there was not a sufficient naval force in the Texel to seize sa large a ship as the Helderenbergh, and suffered Monmouth to sail unmolested.*

The weather was bad; the voyage was long; and several English men of war were cruising in the Channel. But Monmonth escaped both the sea and the enemy. As he passed by the cliffs of Dorsetshire, it was thought desirable to send a boat to the beach with one of the refugees named Thomas Dare. This man, though of low mind and manners, had great influence at Taunton. He was directed to hasten thither across the country, and to apprize his friends that Monmouth would soon be on English ground.t

On the morning of the eleventh of June, the Helderenbergh, accompanied by two smaller vessels, appeared off the port of Lyme. That town is a small knot of steep and narrow alleys, lying on a coast wild, rocky, and beaten by a stormy sea. The place was then chiefly remarkable for a pier which, in the days of the Plantagenets, had been constructed of stones, unhewn and uncemented. This ancient work, known by the name of the Cob, enclosed the only haven where, in a space of many miles, the fisherman could take refuge froin the tembests of the Channel.

The appearance of the three ships, foreign built and without colors, perplexed the inhabitants of Lyme: and the uneasiness increased when it was found that the custom-house officers, who had gone on board according to usage, did not return. The town's people repaired to the cliffs and gazed long and anxiously, but could find no solution of the mystery. At length seven boats put off from the largest of the strange vessels, and rowed to the shore. From these boats landed about eighty men, well armed and appointed. Among them were Monmouth, Grey, Fletcher, Ferguson, Wade, and Anthony Buyse, an officer who had been in the service of the elector of Brandenburg.‡

Monmouth commanded silence, kneeled down on the shore, hanked God for having preserved the friends of liberty and

* Citters, June ; June 13, 1685. The correspondence of Skelton with the States General and with the Admiralty of Amsterdam is in the archives at the Hague. Some pieces will be found in the Evènemens Tragiques d'Angleterre. See also Burnet, i. 640.

Wade's Confession in the Hardwicke Papers; Harl. MS. 6845. See Buyse's evidence against Monmouth and Fletcher in the Collection of State Trials

A few days later, Skelton received orders from his court to request that, in consequence of the dangers which threatened his master's throne, the three Scotch regiments in the service of the United Provinces might be sent to Great Britain without delay. He applied to the Prince of Orange; and the prince undertook to manage the matter, but predicted that Amster dain would raise some difficulty. The prediction proved correct. The deputies of Amsterdam refused to consent, and succeeded in causing some delay. But the question was not one of those on which, by the constitution of the republic, a single city could prevent the wish of the majority from being carried into effect. The influence of William prevailed; and the troops were embarked with great expedition.

*

Skelton was at the same time exerting himself, not indeed very judiciously or temperately, to stop the ships which the English refugees had fitted out. He expostulated in warm terms with the admiralty of Amsterdam. The negligence of that board, he said, had already enabled one band of rebels to invade Britain. For a second error of the same kind there could be no excuse. He peremptorily demanded that a large vessel, named the Helderenbergh, might be detained. It was pretended that this vessel was bound for the Canaries. But, in truth, she had been freighted by Monmouth, carried twentysix guns, and was loaded with arms and ammunition. admiralty of Amsterdam replied that the liberty of trade and navigation was not to be restrained for light reasons, and that the Helderenbergh could not be stopped without an order from the States General. Skelton, whose uniform practice seems to have been to begin at the wrong end, now had recourse to the States General. The States General gave the necessary orders. Then the admiralty of Amsterdam pretended that

The

"The Schout of Amsterdam was a particular friend to his last design." Lansdowne MS. 1152.

It is not worth while to refute those writers who represent the Prince of Orange as an accomplice in Monmouth's enterprise. The circumstance on which they chiefly rely is, that the authorities of Amsterdam took no effectual steps for preventing the expedition from sailing. This circumstance is in truth the strongest proof that the expedition was not favored by William. No person, not profoundly ignorant of the institutions and politics of Holland, would hold the Stadtholder answerable for the proceedings of the heads of the Loe vestein party.

* Avaux Neg. June 77, 1, 1, 1685; Letter of the 1 rince of Orange to Lord Rochester, June 9, 1685.

there was not a sufficient naval force in the Texel to seize so large a ship as the Helderenbergh, and suffered Monmouth to sail unmolested.*

The weather was bad; the voyage was long; and several English men of war were cruising in the Channel. But Monmouth escaped both the sea and the enemy. As he passed by the cliffs of Dorsetshire, it was thought desirable to send a boat to the beach with one of the refugees named Thomas Dare. This man, though of low mind and manners, had great influence at Taunton. He was directed to hasten thither across the country, and to apprize his friends that Monmouth would soon be on English ground.t

sea.

On the morning of the eleventh of June, the Helderenbergh, accompanied by two smaller vessels, appeared off the port of Lyme. That town is a small knot of steep and narrow alleys, lying on a coast wild, rocky, and beaten by a stormy The place was then chiefly remarkable for a pier which, in the days of the Plantagenets, had been constructed of stones, unhewn and uncemented. This ancient work, known by the name of the Cob, enclosed the only haven where, in a space of many miles, the fisherman could take refuge fioin the tembests of the Channel.

The appearance of the three ships, foreign built and without colors, perplexed the inhabitants of Lyme: and the uneasiness increased when it was found that the custom-house officers, who had gone on board according to usage, did not return. The town's people repaired to the cliffs and gazed long and anxiously, but could find no solution of the mystery. At length seven boats put off from the largest of the strange vessels, and rowed to the shore. From these boats landed about eighty men, well armed and appointed. Among them were Monmouth, Grey, Fletcher, Ferguson, Wade, and Anthony Buyse, an officer who had been in the service of the elector of Brandenburg.‡

Monmouth commanded silence, kneeled down on the shore, hanked God for having preserved the friends of liberty and

* Citters, June ; June 13, 1685. The correspondence of Skelton with the States General and with the Admiralty of Amsterdam is in the archives at the Hague. Some pieces will he found in the Evènemens Tragiques d'Angleterre. See also Burnet, i. 640.

Wade's Confession in the Hardwicke Papers; Harl. MS. 6845. See Buyse's evidence against Monmouth and Fletcher in the Collection of State Trials

pure religion from the perils of the sea, and implored the divine blessing on what was yet to be done by land. He then drew his sword, and led his men over the cliffs into the

town.

As soon as it was known under what leader and for wha purpose the expedition came, the enthusiasm of the populace burst through all restraints. The little town was in an uproar with men running to and fro, and shouting, "A Monmouth! a Monmouth! the Protestant religion!" Meanwhile the ensign of the adventurers, a blue flag, was set up in the market place. The military stores were deposited in the town hall; and a declaration setting forth the objects of the expedition was read from the Cross.*

This declaration, the masterpiece of Ferguson's genius, was not a grave manifesto such as ought to be put forth by a leader drawing the sword for a great public cause, but a libel of the lowest class, both in sentiment and language. It contained, undoubtedly, many just charges against the government. But these charges were set forth in the prolix and inflated style of a bad pamphlet; and mingled with them were other charges of which the whole disgrace falls on those who made them. The Duke of York, it was positively affirmed, had burned down London, had strangled Godfrey, had cut the throat of Essex, and had poisoned the late king. On account of those villanous and unnatural crimes, but chiefly of that execrable fact, the late horrible and barbarous parricide,—such was the copiousness and such the felicity of Ferguson's diction, James was declared a mortal and bloody enemy, a tyrant, a nurderer, and a usurper. No treaty should be made with

im. The sword should not be sheathed till he had been rought to condign punishment as a traitor. The government hould be settled on principles favorable to liberty. All Prot estant sects should be tolerated. The forfeited charters should be restored. Parliaments should be held annually, and should no longer be prorogued or dissolved by royal caprice. The The militia should only standing force should be the militia. b commanded by the sheriffs; and the sheriffs should be rosen by the freeholders. Finally Monmouth declared that

* Journals of the House of Commons, June 13, 1685; Harl. MS. 15; Lansdowne MS. 1152.

Burnet, i. 641; Goodenough's confession in Lansdowne MS 1152. Copies of the declaration, as originally printed, are very rare out there is one at the British Museum.

he could prove himself to have been born in lawful wedlock, and to be, by right of blood, king of England, but that, for the present, he waived his claims, that he would leave them to the judgment of a free parliament, and that, in the mean time, he desired to be considered only as the captain-general of the English Protestants in arms against tyranny and Popery.

Disgraceful as this manifesto was .o those who put it forth, it was not unskilfully framed for the purpose of stimulating the passions of the vulgar. In the west the effect was great. The gentry and clergy of that part of England were indeed, with few exceptions, Tories. But the yeomen, the traders of the towns, the peasants, and the artisans, were generally animated by the old Roundhead spirit. Many of them were dissenters, and had been goaded by petty persecution into a temper fit for desperate enterprise. The great mass of the population abhorred Popery and adored Monmouth. He was no stranger to them. His progress through Somersetshire and Devonshire, in the summer of 1680, was still fresh in the memory of all men. He was on that occasion sumptuously entertained by Thomas Thynne at Longleat Hall, then, and perhaps still, the most magnificent country house in England. From Longleat to Exeter the hedges were lined with shouting spectators. The roads were strewn with boughs and flowers. The multitude, in their eagerness to see and touch their favorite, broke down the palings of parks, and besieged the mansions where he was feasted. When he reached Chard, his escort consisted of five thousand horsemen. At Exeter all Devonshire had been gathered together to welcome hiin. striking part of the show was a company of nine hundred young men who, clad in a white uniform, marched before him into the city. The turn of fortune which had alienated the gentry from his cause had produced no effect on the_common people. To them he was still the good duke, the Protestant duke, the rightful heir, whom a vile conspiracy kept out of his own. They came to his standard in crowds. All the clerks whom he could employ were too few to take down the names of the recruits. Before he had been twenty-four hours on English ground he was at the head of fifteen hundred men. Dare arrived from Taunton with forty horsemen of no very martial appearance, and brought encouraging intelligence as

Onc

* Historical Account of the Life and magnanimous Actions of the most illustrious Protestant Prince James, Duke of Monmouth, 1683.