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tentatious embassy, offensive in the highest degree to the people of England, and by no means welcome to the court of Rome. Castelmaine had it in charge to demand a Cardinal's hat for his confederate Petre.

guenots ill James.

fore the Royal Exchange. Even Jeffreys was startled, and ventured to represent that such a proceeding was without example, that the book was written in a foreign tongue, that it had been printed at a foreign press, that it related entirely to transactions which had taken place in a foreign country, and that no English government had ever animadverted on such works. James would not suffer the question to be discussed. "My resolution," he said, "is taken. It has become the fashion to treat Kings disrespectfully; and they must stand by each other. One King should always take another's part; and I have particular reasons for showing this respect to the King of France." There was silence at the board: the order was forthwith issued; and Claude's pamphlet was committed to the flames, not without the deep murmurs of many who had always been reputed steady loyalists.*

About the same time the King beThe Hu- gan to show, in an unequivocal rated by manner, the feeling which he really entertained towards the banished Huguenots. While he had still hoped to cajole his Parliament into submission, and to become the head of an European coalition against France, he had affected to blame the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and to pity the unhappy men whom persecution had driven from their country. He had caused it to be announced that, at every church in the kingdom, a collection would be made under his sanction for their benefit. A proclamation on this subject had been drawn up in terms which might have wounded the pride of a sovereign less sensitive and vain- The promised collection was long put glorious than Lewis. But all was now off under various pretexts. The King changed. The principles of the treaty would gladly have broken his word: of Dover were again the principles of but it was pledged so solemnly that he the foreign policy of England. Ample could not for very shame retract. apologies were therefore made for the Nothing, however, which could cool discourtesy with which the English the zeal of congregations was omitted. government had acted towards France It had been expected that, according to in showing favour to exiled Frenchmen. the practice usual on such occasions, The proclamation which had displeased the people would be exhorted to libeLewis was recalled.* The Huguenot But James ministers were admonished to speak was determined not to tolerate declawith reverence of their oppressor in mations against his religion and his their public discourses, as they would ally. The Archbishop of Canterbury answer it at their peril. James not was therefore commanded to inform only ceased to express commiseration the clergy that they must merely read for the sufferers, but declared that he the brief, and must not presume to believed them to harbour the worst preach on the sufferings of the French designs, and owned that he had been Protestants. Nevertheless the contriguilty of an error in countenancing butions were so large that, after all them. One of the most eminent of the refugees, John Claude, had published on the Continent a small volume in which he described with great force the sufferings of his brethren. Barillon demanded that some opprobrious mark should be put on this book. James complied, and in full council declared it to be his pleasure that Claude's libel should be burned by the hangman be

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rality from the pulpits.

April 26.

* Barillon, May 6., May 13. 1686; Van Citters, May; Evelyn's Diary, May 5.; Luttrell's Diary of the same date; Privy Council Book, May 2.

† Lady Russell to Dr. Fitzwilliam, Jan. 22.
15 Feb. 22.
1686. "Ce

1686; Barillon, Feb. 25 Mar. 4.
prince témoigne," says Barillon, "une grande
aversion pour eux, et aurait bien voulu se dis-

penser de la collecte, qui est ordonnée en leur
faveur: mais il n'a pas cru que cela fût pos-
sible."

Feb. 22. Barillon, Mar. 4. 1686.

deductions, the sum of forty thousand | persecutors: for the religion which he pounds was paid into the Chamber of commanded the refugees to profess, on London. Perhaps none of the muni- pain of being left to starve, was not his ficent subscriptions of our own age has own religion. His conduct towards borne so great a proportion to the means them was therefore less excusable than of the nation.* that of Lewis: for Lewis oppressed them in the hope of bringing them over from a damnable heresy to the true Church: James oppressed them only for the purpose of forcing them to apostatise from one damnable heresy to another.

The King was bitterly mortified by the large amount of the collection which had been made in obedience to his own call. He knew, he said, what all this liberality meant. It was mere Whiggish spite to himself and his religion. He had already resolved that the money should be of no use to those whom the donors wished to benefit. He had been, during some weeks, in close communication with the French embassy on this subject, and had, with the approbation of the court of Versailles, determined on a course which it is not very easy to reconcile with those principles of toleration to which he afterwards pretended to be attached. The refugees were zealous for the Calvinistic discipline and worship. James therefore gave orders that none should receive a crust of bread or a basket of coals who did not first take the sacrament according to the Anglican ritual. It is strange that this inhospitable rule should have been devised by a prince who affected to consider the Test Act as an outrage on the rights of conscience: for, however unjustifiable it may be to establish a sacramental test for the purpose of ascertaining whether men are fit for civil and military office, it is surely much more unjustifiable to establish a sacramental test for the purpose of ascertaining whether, in their extreme distress, they are fit objects of charity. Nor had James the plea which may be urged in extenuation of the guilt of almost all other * Account of the Commissioners, dated March

15.:1688.

ablement

"Le Roi d'Angleterre connoit bien que les gens mal intentionnés pour lui sont les plus prompts et les plus disposés à donner considérSa Majesté Britannique connoit bien qu'il auroit été à propos de ne point ordonner de collecte, et que les gens mal intentionnés contre la réligion Catholique et

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contre lui se servent de cette occasion pour
témoigner leur zèle."-Barillon, April 18
1686.
15 Feb. 22.

Several Commissioners, of whom the Chancellor was one, had been appointed to dispense the public alms. When they met for the first time, Jeffreys announced the royal pleasure. The refugees, he said, were too generally enemies of monarchy and episcopacy. If they wished for relief, they must become members of the Church of England, and must take the sacrament from the hands of his chaplain. Many exiles, who had come full of gratitude and hope to apply for succour, heard their sentence, and went brokenhearted away.*

The dis

power.

May was now approaching; and that month had been fixed for the meeting of the Houses: but pensing they were again prorogued to November. It was not strange that the King did not wish to meet them: for he had determined to adopt a policy which he knew to be, in the highest degree, odious to them. From his predecessors he had inherited two prerogatives, of which the limits had never been defined with strict accuracy, and which, if exerted without. any limit, would of themselves have sufficed to overturn the whole polity of the State and of the Church. These were the dispensing power and the ecclesiastical supremacy. By means of the dispensing power, the King purposed to admit Roman Catholics, not merely to civil and military, but to spiritual, office. By means of the ecclesiastical supremacy, he hoped to make the Anglican clergy his instruments for the destruction of their own religion.

This scheme developed itself by de

* Barillon, April 19. 1686; Lady Russell to Barillon, Feb. 3, Mar. 4., April 19. 1686; Dr. Fitzwilliam, April 14. "He sent away many," she says, "with sad hearts." † London Gazette of May 13. 1686.

Lewis to Barillon, Mar..

I

and two puisne judges, Neville and Charlton. One of the new Judges was Christopher Milton, younger brother of the great poet. Of Christopher little is known, except that, in the time of the civil war, he had been a Royalist, and that he now; in his old age, leaned towards Popery. It does not appear that he was ever formally reconciled to the Church of Rome: but he certainly had scruples about communicating with the Church of England, and had therefore a strong interest in supporting the dispensing power.†

grees. It was not thought safe to begin | find that Your Majesty thinks me by granting to the whole Roman Ca- capable of giving a judgment which tholic body a dispensation from all none but an ignorant or a dishonest statutes imposing penalties and tests. man could give." "I am determined," For nothing was more fully established said the King, "to have twelve Judges than that such a dispensation was il- who will be all of my mind as to this legal. The Cabal had, in 1672, put matter." "Your Majesty," answered forth a general Declaration of Indul-Jones, "may find twelve Judges of your gence. The Commons, as soon as they mind, but hardly twelve lawyers." * met, had protested against it. Charles He was dismissed, together with Monthe Second had ordered it to be can- tague, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, celled in his presence, and had, both by his own mouth and by a written message, assured the Houses that the step which had caused so much complaint should never be drawn into precedent. It would have been difficult to find in all the Inns of Court a barrister of reputation to argue in defence of a prerogative which the Sovereign, seated on his throne in full Parliament, had solemnly renounced a few years before. But it was not quite so clear that the King might not, on special grounds, grant exemptions to individuals by name. The first object of James, therefore, was to obtain from the courts of common law an acknowledgment that, to this extent at least, he possessed the dispensing power. But, though his pretensions were moderate when compared with those which he put forth a few months later, he soon found that he had against him almost the whole sense of Westminster Hall. Four of the Judges gave him to understand that they could not, on this occasion, serve his purpose; and it is remarkable that all the four were violent Tories, and that among them were men who had accompanied Jeffreys on the Bloody Circuit, and who had been consenting to the death of Cornish and of Elizabeth Gaunt. Jones, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, a man who had never before shrunk from any drudgery, however cruel or servile, now held in the royal closet language which might have become the lips of the purest magistrates in our history. He was plainly told that he must either give up his opinion or his place. "For my place," he answered, "I care little. I am old and worn out in the service of the Crown: but I am mortified to

Dismission of refractory Judges.

The King found his counsel as refractory as his Judges. The first barrister who learned that he was expected to defend the dispensing power was the Solicitor General, Heneage Finch. He peremptorily refused, and was turned out of office on the following day.‡ The Attorney General, Sawyer, was ordered to draw warrants authorising members of the Church of Rome to hold benefices belonging to the Church of England. Sawyer had been deeply concerned in some of the harshest and must unjustifiable prosecutions of that age; and the Whigs abhorred him as a man stained with the blood of Russell and Sidney: but on this occasion he showed no want of honesty or of resolution. "Sir," said he, "this is not merely to dispense with a statute: it is to annul the whole statute law from the accession of Elizabeth to the present day. I dare not do it; and I implore Your Majesty to consider whether such an attack upon the rights of the Church * Reresby's Memoirs; Eachard, iii. 797.; Kennet, iii. 451.

† London Gazette, April 22. and 29. 1686;

Barillon, April 19.; Evelyn's Diary, June 2.;
Luttrell's Diary, June 8.; Dodd's Church

History.

North's Life of Guildford, 288.

Case of Sir

be in accordance with your late gracious | the government, appeared for the mock promises." "Sawyer would have been plaintiff, and made some feeble objecinstantly dismissed, as Finch had been, tions to the defendant's plea. The if the government could have found a new Solicitor General replied. The successor: but this was no easy matter. Attorney General took no part in the It was necessary, for the protection of proceedings. Judgment was given by the rights of the Crown, that one at the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Edward least of the Crown lawyers should be a Herbert. He announced that he had man of learning, ability, and experience; submitted the question to all the twelve and no such man was willing to defend judges, and that, in the opinion of eleven the dispensing power. The Attorney of them, the King might lawfully disGeneral was therefore permitted to pense with penal statutes in particular retain his place during some months. cases, and for special reasons of grave Thomas Powis, an obscure barrister, importance. The single dissentient, who had no qualification for high em- Baron Street, was not removed from ployment except servility, was appointed his place. He was a man of morals so Solicitor. bad that his own relations shrank from him, and that the Prince of Orange, at the time of the Revolution, was advised not to see him. The character of Street makes it impossible to believe that he would have been more scrupulous than his brethren. The character of James makes it impossible to believe that a refractory Baron of the Exchequer would have been permitted to retain his post. There can, therefore, be no reasonable doubt that the dissenting Judge was, like the plaintiff and the plaintiff's counsel, acting collusively. It was important that there should be a great preponderance of authority in favour of the dispensing power; yet it was important that the bench, which had been carefully packed for the occasion, should appear to be independent. One Judge, therefore, the least respectable of the twelve, was permitted, or more probably commanded, to give his voice against the prerogative.*

Hales.

The preliminary arrangements were now complete. There was a Edward Solicitor General to argue for the dispensing power, and a bench of Judges to decide in favour of it. The question was therefore speedily brought to a hearing. Sir Edward Hales, a gentleman of Kent, had been converted to Popery in days when it was not safe for any man of note openly to declare himself a Papist. He had kept his secret, and, when questioned, had affirmed that he was a Protestant with a solemnity which did little credit to his principles. When James had ascended the throne, disguise was no longer necessary. Sir Edward publicly apostatised, and was rewarded with the command of a regiment of foot. He had held his commission more than three months without taking the sacrament. He was therefore liable to a penalty of five hundred pounds, which an informer might recover by action of debt. A menial servant was employed to bring a suit for this sum in the Court of King's Bench. Sir Edward did not dispute the facts alleged against him, but pleaded that he had letters patent authorising him to hold his commission notwithstanding the Test Act. The plaintiff demurred, that is to say, admitted Sir Edward's plea to be true in fact, but denied that it was a sufficient answer. Thus was raised a simple issue of law to be decided by the court. A barrister, who was notoriously a tool of

*Reresby's Memoirs.

The power which the courts of law had thus recognised was not suffered to lie idle. Within a month after the decision of the King's Bench had been pronounced, four Roman Catholic Lords were sworn of the Privy Council. Two of them, Powis and Bellasyse, were of the moderate party, and probably took their seats with reluctance and with many sad forebodings. The other two,

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Arundell and Dover, had no such misgivings.*

Roman Catholics

clesiastical

Sclater.

The dispensing power was, at the same time, employed for the authorised purpose of enabling Roman to hold ec- Catholics to hold ecclesiastical benefices. preferment. The new Solicitor readily drew the warrants in which Sawyer had refused to be concerned. One of these warrants was in favour of a wretch named Edward Sclater, who had two livings which he was determined to keep through all changes. He administered the sacrament to his parishioners according to the rites of the Church of England on Palm Sunday 1686. On Easter Sunday, only seven days later, he was at mass. The royal dispensation authorised him to retain the emoluments of his benefices. To the remonstrances of the patrons from whom he had received his preferment he replied in terms of insolent defiance, and, while the Roman Catholic cause prospered, put forth an absurd treatise in defence of his apostasy. But, a very few weeks after the Revolution, a great congregation assembled at Saint Mary's in the Savoy, to see him received again into the bosom of the Church which he had deserted. He read his recantation with tears flowing from his eyes, and pronounced a bitter invective against the Popish priests whose arts had seduced him.t Scarcely less infamous was the con

duct of Obadiah Walker. He Walker. was an aged priest of the Church of England, and was well known in the University of Oxford as a man of learning. He had in the late reign been suspected of leaning towards Popery, but had outwardly conformed to the established religion, and had at length been chosen Master of University College. Soon after the accession of James, Walker determined to throw off the disguise which he had hitherto worn. He absented himself from the

* London Gazette, July 19. 1686.

+ The letters patent are in Gutch's Collectanea Curiosa. The date is the 3rd of May,

1686. See Sclater's Consensus Veterum ; Gee's reply, entitled Veteres Vindicati; Dr. Anthony Horneck's account of Mr. Sclater's recantation of the errors of Popery, on the 5th of May, 1689; Dodd's Church History, part viii. book ii. art. 3.

public worship of the Church of England, and, with some fellows and undergraduates whom he had perverted, heard mass daily in his own apartments. One of the first acts performed by the new Solicitor General was to draw up an instrument which authorised Walker and his proselytes to hold their benefices, notwithstanding their apostasy. Builders were immediately employed to turn two sets of rooms into an oratory. In a few weeks the Roman Catholic rites were publicly performed in University College. A Jesuit was quartered there as chaplain. A press was established there under Royal license for the printing of Roman Catholic tracts. During two years and a half, Walker continued to make war on Protestantism with all the rancour of a renegade: but when fortune turned he showed that he wanted the courage of a martyr. He was brought to the bar of the House of Commons to answer for his conduct, and was base enough to protest that he had never changed his religion, that he had never cordially approved of the doctrines of the Church of Rome, and that he had never tried to bring any other person within the pale of that Church. It was hardly worth while to violate the most sacred obligations of law and of plighted faith, for the purpose of making such converts as these.*

of Christ

Roman

Catholic.

In a short time the King went a step further. Sclater and Walker The had only been permitted to Deanery keep, after they became Papists, church the preferment which had been given to a bestowed on them while they passed for Protestants. To confer a high office in the Established Church on an avowed enemy of that Church was a far bolder violation of the laws and of the royal word. But no course was too bold for James. The Deanery of Christchurch became vacant. office was, both in dignity and in emolument, one of the highest in the University of Oxford. The Dean was charged with the government of a

That

*Gutch's Collectanea Curiosa; Dodd, viii. ii. 3; Wood, Ath. Ox.; Ellis Correspondence, Feb. 27. 1686; Commons' Journals, Oct. 26. 1689.

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