Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 3.djvu/523

] patronage were usurped by this daring man. At the council board Jeffreys treated him with the most marked contempt, and even insult, and poor Guilford soon saw all influence and profit of the chancellorship, as well as the chief justiceship, in the hands of Jeffreys, and himself reduced to a cipher.

But the most ungenerous proceeding was that of depriving the old and faithful lord Ormond of the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland. Ormond had not only stood firmly by Charles I., but had suffered unrepiningly the evil fortunes of Charles II. He had shared his exile, and had done all in his power for his restoration. He had opposed all the endeavours by the popish plot and the exclusion bill to get rid of James, and was highly respected in his office in Ireland. He had lately lost his eldest son, lord Ossory, and, though aged, was still vigorous and zealous in discharge of his duties. But he had the unpardonable faults of being a firm protestant and as firm advocate for the constitutional restrictions of the crown. James recalled him from his lord-lieutenancy on the plea that he was wanted at court in his other office of lord steward of the household. But the ancient chief felt the ungrateful act, and at a farewell dinner at Dublin to the officers of the garrison, and in toasting the health of the king, filled a cup of wine to the brim, and holding it aloft without spilling a drop, declared that whatever the courtiers might say, neither hand, heart, nor reason yet failed him,—that he knew no approach of dotage.

Having made these changes in the ministry, James lost no time in letting his subjects see that he meant to enjoy his religion without the restraints to which he had been accustomed. He had been used to attend mass with the queen in her oratory, with the doors carefully closed; but the second Sunday after his accession he ordered the chapel doors to be thrown wide open, and went thither in procession. The duke of Somerset, who bore the sword of state, stopped at the threshold. James bade him advance, saying, "Your father would have gone further." But Somerset replied, "Your majesty's father would not have gone so far."

At the moment of the elevation of the host, the courtiers were thrown into a strange agitation. The catholics fell on their knees, and the protestants hurried away. On Easter Sunday mass was attended with still greater ceremony, Somerset stopped at the door, according to custom, but the dukes of Norfolk, Northumberland, Grafton, Richmond, and many other noblemen accompanied the king as far as the gallery. Godolphin and Sunderland also complied, but Rochester absolutely refused to attend. Not satisfied with proclaiming his catholicism, James produced two papers, which he said he had found in the strong box of the late king, wherein Charles was made to avow his persuasion that there could be no true church but the Roman, and that all who dissented from that church, whether communities or individuals, became heretic. James declared the arguments to be perfectly unanswerable, and challenged Sancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, to attempt it. This was not very consistent with his speech as it regarded the church of England, and his next step was as little so as regarded his assurances in it that he would not invade any man's property. Funds for carrying on the government were necessary, and James declared that as the customs and part of the excise had only been granted to Charles for his life, they had now lapsed. and that it would produce great inconvenience to wait for the meeting of parliament for their re-enactment. Nothing prevented him calling parliament at once, but James undoubtedly had a fancy for trying his father's favourite measure of levying taxes without parliament. It was contended that as no law for customs or excise now existed, all goods fresh imported would come in duty free, and ruin all the merchants who had to sell goods which had paid the duty. North, lord Guildford, recommended that the duties should be levied as usual, but the proceeds kept in the exchequer till parliament met and authorised their appropriation; but Jeffreys was a counsellor much more after the king's heart. He recommended that an edict should at once be issued, ordering the duties to be paid as usual to his majesty, and this advice was carried, every one being afraid of being declared disloyal, or a trimmer, who voted against it. The proclamation was issued, but to render it more palatable, it announced that a parliament would be very soon called, and was many addresses as possible from public bodies, sanctioning the measure, were procured. The barristers and students of the Middle Temple, in their address, thanked the king for preserving the customs, and both they and both the universities expressed the most boundless obedience to the king's sovereign and unlimited power. But the public at large looked on with silent foreboding. "The compliments of these bodies," says Dalrymple, "only serving to remind the nation that the laws had been broken."

Before venturing to assemble parliament, James endeavoured to render Louis of France acquiescent in this measure. He knew from the history of the late reign how averse Louis was to English parliaments, which were hostile to his designs against the continental nations. He therefore had a private interview with Barillon, in which he apologised most humbly for the necessity of calling a parliament. He begged him to assure his master of his grateful attachment, and that he was determined to do nothing without his consent. If the parliament attempted to meddle in any foreign affairs, he would send them about their business. Again he begged him to explain this, and that he desired to consult his brother of France in everything, but then he must have some money by some means. This hint of money was followed up the next day by Rochester, and Barillon hastened to convey the royal wishes. But Louis had lost no time in applying the effectual remedy for a parliament, the moment the assembling of one became menaced. He sent over five hundred thousand crowns, which Barillon carried in triumph to Whitehall, and James wept over the accursed bribe tears of joy and gratitude. But he and his ministers soon hinted that the money, though most acceptable, would not render him independent of parliament, and Barillon pressed his sovereign to send more with an urgency which rather offended Louis, and rendered it probable that the ambassador had a pretty good per centage out of what he obtained. James sent over to Versailles captain Churchill, already become lord Churchill, and in time to become known to us and all the world as the duke of Marlborough. He was to express James's gratitude and his assurances of keeping in view the interests of France,