James's Declaration.

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Beachy Head, with the Crown lawyers who had prosecuted him, the jury which had convicted him, the judge who had sentenced him, the gaolers and turnkeys who had been concerned in keeping him in prison till his execution; and, above all, the executioner. Many others were inserted in the black catalogue of those for whom there was no mercy, though they were protected by an express statute; for the only offence charged against them was that in various official capacities they had obeyed the orders of the existing Government; and a law as old as the time of Henry VII. declared such obedience to a de facto King innocent.

So malignant and revengeful was the spirit which the Declaration displayed, that the Ministers, who, during William's absence in Flanders, acted as Mary's Council for the government of the kingdom, reprinted it and circulated it over the kingdom; judging that nothing could more strengthen the loyalty of the nation in general to their new rulers than the proof of what was to be expected if the old ruler should be restored. And they judged correctly. James's display of unrelenting vindictiveness not only confirmed the loyal, but offended the wavering. It alienated Russell himself, who had previously been discontented with the new Government, and had even held out hopes to James's agents of future co-operation with them; but who had made the publication of an universal amnesty an indispensable condition of his assistance. He now renounced all connection with the Jacobite party. His fidelity to the new dynasty was cemented by a letter which, at this juncture, Nottingham, as Secretary of State, addressed to him as Commander-in-Chief, purporting to be written by the Queen's express command, to declare the implicit confi

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dence which she herself and the King felt in the constant loyalty of the fleet. He, and the whole fleet under his command, were deeply flattered by so judicious and noble an appeal to their good faith. They answered by a loyal address, in which they pledged themselves to uphold the Crown and the Protestant religion at the hazard of their lives; and their behaviour in the Channel and in the Bay of La Hogue was the faithful redemption of their pledge.

Nor was La Hogue the only place on the French coast that suffered from the enterprise of our sailors. Admiral Benbow, with one squadron, destroyed the forts at St. Malo; Lord Berkeley burnt Dieppe and the greater part of Havre; Sir Cloudesley Shovel destroyed the fortifications of Calais. The only place where we failed on the northern coast was Brest, where a combined attack made by a naval and land force under Lord Berkeley and General Talmash was repulsed with heavy loss, the brave Talmash himself being among the slain ; while our triumphant fleets pene

1 This was the expedition, the failure of which Lord Macaulay imputes wholly to the treachery of Marlborough in sending intelligence of the proposed expedition to James at St. Germains. No excuse can be made for Marlborough's baseness without dishonouring him who would plead for it. But there seems but little doubt that the French had received ample information of the object of the expedition before Marlborough's letter was written. Indeed, it seems almost certain that the letter was designedly kept back by the writer till it was too late to be of use. The very words of the letter are "Russell sails to-morrow." Marlborough's object apparently being, not to defeat the expedition, but to take credit with James for having tried to defeat it, in the event of his recovering his throne, which, however improbable, he could not but look upon as impossible. In fact, William's own announcement of an intention to attempt a descent on the French coast, which he made to his Parliament in November, 1692, was quite enough to put Louis on his guard, and Vauban had been sent down to put the defences of Brest in order some months before the expedition sailed.

Russell in the Mediterranean.

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trated the Mediterranean also, Russell pursuing Tourville into Toulon, blockading him there, and greatly lowering the reputation of the French, and exalting our own among all the nations, Christian or barbarian, which dwelt upon the shores of the Mediterranean.

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CHAPTER XIV.

Intrigues and plots against William-Hopes of James and his courtiersDoubtful fidelity of the English nobles-Personal unpopularity of William-State of the Highlands-The Massacre of Glencoe-Lord Preston's conspiracy-Treachery of Fuller and Crone-Plot of the Earl of Marlborough-Grandval's conspiracy-Death of Queen Mary -Compounders and Non-compounders-Lord Middleton is invited to St. Germains-James publishes a New Declaration-Charnock's conspiracy-Detection of the plot-A Bond of Association is signed— Recent alterations in the law of trials for High Treason-Case of Sir John Fenwick-His Execution by Act of Attainder-Objections to which Acts of Attainder are liable.

THE events which have been mentioned in the last chapter were the last incidents in the war, which was nominally protracted for two years longer, but which was marked by no exploit of the slightest importance on either side after the recapture of Namur. But the hopes of Louis and James, as has been already said, were not confined to honourable warfare. From the day on which James fled back from the Boyne to St. Germains, his Court was the scene of constant intrigues with the English Jacobites, and with all others whom it seemed possible to allure to join that party, and of conspiracies for the restoration of James, some of which avowedly included the assassination of William, and ail of which assuredly contemplated it, since it was not easy to conceive how the one object could be attained without the accomplishment of the other.

Intrigues of the English Nobles.

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It was not strange that James should at first be easily led to believe that the intrigues which those around him were unweariedly carrying on in England would be successful; for, even among the highest in hereditary rank or official dignity, there were very few who refused to listen to the seductions of his agents. Marlborough, the greatest soldier of the army, and one who, by his unrivalled persuasiveness and address, had vast influence over people of all classes and ranks, and especially over the Princess Anne, was in frequent communication with them, though his views were probably directed rather to secure pardon and favour in the case of a new restoration, than to contribute to such an event. Russell, the first officer in the navy, though the near kinsman of the Lord Russell who had perished on the scaffold in the reign of James's brother, for some time showed almost equal signs of discontent at the results of the Revolution. It was still more encouraging that the Earl of Shrewsbury, though Secretary of State, displayed the same disposition, though his conduct seems to have proceeded rather from constitutional irresolution than from deliberate treachery; and that the Earl of Clarendon, though Mary's uncle, had refused the oath of allegiance, and hardly concealed his unwillingness to aid in any plot which might bring about a counter-revolution.

And the belief entertained not only by the Councillors of James, but by the far abler Ministers of Louis, was, that the frequent absences of William from London, while he was conducting the war in Ireland, and afterwards in Flanders, afforded especial facilities for the accomplishment of the plotters' designs. They were probably mistaken. Whenever William quitted the kingdom, Mary took charge of the Government, with the aid of a Privy Council selected