The Embassy of Everaard van Weede 35 



who were in Holland. And Bishop Burnet, whom the Prince 

 had seemingly dismissed, was continually closeted with Bentinck. 152 

 Were these conferences the result of James's letter of March 

 18? If so, did William begin to contemplate at this time the 

 great enterprise which he carried out over a year later? Can 

 this letter be termed the point at which the diplomacy of Dykvelt 

 assumed a different character? These questions must for the 

 present, perhaps, be left to the realm of conjecture, but the 

 likelihood is exceedingly attractive. 



The Appearance of the Declaration 



On the fourth of April appeared the great Declaration of 

 Indulgence. 153 It assured the Established Church the enjoyment 

 of her legal rights. It annulled a long series of statutes and sus- 

 pended the Penal Laws against all Non-conformists. Catholics 

 and Protestant dissenters were given the right of public worship. 

 The severe requirements of the Clarendon Code were done away 

 with, and no religious assembly might be molested. Most im- 

 portant of all, perhaps, was the abrogation of the Test Act. 154 



The provisions of the Declaration appear today most laudable 

 and praiseworthy. Some historians view James's Proclamation 

 only in the light of our modern institutions. It must be remem- 



152 Avaux, Negotiations, March 27, 1687. 



"Je mandai au Roi qu'il etait impossible que les demarches que M. Dykfeld 

 serait pour reunir le Prince d'Orange avec le Roi d'Angleterre ne les desunit entiere- 

 ment, puisqu'il etait impossible que S. M. Britannique, dans le dessein qu'elle avait 

 pour la Religion Catholique, ne demandat des choses au Prince d'Orange, que ce 

 Prince, qui avait en tete de ce faire chef des Protestants, et de se montrer par-la sur 

 le Throne d'Angleterre, ne voudra jamais faire. 



"Je decouvris que le Prince avait en de grandes conferences pendant les dix 

 jours qu'il avait ete a, la Haye, avec les plus factieux des Anglais qui etait en 

 Hollande, et que le Dr. Burnett, que le Prince avait chasse en apparence de sa Cour, 

 sur les presantes instances que le Roi d'Angleterre lui en avait faites, etait continuel- 

 lement enferme avec Benting." 



153 London Gazette, April 4-7, 1687. 



Ellis, The Ellis Correspondence, Letter to John Ellis from London, April 5, 1687. 



154 London Gazette, April 7, 1687, facsimile given in Macaulay, vol. u, opposite 

 p. 862. 



119 



