Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 3.djvu/543

] their descendants yet remain, still bearing their French names, in Bethnal Green and Spitalfields. Others carried their manufacturing industry to Saxony, and others emigrated to the Cape as vine growers. Franco, by this blind act of bigotry, lost a host of her best citizens, and had her arts carried to her rivals.

This was a terrible blow to the scheme of James for restoring Romanism to power in England. The public justly said, if a politic monarch like Louis could not refrain at such a serious cost from persecuting protestants, what was England to expect should Romanism gain the ascendancy here, under a bigoted and narrow-minded king like James? James himself saw the full extent of the, to him, inopportune occurrence, and professed to join heartily in the universal outcry of Europe, not excepting the very pope himself, and Spain, the land of Jesuits and inquisitions; for those parties who were suffering from the aggressions of Louis, found it like James, convenient to make an outcry. What more irritated James, was an address which the French clergy in a body had presented to Louis, applauding the deed and declaring that the pious king of England was looking to Louis for his aid in reducing his heretical subjects. This address was read with astonishment and terror by the English people, and James hastened to condemn the revocation of the edict, and to promote and contribute to the relief of the refugees who had sought shelter here. We shall see that this affected sympathy did not last long.

Burning of Elizabeth Gaunt.

On the 9th of November James met his parliament. He congratulated them on the suppression of the rebellion in the west, but observed that it had shown how little dependence could be placed on the militia. It would be necessary to maintain a strong regular force, and that would, of course, require proportionate funds. He had, he observed, admitted some officers to commissions who had not taken the test, but they were such as he could rely on, and he was resolved to continue them there. On their return to their house the lords tamely voted him an address of thanks, but with the commons a demur on this head arose, and a delay of three days was voted before considering an address. This was ominous, and during the interval the ambassadors of Austria and the pope advised James to be careful not to quarrel with the parliament. Barillon, on the contrary, urged him towards the fatality, for which he required little stimulus. If he quarrelled with his parliament, he must become Louis's slave, and leave Austria, Spain, and Italy at his mercy. When the parliament resumed the question, the members, both whigs and tories, who were alike opposed to James's projected aggressions, carefully avoided any irritating topic except that of the army. They took no notice of the atrocities committed in the west; they did not revert to the illegal practices by which members in the interest of government had been returned, but they skilfully proposed improvements in the militia, so as to supersede the necessity of a standing army. When the vote for supply was proposed, the house carried a motion for bringing a bill for rendering the militia more effective before it, and on this motion Seymour of Exeter, a tory, as well as Sir William Temple, Sir John Maynard, who had taken a loading part in the parliamentary struggle against