1693.] PREPONDERANCE OF THE WHIGS. 169 that master. He vanished from the scene of active politics when William became king, retired to Holland, and again declared himself a Protestant. He was excluded from William's Act of Grace as one of the chief instruments of the late tyranny. But he came back to England, and made himself a necessity for the new government. He had cut off all hope of being reconciled to the Jacobite party; he could be very useful to the party of the Revolution. "His long experience" made him master of all the complications of political action. He was the representative in 1693 of that class of unprincipled politicians of which Talleyrand was the representative when the Bourbons were restored to France. His advice was not to be despised, however the man might be odious. Speaker Onslow, in his Notes upon Burnet, says, "I remember to have heard from a great personage, that when the earl of Sunderland came afterwards to be in king William's confidence, and pressed him very much to trust and rely more upon the Whigs than he had done, the king said, he believed the Whigs loved him best, but they did not love monarchy; and though the Tories did not like him so well as the others, yet, as they were zealous for monarchy, he thought they would serve his government best. To which the earl replied, that it was very true that the Tories were better friends to monarchy than the Whigs were, but then his majesty was to consider that he was not their monarch." * Sunderland, out of his knowledge of men and things, knew that the republican party had ceased to exist; and William saw that Sunderland's distinction between the affection for monarchy, and the love of the monarch de facto, was a sound one. William did trust and rely more upon the Whigs than he had done. Somers had been made his Keeper of the Great Seal; the choice was wise. The attorney's son had rendered the highest service in that great crisis which was to establish the government of England upon the basis of law. He was the leader of his party, as much by his moderation as by his eloquence and learning. Russell, who had more than once been tempted to betray the government he served, but when the hour of trial came did his duty to his country, was restored to the command of the fleet. Thomas Wharton, the son of a puritan peer, had led a life of dissipation in the time of Charles the Second, and continued his course of profligacy under the sober régime of William. The man was hated, and yet he was popular. The hate with which he was regarded by the Tories was perhaps the result of his political consistency. When he died, a Tory wrote his elegy: "Farewell, old bully of these impious times, True pattern of the Whigs, and of their crimes." + With Somers, Russell, and Wharton was joined, in William's new ministry, Charles Montague. He had cast off the honours of a second-rate poet to become a first-class politician. His parliamentary eloquence was almost unrivalled. His financial abilities were more necessary to a government conducting a most expensive war, even than his eloquence. One more Whig was to be won, and he was Shrewsbury. He resigned the office of Secretary of State in 1690, when William favoured the Tories. He had been tampered with from St. Germains, and was faithless to his trust. But he had seen his * Burnet, Oxford edition, vol. iv. p. 5. 170 FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. [1694. error, and was now to be called back by William to a hearty allegiance. The seals were again offered to Shrewsbury. The king had a personal regard for him; but he refused to accept the office which Nottingham had relinquished. Before the meeting of Parliament a lady wrote to him, by the king's command: "He assured me," says her letter, "that when he valued any body as he did you, he could easily forget some mistakes."* Again Shrewsbury refused office. A female friend of this lady wrote to the coy earl, hinting that a dukedom would be the reward of his compliance. The ladies persevered for several months, and at last Shrewsbury yielded, and had his dukedom and the Garter. The chief female negotiator on the part of the king was Mrs. Villiers,-one whom the scandal of the time regards as his mistressone of whom Burnet makes no direct mention, but to whom he is supposed to have alluded when he says of the prince of Orange and Mary, in 1686, that "the perfect union between them had of late been a little embroiled." Elizabeth Villiers, maid of honour to the princess of Orange-afterwards married to the earl of Orkney-was a woman of remarkable ability, with whom Swift delighted to talk for hours; who, in 1713, gave the great writer her picture; but who was not formed for the usual female conquests, however great her mental powers. 'I think," writes Swift to Stella, "the devil was in it the other day when I talked to her of an ugly squinting cousin of hers, and the poor lady herself, you knows, squints like a dragon." + The king and his new ministers did not shrink from demanding from the Parliament a larger supply than ever for carrying on the war. Eighty-three thousand troops were voted for the service of 1694; and the naval estimates were also largely increased. The Whig majority in the House of Commons was strong enough to bear down all unreasonable opposition. There were violent debates on the naval miscarriages, but no blame was thrown on the conduct of the late disastrous campaign. How to raise the large sums necessary to maintain the land and sea forces was a matter of anxious discussion. A land-tax, a poll-tax, stamp-duties, a tax on hackney coaches, and a lottery, were the expedients. High and low were the adventurers in this new system of state gambling, as Evelyn records: "In the lottery set up after the Venetian manner by Mr. Neale, sir R. Haddock, one of the Commissioners of the Navy, had the greatest lot, 30007.; my coachman, 401." But money was still wanting. The necessity gave birth to one of the greatest public establishments of this or any other country, the Bank of England. The Statute under which this national institution was formed bears a very ambiguous title: "An Act for granting to their majesties several rates and duties upon tonnage of ships and vessels, and upon beer, ale, and other liquors, for securing certain recompenses and advantages in the said Act mentioned, to such persons as shall voluntarily advance the sum of fifteen hundred thousand pounds towards the carrying on the war against France." The subscribers for the advance of a loan, upon the conditions set forth, were to be constituted a corporate body "by the name of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England." The money really required to be advanced was twelve hundred thousand pounds. § The subscription list was filled in ten days. The trad * Coxe, "Shrewsbury Correspondence," p. 20. 5 & 6 Gul. & Mar, c. 20. "Journal to Stella," letter liv. § Ante, p. 40. 1694.] ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND. 171 ing community had been sufficiently prepared for a right appreciation of the project which was carried in the House of Commons by the energy of Montague. The scheme of a Bank had been the subject of discussion for three years. William Paterson-a man whose name is associated with this most successful scheme of a great national bank for England, and with another most unfortunate project of a great national system of colonisation for Scotland-had in 1691 submitted proposals to the government somewhat similar to the plan which was carried out in 1694. His scheme was ably supported amongst commercial men by Michael Godfrey, an eminent London merchant; and when the government at last adopted it, Godfrey's influence in the city was as useful as Montague's eloquence in Parliament. The original plan of a national bank was met by every sort of objection. Some said it was a new thing, and they did not understand it. Others said the project came from Holland, and there were too many Dutch things already.* In 1694, "the men who were supposed to have most money opposed and appeared against it [the bank] with all their might, pretending it could not do without them, and they were resolved never to be concerned." Tories said that a bank and a monarchy could not exist together. Whigs said that a bank and liberty were incompatible, for that the Crown would command the wealth of the bank. A clause was introduced in the Act, which prevented the Bank of England making loans to the government without authority of Parliament, which neutralised the Whig objection. With this restriction the Bank of England has yet, in all times, been a powerful ally of the government. The system of small loans came to an end, as thus described in a paper called "The Wednesday Club," written by Paterson himself, as his biographer affirms: "The state officers and privy counsellors of that time were brought to stoop so low as to become frequent solicitors to the Common Council of London, to borrow only £100,000 or £200,000 at a time, on the part payment of the land-tax, all payable within two years, and then to stipulate and receive guineas at 22s. per piece, besides still further securing allowances on such occasions, which one may suppose to have been considerable. As the stateofficers deigned to become suitors to the Common Council, so were the particular Common Councilmen to the inhabitants of their respective wards, going from house to house, as our parish officers do in case of briefs for fire, for building and repairing churches, or the like."‡ The king prorogued the Parliament on the 25th of April, and again set out for the Continent at the beginning of May. The campaign was in no degree remarkable for its gains or its losses. But the French had been arrested in their march to European dominion. They were held at bay. The naval plan of warfare was vigorously conceived in the cabinet of William, but it was defeated by what was once thought accident, but which is now proved to have been treachery. A great French fleet under Tourville had sailed from Brest to the Mediterranean. A portion of the allied fleet of Euglish and Dutch under Russell was to look after Tourville, and another portion under Berkeley was to form a secret expedition. Troops commanded by Talmash were taken on board Berkeley's squadron. The two admirals parted company west of Cape Finisterre. Russell sailed to the Mediterranean; Berkeley to Brest, Ibid. p. 97. * Bannister's "Life of WiMiam Paterson," p. 100. + Ibid. p. 96. 172 EXPEDITION AGAINST BREST. [1694. which it was supposed was left without adequate defence. Berkeley and Talmash would not credit the report of their own officer, that the French were prepared for their reception. Eight English vessels entered Camaret bay; and were received with the fire of many batteries. Talmash attempted to land his soldiers from boats; when strong bodies of cavalry and infantry appeared on the beach, and drove them back in confusion. The cannon of the fortifications that had been constructed in a few weeks, swept away more than a thousand brave English. Talmash himself was mortally wounded, but lived to reach Portsmouth, whither the armament had returned in all haste. The discomfiture was caused by the purpose of the expedition having become known to the French government. Vauban had been sent to Brest, and his science and promptitude had soon defended the entrance from the bay to the harbour with bombs and cannon, placed in the most commanding positions. William at the end of June wrote to Shrewsbury from the camp of Roseback, "You may easily conceive my vexation when I learnt the repulse our troops had experienced in the descent near Brest; and although the loss is very inconsiderable, yet in war it is always mortifying to undertake anything that does not succeed."* A few days later the king wrote: "I am indeed extremely affected with the loss of poor Talmash; for although I do not approve of his conduct, yet I am of opinion that his too ardent zeal to distinguish himself induced him to attempt what was impracticable." It is asserted that the resolution to attack Brest was betrayed to James by Godolphin, and also by a letter from Marlborough.‡ Of Marlborough's treachery to his country there is the unquestionable evidence of a letter written by him to James on the 4th of May, in which he says, that it has that day come to his knowledge that the expedition preparing at Portsmouth, is to be commanded by Talmash, and designed to burn the harbour of Brest, and to destroy the men of war that are there. He then says, "This would be a great advantage to England; but no consideration ever can, or shall, hinder me from letting you know what I think may be for your service."§ That Marlborough had in view the destruction of a rival general, Talmash, is to load his memory with a charge of guilt even more atrocious than his systematic perfidy in affairs of state. Yet he did not lose a moment in soliciting a return to high employment when Talmash was no more. In a letter of Shrewsbury to the king, he says: "It is impossible to forget what is here become a very general discourse, the probability and conveniency of your majesty receiving my lord Marlborough into your favour. He has been with me since this news, to offer his service, with all the expressions of duty and fidelity imaginable." || William gave a very short answer to the recommendation of his Secretary of State: "As to what you wrote in your last letter concerning lord Marlborough, I can say no more than that I do not think it for the good of my service to entrust him with the command of my troops."¶ The failure at Brest was attempted to be retrieved by miserable expeditions against defenceless towns on the French coast. Dieppe, Havre, and Calais "Shrewsbury Correspondence," p. 45. + Dalrymple. + Ibid. p. 46. § "Life of James," vol. ii. p. 522. Macpherson also prints the letter in his "Original Papers." "Shrewsbury Correspondence," p. 47. Ibid. p. 53. 1694.] ILLNESS OF THE QUEEN. 173 were bombarded. This wretched mode of attack upon an enemy's harmless people, though begun by the French, was felt to be useless and exasperating -"a cruel and brutish way of making war,-an action totally adverse to humanity or Christianity." William returned from the Continent on the 9th of November. He had to learn, what is as damaging to a government as an unsuccessful attempt in war, that a State trial under a special commission at Manchester, of some Lancashire gentlemen accused of high treason, had resulted in an acquittal. The government was set on to this prosecution by one of those dangerous spies that always start up in unquiet times, and too often foment the conspiracies they are employed to discover. Before the trial, after swords and armour had been found in old houses, and arrests had been made, this Lancashire plot was turned into ridicule. At the trial the chief informer, when his brother spy had given evidence against the prisoners, swore that the alleged plot was an invention of their own. The counsel for the Crown threw up his brief; the prisoners were acquitted; and the presiding judges were hooted as they left Manchester. The Parliament was opened by the king on the 12th of November. The Commons adjourned for a week. When they met for business, they applied themselves in earnest to vote the Supplies, and to discuss a Bill "for the more frequent meeting and calling of Parliament." This is the famous Triennial Bill which the king had rejected by his Veto in one Session of Parliament, and which the Commons had refused to pass in another Session. The Bill was now passed by both Houses without much opposition. On the 22nd of December, William came to Westminster. Great was the anxiety to know what words would now be uttered by the officer who spoke that voice of the Crown which confirmed or disallowed a measure of the two Houses. The words uttered were the old form of Assent, 66 Le roy et la royne le veulent." The king looked unhappy, but it was not a disquietude of state which moved him. Queen Mary was dangerously ill at Kensington. "The small-pox raged this winter about London," writes Burnet. To comprehend at this time the significance of the word "raged," we must carry our minds back, far beyond the period when Jenner discovered vaccinationbeyond even the period when Lady Mary Wortley Montague made inoculation fashionable. When Burnet adds, that "thousands" were dying of this fatal disease, we must understand him literally. When the small-pox entered a house, it was considered as terrible a visitation as the plague. William * Evelyn. |