and Monmouth to their secret meetings; but there was no trusting to his friendship, and they knew that his power in the house of commons was irresistible. They consulted Sunderland and Temple, and it was resolved to suggest the expediency of a dissolution. The advice met with the approbation of the king, who was well acquainted with Shaftesbury's intrigues, and with his intention of bringing forward new charges against the July queen and the duke of York *. For the sake of form 10. the question was proposed in the council: but by some mismanagement the "king's friends" had not been apprised of the royal wish, and a decided majority had already pronounced against the measure, when Charles, taking advantage of an expression dropped by Temple, suddenly turned to the chancellor, and ordered him to prepare a proclamation for the dissolution of the present, and the calling of another parliament. This act of vigour struck his adherents with surprise: it threw the lords Shaftesbury and Russell into a paroxysm of rage +."

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In the mean while the duke of York bore with impatience his exile at Brussels. His dearest interests were at stake; and yet, instead of being on the spot to oppose the intrigues of his enemies, he was detained in a foreign land, and compelled to trust to the promises of a brother, whose easy wavering disposition had so frequently yielded to the united and reiterated efforts of his opponents. It was true that Essex and Halifax, the most influential of the royal advisers, professed themselves his friends: but their conversion was very recent, and they were friends only after a certain fashion; that is, as far as might suit their personal interests. They exhorted

• Monmouth's cook had made oath that he heard a person desire Antonio, servant to the queen's confessor, to take care of the four Irishmen, who were to do the business. Antonio was accordingly committed for high treason. Moreover, a Venetian merchant asserted that sir Henry Tichbourne owned to him, that the object of his journey to Rome was to prosecute, by order of the duke, the design mentioned in the letters of cardinal Howard. James (Memoirs), i. 561.

Temple, ii. 509-512.

A.D. 1679.] THE DUKE OF YORK IN BRUSSELS.

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the king to maintain the duke's right to the succession, because they knew that the success of Monmouth would infallibly lead to their own disgrace: but they sought to avoid the appearance of advocating the duke's cause, because they feared to share with him the dislike of the people. On every favourable occasion, at the prorogation, on the acquittal of Wakeman, at the dissolution of parliament, James renewed his solicitations for leave to return: but he received invariably the same answer, that the time was not yet come; that his presence would probably lead to insurrection; that he must wait till the public excitement, raised by the plot, had subsided. Indeed," said Charles in one of his letters, "I should “be very unwilling to have a question brought upon the stage, whether or no you should be secured, and you " at the same time present, considering how easy it is to "have false witnesses, till Oates and Bedloe have their "due *."

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It chanced, however, that in August the king was confined to his bed by a violent fever. Monmouth was then at court in the zenith of his popularity: he held the Aug office of commander-in-chief; and he had the face to 22. solicit from the sick monarch an order for the duke of York not to remove from Brussels. His object under these circumstances could not be misunderstood. Essex and Halifax met Sunderland, Hyde, and Godolphin at the lodgings of the duchess of Portsmouth; and Charles 23. by their advice despatched a message to James to return to England, but on condition that he should come on his own responsibility, and should go back to Brussels after the king's recovery. The duke lost not a moment: he 29. travelled under a feigned name, reached Windsor in Sept. disguise, and was the first to announce his arrival to his 11. brother. Charles, who was now in a state of convalescence, received him most affectionately, and the courtiers crowded round to offer their congratulations. Monmouth alone appeared awkward and embarrassed. On

* James (Memoirs), i. 556, 557. 559. 561, 562.

the suggestion of Shaftesbury he rejected the proposal of a reconciliation with his uncle, and occasionally dropped menaces of vengeance against those counsellors who had advised the recall of the duke. By them, to save their popularity, it had been determined that James should immediately go back to Brussels; but at the same time the threats of Monmouth induced them to think of securing themselves from his resentment. For this purpose they called the attention of the king to the hard case of his brother, the presumptive heir to the crown, compelled to live in banishment without office or influence, while his intended competitor, who had no other claim than the interest of a factious party, resided in the capital, held the command of the army, and was always ready to seize, as opportunity might offer, the object of his ambition. Charles acknowledged the justice Sept. of the suggestion; and, sending for Monmouth, told him 12. that circumstances required him to resign his office of

24.

lord general, and to withdraw for a season to the continent. The young man betrayed in his answer a pettishness of disposition, and a feeling of disrespect, which offended the pride though it did not extinguish the affection, of his father but in the evening he met Shaftesbury, Montague, and the leaders of his party, who advised him to obey; for his banishment would raise him to the dignity of a martyr in the eyes of the people, and the parliament would not fail to demand justice for a prince, whose only crime was his attachment to the religion and liberties of his country *. With reluctance he yielded to their authority, and repaired to Holland, where he was coldly received by the prince of Orange, whose claim to the crown in the event of the exclusion of James, taught him to look upon Monmouth in the light of a rival. After dinner they walked together in the garden. Monmouth showed the prince a letter from the king promising that the time of his exile

James (Memoirs), i. 566. 570. Temple, 11. 513. 518. Burnet, ii, 239. Dalrymple, 247. 249.

A.D. 1679.]

GOES TO RESIDE IN SCOTLAND.

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should be short, attributed his disgrace not to the jealousy of the duke of York, but to the arts of the duchess of Portsmouth, and of Essex, Halifax, and Sunderland, and solemnly declared that he never had cherished, never would cherish a thought of aspiring to the crown. They parted with mutual protestations of friendship, to which it is probable that neither gave the smallest credit *.

It was evident that considerable inconvenience might arise if, at the king's death, the heir to the crown were resident in a foreign country, and under the control of a foreign prince. This was represented with so much force by secretary Coventry, that the duke received permission to exchange the place of his exile for the capital of Scotland. He returned to Brussels, for the ostensible purpose of conducting his wife and family to Edinburgh, and his intention of residing in that country was announced by authority in the Gazette: but instead of Oct. sailing from Holland to Leith, he anchored in the 9. Downs, and requested permission of his brother to remain in England. He had been secretly informed that Charles had no objection; but Essex and Halifax were inexorable; instead of the answer which he expected, he received an invitation to court, and after a short visit 12. proceeded on his voyage. At Edinburgh he was received 27. with the respect due to his rank, and took his place in Dec. the council, but carefully abstained from all connexion 4. with either of the parties which divided that kingdom*.

It had been ascertained that the general result of the elections was unfavourable to the court; and Shaftesbury waited anxiously for the meeting of the new parliament, in which he promised himself an easy victory over his political opponents. But it was equally the interest of the king and the two confidential ministers to defeat his designs. To deprive him of the means of

D'Avaux, i. 24. 32. 34.

+ James (Memoirs), i. 571, 575. 580. Dalrymple, 250. Gazette, 1449. The name by which he was desiguated in the correspondence of the

7.

annoyance which he derived from his office of president of the council, he was unexpectedly superseded by lord Oct. Robartes, lately created earl of Radnor; and to extin15. guish his hopes from the superiority of his party in the lower house, the king in council, without any previous notice, ordered the chancellor to prepare a commission for the prorogation of parliament during the long space of twelve months. At this announcement the members gazed on each other with signs of astonishment; some rose to speak, but Charles commanded silence; he had foreseen and weighed every objection, had taken his resolution, and would be obeyed. No one ventured to remonstrate; and on the very day appointed for the 17. opening of the session, the parliament was prorogued for a few weeks, and afterwards by repeated commissions for a full year*.

The real motive of the king, which was unknown to the council, may be discovered in a secret intrigue beJune tween him and the French ambassador. A little before 24, the dissolution in July, Charles had applied to that minister for relief from the pecuniary embarrassments with which he saw himself threatened. Louis was, indeed, offended at his past conduct: but he did not allow his resentment to stand in the way of his interests. He accepted the apology of his English brother: he even listened to his proposals; but at the same time affected to set no great value on any services which could then be rendered to him by the English crown. It was to quicken his tardiness that Charles summoned a new parliament when he dissolved the old one. The Oct. negotiation then proceeded more rapidly: it was at last 17. agreed that the king should receive from France a pen

royal brothers was "Little Sincerity," the first of which words alluded to his person, the other to his professions of a virtue for which they gave him no credit. Charles said of him that "he had nurrished a snake in "his bosome, that Shaftesbury began to play the devil, and could no "longer be suffered." James (Memoirs), i. 563.

* Temple, ii. 521. L. Journals, xiii. 597. 609. Bulstrode, 304. The reason why short prorogations were preferred may be seen in the life of James (Memoirs), 585, 586.