perceived him at day-break, than they weighed, stood out tc windward, formed their line, bore down, and began the action, which was maintained for two hours with equal valor on both sides, though the English fleet sustained considerable damage from the superior fire of the enemy. Herbert tacked several times, in hope of gaining the weather-gage; but the French admiral kept his wind with uncommon skill and perseverance at length, the English squadron stood off to sea, and maintained a running fight till five in the afternoon, when Chateau Renault tacked about, and returned into the bay, content with the honor he had gained. The loss of men was inconsiderable on both sides; and, where the odds were so great, the victor could not reap much glory: Herbert retired to the isles of Scilly, where he expected a reinforcement; but being disappointed in this expectation, he returned to Portsmouth in very ill humor, with which his officers and men were infected. The common sailors still retained some attachment to James, who had formerly been a favorite among them; and the officers complained that they had been sent on this service with a force so much inferior to that of the enemy. King William, in order to appease their discontent, made an excursion to Portsmouth, where he dined with the admiral on board the ship Elizabeth; declared his intention of creating him an earl, in consideration of his good conduct and services; conferred the honor of knighthood on the captains Ashby and Shovel; and bestowed a donation of ten shillings on every private sailor. 8 43. The parliament of England thought it incumbent on them, not only to raise supplies for the maintenance of the war in which the nation was involved, but also to do justice with respect to those who had been injured by illegal or oppressive sentences in the late reigns. The attainders of lord Russell, Algernon Sidney, alderman Cornish, and lady Lisle were now reversed: a committee of privileges was appointed by the lords to examine the case of the earl of Devonshire, who in the late reign had been fined £30,000 for assaulting colonel Culpepper in the presence-chamber: they reported that the court of king's-bench, in over-ruling the earl's plea of privilege of parliament, had committed a manifest breach of privilege; that the fine was excessive and exorbitant, against the great charter, the common right of Burnet. Reresby. King. Balcarras. De la Fayette. Vol taire. : the subject, and the law of the realm. The sentence pronounced on Samuel Johnson, chaplain to lord Russell, in consequence of which he had been degraded, fined, scourged, and set in the pillory, was now annulled, and the commons recommended him to his majesty for some ecclesiastical preferment: he received £1000 in money with a pension of £300 for his own life and that of his son, who was moreover gratified with a place of £100 a year but the father never obtained any ecclesiastical benefice. Titus Oates seized this opportunity of petitioning the house of lords for a reversal of the judgment given against him on his being convicted of perjury the opinions of all the judges and counsel at the bar were heard on this subject, and a bill of reversal passed the commons: but the peers having inserted some amendments and a proviso, a conference was demanded, and violent heats ensued: Oates, however, was released from confinement; and the lords, with the consent of the commons, recommended him to his majesty for a pardon, which he obtained, together with a comfortable pension. The committee appointed to inquire into the cases of the state prisoners, found Sir Robert Wright, late lord chief-justice, to have been concerned in the cruelties committed in the west after the insurrection of Monmouth; as also one of the ecclesiastical commissioners, and guilty of manifold enormities death had by this time delivered Jefferies from the resentment of the nation. Graham and Burton had acted as solicitors in the illegal prosecutions carried on against those who opposed the court in the reign of Charles II.; these were now reported guilty of having been instrumental in taking away the lives and estates of those who had suffered the loss of either under color of law for eight years last past; of having, by malicious indictments, informations, and prosecutions of quo warranto, endeavored the subversion of the protestant religion and the government of the realm; and of having wasted many thousand pounds of the public revenue in the course of their infamous practices. 44. Nor did the misconduct of the present ministry escape the animadversion of the parliament. The lords having addressed the king to put the Isle of Wight, Jersey, Guernsey, Scilly, Dover-castle, and the other fortresses of the kingdom in a posture of defence, and to disarm the papists; empowered a committee to inquire into the miscarriages in Ireland, which were generally imputed to the neglect of the marquises of Carmarthen and Halifax. They presented an address to the king, desiring the minute-book of the committee for Irish affairs might be put into their hands; but his majesty declined gratifying them in this particular: then the commons voted, that those persons who had advised the king to delay this satisfaction were enemies to the kingdom William, alarmed at this resolution, allowed them to inspect the book, in which they found very little for their purpose. The house resolved that an address should be presented to his majesty, declaring that the succor of Ireland had been retarded by unnecessary delays; that the transports prepared were not sufficient to convey the forces to that kingdom; and that several ships had been taken by the enemy, for want of proper convoy: at the same time the question was put, whether or not they should address the king against the marquis of Halifax; but it was carried in the negative by a small majority. Before this period, Howe, vice-chamberlain to the queen, had moved for an address against such counsellors as had been impeached in parliament, and betrayed the liberties of the nation :-this motion was levelled at Carmarthen and Halifax, the first of whom had been formerly impeached of high treason under the title of earl of Danby; and the other was charged with all the misconduct of the present administration. Warm debates ensued, and in all probability the motion would have been carried in the affirmative, had not those who spoke warmly in behalf of it suddenly cooled in the course of the dispute. Some letters from king James to his partisans being intercepted, and containing some hints of an intended invasion, Mr. Hambden, chairman of the committee of the whole house, enlarged on the imminent danger to which the kingdom was exposed, and moved for a farther supply to his majesty. In this unexpected motion he was not seconded by one member: the house, however, having taken the letters into consideration, resolved to draw up an address to the king, desiring him to secure and disarm all papists of note; and they brought in a bill for attainting several persons in rebellion against their majesties: but it was not finished during this session. 45. Another bill being prepared in the house of lords, enjoining the subjects to wear the woollen manufacture at certain seasons of the year, a petition was presented against it by the silk-weavers of London and Canterbury, assembled in a tumultuous manner at Westminster: the lords refused their petition, because this was an unusual manner of appli : cation they were persuaded to return to their respective places of abode; precautions were taken against a second riot; and the bill was unanimously rejected in the upper house. This parliament passed an act, vesting in the two universities the presentations belonging to papists; those of the southern counties being given to Oxford, and those of the northern to Cambridge, on certain specified conditions: courts of conscience were erected at Bristol, Glocester, and Newcastle; and that of the marches of Wales was abolished, as an intolerable oppression: the protestant clergymen, who had been forced to leave their benefices in Ireland, were rendered capable of holding any living in England, without forfeiting their title to their former preferment; with the proviso that they should resign their English benefices when restored to those they had been obliged to relinquish. The statute of Henry IV. against multiplying gold and silver was now repealed the subjects were allowed to melt and refine metals and ores, and extract gold and silver from them, on condition that it should be brought to the mint, and converted into money, the owner receiving its full value in current coin. These, and several other bills of smaller importance being passed, the two houses adjourned to the twentieth day of September, and afterwards to the nineteentn day of October. : CHAP. II. WILLIAM AND MARY (CONTINUED.)-1689. 1. Duke of Schomberg lands with an army in Ireland-2. The Inniskilliners obtain a victory over the Irish-3. Schomberg censured for his inactivity-4. The French worsted at Walcourt -5. Success of the confederates in Germany. The Turks defeated at Patochin, Nissa, and Widen-6. Death of Pope Innocent XI.-7. King William becomes unpopular-8. A good number of the clergy refuse to take the oaths-9. The king grants a commission for reforming church discipline-10. Meeting of the convocation-11. Their session discontinued by repeated prorogations-12. Proceedings in parliament-13. The whigs obstruct the bill of indemnity-14. The commons resume the inquiry into the cause of the miscarriages in Ireland-15. King William irritated against the whigs-16. Plot against the government by Sir James Montgomery discovered by bishop Burnet-17. Warm debates in parliament about the corporationbill-18. The king resolves to finish the Irish war in person19. General Ludlow arrives in England, but is obliged to withdraw-20. Efforts of the Jacobites in Scotland-21. The court interest triumphs over all opposition in that country-22. The tory interest prevails in the new parliament of England--23. Bill for recognising their majesties-24. Another violent contest about the bill of abjuration-25. King William lands in Ireland-25. King James marches to the Boyne-27. William resolves to give him battle-28. Battle of the Boyne-29. Death and character of Schomberg-30. James embarks for France31. William enters Dublin, and publishes his declaration-32. The French obtain a victory over the English and Dutch fleets off Beechy-head-33. Torrington committed prisoner to the Tower-34. Progress of William in Ireland-35. He invests Limerick; but is obliged to raise the siege, and returns to England-36. Cork and Kinsale reduced by the earl of Marlborough-37. Lauzun and the French forces quit Ireland-38. The duke of Savoy joins the confederacy-39. Prince Waldeck defeated at Fleurus-40. The archduke Joseph elected king of the Romans. Death of the duke of Lorrain. Progress of the war against the Turks-41. Meeting of the parliament-42. The commons comply with all the king's demands-43. Petition of the tories in the city of London-44. Attempt against the marquis of Carmarthen-45. The king's voyage to Holland-46. He assists at a congress. Returns to England. 1. THOUGH the affairs of Ireland were extremely pressing, and the protestants of that country had made repeated ap |