8 James Muilenburg 



papal envoy by their cordial welcome. 16 The King, in his viola- 

 tion of the Test and his stubborn insistence to the Prince, had 

 shown the latter that there was cause for apprehension. The 

 Anglican clergy also were alienated by the unconstitutional acts 

 of the King. Events had come to a turning point. James II had 

 initiated a plan to introduce his religion into England. He sought 

 to unite the Church of Rome and the Dissenters against the now 

 hostile Anglican Church. He looked to Louis XIV as his great 

 support. 17 There were many in the kingdom, as in all Europe, 

 who suspected a second Treaty of Dover. The friendship of 

 Louis XIV and James II proved to be an incalculable evil for 

 both, 18 for Europe was the more ready to support the claims of 

 William of Orange when it saw the chance of an Anglo-French 

 alliance. And parliamentary England, aroused over rumors of a 

 Jesuitical cabal, looked upon its king's alliance with Louis with 

 little less than consternation. 



The policy of Louis XIV towards England explains in a large 

 measure the character of the diplomacy which forms the subject 

 of this thesis. The French King had three main objects in view. 19 

 He encouraged James II in his attempts at extra-parliamentary 

 government. Consequently, he sought to prevent all union 

 between the Prince and the English King. He opposed anything 

 which might suggest the possibility of national reform, for a 

 change would be the chief aim of the leaders of the opposition. 



16 Ranke, History of England, vol. iv, p. 330-331, based upon D'Adda's corre- 

 spondence to the Pope. 



Macaulay, History of England, vol. ii, p. 918, based upon Barillon's despatch of 

 May 2-12, 1687. 



17 Letter of Barillon, February 12, 1687, given as a note in Mackintosh, p. 259, 

 which he himself found among the Fox Mss, 183. 



"J'ai dit au Roi que V. M. n'avait plus au coeur que de voir prosperer les soins 

 qu'il prends ici pour y etablir la religion Catholique. S. M. B. me dit en quit- 

 tant; 'Vous voyez que je n'omets rien de ce qui est en moi pouvoir. J'espere que 

 le Roi votre maitre m'aidera, et que nous ferons de concert des grandes choses pour 

 la religion.' " 



18 Van Praet, Essaies sur Vhistoire Politique, Guillaume III, p. 394. 



19 Ibid, p. 395. 



Mazure, Histoire de la Revolution en 1688 en Anglelerre, vol. ii, p. 194. 



92 



