a strong force near Ath to watch the Spanish 
 Success Low Countries. Their commander, hearing 
 
 " f l ^ e that Aardenburg, which guarded the entry 
 
 at into Zealand, was weakly garrisoned, marched 
 
 Aardenburg. , , „ . , . . , 
 
 through Spanish territory with 5,000 men 
 and suddenly appeared before the town. Attacking with 
 his advanced guard, he was driven back with loss. A 
 second assault with his whole force was even more disas- 
 trous, while to complete his discomfiture the captain of a 
 Zealand vessel landed his crew of 200 men, and by a 
 vigorous flank attack so well seconded a sortie of the gar- 
 rison that the French were compelled to retreat with great 
 loss in killed and prisoners. By this spirited feat of arms 
 Zealand was placed in safety, and French troops were 
 shown to be not invincible. 
 
1672. Invasion of the United Provinces. 217 
 
 Thus saved on land by a desperate appeal to nature, 
 the Republic had been saved at sea by the valour of her 
 sailors. On June 7 Ruyter encountered the Naval 
 united fleets of France and England in g^f 1 
 Southwold Bay. At seven in the morning £ atl ' eof , , 
 
 ' . ° Southwold 
 
 they joined battle. Ruyter, with whom was Bay, 
 Cornelius de Witt, led the centre. He or- J une 7- 
 dered the pilot to lay his vessel, ' The Seven Provinces,' 
 alongside James's flag-ship, ' The Prince,' while Banck- 
 ers and Van Ghent attacked the French squadron under 
 Estrees and the English left wing under the Earl of Sand- 
 wich respectively. Within two hours ' The Prince ' was 
 so shattered that James, among whose faults a lack of 
 personal bravery can never be numbered, was compelled 
 to row off under the fire of the enemy and hoist his flag 
 upon the ' St. Michael.' Before the day ended the ' St. 
 Michael ' too sank under him, and he barely escaped to 
 the 'London.' On the English right Estrees fell back, 
 pursued by Banckers ; while on the left a terrible fight 
 raged throughout the long summer's day. Van Ghent 
 was killed early in the action. Sandwich, after a des- 
 perate resistance to overwhelming attacks, perished with 
 his son by the sinking of the boat in which they were 
 rowing to another ship. Ruyter, who had been seriously 
 endangered by the absence of Banckers, recovered as- 
 cendancy late in the evening ; and, when night fell, the 
 English were falling back with a loss of five ships of the 
 line, 2,500 men, and no fewer than eighteen captains. A 
 dense fog prevented Ruyter from pushing his victory next 
 day. But he had done his work ; he had at the critical 
 moment preserved the coasts of the Republic from attack, 
 and was able to give his attention to secure the safe har- 
 bouring of the East India fleet. 
 
218 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 
 
 2. The Orange Reaction. Murder of the De Witts. 
 The prospect of final rescue was however so dim, that 
 the States General determined to negotiate with Louis. 
 When their deputation reached his camp at Doesburg, on 
 the Yssel, they were told by Louvois that satisfaction for 
 the allies of France and the payment of the entire ex- 
 penses of the war were necessary preliminaries to a 
 treaty. The States-General were disposed to yield, but 
 the deputies of Amsterdam in the Provincial Estates of 
 Holland stood firm. Come what might, they declared 
 that they would have no part in such a submission. 
 
 In the vehement discussions which had arisen De 
 Witt had had no share. Each day of misfortune had led 
 more definitely to his fall. As unity of command grew 
 indispensable, the restoration of the Stadtholderate was 
 demanded with increasing insistance, and to this re- 
 storation he was regarded as the main obstacle. The 
 most atrocious calumnies, especially from 
 
 Attempted . 
 
 murder of the pulpits of the Calvinistic clergy, who 
 were vehemently in William's interest, were 
 now levelled against him. He was accused of being an 
 accomplice of Louis, and of having sent to Venice a large 
 sum of public money for his own use. On June 21 
 he was attacked in the streets and left for dead ; and on 
 the same day an attempt was made at Dordrecht upon 
 the life of his brother Cornelius. One of the ruffians 
 was captured and hung ; the others, who were well 
 known, found, to William's disgrace, a safe refuge in 
 his camp. 
 
 This deed only stimulated the reaction. One by one 
 the towns of Zealand, and then of Holland, proclaimed 
 William their Stadtholder. He was summoned to Dor- 
 drecht, where he found the streets gay with orange and 
 white flags, the white, in punning reference to the Grand 
 
1672. Invasion of the United Provinces. 219 
 
 Pensionary's name, below the orange. On July 1 the 
 Provincial Estates of Holland and Zealand sent to the 
 towns, where it was received with enthu- Abrogation 
 siasm, their vote for the abrogation of the Perpetual 
 Perpetual Edict; and on July 6 the Prince Ed> ct - 
 was proclaimed Stadtholder by both provinces, with all 
 the privileges of his ancestors, the election of the mayors 
 of towns being alone reserved. In this vote Guelders, 
 Utrecht, and Overyssel were unable to concur, since 
 they were in the hands of the French ; while Friesland 
 and Groningen retained as Stadtholder the son of their 
 former governor, Henry Casimir of Nassau. At the 
 same time the States-General named the Prince, hence- 
 forward William III., Captain and Admiral General of 
 the Republic for life, saving the privileges of Henry 
 Casimir. From this moment Louis had to reckon with 
 the resistance, not merely of a valiant and stubborn 
 people driven to desperation, but of such a people 
 swayed by a will as proud and as tenacious as his own. 
 
 Of this reaction the national need had been the im- 
 mediate cause. It represented, also, the triumph of the 
 democratic spirit over the merchant aristo- Murder 
 cracy, which had so long kept the mass of ^witts 
 the people, as it had kept William, under its August 20, 
 control. A terrible crime now signalised this 
 triumph. The enmity against the De Witts had been 
 disarmed neither by the murderous attack upon them 
 nor by the dignified address in which, after recounting 
 the services of nineteen years, John de Witt resigned to 
 the Provincial Estates of Holland his charge as Grand 
 Pensionary. The populace determined on a full accom- 
 plishment of their design. The blow fell first upon Cor- 
 nelius, who, accused of plotting the murder of William, 
 was enticed to the Hague, and there, by order of the 
 
220 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 
 
 Court of Holland, put to the torture, and ordered to be 
 banished from Holland and West Friesland. As he lay 
 crippled from the rack, the mob surrounded the prison 
 to prevent his departure. By a feigned message his 
 brother was induced to visit him there. Means were 
 found to remove the guards who protected the prison 
 from attack. Then, bursting open the gates, the crowd 
 rushed to the room where the brothers were expecting 
 their fate. They found Cornelius stretched on the bed, 
 while John De Witt read aloud from the Bible. A blow 
 struck the reader on the face and covered him with blood. 
 Then Cornelius was dragged to his feet. Almost before 
 the brothers had exchanged a last kiss he was hurled to 
 the bottom of the stairs. Pushing their victims before 
 them the mob rushed into the street, and there the 
 butchery was completed. As John de Witt, struck to 
 the earth, raised himself on his knees, and, holding his 
 clasped hands to heaven, opened his lips to utter a last 
 prayer, he was dashed backwards ; a man placed his foot 
 upon his throat, and crying aloud, ' At last the Perpetual 
 Edict is repealed,' blew out his brains with a pistol. The 
 bodies were stripped and horribly outraged, and then, in 
 the presence of a Calvinistic clergymen, were dragged 
 through the streets to the scaffold and hung by the feet 
 amid the jeers of the people. 
 
 Upon no one did this foul deed throw more disgrace 
 than upon William. By his ungenerous coldness after 
 Conductof the first attack, and by his protection of the 
 Wiiham. assailants, he had made it evident that he 
 
 was not likely to hinder the bloody work in hand. Not 
 a word had escaped him to control the popular passion. 
 When appealed to for troops to quell the riot he had 
 turned a deaf ear, and when the murder was completed 
 he not only protected the ringleaders, but actually con- 
 
1672. Invasion of the United Provinces. 221 
 
 ferred upon them public preferment. The poor excuse 
 that can be made for him is that by active steps to pre- 
 vent this blind desire for vengeance he might have im- 
 perilled his newly acquired position. 
 
 3. Negotiations with Louis. Close of the French 
 Attack. 
 
 The States-General had meanwhile (June 29) submitted 
 their fresh proposals to Louis. They offered him 
 Maestricht and its dependencies, a portion of the 'Gene- 
 rality ' (see p. 8), and six millions of livres. They 
 demanded in return that their political and religious in- 
 dependence should remain intact. Louis has himself re- 
 corded his regret that, acting under the 
 advice of Louvois, he refused this magni- s idered 
 ficent conclusion to the war, which, by plac- rejection of 
 
 ' J r the Dutch 
 
 ing in his hands a belt of fortresses from the offers by 
 Meuse to the mouth of the Scheldt, would 
 have nullified the power of the Republic to oppose him 
 whenever he should determine to incorporate the Spanish 
 Low Countries with France. Louvois persuaded him to 
 require, in addition, satisfaction to his allies, the im- 
 munity of all French subjects in the United Provinces 
 from the ordinary dues and customs, the suppression of 
 every commercial edict to the disadvantage of France 
 issued since 1662, the establishment and support of 
 Catholic churches, with a payment of twenty-four millions 
 of livres. And he insisted that every year a deputa- 
 tion should approach him at Paris to present him with a 
 gold medal in token that they held their liberty at his 
 grace. The reply of the States-General was that to 
 accede to such demands would be to accede to dismem- 
 berment, the reversal of their constitution, the ruin of 
 their trade, and national dishonour. 
 
222 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 
 
 Charles II. had meanwhile rejected the solicitations of 
 
 the embassy which had been sent to him also, and had 
 
 commissioned Buckingham, Arlington, and 
 
 termination 6 " tne Earl of Halifax to the French camp, with 
 
 expressed to power to act in concord with Louis. On their 
 
 the English r 
 
 ambassa- way they visited William at Bodegrave, and 
 
 urged him to accept the offered terms. He 
 told them that France might have Maestricht and the 
 Rhine towns, but nothing more. ' Do you not see,' said 
 Buckingham, 'that the Republic is lost?' The answer 
 illustrated the new spirit which prevailed. ' I know one 
 sure means of never seeing it — to die on the last dyke.' 
 From William the commissioners went to Louis. They 
 found him willing to add on behalf of England demands 
 for an unconditional surrender on the vexed question of the 
 flag, free fishing in Dutch waters, the command of the 
 shores of Zealand, and the absolute sovereignty of the 
 rest of the United Provinces for William. 
 
 The joint demands were sent to the Prince, and laid by 
 him before the States-General.who returned an unequivocal 
 rejection. William would not even answer the despatch of 
 Louis directly ; he contented himself with forwarding him 
 H"s refusal ^ e C0 Py °f an extract from the formal reso- 
 of the joint lution of the assembly. To stimulate further 
 Louis and the national spirit he caused the dishonour- 
 ing conditions to be posted on the public 
 places of every town. 
 
 F .. , This uncompromising tone had been 
 
 allied fleet strengthened by a fresh piece of good fortune. 
 
 to attack the _ T . , „ , ,. r , 
 
 Dutch On July 14 an Anglo-French fleet of 160 
 
 i672. tS ' Ju ' y vessels was outside the Texel. Ruyter, with 
 fifty partially equipped ships, could not have 
 disputed their entrance. But a curious conjunction of 
 wind and tide, long afterwards regarded as the visible 
 
1672. Invasion of the United Provinces. 223 
 
 interposition of Providence, came to the aid of the 
 Republic, and before it was over there gathered so 
 fierce a three days' tempest that the shattered armament 
 was compelled to return discomfited to the shores of 
 England, without disembarking a single man. 
 
 All active military operations against Holland were now 
 necessarily at an end. There was not a Dutch town south 
 of the inundation which was not in the hands of the 
 French ; and nothing remained for the latter „ , r ., 
 
 ' ° _ End of the 
 
 but to lie idle until the ice of winter should French 
 
 111 i n 1 1 • 1 invasion. 
 
 enable them to cross the floods which cut 
 them off from Amsterdam. Leaving Turenne in com- 
 mand, Louis therefore returned to St. Germain on August 
 1. A medal, still harping on his favourite image, was 
 struck to his glory, in which the sun was represented pass- 
 ing through his twelve dwellings, pictured by the twelve 
 principal conquered towns. 
 
 Elsewhere the invasion had been foiled. The Duke of 
 Luxemburg, aided by the forces of Cologne and Munster, 
 had easily made himself master of Overyssel. He next 
 fell upon Groningen. On June 30 he took Ccevorden, and 
 then attacked the town of Groningen itself with 22,000 
 men. Its fall would have led to the fall of Delfzyl, and 
 the mouth of the Ems would have been T 
 
 Invasion of 
 
 open to the English fleet. The small Overyssel and 
 
 i r i r i 1 Groningen. 
 
 garrison however of 4,400 men defended Failureat 
 
 themselves against an incessant bombard- Groningen 
 
 ment and frequent assaults with so much August 
 
 n 1672. 
 
 vigour that at the end of six weeks the 
 
 besiegers retired with heavy loss. They were now re- 
 called from Overyssel by new events. 
 
224 English Restoration and Lotus XIV. 1672. 
 
 4. Failure of First Coalition against Louis. 
 The alarm with which Europe had been watching the 
 progress of Louis began to find expression. Switzerland, 
 Alarm of even in her Catholic cantons, was so warm 
 
 Europe. j n behalf of the Republic that it was only 
 
 by force that her regiments in the service of Louis were 
 kept to their duty. Spain was doing her best to help the 
 Dutch to defend themselves, though unable yet to take 
 the offensive ; while Leopold, though for a long time 
 held back by the Partition Treaty, was so alarmed by the 
 dangers to the peace of the Empire from 
 Leopold and the extension of French power to the 
 the Elector Rhine, that he formed on June 23 an alli- 
 
 ot riranden- ... 
 
 burg, June ance with Frederick William, the Grand 
 Elector of Brandenburg, by which each 
 engaged to raise 12,000 men at once, ostensibly to 
 preserve the Peace of Westphalia and the internal 
 peace of the Empire; and another with the States- 
 , , , General on October 27, by which he was 
 
 Of Leopold . ... . „ . 
 
 with the to receive a subsidy on joining the Grand 
 
 General, Elector in the field. No peace was to be 
 
 Oct. 17, 1672. m ade with Louis without the consent of him 
 self and the General Elector until the war finally closed. 
 
 Louis had acted with his usual promptitude. He with- 
 drew Turenne with 16,000 men to Westphalia, and 
 placed Conde with 17,000 to guard Alsace. Duras was 
 stationed on the Meuse ; Luxemburg remained with a 
 small force at Utrecht. On September 12 the Austrian 
 general Montecuculi, the Duke of Lorraine, and the 
 Grand Elector effected their junction, intending to 
 cross the Rhine and join William. Reinforced by the 
 troops of Munster and Cologne from Overyssel, Turenne 
 drove them back to Friedberg. At the end of November 
 however they succeeded in crossing at Weissenau, only 
 
1672. Invasion of the United Provinces. 225 
 
 to find that Turenne had by forced marches placed him- 
 self in their path. Completely outgeneralled, winter 
 they were compelled in December to recross dfJc P mfture 
 the river and, closely pressed, to retreat to of the allies 
 
 . , , , . „ by i urenne. 
 
 Darmstadt. All through the winter Turenne 
 pushed them home. While Louvois, jealous of the Great 
 Captain's fame, was sending him reiterated orders to go 
 into winter quarters, he gave the allies not a moment's 
 repose, and by the beginning of March had driven 
 them across the Weser; nor did he leave them until, 
 utterly baffled, the Austrians had retired into Franconia, 
 the Brandenburg contingent to Halberstadt. He again 
 established his wearied troops in Westphalia. 
 
 William had been meanwhile endeavouring to take 
 advantage of this diversion. His first attempts, on 
 Naarden and Woerden, had been foiled by wmiam 
 Luxemburg. Undiscouraged, he suddenly ^ for f . 
 
 & • J Charleroi ; 
 
 threw himself with 35,000 men upon Duras, failure of his 
 
 , . . . enterprise, 
 
 drove him across the Meuse, and on December 
 December 15 invested Charleroi. But be- T 5.*67*- 
 fore Conde could hasten from Alsace to the rescue, the 
 Count of Montal had succeeded by a desperate attack 
 in forcing William's lines and relieving the place. 
 The Prince had no course left but to retreat in haste 
 to Amsterdam. The victories of Turenne now deprived 
 the Dutch of the ally in whom they most trusted. 
 Frederick William, utterly disheartened, and tempted by 
 liberal offers from Louis, agreed, on June 6, 1673, to re- 
 main strictly neutral, to withdraw his gar- The Grand 
 risons from all Dutch towns, to stay beyond makespeace, 
 the Weser, and to allow French troops to J une 6 > l673- 
 pass into Germany to punish any infraction of the 
 Treaty of Munster. By fresh arrangements with the 
 Archbishop of Cologne and the Elector of Hanover 
 P 
 
226 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1673. 
 
 Louis also secured the continued occupation of Overyssel, 
 and so deprived the Dutch of all hope of future aid from 
 the side of Westphalia. 
 
 Sweden now intervened. Fettered by fear of Denmark 
 from taking an active part in the conflict, and unwilling 
 Mediation of to see England without a rival at sea, she 
 Conference thought her engagements with Louis suffi- 
 of Cologne ciently satisfied for the moment by sending, 
 
 opens, June . *••»■•■»■ ^-i 
 
 1673. in September, 1 672, both to Louis and Charles 
 
 to offer her mediation ; and in June, 1673, a conference 
 was opened at Cologne. Before the absolute refusal of 
 the Dutch — who, as Charles complained to his Parlia- 
 ment, treated his ambassadors ' with the contempt of 
 conquerors, and not as might have been expected from 
 men in their condition ' — to listen to the extravagant 
 demands of the two Kings, nothing could be done. In 
 July, Sweden endeavoured to secure some relaxation of 
 these demands. The moment was unfor- 
 
 ( apture of . 
 
 Maestricht tunate, for Louis was in the flush ot a new 
 y au an. success . Maestricht, after a four weeks' 
 siege, had fallen before the genius of Vauban. 
 
 The end of August found the Dutch as uncompro- 
 mising as Louis, for they had just fought and won a 
 desperate campaign upon their own element. Charles 
 had in the spring made all ready for another descent upon 
 their coasts, for he saw in a striking victory over the 
 Republic the sole chance of extricating himself from the 
 increasing difficulties of his position at home. 
 
 Ntivnl Ccini" 
 
 piign of He had collected 8,000 men at Yarmouth 
 
 ofOie Anglo- under the French general Schomberg, to be 
 French fleet transported to Zealand when the way should 
 and Tromp, have been cleared by a defeat of the Dutch 
 june 14. fl ee ^ Q n j une 7 Rupert and Estrees met 
 
 Ruyter and Tromp with almost equal forces. The day 
 
1 673. Invasion of the United Provinces. 227 
 
 was bloody but indecisive. The conflict was renewed 
 on the 14th, when the Dutch fought with such fury 
 that the English were driven back to the Thames. In 
 the middle of August they set out again, this time 
 with Schomberg's men on board. On the Second 
 21st took place, close to the Zealand coast, August 21 
 the battle upon which hung the fate of the l6 ?3- 
 Republic. From daylight till dark the terrible duel 
 lasted. The church towers and housetops along the 
 shore were crowded with anxious spectators. Not until 
 7 in the evening did Rupert lose hope of victory. 
 Then, as Ruyter prepared for a last desperate onset, he 
 gave the signal for retreat, and the allied fleets sailed 
 sullenly back to Yarmouth. 
 
 William now replied once more to Louis and Charles. 
 The French might have Maestricht, Zutphen, and Hulst. 
 To England he would grant the salute, and nothing 
 more. Cologne might retain Rhynberg. But Munster 
 should have not an acre of land. The States-General 
 further declared that after September 15 they would only 
 make peace in concert with the Emperor and Spain. 
 
 5. Second Coalition against Louis. Peace between 
 England and the Republic Evacuation of the 
 United Provinces by the French. 
 
 William's tone was determined too by the fact that 
 a coalition against Louis, more powerful than the last, 
 had now been formed. Spain, profoundly moved by the 
 capture of Maestricht, had managed to raise money to 
 supply her army, and even to subsidise Leopold. On 
 August 15 the latter issued a manifesto to the Diet, 
 explaining that he went to war to defend the Empire ; 
 and on the 30th three separate treaties were signed by 
 the parties to the new alliance. By the first, Leopold 
 
228 English Rcstoratio?i and Louis XIV. 1673. 
 
 Treaties agreed to march -50,000 men to the Rhine, 
 
 between ° -" 
 
 Leopold and where the Dutch would meet them with 
 .Spain and 2o,ooo. By the second, Spain promised 
 theDnke h oi the Dutch to join her forces to those of 
 Lorraine the Empire, and, for a fresh guarantee 
 
 three of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, to insist 
 
 August'30, upon France restoring to the Republic all her 
 l6?3- conquests; while she herself was to regain 
 
 the limits of the Peace of the Pyrenees and to retain 
 Maestricht and Vroonhoven. By the third, the errant 
 Uuke of Lorraine, who furnished 18,000 men to the 
 coalition, was to be restored to his estates at the end of 
 the war. Peace was to be made only by the mutual 
 consent of all the contracting powers. Active operations 
 began at once. William, outmanoeuvring Conde, now 
 in command in the United Provinces, captured Naarden 
 (August 28), and, marching right forward to the Rhine, 
 Capture of joined Montecuculi, who had slipped by 
 William and Turenne, a little below Bonn, which fell 
 Lorraine, before their united efforts on November 12. 
 
 November 
 
 12,1673. The effect was immediate. Cologne and 
 
 Munster made peace ; the Electors of Treves and May- 
 ence joined the coalition. 
 
 But far more important was it that, driven by the need 
 of money, which Louis could only partially satisfy, and 
 heartily tired of a war in which he had experienced little 
 but defeat, Charles, after a conflict of several months, 
 yielded to the conditions imposed upon him by Parliament, 
 to whom this Cabal war, unlike the former, had from the 
 first been distasteful, and in the teeth of his engage- 
 ments with Louis, made peace with the Dutch. By the 
 Treaty of London (February 19, 1674) the Republic 
 yielded the honour of the flag from Cape Finisterre north- 
 wards, agreed to pay 800,000 crowns, and granted to 
 
1 673. The Parliamentary Conflict in England. 229 
 
 England the retention of all her conquests outside Europe. 
 All future disputes between the rival East India Compa- 
 nies were to be submitted to arbitration. Charles II. 
 Charles promised that he would give no compelled to 
 
 r ° make peace 
 
 help to the enemies of the Republic. He with the 
 
 , , , . ii r 1 Republic, 
 
 managed however to evade the recall of the February 19, 
 English regiments in the French service ; * 74 ' 
 and his ambassadors at Cologne, where the conference 
 lingered on until the end of March, remained to act in 
 the French interest. 
 
 But even these defections did not fully represent the 
 weakening of Louis's cause. In January 1674 the 
 coalition was joined by Denmark, and in _ 
 
 Denmark 
 
 March by the Electors Palatine ; in April joins the 
 Leopold had gained the Dukes of Bruns- January' 
 wick and Liineburg ; in May he induced l6y4, 
 the Diet to declare war in the name of the Empire ; and 
 on July 1 the Grand Elector once more threw in his lot 
 with the enemies of France. Louis at once determined 
 to concentrate all his strength. Bitterly repenting his 
 refusal eighteen months earlier of a splendid termin- 
 ation of his enterprise against the Republic, he saw him- 
 self forced to relinquish it without having wrung from her 
 a single concession, and with Maestricht and Grave alone 
 out of forty large towns to represent his conquests. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE PARLIAMENTARY CONFLICT IN ENGLAND. 
 
 i. The Test Act. February 4 — March 29, 1673. 
 It is necessary now to recur to the progress of the par- 
 liamentary conflict in England. The subsidies of Louis, 
 the supplies previously voted, and the spoil of the Stop 
 
230 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1673. 
 
 of the Exchequer had enabled Charles to dispense with 
 an appeal to Parliament for nearly two years. These 
 funds being exhausted, and Louis not being prepared to 
 satisfy his needs, he met the Houses on February 4, 
 1673. Assuming a tone of confidence, he put lightly 
 aside the question of the standing army, whose ' dark 
 hovering on Blackheath ' was excitingmuch suspicion, stat- 
 ing indeed that several more regiments would be necessary 
 in the spring; and he gave the usual assurances to the 
 ,, , Church. Then, trusting to waive all attack 
 
 Charles . ° 
 
 resolves to upon the Declaration of Indulgence by a 
 
 maintain the . r t ■ i -n i 
 
 Declaration strong expression of his personal will, he 
 dulgence ended his reference to it by the words : 
 
 February 'And I will deal plainly with you, I am re- 
 
 1673. 
 
 solved to stick to my Declaration.' Shaftes- 
 bury followed with the famous ' Delenda est Carthago ' 
 speech, in which he expressed the necessity of beating 
 the Republic, as being ' England's eternal enemy, both 
 by interest and inclination,' to the ground. 
 
 On many questions the Commons were unexpectedly 
 compliant. They introduced a bill for the monthly 
 supply of 70,000/. for eighteen months ' for the King's 
 extraordinary occasions,' thus avoiding direct reference 
 to the war, of which the country was now weary, but were 
 careful to proceed no further with it for the moment. 
 They refrained from attacking the Stop of the Exchequer, 
 the War, or the Cabal. This was because they had 
 chosen to challenge the King on one matter alone. 
 
 On February 8 took place the first debate on the 
 
 Declaration. In its support the old arguments were 
 
 used ; the advantage of trade, the increase 
 
 Arguments . . 
 
 for and of population which toleration always pro- 
 
 moted, the folly of causing discontent at 
 home while a war demanding all the nation's energies 
 
i673- The Parliamentary Conflict in England. 231 
 
 was on hand. The distinction between the prerogative 
 in temporal and spiritual matters was dwelt upon. As 
 the master of a ship may throw over the cargo in a storm, 
 or one may walk over another man's grounds in an emer- 
 gency, so when there is sufficient occasion the King may 
 dispense with the law. ' Can government,' it was boldly 
 asked, ' be without arbitrary government ? ' On the other 
 side the distinction advanced was utterly repudiated. 
 Granting that the King had power to pardon crime in 
 individual cases, he had none to l>cense crime by dis- 
 posing with law. The Declaration broke through no 
 fewer than forty Acts of Parliament, repealable by Par- 
 liament alone. The debate closed with a vote, carried 
 by 168 to 116, that 'Penal statutes in matters ecclesias- 
 tical cannot be suspended but by Act of Parliament.' 
 
 Beyond the challenge thus thrown down to the King, 
 the debate was important as showing the distance trav- 
 elled by public opinion since the passing 
 of the second Conventicle Act. A sugges- Protestant 
 tion that the House itself should prepare a 
 bill 'for the ease of His Majesty's Protestant subjects that 
 are Dissenters' was unanimously adopted. The Anglican 
 furor had evidently to a great extent passed away. The 
 Commons were no longer on their defence against Pro- 
 testant dissent, but were engaged in providing that the 
 Church of England should not be ' devoured by Papists.' 
 
 The vote of February 8 had been followed by an 
 address to the King. Obtaining from him only an evasive 
 request that the Commons would themselves prepare a 
 bill in the same sense as the Declaration, 
 
 . Attack on 
 
 they pressed ' for a full and satisfactory the 
 
 , , - , . . , , , Declaration. 
 
 answer ; and enforced their demand by a 
 
 vote (February 28) that no one refusing the oaths or the 
 
 sacrament according to the Anglican rites should be capa- 
 
232 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1673. 
 
 ble of holding any office under the Crown. Charles here- 
 upon appealed to the Lords for their advice. They coldly 
 replied that his previous answer referring the question to 
 the Commons ' in a parliamentary way ' was ' good and 
 gracious.' On March 7 they joined the Lower House in 
 desiring the King at once to order all Jesuits and Catho- 
 lic priests, except those in attendance on the Queen and 
 the foreign ambassadors, to leave the kingdom within 
 thirty days ; to instruct the justices to execute the penal 
 laws against them with all rigour ; and to call upon all 
 officers and soldiers at once to take the oaths and receive 
 the sacrament. Pressed to yield by his ministers, who 
 „, , were becoming alarmed for their own safety, 
 
 Charles ° J ' 
 
 cancels the by Louis, who saw that unless supplies were 
 
 Declaration, . , . . .. .. , 
 
 March granted his ally must necessarily make 
 
 l6?3 ' peace, and by the female favourites, whose 
 
 sources of wealth were endangered, Charles on March 8 
 cancelled the Declaration to which only a month before 
 he had declared his fixed resolve to adhere. 
 
 The concession was too tardy. The Commons were 
 anxious to put an end to the Catholic Question. A bill 
 for a Test Act, suggested by Arlington to destroy Clifford, 
 had already been before them. On March 12 it was read 
 a third time. In the interval it had been pointed out that 
 if passed in the terms of the vote of February 28 it might 
 be inoperative for its purpose, since the Pope could grant 
 dispensation to take the oaths and e.ven to receive the 
 Passing of Anglican sacrament. He was however pre- 
 Act T March eluded from any such step regarding cardi- 
 2 9> l6 73- nal matters of faith. The Act therefore was 
 
 framed to include an explicit denial of the doctrine of 
 Transubstantiation. In the Lords, in spite of the pas- 
 sionate resistance of the greater part of the Catholic 
 peers under the leadership of Clifford, who broke out 
 
1673- The Parliamentary Conflict in England. 233 
 
 upon it as ' monstrum, horrendum, ingens,' it passed by 
 a large majority. On March 29 it received the royal 
 assent. Only then did the Commons pass the Subsidy 
 Bill. 
 
 Parliament had at last won the victory for which it 
 had been striving since the Restoration. James, to the 
 great loss of the nation, resigned his post of Lord High 
 Admiral. The second part of Clifford's horoscope was 
 now fulfilled. He laid down the Treasurer's staff, went 
 into strict retirement, and shortly died — it was reported by 
 his own hand — of the disappointment of his hopes. The 
 Cabal was shattered, and from this moment The Cabal 
 Charles abandoned all attempt to secure shattered. 
 favour for the proscribed creed. The influence of James 
 however was sufficient to secure the nomination of Sir 
 Thomas Osborne, soon created Earl of Danby, to succeed 
 Clifford as Lord Treasurer — an appointment which turned 
 Arlington, who thus suffered a second rebuff, into a keen 
 though concealed opponent of the Government. 
 
 Meanwhile the bill for the ease of Protestant Dissent- 
 ers had been read a third time in the Commons. Diffi- 
 culties arose only at the last moment. In the T , , 
 
 . ... Loss of the 
 
 Lords the Bishops opposed it with vehemence, bill for the 
 and secured its return to the Commons Protestant 
 clogged with unacceptable amendments. By Dissenters, 
 passing the Bill of Supply the Commons had lost their 
 hold on events. Charles, though honestly anxious to see 
 the measure become law, adjourned the Parliament, and 
 the bill was for the time lost. 
 
234 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1674. 
 
 2. Refusal of Supplies. Shaftesbury in Opposition. 
 
 Peace with the Dutch. October 20, 1673-FEBRU- 
 
 ary 24, 1674. 
 The very fact that precautions had been taken against 
 the Catholics appeared to increase the general alarm. 
 Much had indeed taken place during the recess to 
 Causes nf justify this feeling. The Test Act had been 
 
 fn^rlfa"' largely evaded, and the ' flaunting of Pa- 
 
 ment. pists ' in Whitehall was evident to all. 
 
 Louis's demand for the establishment of Catholic 
 churches in the conquered Dutch towns had roused the 
 Protestant feeling of Englishmen to the utmost; while the 
 national jealousy of France had been excited to fever 
 pitch by the belief that the conduct of Estrees, who both 
 in the last battle and in that of Solebay had avoided giv- 
 ing any effective assistance, had been prompted by the 
 desire of Louis to see the two great naval powers destroy 
 each other's strength. Rupert, in his conviction that this 
 was the case, had become the leader of a vehement anti- 
 French party. Then there was the standing army, under 
 the command of Schomberg, a Frenchman, though a 
 Protestant, with a declared Catholic second in com- 
 mand; and, lastly, the marriage of James to the Princess 
 of Modena — a marriage known to have been arranged 
 in deference to the personal wishes of Louis — not only 
 opened up the prospect of a long Catholic succession 
 but expressed in a definite form the alliance of the court 
 with the French and Catholic cause. When therefore 
 Parliament met in October, 1673, it was in a fighting 
 mood. The silencing of some leading members of the 
 old Opposition by the personal influence of the King 
 could avail but little against the rising tide of passion. 
 The most influential members of the country party rose 
 one after another to urge the House to refuse a supply 
 
1674- The Parliamentary Conflict in England. 235 
 
 until their grievances had been redressed. ' Here is 
 money asked of us,' said Lord Cavendish, ' to carry on a 
 war we were never advised about ; and what we have 
 given is turned to raising of families and not paying the 
 King's debts.' Lord Cornbury, Clarendon's eldest son, 
 had ' begged for the King, and wanted for him, and 
 would willingly do it again:' but he too was for refusing 
 supply. ' Do this,' said another, ' and we may deliver 
 ourselves both from France and Rome.' A Refusal of 
 vote was accordingly carried to refuse any ?Evil es 
 supply before the end of the eighteen months' counsellors.' 
 assessment, unless the obstinacy of the Dutch should 
 render it necessary, and before the dangers from Popish 
 counsels, and other grievances, had been removed. Of 
 these grievances the standing army was first named. The 
 member who declared that these forces had not been 
 raised for the war, but the war made for raising the 
 forces, expressed the general belief. Passing then to 
 ' evil counsellors,' they had just uttered Lauderdale's 
 name when they were prorogued until January 7. 
 
 When the King again faced Parliament he no longer 
 asked for money to continue the war, but to secure peace. 
 And this time he did not hesitate, at the in- Falsehood of 
 stance of Louis, to meet the great council of Charles, 
 the nation with a gross and deliberate lie. To remove 
 their suspicions he would lay his treaties with France, 
 and all the articles of them, without the least reserve, 
 before a small committee of both Houses ; and he added, 
 ' I assure you there is no other treaty with France, either 
 before or since, which shall not be made known.' The 
 treaty which was shown was however the second Treaty 
 of Dover, of December 1670, which, in order the better 
 to deceive Parliament, had been executed-afresh as late 
 as February 1672. The original treaty of June 1, 1670, 
 
236 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1674. 
 
 with the article providing for the announcement of the 
 King's conversion and the subsidy from Louis for that 
 purpose, was carefully concealed. The speech, we learn 
 from Lord Conway, who was behind the scenes, was pro- 
 duced ' by the consultations of many days and nights ' ; 
 and we are told that ' the King fumbled in delivering it, 
 and made it worse than in the print.' 
 
 The fraud availed little. The Houses went steadily 
 on with the work which had been interrupted. They 
 were now under guidance which rendered them doubly 
 formidable. Shaftesbury had during the 
 dismissed; recess been dismissed. Since the cancel- 
 ward in ling of the Declaration his sympathies had 
 opposition. never been with the court. Probably he 
 had been told by the disappointed Arlington the true 
 story of the Dover Treaty ; and the vexation of one who 
 thought himself a master of intrigue at having so long 
 been a dupe, would of itself be enough to account for 
 the immediate change in his attitude after the prorogation. 
 In the Lords he organised a regular opposition, the 
 members of which met frequently to arrange the plan of 
 attack. On the day after the King's speech he carried 
 an address for the banishment from London of all 
 Papists or reputed Papists, not householders or in 
 attendance on peers. The dread of a Catholic succes- 
 sion, henceforward his watchword, was ex- 
 
 Anti-Catho- , c , 
 
 lie excite- pressed in a vote to prepare a bill tor the 
 
 meiU ' education of the royal children as Protestants, 
 
 and for securing all future marriages in the royal line 
 with Protestants under the penalty of exclusion. Provi- 
 sions equally drastic were inserted in the proposed bill 
 for the education of the children of Catholic peers ; the 
 practice of sending them to Catholic schools on the Con- 
 tinent was especially to be prohibited. 
 
1 674. 77*<? Parliamentary Conflict in England. 237 
 
 In the Commons there arose a renewed outcry against 
 'evil counsellors,' which on January 13, 1674, took a 
 definite shape in an address to the King to remove 
 Lauderdale and Buckingham from all their 
 
 _ Attack on 
 
 employments and from his presence and Lauderdale, 
 councils forever. Articles of impeachment ham, and 
 were then proposed against Arlington, the Arlington. 
 ' great conduit-pipe ' of all the previous actions of the 
 government. His defence however was so able, and his 
 friends so numerous and earnest, since it was under- 
 stood that he was now out of favour, that he secured a 
 majority of 166 to 127. 
 
 It was at this point that Charles announced that terms 
 of peace had been made to him by the Dutch which he 
 could accept. Parliament eagerly welcomed the close of 
 the ill-starred war, and the Treaty of London (see p. 228) 
 was signed on February 19. The King 
 now, unable to extract a farthing from the Charles to 
 
 *- j i ,1 j get money 
 
 Commons, put an end to the session, and so f rom p ar ij a . 
 to all progress with the attacks from both ment - 
 Lords and Commons. The House did not however sepa- 
 rate (February 24) until the Habeas Corpus Bill, with its 
 extended provisions against arbitrary rule, though it 
 did not pass the Lords, had secured a permanent place 
 in men's minds by passing all its stages in the Commons, 
 and until an address had been sent up praying for the 
 disbanding of all troops raised since January 1, 1663. 
 The course of affairs in the recess was to be determined 
 by events on the Continent. 
 
238 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1674. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 LOUIS : WILLIAM : CHARLES : PARLIAMENT. 
 
 1674-1677. 
 
 1. Campaign of 1674. 
 The campaign of 1674 displayed the advantages pos- 
 sessed by a single power ably led against a coalition, 
 however extensive. Louis, as usual, was beforehand 
 with his foes. While Turenne and Conde held the 
 Upper Rhine and the Spanish Low Countries, and 
 Schomberg faced the Spaniards in Rous- 
 
 Conquest of . , 
 
 Franche sillon, Louis himself invaded Franche 
 
 Comte, and in less than two months once 
 more carried the French frontier on the east to its 
 natural barrier, the Jura mountains. Conde meanwhile 
 Conde in confronted the superior forces of William on 
 
 ifetiktf tne Meuse and tne Sambre. He cautiously 
 
 Seneff, bided his time until the Prince, unable to 
 
 August 11, . . -it 
 
 1674. induce him to give battle, began to with- 
 
 draw his troops ; then he dashed at the rearguard, 
 routed it at Seneff, and captured the whole baggage train. 
 A second and a third attack failed to dislodge William's 
 main body from the strong position which he held ; and 
 three days of terrible carnage — no fewer than 25,000 
 men were left dead or dying on the field — ended with no 
 decisive advantage. The campaign in the Low Countries 
 closed with the loss to France of only Dinant and Huy 
 on the Meuse, and Grave. 
 
 The fighting on the Rhine displayed more than ever 
 the superiority of Turenne's generalship. With greatly 
 inferior forces he met the imperialists at Sinsheim (June 
 
IAMPAIGNS ON THE UPPER 
 RHINE. 
 
 SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 
 
 Turenne'a march, Nov. 2Wh, tori; Jan. ioth, 
 /crj, shutrn thus m- ^- 
 
1 674. Lotas: William: Charles: Parliament. 239 
 
 16), between the Rhine and the Necker, and drove them 
 back across the latter river. Then followed, during July 
 and August, the first of the terrible ' wastings ' Turenne on 
 of the Palatinate on both sides of the Rhine. the Rhine * 
 Turenne was determined that the enemy should find 
 no subsistence there, and he made the whole land a 
 desert. Strongly reinforced, the imperialists again crossed 
 at Mayence, and marched up the left bank to Spire ; 
 there, finding Turenne prepared to defend Lower Alsace, 
 they recrossed, and reached Strassburg just in time to 
 anticipate him, as he came with all haste by the other 
 bank. Having effected a junction with a fresh army 
 brought up by the Grand Elector, they prepared to chase 
 him out of Alsace. The emergency called out all Tu- 
 renne's powers. With splendid confidence he promised 
 Louis that, if fully supported, he would by the end of 
 the year drive the enemy beyond the Rhine. The 
 redemption of his pledge forms one of the most memor- 
 able feats of modern warfare. 
 
 For a month, by a masterly use of his small force, he 
 kept the enemy from penetrating the rough countiy 
 which he held. On November 29 he suddenly carried 
 his whole army across the Vosges to Lixheim, near 
 Sarreburg, on the western side of the chain. He then, 
 with the mountains as a screen between him and the 
 enemy, rapidly traversed the v/hole line of the Vosges 
 from north to south, picking up reinforcements on the 
 way. At the southern end, where the chain bends 
 sharply to the west, he divided his army into four bodies, 
 and, keeping his ultimate plan profoundly TheVosges 
 secret, sent them each by a separate route December 
 back over the angle thus formed, with ^ia- 
 orders to rendezvous at Belfort on the eastern side, the 
 famous bulwark of France which guards the gap between 
 
240 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1674. 
 
 the Vosges and the Jura. So well was he obeyed that 
 after three weeks' wrestling with all the difficulties of 
 snow-covered and almost trackless mountains, he found 
 himself at Belfort on December 27 with a wearied but 
 eager army of 40,000 men. Without a day's delay he 
 swept northward upon the unsuspecting foe, who, as he 
 anticipated, had scattered themselves throughout Alsace 
 when they learned his retreat; routed them at Mulhausen, 
 drove a large body across the Swiss frontier, and on 
 January 5 utterly defeated the Grand Elector at Colmar; 
 then, pushing on, chased the enemy before him in con- 
 fusion to Strassburg. Panic-stricken, and quarrelling 
 among themselves, they hurried across the river, and 
 within a week from the battle of Colmar Turenne had 
 fulfilled his promise. Not a German soldier remained 
 on the French side of the Rhine. 
 
 None the less, Louis was daily becoming more anxious 
 to separate his enemies. With the Dutch he had good 
 hopes, for they had now no direct interest in the war. 
 Charles, on concluding his separate peace, had offered 
 his mediation, and London again became the centre of 
 diplomatic intrigue. 
 
 2. William of Orange. Connection with England. 
 His Power in the United Provinces. 
 William was at this time exercising much influence 
 upon English politics. In confidential communication 
 with the Shaftesbury cabal, he had through them practi- 
 cally driven Charles to make peace ; and he was not 
 without hope that he might even oblige him to join the 
 coalition against France. Up to the battle of Seneff 
 therefore he had declined the English mediation. That 
 event however, and the powerful movement which was 
 arising at home for peace, changed his view. Concilia- 
 
1 674. Lotus: William: Charles: Parliament. 241 
 
 tory letters passed between the uncle and nephew, and 
 William suggested that he should visit the King in Lon- 
 don. But Charles, to gratify Louis, coldly declined the 
 proffered visit. He went still further. Though fully 
 aware of the exasperation caused by the last three proro- 
 gations, he determined on a fourth. He was resolved 
 to be henceforth his own foreign minister; he had forced 
 Arlington to sell his office of Secretary of State to Sir 
 Joseph Williamson, who possessed no influ- 
 
 * 111 i Charles his 
 
 ence ; Buckingham had been thrown over on own foreign 
 the ground of the late vote of the Commons ; minis er ° 
 Danby, by virtue of his usefulness in finding money and 
 in manufacturing votes had, under the protection of the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth, the conduct of all home business, 
 but of that alone. Concealing his intention even from 
 him to the last moment, Charles announced to his silent 
 and astounded council that Parliament would not meet 
 for business until April 1675. 
 
 The effect of this 'master-stroke,' as he deemed it, 
 was immediate, but in a direction opposite to his hopes. 
 William, in angry disappointment, at once 
 
 11 1 1 1- •> ■ • , Prorogation 
 
 gave up all thoughts of accommodation with of Pariia- 
 France. He stayed all conciliatory action on ™p",\ ' e ect 
 the part of the States-General ; and induced Wllliam - 
 them to refuse the proposed suspension of arms at sea, 
 and to demand not only the abrogation of the Peace of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, but even the enforcement of the con- 
 ditions of that of the Pyrenees. 
 
 This firmness, and the knowledge of William's influence 
 in England, at once altered Charles's fickle resolutions. 
 He made up his mind to bind the Prince to the interests 
 of the Crown by a step which had long been discussed 
 — a marriage with Mary, the eldest daughter of James. 
 
 The first suggestion of this alliance had originally 
 Q 
 
242 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1674. 
 
 been but one of several expressions of the anxiety which 
 Suggested arose from the childlessness of the Queen. 
 
 wm?am e and ^^ e P oss ^bility of putting forward Mon- 
 Mary. mouth, his favourite son, as heir had been 
 
 mentioned; while as early as 1669 Buckingham had 
 urged a parliamentary divorce, and Shaftesbury when 
 in office had supported the idea. Charles however, to 
 his credit, never seriously entertained a proposal so inju- 
 rious to his wife, nor did he give the slightest countenance 
 to the scheme concerning Monmouth. Then came the 
 second marriage of James, with its prospects of a Catholic 
 succession should a son be born. Nobody at present 
 seriously proposed the exclusion of James, and the alli- 
 ance of William and Mary offered itself as a means of 
 reconciling the doctrine of hereditary right with the 
 abhorrence of a Catholic King. Charles had hitherto, 
 in deference to Louis and James, rejected the idea. Now 
 however, in spite of the remonstrances of the former, he 
 despatched Arlington and Lord Ossory in November to 
 the Hague, to secure, if possible, peace between France 
 and the Dutch, and the betrothal of William to Mary. 
 Peace it was soon found was impracticable 
 
 William t ... 
 
 declines the on William's terms. As to the marriage, it 
 proposa . was declined on two grounds. Another 
 
 child was about to be born to James, and, if this were 
 a boy, the eventual advantage to William of such a 
 marriage would be slight; his friends in England, too, 
 pressed him to refuse to associate himself with James in 
 a way which must weaken his influence with themselves. 
 William had meanwhile been strengthening and ex- 
 tending his power at home. The election of 
 
 His power in 
 
 the his adherent Fagel to succeed De Witt had 
 
 epu ic j n a g reat measure secured the control of 
 
 the States-General ; while, by obtaining the right of 
 
1 67 5. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 243 
 
 nominating the mayors of the towns, which had hitherto 
 been expressly reserved to the towns themselves, he had 
 largely annulled the republican constitution. His offices 
 of Stadtholder, Captain and Admiral General for Holland 
 and Friesland, had been made hereditary ; while Gueld- 
 ers and Utrecht had, since the French conquest, been 
 placed entirely under his control. Guelders indeed had 
 offered him the sovereign name and power, and he was 
 anxious to accept it. But, just as when war was at their 
 gates the people had demanded a strong executive, so, 
 when the danger was removed, the old jealousy of des- 
 potism reasserted itself, and William was obliged by the 
 general outcry to put aside the idea. 
 
 In this state of affairs the approaching meeting of the 
 English Parliament excited the attention of all Europe. 
 For a while it was doubtful whether it would meet at all, 
 since Louis had promised Charles another subsidy if he 
 would dissolve, or even prorogue it for a year ; and he 
 was warmly supported by Tames for his own „ , 
 
 , i , , Danby and 
 
 reasons. But Danby offered the strongest Parliament; 
 opposition. That able minister — the fore- reu°rnTo°he 
 runner of Harleyin party management, and policy of 
 
 J f J t> > Clarendon. 
 
 of Walpole in parliamentary corruption — was 
 sincerely opposed to the influence of France. He had 
 shaped abold policy of his own, which, if successful, would 
 ruin the Shaftesbury cabal at a blow ; a return, namely, to 
 the policy of Clarendon, a cordial union between Royalism 
 and Anglicanism, in opposition to ail forms of Noncon- 
 formity and limitation of the prerogative. He had in- 
 duced the King to publish during the recess a fresh body 
 of edicts, framed in conference with the Bishops at Lam- 
 beth, enforcing the penal laws, especially against the 
 Catholics, and he had spared no efforts to win over indi- 
 vidual members of the Commons. The last prorogation 
 
244 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1675. 
 
 had, in his opinion, been a dangerous measure ; a disso- 
 lution would throw the whole power into the hands of 
 Shaftesbury and his friends. The navy meanwhile was 
 rotting away for want of money which a Parliament alone 
 could give. Charles accepted Danby's advice, the more 
 readily as the development of English commerce had 
 increased his annual revenue by 150,000/. The only 
 promise he would give Louis was to dissolve Parliament 
 should they insist on fixed times of meeting, attack 
 either James or his ministers, or meddle with alliances 
 or terms of peace. Louis fell back upon bribery. It 
 was now that Parliament began to earn with justice the 
 The* Pen- name of the ' Pensionary Parliament.' Eng- 
 sionary' X\$\\ t French, Spanish, and Dutch money 
 
 Parliament. ... . 
 
 jingled in the same pockets. Ruvigny had 
 10,000/. for direct bribery of members, with a large sum 
 to enable him to keep a lavish table. The Spanish am- 
 bassador came with full hands. Van Beuninghen took 
 a house in Westminster and exercised splendid hospitality. 
 The Danish resident had a grant from the Republic for 
 the same object. The Shaftesbury Opposition were equally 
 ready. Their leader, in a letter to Lord Carlisle, had 
 sounded the note of attack. Danby was if possible to 
 be overthrown, and a dissolution brought about. 
 
 3. Parliament, April to June 1675. 
 The Non-resisting Test. 
 It was, then, with a frank return to the policy of Clar- 
 endon that Charles and Danby met Parliament in April 
 1675, and the Lambeth edicts were quoted as an earnest 
 of the intention to regard the Church in its double 
 aspect as a Protestant Church opposed to Popery and 
 an established Church opposed to Dissent. Danby's 
 wholesale corruption of the Commons had so far sue- 
 
1675. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 245 
 
 ceeded that he was enabled to defeat the vigorous attack, 
 which was at once made upon him on the „ . , 
 
 r Partial 
 
 ground of his arbitrary government of the success of 
 exchequer and his lavish expenditure of an y ' 
 public money for private and family ends. The court also 
 scored a success in the rejection of a resolution incapaci- 
 tating placemen from sitting in Parliament. So evenly 
 however were parties balanced, and so exasperated had 
 feeling become, that ii. was only after a scene of unparal- 
 leled disorder following an even division, when blows 
 were exchanged and, but for the promptitude of the 
 Speaker, blood would undoubtedly have been shed on 
 the floor of the House, that a resolution for an address 
 to the King to recall the English troops in the French 
 service was defeated by a single vote. From this point 
 the Commons again became impracticable. 
 
 The rapid progress of Louis in the Spanish Low 
 Countries, and still more the growth of the French navy, 
 roused such jealousy in England and threw such 
 strength into the hands of the Opposition that Louis 
 instructed Ruvigny to offer a truce, should it become 
 necessary, to soothe this irritation. So pressed was 
 Charles by his own people, by Spain, and by the 
 Republic, to take measures for the defence of the 
 Spanish Low Countries and to compel Louis to make 
 peace, that he declared to Ruvigny that he was like a 
 besieged fortress. The Commons took up their old posi- 
 tion of regarding themselves as on guard against Popery 
 and France, and they passed a resolution to consider no 
 bills whatever except such as might come down from 
 the Lords. 
 
 Danby determined to make his great effort in the 
 Upper House, where he was sure of a majority. The 
 meaning of the conference at Lambeth was shown when 
 
246 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1675. 
 
 he brought forward the famous ' Non-resisting Test.' 
 Non- It was proposed that no one should hold 
 
 p e aLsed S by eSt office or sit in either House unless he had 
 the Lords. fi r st taken the oath imposed on Nonconformist 
 ministers by the Five Mile Act, to attempt no alteration 
 in the government of Church or State. The object was 
 to drive Catholic peers from the Lords and Presbyterian 
 members from the Commons ; the Anglican clergy, the 
 Parliament, and the executive would then form one 
 dominant party, freed from all risks of opposition. It 
 was understood that, if the Test were passed, the court 
 would at once yield to the demands of Parliament as to 
 foreign policy. 
 
 Against every stage of this audacious measure the 
 opposition lords, led with remarkable power by Shaftesbury, 
 fought for fifteen days with persistent courage. They 
 pointed out that, so far from the bill affording safeguards 
 against Popery, any Papist might, as the oath was drawn, 
 take it without hesitation, and they secured its amendment 
 as follows : ' I will not endeavour the alteration of the 
 Protestant religion, now established in the Church of 
 England, or of the government of Church and State.' 
 Whether the bill would have passed the Commons is 
 doubtful. But parties were so equal in a matter in which 
 neither France nor Popery was directly concerned that it 
 was possible. That stage however was never reached. A 
 Renewal of dispute suddenly sprang up between the two 
 the dispute Houses on the old question of the right of 
 
 between the " ° 
 
 Houses on appeal to the Lords. That which had hap- 
 appeaitothe pened in 1668 happened again. Neither 
 House would give way an inch. Shaftesbury 
 exerted himself to the utmost to make reconciliation im- 
 possible. The dispute absorbed the whole attention of 
 both Houses, and there was no opportunity for introducing 
 
1 67 5. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 247 
 
 the bill in the Commons. Danby was thus at the outset 
 completely baffled, and Charles was com- Danby 
 pelled in June to prorogue the Parliament baffled - 
 until October. When it again met the situation was pro- 
 foundly modified by events on the Continent, which more 
 than ever made it necessary for Louis to secure the 
 neutrality of England. 
 
 4. Reverses of Louis in 1675. Secret Treaty with 
 Charles II. 
 
 In the spring and early summer of 1675, Louis, always 
 beforehand, had captured Liege and Limbourg, and.had 
 recovered Dinant, Huy) and Givet. The line of the 
 Meuse was thus secured from the French frontier to 
 Maestricht, while that of the Moselle was blocked by the 
 possession of Treves. The junction of the imperialists 
 with the Spaniards was now therefore fully guarded 
 against. Turenne faced Montecuculi in Alsace. By com- 
 pelling Strassburg to keep its neutrality, and therefore to 
 refuse the imperialists a passage across the Rhine, he 
 forced them to pass into Lower Alsace at Spire. He then 
 threw a bridge over the river a little below Strassburg and 
 marched along the right bank into the Pala- Turenne's 
 tinate, thus getting to Montecuculi's rear. successes. 
 His antagonist at once recrossed to contest the country 
 between the Rhine and the Necker, where Turenne had 
 won his former victory at Sinsheim. After six weeks' 
 manoeuvring Turenne took the offensive, intending to 
 drive Montecuculi behind the Black Forest. In July he 
 succeeded in cutting his line, and thus obliged him to 
 leave the valley of the Rhine and retreat to Sasbach, on 
 the slopes of the Black Forest, to the east of Strassburg. 
 Here Turenne came up with him. As he was visiting his 
 outposts before the attack he was heard to utter one of his 
 
248 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1675. 
 
 rare expressions of confidence: 'I have them now,' he 
 His death at exclaimed: ' they shall not escape me again.' 
 Sasbach, Hardly were the words out of his lips when 
 
 July 26, J 
 
 1675. a chance shot struck him in the breast, and 
 
 the great commander fell dead. 
 
 The effect ot this blow was for the moment disastrous 
 to France. Montecuculi at once took the offensive. The 
 Retreat of French retreated in disorder to the Rhine, 
 the French. but turned to bay at Altenheim, and fought so 
 desperately that the imperialists left 5,000 men dead on- 
 the field. They then crossed the river hurriedly at 
 Schelestadt, while Montecuculi passed at Strassburg and 
 laid siege to Haguenau and Savern, the fall of which 
 would have entailed that of Philippsburg. But Conde 
 flew to the rescue, and these fortresses were preserved. 
 So skilful were his operations that before the end of the 
 year the allies had abandoned Alsace and recrossed the 
 Rhine. It was his last exploit. Weary of action, he re- 
 tired at the end of the campaign to a country life in his 
 own domains. 
 
 Meanwhile disaster had happened on the Moselle. 
 Crequy had been utterly beaten before Treves by the 
 Defeat of °^ Duke of Lorraine on September 3, and 
 
 Crequy and Treves itself had been captured after a 
 
 capture of *■ 
 
 Treves by desperate defence. The Swedes too, who 
 
 September had at length entered Brandenburg, had 
 l6?s - been thoroughly beaten (June 18) by the 
 
 Grand Elector, and forced to retreat to Mecklenburg. 
 Their evil fortune had followed them at sea. The Dutch 
 and Danish fleets had inflicted upon them a crushing 
 defeat in the Baltic, which led to the loss of the posses- 
 sions which they had acquired in North Germany by the 
 Peace of Westphalia. 
 
 It was now Louis whose thoughts were turned towards 
 
1675. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 249 
 
 peace. The state of his own kingdom impelled him in 
 the same direction. The drain of war and _. 
 
 Distress in 
 
 diplomacy had exhausted the treasure which France; 
 Colbert had collected, while general discon- anxious for 
 tent was once more spreading among the P eace - 
 overburdened peasantry ; armed revolt had even broken 
 out in Brittany, and in Bordeaux, the old centre of turbu- 
 lence. Ruvigny redoubled his efforts in England to 
 secure a French party. But a French party, as such, he 
 found it impossible to secure : on the contrary, it was 
 clear that the next session would be of a vehemently anti- 
 French character, especially as Danby himself had no 
 love for France. It could be only by assisting one or the 
 other side in the domestic struggle that Louis could hope 
 to neutralise this spirit. He therefore applied to Shaftes- 
 bury and his friends. Their terms were simple. If Louis 
 would help them to overthrow Danby and secure liberty 
 of conscience for Protestants, they would withdraw their 
 opposition to his schemes. This explains those closetings 
 of Shaftesbury with James which so puzzled 
 people at the time, and which established Loifeand 
 against Danby a coalition of the Noncon- Shaftesbury 
 formists, the Catholics, and Louis. James Opposition. 
 received 20,000/. for distribution at the end of the session 
 on condition that the English troops were not recalled nor 
 any vote passed hostile to France. 
 
 But Louis was bent on a still surer way of securing the 
 inaction of England. More than ever he pressed upon 
 Charles through the potent influence of 
 
 t • 1 it r -m 1 • r Engagement 
 
 Louise de Keroualle the necessity of being of Charles 
 free of the control of Parliament. By Au- with Louis - 
 gust 19 he had drawn from him, by promise of 100,000/. 
 a year, an engagement to dissolve his Parliament if it 
 
250 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1675. 
 
 were still violent against France or refused to provide 
 him with money. Thus on both sides he was safe. 
 
 He soon had cause to congratulate himself on his pre- 
 cautions. When Parliament met, October 13, 1675, the 
 „ ,. request for supplies to pay the debts of the 
 
 Parliament n ... , , . 
 
 refuse Crown and to build ships was listened to 
 
 October' with an ominous silence. The reply when 
 
 l675- it came was a bill to incapacitate any one 
 
 from sitting in either House without taking an oath 
 against Popery, and an absolute refusal to pay the debts. 
 In view indeed of the daily growing strength of the 
 French at sea a large addition of ships was voted ; but 
 the intense distrust of the King was shown by the fact 
 that, besides the usual appropriation clause being passed, 
 a proposal to lodge the money, not as usual in the Ex- 
 chequer, but in the hands of the Council of the City of 
 London, was lost by only seven votes. 
 
 Meanwhile the Opposition, under Shaftesbury's leader- 
 ship, hopeless of overthrowing Danby so long as the 
 present Parliament continued, consisting as it did largely 
 Unsuccess- °f men dependent on his bounty, was press- 
 ful proposals mS r - m both Houses for the dissolution which 
 
 for a & 
 
 dissolution. Louis was urging directly on Charles. But 
 the present members, especially those elected during 
 the reaction at the beginning of the reign, had all to lose 
 and nothing to gain by the proposal, and no division 
 was taken ; in the Lords, where James and the Catholic 
 peers supported it, it was lost by two votes only. Foiled 
 in this attempt, Shaftesbury determined to gain his ends 
 by rendering business impossible. It was easy to do this 
 by raising the former dispute on the subject of appeals to 
 the Lords. It at once became manifest that nothing else 
 would be looked at until the Lords yielded, and Shaftes- 
 
1 67 5. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 251 
 
 bury took care that they should not yield. Charles was 
 forced to close the session. But he bitterly parliament 
 disappointed Shaftesbury and his friends. P">">g"«i. 
 The practical certainty that a new Parliament would 
 consist of men still more vehemently opposed to the pre- 
 rogative again won the day. Instead of dissolving, he 
 prorogued Parliament for fifteen months, to February 
 1677. He then, with cool audacity, demanded his sub- 
 sidy from Louis. This had been promised for a disso- 
 lution only. But to Louis, as has been seen, English 
 neutrality was now more than ever essential. That neu- 
 trality was safe if he could keep Charles dependent on 
 him for these fifteen months. How accurately Danby 
 had gauged the situation is shown by the fact that Ru- 
 vigny was informed that the money had been already 
 entered in the English estimates for the 
 
 _ Second 
 
 coming year. Louis gave way without hesi- engagement 
 tation. He was rewarded when, in spite of 
 all that Danby could do, Charles further consented to 
 an agreement that neither monarch should listen to any 
 proposition from abroad contrary to the other's welfare, 
 or make a treaty with the Dutch or any other State 
 except by mutual consent. The meaning of this latter 
 clause was that Charles was afraid lest the Dutch, by an 
 alliance with Louis, might become supreme at sea ; and 
 that Louis dreaded an alliance of England and the Re- 
 public against himself. Danby, though he took part in 
 the negotiation, utterly refused to sign it, declaring that 
 his head would not be safe. The King was obliged to 
 write out and sign the treaty with his own hands. 
 
 The dishonesty of this transaction was flagrant. Ever 
 since his separate peace with the Dutch in Congress at 
 1674, Charles had been posing as an impartial N'mwegen. 
 mediator in the great European quarrel, and his repre- 
 
252 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1676. 
 
 sentatives, of whom Temple was one, were already at 
 Nhnwegen, the town selected for the negotiation. Various 
 causes delayed the arrival of their French colleagues 
 until June 1676. Even then the conference was not com- 
 plete. The allies were waiting to see what would be the 
 result of the year's campaign. 
 
 5. Campaign of 1676. 
 The fighting of 1676 was more remarkable by sea than 
 by land. The care bestowed on the French navy by 
 Colbert and Lionne, and the inducements to 
 
 T he French ' 
 
 fleet; the noblesse to enter the sea service, had 
 
 in the borne noble fruit. In Duquesne France had 
 
 ten-a'nean an intrepid and skilful leader. In 1675 he had 
 
 beaten the Spaniards at Messina, and had 
 
 since been riding triumphant in the Mediterranean. At 
 
 length a greater adversary, Ruyter, with a powerful 
 
 Dutch fleet, appeared. Duquesne undauntedly faced the 
 
 renowned sea-king. On January 8 and April 22, 1676, 
 
 he fought two fierce but indecisive contests. The latter 
 
 however brought upon the Dutch irremediable disaster. 
 
 Ruyter, the saviour of the Republic, even more to it than 
 
 Turenne had been to France, was slain, and he left no 
 
 one to take his place. With him passed 
 Battles , . \ ... 
 
 with the away the last of the great antagonists with 
 
 and'nlitch. whose names we have become familiar. 
 Death of Turenne and Conde, Tromp and Ruyter, 
 
 April 22, Monk and Rupert, Lionne and De Witt, all 
 
 have gone, and those who have taken their 
 places are smaller men. In June Duquesne again at- 
 tacked the Dutch and Spanish fleets in the Bay of Pal- 
 ermo, and this time won a complete victory. The French 
 remained masters of Sicily. 
 
 On land (May 1676) Louis, with the aid of Vauban, 
 
1676. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 253 
 
 captured the towns of Conde and Bouchain ; he then re- 
 turned to St. Germain, leaving Schomberg in Flanders 
 and Luxemburg in Alsace. The latter however was 
 unable to prevent the imperialists from laying siege to 
 Philippsburg. 
 
 Almost every one now desired peace. The Republic 
 was exhausted; the death of Ruyter had caused deep 
 discouragement ; and there was bad blood Demand for 
 between the Dutch and the Spaniards— that ^ t e J n the 
 ' cursed race,' as William did not hesitate to Provinces, 
 call them. The failure of William in July to capture 
 Maestricht on the one side, and the failure of Louis 
 to preserve Philippsburg (September 8) on the other, 
 joined to the rising tide of passion in England, all tended 
 to strengthen the peace influences. Louis now offered to 
 William, for a separate peace, terms which appealed at 
 once to his personal and national pride ; he was to have 
 the sovereignty of Maestricht and Limburg ; the southern 
 boundary of the United Provinces was to be moved so 
 that, starting at Ostend and passing by Ghent to Maes- 
 tricht, it should include Antwerp. Safeguards were to be 
 given against future attack ; and William was to be sup- 
 ported by France in extending his authority over the Re- 
 public. For a while, but only for a while, William wav- 
 ered in his loyalty to his allies ; he then uncompromis- 
 ingly declined the proposals. The coalition William 
 against Louis was anticipating decisive sue- refuses 
 cesses in the next campaign, though the offers, 
 congress at Nimwegen was sitting. A great council had 
 been called at Wesel to arrange the plan of campaign, 
 for which vast preparations were being made. But that 
 upon which they most rested their hopes was the English 
 Parliament. 
 
254 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1677. 
 
 6. The War and Parliament, 1677. 
 
 Necessity had again brought Charles (February 25, 
 1677) to face the Commons. So low had his credit sunk 
 that he had been unable to raise a loan in London ; while 
 Danby promised him that, if he would break with France, 
 supplies far exceeding what Louis could offer would be 
 forthcoming. Louis could only take all the precautions 
 in his power. By an ordinance forbidding the seizure of 
 English vessels, which the Dutch, to evade the liabilities 
 of war, were employing to carry their goods, he concili- 
 Louis ated, on the eve of the session, the good-will 
 
 the London °f tne London merchants, whose influence 
 merchants. was vast and w hose opposition had been 
 passionate. He sent to Courtin, the new French ambassa- 
 dor at London, 80,000/. for bribery, and he renewed his 
 alliance with the Whig lords, James, and the Noncon- 
 formists, to oppose Danby and secure a dissolution. 
 Courtin was ordered to give Charles no rest ; every day 
 he was at Whitehall, and he never left the court until 
 eleven at night. Well might Charles declare that he was 
 like a besieged place. 
 
 A blunder of the Whigs gave Danby at the outset a 
 great advantage. Resting their case upon a statute of 
 Edward III. which prescribed annual Parliaments, they 
 maintained that by the prorogation for fifteen months 
 the present House had ceased to exist. It was easily 
 shown that the statute did not apply, and that it had 
 been virtually repealed by the Triennial Act. In the 
 Commons the motion raised vehement opposition, for the 
 old reasons. The enemies of Danby appeared now as 
 the enemies of Parliament too. The result was an im- 
 Danby's mediate triumph for the minister. The 
 
 successes. Lords declared that Buckingham, Shaftes- 
 
 bury, Salisbury, and Wharton, the chief movers, must 
 
1 677. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 255 
 
 ask pardon of the House. On their refusal they were 
 sent to the Tower, and were thus excluded for the time 
 from influencing the course of affairs. 
 
 Danby at once took advantage of this momentary eddy 
 in the political current. With the help of all the moderate 
 men he carried an unconditional vote for 600,000/. He 
 next, to quiet the anti-Catholic feeling, brought in a bill 
 for better securing the Protestant religion in Bil i for 
 case of a Catholic succession. Drastic as its securing 
 
 Frotestant 
 
 provisions were, the mere fact that it appeared religion. 
 to sanction a Catholic succession was enough to cause it 
 to be regarded as a bill for the protection of Popery, and, 
 as such, to awake so much jealousy that it never passed 
 its second reading in the Commons. Besides, feeling was 
 at the moment turned into its old channel by the alarm- 
 ing progress of Louis, who during March and April had 
 stormed Valenciennes, the strongest fortress Capture of 
 on the Scheldt, and captured Cambrai and Vaien- 
 
 1 ciennes. 
 
 St. Omer ; while his brother, the Duke of Defeat of 
 Orleans, had inflicted upon William, who Cas"d! a 
 had marched to relieve St. Omer, a disastrous Apr ' 1, l6?7 ' 
 defeat at Cassel on April 11. Louis's ally, Charles XI. 
 of Sweden, had in the previous December gained a great 
 victory over Christian V. of Denmark at Lunden. 
 
 Parliament was deeply moved by these tidings. A 
 unanimous address was at once sent by both Houses to 
 the King praying for the recall of the English p. . 
 troops serving with France. A second ad- urged by 
 
 1 n it 1 s 1 » •, i Parliament 
 
 dress on March 26, repeated on April 5, urged to instant 
 him to declare war against France, with offers war " 
 of unlimited support. As Courtin informed Louis, the 
 English would give everything for a war with France, 
 'even to their shirts.' Charles was far from sharing their 
 sentiments. To him every defeat of William was grate- 
 
256 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1677. 
 
 ful, not only as bringing peace nearer, but as weakening 
 the Prince's dangerous influence. 
 
 But, indomitable under defeat, William was as far from 
 yielding as ever. His personal ascendancy had com- 
 p v pelled the support of the States-General. He 
 
 ance of had reorganised his army after the rout of 
 
 Cassel. In July he marched with 50,000 men 
 upon Charleroi, hoping to be joined by the Duke of Lor- 
 raine, and intending after its capture to advance right 
 into France. On August 6 he was before the town. But 
 he had not yet served his apprenticeship in misfortune. 
 The French were vigilant and active as ever. Louvois, 
 ' the greatest quartermaster ever known,' flew to Lille ; Lux- 
 emburg got to William's rear and so threatened him that he 
 had to raise the siege and repass the Sambre with nothing 
 but the recapture of Link to show for his labour and loss. 
 
 The Duke of Lorraine had fared yet worse at the hands 
 of Crequy. Leaving a strong force to oppose the Duke of 
 Crequy's Saxe-Eisenach, who had crossed by Philipps- 
 
 campai'gn on burg into Alsace, this great pupil of Turenne 
 the Rhine. so narasse cl Lorraine by skilful manoeuv- 
 ring and vehement attack, that from Mouzon he drove 
 him back upon the Rhine. Still following, he placed 
 himself between his enemy and Alsace. Leaving him 
 awhile, he turned upon Saxe-Eisenach, forced him to 
 take refuge on an island on the Rhine, and there to 
 capitulate. Without delay he returned upon Lorraine, 
 who had placed his troops in winter quarters, passed the 
 Rhine on November 8, and, before the Duke could move, 
 invested and captured the coveted post of Freiburg. 
 D'Humieres, between the sea and the Scheldt, had 
 taken St. Ghislain, and Louis, after a campaign to which 
 the allies had looked as decisive, saw his arms every- 
 where triumphant. 
 
l677- Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 257 
 
 William's position became continually more difficult. 
 He was now the mark for universal abuse. Never, it was 
 said, had there been a commander who had The Dutch 
 lost so many battles and failed in so many desire 
 sieges. The foreign officers in the Dutch peace ' 
 service contemptuously threw up their commissions. 
 The peace party in the Republic was daily becoming 
 more confident, and he thought it best not to appear at 
 the Hague. His position was now saved by Louis him- 
 self. The Dutch were indeed anxious for peace. But 
 no peace would be grateful which did not secure their 
 great interest, commerce. Louis was asked if he would 
 grant the repeal of all the hostile tariffs since 1662, and 
 a satisfactory barrier to the Spanish Low Countries. He 
 refused. Negotiations at once ceased. The States- 
 General voted a large increase of the army. They with- 
 drew a demand they had made upon act ion 
 William for an account of the supplies against 
 
 , _ ... . peace. 
 
 previously given. Still more important was 
 it that, when he announced an intention of visiting 
 Charles at London, they gave him full powers to treat in 
 the name of the Republic. 
 
 When Parliament reassembled after a short adjourn- 
 ment on May 31, 1677, the Commons at once declared, 
 in answer to the King's demand for money to secure his 
 alliances, that they would give no money for alliances 
 which were not first placed before them. 
 This was a new departure of a most Pariuiment 
 serious kind. Foreign alliances beyond to control 
 
 o ' foreign 
 
 everything else had hitherto been regarded alliances, 
 as the prerogative of the Crown, and Parlia- 
 ment, while exercising much influence upon them, had 
 made no direct assertion of right. For Charles to give 
 way would have been to confess his utter defeat in the 
 
 R 
 
258 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1677. 
 
 running fight for the prerogative which is so important a 
 factor of the history of the reign. He refused to enter- 
 tain the claim for a moment, and ordered the Houses to 
 adjourn themselves, giving them to understand that they 
 would not sit until winter. 
 
 But this adjournment left him penniless and perplexed. 
 Money must be got somehow. There were two ways of 
 obtaining it from Parliament — by securing a peace on 
 the Continent satisfactory to the allies, or by declaring 
 war against France. His efforts in the former direction 
 soon proved abortive, for since the triumphs of the last 
 campaign Louis was less than ever disposed to be 
 moderate. But Charles refused to yield to Danby's 
 pressure to declare war against France. He could use the 
 English feeling to more profit than by embarking in a 
 struggle which would simply place him more and more in 
 dependence on Parliament. He had simply to take 
 another step on the familiar road ; for so long as the war 
 lasted, and the temper of Parliament remained the 
 same, he had an article saleable to France. 
 
 Distress of 
 
 Charles. Danby, when overruled on the mam ques- 
 
 secret tion, proved himself a firm and audacious 
 
 Louis, W ' th bargain-driver. He demanded from Louis 
 July 1677. (July 1677) 1,600,000/. For this he promised 
 
 that Parliament should not meet until May, 1678, and 
 that, to discourage the allies, they should be informed of 
 his intention. Charles was thus able to carry on the 
 ordinary expenses of government, and Louis gained the 
 prospect of nine months' freedom from English interfer- 
 ence in the negotiations at Nimwegen. 
 
i677- The Peace of Nitnwegeri. 259 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE PEACE OF NIMWEGEN. 
 
 i. Marriage of William and Mary. Effect on 
 English Policy. 
 
 It was at this moment that William came to England, on 
 Charles's invitation. In spite of the fact that nothing 
 could be less in keeping with the latter's engagements to 
 Louis, the time seemed opportune for reviving the scheme 
 of the Prince's marriage with Mary. Charles Reasons for 
 hoped that William would feel the interests of\rafam SC 
 of the Crown to be directly his own, and and Mary, 
 would thus be led to support them against his present 
 friends among the Whigs. James believed that the mar- 
 riage would disarm the violence of the Opposition to his 
 own accession, which as the anti-Catholic spirit rose was 
 daily becoming keener, by enabling men to look past 
 himself to a Protestant consort of the future Queen. 
 William felt that the close connection with the English 
 royal house must strengthen him against both his foreign 
 and domestic troubles, besides giving him a hold upon 
 English foreign policy. The wooing was therefore a 
 short one, especially as it was advisable to give Louis no 
 time for remonstrance. On November 3 bonfires were 
 blazing in the streets of London in honour of the be- 
 trothal, and on the 1 5th the marriage took place. 
 
 The new influence was at once felt. The feeble reso- 
 lutions of Charles were shaped by the firm will of the 
 younger man ; and on November 22 fresh Fresh pro- 
 conditions of peace, which had emanated J^f^Jdby 
 directly from William, were secretly proposed Louis. 
 to Louis. Of all his conquests, Franche Comte alone, 
 
260 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1678. 
 
 with Cambrai, Aire, and St. Omer, were to remain in his 
 hands. The fortifications of Philippsburg were to be razed ; 
 the Duke of Lorraine was to be restored to the full pos- 
 session of his estates. Vague promises were made to 
 satisfy Louis's ally, Sweden, and he was to retain Mes- 
 sina until that was done. It was not to be expected that 
 Louis, in the very flush of his triumph, should accept 
 terms which would rob him of the north-eastern frontier, 
 which had so long been the object of French ambition. 
 ' Rather than that,' he wrote to Courtin, ' I would risk 
 losing my own towns, if my enemies, which is not likely, 
 were in a condition to conquer them.' 
 
 Danby and William at once made capital of this re- 
 fusal. Charles's irritation at his fresh failure was carefully 
 fostered ; and he was easily persuaded to throw over his 
 compact with France and summon Parliament in Janu- 
 ary. Before it met Louis made a last effort. He offered 
 an increased bribe to Charles and a large present to 
 Danby ; and he withdrew from his haughty attitude so 
 far as to give up his demand for Luxemburg, Courtrai, 
 and Ypres. Both bribes and offers were, through Danby's 
 _ , steady conduct, refused. Not only so, but on 
 
 Treaty of 3 J ' 
 
 England January 10, 1678, a treaty was signed at the 
 
 Republic, Hague, embodying William's terms, and 
 
 J£ n 8 uary IO * binding England and the Republic to com- 
 pel the assent of both France and Spain. 
 Ostend was handed over to Charles provisionally as a 
 place d'armes on the Continent. He raised 12,000 men, 
 ordered the equipment of thirty ships, and recalled his 
 troops in the French service. On February 7, confident 
 of the concurrence of Parliament, he opened the session 
 with a speech which meant war with France, and he de- 
 manded supplies for ninety ships and 40,000 men. 
 
 But the Shaftesbury Opposition utterly distrusted the 
 
1678. The Peace of Nimwegen. 261 
 
 honesty of Charles's purpose. The marriage of William, 
 as brought about by Danby, was now regarded with 
 suspicion; they affected to believe that it was the re- 
 sult of an agreement with Louis himself, and that the 
 King's warlike language was merely to induce Parlia- 
 ment to give him an army, which he would straightway 
 use to secure despotic power. The welfare of Protest- 
 antism abroad and the checking Louis's aggression no 
 longer occupied their thoughts. To over- 
 
 Selfish 
 
 throw Danby and to secure liberty of con- policy of the 
 science for Protestant Dissent at home were PP ° M 
 their sole objects, and for these they were ready now to 
 render Louis free of all interference from Charles. In 
 fact, since Danby joined William, they joined Louis. 
 Unable to oppose openly a war of which they had been 
 the most vehement advocates, they determined to insist 
 upon conditions of peace so onerous that Louis would 
 be justified in continuing the war, but if possible to 
 render Charles powerless to join in it. In the first part 
 of their plan they succeeded. They carried an address 
 to the King, demanding that France should be reduced 
 to the terms of the peace of the Pyrenees, and that no 
 commercial relations should be held with her by Eng- 
 land or England's allies until that was done. But farther 
 than this they could not make head against Danby's 
 pensioners and the moderate men. By a votes of 
 large majority it was voted that ^0,000 men Parliament 
 
 o j j j > in favour ot 
 
 and 90 vessels should be raised to support the war - 
 the alliance with the Dutch, and on February 18 a reso- 
 lution to raise a million sterling, ' to enable his Majesty 
 to enter into an actual war with the French King,' was 
 agreed to. 
 
262 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1678. 
 
 2. Capture of Ghent and Ypres by Louis. Proposals 
 for a Separate Peace with the Dutch. 
 
 The suspicions of Charles's honesty were as usual 
 well founded. Unable from habit, even if willing, to 
 take a great resolution, though one in which the whole 
 Chicanery of nation would have supported him, the King 
 Charles. now se cretly made a fresh attempt to accom- 
 
 modate matters with Louis, by offering the alliance of 
 England for 600,000/., on condition that Louis would 
 give up Valenciennes and his other conquests on the 
 Scheldt. 
 
 But Louis was less than ever disposed to yield, for he 
 had just struck another unexpected blow. He had de- 
 termined to extort peace, as De Witt had extorted it by 
 the Chatham exploit. Sending Crequy across the Rhine 
 to oppose the Germans, he ostentatiously made prepara- 
 tions which seemed to threaten Ypres, Mons, Namur, 
 and Luxemburg. The Spaniards hurriedly drew troops 
 for their defence from all the towns where no attack was 
 anticipated, among them the great city of Ghent. Sud- 
 _ .. denly Louis concentrated his forces, and 
 
 Capture of J 
 
 Ghent and appeared before Ghent on March 4, having 
 Louts 3 , y previously ordered D'Humieres to meet him 
 
 March 1673. there with his corps Denuded of its defend- 
 ers, Ghent was in his hands by the 12th. Repeating his 
 stratagem, he threatened Bruges ; and, when the troops 
 from Ypres were drawn off to its succor, he invested and 
 took that fortress on the 25th. 
 
 The effect upon public feeling in England was such, 
 that Charles, to keep his people within bounds, was 
 Effects of obliged to send troops to Ostend, while pri- 
 
 this exploit. vately assuring the French ambassador that 
 he had no desire for war, and would do all in his power 
 to avoid it. He was in a pitiable state of perplexity. 
 
1678. The Peace of Nimwegen. 263 
 
 Afraid of the popular outcry, but unwilling to commit 
 himself to war, he went on with his vain endeavours to 
 find a compromise satisfactory both to Louis and William. 
 His difficulties were increased by the state of things in 
 the United Provinces. There too the union of William 
 with the English royal family was looked upon with the 
 keenest suspicion, which was further increased by the 
 discovery of a secret article in the treaty of January, bind- 
 ing Charles and the States-General to assist each other 
 against their rebellious subjects — a discovery which pre- 
 vented the ratification of the treaty. 
 
 Upon the Republic therefore the capture of Ghent and 
 Ypres had the effect which Louis had intended. Now 
 that their own independence was beyond 
 question, and that he declared himself willing Republic 
 to satisfy one of their essential demands by on a separate 
 abandoning to Spain a strong barrier for her P eace - 
 Low Countries, the Dutch thought only of their other great 
 interest, commerce, which was every day passing into the 
 hands of England. The States-General represented to 
 William the necessity of a separate peace, and they went 
 the length of disbanding a third of their army. Louis, 
 informed of this disposition, at once furnished his depu- 
 ties at Nimwegen with instructions. Always offers of 
 scrupulously faithful to his allies, he in the Louis 
 first place insisted on full satisfaction to Sweden. Of his 
 conquests in the Empire he would retain alone Freiburg 
 or Philippsburg ; in other respects the Peace of Westphalia 
 should be scrupulously observed. To Spain he would 
 concede a barrier extending from the sea to the Meuse, 
 guarded by Nieuport, Dixmude, Courtrai, Oudenarde, 
 Ath, Mons, Charleroi, and Namur, retaining 
 Ypres in his own hands. To the Dutch he 
 offered Maestricht and the most favourable commercial re- 
 
264 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1678. 
 
 lations. Partial restoration was promised to the Duke of 
 Lorraine. If these terms were promptly accepted, he 
 would throw in either Charlemont, or Dinant and Bou- 
 vines. 
 
 A violent conflict went on in the Provinces. Led by 
 Amsterdam and the principal towns of North Holland, 
 the merchants clamoured for peace. Against them were 
 Temple and William, who was supported by the whole 
 wm- a body of nobles. The Prince hurried to the 
 
 William and ' 
 
 Temple Hague and spoke vehemently against so 
 
 frustrate the ° . 
 
 endeavours for shameful an abandonment of his allies. In 
 the end all that the peace party could do was 
 to secure from Louis a three months' truce, with a removal 
 of commercial restrictions, and the sending a pacific mis- 
 sion to England and Brussels. 
 
 Meanwhile the news of their action had reached Eng- 
 land. Charles evidently saw in it an excuse for withdraw- 
 ing from his forced connection with the Republic. He 
 laid the matter before Parliament (April 29), in a tone of 
 anger at such a step having been taken without his con- 
 sent, and requested its advice. At the desire of the Com- 
 mons he placed before them the various treaties he had 
 mentioned in his speech. After several days of eager 
 T f debate a resolution of the most uncompro- 
 
 the mising character was carried by a narrow 
 
 Parliament. . _,. T _. . . , 
 
 majority. The King was desired at once to 
 
 join the coalition for carrying on the war ; to secure the 
 continued co-operation of the Republic ; to obtain the 
 consent of all the allies to a total prohibition of any com- 
 mercial relations with France ; to invite further assistance ; 
 and to secure a promise that no peace should be made 
 without the consent of all. To this vote, so different from 
 what he had desired, Charles made no reply, on the ground 
 that the Lords had not concurred. But on May 1 1 he sent 
 
1678. The Peace of Nimwegen. 265 
 
 a message warning the Commons that unless a supply 
 were speedily given him he should be forced to lay up his 
 ships and disband his troops — the very step to which the 
 Shaftesbury party, in fulfilment of their pledges to Louis, 
 were now bent upon driving him. The message raised a 
 tempest in the House. As Colonel Birch said, ' This is a 
 work of darkness from the beginning.' But so well had 
 Danby marshalled his forces that the court secured a 
 majority of one against continuing the discussion. He 
 was unable however to prevent a general resolution 
 against the whole conduct of affairs, praying especially 
 for the removal of Lauderdale and other ' evil counsel- 
 lors.' Charles at once prorogued the Parliament for ten 
 days. 
 
 3. Secret Treaties of Charles with Louis. The Dis- 
 banding Question in Parliament. 
 
 The truce offered by Louis, with the suggested terms of 
 peace, had in the meantime been submitted to the other 
 members of the coalition. By one and all they were re- 
 jected in language of the utmost defiance. Louis there- 
 fore again set himself to secure a separate peace with the 
 Republic. But he lost no opportunity of strengthening 
 his own position. Assembling a strong force at Courtrai 
 on May 16, he passed the Lys, and from the little town 
 of Deynse, close to Ghent, wrote a conciliatory letter to 
 
 the States-General. For a time William, 
 
 States- 
 supported by the nobles, and now by some General 
 
 of the towns, though not by Amsterdam, deputation 
 
 stood firm against any compromise. His to Louis - 
 
 resolution however was changed by unfavourable news 
 
 from England, and he consented to a deputation being 
 
 sent to confer with Louis. 
 
 The belief of Birch that the whole matter was ' a work 
 
266 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1678. 
 
 of darkness ' was fully justified. Charles had been again 
 in secret negotiation with Louis, who had offered him 
 240,000/. in the course of three years should he succeed 
 in bringing about a peace. But Danby, who was deter- 
 mined that if England was to be at the back of France it 
 should be for a good price, demanded that sum yearly 
 for three years, the payment to begin at once. 
 
 Louis decided to meet Charles half-way. On May 27, 
 by a secret agreement drawn up and signed by Charles 
 Secret alone — for Danby again refused to put his 
 
 treaty with head in peril by adding his name — it was 
 
 Louis, May ' J a 
 
 27, 1678. arranged that Charles should do his best to 
 
 secure peace on terms favourable to Louis within two 
 months ; that, if unsuccessful, he should recall and dis- 
 band his troops, except 3,000 to be left in Ostend, and 
 should prorogue Parliament for four months, on condi- 
 tion of receiving the subsidy demanded, half of which 
 was to be paid at the expiration of the two months. 
 
 The suspicions of the Commons again tended to re- 
 duce Charles to the powerlessness which Louis desired. 
 The On the very day of the compact, May 27, 
 
 insist'on* 5 they demanded either immediate war with 
 
 disbanding. France or immediate disbanding. A week 
 later, after two similar votes, they insisted that the dis- 
 banding should take place by the end of June ; though 
 they afterwards altered the date, as regarded the forces 
 in the Spanish Low Countries, to July 27, and they pro- 
 vided money for the purpose. They gave him too a 
 further supply for other uses, after rejecting without a 
 division his request for an increase of 300,000/. to the 
 revenue. When however the Lords endeavoured to ex- 
 tend the date, they at once repelled the assumed right 
 of the Upper House to meddle with a ' bill of money,' 
 by tacking the bill to raise funds for disbanding on to 
 
1678. The Peace of Nimwegen. 267 
 
 that for the further supply, so that they must both fall or 
 pass together. Charles, having passed the bill, pro- 
 rogued the Parliament, July 15. 
 
 He had an excuse, more than sufficient in his eyes, for 
 evading the engagement to disband; for the whole 
 aspect of affairs abroad, and with it his intentions, had 
 again undergone a complete change. 
 
 Up to the end of June peace with the Dutch and Spain 
 had seemed assured. William himself regarded it as 
 useless to struggle any longer against the universal cry. 
 He wrote a conciliatory letter to Louis, which was answered 
 in the tone befitting an injured father to a repentant son. 
 The States-General ordered their deputies to sign the treaty 
 before the end of the month ; and Spain expressed her con- 
 currence. Only at the last moment a misunderstanding 
 suddenly declared itself, which threatened an immediate 
 renewal of the war on the part of every nation engaged. 
 
 41 
 
 4. Expected Renewal of War. Another Treaty of 
 England with the Dutch. Separate Peace be- 
 tween Louis and the Dutch. 
 In promising to give back to Spain the towns which 
 were to form her barrier, Louis had avoided pledging 
 himself to do so as a preliminary to peace, Question of 
 though this was understood by the Dutch ***g™£ 
 and the Spaniards. He now demurred to barrier 
 giving them up until the demands of Sweden ^^l 
 should be satisfied. This would have com- j^™™ 
 pelled the Dutch to maintain a large army and^ 
 on the Yssel, when their greatest desire was 
 to disband. In a moment the Provinces were in a blaze, 
 and William regained his ascendancy. Though every 
 one now longed for peace, the fortunes of war had been 
 so evenly balanced, that any unexpected pretension on 
 
268 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1678. 
 
 one side or the other was sufficient to throw all back into 
 confusion. 
 
 Charles underwent the same revulsion of feeling. He 
 refused to ratify his secret treaty with Louis, or to disband 
 his troops in the Spanish Low Countries, declaring that 
 his people would chase him from his kingdom if Louis 
 were suffered to extend his conquests. He sent off Tem- 
 ple once more (July 6) in haste to make a strict alliance 
 with the Republic ; and on July 26 a treaty 
 Engbnd f was framed binding the Dutch to continue 
 
 ™ ith . ,. the struggle, and England to declare war, if 
 
 Republic, &t> ' o 
 
 July 26, Louis by August 1 1 did not declare himself 
 
 ready to give up the town at once. Louis had 
 
 thus fifteen days wherein to settle the question upon 
 
 which depended the breaking up of the coalition or the 
 
 immediate renewal of war. 
 
 Day by day the interval passed without an answer 
 
 from Louis. He could not bring himself to break through 
 his rule of fidelity to his alliances. At length 
 
 The Swedish , , , . , , 
 
 difficulty he was set free by the action of the Swedes 
 
 removed. themselves. One of their deputies took upon 
 
 himself to declare that Sweden would raise no objection 
 to a separate peace if the Republic promised not to assist 
 her foes. Louis thereupon ordered the treaty to be signed, 
 on condition that Spain should make a similar engage- 
 ment regarding both himself and his allies. This de- 
 mand led to further delay, and on the 9th, within a day 
 of the stipulated time, all was still in doubt. When at ten 
 on the next morning they met for the last conference, the 
 French commissioners, Colbert, Estrades, and Avaux, 
 The final felt how vast were the issues depending upon 
 
 conference, ^a,t day's work. Carefully as the exhaus- 
 1678. tion of France was kept from the knowledge 
 
 of Europe, they knew that the continuation of war would 
 
1678. The Peace of Nimivegen. 269 
 
 be a terrible calamity for their country, and that Louis, 
 haughty as might be his language, had probably reached 
 the limits of what it was possible for him to conquer at 
 the time. They knew too that Temple had arrived the 
 evening before at Nimwegen to frustrate, if possible, in 
 concert with William, the conclusion of peace. For thir- 
 teen hours the conference sat continuously. Colbert and 
 his colleagues fought the ground inch by inch against the 
 settled will of William and the States-Gen- 
 
 Peace 
 
 eral. Only one hour before the moment at between 
 which negotiations would cease — at eleven tne R e . 
 on the night of August 10, 1678 — France and August u 
 the Republic signed the treaty which removed l6 78- 
 the most important member from the coalition, and gave 
 the signal for its disruption. 
 
 By this treaty Louis confessed afresh the complete fail- 
 ure of his war of aggression on the Dutch. The patient 
 Republic came out of the six years' struggle without the 
 loss of an acre of land ; the sum of her concessions was a 
 promise of neutrality during the remainder of the war. 
 Untouched in their territory, the Dutch were also secured 
 in their main interest, commerce. Freedom of trade and 
 navigation was mutually restored, and the compulsory 
 visitation of the warships of either nation in each other's 
 harbours removed, while all vexatious restrictions on 
 Dutch subjects residing or trading in France were taken 
 off. Each might henceforth trade with the enemies of 
 the other, if properly provided with a passport, except in 
 articles contraband of war ; or, in the language of inter- 
 national law, a free ship was to cover the merchandise ; 
 but all goods on an enemy's ship should be liable to con- 
 fiscation. The personal interests of William were pro- 
 vided for by the restoration of his principality of Orange, 
 and of all the estates belonging to him in France, Franche 
 
270 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1678. 
 
 Comte, the Charolais, and the Spanish Low Countries. 
 Spain and any other of the allies who within six weeks from 
 the ratification should declare themselves ready to accept 
 peace were to be admitted as parties to the treaty. 
 
 Strange to say, the peace was signalised by the most 
 desperate engagement of the war. William, with all the 
 forces he could collect, had marched to succour Mons, 
 then invested by the Duke of Luxemburg. On August 14 
 he arrived before the French lines. Luxemburg knew that 
 „ , peace was concluded. William had cer- 
 
 B.ittle of St. r 
 
 Denys tainly no official knowledge, but the proba- 
 
 waiiam and bility of events must be set against his em- 
 Luxemburg phatic declaration that he had no informa- 
 
 beiore Mons, " 
 
 August 14, tion whatever. He determined to strike one 
 1678. 
 
 more blow at Louis, and if possible to de- 
 stroy his own unbroken record of defeat in the field. By 
 an impetuous attack upon Luxemburg's lines he for a 
 while carried all before him. But the ' hunchbacked 
 dwarf rallied his forces, and delivered so fierce a coun- 
 ter-stroke that after six hours of murderous conflict he 
 regained the captured positions. At the close of a long 
 day of slaughter Luxemburg still held Mons in his grip, 
 while William, though he had failed in his main object, 
 remained on the field of battle. The next morning the 
 official declaration of peace arrived, and at the same hour 
 by arrangement the two armies left Mons, the French 
 retreating towards Ath, the Dutch to Brussels. 
 
 5. Peace with Spain. 
 
 The treaty was not binding until it had been ratified. 
 To prevent this ratification William and Temple strained 
 Difficulty every nerve. They were supported by the 
 
 with Spam. indignant reproaches of the allies whom the 
 Republic had thus deserted — Denmark, Brandenburg, 
 
1678. The Peace of Nimwegen. 271 
 
 the Emperor, and the Bishop of Munster. Spain too put 
 obstacles in the way. The States-General hereupon 
 adjourned the ratification until the peace with Spain was 
 signed, acting meanwhile as mediators. 
 
 But the internal troubles of Spain robbed her of all 
 real desire to continue the war. The boy-king, Charles 
 II., had assumed the government at the age of fourteen 
 on November 6, 1675. But the power remained with the 
 Queen Regent. She in her turn delivered it into the 
 hands of Fernando Valenzuela, a worthless Revolution 
 favourite of the type of Piers Gaveston or in s P ain - 
 Robert Carr. A rising of the nobles took place in con- 
 sequence, and the King's natural brother, Don John, came 
 into power, though Charles remained nominally King. 
 The favourite was banished, and the Queen fled. Don 
 John, in turn, soon found himself in the midst of diffi- 
 culties, and was anxious to be free from the additional 
 complications of the war. Louis, informed of the activity 
 of the emissaries of William, who were inveighing in every 
 town of the province of Holland against the dishonour 
 brought upon the nation, and of the mission of Laurence 
 Hyde from the King of England with an engagement 
 to declare war three days after he knew Peace 
 that the States-General had refused to ratify France and 
 the treaty, determined with his usual good |ep t em- 
 sense not to endanger the advantages he h ^. I 7^- 
 had acquired. On September 17 the peace was signed 
 with Spain. 
 
 France gave back Charleroi, Binch, Ath, Oudenarde, 
 and Courtrai, which she had gained by the Peace of Aix- 
 la-Chapelle ; the town and duchy of Limburg, all the 
 country beyond the Meuse, Ghent, Rodenhus, and the 
 district of the Waes, Leuze, and St. Ghislain, with Puy- 
 
272 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1678. 
 
 cerda in Catalonia, these having been taken since that 
 peace. But she retained Franche Comte, with the towns 
 of Valenciennes, Bouchain, Conde, Cambrai and the 
 Cambresis, Aire, St. Omer, Ypres, Werwick, Warneton, 
 Poperinge, Bailleul, Cassel, Bavai, and Maubeuge. The 
 signature of this treaty was followed by the ratification 
 of that with the Dutch. The Spaniards however, with 
 their ingrained love of delay, attempted, when the date 
 came (October 31) for the ratification of their own treaty, 
 to put it off until that with the Emperor was signed. Louis 
 held his hand for a month ; then, thoroughly provoked, 
 he ordered his troops to march upon Brussels. This 
 brought the Spaniards to their senses, and on December 
 15 the ratifications were exchanged. 
 
 6. Peace with the Emperor and the Rest of the 
 Allies. 
 
 There remained the Grand Elector of Brandenburg, 
 the King of Denmark, the Dukes of Brunswick and Liine- 
 burg, the Bishop of Munster and the Emperor. The two 
 first, whose operations were chiefly against Sweden, at 
 the point farthest from Louis, and who were gaining 
 successes there, did their best, though now deprived of 
 the subsidies of the United Provinces, to prevent the 
 Emperor from confine to terms with France 
 
 successes . 
 
 of Crequy and Sweden. He however had conclusive 
 
 Emperor and reasons for wishing to make peace. He 
 Lorraine. ^ad in the last campaign seen the young 
 
 Duke of Lorraine thoroughly beaten by Crequy, who, 
 besides preventing the capture of Freiburg, had taken 
 Kehl, Ruperschau, Landau, and Lichtenberg, and had 
 destroyed the bridge at Strassburg. The Hungarians 
 too had risen against him, and with the support of bodies 
 
i6jg. The Peace of Nifiiwegefi. 273 
 
 of troops raised in Poland and officered by Frenchmen 
 had gained alarming successes on the border. On Feb- 
 ruary 2, 1679, peace was declared between Louis, the 
 Emperor, and the Empire. Louis gave back Peace 
 Philippsburg retaining Freiburg with the Emperor 
 desired liberty of passage across the Rhine Februar 1 "^ 6 ' 
 to Breisach ; in ail other respects the Treaty 1679. 
 of Munster, of October 24, 1648, was re-established. If 
 the enemies of Sweden would not make peace the 
 Emperor and the Empire would neither assist them 
 nor allow them to encamp on the territory of the 
 Empire outside their own dominions, while Louis should 
 be free to keep garrisons in several towns of the Empire. 
 The treaty then dealt with the Duke of Lorraine. To 
 his restitution Louis annexed conditions which rendered 
 Lorraine little more than a French province. Not only 
 was Nancy to become French, but, in con- „ . ,. 
 
 3 ' Restitution 
 
 formitv with the treaty of 1661, Louis was to of Duke of 
 
 . . , Lorraine. 
 
 have possession of four large roads travers- 
 ing the country, with half a league's breadth of territory 
 throughout their length, and the places contained therein : 
 the roads, namely, from St. Dizier to Nancy, and from 
 Nancy to Alsace, Vesoul in Franche Comte, and Metz. 
 The town and district of Longwy also were to be placed 
 in his hands. To these conditions the Duke refused to 
 subscribe, preferring continual exile until the Peace of 
 Ryswick in 1697, when at length his son regained the an- 
 cestral estates. 
 
 On the same day the Emperor and the Empire made 
 peace with Sweden. All that the allies had Peace 
 taken from her was to be restored, and the between the 
 Emperor agreed to mediate between her and and Sweden. 
 the powers that still stood out. 
 
 It was impossible for the other members of the coali- 
 S 
 
274 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1679. 
 
 tion to cany on the war. The Dukes of Brunswick and 
 
 Between Liineburg and the Bishop of Munster sur- 
 
 France, the rendered their captures in Sweden, retaining 
 
 Brunswick one or two places which rectified their fron- 
 
 LUneburg, tiers. Each received from Louis a subsidy 
 
 and Munster, for the concession. It needed however a 
 
 and between final exhibition of force before Brandenburg 
 
 Branden- , 
 
 burg, and Denmark would give way, Crequy again 
 
 Sweden^ ' passed the Rhine and took Marck and Lipp- 
 and France. stadt ; then, crossing the Weser, defeated the 
 Grand Elector and threatened Magdeburg. On June 29 
 the Grand Elector consented to make restitution to Swe- 
 den, except on the Brandenburg side of the Oder, prom- 
 ising to build no fortress on that river. Denmark, left 
 alone, made peace with France and Sweden in September 
 on similar terms, and separate treaties were also con- 
 cluded between Sweden, Spain, and the Republic. The 
 Dutch, who in accordance with the treaty of 1673 should 
 have restored Maestricht to Spain, retained that important 
 bulwark as a recompense for their efforts in securing the 
 barrier for the latter country. 
 
 7. Conclusion. 
 
 The effect of the Peace of Nimwegen was thus, speak- 
 ing generally, to reaffirm the Peace of Westphalia. But, 
 inasmuch as Louis — though foiled in the immediate purpose 
 of the war — was the only gainer, it did not, like the Peace 
 of Westphalia, close for any length of time the sources 
 of strife, but, while affording to France a basis for future 
 aggrandisement, left sore feelings everywhere, with the 
 certainty of renewal of war. 
 
 One country alone, or rather one person, had come out 
 of the struggle with marked discredit. The position of 
 Charles II. of England was indeed contemptible. Peace 
 
Conclusion. 275 
 
 had been made without his concurrence — in spite, indeed, 
 of his utmost efforts. He had lived by chicanery, and his 
 chicanery had ended in complete discomfiture. Louis 
 now, neither needing nor fearing him, met his appeal 
 for part at least of the money he claimed with a con- 
 temptuous refusal. In December, 1678, the Lords united 
 with the Commons in insisting on his immediately dis- 
 banding his troops, and from that moment, baffled in 
 diplomacy and crippled for war, he had no further voice 
 in Continental affairs. 
 
 His position with his own people was as humiliating as 
 his position in the face of Europe. To the Parliament and 
 to the Church he was an object of suspicion. His supplies 
 were doled out with jealous parsimony, and his use of the 
 money was vigilantly watched. From the control under 
 which he fretted his only chances of escape had been 
 trickery and foreign alms. His servants were indeed 
 capable, but bitter personal rivalries prevented all co- 
 operation ; and though the extravagances of an Opposi- 
 tion as unscrupulous as himself, aided by his own coolness 
 of head and cynical good temper, afforded him before 
 long an opportunity of establishing an apparently com- 
 plete ascendancy in his kingdom, it was an ascendancy 
 maintained only by a scrupulous observance of conditions 
 which he had now for nineteen years in vain endeavoured 
 to evade. 
 
 The picture is heightened by contrast. Louis stood 
 before Europe upon a pinnacle of glory. How he had 
 used the instruments of ambition by which he found 
 himself surrounded at the close of the wars of the 
 Fronde ; the renowned commanders, the veteran troops, 
 the skilful diplomatists, the great administrators, among 
 whom he stood the adored and unquestioned chief ; 
 how, with a people contented to be at length freed 
 
276 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 
 
 from the desolation of civil war, and a treasury soon 
 overflowing through the genius of Colbert, he had 
 leaped at two bounds to a position which made him 
 at once the admiration and the terror of Europe ; how 
 he had created navies and had sent out his armies 
 north, south, and east, to confront all Europe in arms ; 
 how he had defeated coalitions, dictated treaties of peace, 
 pensioned Kings and governments ; how he had not 
 only baffled the jealousy of England, but had even en- 
 listed the might of her Crown in support of aggressions 
 which her people hated ; all this we have seen. 
 
 And, like that of Charles, his European position was 
 reflected in that which he held at home. To his own 
 people he was as a god. His marshals and his armies knew 
 no will but his word ; his ambassadors in every court 
 carried out his commands with unfailing obedience. 
 After twenty years of imperial almsgiving and of war 
 his treasury still to ordinary observers seemed over- 
 flowing. To such purpose had he depressed the 
 haughty noblesse of France, that they who had been 
 the rivals of the throne were now content to worship 
 from the level of a common servitude. All great offices, 
 the names of which recalled the days when the 
 monarchy was still under restraint — Constable, Admiral, 
 Lieutenant-General — were suppressed ; and the rest he 
 took so literally into his own hands that in 168 1 he 
 put them up to public auction. With the aid of the 
 Jesuits he defied the Papacy, and over the Church his 
 rule was absolute. For every form of intellectual effort 
 France was then famous — religious oratory, science, art, 
 history, literature — and one and all were devoted to the 
 glorification of the King. 
 
 And yet at this very time there was not far distant 
 the happy combination of events which was to place a 
 
Conclusion. 277 
 
 final check to his ambition. In the breast of William of 
 Orange there glowed ever more intensely that unquench- 
 able hatred of France which had received its last and 
 fiercest expression in the desperate onset upon Luxem- 
 burg's lines before Mons. Within ten years he once 
 more arrayed Europe for the conflict, but this time with a 
 mightier following at his back. England at length took 
 her rightful place. The man who in his own person repre- 
 sented the spirit of Continental opposition to the aggres- 
 sions of Louis, and the opposition of the English people 
 to the French and Popish policy of their own Kings, 
 found himself enabled to let loose the hatred which, 
 thwarted so long, had grown even keener by repression. 
 The happiest day of William's life was probably that on 
 which, as King of England, he declared war against 
 France. On that day began the long and terrible 
 course of retributive humiliations which at length struck 
 his lifelong antagonist to her knees, and brought upon 
 the Great Monarch an old age embittered by disappoint- 
 ment and care. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 AAR 
 A ARDENBURG, defeat of the 
 
 •**■ French at, 216 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, peace of, 171 ; ad- 
 vantages gained by Louis at, 172 ; 
 infractions of, by Louis, 209 
 
 AUenheim, battle of, 248 
 
 'Alternatives,' the, of Louis, 154; 
 the second accepted by Castel 
 Rodrigo, 171 
 
 Amsterdam, favoured by the Treaty 
 of Minister, 8 ; saved by opening 
 the sluices, 215; preparations for 
 defence of, 216; demands peace, 
 264 ; opposes William, 265 
 
 — New, Dutch driven from by 
 Nicholas, 134; name changed 
 to New York, id 
 
 Anne of Austria, wife of LouisXIII., 
 regent after death of LouisXl II. , 
 17; disappoints the hopes of the 
 Parlement, 17; chooses Mazarin 
 to succeed Richelieu, id. ; prodi- 
 gality, 21 ; anger of, with the 
 Frondeurs, 29, 35, 38; restrained 
 by Mazarin, 38; leaves Paris, 40; 
 refuses to give up power of arbi- 
 trary arrest, 41 ; leaves Paris a 
 second time, 41 ; guided by 
 Mazarin, 5 : ; refuses Conde's de- 
 mands, 53 ; insulted by Conde, 54; 
 arrests him, 55 ; forced to release 
 the Princes and to dismiss Maza- 
 rin, 63 ; forms an alliance with the 
 Frondeurs against Conde, 64 
 
 Annesley, Earl of, opposes the aboli- 
 tion of the feudal tenures, 96 
 
 Antwerp, commerce of, ruined at 
 Treaty of Minister, 8 
 
 Arlington, Henry Bennet, Earl of, 
 plots against Clarendon, 156 ; in 
 
 BEA 
 
 rivalry with Buckingham, 164; 
 has charge of foreign affairs, id. ; 
 in the Dutch interest, 165 ; in 
 favour of toleration, 173; sympa- 
 thises with the Catholics, id.; 
 advises a dissolution, 1 77 ; opposes 
 Louis XIV., 186; his reason for 
 changing his views, 187; advo- 
 cates Treaty of Dover, id. ; man- 
 ages the negotiations, 188 ; signs 
 the treaty, 103 ; joins in duping 
 Buckingham, 195 ; member of the 
 ' Cabal,' 201 ; one of the commis- 
 sioners to William, 222 ; proposer 
 of the Test Act, 232 ; disappointed 
 at not succeeding Clifford, 233; 
 opposes the court, id. ; tells 
 Shaftesbury of the first Treaty of 
 Dover, 235 ; attacked by Parlia- 
 ment, 237; compelled to sell his 
 office, 241 ; sent on a mission to 
 the Hague, 242 
 
 Army, Monk's, disbanded, 95 
 
 Arras, siege of, 74 
 
 Ashley, see Shaftesbury 
 
 Austria, separated from the Spinish 
 Netherlands at Peace of West- 
 phalia, 5; supremacy in central 
 Europe destroyed, 8 ; disaffection 
 of Hungary, 148 
 
 ' T> ALANCE of Power,' 3 
 • L> Bartholomew's, St., Day, Act 
 of Uniformity comes into opera- 
 tion on, 104 
 
 Bastille, the, taken by the Fron- 
 deurs, 44 ; given back to the King, 
 47; fire from checks Turenne, 69 
 
 Beaufort, Duke of, grandson of 
 
 279 
 
28o 
 
 Index. 
 
 BEL 
 
 Henryl V.and Gabrielle d' Estrees, 
 19; called the ' Koi des Halles,' 
 20 ; leader of the ' Importants,' 
 id. ; conspires against Mazarin 
 and imprisoned, 20 ; escapes, 28; 
 joins the Frondeurs in Paris, 44 ; 
 defeated at Corbeil, 45 ; refuses 
 Mazarin's terms, 49 ; gained over 
 through influence of Mme. de 
 Montbazon, 55 ; commands the 
 rebel army, 67; defeated by 
 Turenne at Jargeau, 68 ; governor 
 of Paris under Conde, 70 ; gives 
 up his post for 100,000 livres, 72 
 Bellegarde, siege and capture of, 58 
 Bennet, Henry, see Arlington 
 Berkeley, Viceroy of Ireland, 189 
 Beuninghen, Van, Dutch ambassa- 
 dor at London, 192 ; deceived by 
 feigned negotiations, 193 ; bribes 
 members of the ' Pensionary ' Par- 
 liament, 244 
 Bishops, restored to the House of 
 Lords, 100 ; oppose Charles's at- 
 tempt to suspend the Act of Uni- 
 formity, 104; friendly to Clarendon, 
 156; severe in executingthe second 
 Conventicle Act, 183 ; oppose the 
 Bill for the ease of Protestant 
 dissenters, 233; conference of, at 
 Lambeth, with Danby, 243 
 Bombay, acquired by England, 107 
 Bordeaux, revolts, 49 ; the Borde- 
 lais defeated, id. ; revolts again, 
 59; makes terms with Mazarin, 
 60 ; receives Conde with enthu- 
 siasm, 66; republican feeling in, 
 67; reign of terror in, 73; final 
 submission, id.; revolt in, 249 
 Brandenburg, compels Bishop of 
 Munster to make peace, 140 ; joins 
 Quadruple Alliance, id ; Grand 
 Elector of, treaty with Louis XIV. 
 in 1664, 147 ; promises neutrality 
 in Louis's invasion of the Spanish 
 Low Countries, 152; refuses 
 Louis's offers in 1671,197; alli- 
 ance with the Republic, 211 ; alli- 
 ance with the Emperor, 224 ; joins 
 Montecuculi, id. ; defeated by 
 Turenne, 225 ; makes peace with 
 Louis, id. ; joins the second coali- 
 tion against Louis, 229 ; joins the 
 Imperialists in Alsace, 239; de- 
 feated by Turenne at Colmar, 
 240 ; defeats the Swedes, 248 ; 
 defeated by Crequy,274; makes 
 peace, 273 
 
 CAT 
 
 Breda, Declaration of, 89-91 : par- 
 tial fulfilment of, 91-99; confer- 
 ence at, 144 ; Treaty of, 145 
 
 Bridgeman, Orlando, lays down 
 doctrine of ministerial responsi- 
 bility at the trial of the regicides, 
 96; ignorant of the first Treaty of 
 Dover, 193 ; refuses to put Great 
 Seal to the Declaration of Indul- 
 gence, 207 
 
 Britanny, government of, taken by 
 the Queen Regent, 20 ; remains 
 loyal, 49 ; revolt in, 249 
 
 Broadmead, near Bristol, scene at, 
 
 131- 
 Broussel and Blancmesnil, arrested, 
 36 ; released, 38 ; appear at court, 
 
 39 . 
 Buckingham, Duke of, ridicules 
 Clarendon, 156 ; divides Claren- 
 don's power with Arlington, 164; 
 rivalry with Arlington, id.; in 
 favour of toleration, 173 ; in favour 
 of France, 186; ignorant of first 
 Treaty of Dover, 193; allowed to 
 frame a sham treaty, 194 ; one of 
 the Cabal, 201 ; one of the com- 
 missioners to William, 222; at- 
 tacked by Parliament, 237; thrown 
 over by Charles, 242 ; suggests a 
 divorce to Charles, id. ; asserts 
 that Parliament is. dissolved by 
 the fifteen months' prorogation, 
 254 ; sent to the Tower, 255 
 
 /^ABAL, meaning of the term, 201; 
 
 ^-' unlike our ' Cabinet,' id. ; The 
 Cabal, 201 ; its members united 
 on the question of toleration alone, 
 202 ; shattered by the Test Act, 
 233 
 
 Caracena, Governor of the Spanish 
 Low Countries, 124 ; defeated by 
 the Portuguese at Villa Viciosa, 
 
 124 
 
 Castel Rodrigo, Governor of the 
 Spanish Low Countries, 124; 
 energy of, id ; accepts Louis's 
 second alternative at the Peace of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, 171 
 
 Catholics, English feeling regarding, 
 126,127, 178; the King desires to 
 favour them, id. ; persecuted, 129, 
 184; over-confidence of, id : dis- 
 like Clarendon, 158 ; favoured by 
 Charles under cover of toleration 
 for Protestant dissent, 1S8 ; — and 
 
Index. 
 
 281 
 
 CHA 
 the Test Act, 232 ; their ' flaunt- 
 ing,' 234 ; excitement against, 
 236 ; penal laws against, enforced, 
 243 ; alliance with Louis, Shaftes- 
 bury, and the Nonconformists, 
 
 2 49 
 
 Charles I. of England, his example 
 quoted by Mazarin, 42 ; effect of 
 h is execution upon the Frondeurs, 
 46 
 
 Charles II. of England, at the Peace 
 of the Pyrenees, 87; his offers to 
 Mazarin, id. \ restored on suffer- 
 ance, 88; his objects in the De- 
 claration of Breda, 89; letter to 
 the Speaker, id. ; declares ' liberty 
 to tender consciences,' 90; carries 
 out his promises of indemnity, 91 ; 
 messages to the Houses, 92 ; 
 bloodless character of the restora- 
 tion due to him and Clarendon, 
 93 ; anxious for the disbanding of 
 Monk's army, 94; his secret in- 
 tentions, id. ; retains some regi- 
 ments, 95; deceives the Presby- 
 terians, 96; selects a conference of 
 divines, 97; issues a Declaration 
 on ecclesiastical affairs, ?V. ; insists 
 on confirmation of the Indemnity 
 Act, 95; opposed to the restora- 
 tion of the Bishops to the House 
 of Lords, 100; opposed to severity 
 to Dissenters, 101 ; compelled to 
 declare allegiance to the Church, 
 102; cons'ents to the Act of Uni- 
 formity, id. • endeavours to sus- 
 pend its operation, 104; want of 
 money dictates his foreign rela- 
 tions, 105; applies to the Dutch, 
 106; offers from Spain, id. ; anx- 
 ious to tolerate Catholics, i,i. ; first 
 connection with France, 107 ; 
 marries the Infanta of Portugal, 
 id. ; influence possessed over, by 
 his sister, ic8; hostile to the 
 Dutch, 116; desires to favour the 
 Catholics, 127; in communication 
 with Innocent XL, id; issues 
 declaration claiming the dispens- 
 ing power, id.; compelled to 
 banish Catholic priests, 129 ; 
 secures the practical repeal of the 
 Triennial Act, 129; consents to 
 the First Conventicle Act, 130; 
 and to the Five Mile Act, 131 ; 
 gives New York to James, 131 ; 
 his reasons fur the Dutch War, 
 135 ; his terms to the Dutch, id. ; 
 
 CHA 
 
 promises not to interfere with the 
 projecis of Louis XIV., 136; 
 makes alliance with the Bishop 
 of Munster, 138; refuses Louis's 
 offers of mediation, 139 ; starves 
 the navy, 143, secret treaty with 
 Louis XIV., 144; how occupied 
 on the day of the Chatham 
 disaster, 145 ; realises his own 
 powerlessness, 155 ; deserts Clar- 
 endon, 159-62 ; refuses furmal alli- 
 ance with France, 165; offers 
 alliance to Spain, 166; acquiesces 
 in the ' Perpetual Edict,' 167; 
 forms the Triple Alliance, id. ; his 
 dishonesty, 108; probably discloses 
 the secret article of the Triple Alli- 
 ance to Louis, 169; tolerates 
 Dissent during the recess, 172; 
 compelled to consent to Bill for 
 continuing the Conventicle Act, 
 176; further toleration during 
 recess, 177; compelled to enforce 
 the laws, 178; opens Parliament 
 with military pomp, 180; secret 
 negotiations with Louis, id. ; gives 
 up toleration, id. ; gets rid of the 
 Skinner dispute, i8t ; assents to 
 the Second Conventicle Act, id. ; 
 and to the persecution of the 
 Catholics, 184 ; anxious to be free 
 of the Triple Alliance, 186; his 
 difficulties at the Treaty of Dover, 
 id. ; his affection for his sister, 
 18S ; declares his conversion, 188 ; 
 his preparations, iiJ. ; deteriora- 
 tion of his character, 189; re- 
 pudiates Temple, id. ; conversa- 
 tion with Colbert, 190; deceives 
 Parliament, 191; his first terms 
 to Louis, id. ; shows his knowl- 
 edge of English feeling, 192 ; 
 meets his sister at Dover, 193 ; 
 dupes Buckingham with the sham 
 treaty, 194; deceives Parliament, 
 195; sends Coventry to support 
 the French at Stockholm, 196: — 
 and the ' Cabal,' 201 ; and Louise 
 de Keroualle, 204 ; caricature of, in 
 Holland. 205; secures 1,400,000/. 
 by the ' Stop of the Exchequer,' 
 id.; claims the dispensing power 
 by the Declaration of Indulgence, 
 206; insults the Republic, 2i< ; 
 attacks the Smyrna flett, 210; 
 rejects the requests of the Puti h 
 embassy, 221 ; sends commis- 
 sioners to Louis in the United 
 
282 
 
 Index. 
 
 CHA 
 
 Provinces, id • compelled to make 
 peace, 229, 237 ; meets Parliament, 
 230 ; intends to maintain the 
 Declaration, id. ; obliged to cancel 
 it, 232; tells a deliberate lie to Par- 
 liament, 235; dismisses Shaftes- 
 bury, 236; offers mediation, 240 ; 
 declines visit from William, 241 ; 
 his own foreign minister, id. ; 
 refuses to divorce his wife, or to 
 regard Monmouth as his heir, 242 ; 
 wishes for marriage of William 
 and Mary, 242 ; persuaded by 
 D.mby to return to the policy of 
 Clarendon, 243 ; promises Louis to 
 dissolve Parliament, 244; is 'like 
 a besieged place,' 245, 254; secret 
 treaties with Louis, 249, 250; dis- 
 honesty at Nimwegen, 251; refuses 
 to consent to claim of Parliamei.t 
 to control foreign alliances, 257 ; 
 refuses to declare war against 
 France, 258; invites William to 
 London, 259; his objects in the 
 marriage of William and Mary, 
 id.; influenced by William, 259 ; 
 forms alliance with the Republic, 
 260; his honesty suspected, 262; 
 sends tronps to Ostend, id. ; with- 
 draws from alliance with Repub- 
 lic, 264: further secret negotia- 
 tions with Louis, 265 ; rendered 
 powerless by Louis and the Par- 
 liament, 266; forms another alli- 
 ance with the Republic, 268; hu- 
 miliating position of in 1678, 275 
 
 Charles II., of Spain, his birth bars 
 Louis's claim to the Spanish mon- 
 archy, 111 ; infancy, 123; assumes 
 the government, 271 
 
 Chevreuse, Duchess of, joins the 
 attack on Mazarin, 20; exiled, 
 20; secured by Mazarin, 50; 
 secures the inactivity of De Retz, 
 53; bribed by Mazarin, 55: her 
 greed, 57; will not submit to 
 Conde, 64 
 
 Church of England, Declaration of 
 Breda regarding, 90 ; feeling of at 
 the Restoration, 96 ; debate upon, 
 id. ; exclusive nature of, 103 ; takes 
 its final shape, 104 ; opposed both 
 to Popery and Dissent, 244 
 
 Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of, 
 Lord Chancellor, supreme in the 
 Government, 91 ; determined to 
 carry out indemnity, id. ; checks 
 the savage spirit of the Lords, 92 ; 
 
 CON 
 
 disappoints the Cavaliers, 94 ; the 
 friend of the Church, id. ; secures 
 the rejection of Hale's motion, 98 ; 
 opposed to severity to Dissenters, 
 103 ; endeavours to secure parlia- 
 mentary recognition of the dis- 
 pensing power, 103; will not favour 
 autocratic use of it, 104; urges 
 maintenance of Dunkirk, 108; 
 opposes the Bill for enabling King 
 to dispense with Act of Uni- 
 formity, 129 ; causes of his fall, 
 155-162 ; impeachment of by 
 Bristol, 155; reasons for discon- 
 tent with, 156; ingratitude of 
 Charles II. to, 160; the weakness 
 of his political theory, id. ; es- 
 capes to France, 162: refused 
 permission to come to Paris, 164 
 
 Clifford, Sir Thomas, character of, 
 202 ; his horoscope, id. ; author of 
 the ' Stop of the Exchequer,' 205 ; 
 created Lord Treasurer, and 
 raised to the peerage, 206; resigns 
 on the passing of the Test Act, 
 233 ; his speech on the occasion, 
 id. ; dies, id. 
 
 Colbert, Finance Minister of Louis 
 XIV., successful measures of, 149 
 — de Croissy, brother ofthe above, 
 French Ambassador in London, 
 187; frames Treaty of Dover with 
 Arlingtort, 193; conversation with 
 Charles II., 190 ; at the Peace of 
 Nimwegen, 269 
 
 Conde, Prince of, secured by Maza- 
 rin, 19 
 
 — , the * Great,' son of the above, 
 at Rocroy, 19 ; at Nordlingen, 
 23 ; character of, 25 ; — and the 
 Petits-Maitres, id. ; at Lens, 36; 
 his arrival waited for by Mazarin, 
 39; joins the court, 40; falls 
 under the influence of De Retz, 
 40; gained by Mazarin, 41: ob- 
 tains government of Stenai, 42; 
 captures Charenton from the 
 b'rondeurs, 44; withdraws his 
 support from the Government, 51 ; 
 quarrels with Mazarin, 52; tem- 
 porarily reconciled, H. ; estranges 
 the Frondeurs and the noblesse, 
 53 ; encourages the Bordelais to 
 
 . revolt, id ; his carriage fired into, 
 54; his insolence to the Queen, 
 id. ; arrested, 55 ; removed to 
 Havre, 60; released by Mazarin 
 and returns to Paris, 6j ; his terms 
 
Index. 
 
 283 
 
 CON 
 
 rejected by the Queen, 64 ; alien- 
 ates his friends, 65 ; refuses to at- 
 tend the majority of Louis XIV., 
 65 ; enthusiastically received at 
 Bordeaux, 66; attainted of high 
 treason, id. ; defeated at Tonnai- 
 (Jharente, 66; tries to obtain 
 Cromwell's alliance, 67; report 
 of him to Cromwell, id.; fails to 
 gain the Duke of Lorraine, id, ; 
 outmanoeuvred on the Dordogne, 
 68; defeats royal forces at Ble- 
 neau, but checked by Turenne, 
 id.; goes to Paris, id. ; gains ad- 
 vantage over Turenne at St. 
 Cloud, 69; defeated in the Fau- 
 bourg St. Antome, 70 ; establishes 
 provisional government in Paris, 
 id. ; his forces dwindle away, 71 ; 
 flies, 72; driven to La Capclle by 
 Turenne. id.', enlists in Spanish 
 service, 74 ; defeated before Arras, 
 75 ; wins the battle of Valen- 
 ciennes, 78 ; his words to the Duke 
 of Gloucester, 80; at the battle of 
 the Dunes, 81; restored to his 
 posts at the Peace of the Pyrenees, 
 86; anxiety about the Dutch 
 war, 212; crosses the Rhine at 
 Kaiserwerth and takes Wesel, 
 214; the passage of the Rhine at 
 Tolhuys, 214; wounded, id. ; his 
 advice to Louis, 215; commands 
 in Alsace, 225 ; outmanoeuvred by 
 William, 228; defeats William at 
 Seneff, 238; campaign after the 
 death of Turenne, 248 ; retires to 
 his domains, id. 
 
 Conti, brother of Conde, command- 
 er-in-chief of the Frondeurs, 44 ; 
 arrested, 55 
 
 Conventicles, first Act regarding, 
 130; continued, 176; second, 181 ; 
 at Broadmead, 131 ; almost dis- 
 appear from England, 183 
 
 Corporation Act, destroys Presby- 
 terianism in the State, 101 
 
 Cromwell applied to by Conde, 67 ; 
 by France and Spain, 77; his 
 terms to both, id. ; agreement 
 with Mazarin, 78; threatens 
 Mazarin, 79; demands a fresh 
 agieement, 80; his death, 81; 
 hatred of his military despotism 
 in England, 95; defeats the Re- 
 public, 119 
 
 Courtin, French Ambassador to 
 Sweden, 197; to Charles 11., 254 
 
 DUT 
 
 Coventry, Henry, sent to Sweden 
 to help Courtin, 196 
 
 DANBY, Thomas Osborne, Earl 
 of, succeeds Clifford as Lord 
 Treasurer, 233; has the conduct 
 of all home business, 241 ; op- 
 posed to France, 243, 244; deter- 
 mines on a return to the policy of 
 Clarendon, id.; his bribery, :d. ; 
 opposes dissolution, 245 ; defeats 
 attack upon himself, 245; brings 
 in the 'Non-resisting I est,' 246 ; 
 baffled by Shaftesbury, 247 ; in- 
 sists on money from Louis, 251 ; 
 258; refuses to sign the secret 
 treaties with France, 251, 266; 
 defeats the opposition, 254; se- 
 cures an unconditional vote for 
 600,000/., 255; brings in bill for 
 securing the Protestant religion, 
 id. ; urges war with France, 258 ; 
 acts in concert with William, 260; 
 refuses Louis's bribes, 261 
 
 Dover, first Treaty of, 193 ; second, 
 195 : importance of, 196 
 
 Downing, ambassador to the Hague, 
 promotes a rupture, 210 
 
 Dunes, battle of the, 81 
 
 Dunkirk, threatened by the Span- 
 iards, 54; besieged and captured, 
 70, 74; demanded by Cromwell, 
 77; captured by Turenne, 81 ; 
 handed over to the English, id. ; 
 sold to France, 109 
 
 Du Plessis-Praslin, defeats Turenne 
 at Rethel 61 
 
 Duquesne, French admiral, defiats 
 the Dutch in the Mediterranean 
 Sea, 252 
 
 Dutch salute the English flag, 133; 
 exclusiveness in trade, 133; mer- 
 chants, informal war between and 
 English, 134; — ships in English 
 harbours seized as prizes, 135; 
 people, character of the, 116; en- 
 terprise of the, 117; ships, supe- 
 riority of the, 117, 136; their 
 method of fighting inferior to that 
 of the English, 137; dislike of 
 French for, 139; trade with Scot- 
 land, 143; arrogant language of, 
 185 ; character of, 207 ; thriftiness, 
 211 ; army, state ofthe, 211 ; want 
 of discipline among, 213 ; ingrati- 
 tude of to De Witt, 219 ; hatred 
 between — and the Spaniards, 253 
 
284 
 
 Index. 
 
 ELB 
 
 pLBCEUF, Due d', one of the 
 
 -*-* ' Importants,' 20 ; commander- 
 in-chief of the Frondeurs, 43; his 
 demands, 48 
 
 Emery, controller-general of finance 
 under Mazarin, 21, 22; revives 
 the toise, 22; proposes the taxe 
 des aisis, 22 ; the ' rachat,' 26 ; 
 the ' Paulette,' 27; dismissed, 35 
 
 England, supremacy at sea acknowl- 
 edged by France, 194 
 
 Enghien, Due d', see Conde 
 
 Epernon, Due d', one of the ' Im- 
 portants,' 20 ; receives the govern- 
 ment of Guienne,2o ; quarrels with 
 the Parlement of Bordeaux, 49; 
 hated by the people, 59; removed 
 from the province, 60 
 
 Estrades, French ambassador at the 
 Hague, outwitted by Temple, 
 167 
 
 Exchequer, Stop of the, suggested 
 by Clifford, 205; effect of, id.; 
 enables Charles to do without 
 Parlement for nearly two years, 
 230 ; ruins the credit of the crown, 
 
 254 
 Excise, increase of, through aboli- 
 tion of feudal tenures, 96 
 
 pEUDALISM, contest of Riche- 
 
 *■ lieu with in France, 4; assisted 
 by Mazarin in Germany, id. 
 
 Feudal tenures abolished in Eng- 
 land, 06 
 
 Five Mile Act, 131 
 
 France, influence of and advantages 
 gained by, at Peace of West- 
 phalia, 4-6; state of, under Riche- 
 lieu, 12; desperate state of finance 
 of, 21-28; condition of peasants, 
 27: subsidises other nations, 28; 
 division of classes in, 32 ; strength 
 of monarchical feeling in, 32 ; 
 cleared of the Spaniards, 62; 
 Spanish conquests against, 74; 
 demands upon, by Cromwell, 77; 
 exhaustion of, 81; advantages 
 giined by, at the Peace of the 
 Pyrenees; 87; fear of, in the 
 United Provinces, 121; treaty 
 with England, 145 ; with Por- 
 tugal, 147; jealousy of, among 
 the Princes of the Empire, 148 ; 
 fleet and army, 149: division of 
 Spanish monarchy between — and 
 Austria, by treaty of eventual 
 
 HEN 
 
 partition, 154; jealousy of, in 
 England, 162, 234, 245; contest 
 between — and the Republic for the 
 English alliance, 165; second 
 article regarding, in Triple Alli- 
 ance, 172; advantages gained by, 
 at Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 172; 
 belief that Clarendon favoured, 
 162,173: losses of, in 1674, 238; 
 opposition to, by Danby, 249; 
 success of, on the sea, 252; gains 
 of, and restorations by, at Peace 
 of Nimwegen, 271, her worship of 
 Louis XIV., 276 
 Fronde, 9; represents struggle of 
 privileged classes against minis- 
 terial power, 16; contrast with 
 English rebellion, 29-33; origin of 
 the name, 31 ; Parliamentary, 33- 
 51; possesses title to respect, 33; 
 the New. not to be respected, 51- 
 74 ; results of, 73 
 
 /""* ALLICAN liberties, upheld by 
 
 ^-* Richelieu, 13 
 
 ' Generality,' the, ceded by Spain 
 to the Dutch, 8 
 
 Germany, reconstituted at Peace of 
 Westphalia, 3, 4; central power 
 in, weakened by Mazarin, 4 
 "Gravelines, taken by Spain, 70; 
 siege and capture of, 81 
 
 Gremonville, French ambassador at 
 Vienna, 151; negotiates treaty of 
 eventual partition, 153; of neu- 
 trality, 198; skill of, id. 
 
 Groningen, invasion of province of, 
 223 ; town of, successf.l defence 
 of, 223 
 
 TJTABEAS CORPUS Bill, passes 
 
 * * the Commons, 237 
 
 Hale, Sir M., brings in bill for 
 comprehension, 98; defeated by 
 Clarendon, id. ; takes part in 
 conference with dissenting bodies, 
 
 173 
 
 Harcourt, secures Normandy, 44 ; 
 fails at Cambrai, but captures the 
 town of Conde, 50; treason of, 
 75 ; bribed by Mazarin, id. 
 
 Harmony, Act of, 208 
 
 Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles 
 I., in Paris, 46 ; negotiations be- 
 tween Charles and Louis take 
 place in her house, 144 
 
Index. 
 
 285 
 
 HEN 
 
 Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, 
 sister of Charles II., marriage of, 
 108; influence over Charles, 188; 
 obtains his conversion, id. ; con- 
 cludes the Treaty of Dover, 193. 
 
 Hungary, 148 ; revolt in, 272 
 
 « TMPORTANTS,' the, 20; 
 •*■ crushed by Mazarin, id. 
 
 Indemnity, Bill of, 92, 93 ; Charles's 
 determination about, id. ; op- 
 posed by the Lords, id. ; con- 
 firmed by the Pensionary Parlia- 
 ment, 99 
 
 Indulgence, Declaration of, 207 ; 
 arguments for and against, 230; 
 cancelled, 232 
 
 Informers, encouraged by Conven- 
 ticle and Five Mile Acts, 132 
 
 ' Intendants,' restoration of by 
 Richelieu, 11 ; power of, id. ; re- 
 voked, 35 ; attempt by Mazarin 
 to restore, 49 ; restored, 74 
 
 JAMES, Duke of York, at battle 
 of the Dunes, 81 ; marriage 
 with Anne Hyde, 108 ; hatred of 
 the Dutch, 135; at battle of 
 Lowestoft, 137; at Southwold 
 Bay, id. ; conversion, 187; his 
 courage, 217; marriage with 
 Mary of Modena, 234; alliance 
 with Louis, Shaftesbury, and the 
 Nonconformists, 249 
 
 Jargeau, battle of, 68 
 
 Jus devolutionis , 112 
 
 T7"EROUALLE, Louise de, 
 **■ Duchess of Portsmouth, 204 ; 
 protects Danby, 241 
 
 T AMBETH, conference at, 243, 
 
 ^ 245 
 
 Lauderdale, Duke of, plots against 
 Clarendon, 156 ; creates an army 
 for Charles in Scotland, 189; one 
 of the Cabal, 202 ; character of, 
 203 ; attacked by the Commons, 
 
 i5 6 . 2 37. 2 65 
 
 Lens, battle of, 36 
 
 Leopold, obliged to sign the ' capitu- 
 lation,' 79; claims the Spanish 
 succession, n 1; contracted to 
 the Infanta of Spain, 122, 123 ; op- 
 
 LOR 
 
 position to Louis neutralised by 
 the Princes, 148, 190 ; treaty of 
 eventual partition with Louis, 
 147 ; of neutrality, 198 ; alliance 
 with Grand Elector of Branden- 
 burg, 224; joins second coalition 
 against Louis, 227; gains Bruns- 
 wick and Luneburg, 229 ; makes 
 peace with France, 273 ; with 
 Sweden, id. 
 
 Lionne ? secretary to Mazarin, 85 ; 
 outwits Coloma, id. ; restores the 
 French navy, 149; his threat to 
 Sweden, 152 ; description by, of 
 jealousy of Sweden and Denmark, 
 107 
 
 Lisbon, English protestant congre- 
 gations at, 108 
 
 Lisola, Austrian ambassador, writes 
 ' Le Boucher d'Etat et de Justice, 
 
 150 
 Lit de justice, 15, 23, 41, 72, 76 
 
 Liturgy of Anglican Church re- 
 stored, 99 
 
 London plague, 139 ; fire, 143 ; the 
 focus of diplomatic intrigue, 163 ; 
 Treaty of, 228 
 
 Longueville, Duke of, brother-in- 
 law of Conde, 34 ; joins the court 
 at Ruel, 40 ; joins the Frondeurs, 
 44 ; heads the revolt in Normandy, 
 id. ; arrested, 55 ; released, 63 
 
 — Duchess of, sister of Conde, quar- 
 rels with Mme. de Montbazon, 
 20; in Normandy, 57 ; outlawed 
 by the Par lenient, id. ; escapes 
 to Turenne, id. 
 
 Lords, House of, savage spirit at 
 Restoration, 92 ; abandons claim 
 to original jurisdiction, 178; and 
 to alter money bills, 179; provisos 
 of to second Conventicle Bill, 182 
 
 Lorraine, Charles IV., Duke of, se- 
 cured by Mazarin, 67 ; invades 
 France, 69 ; outmanoeuvred by 
 Turenne, id. ; leaves France, id ; 
 imprisoned by Spain, 76; his 
 army taken into French pay, id. ; 
 partial restoration at the Peace of 
 the Pyrenees, 86; hands over 
 his estates to Louis, 199 ; receives 
 them back on conditions, id. ; 
 intrigues againt Louis, id.] joins 
 first coalition against Louis, de- 
 feated by Turenne, 224; joins 
 second coalition against Louis, 
 228 ; defeats Crequy at Treves, 
 248 
 
286 
 
 Index. 
 
 LOR 
 
 Lorraine, Charles V., Duke of, de- 
 feated at Crequy, 256 ; refuses 
 Louis's terms of peace, 273 
 
 — , province, invaded by Louis, 199; 
 command of, by Louis, 86, 199. 
 
 Louis XIII. , supports Richelieu, 
 16; effect of his death, 17; ap- 
 points the Queen regent, re- 
 nounces the Spanish succession, 82 
 
 Louis XIV., cause of his greatness, 
 15; reception in Paris, 50; led 
 through the disaffected provinces 
 by Mazarin, 56-62 ; with the 
 army at the siege of Bellegarde, 
 57 ; declaration of his majority, 
 65 ; nearly captured by Conde, 
 68 ; — and the Pur lenient of 
 Pontoise, 71 ; returns to Paris, 
 72; asserts the royal authority, 
 scene in the Palais de Justice, 76 ; 
 marriage with Marie 'I heiese, 84 ; 
 renounces the Spanish succession, 
 id.; furthers the marriage of 
 Charles II. and the Infanta of 
 Portugal, 107; secures a control 
 of English affairs, 108 ; his char- 
 acter, no, 149,224; claims the 
 Spanish succession, 111 : claims 
 the Spanish Low Countries on the 
 ground of the jus devolutionis, 
 112; sends help to Portugal, id. ; 
 refuses Spanish alliance, 113; 
 contempt for the Dutch, 116,185; 
 concludes treaty with the Repub- 
 lic, 120; acknowledges his design 
 to De Witt, 121 ; secures the 
 German Princes, 125; obliged to 
 wait, id. ; avoids assisting the 
 Republic against England, 136; 
 sends troops against the Bishop 
 of Munster, 139; forms secret 
 engagement with Charles, 144 ; 
 in the Spanish Low Countries, id.; 
 diplomatic activity, 146; his ser- 
 vants, id.; alliance with Portu- 
 gal, 147; forms treaties with the 
 Rhine princes, Brandenburg, and 
 Sweden, id. ; travels in the Span- 
 ish Low Countries, 150; secures 
 neutrality of the Emperor and 
 the Diet, 151 ; endeavours to se- 
 cure Poland for a French prince, 
 152; secures the Grand Elector, 
 153; threatens Sweden, id. ; the 
 ' alternatives,' id. ; treaty of 
 eventual partition with the Em- 
 peror, 154; forbids Clarendon 
 to come to Paris, 164 ; fails to se- 
 
 LOU 
 cure Charles II., 165; overruns 
 Franche Comte, 169 ; accepts the 
 terms of the Triple Alliance, 170; 
 his advantage at the Peace of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, 172 ; anger at 
 secret article of the Triple Alli- 
 ance, id. ; endeavours to secure 
 Charles, 186; insults the Repub- 
 lic, 189; gives way to Charles's 
 demands, 192; breaks up the 
 Triple Alliance by the Treaty of 
 Dover, 193 ; treaty with Sweden, 
 197; with Hanover, Cologne, 
 Munster, Osnabruck, id.; invades 
 Lorraine, 199 ; secures neutrality 
 of Leopold, 200: his forces for 
 the invasion of the United Prov- 
 inces, 211; his march, 213; 
 wrongly advised by Louvois; 
 215; waits for Amsterdam to sur- 
 render, id. ; refuses the terms of 
 the Republic, 221 ; treaties with 
 Cologne and Hanover; 225 ; re- 
 linquishes the invasion of the 
 United Provinces, 229; his terms 
 to the Dutch rouse feeling in 
 England, 234; invades Franche 
 Comte, 238; anxious to separate 
 the coalition, 240; bribes the 
 English Parliament, 244; offers a 
 truce, to soothe England, 245 ; 
 successes and reverses in 1675, 
 247 ; anxious for peace, 249 ; forms 
 alliance with the Opposition in 
 England, 249, 261; gives way 
 to Danby's demands, 251; secret 
 treaty with Charles, 251 ; cap- 
 tures Conde and Bouchain, but 
 loses Philippsburg, 253; offers 
 separate peace to William, id.; 
 conciliates the London merchants, 
 254 ; storms Valenciennes, 255 ; 
 refuses Dutch terms, 257; secret 
 treaty with Charles, 258; fails to 
 bribe Charles and Danby, 260; 
 refuses Charles's terms, 262 ; cap- 
 tures Ghent and Ypres, id.; offers 
 terms to Republic, 263; grants 
 three months' truce, 264; another 
 secret treaty with Charles, 266; 
 determines on peace with the Re- 
 public, 267; his refusal to give 
 up towns, 268; peace with the 
 Republic, 268; with Spain, 271; 
 with the Emperor and Empire, 
 272; with other powers, 273 ; his 
 position at the Peace of Nim- 
 wegen, 275 
 
Index. 
 
 287 
 
 LOU 
 
 Louis, St., Chamber of, 29 
 Louvois, advises Louis wrongly, 215, 
 
 221 ; jealous of Turenne, 225 ; the 
 
 great 'Quartermaster-General, '256 
 Luxemburg, Duke of, invades 
 
 Overyssel and Gronmgen, 223 ; 
 
 battle of St. Denys, 270. 
 
 A/TAESTRICHT, masked by 
 ■" Louis, 213; captured by 
 Vauban, 236 ; retained by the 
 Dutch at the Peace of Nimwegen, 
 274 
 Mardyck, taken by Spain, 74; re- 
 captured by French, 79; handed 
 over to Cromwell, id. 
 Marsillac, joins the Frondeurs, 44 
 Maynard, Serjeant, supports the 
 abolition of the feudal tenures, 96 
 Mazarin, weakens central power in 
 Germany at Feace of Westphalia, 
 4; advocates the conquest of the 
 Spanish Low Countries, 6; pro- 
 posals to Spain in 1646, 7 ; tena- 
 city of, 8; his objects those of 
 Richelieu, 9; his fidelity to the 
 Queen, 17; comparison of with 
 Richelieu, id ; character of, 18, 
 46,61; attacked by the ' Impor- 
 tants,' 20 ; refuses the claims of the 
 grandees, id.; protects Emery ,21 ; 
 address to the Pat lenient, 28 ; his 
 influence over the Queen, 29, 35, 
 38; enmity of De Retz, id. ; plan 
 for restoring the royal authority, 
 39; leaves Paris, 40 ; belief in his 
 crimes, 41 ; gains Conde, id. ; 
 leaves Paris a second time, 42 ; 
 vote for his banishment, 43 ; 
 bribes Turenne's troops, 44; his 
 concessions to the Parlement , 47 ; 
 conciliates the Parlement of Aix, 
 49; endeavours to restore the 
 'Intendants,' id. ; firmness in 
 dealing with Spain, id. ; gains the 
 leaders of the Fronde, 50; re- 
 turns to Paris, id. ; marriages of 
 his family, 51 ; quarrel and re- 
 conciliation with Conde, 52 ; gains 
 Beaufort and De Retz, id. ; ar- 
 rests Conde, 55 ; progress through 
 the provinces, 56-58 ; creates en- 
 thusiasm in the army, 57 ; secures 
 submission of Bordeaux, 60 ; con- 
 fronts Turenne at Rethel, id. ; his 
 care of the troops, 61 ; deserted 
 by Orleans, 63 ; releases the 
 
 MUN 
 Princes and leaves France, id.; 
 urges the Queen to ally herself 
 with the Frondeurs, 64 ; decree 
 against him, 65 ; resides at Dinant, 
 67 ; returns to France with the 
 ' Mazarins,' id. ; — and Turenne 
 deleat Beaufort at Jargeau, 68; 
 and Conde at the Faubourg St. 
 Antoine, 70; Parliament of Pon- 
 toise demand his dismissal, 71; 
 resides at Bouillon, 72; re-enters 
 Paris, id ; coerces the Parlia- 
 ment, but maintains them as a 
 legal body, 74 ; bribes Harcourt, 
 and secures the Rhine frontier, 
 75 ; refuses the demands of the 
 Pope, 76; negotiates with Crom- 
 well, 77; forms alliance with 
 England, 78; hands over Mar- 
 dyck to Cromwell, 79 ; forms the 
 Rhine League, 80; marries Louis 
 to the Infanta, 82 ; outwits Spain, 
 84; concludes the Peace of the 
 Pyrenees, 85; refuses offers of 
 Charles II. of England, 87 ; his 
 maxims to Louis XIV., no 
 
 Mazarinades, the, 42 
 
 Middleton, Lord, Viceroy of Scot- 
 land, 91 
 
 Militia, control of, given to Charles 
 II., 100 
 
 Mole, president of the Parlement 
 of Paris, 38 
 
 Monk, nominates Privy Council, 91; 
 co-operates in disbanding the 
 army, 94; offices of, 95; answer 
 to the Dutch envoy, 134 ; com- 
 mands the fleet in the battle of 
 June 1-4, 1666, 141 ; defeats 
 Ruyter, 142 ; opposes a dissolu- 
 tion, 177; suppresses the conven- 
 ticles in London, 178 
 
 Montbazon, Mdme. de, with the 
 ' Importants,' 20; quarrel with 
 Mdme. de Longueville, id. ; 
 bribed by Mazarin, 52 
 
 Montecuculi, beaten by Turenne, 
 224; joined by William and cap- 
 ture of Bonn, 228 ; outmanoeuvred 
 by Turenne, 247 ; takes the offen- 
 sive on Turenne's death, id. 
 
 Morrice, secretary to Monk, 91 
 
 Minister, Bishop of, 138; alliance 
 with England, id. ; French troops 
 sent against him, 139; compelled 
 to make peace, id. ; invades 
 Overyssel, 223 ; makes peace, and 
 joins coalition against Louis, 228; 
 
283 
 
 Index. 
 
 MUN 
 
 makes peace at Peace of Nim- 
 
 wegen, 274 
 — Treaty of, 8 
 Muyden,Rochefort's clash upon, 215 
 
 VTAVIGATION Act, ic6, 119, 
 
 iN 14S 
 
 Nemours, Duke of, 68 
 
 Nicholas, Secretary of State at the 
 Restoration, 91 
 
 Nimwegen, captured by Louis, 215 ; 
 opening of conference at, 253; 
 Treaty of, 270-274 
 
 Nordlingen, battle of, 23 
 
 Normandy, revolts in, 13, 44 ; se- 
 cured by Mazarin, 56 
 
 r\PDAM, at the battle of Lowes- 
 
 *-' toft, 137 
 
 Orleans, Duke of, uncle of Louis 
 XIV., secured by Mazarin, 19 ; 
 joins the malcontents, 28 ; joins 
 the court, 40 ; supports Mazarin, 
 55 ; joins Conde, 68 
 
 brother of Louis XIV., mar- 
 ries Charles's sister, Henrietta, 
 108 ; defeats William at Cassel, 255 
 
 — Duchess of, see Henrietta 
 
 Ormee, the, 73 
 
 Ormond, Duke of, 91 
 
 Osborne, Sir T.,see Danby 
 
 PALATINATE, wasting of, 239 ; 
 
 ■^ Parlement of Paris, original 
 constitution and later privileges 
 of, 13 ; opposes Richelieu and the 
 King, 14 ; selfishness of, id., 31 ; 
 did not correspond with English 
 Parliament, 15; regains power 
 after Richelieu's death, 17; en- 
 croachments of, 26, 28; sends 
 deputies to Chamber of St. Louis, 
 29; insists on release of liroussel 
 and Blancmesnil, 38; its decrees 
 annulled by the court, 40; refuses 
 to retire to Montargis, 43; de- 
 mands dismissal of Mazarin, id. ; 
 refuses to admit the King's herald, 
 45; treats with the court, 46; its 
 right to take part in state affairs 
 admitted, 47; allies itself to 
 Conde, 64; suspends its sittings, 
 70: summoned to Pontoise, 71; 
 coerced by Mazarin and Louis, 
 72, 76 ; 0/ Pontoise, 71 
 
 REG 
 
 Parlements, depressed by Riche- 
 lieu, 13 
 
 Parliament, Convention, 88-99; 
 Pensionary , its composition, 99 ; 
 early measures of, 99-101 ; refuses 
 to increase the royal revenue, 
 101 ; opposes toleration, 175 and 
 passim ; why called ' pensionary,' 
 244, 254 ; claims controlof foreign 
 alliances, 257 ; insists on disband- 
 ing, 266 ; Long, influence in 
 France, 15, 34 
 
 Paulette, the, 27 
 
 Penn, William, prosecution of, and 
 rights of juries, 183 
 
 Perpetual edict, 208 ; abrogated, 219 
 
 Petits-maitres, 25 
 
 Philip IV. of Spain secures support 
 of Leopold, 123; death of, 124; 
 will of, 125 
 
 Portugal, defeats Spain at Elvas, 
 81; assisted by i ranee against 
 Spain, 85 ; independence not 
 recognised by Spain at Peace 
 of Pyrenees, id, ; marriage of 
 Charles II. with Infanta of, 113; 
 cessions of, to England, id. ; as- 
 sisted by France and England, id.; 
 defeats Spain, 124 ; treaty with 
 France, 147 
 
 Prayer Book, revised, 103 
 
 Presbyterians, feelings of, at Res- 
 toration, 96; kept in play by the 
 court, id. ; discussion wiih Angli- 
 can divines, id.; influence of in 
 the state destroyed by the Cor- 
 poration Act, 101 ; in the Church 
 by the Act of Uniformity, 102; 
 refuse conditions of Act of Uni- 
 formity, 104 
 
 Privy Council, composition of, at 
 the Restoration, 91 
 
 Protestant Dissenters, bill for ease 
 of, 231, 232 
 
 Prynne, opposes abolition of feudal 
 tenures, 96 
 
 Pyrenees, Peace of, 82-88 ; general 
 effect of, 87 
 
 OUAKERS, persecution of, 131, 
 , 183 
 
 « T> ACHAT,' the, 26 
 ■^ Raleigh, Sir W., his memoir 
 
 to James L, 117 
 Regicides, doctrine laid down by 
 
 Bridgeman at the trial of the, 93 
 
Index. 
 
 289 
 
 REM 
 
 Remontrances , droit de, claimed 
 by the Parlement of Paris, 14 
 
 Republic, the Dutch, constitution 
 of, 113-116; defect in, 114; su- 
 premacy of Holland in, 115 ; com- 
 mercial empire of, 11 6-1 18 ; effect 
 of Act of Navigation upon, 119; 
 war with England, id. ; treaty 
 with England, 1654, id.; import- 
 ance of her neutrality to Louis, 
 120; treaty with France, 120; 
 jealous of the power of France, 
 121 ; treaty with England, 1662, 
 133; causes of quarrel with Eng- 
 land, 134; preparations of, for 
 war, 135; alliances, 139; deceived 
 by France, 140 ; reaction in favour 
 of the Orange House, 142; peace 
 with England, 145; Triple Alli- 
 ance of England, Sweden, and 
 — ,166; Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 
 171; insulted by Louis, 189; war 
 declared against her by England, 
 207 ; recovery from the first war, 
 id; thriftiness of, 211; alliance 
 with the Grand Elector, id., and 
 with Spain, id. ; unprepared state 
 of, id. ; saved on land by opening 
 thesluices,2i5 ; on sea by Ruyter, 
 217; reaction in favour of William, 
 218; refuses Louis's terms, 222 ; 
 alliance with Leopold, 224 ; con- 
 fidence of, 227; treaties with 
 Leopold, Spain, Lorraine, 228 ; 
 peace with England, id. ; firm 
 tone of, 241 ; jealousy of William 
 in, 243; demands peace, 253 ; re- 
 action against peace, 257; treaty 
 with England, 260; determines 
 on separate peace with Louis, 
 263; sends a deputation to Louis, 
 265; dissatisfaction with Louis 
 nearly leads to renewal of war, 
 267 ; favourable peace with France 
 at Nimwegen, 269 
 
 Restoration, first of Parliament, 
 then of monarchy, 88 ; on suffer- 
 ance, 90; settlement of land and 
 church at, 94, 97 ; new principles 
 established at, 93, 96 
 
 Rethel, captured by Turenne, 59 ; 
 Turenne defeated at, 61 
 
 Retz, Cardinal de, his description 
 of Richelieu and Mazarin, 18 ; 
 early career and character of, 36 ; 
 principal instigator of the Fron- 
 deurs, 39 and passim ; influence 
 
 RUY 
 
 over Conde, 40 ; raises regiment 
 of cavalry, 43; intrigues with 
 Spain, 45 ; refuses to see Mazarin, 
 50 ; indicted by Conde for con- 
 spiracy, 54; promised nomination 
 to a cardinalate, 55 ; attacks 
 Mazarin before the Parlement , 
 63 ; arrested, 72 
 
 Rhine, freedom of navigation estab- 
 lished at Peace of Westphalia, 5 
 
 Richelieu, Cardinal de, design for 
 Spanish Low Countries, 6, 120; 
 determines to make the monarchy 
 supreme, 9; struggle with the 
 governors of provinces, 10; re- 
 vives the Intendancies, id. ; de- 
 presses the noblesse, 11 ; his 'Tes- 
 tament politique,' id. ; destroys the 
 castles, id. ; maintains the Galli- 
 can liberties, but makes the 
 Church subservient to the Crown, 
 12 ; depresses the local governing 
 bodies, 13; the declaration of 
 1641, 14; summary of his work, 
 16 ; creates the prime minister- 
 ship ; id. ; death, id. ; enmity of 
 Queen to, 17; comparison with 
 Mazarin, 18 
 
 Robartes, Lord, Viceroy of Ireland 
 at the Restoration, 91 
 
 Rocroy, battle of, 19 
 
 ' Royal Charles,' the, captured by 
 the Dutch, 145 ; name altered by 
 De Witt, 209 
 
 Rupert, Prince, in command with 
 Monk at the four days' battle, 
 141; is not told of the first Treaty 
 of Dover, 193; at times included 
 in the Cabal, 202; defeated by 
 Ruyter and Tromp, 226; heads 
 the anti-French party, 234 
 
 Ruvigny, French ambassador in 
 London, 163; replaced by Col- 
 bert, 187; fails to create French 
 party in England, 249 ; allies 
 himself with Shaftesbury, 249 
 
 Ruyter, on the African coast, 134 ; 
 arrives with the Guinea squadron, 
 136; defeats England in the four 
 days' battle, 141; defeated by 
 Monk, 142 ; sails up the Thames, 
 145, 209; defeats James in the 
 battle of Southwold Bay, 217, 223; 
 defeats Rupert on August 14 and 
 21, 1673, 227 ; defeated by Du- 
 quesne in the Bay of Palermo, 
 252 ; death of, 253 
 
290 
 
 Index. 
 
 SAV 
 
 SAVOY Palace, conference at the, 
 98 
 
 Scheldt, closure of the, 8, 122 
 
 Schomberg, commands in Portugal, 
 124; commands the forces on 
 English fleet, 226 ; commands 
 standing army in England, 234 ; 
 in Roussillon, 238 
 
 Seneff, battle of, 238 
 
 Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley 
 Cooper, first Earl of, supports the 
 abolition of the feudal tenures, 96 ; 
 (Lord Ashley) opposes Corpora- 
 tion Act, 101 ; plots against Clar- 
 endon, 156; ignorant of first 
 Treaty of Dover, 193 ; signs the 
 second treaty, 195 ; one of the 
 Cabal, 201; character of, 202; 
 supports the Declaration of Indul- 
 gence, 207 ; created Earl of 
 Shaftesbury and Lord Chancellor, 
 id. ; dismissed; 236; leads an 
 organised opposition against the 
 court, id. ; his ' Delenda est Car- 
 thago' speech, 230; urges a di- 
 vorce upon the King, 240; his 
 letter to Lord Carlisle, 244; op- 
 poses the Non-resisting Test Act, 
 246; foments a quarrel between 
 the Houses, id. , 250 ; declares the 
 Parliament dissolved, 254 ; sent to 
 the Tower, 255; alliance of his 
 party with Louis and the Catho- 
 lics against Dauby, 249, 253, 261 
 
 Sheldon, Bishop of London and 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, op- 
 poses toleration, 104, 127 
 
 Skinner, the controversy, 176, 178, 
 180 
 
 Southampton, Earl of, Lord Treas- 
 urer, opposes the Corporation 
 Act, 101 ; opposes Charles's claim 
 to the dispensing power, 103 
 
 South wold Bay, battle of, 217 
 
 Spain, weakness of, 1 ; refuses 
 French terms, 1646, 7; makes 
 peace with the Dutch to save her 
 Low Countries, id. ; loses military 
 supremacy at Rocroy, 19; takes 
 Courtrai, 28; sends an envoy to 
 the Frondeurs, 45; takes Ypres 
 and St. Venant, 49 ; resisted by 
 Mazarin, id.; alliance with the 
 Frondeurs, ?8 ; takes Catelet, 59 ; 
 other successes, 59, 70, 74 ; arrests 
 Duke of Lorraine, 76; refuses 
 Cromwell's terms, 77 ; prepares to 
 
 SWE 
 
 assist Charles II. of England, 78; 
 powerless after the battle of the 
 Dunes, 81 ; law of succession in, 
 83 : refuses to recognise the inde- 
 pendence of Portugal, 86 ; refuses 
 terms of Charles II., 106 ; claims 
 of Louis XIV. to the succession, 
 in; endeavours to obtain an 
 alliance with France, 113; and 
 with Dutch, 121 ; desperate state 
 of, 123; defeated by Portugal, 
 124 ; refuses Charles's terms, 165 ; 
 debt to Sweden, and poverty, 168; 
 peace with Portugal, 169; accepts 
 the second 'alternative,' 171; 
 pride and dilatoriness, id. ; alli- 
 ance with the Dutch, 227; bribes 
 the English Parliament, 244; con- 
 curs in Treaty of Nimwegen, 267; 
 peace with France, 271 
 Spanish Low Countries, various 
 proposals regarding, 6, 7, 121 ; 
 saved to Spain by her treaty with 
 the Dutch, 7; French conquests 
 in, 78-81 ; Louis's claim to, 112 ; a 
 barrier between the United Pro- 
 vinces and France, 120; Louis's 
 claim to, rejected by De Witt and 
 Spain, 121, 122; Castel Rodrigo's 
 government of, 124; Louis's pre- 
 parations for invasion 0^146-150; 
 invasion, 149; part of the ' circle' 
 of Burgundy, mi ; Louis's 'alter- 
 natives' regarding, 154; partial 
 possession by France at Peace of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, 172; settlement 
 of at Peace of Nimwegen, 271 
 Stenai, government of, ceded to 
 Conde, 42; in hands of Turenne, 
 54; the only French town in the 
 hands of the rebels, 58, 62 ; cap- 
 ture of by the royal troops, 74 
 Sweden, acquisitions of, and posi- 
 tion after Peace of Westphalia, 7; 
 secured by Louis, 152; Lionne's 
 arrogance to, 153; joins the Triple 
 Alliance, 168; her claims upon 
 Spain, id., 189; detached from 
 the Triple Alliance by Louis, 196 ; 
 her jealousy of Denmark, id., 226; 
 offers mediation, id. ; defeated by 
 the Grand Elector, 248; and by 
 the Dutch and Danish fleets, id. ; 
 Louis's fidelity to, 268; her claims 
 nearly cause a renewal of war, 
 id. ; her part in the Peace of 
 Nimwegen, 273 
 
Index. 
 
 291 
 
 SWI 
 Switzerland, detached from the Em- 
 pire at Peace of Westphalia, 8 ; 
 her sympathy with the Dutch, 224 
 
 'T^AILLE, hardships of the, 22 ; 
 -* diminished, 34 
 Talon, Omer, president of the Par- 
 
 lement of Paris, 26 
 Tangier, ceded to England by Por- 
 tugal, 107; cost of, ICQ 
 Taxe ties aisSs, 22 ; withdrawn, 23 
 Temple, Sir W., suggests the Triple 
 Alliance , 1 63 ; outwi ts D' Estrades, 
 167; ambassador to the Hague, 
 186; repudiated by Charles, 187 ; 
 recalled, 210; opinion regarding 
 Louis's enterprise on the United 
 Provinces, 212; at the congress 
 of Nimwegen, 252; endeavours to 
 secure the continuance of war, 
 264, 269, 270 ; negotiates a treaty 
 with the Dutch, 268 
 Test Act, 232 ; alteration in, 232 ; 
 effect of, 233 ; Clifford's speech 
 against, id. 
 Test, the Non-resisting, 246 
 Toulouse, disturbance at, 27 
 Treves, Elector of, intrigues with 
 the Duke of Lorraine, 199 ; joins 
 the second coalition against Louis, 
 228 ; (city) capture of by the Duke 
 of Lorraine, 248 
 Triennial Act, changes in, 129 
 Triple Alliance, 166; secret article 
 of, 167; Charles's view regarding, 
 168; effect on Louis, 169 ; causes 
 tending to weaken, 185 
 Tromp, sails down the Channel with 
 a broom at his masthead, 119 ; at 
 the battle of Lowestoft, 137 ; at 
 the four days' battle, 141 
 Turenne, superior to Conde, 44 ; 
 opposes the court, id.; retires to 
 Holland, id. ; at Stenai, 56 ; forms 
 a treaty with Spain, 58 ; defeated 
 at Rethel, 65; joins the royal 
 cause, 67; defeats Beaufort at 
 Jargeau, 68; saves the court at 
 Bleneau, id.; wins the battle of 
 Etampes, 69; in the United Prov- 
 inces, 214, 215, 223; defeats the 
 allies, 224 ; Louvois's jealousy of, 
 225; outmanoeuvred by William, 
 228 ; celebrated campaign of the 
 Vosges, 1074, 239 ; death of, at 
 Sasbach, 248 
 
 WIL 
 
 TTNIFORMITY, Act of, 102; 
 
 *-^ special hardships of, 103 ; op- 
 posed by Charles and Clarendon, 
 104; by Monk and Manchester, 
 id. ; action of Bishops and Pres- 
 byterians at, id. ; difficulties in 
 execution of, 105 
 
 Union, bond of, 28 
 
 United Provinces, see Republic ; 
 independence of secured at the 
 Treaty of Munster, 8 
 
 ■V7ALENCIENNES, battle of, 78 ; 
 ^ taken by Louis, 258 
 Vendome, Duke of, one of the ' Im- 
 
 portants,' 20 ; exiled, id.; secured 
 
 by Mazarin, 51 
 Villa Viciosa, battle of, 124 
 Vosges, Turenne's campaign on the, 
 
 239 
 
 V\TAR, the Twelve Weeks,' 43-8 
 ** Ward, Seth, Bishop of Exeter, 
 describes the difficulties of carry- 
 out the Act of Uniformity, 105 
 
 Westminster, Treaty of, 78 
 
 Westphalia, Peace of, 1-8 
 
 William of Orange, nephew and 
 ward of Charles II., 116; adopted 
 as the child of the Republic, 143 ; 
 character, id.; instructed by De 
 Witt, 208; supported by Louis 
 and Charles against De Witt, id. ; 
 captain-general, 211 ; neglects to 
 defend the Rhine, 214; shelters 
 the assailants of De Witt, 218,220; 
 proclaimed Stadtholder of Zea- 
 land and Holland, 222; reply to 
 the English commissioners, id.; 
 invests Charleroi, retreats to Am- 
 sterdam, 225; reply to Louis and 
 Charles, 227; captures Bonn, 228; 
 defeated by Conde at Seneff, 238; 
 influence in England, proposed 
 visit declined, 241; his offices 
 made hereditary, 248: refuses 
 sovereign power in Guelders, 243 ; 
 fails at Maestricht. 253 ; refuses a 
 separate peace with Louis, id.; 
 difficult position of, 257; marriage 
 with Mary, 259; his proposals to 
 Louis, 259 ; suspicion caused by 
 his marriage, 261,263; endeavours 
 to frustrate peace, 264, 270; re- 
 gains ascendancy in the Republic, 
 
292 
 
 Index. 
 
 WIT 
 
 267 ; battle of St. Denys, 270 ; 
 hatred of France, 277 
 Witt, John de, Grand Pensionary 
 of Holland, 116; heads the mer- 
 chant oligarchy, id. ; forms a 
 treaty with Louis, 120 ; outwits 
 Louis, 121 ; rejects Louis's claim 
 to the Spanish Low Countries, 
 122 ; his difficulties, 122, 143 ; 
 sends the Dutch fleet up the 
 Thames, 145; his objects at the 
 Triple Alliance, 163 ; obtains the 
 
 WIT 
 Perpetual Edict, 166 ; sends Van 
 Beuninghen to London to frus- 
 trate the Treaty of Dover, 192 ; 
 unwillingness to believe in danger, 
 208 ; endeavours to avoid war, 
 210; his projects frustrated, 213; 
 reaction against him, 218; at- 
 tacked, 218; murdered, 219 
 — Cornelius de, with the Dutch fleet 
 in the Thames, 144 ; at the battle 
 ofSouthwold Bay, 217; tortured, 
 218; murdered, 219 
 
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EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY 
 
 THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE— From the Flight 
 of Xerxes to the Fall of Athens. By Rev. 
 G. W. Cox. 
 
 " Mr. Cox writes in such a way as to bring before the 
 reader everything which is important to be known or learned; 
 and his narrative cannot fail to give a good idea of the men 
 and deeds with which he is concerned." — The Churchman. 
 
 "Mr. Cox has done his work with the honesty of a true 
 student. It shows persevering scholarship and a desire to 
 get at the truth." — New York Herald. 
 
 THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMA- 
 CIES. By Charles Sankey, M.A. 
 
 " This volume covers the period between the disasters of 
 Athens at the close of the Pelopenesian war and the rise of 
 Macedon. It is a very striking and instructive picture of the 
 political life of the Grecian commonwealth at that time." — 
 The Churchman. 
 
 "It is singularly interesting to read, and in respect to 
 arrangement, maps, etc., is all that can be desired." — Boston 
 Congregationalist. 
 
 THE MACEDONIAN EMPIRE— Its Rise and 
 Culmination to Death of Alexander the 
 Great. By A. M. Curteis, M.A. 
 
 "A good and satisfactory history of a very important period. 
 The maps are excellent, and the story is lucidly and vigor- 
 ously told." — The Nation. 
 
 " The same compressive style and yet completeness of 
 detail that have characterized the previous issues in this 
 delightful series, are found in this volume. Certainly the art 
 of conciseness in writing was never carried to a higher or 
 more effective point. " — Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. 
 
 # *# The above five volumes give a connected and complete 
 history of Greece from the earliest times to the death of 
 A lexander. 
 
EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY 
 
 EARLY ROME— From the Foundation of the 
 City to its Destruction by the Gauls. By 
 W. Ihne, Ph.D. 
 
 " Those who want to know the truth instead of the tra- 
 ditions that used to be learned of our fathers, will find in the 
 work entertainment, careful scholarship, and sound sense." — 
 Cincinnati Times. 
 
 " The book is excellently well done. The views are those 
 of a learned and able man, and they are presented in this 
 volume with great force and clearness." — The Nation. 
 
 ROME AND CARTHAGE— The Punic Wars. 
 
 By R. Bosworth Smith. 
 
 " By blending the account of Rome and Carthage the ac- 
 complished author presents a succinct and vivid picture of 
 two great cities and people which leaves a deep impression. 
 The story is full of intrinsic interest, and was never better 
 told." — Christian Union. 
 
 " The volume is one of rare interest and value." — Chicago 
 Interior. 
 
 "An admirably condensed history of Carthage, from its 
 establishment by the adventurous Phoenician traders to its 
 sad and disastrous fall." — New York Herald. 
 
 THE GRACCHI, MARIUS, AND SULLA. By 
 
 A. H. Beesley. 
 
 " A concise and scholarly historical sketch, descriptive of 
 the decay of the Roman Republic, and the events which paved 
 the way for the advent of the conquering Caesar. It is an 
 excellent account of the leaders and legislation of the repub- 
 lic. " — Boston Post. 
 
 " It is prepared in succinct but comprehensive style, and is 
 an excellent book for reading and reference." — New York 
 Observer. 
 
 " No better condensed account of the two Gracchi and the 
 turbulent careers of Marius and Sulla has yet appeared." — 
 New York Independent. 
 
EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY 
 
 THE ROMAN TRIUMVIRATES. By the Very Rev. 
 Charles Merivale, D.D. 
 
 " In brevity, clear and scholarly treatment of the subject, 
 and the convenience of map, index, and side notes, the 
 volume is a model." — New York Tribune. 
 
 "An admirable presentation, and in style vigorous and 
 picturesque. " — Hci7-tford Courant. 
 
 THE EARLY EMPIRE— From the Assassina- 
 tion of Julius Caesar to the Assassination 
 of Domitian. By Rev. W. Wolfe Capes, M.A. 
 
 " It is written with great clearness and simplicity of style, 
 and is as attractive an account as has ever been given in 
 brief of one of the most interesting periods of Roman 
 History." — Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. 
 
 "It is a clear, well-proportioned, and trustworthy perfor- 
 mance, and well deserves to be studied." — Christian at 
 Work. 
 
 THE AGE OF THE ANTONINES-The Roman 
 Empire of the Second Century. By Rev. 
 W. Wolfe Capes, M.A. 
 
 " The Roman Empire during the second century is the 
 broad subject discussed in this book, and discussed with 
 learning and intelligence." — New York Independent. 
 
 " The writer's diction is clear and elegant, and his narra- 
 tion is free from any touch of pedantry. In the treatment of 
 its prolific and interesting theme, and in its general plan, the 
 book is a model of works of its class." — New York Herald. 
 
 "We are glad to commend it. It is written clearly, and 
 with care and accuracy. It is also in such neat and compact 
 form as to be the more attractive." — Congregationalist. 
 
 *#* The above six volumes give the History of Rome from 
 the founding of the City to the death of Marcus A urelius 
 Antoninus. 
 
EPOCHS OF MODERN 
 HISTORY. 
 
 A SERIES OF BOOKS NARRATING THE HISTORY OF 
 
 ENGLAND AND EUROPE AT SUCCESSIVE EPOCHS 
 
 SUBSEQUENT TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA. 
 
 Edited by 
 
 Edward E. Morris. 
 
 Eighteen volumes, i6mo, with 74 Maps, Plans, and Tables. 
 
 Sold separately. Price per vol., $1.00. 
 
 The Set, Roxburgh style, gilt top, in box, $18.00. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE MIDDLE AGES- 
 England and Europe in the Ninth Century. 
 
 By the Very Rev. R. W. Church, M.A. 
 
 "A remarkably thoughtful and satisfactory discussion of 
 the causes and results of the vast changes which came upon 
 Europe during the period discussed. The book is adapted to 
 be exceedingly serviceable." — Chicago Standard. 
 
 "At once readable and valuable. It is comprehensive and 
 yet gives the details of a period most interesting to the student 
 of history. " — Herald and Presbyter. 
 
 "It is written with a clearness and vividness of statement 
 which make it the pleasantest reading. It represents a great 
 deal of patient research, and is careful and scholarly." — 
 Boston Journal. 
 
 THE NORMANS IN EUROPE— The Feudal 
 System and England under the Norman 
 Kings. By Rev. A. H. Johnson, M.A. 
 
 " Its pictures of the Normans in their home, of the Scan- 
 dinavian exodus, the conquest of England, and Nonnan 
 administration, are full of vigor and cannot fail of holding the 
 reader's attention." — Episcopal Register. 
 
 " The style of the author is vigorous and animated, and he 
 has given a valuable sketch of the origin and progress of the 
 great Northern movement that has shaped the history of 
 modern Europe." — Boston Transcript. 
 
EPOCHS OF MODERM HISTORY 
 
 THE CRUSADES. By Rev. G. W. Cox. 
 
 " To be warmly commended for important qualities. The 
 author shows conscientious fidelity to the materials, and such 
 skill in the use of them, that, as a result, the reader has 
 before him a narrative related in a style that makes it truly 
 fascinating." — Congregationalist. 
 
 " It is written in a pure and flowing style, and its arrange- 
 ment and treatment of subject are exceptional." — Christian 
 Intelligencer. 
 
 THE EARLY P L A N T AG EN ETS— Their 
 Relation to the History of Europe; The 
 Foundation and Growth of Constitutional 
 Government. By Rev. W. Stubbs, M.A. 
 
 "Nothing could be desired more clear, succinct, and well 
 arranged. All parts of the book are well done. It may be 
 pronounced the best existing brief history of the constitution 
 for this, its most important period." — The Nation. 
 
 " Prof. Stubbs has presented leading events with such fair- 
 ness and wisdom as are seldom found. He is remarkably 
 clear and satisfactory. " — The Churchman. 
 
 EDWARD III. By Rev. W. Warburton, M.A. 
 
 " The author has done his work well, and we commend it 
 as containing in small space all essential matter." — New York 
 Independent. 
 
 ' ' Events and movements are admirably condensed by the 
 author, and presented in such attractive form as to entertain 
 as well as instruct." — Chicago Interior. 
 
 THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK 
 —The Conquest and Loss of France. By 
 
 James Gairdner. 
 
 "Prepared in a most careful and thorough manner, and 
 ought to be read by every student." — New York Times. 
 
 "It leaves nothing to be desired as regards compactness, 
 accuracy, and excellence of literary execution." — Boston 
 Journal. 
 
EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY 
 
 THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REVO- 
 LUTION. By Frederic Seebohm. With Notes, on 
 Books in English relating to the Reformation, by Prof. 
 George P. Fisher, D.D. 
 
 " For an impartial record of the civil and ecclesiastical 
 changes about four hundred years ago, we cannot commend a 
 better manual." — Sunday-School Times. 
 
 "All that could be desired, as well in execution as in plan. 
 The narrative is animated, and the selection and grouping of 
 events skillful and effective." — The Nation. 
 
 THE EARLY TUDORS— Henry VII., Henry 
 VIII. By Rev. C. E. Moberley, M.A., late Master in 
 Rugby School. 
 
 "Is concise, scholarly, and accurate. On the epoch of which 
 it treats, we know of no work which equals it." — N. Y. Observer. 
 
 " A marvel of clear and succinct brevity and good historical 
 judgment. There is hardly a better book of its kind to be 
 named." — New York Independent. 
 
 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. By Rev. M. 
 Creighton, M.A. 
 
 " Clear and compact in style ; careful in their facts, and 
 just in interpretation of them. It sheds much light on the 
 progress of the Reformation and the origin of the Popish 
 reaction during Queen Elizabeth's reign ; also, the relation of 
 Jesuitism to the latter." — Presbyterian Review. 
 
 " A clear, concise, and just story of an era crowded with 
 events of interest and importance." — New York World. 
 
 THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR- 1 61 8-1 648. 
 
 By Samuel Rawson Gardiner. 
 
 "As a manual it will prove of the greatest practical value, 
 while to the general reader it will afford a clear and interesting 
 account of events. We know of no more spirited and attractive 
 recital of the great era." — Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. 
 
 " The thrilling story of those times has never been told so 
 vividly or succinctly as in this volume." — Episcopal Register. 
 
EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 THE PURITAN REVOLUTION; and the First 
 Two Stuarts, 1 603- 1 660. By Samuel Rawson 
 Gardiner. 
 
 " The narrative is condensed and brief, yet sufficiently com- 
 prehensive to give an adequate view of the events related." 
 — Chicago Standard. 
 
 ' ' Mr. Gardiner uses his researches in an admirably clear 
 and fair way." — Congregaiionalist. 
 
 " The _ketcn : z concise, but clear and perfectly intelligible." 
 —Hartford Courant. 
 
 THE ENGLISH RESTORATION AND LOUIS 
 XIV., from the Peace of Westphalia to the 
 Peace of Nimwegen. By Osmund Airy, M. A. 
 
 " It is crisply and admirably written. An immense amount 
 of information is conveyed and with great clearness, the 
 arrangement of the subjects showing great skill and a thor- 
 ough command of the complicated theme." — Boston Saturday 
 Evening Gazette. 
 
 "The author writes with fairness and discrimination, and 
 has given a clear and intelligible presentation of the time." — 
 New York Evangelist. 
 
 THE FALL OF THE STUARTS; and Western 
 Europe. By Rev. Edward Hale, M.A. 
 
 " A valuable compend to the general reader and scholar." 
 — Providence Journal. 
 
 "It will be found of great value. It is a very graphic 
 
 account of the history of Europe during the 17th century, 
 
 and is admirably adapted for the use of students." — Boston 
 
 Saturday Evening Gazette. 
 
 "An admirable handbook for the student. " — The Churchman. 
 
 THE AGE OF ANNE. By Edward E. Morris, M.A. 
 
 " The author's arrangement of the material is remarkably 
 clear, his selection and adjustment of the facts judicious, his 
 historical judgment fair and candid, while the style wins by 
 its simple elegance." — Chicago Standard. 
 
 "An excellent compendium of the history of an important 
 period. " — The Watchman. 
 
EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 THE EARLY HANOVERIANS— Europe from 
 the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Aix- 
 la-Chapelle. By Edward E. Morris, M.A. 
 
 " Masterly, condensed, and vigorous, this is one of the 
 books which it is a delight to read at odd moments ; which 
 are broad and suggestive, and at the same time condensed in 
 treatment." — Christian Advocate. 
 
 " A remarkably clear and readable summary of the salient 
 points of interest. The maps and tables, no less than the 
 author's style and treatment of the subject, entitle the volume 
 to the highest claims of recognition." — Boston Daily Ad- 
 vertiser. 
 
 FREDERICK THE GREAT, AND THE SEVEN 
 YEARS' WAR. By F. W. Longman. 
 
 "The subject is most important, and the author has treated 
 it in a way which is both scholarly and entertaining." — The 
 Churchman. 
 
 ' ' Admirably adapted to interest school boys, and older 
 heads will find it pleasant reading." — New York Tribune. 
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, AND FIRST 
 EMPIRE. By William O'Connor Morris. With 
 Appendix by Andrew D. White, LL.D., ex-President of 
 Cornell University. 
 
 ' ' We have long needed a simple compendium of this period, 
 and we have here one which is brief enough to be easily run 
 through with, and yet particular enough to make entertaining 
 reading." — New York Evening Post. 
 
 "The author has well accomplished his difficult task of 
 sketching in miniature the grand and crowded drama of the 
 French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire, showing 
 himself to be no servile compiler, but capable of judicious 
 and independent criticism." — Springfield Republican. 
 
 THE EPOCH OF REFORM— 1 S30-1 850. By 
 
 Justin McCarthy. 
 
 " Mr. McCarthy knows the period of which he writes 
 thoroughly, and the result is a narrative that is at once enter- 
 taining and trustworthy." — New York Examiner. 
 
 " The narrative is clear and comprehensive, and told with 
 abundant knowledge and grasp of the subject." — Boston 
 Courier. 
 
IMPORTANT HISTORICAL 
 WORKS. 
 
 THE DAWN OF HISTORY. An Introduction 
 
 to Pre-Historic Study. New and Enlarged Edition. 
 Edited by C. F. Keary. i2mo, cloth, $1.25. 
 
 This work treats successively of the earliest traces of man ; 
 of language, its growth, and the story it tells of the pre-his- 
 toric users of it ; of early social life, the religions, mythologies, 
 and folk-tales, and of the history of writing. The present 
 edition contains about one hundred pages of new matter, 
 embodying the results of the latest researches. 
 
 " A fascinating manual. In its way, the work is a model 
 of what a popular scientific work should be." — Boston Sat. 
 Eve. Gazette. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF NATIONS. By Professor George 
 Rawlinson, M.A. i2mo, with maps, $i.oo. 
 
 The first part of this book discusses the antiquity of civiliza- 
 tion in Egypt and the other early nations of the East. The 
 second part is an examination of the ethnology of Genesis, 
 showing its accordance with the latest results of modern 
 ethnographical science. 
 
 ' ' A work of genuine scholarly excellence, and a useful 
 offset to a great deal of the superficial current literature on 
 such subjects. " — Congregationalist. 
 
 MANUAL OF MYTHOLOGY. For the Use 
 of Schools, Art Students, and General 
 Readers. Founded on the Works of Pet- 
 iscus, Preller, and Welcker. By Alexander 
 S. Murray, Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 
 British Museum. With 45 Plates. Reprinted from the 
 Second Revised London Edition. Crown 8vo, $1.75. 
 
 " It has been acknowledged the best work on the subject 
 to be found in a concise form, and as it embodies the results 
 of the latest researches and discoveries in ancient mythologies, 
 it is superior for school and general purposes as a handbook 
 to any of the so-called standard works." — Cleveland Herald. 
 
 ''Whether as a manual for reference, a text-book for school 
 use, or for the general reader, the book will be found very 
 valuable and interesting. " — Boston Journal. 
 
IMPORTANT HISTORICAL WORKS. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF ROME, from the Earliest 
 Time to the Period of Its Decline. By Dr. 
 
 Theodor Mommsen. Translated by W. P. Dickson, D.D., 
 LL. D. Reprinted from the Revised London Edition. Four 
 volumes, crown 8vo. Price per set, $8.00. 
 
 "A work of the very highest merit; its learning is exact 
 and profound ; its narrative full of genius and skill ; its 
 descriptions of men are admirably vivid." — London Times. 
 
 "Since the days of Niebuhr, no work on Roman History 
 has appeared that combines so much to attract, instruct, and 
 charm the reader. Its style — a rare quality in a German 
 author — is vigorous, spirited, and animated." — Dr. Schmitz. 
 
 THE PROVINCES OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 From Caesar to Diocletian. By Theodor 
 Mommsen. Translated by William P. Dickson, D.D., 
 LL.D. With maps. Two vols., 8vo, $6.00. 
 
 " The author draws the wonderfully rich and varied picture 
 of the conquest and administration of that great circle of 
 peoples and lands which formed the empire of Rome outside 
 of Italy, their agriculture, trade, and manufactures, their 
 artistic and scientific life, through all degrees of civilization, 
 with such detail and completeness as could have come from 
 no other hand than that of this great master of historical re- 
 search." — Prof. W. A. Packard, Princeton College. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 
 
 Abridged from the History by Professor Theodor Mommsen, 
 by C. Bryans and F. J. R. Hendy. i2mo, $1.75- 
 
 " It is a genuine boon that the essential parts of Mommsen's 
 Rome are thus brought within the easy reach of all, and the 
 abridgment seems to me to preserve unusually well the glow 
 and movement of the original." — Prof. Tracy Peck, Yale 
 University. 
 
 "The condensation has been accurately and judiciously 
 effected. I heartily commend the volume as the most adequate 
 embodiment, in a single volume, of the main results of modern 
 historical research in the field of Roman affairs." — Prof. 
 Henry M. Baird, University of City of New York. 
 
IMPORTANT HISTORICAL WORKS. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF GREECE. By Prof. Dr. 
 Ernst Curtius. Translated by Adolphus William Ward, 
 M.A., Fellow of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, Prof, of 
 History in Owen's College, Manchester. Five volumes, 
 crown 8vo. Price per set, $10.00. 
 
 " We cannot express our opinion of Dr. Curtius' book bet- 
 ter than by saying that it may be fitly ranked with Theodor 
 Mommsen's great work. " — London Spectator. 
 
 "As an introduction to the study of Grecian history, no 
 previous work is comparable to the present for vivacity and 
 picturesque beauty, while in sound learning and accuracy of 
 statement it is not inferior to the elaborate productions which 
 enrich the literature of the age." — N. Y. Daily I'ribune. 
 
 Cv^ESAR: a Sketch. By James Anthony Froude, 
 M.A. i2mo, gilt top, $1.50. 
 
 "This book is a most fascinating biography and is by far 
 the best account of Julius Caesar to be found in the English 
 language. " — The London Standard. 
 
 "He combines into a compact and nervous narrative all 
 that is known of the personal, social, political, and military 
 life of Caesar ; and with his sketch of Caesar includes other 
 brilliant sketches of the great man, his friends, or rivals, 
 who contemporaneously with him formed the principal figures 
 in the Roman world." — Harper's Monthly. 
 
 CICERO. Life of Marcus Tullius Cicero. By 
 
 William Forsyth, M.A., Q.C. 20 Engravings. New 
 Edition. 2 vols., crown 8vo, in one, gilt top, $2.50. 
 
 The author has not only given us the most complete and 
 well-balanced account of the life of Cicero ever published ; 
 he has drawn an accurate and graphic picture of domestic life 
 among the best classes of the Romans, one which the reader 
 of general literature, as well as the student, may peruse with 
 pleasure and profit. 
 
 "A scholar without pedantry, and a Christian without cant, 
 Mr. Forsyth seems to have seized with praiseworthy tact the 
 precise attitude which it behooves a biographer to take when 
 narrating the life, the personal life of Cicero. Mr. Forsyth 
 produces what we venture to say will become one of the 
 classics of English biographical literature, and will be wel- 
 comed by readers of all ages and both sexes, of all professions 
 and of no profession at all." — London Quarterly. 
 
VALUABLE WORKS ON 
 CLASSICAL LITERATURE. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 F*-om the Earliest Period to the Death of 
 
 Marcus Aurelius. With Chronological Tables, etc., 
 for the use of Students. By C. T. Cruttwell, M. A. Crown 
 8vo, $2.50. 
 
 Mr. Cruttwell's book is written throughout from a purely 
 literary point of view, and the aim has been to avoid tedious 
 and trivial details. The result is a volume not only suited 
 for the student, but remarkably readable for all who possess 
 any interest in the subject. 
 
 " Mr. Cruttwell has given us a genuine history of Roman 
 literature, not merely a descriptive list of authors and their 
 productions, but a well elaborated portrayal of the successive 
 stages in the intellectual development of the Romans and the 
 various forms of expression which these took in literature." — 
 A r . Y. Nation. 
 
 UNIFORM WITH THE ABOVE. 
 
 A HISTORY OF GREEK LITERATURE. 
 From the Earliest Period of Demosthenes. 
 
 By Frank Byron Jevons, M.A., Tutor in the University 
 of Durham. Crown 8vo, $2.50. 
 
 The author goes into detail with sufficient fullness to make 
 the history complete, but he never loses sight of the com- 
 manding lines along which the Greek mind moved, and a 
 clear understanding of which is necessary to every intelligent 
 student of universal literature. 
 
 " It is beyond all question the best history of Greek litera- 
 ture that has hitherto been published." — London Spectator. 
 
 " With such a book as this within reach there is no reason 
 why any intelligent English reader may not get a thorough 
 and comprehensive insight into the spirit of Greek literature, 
 of its historic development, and of its successive and chief 
 masterpieces, which are here so finely characterized, analyzed, 
 and criticised." — Chicago Advance. 
 
TRANSLATIONS OF PLATO. 
 
 THE DIALOGUES OF PLATO. Translated 
 into English, with Analysis and Introduc- 
 tions. By B. Jowett, M.A., Master of Balliol College, 
 Oxford. A new and cheaper edition. Four vols. , crown 8vo, 
 per set, $8.00. 
 
 " The present work of Professor Jowett will be welcomed 
 with profound interest, as the only adequate endeavor to 
 transport the most precious monument of Grecian thought 
 among the familiar treasures of English literature. The 
 noble reputation of Professor Jowett, both as a thinker and a 
 scholar, is a valid guaranty for the excellence of his perfor- 
 mance." — New York Tribune. 
 
 SOCRATES. A Translation of the Apology, 
 Crito, and parts of the Phaedo of Plato. 
 
 Containing the Defence of Socrates at his Trial, his Conver- 
 sation in Prison, with his Thoughts on the Future Life, and 
 an Account of his Death. With an Introduction by Professor 
 W. W. Goodwin, of Harvard College. i2mo, cloth, $1.00 ; 
 paper, 50 cents. 
 
 TALKS WITH SOCRATES ABOUT LIFE. 
 Translations from the Gorgias and the 
 
 Republic Of PlatO. i2mo, cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 
 cents. 
 
 A DAY IN ATHENS WITH SOCRATES. 
 Translations from the Protagoras and the 
 
 Republic Of PlatO. Being conversations between 
 Socrates and other Greeks on Virtue and Justice. i2mo, 
 cloth, $1.00 ; paper, 50 cents. 
 
 " Eminent scholars, men of much Latin and more Greek, 
 attest the skill and truth with which the versions are made ; 
 we can confidently speak of their English grace and clearness. 
 They seem a ' model of style,' because they are without 
 manner and perfectly simple." — W. D. Howells. 
 
 "We do not remember any translation of a Greek author 
 which is a better specimen of idiomatic English than this, or 
 a more faithful rendering of the real spirit of the original 
 into English as good and as simple as the Greek." — New York 
 Evening Post. 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 
 
 743 and 745 Broadway, New York.