BOOK II. TEMPER of the Nation.The King's Declaration. No His Interview Book II. 1684. Temper of the nation at James's acceffion. Prince ever mounted the throne of England, PART I whose first measures of government ingroffed more the public attention than thofe of James the Second. The influence which he was supposed to have had over the spirit of the late King; his continual habit of bufinefs, partly the effect of his temper, but more of his fituation; the animofity of parties concerning him; and the various turns of his fortune, who had been twice near excluded from the throne by a party which hated him, and thrice banished from his country by a brother who loved him; had placed him, during many years of the late reign, in a more confpicuous point of view than even the Sovereign himself. The exclufionifts expected now little mercy from a King to whom they had fhewn none when he was a fubject. The diffenters 1684. PART I. diffenters had felt the feverity of councils which were Book II. imputed to him. Even fome of the tories watched with anxious minds his firft fteps in civil, and ftill more of them his first steps in religious concerns. Thofe who had no fixed principles of party of their own, and who, even in nations the moft zealous in politics, make a great part of the people, having had their curiosity awakened, and their paffions inflamed in the late reign, by reciprocal complaints of invafions upon the conftitution, which the royal and the popular parties had thrown upon each other, and by the continual rumours of popifh and of proteftant plots, ftood full of expectation to fee or hear, and relate the earliest movements of the new reign. James's declaration. The first measures of James after the death of his brother, were calculated to allay thofe ferments in the minds of his fubjects. Having affembled the privy council, he made the following speech, magnanimous in its fentiments, fimple in its expreffions:-" My Lords, be"fore I enter upon any other bufinefs, I think fit to fay "fomething to you. Since it hath pleafed Almighty God "to place me in this ftation, and I am now to fucceed fo "good and gracious a King, as well as fo very kind a "brother, it is proper for me to declare to you, that "I will endeavour to follow his example, and particu"larly in that of his great clemency and tenderness to "his people. I have been reported to be a man fond of "arbitrary power; but that is not the only falfehood which "hath been reported of me: And I fhall make it my endeavour to preferve this government both in church and ftate, as it is now by law established. I know "the principles of the church of England are favourable to monarchy; and the members of it have shown themselves good and loyal fubjects; therefore I fhall always take care to defend and fupport it. I know goo, that the laws of England are fufficient to make ઃઃ Book II. the King as great a monarch as I can wifh: And, as PART I. "I fhall never depart from the just rights and preroga❝tive of the crown, fo I fhall never invade any man's 1684. property. I have often before ventured my life in de"fence of this nation; and fhall go as far as any man "in preferving it in all its juft rights and liberties.". Thefe popular words were followed by a more populat action. James ordered a new parliament to be fummoned: Another prudent order was iffued, directing all perfons to continue in their offices; by which the tranfition of government became imperceptible, and the new reign appeared to be no more than a continuation of the for mer. between The King's declaration to his council had all the effect Apparent which he intended. The council begged it might be cordiality published: It was difperfed all over the nation: Com- James and munities expreffed their fatisfaction by addreffes, indivi- his fubject duals by mutual congratulations: Even the pulpits refounded with its praifes. From the fteadinefs of temper which attached James to his religious principles, an equal attachment to the promifes contained in his declaration was inferred. The hearts of men overflowed now fo much the more with love and confidence, because they had before been locked up in fears and jealoufies. Even the exclufionists crowded to the palace, awkwardly mingling condolence for the lofs of the late King with joy for the acceffion of his fucceffor. In proportion as any of them reflected upon the activity of his former oppofition, he endeavoured, by the early court which he paid, to wipe off the remembrance of it in James. The ufual compliments of refpe& paid to every new fovereign by his fubjects of condition, with the ufual gracious returns to thofe compliments, diffused an appearance of fatisfaction through the court, while the attention to magnificent trifles prepara tory to a coronation, spread an air of unconcern and feftivity through the capital. VOL. I. X Yet, PART I 1684. of mutual distrust. Yet, amidst thefe outward appearances of general fatisfaction, James could not help behaving to many of the exclufionists, who came to wait upon him, with a visible Symptoms difpleafure. Some of them he refufed to fee; others were received coldly; and a few even with frowns: Impotent marks of difgrace to men of independent fortunes, of high birth, and higher fpirits. He refused to give Montagu his hand to kifs, faying, he could forgive injuries done to himself, but not to his brother. He removed the Duke of Richmond, fon to the Duchefs of Portfimouth, from his ftation of mafter of the horfe, conferred by his father upon him from his tendereft years. His reception of Lord Halifax was differently talked of, according to the different humours of men. For, when this Lord, who had oppofed the exclufion with great eloquence, but had also opposed the Duke's influence at the end of the late reign, was making apologies to James for the latter part of his conduct; that Prince, interrupting him, faid, "I will "forget all your behaviour, except that in the affair of "the exclufion :" A compliment which difcovered delicacy and gratitude; but which alarmed fome, who obferved that it difcovered remembrance of the event to which it alluded. But James's remembrance of past injuries became less ambiguous, when he ordered Sprat Bishop of Rochefter to publifh a relation of the Ryehouse plot under the royal authority. This relation was written with great virulence of expreffion upon paft heats; and in it an averment was made, that James knew of 20,000 perfons who had been engaged in that plot: An implied menace, which, by the ambiguity of its object, caused every whig in the nation to think it was levelled at him. James, foon after, in his letter to the Parliament of Scotland, and in an anfwer to the addrefs of the Houfe of Lords in England, spoke of past offences in a way which difcovered that the King of England had not forgot the injuries done to the Duke of York. James Book II. cies with James behaved still more unguardedly with regard to PART I. religion in the very beginning of his reign: He ordered Huddlefton, the priest who had attended the late King 1684. in his last moments, to publifh a relation of that Prince's Impruden having taken the laft facrament according to the rites of regard to the church of Rome. James publifhed, in his own name, religion. two papers written in his brother's hand, in favour of the Roman catholic doctrines; and was at pains to declare, he had found them in the royal ftrong box. He fhewed them to Sancroft Archbishop of Canterbury, who faid, "That he did not think the late King had been fo "learned in controverfy; but that the arguments in the papers were eafy to refute." James defired him to do fo in writing, if he could. But Sancroft, with a politic compliment, anfwered, "It ill became him to enter into 66 a controversy with his fovereigns." James changed1 his former cuftom of going privately to mafs: For, on the first Sunday after his acceffion, he went publicly, and with all the enfigns of royalty, to the celebration of a ceremony which the laws of the kingdom had declared to be criminal. Many were offended with the public fpectacle of the King's religion, who had long heard with indifference of his profeffion. The Duke of Norfolk, who carried the fword of state, stopped at the door of the chapel The King paffing him, faid, "My Lord, 66 your father would have gone further." The Duke anfwered, "Your Majefty's father would not have gone "fo far." Soon after, the King having complained to Kenne Bishop of Bath and Wells, of a reflection which he was told the Bishop had made against popery, in a fermon in the chapel- royal," Sir," answered Kenne, "had you attended your own duty in church, my enemies "had miffed the opportunity of accufing me falfely." The discontents which the obfervation of these things Cuffoms and produced, were increafed by the firft public act of ftate, excife levied * X 2 Thofe withoutlaw. |