private ships had exported in one year three times as many cloths as the company had exported in three years. They offered to send more cloth and English merchandise to the Indies in one year, than the company had exported in five; to furnish the government with five hundred tons of saltpetre for less than one half of the usual price; and they represented, that the company could neither lade the ships they petitioned for in England nor relade them in the East Indies. In spite of all these remonstrances, the new charter passed the great seal; though the grants contained in it were limited in such a manner, that they did not amount to an exclusive privilege, and subjected the company to such alterations, restrictions, and qualifications, as the king should direct before the twenty-ninth day of September. This indulgence and other favours granted to the company, were privately purchased of the ministry, and became productive of a loud outcry against the government. The merchants published a journal of the whole transaction, and petitioned the house of commons that their liberty of trading to the East Indies might be confirmed by parliament. Another petition was presented by the company, praying that their charter might receive a parliamentary sanction. Both parties employed all their address in making private application to the members. The house having examined the different charters, the book of their new subscriptions, and every particular relating to the company, resolved that all the subjects of England had an equal right to trade to the East Indies, unless prohibited by act of parliament.

§ XXXVII. But nothing engrossed the attention of the public more than a bill which was brought into the house for a general naturalization of all foreign protestants. The advocates for this measure alleged, That great part of the lands of England lay uncultivated; That the strength of a nation consisted in the number of inhabitants; That the people were thinned by the war and foreign voyages, and required an extraordinary supply; That a great number of protestants, persecuted in France and other countries, would gladly remove to a land of freedom, and bring along with them their wealth and manufactures; That the community had been largely repaid for the protection granted to those refugees who had already settled in the VOL. I.

Bb

kingdom. They had introduced several new branches of manufacture, promoted industry, and lowered the price of labour; a circumstance of the utmost importance to trade, oppressed as it was with taxes, and exposed to uncommon hazard from the enemy. The opponents of the bill urged with great vehemence, That it would cheapen the birthright of Englishmen; That the want of culture was owing to the oppression of the times; That foreigners being admitted into the privileges of the British trade, would grow wealthy at the expense of their benefactors, and transfer the fortunes they had gained into their native country; That the reduction in the price of labour would be a national grievance, while many thousands of English manufacturers were starving for want of employment, and the price of provisions continued so high, that even those who were employed could scarce supply their families with bread: That the real design of the bill was to make such an accession to the dissenters as would render them an equal match in the body politic for those of the church of England; to create a greater dependence on the crown, and, in a word, to supply a foreign head with foreign members. Sir John Knight, a member of the house, in a speech upon this subject, exaggerated the bad consequences that would attend such a bill, with all the wit and virulence of satire ; it was printed and dispersed through the kingdom, and raised such a flame among the people as had not appeared since the revolution. They exclaimed, that all offices would be conferred upon Dutchmen, who would become lorddanes, and prescribe the modes of religion and government; and they extolled sir John Knight, as the saviour of the nation. The courtiers, incensed at the progress of this clamour, complained in the house of the speech which had been printed; and sir John, was threatened with expulsion and imprisonment. He, therefore, thought proper to disown the paper, which was burned by the hands of the common hangman. This sacrifice served only to increase the popular disturbance, which rose to such a height of violence, that the court party began to tremble; and the bill was dropped for the present.

e Burnet. Feuquieres. Life of K. William. Tindal. State Tracts. Ralph. Voltaire.

§ XXXVIII. Lord Coningsby and Mr. Porter had committed the most flagrant acts of oppression in Ireland. These had been explained, during the last session, by the gentlemen who appealed against the administration of lord Sidney; but they were screened by the ministry; and, therefore, the earl of Bellamont now impeached them in the house of commons, of which he and they were members. After an examination of the articles exhibited against them, the commons, who were by this time at the devotion of the court, declared, that, considering the state of affairs in Ireland, they did not think them fit grounds for an impeachment. In the course of this session, the nation sustained another misfortune in the fate of sir Francis Wheeler, who had been appointed commander in chief of the Mediterranean squadron. He received instructions to take under his convoy the merchant ships bound to Turkey, Spain, and Italy; to cruise thirty days in a certain latitude, for the protection of the Spanish plate fleet homeward bound; to leave part of his squadron at Cadiz, as convoy to the trade for England; to proceed with the rest to the Mediterranean; to join the Spanish fleet in his return; and to act in concert with them, until he should be joined by the fleet from Turkey and the Straits, and accompany them back to England. About the latter end of October he set sail from St. Helens, and in January arrived at Cadiz with the ships under his convoy. There leaving rear admiral Hopson, he proceeded for the Mediterranean. In the bay of Gibraltar he was overtaken by a dreadful tempest, under a lee shore, which he could not possibly weather, and where the ground was so foul that no anchor would hold. This expedient, however, was tried. A great number of ships were driven ashore, and many perished. The admiral's ship foundered at sea, and he and all his crew were buried in the deep, except two Moors, who were miraculously preserved. Two other ships of the line, three ketches, and six merchant ships, were lost. The remains of the fleet were so much shattered, that, instead of prosecuting their voyage, they returned to Cadiz, in order to be refitted, and sheltered from the attempts of the French squadrons, which were still at sea, under the command of Chateau Kenaud and Gabaret. On the twenty-fifth day of April the king closed

the session with a speech in the usual style, and the parliament was prorogued to the eighteenth day of September.f

§ XXXIX. Lewis of France being tired of the war, which had impoverished his country, continued to tamper with the duke of Savoy, and, by the canal of the pope, made some offers to the king of Spain, which were rejected. Meanwhile he resolved to stand upon the defensive during the ensuing campaign, in every part but Catalonia, where his whole naval force might cooperate with the count de Noailles, who commanded the land army. King William having received intelligence of the design upon Barcelona, endeavoured to prevent the junction of the Brest and Toulon squadrons, by sending Russel to sea as early as the fleet could be in a condition to sail ; but before he arrived at Portsmouth, the Brest squadron had quitted that harbour. On the third day of May the admiral sailed from St. Helens with the combined squadrons of England and Holland, amounting to ninety ships of the line, besides frigates, fireships, and tenders. He detached captain Pritchard of the Monmouth with two fireships, to destroy a fleet of French merchant ships near Conquet bay; and this service being performed, he returned to St. Helens, where he had left sir Cloudesley Shovel with a squadron, to take on board a body of land forces, intended for a descent upon the coast of France.

f Besides the bills already mentioned, the parliament in this session passed an act for taking and stating the public accounts---another to encourage shipbuilding--a third for the better disciplining the navy---the usual militia act---and an act enabling his majesty to make grants and leases in the dutchy of Cornwall. One was also passed for renewing a clause in an old statute, limiting the number of justices of the peace in the principality of Wales. The duke of Norfolk brought an action in the court of king's bench against Mr. Germaine for criminal conversation with his dutchess. The cause was tried, and the jury brought in their verdict for one hundred marks, and costs of suit, in favour of the plaintiff.

Before the king embarked, he gratified a good number of his friends with promotions. Lord Charles Butler, brother to the duke of Ormond was created lord Butler, of Weston in England, and earl of Arran in Ireland. The earl of Shrewsbury was honoured with the title of duke. The earl of Mulgrave, being reconciled to the court measures, was gratified with a pension of three thousand pounds, and the title of marquis of Normandy. Henry Herbert was ennobled by the title of baron Herbert of Cherbury. The earls of Bedford, Devonshire, and Clare, were promoted to the rank of dukes. The marquis of Caermarthen was made duke of Leeds; lord viscount Sidney, created earl of Romney; and viscount Newport, earl of Bedford. Russel was advanced to the head of the admiralty board. Sir George Rooke and sir John Houblon were appointed joint commissioners, in the room of Killegrew and Delaval. Charles Montague was made chancellor of the exchequer; and sir William Trumbal and John Smith commissioners of the treasury, in the room of sir Edward Seymour and Mr. Hambden.

1

These being embarked, under the command of general Ptolemache, the whole fleet sailed again on the twentyninth of May. The land and sea officers, in a council of war, agreed that part of the fleet designed for this expedition, should separate from the rest, and proceed to Camaret bay, where the forces should be landed. On the fifth day of June, lord Berkeley, who commanded this squadron, parted with the grand fleet, and on the seventh anchored between the bays of Camaret and Bertaume. Next day the marquis of Caermarthen, afterwards duke of Leeds, who served under Berkeley, as rear-admiral of the blue, entered Camaret bay with two large ships and six frigates, to cover the troops in landing. The French had received intelligence of the design, and taken such precautions, under the conduct of the celebrated engineer, Vauban, that the English were exposed to a terrible fire from new erected batteries, as well as from a strong body of troops; and though the ships cannonaded them with great vigour, the soldiers could not maintain any regularity in landing. A good number were killed in the open boats before they reached the shore; and those who landed were soon repulsed, in spite of all the endeavours of general Ptolemache, who received a wound in the thigh, which proved mortal. Seven hundred soldiers are said to have been lost on this occasion, besides those who were killed on board of the ships. The Monk ship of war was towed off with great difficulty; but a Dutch frigate of thirty guns fell into the hands of the enemy.

§ XL. After this unfortunate attempt, lord Berkeley, with the advice of a council of war, sailed back for England, and at St. Helens received orders from the queen to call a council, and deliberate in what manner the ships and forces might be best employed.* They agreed to make some attempt upon the coast of Normandy. With this view they set sail on the fifth day of July. They bombarded Dieppe, and reduced the greatest part of the town to ashes. Thence they steered to Havre de Grace, which met with the same fate. They harassed the French troops, who marched after them along shore. They alarmed the

* An. 1694.