CHAPTER XXVIII.

Altered Tone of Parliament.—The King goes to the Continent.-And concludes an Alliance against France.-State of Parties in England.-The Ministers attacked and defended in several Pamphlets.-Davenant's Picture of a Modern Whig.-Death and Character of James II.-His Son acknowledged by the French King.-Sensation produced in England.- De Foe's Remarks upon the Addresses.—Ambassador recalled.— Sentiments of the Tories.-De Foe publishes the present state of Jacobitism.-Reply to it.-Publications inviting to War.-De Foe's Reasons against a War with France.-Occasion of his Work.-Its Character.-Produces several Replies.-William returns to England.-Dissolves the Parliament.Resolves upon a Change of Ministry.—Publications to influence the Elections.-Black List.-Whig and Tory Pamphlets.-Legion's New Paper.-Pamphlet against the Legionites.-Drake's History of the last Parliament.-Davenant's Second Picture of a Modern Whig.

1701-1702.

THE events recorded in a preceding chapter, as they indicated a change in public opinion, so they produced a favorable impression upon the proceedings in parliament. The Kentish petition had been followed up by others of a like nature, from different counties, and one had been prepared in the City of London; but the ministers, alarmed for their reputation and their places, represented to the king their injurious tendency, and requested him to interpose so far as to give them his discouragement. The Commons now affected a more harmonious concurrence with his policy; augmented the army, granted liberal supplies, and pledged themselves to support any alliances that he might form for controlling the power of France, and securing the peace of

THE KING GOES TO THE CONTINENT.

438 Europe. This altered tone could not be otherwise than pleasing to the monarch; but the two Houses of Parliament being embroiled with each other, and one of them with the people, he gladly put an end to the session, upon the 24th of June. About a week afterwards he embarked for Holland, where his talents for negotiation, and for military affairs, found a wider scope. Besides detaching some princes from the French interest, and securing the co-operation of others, he formed an alliance with Holland and the Emperor, which had for its basis the reduction of the power of France. Whatever reason might exist for this measure in the view of King William, whose opinion was uniform upon the subject, the sanction given to it by his ministers, betrayed great inconsistency; for it was but a few months before, that they had advised the acknowledgment of the Duke of Anjou's title, and surrendered to him the whole of the Spanish dominions.

During the absence of the king, the strife of parties continued unabated in England. As the ministers were sinking fast in reputation, the same causes that produced it, tended also to revive the popularity of their opponents, which was farther promoted by the late intemperate proceedings in parliament. The passions of the people, already heated to excess, were now farther stimulated by means of the press, of which both parties availed themselves, by pouring forth libels in abundance. The Earl of Rochester, who had been appointed to the government of Ireland, being considered the main prompter of the ministry, was attacked in a folio sheet, intitled "The True Patriot Vindicated; or, a Justification of his Excellency the Earl of Rochester, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, from several false and scandalous Reports. Lond. 1701." This piece is purely ironical. The writer takes a review of the Earl's conduct in the preceding reign, when he held the office of Lord Treasurer, and levied the customs without consent of parliament. For this, and his other

THE MINISTERS ATTACKED AND DEFENDED.

439

services, particularly his acting in the ecclesiastical commission, he receives all the commendation to which they intitled him; and the king is bantered for employing a man of his principles, who had been so steady an opponent of his government. The other leading Tories are also attacked in the same ludicrous strain; particularly Sir Bartholomew Shower, who penned, and Sir Humphrey Mackworth, who presented, the celebrated address to King James, from the Middle Temple, in which the prerogative is magnified as the greatest security to the liberty and property of the subject. This libel was immediately seized upon by an opponent, and reprinted in an octavo pamphlet, intitled, "The Whig's Thirty Two Queries, and as many of the Tories in answer to them: With a Speech made at the General Quarter-Sessions held for the county of Gloucester; as also another learned Speech made at the Town-hall of Reading. To which is added, A Copy of a late printed Paper, pretended to be a Vindication of the Earl of Rochester. Lond. 1701." Some time afterwards, an attempt was made to turn the tables upon the Whigs, and to rescue the character of the noble Earl from the charges of his sarcastic opponent, in "The Old and Modern Whig truly Represented; being a Second Part of his Picture: And a Real Vindication of his Excellency the Earl of Rochester, his Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; and of several other true Patriots of our Established Church, English Liberty, and Ancient Monarchy, from the gross Forgeries and foul Calumnies, falsely and maliciously cast upon them in their late Libels. Lond. 1702." 4to. This is a lame attempt to white-wash the illegal transactions of the late reigns, and to recriminate upon the Whigs for the serious charges brought home upon their opponents. A large portion of the work is occupied by an attack upon Legion," upon "The History of the Kentish Petition," and upon "Jura Populi Anglicani." Toland, Burnet, and other eminent Whigs, have, also, a

66

440

DAVENANT'S PICTURE OF A MODERN WHIG.

considerable share of the writer's abuse; but his politics, both in church and state, are fitter for African slaves than for a free people.

Upon the pamphlets issued from the ministerial quarters, Burnet observes, "The few books that were published on their side were so poorly writ, that it tempted one to think, they were writ by men who personated the being on their side, on design to expose them."* An exception to this censure must be made in favour of a work that was a precursor of the one just mentioned, and displayed a considerable share of talent and ingenuity; with an equal degree of bitterness. It is intitled, "The True Picture of a Modern Whig; set forth in a Dialogue between Mr. Whiglove and Mr. Double, two under spur-leathers to the late ministry. London, printed in the year 1701." 8vo. This work, it seems, has been attributed to De Foe,† but certainly without any good reason. The politics of the writer are wholly different, and of the genuine Tory breed. General report, founded upon a likeness of style, has attributed it to Dr. Charles Davenant, a civilian, and a noted political writer, who raised himself into notice by writing against the court; and if he be the real author, must be allowed to be one of the greatest masters of invective that our language has produced. (Y) Under the assumed name of Tom Double, he presents his readers with some leading circumstances in the life and character of a Modern Whig, who made the service of his country secondary to his personal aggrandizement, in the pursuit of which he sacrificed every principle of moral honesty. Those who considered him drawn to the life, and in the bitterness of party there were many such, must have

* Burnet's Own Time, iii. 402.

† Biog. Dict. Art. Davenant. ↑ Biog. Brit. Art. Davenant.”

(Y) In some pamphlets of the time, Davenant is distinctly spoken of as the author, and he is mentioned as such by many subsequent writers. It is included in the collection of his works, by Sir Charles Whitworth.

DEATH AND CHARACTER OF JAMES II.

441

looked upon him as one of the greatest scoundrels that ever existed. But the picture, although painted with ingenuity, is too highly coloured to be imposed as a likeness in the days of calmer discussion; and it must be set down as one of those political squibs that were shot from the magazine of party, to inflame the passions of the multitude. Such was the successful circulation of this performance, that, in the course of a very short time, it ran through no fewer than six editions; and the power of such an instrument, when acting upon public opinion, may be easily conceived, when it is remembered that an octavo pamphlet, of sixty-four pages, was retailed to the public at the low price of six-pence. A second part was added in the following year, as will be hereafter mentioned.

Whilst political parties were running a race for popularity in England, by traducing each other, and magnifying their own zeal for the public good, an event occurred upon the continent, that gave a new edge to public feeling, and increased the existing antipathy to France.

James the Second, after living in exile more than twelve years, abandoned to a life of inactivity, and despised by the court that protected him, departed this life at St. Germains, upon Friday, the 16th of September, (z) 1701, in the 68th year of his age. His constitution, which was naturally vigorous, had been yielding for some time to the infirmities age, whilst a recollection of his misfortunes, which sought refuge in the gloom of a monastery, wasted his spirits. From the time that he had relinquished any hope of recovering his crown, he had given himself up to religious mortifications, going sometimes to the monastery of La Trappe, where the monks were said to be much edified by his hum

of

(z) It is remarkable, that nearly all our historians place his death upon the sixth of September; but from the Journal of his Life, published by the Rev. J. S. Clarke, in 2 volumes 4to, 1816, it appears that he died on the sixteenth.