BRITAIN. 



609 



88. 



elates 

 n a- 

 tht 

 sing 



as- 



by 

 "g- 



are 



tied 



r and 



29. 



:quit- 



the 



isdif- 



ini- 



joy. 



common fear of Popery, which drove the Tories and 

 High Churchmen to coalesce, in their common dan- 

 ger, with the Whigs. The common resentment 

 grew still stronger, when James, in violation of esta- 

 blished law, issued a new commission, by which sr\v;i 

 commissioners were invested with unlimited authori- 

 ty over the whole church of England. By this com- 

 mission, ^a sentence of suspension was passed against 

 Sharpe, a clergyman, for declaiming against Po- 

 pery, and against the Bishop of London for having 

 refused to suspend him, a sentence which exaspera- 

 ted every true Protestant in the kingdom. Not 

 contented with his suspending power in particular 

 instances, the king issued a proclamation for a gene- 

 ral suspension of all penal laws against non-confor- 

 mity ; an act of liberality, abstractly considered, but 

 disgraced by the views of the tyrant who passed it. 

 This was followed by a still more incautious display 

 of his zeal in sending the Earl of Castlemaine as his 

 envoy to the Pope, for the purpose of restoring the 

 church of England to the bosom of the ancient com- 

 munion, by a solemn reception of the Pope's nuncio 

 at Windsor, and of the regular Popish clergy in the 

 habits of their order at court, and by forcing the 

 universities to receive some of his most worthless pro- 

 selytes to Popery into their benefices. 



His dispute with the church was brought to a 

 crisis, by his enjoining a second declaration of indul- 

 gence, which he ordered to be read by the clergy in 

 all the churches. The clergy, who were known to 

 disapprove of the king's illegal assumption of the 

 dispensing power, almost universally refused obe- 

 dience to this edict; and six prelates, Lloyd, bishop 

 of St Asaph, Ken of Bath and Wells, Turner of 

 Ely, Lake of Chichester, White of Peterborough, 

 and Tnilawney' of Bristol, concerted with the pri- 

 mate Sanscroft, a petition against the order, to the 

 king. Though the petition (unexceptionable in it- 

 self; was privately delivered, they were summoned to 

 appear before the council ; and on refusing to find 

 bail, were committed for sedition to the Tower. 

 Never was the mind of the people so affected, as 

 when they beheld those fathers of the church con- 

 veyed to their imprisonment. They were taken by 

 water, to prevent the emotion which the sight of 

 them might create in the city ; but the people shout- 

 ed when they perceived them at a distance; they 

 threw themselves with reverence on the ground as 

 tliey passed ; and the very soldiers who were their 

 guard, knelt and implored the blessing of their pri- 

 soners. Their trial for sedition, in framing the peti- 

 tion, came on in the King's Bench. They were at- 

 tended thither by a train of nobles and respectable 

 commoners. The first counsel at the bar pleading 

 for them, shewed that they felt the day and the cause 

 to be the greatest for their country and themselves in 

 which they should ever be destined to display their 

 abilities and the audience within and without all 

 London all the nation expected the decision with 

 an awful and deep anxiety. The jury were enclosed 

 all night, and in the morning gave a verdict for the 

 prisoners. It was received with a shout of joy in the 

 court ; and almost in an instant, a thousand shouts 

 were returned from all parts in London. These 



were continued from village to village, till they 

 reached the army encamped on Hounslow Heath, 

 which was seized with the sympathetic transport. 

 The king was in Lord Feversham's tent, and hear- 

 ing the camp in an uproar, sent Feversham to en- 

 quire into the cause. He returned and said, it was 

 nothing but the joy of the soldiers for the discharge 

 of the bishops. " And do you call that nothing !" 

 said the king. " But so much the worse for them." 

 A few days before the acquittal of the bishops, the 

 queen was delivered of a son, an event of joy to the 

 king and Papists, and of present mortification to the 

 people, who looked for eventual release from tyranny 

 by the succession of the Prince of Orange, but which, 

 by rendering them more impatient of the yoke, ac- 

 celerated that deliverance which they sought at their 

 own hands. 



The Prince of Orange, James's nephew, had not 

 been an impassive spectator of these events in Eng- 

 land ; but with his characteristic prudence, he forbore 

 to intermeddle in the affairs of England, until the 

 king's own misconduct, and the application of the 

 English themselves, justified his interference. The 

 king, conscious of the respect which attended Wil- 

 liam's name in England, solicited him to declare in 

 favour of his dispensing with the penal acts ; and 

 threw out hopes to the prince, of his being seconded 

 by the English arms in the league which he was 

 forming against France. But William, justly distrust- 

 ing his sincerity, and aware of the decided sentiments 

 of the English on the subject of the tests, wisely re- 

 fused to concur in his uncle's unpopular measures ; 

 and James's hints at a coalition with Holland, were 

 speedily changed into warlike preparations, which 

 menaced the republic. The prince was now assiduous 

 in cherishing that spirit among the English, which 

 led them to look fer himself as their only and certain 

 deliverer. Lord Dumblane, son of the Earl of Dan- 

 by, being commander of a frigate, made several 

 voyages to Holland, and carried out tenders of duty, 

 and even sums of money from many of the chief no- 

 bility ; and Zuylestein, the Dutch envoy, brought 

 him over the positive invitation, not only of the chief 

 Whig leaders, but of the Tories also, to come and 

 assist them with his arms for the recovery of their 

 laws and liberties. The bishop of London, the Earls 

 of Danby, Nottingham, Devonshire, Dorset, the 

 Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Shrewsbury, these 

 were some of the conspicuous persons who consented 

 to bury their party feelings in his cause, and to de- 

 vote their fortunes to his success. Even Sunder- 

 land, the king's favourite minister, privately promo- 

 ted the cause at the expence of "his personal honour. 

 When William's preparations by land and sea, which 

 had been dextrously made for pretended objects, so 

 as to cover his designs on England, could no longer 

 be concealed, James was warned by the king of 

 France of the impending invasion, and an offer of 

 troops was made to him by the French monarch to 

 assist in repelling it. Bui James would not accept 

 the offer : he trust* d to filling the army with Irish 

 Catholics, a measure which the resistance of the 

 colonel and officers* of the first regiment on which 

 he tried the experiment, and the mutinous aspect of 



Britain 



ICbU- 



Conduct 

 and views 

 of tfce 

 Prince of 

 Orange. 



He is pri- 

 vately in- 

 vited' to as- 

 sist iu the 

 deliverance 

 of England, 



His prepa- 

 rations la 

 invade 

 England. 



VOL. IV. PART II. 



Colonel Beaumont and six officers of the Duke of Berwick's regiment. 



4u 



