САМЕО XIII. Suspicions. 1688. was dressed; all were satisfied of its identity, and the King immediately knighted the Queen's physician. There were rejoicings all over London, but they were manifestly to order, not spontaneous, for the country looked with consternation at the perpetuation of the Romanist sovereigns, and could not but have some hopes in the nursery management which contrived to kill more than half the infants of the time. In fact the poor little Prince of Wales was very near death several times during the first two months of his life, from various medicaments and a diet of water gruel; but when a healthy woman, a tiler's wife, had been imported into the palace of Richmond for his benefit, he began to thrive, and then stories began to be circulated. The Queen's bed had been warmed for her, and the popular mind believed that in the warming-pan a child had been smuggled in and palmed off upon the numerous witnesses. This was one story; the other was that the real Prince had died, and that the tiler's child had been substituted for him. The two Princesses had all along manifested distrust; Mary never made any kind allusion to her brother, as appears from a note of the Queen to "her dear Lemon," the Princess's pet name, and Anne, under the inspiration of her friend Lady Churchill, was doing all the harm she could. Anne was a woman with little character of her own, and her husband was a nonentity. A spoilt child with weak eyes, she had had very little education, and though her royal Stewart descent enabled her to be stately and gracious on occasion, she was really nothing more than a thorough gossip, with a washerwoman's love of unsavoury details, and the whole atmosphere of the Court had undergone a great change from the poetry and refinement that had been aimed at under Charles I. and Henrietta. She was entirely under the dominion of Lady Churchill, and no doubt sincerely believed all she was told about Mansel and his wife, the nicknames given to her father and his wife in her letters. Lord Sunderland was called Roger in this choice correspondence, and, as is well known, the Princess herself and Lady Churchill were Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman, the latter name having been chosen by Sarah to express the openness of her disposition. People believed pretty much as they chose, but there were other influences at work exclusive of this foolish suspicion. In May, before the child's birth, Admiral Edward Russell, a naval officer belonging to the Bedford family, had gone to the Hague to make representations to the Prince of Orange on the state of England. William replied with great caution that he could not make any move in the matter unless he received a regular invitation, saying that he did not wish so much for a number of signatures, as that they should be from men of weight and importance. "Aut nunc aut nunquam; now or never, said William to his minister, Dykvelt. On the very day of the Bishops' acquittal-June 30th-Admiral Herbert, in the disguise of a common sailor, started for Holland, bearing a letter in cypher, in forming the Prince of the general dissatisfaction and alarm of the nation with regard to their religion, liberties, and properties, and assuring him that nineteen out of twenty of the nation desired a change, and would stand by him in making it, that many of the soldiers and sailors would be likewise ready, and that he had better seize the time before there was a remodelling of both Army and Navy. Nor did this letter omit the suspicions respecting the Prince of Wales, saying that not one in a thousand believed the child lately born to be the Queen's, and begging that the Prince of Orange would come to inquire into the matter, with a force of troops to support him, and engaging to attend him and prepare for him. The letter was signed by the ex-minister, Osborne, Earl of Danby; Courtenay, Earl of Devon; Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury-both of the old nobility, the latter a born Romanist but converted to Anglicanism by Dr. Tillotson; Lord Lumley, who had served against Monmouth and now represented the army; Admiral Russell for the navy; Henry Compton, the suspended Bishop of London; and Henry Sidney, the brother of Algernon. William began to make preparations under cover of the war with France; but Louis XIV., obtaining intelligence of the real intention, sent warning by Bonrepos to England, offering assistance in ships and men; but James did not believe that his daughter's husband, his own nephew, could intend anything against him, and Mary was instructed to assure him that France was the object of the ships that were being collected. He did not take the alarm till in September a proclamation was drawn up by William, translated by Burnet, and generally circulated, telling the English people that in consequence of their grievances, of the doubts respecting the Prince of Wales, and invitation of important personages, the Prince of Orange was coming to examine into the state of things, but not as if to conquer, for the needful troops he should bring with him should be kept under the strictest discipline, and sent home as soon as England was free. Almost at the same time James received a despatch from Sir Roger Strickland, the Vice-Admiral, that the Dutch had a fleet ready. The Queen had a reception at Whitehall, and James told his brother-in-law, Clarendon, that the Dutch were coming to invade England in good earnest. Clarendon asked whether he believed it. "Do I see you, my Lord?" was the King's answer. Church of England men will do." "And now, I shall see what your "Your Majesty will see that they will behave themselves like honest men," returned Clarendon. Moreover, the King caused full forty witnesses of his son's birth to be examined under oath, and published their affirmations; but though Anne declared that his word was more to her than all, she still spoke satirically of her brother's birth, and the only time she is ever known to have mentioned him as Prince of Wales was when he was so ill that she wrote to her sister that he would soon CAMEO Invitation to the Prince of Orange. 1688. CAMEO Embarkation of William. 1588. be an angel in heaven, where she would have had no objection to him. James sent for the Bishops then in town and asked their advice, which was to redress the worst grievances to the Church, to dissolve the Court of High Commission, to reinstate the fellows of Magdalen, to prevent Romish priests from assuming the benefices of English ones, and to call a parliament; above all, himself to return into the bosom of the Church of England. Also, on being shown the declaration that the invitation purported to come from the Lords spiritual as well as temporal, they all denied having taken part in it except Compton, who had actually signed it. However, Compton was reinstated, the Magdalen men recalled, the Ecclesiastical Court abolished, the Charter of the City of London carried back in state to the Guild-hal!, Sunderland and Father Petre no longer appeared at the council, indeed Sunderland went over to the Hague with all his secrets--but the dispensing power was still claimed, and so far from returning to the bosom of his “Mother-Church,” James had his son's state christening-or perhaps reception into the Church—on the 16th of October, with the Pope, represented by the Nuncio Count d'Adda, as godfather, Catharine of Braganza godmother. James Francis Edward was the name, Francis after the Queen's brother, but likewise for the sake of St. Francis Xavier, as Edward was of Edward the Confessor. It was on that very day, the 16th of October, that William was taking leave of the Dutch Estates, telling them that he was going in defence of the Protestant religion and the liberty of Europe, and that in case he should not return, he left his beloved wife to their care. Some of them were actually affected even to tears. On the 19th he embarked at Helvoetsluys. He had 50 men of war, 25 frigates, 400 fire ships, and 400 transports conveying 4,000 horse, and 10,000 infantry. There had been much debate where he should land, and Lord Danby recommended Yorkshire; but the English fleet under Lord Dartmouth was watching at the mouth of the Thames, and there was a strong west wind, which would have been most unfavourable to the Dutch in case of an engagement. So William decided on making an attempt in the west, where Monmouth had received so much support; but he had to wait till the wind changed to the east, and this was not till the 1st of November, That "Protestant wind," as it was called, carried him down the Channel, and prevented Dartmouth from following him. It was the very day on which Louis was rejoicing in the capture of Philipsburg that William thus sailed to make a blow at the only ally of France. The fleet was commanded by Admiral Herbert, the army under William himself by Marshal Schomberg, one of the ablest of the French generals, but expelled by the Revocation. The Brill, in which William sailed, bore on the flag the arms of Nassau, a lion rampant, impaled with those of England, and his family motto, Je Maintiendrai, was translated and lengthened into "I will maintain the liberties of England and the Protestant religion.' William had wished to land on the 4th, as his birthday and wedding day, but a fog prevented the pilot from finding the entrance to Torbay, and he actually landed on the 5th, without opposition, for Lord Dartmouth's fleet had been unable to leave the Downs. 66 The huge wooden chair placed for him on his landing is still preserved. Dr. Burnet came up to congratulate him, and he said, smiling, 'Ought I not to believe in predestination?" It was 3 P.M., and he used the brief remainder of light to reconnoitre, before taking up his quarters for the night at the village of Newton Abbot. One of the Courtenay family came the next day to invite him to his house, where he remained four days while his army occupied Exeter. Bishop Lamplugh and the Dean had fled, and for the first four days no one of importance joined him, though the neighbourhood was favourably impressed by the contrast between his well-disciplined troops and those of Feversham and Kirke. A service of thanksgiving was ordered to take place in Exeter Cathedral, but the canons were too loyal to attend. Dr. Burnet, however, preached, while William sat on the Bishop's throne. The absence of all enthusiasm was chilling, and at first little alarm was felt at Court, though the officer who rode with the news fell fainting at the King's feet; for there were 30,000 well-trained troops in camp on Hounslow Heath, far outnumbering William's, and it was thought that the affair might end like that of Monmouth; but James did not take into account how different a person the cool, cautious William was from the weak, rash Monmouth, nor did he know how completely he had contrived to change the feelings of the nation towards himself. There were endless shades of opinion in the country. Probably no one not absolutely of his own communion was happy and satisfied under his government, and even the Romanists, on the English and national side of their hearts, could not but dread his arbitrary pretensions. The loyal English Churchmen, who formed the chief body of Tories, were appalled at his proceedings, but felt bound not to raise a finger against the Crown, nor to resist by any save constitutional protests and passive endurance; the more religious among them believing that the Church would be carried through all, as before through the rebellion. These, however, varied in opinion as to whether their consciences bound them to give active support to the cause of a monarch whom they profoundly distrusted. Thus the reports respecting the imposture supposed to be practised in the person of the Prince of Wales had a strong effect on those entirely beyond reach of evidence or investigation. On the Whig side there were again many who would not personally have stirred against the Crown, and dreaded a civil war; and, without any desire to overthrow the hereditary succession, were anxious that restraints should be put on the spirit of despotism which seemed CAMEO XIII. Landing of William. 1688. CAMEO Rising in the West. 1688. likely to trample down all liberty politically, and to bring on something tantamount to persecution. What had been endured patiently from a King past middle age, in the expectation of an Anglican heiress with a Protestant husband, became well-nigh intolerable under the prospect of an heir bred up in Romanism, and absolutely maddening under the suspicion that his birth was a mere fraud. The horrors that had been suffered from Judge Jeffreys might cause hesitation in joining the Prince of Orange; but they also made every one anxious that he should not fail. Probably the real wish at this time was that he should use means for preventing the King from acting unconstitutionally in Church or State affairs, and should either detect any fraud in the production of the Prince, or else provide for his education in the Anglican faith. In this there were many quite ready to support the Prince, especially the men about Court, who either feared for the welfare of the nation, or saw no promotion for themselves while the King was surrounded by Jesuits and attached to Louis XIV. These last were already in correspondence with William, including not merely those who had signed the invitation, but the Earl of Sunderland, who, to please the King, had professed to be a secret Roman Catholic; and Lord Churchill, a curious mixture of the highest and the lowest qualities, who had promised to secure the army to William. Churchill was a genuinely religious, moral, and humane man, an exception to most of his fellows on all these points; but he was avaricious and time-serving even to treachery, and probably was one of those who force their conscience to approve of what is for their advantage; and the beautiful, hot-tempered, ambitious wife, whom he pas sionately loved, too often swayed his counsels. Lord Delamere, in the meantime, called up his tenantry and rode through Manchester to rouse the people; Lord Danby, with a hundred gentlemen and nobles, dashed into York, where the militia welcomed him with shouts of "a free parliament and the Protestant religion." The Governor was placed under arrest, and the city was held against the King. The Earl of Devonshire seized Derby, and at Nottingham was joined by the heads of the old Whig families, Lords Manchester, Stamford, Rutland, Chesterfield, Cholmondeley and Grey de Ruthyn, all sons of Parliamentarians. Even the Duke of Norfolk secured Norwich; and Oxford's loyalty had been so outraged by the late proceedings, that Lord Lovelace was welcomed with shouts of "No Popery." However, on his way to join William at Exeter, Lovelace was defeated and made prisoner by the Duke of Beaufort with the Gloucestershire militia. The King in the meantime had, at the advice of Father Petre, remained in London. There he tried to persuade the Bishops to draw up a paper expressing their abhorrence of the Prince of Orange and his doings; but they avoided compliance, although the Archbishop at his request issued a prayer for his protection and the hindrance of |