HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



these places, a far warmer kind of devotion wai 

 felt than could be experienced under tamer circum 

 stances ; and, as may be supposed, such meetings 

 were not calculated to diffuse or foster a senti- 

 ment of loyalty. Sensible of this, the government 

 obtained an act imposing very severe fines on al 

 who should preach or listen at conventicles ; but 

 without producing any effect. The penalties with 

 which they were threatened seemed only to make 

 the people more attached to their peculiar modes 

 of worship and church-government. 



THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE THE FRENCH 

 ALLIANCE. 



I The kingdom of France was at this period 

 under Louis XIV. rising into a degree of power 

 and wealth which it had never before known. 

 Louis had some claims through his wife upon the 

 Netherlands (since called Belgium), which were 

 then part of the Spanish dominions. He accord- 

 ingly endeavoured to possess himself of that 

 I country by force of arms. A jealousy of his 

 increasing power, and of the Catholic religion, 

 professed by his people, induced the English to 

 wish that his aggressions should be restrained. 

 To gratify them, Charles entered into an alliance 

 with Holland and Sweden, for the purpose of 



P checking the progress of the French king. In 

 this object he was completely successful, and 

 consequently he became very popular. The 

 parliament, however, having disappointed him 

 of supplies, he soon after entirely changed his 

 policy, and, with the assistance of five corrupt 

 ministers Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arling- 

 ton, and Lauderdale, who were called the CABAL, 

 from the initials of their names forming that word 

 resolved to render himself, if possible, inde- 

 pendent of parliament ; in other words, an 

 absolute prince. Charles now sold himself by 

 the Treaty of Dover, concluded secretly, May 22, 

 1670, to Louis, engaging, on the receipt of an 

 annual subsidy of ; 120,000, to join in a war 

 against Holland, and also, as soon as was con- 

 sidered prudent, to declare himself a Roman 

 Catholic. 



War was accordingly declared in May 1672, 

 and the naval force of England was employed in 

 meeting that of the Dutch by sea ; while Louis 

 led a powerful army across the Rhine, and in a 

 very short time had nearly reduced the whole 

 of the Seven Provinces. The English people, 

 however, who had not entered heartily into this 

 war, soon began to be alarmed for the fate of 

 Holland, which was almost their only support 

 against the dread of popery ; and though for- 

 bidden, under severe penalties, to censure the 

 government measures, they soon contrived to 

 exhibit so much dissatisfaction, as to render a 

 change of policy unavoidable. 



The king found it necessary to assemble his 

 parliament (February 1673), and it was no sooner 

 met than it passed some acts highly unfavourable 

 to his designs. Among these was the famous 

 Test Act, so called because it enacted the imposi- 

 tion of a religious oath upon all persons about to 

 enter the public service the design being to ex- 

 clude the Catholics from office. Above all things, 

 the House of Commons declared that it would 

 grant no more supplies for the Dutch war. The 

 king resolved to prorogue the assembly ; but 



before he could do so, they voted the alliance 

 with France, and several of his ministers, to be 

 grievances. Charles, who, in wishing to be ab- 

 solute, had been inspired by no other motive than 

 a desire of ease, now saw that there was a better 

 chance of his favourite indulgence in giving way 

 to his subjects than in any other course ; and he 

 at once abandoned all his former measures, and 

 concluded, in 1678, a separate peace with Holland, 

 which, under its stadtholder, William, Prince of 

 Orange, had made a gallant defence against the 

 French. The Prince of Orange, in the previous 

 year, had married the Princess Mary, eldest 

 daughter of the Duke of York, and educated in 

 the Reformed faith an alliance which greatly 

 pleased the English, from its strengthening the 

 Protestant interest. 



THE POPISH PLOT. 



For a century past, one of the grand moving- 

 springs of the public conduct had been a strong 

 detestation and dread of the adherents of the 

 Roman Catholic Church. This feeling was now 

 intensified by the fact that the Duke of York, heir 

 to the throne, had avowed himself a Roman 

 Catholic. In 1678, a wild account of a plot sup- 

 posed to have been formed by the Papists, for 

 burning London, massacring the Protestants, and 

 destroying the king and the Protestant religion, 

 was circulated by various persons, of whom the 

 chief was Titus Gates, a Protestant clergyman, 

 but a man of the most infamous character. The 

 circumstances attending this pretended discovery 

 were so unlike reality, that if the nation had not 

 been in a state of hallucination at the time, they 

 never could have been for a moment listened to. 

 Nevertheless, the Popish Plot, as it was called, 

 was not only generally believed by the people, but 

 also by the parliament and the court ; and such 

 was the extent of the excitement, that a general 

 massacre of the Catholics was apprehended. Even 

 as things were, many innocent Catholics were con- 

 demned to death, their lives being sworn away by 

 Gates and others, who made a business of perjury. 

 An act was also passed shutting out all Papists, 

 with the exception of the Duke of York, from 

 either House of Parliament, and from the royal 

 Dresence. 



THE HABEAS CORPUS ACT THE EXCLUSION 

 BILL. 



In the year 1679, the House of Commons appears 

 or the first time formally separated into the two 

 parties who have ever since been recognised in 

 t. The appellation Tory, said to be derived from 

 he Irish tora, tora, ' give, give,' was first used of 

 certain Romanist outlaws and banditti, and was 

 afterwards extended to the whole of the Cavalier 

 or royalist party. The term Whig, which fell to 

 he lot of the opposition, is said to have originated 

 n Scotland, being first generally applied to the 

 >terner portion of the Presbyterian party, although 

 brmerly it had been a nickname of the Lowland 

 >easantry in the west. 



The parliament having impeached Danby, the 

 xing's minister, he dissolved it, and called another. 

 The new assembly proved equally uncontrollable 

 as the last. It passed in 1679, fy a nwj orit y of 

 seventy-nine, a bill excluding the Duke of York 



