IX. 1663. charge." We learn also from his own state- CHAP. ment, that he asked if Bristol did not know these charges to be false; denied that, if proved, they would amount to high treason; and desired that the judges might be consulted on that point. The Lords referred the charge to the judges, desiring them to report whether it had been regularly and legally brought in, and whether there be treason in it or not. The judges unanimously returned an July 13. answer, that the charge had not been regularly and legally brought in, inasmuch as a charge of high treason cannot be originally exhibited to the House of Peers by any one peer against another; and that if the charges were admitted to be true, yet there is not any treason in them. The King, on the same day, in a message to the Lords told them, that in Bristol's charge "he finds many matters of fact charged, "which upon his own certain knowledge are untrue," and " many scandalous reflections upon himself and his relations, which he looks upon as "a libel upon his person and government." The July 18. Lords resolved unanimously, that they concurred with the judges. Bristol absconded, and a proclamation was issued for his apprehension; and thus ridiculously and utterly failed this rash attempt to assail the character and power of Clarendon.† The immediate consequence of this attack was favourable to Clarendon. He regained his * Vol. III. p. 245. Life of Clarendon, ii. 256-263. Burnet, i. 338-340. Pepys, ii. 95. State Trials, vi. 304–313. Parl. Hist. iv. 276-283. Lords' Journals. Vol. III. 245-248. 1663. CHAP. influence; and the time-serving worshippers of IX. power once more flocked round, to pay their court to him whom they had recently deserted. * But the ulterior consequences were unfavourable. When public sympathy with the present triumph is mingled with pity for past endurance of oppression, from such conjunction the recompensed sufferer may gain a rich harvest of popularity and power. But in this case there had been no previous call for sympathy. For months before this accusation, Clarendon, combining high office with parliamentary success, must, to the multitude have seemed more powerful than ever; and they must rather have wondered at the rashness of the accuser, than have pitied the minister for having been unjustly accused. This rude assault was also injurious to that stability which power derives from the belief that it is unassailable. It was better, in those times, for a minister to be above attack, than to have escaped triumphant. It was better never to have been accused, than that the public should become habituated to the sound of charges, which, granting them to be calumnious, many persons might choose to think could not be utterly without foundation. It was now a fact, that great crimes had been imputed; and thousands who would never have dared to suggest the imputation, could safely repeat it as a matter of fact. There is a vitality in a calumnious lie, scarcely to be credited by those who have witnessed its apparent annihilation. It will seem to die, and the good and * Pepys, ii. 95. 66 yet, CHAP. wise will dismiss it from their thoughts; and yet, anon, it will revive, wearing a new but similar garb; and when men whisper, "It has been said before," even this will be made an argument for belief; and thus the calumny, which was not able to stand alone, will give support to the equally baseless fiction of which it is the parent. Even from this futile and insane attack Clarendon's power had received a shock; and this period of his triumph was also the commencement of his fall. IX. 1663. CHAP. X. SOURCES OF ENMITY BETWEEN ENGLAND AND THE DUTCH. 1661-1664. X. 1661. ONE of the most important events in the history of Lord Clarendon's administration, and one which conduced most directly to his fall, was the war between England and the Dutch. Whether he is justly chargeable with having promoted this war, or whether it arose from causes which he was not able to control, are questions which demand investigation. The sources of enmity between England and the Dutch were various; among which commercial jealousy was perhaps the chief. The Dutch, principally through the exercise of their native qualities of activity and perseverance, had become powerful competitors in commerce, in manufacture, in colonies, and in naval strength. Their navy in 1656 X. 1661. exceeded one hundred ships of war. They were CHAP. extending their colonial possessions in America, in Africa, and in Asia; they had rendered themselves the greatest carriers of merchandise for other nations; and by their woollen manufactures, they had become the most formidable rivals of this chief branch of English industry. The success of the Dutch, as the carriers of the world, had called forth the celebrated Act of Navigation, passed during the sway of Cromwell, prohibiting all nations from importing into England, in their own ships, goods which were not the produce or manufacture of their own country; and the Parliament, soon after the Restoration, had, in their Act "for encouraging and increasing of shipping and navigation," reenacted the principal provisions of this statute, with the addition of others in the same spirit, rendering its operation more strict and effectual, and counteracting evasions which a few years' experience had shown to be possible. It was evident, therefore, that the attention of the public was excited, and that the commercial jealousy which caused a war in 1652 was not appeased in 1660. The state of our woollen manufacture was also an object of much attention; and petitions were presented to the King by both Houses of Parliament ‡, ber, 1660. stating, "that for some years past the Dutch "have designed to beat down and discourage that "manufacture in this realm, and to gain the same *Thurloe, iv. 733, 734. + Commons' Journals, Sept. 4. 1660. Lords' Journals, Sept. 7. 1660. Statutes at Large. Commons' Journals, Sept. 4. 1660. Lords' Journals, Sept. 5, 1660. Septem |