this moment seemed to have had more than ordinary influence, and she was admitted into the secret of all affairs. Supported, if not instigated by her, Sunderland and Petre, with the more ambitious and turbulent part of the Catholics, represented to the King that nothing favourable to the Catholics was to be hoped from parliament so long as his court and council were divided, and as he was surrounded by a Protestant cabal, at the head of which was the Lord Treasurer, who professed the most extravagant zeal for the English church; that, notwithstanding the pious zeal of his Majesty, nothing important had yet been done for religion; that not one considerable person had declared himself a Catholic; that no secret believer would avow himself, and no well-disposed Protestant would be reconciled to the church, till the King's administration was uniform, and the principles of government more decisive; that The time was now come when it was necessary for his Majesty to execute the intention which he had long entertained, either to bring the Treasurer to more just sentiments, or to remove him from the important office which he filled, and thus prove to the public that there was no means of preserving power or credit but by supporting the King's measures for the Catholic religion. They reminded him of the necessity of taking means to perpetuate the benefits which he designed for the Catholics, and of the alarming facility with which the Tudor princes had made and subverted religious revolutions. Even the delicate question of the succession was agitated, and some had the boldness of throwing out suggestions to James on the most effectual means of ensuring a Catholic sucThese extraordinary suggestions appear to have been in some measure known to Citters, the Dutch minister, who expressed his fears that projects were forming against the rights of the Princess of Orange. The more affluent and considerable Catholics were alarmed at these daring projects. They saw, as clearly as their brethren, the dangers to which they might be exposed under a Protestant successor. But they thought it wiser to entitle themselves to his favour by a moderate exercise of their influence, than to provoke his hostility by precautions so unlikely to be effectual against his succession or his religion. Moderation had its usual fate. The faction of zealots, animated by the superstition,

cessor.

b

Barillon, 13 September (23 Septembre), 1686. Fox MSS. i. 150.

The words of Barillon, "pour l'établissement de la religion Catholique,” being capable of two senses, have been translated in the text in a manner which admits of a double interpretation. The context removes all ambiguity in this case.

b

the jealousy, and the violence of the Queen, became the most powerful. Even at this time, however, the Treasurer was thought likely to have maintained his ground for some time longer, if he had entirely conformed to the King's wishes. His friends Ormond, Middleton, Feversham, Dartmouth, and Preston were not without hope that he might retain office. At last, in the end of October, James declared that Rochester must either go to mass, or go out of office. His advisers represented to him that it was dangerous to leave this alternative to the Treasurer, which gave him the means of saving his place by a pretended conformity. The King replied that he hazarded nothing by the proposal, for he knew that Rochester would never conform. If this observation was sincere, it seems to have been rash; for some of Rochester's friends still believed he would do whatever was necessary, and advised him to keep his office at any price. The Spanish and Dutch ambassadors expressed their fear of the fall of their last friend in the cabinet; and Louis XIV. considered the measure as certainly favourable to religion and to his policy, whether it ended in the conversion of Rochester or in his dismissal; in acquiring a friend, or in disabling an enemy. It was agreed that a conference on the questions in dispute between the Roman and English churches should be held in the presence of Rochester, by Dr. Jane and Dr. Patrick on behalf of the Church of England, and by Dr. Giffard and Dr. Tilden on the part of the Church of Rome. It is not easy to believe that the King or his minister should have considered a real change of opinion as a possible result of such a dispute. Even if the influence of attachment, of antipathy, of honour, and of habit on the human mind were suspended, the conviction of a man of understanding on questions of great importance, then the general object of study and discussion, could hardly be conceived to depend on the accidental superiority in skill and knowledge exhibited by the disputants of either party in the course of a single debate. But the proposal, if made by one party, was too specious and popular to be prudently rejected by the other. They

e

Barillon, 25 Oct. (4 Nov.), 1686. Fox MSS. i. 157. It is curious that the report of Rochester's dismissal is mentioned by N. Luttrell on the same day on which Barillon's despatch is dated.

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e

Barillon, 29 Nov. (9 Dec.), 1686. Fox MSS. i. 161.

Barillon, 8 Nov. (18 Nov.), 1686. Fox MSS.

Le Roi à Barillon. Versailles, 9 (19) Oct. 1686. Fox MSS. i. 162.

This peculiarly respectable divine assumed the name of Godden; a practice

to which Catholic clergymen were then sometimes reduced to elude persecution.

were alike interested in avoiding the imputation of shrinking from an argumentative examination of their faith. The King was desirous of being relieved from his own indecision by a signal proof of Rochester's obstinacy, and in the midst of his fluctuations he may sometimes have indulged a lingering hope that the disputation might supply a decent excuse for the apparent conformity of his old friend and servant. In all prolonged agitations of the mind, it is in succession affected by motives not very consistent with each other. Rochester foresaw that his popularity among Protestants would be enhanced by his triumphant resistance to the sophistry of their adversaries. He gave the King, by consenting to the conference, a pledge of his wish to carry compliance to the utmost boundaries of integrity. He hoped to gain time. He retained the means of profiting by fortunate accidents. At least he postponed the fatal hour of removal, and there were probably moments in which his fainting virtue looked for some honourable pretence for deserting a vanquished party. The conference took place on the 30th of November. Each of the contending parties, as usual, claimed the victory. The Protestant writers, though they agree that the Catholics were defeated, vary from each other. Some ascribe the victory to the two divines, others to the arguments of Rochester himself; and one of the disputants of the English church said that it was unnecessary for them to do much one writer tells us that the King said he never saw a good cause so ill defended, and all agree that Rochester closed the conference with the most determined declaration that he was confirmed in his religion. Giffard, afterwards a Catholic prelate of exemplary character, published an account of the particulars of the controversy, which gives a directly opposite account of it. In the only part of it which can in any degree be tried by historical evidence, the Catholic account of the dispute is more probable. Rochester, if we may believe Dr. Giffard, at the end of the conference, said,-" The disputants have discoursed learnedly, and I desire time to consider." Agreeably to this statement, Barillon, after mentioning the dispute, told his court that Rochester still showed a disposition to be instructed with

Dod, Ch. Hist. iii. 419. Barillon's short account of the conference is dated on the 12th December, which, after making allowance for the difference of calendars, makes the despatch to be written two days after the conference, which deserves to be mentioned as a proof of Dod's singular exactness.

b

Burnet, Echard, and Kennet. There are other contradictions in the testimony of these historians, and it is evident that Burnet did not implicitly believe Rochester's own story. Dod, Ch. Hist. iii. 420.

respect to the difficulties which prevented him from declaring himself a Catholic, and he adds that some even then expected that he would determine for conformity. This despatch was written two days after the disputation by a minister who could neither be misinformed, nor could have any motive to deceive. Some time afterwards, indeed, Rochester made great efforts to preserve his place, and laboured to persuade the moderate party among the Catholics that it was their interest to support him. He did not, indeed, offer to sacrifice his opinions; but a man who, after the loss of all confidence and real power, clung with such tenacity to mere office, under a system of which he disapproved every principle, could hardly be supposed to be unassailable. The violent or decisive politicians of the Catholic party dreaded that Rochester might still take the King at his word, and defeat all their plans by a feigned compliance; James distrusted his sincerity, suspected that his object was to amuse and temporise, and at length, weary of his own irresolution, took the decisive measure of removing the only minister by whom the Protestant party had a hold on his councils.

The place of Lord Rochester was accordingly supplied on the 5th of January, 1687, by commissioners, of whom two were Catholics, Lord Bellasis of the cautious, and Lord Dover of the zealous party; and the remaining three, Lord Godolphin, Sir John Ernley, and Sir Stephen Fox, were probably chosen for their capacity and experience in the affairs of finance. Two days afterwards the parliament was prorogued, in which the Protestant Tories, the followers of Rochester, predominated." James endeavoured to soften the removal of his minister by a pension of 40007. a year on the Post Office for a term of years, together with the polluted grant of a perpetual annuity of 1700l. a year out of the forfeited estate of Lord Grey, for the sake of which the King, under a false show of mercy, had spared the life of that nobleman. The King was no longer, however, at pains to conceal his displeasure. He told Barillon that Rochester favoured the French Protestants whom, as a term of reproach, he called Calvinists, and added that this was one of many instances in which the sentiments of the minister were opposite to those of his master. He informed D'Adda

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that the Treasurer's obstinate perseverance in error had at length rendered his removal inevitable; but that wary minister adds, that they who had the most sanguine hopes of the final success of the Catholic cause were obliged to own that, at that moment, the public temper was inflamed and exasperated, and that the cry of the people was, that since Rochester was dismissed because he would not become a Catholic, there must be a design to expel all Protestants from office.

The fall of Rochester was preceded, and probably quickened, by an important change in the administration of Scotland, and it was also connected with a revolution in the government of Ireland, of both which events it is now necessary to relate the most important particulars.

CHAPTER IV.

SCOTLAND.

Administration of Queensberry.—Conversion of Perth.-Measures contemplated by the King.—Debates in Parliament on the King's Letter.-Proposed Bill of Toleration.-Unsatisfactory to James.-Adjournment of Parliament.-Exercise of Prerogative.

IRELAND.

Character of Tyrconnel.—Review of the State of Ireland.—Arrival of Tyrconnel.— His Appointment as Lord Deputy.-Advancement of Catholics to Offices.-Tyrconnel aims at the Sovereign Power in Ireland.-Intrigues with France.

THE government of Scotland, under the episcopal ministers of Charles II., was such, that, to the Presbyterians, who formed the majority of the people, "their native country had, by the prevalence of prosecution and violence, become as insecure as a den of robbers." The chief place in the administration had been filled for some years by Queensberry, a man of ability, the leader of the Episcopal party, who, in that character as well as from a matri

b

D'Adda, 31 Dec. 1686 (10 Jan. 1687).

Presentamente pare che gli animi suono inaspriti della voce che corre tra il popolo d'esser cacciato il detto ministro per non essere Cattolico, percio tirarsi al esterminio de Protestanti,

Hume, c. ii. vii. 4th edit. 1757.