The Embassy of Everaard van Weede 37 



olent designs: the Anglicans are a ridiculous sect, who affect 

 a sort of moderation in heresy, by a compost and jumble of all 

 other persuasions; and who, notwithstanding the attachment which 

 they boast of having maintained to the monarchy and the royal 

 family, have proved on this occasion the most insolent and con- 

 tumacious of men." 164 



James's high hopes for the Declaration refused to be disap- 

 pointed. His cordiality to the Protestant Dissenters, as has been 

 shown, was of little lasting effect; and his antipathy towards the 

 Anglicans scarcely daunted that energetic party. But James 

 continued in his belief (or was it mere pretence?) that the Indul- 

 gence was a success. On the twenty-second of April, he wrote to 

 the Prince that the Declaration had produced quiet in his king- 

 dom, "the generality of the nation being satisfied with it and at 

 ease by it." 165 On May 20, he wrote again to his son-in-law 

 after the same manner, stating that his declaration "had put 

 people's minds much at ease" and that he had "great reason to 

 be well pleased with having put it out." 166 



The Liege Letter 



At about this time, a discovery was made which caused excite- 

 ment among those who were closely concerned with the religious 

 intentions of James. A letter, which the Jesuits of Liege sent to 

 their brethren at Freiburg, told of James's great zeal for the Catho- 

 lic faith. Bishop Burnet, who received a copy of the letter from 

 Heidigger, a famous professor of divinity at Zurich, summarizes 

 the letter as follows: 167 



The king was received into a communication of the merits of the order [of 

 Jesuits]. He expressed great joy at his becoming a son of the society; and professed 

 that he was as much concerned in all their interests as in his own: he wished they 

 could furnish him with many priests to assist him in the conversion of the nation, 



164 Mackintosh, p. 276, note, April 18, 1687, also April 4, 1687. 



165 Dalrymple, Letter of King James to the Prince of Orange, April 20, 1687, 

 from Whitehall, vol. ii, Appendix to Part I, p. 182. 



166 Dalrymple, idem, May 20, 1687, from Windsor. 



167 Burnet, p. 452. 



121 



