CHAPTER XIX. VIEW OF THE STATE OF SOCIETY, AND OF PUBLIC EVENTS CHAP. of public Claren tion. A BRIEF survey of events subsequent to the administration of Lord Clarendon is not irrelevant XIX. to the subject of this work. The purposes of those View of who supplant, a minister are often exhibited most Society and faithfully in their subsequent proceedings: and a events after statesman must be judged, not only by that which don's Adhe ostensibly effected, but also by that which he ministrahad imperceptibly counteracted, and which bursts forth into active existence when his influence is removed. Charles signalized his emancipation from Clarendon's control, by making, within a month after that Minister had retired from office, a grant of plate to Lady Castlemaine; and afterwards by an indulgence more open and unbridled in reckless extravagance and licentious pleasures. His minister, Buckingham, encouraged in him that contempt of decency, which Clarendon had been XIX. CHAP. wont to reprove; and, at Buckingham's instigation, Charles installed in Lady Castlemaine's post of dishonour an actress of notorious frailty, who, in allusion to two preceding paramours of the same name, called the King her "Charles the Third." The few years following Clarendon's expulsion were the most glaringly profligate in that age of profligacy—the most corrupt and degraded in that reign of political degradation. Morality had fallen so low, that it could scarcely obtain even the homage of the shallowest hypocrisy, from those whose position, making them conspicuous, ought to have made them also mindful of the example they were setting: and the grossest crimes were sometimes pardoned if they assumed the character of frolic. Two court favourites, the King's recent companions in an indecent revel, "run up and down all the night, almost naked, through the streets," and are taken into custody: "the King "takes their parts;" and a Lord Chief Justice imprisons the constable who had done his duty in apprehending them. The favourite minister kills in a duel the husband of a woman whose paramour he is, and who assists at the combat in the disguise of a page. The King's illegitimate son Monmouth, in company with the young Duke of Albemarle and others, kills a watchman, who begs for mercy, and the King pardons all the murderers. A daring ruffian, named Blood, attempts to assassinate the Duke of Ormond, and soon after * Pepys, iv. 185. XIX. wards to steal the regalia: Charles admits the felon CHAP. to his presence-hears with amusement the boastful confession of his committed and intended crimes, and not only pardons but rewards him. The son of Ormond tells the King's minister, before the King, that he believes him the instigator of the recent attempt to assassinate his father, and that should any such attempt succeed, he shall regard that minister as the secret instrument, and kill him even in the King's presence. Sir John Coventry, a member of Parliament, in the course of a debate, in reply to an argument against taxing playhouses, namely, that the players were the King's servants, and a part of his pleasure, asked whether the King's pleasure lay amongst the men or the women who acted. Charles stung by Coventry's allusion to what every body knew, sends some officers of the guards to waylay and maim him, which they do by cutting his nose to the bone. Assuming that these facts were monstrous exceptions, and not average examples of the state of society, it may still be urged that they could not have been possible except in a period of unparalleled corruption. The politics of that period were suitable to the morals. The Cabal, a ministry notorious above others for pernicious counsels, were engaged in the furtherance of that plot for the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic faith, which had been crushed for a time by the firmness of Clarendon in 1663. By a secret treaty with France, Charles bound himself to profess that faith, and to aid Louis in XIX. CHAP. the subjugation and dismemberment of the Dutch Republic, with which England was then at peace; while Louis in return engaged to furnish Charles with money, and to send him an armed force if necessary, to suppress any serious symptoms of discontent in England, which the abjuration of Protestantism might produce. After the completion of this secret compact, a large supply was obtained from the Parliament by a more monstrous tissue of false pretences than ever Minister had dared to plead. The Minister alleged the necessity of increasing our armament in consequence of the formidable strength of the French navy, with which Charles had covertly pledged himself to cooperate; and as a means of maintaining the triple league, which at that very time he had engaged to violate. The war thus iniquitously meditated against a friendly Protestant state, was declared on grounds the most frivolous and unjust. An English yacht sailed into the midst of the Dutch fleet lying near the Dutch coast, and endeavoured to provoke a quarrel by trying to compel them to strike their colours to the British flag. The Dutch Admiral refused to deviate from former practice, by lowering his flag on the Dutch coast to a British vessel which was not a vessel of war. "This incident how"ever," says Hume, an historian partial to the Stuarts, "furnished Downing with a new article "to increase the vain pretences on which it was proposed to ground the intended rupture. The English Court delayed several months before they 66 66 XIX. complained, lest if they had demanded satisfac- CHAP. "tion more early, the Dutch might have had time "to grant it. Even when Downing delivered his "memorial, he was bound by his instructions not "to accept of any satisfaction after a certain num"ber of days a very imperious manner of nego"tiating, and impracticable in Holland, where the "forms of the Republic render delays absolutely "unavoidable. An answer however, though re"fused by Downing, was sent over to London "with an Ambassador - extraordinary, who had "orders to use every expedient that might give "satisfaction to the Court of England. That "Court replied, that the answer of Holland was ambiguous and obscure; but they would not specify the articles or expressions which were liable "to that objection. The Dutch Ambassador de"sired the English Ministry to draw the answer "in what terms they pleased, and he engaged to 66 66 66 sign it. The English Ministry replied, that it "was not their business to draw papers for the "Dutch. The Ambassador brought them the draught of an article, and asked them whether "it was satisfactory. The English answered that "when he had signed and delivered it, they would "tell him their mind concerning it. The Dutch"man resolved to sign at a venture; and on his "demanding a new audience, an hour was ap pointed for that purpose. But when he attended, "the English refused to enter upon business, and "told him that the season for negotiating was now |