case of its being required, of the assistance of His Most Christian Majesty, who being willing, on this occasion, to give the King of Great Britain indisputable proofs of the sincerity of his friendship, and to contribute to the full success of a design so glorious, so useful to His Majesty, and even to the whole Catholic religion, has promised and promises to give, for this purpose, to the said King of Great Britain, the sum of two millions of livres Tournois, of which half shall be paid three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty, &c. and the other half three months after. And further, the said Most Christian King binds himself to assist His Britannic Majesty with troops to the number of six thousand, if necessary, and even to raise and maintain them at his own cost and expense as long as the said King of Great Britain shall judge them to be necessary to him for the execution of his design. And the said troops shall be transported by the ships of the King of Great Britain to such places and ports as he shall judge most fit for the good of his service; and from the day of their embarkation shall be paid as aforesaid, by His Most Christian Majesty, and shall obey the orders of the King of Great Britain. The time of the said declaration of Catholicism is left entirely to the choice of the said King of Great Britain."

It is impossible to read this article without indignation at the unprincipled ambition, the shameless venality, and the cool hypocrisy of Charles. For the sake of public tranquillity, an army of Frenchmen was to be introduced into England to force the nation to embrace a religion they detested! The holy name of God is used for the purpose of sanctioning the subjugation of a free people by the assistance of a foreign power! Such was the return which a king of the house of Stuart thought fit to make to a country which had received him with unlimited confidence. Neither the affection which the people had shown to his person, nor the general duty of a sovereign to his subject, nor the solemn obligation of an oath, were sufficient to restrain Charles from signing a treaty, which will ever remain a monument of ingratitude, perjury, and treason. And as his offence cannot be justified, so neither can it be palliated. He was not obliged, whatever he might allege, by the unreasonable demands or unquiet humours of his people, to fly to foreign protection: his perfidy was as spontaneous as it was unexampled.

Several circumstances may tend to convince us that the intention of Charles in forming this treaty was almost entirely political. In a mind like his, sentiments of devotion are always subordinate to the calls of pleasure or convenience.

After the treaty was made, he feigned so many scruples, and invented so many pretexts for delaying his public conversion, that Lewis soon perceived his insincerity, and ceased to require it. His motives for entering into the treaty are thus explained by Colbert de Croissy, who signed it:-"Charles," he writes, "said that he would still augment his regiments under the most specious pretexts he could devise. He told me he was pressed both by his conscience and the confusion he saw daily increasing in his kingdom, to the diminution of his authority, to declare himself a Catholic; and besides the spiritual advantage he should draw from it, he believed it to be the only means of re-establishing the monarchy."

The Duke of York, though much more earnest in his religion, seems also to have been chiefly intent on changing the form of government. He told the French ambassador that he believed a king and parliament could exist no longer together; and that they ought not to have recourse to the latter, till the war and the Catholic faith had come to an happy issue, when they should be in a condition to obtain by force what they could not gain by mildness. †

Such was the project formed by Charles and James as soon as they escaped from the control

* Dal. App. p. 32, 33. + Ibid. p. 80. July 14. 1671.

of Clarendon and Southampton. It was to oppose this project that Lord Russell left the tranquillity of private life, and without

any ambition to distinguish himself either as a speaker or a leader, did not hesitate to involve himself deeply in political contentions.

An endeavour to prevent the objects of this treaty from being attained, guided his conduct in life, and was finally the cause of his death. If we wish to estimate the value of his exertions, let us imagine the ravagers of the Palatinate admitted into this country by the treachery of its sovereign, and executing the designs of a native tyrant with the zeal of a foreign enemy. shall then have reason to be grateful that some were found who opposed, from their commencement, the measures of the King's government.

We

The other parts of the treaty were for the advantage of Lewis. The King of England agreed to assist France in a war to be undertaken against Holland, for which he was to receive 3,000,000 of livres. * It had been long

* Besides this, the treaty contained an engagement on the part of Lewis not to attack the King of Spain, in return for which Charles agreed to support any future pretensions he might have to the Spanish crown. Burnet says, incorrectly, that the annexation of Hamburgh to Denmark, and of Genoa to Savoy, were stipulated by this treaty. That part which related to Hamburgh was struck out by the King of France;

the darling object of Lewis XIV. to crush his republican neighbour. He confessed to some of the most intimate of his courtiers, that he had been anxious and uneasy on this subject for three years, and that he had made the most advantageous offers to the King of Spain and the Elector of Brandenburg to obtain no more than their neutrality in this war. * But both those sovereigns seem to have considered the independence of Holland essential to the safety of Europe. Even Charles had endeavoured to delay the war with Holland till the internal affairs of England were settled. It was chiefly in order to obtain the priority for the war, that Lewis had sent the Duchess of Orleans to Dover, accompanied by Louise de la Querouaille, whose charms were successful in captivating the King. Yet in the autumn of this year he still hesitated. t

In the mean time, other intrigues had been pursued by the ministers of the two courts. Buckingham, aware of the inclinations of his master, but ignorant of the secret treaty which had been concluded, entered into a negociation

and the plan of subjecting Genoa to Savoy has been reserved for later times.

* Anquetil. Cour de Louis XIV. t. i. p. 212. Pelisson. + Dal. App. p. 61.