Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 3.djvu/569

]. He thanked them for their long and devoted support of him in his endeavours for the independence of Europe, and committed his wife to their protection whilst he was absent for the same great object, and the security of the protestant religion. He declared that if he died it would be as their servant; if he lived, it would be as their friend. The pensionary Fagel, now old and failing, replied with great emotion; and, amid the tears of most present, William stood like a stoic, without any visible agitation. The deputies of the principal towns accompanied him to the water-side, and that evening he went on board his frigate the Brill. The next day a public fast was held in the Hague, with sermons and prayers for the success of the expedition, and Mary continued to retain her place in the church in public during the long service from half-past ten in the morning till half-past seven in the afternoon. Though the success of her husband must be the dethronement of her father, she maintained an outward air of callousness.

On the afternoon of the 19th the fleet sailed from Helvoetslnys, the men-of-war, in three divisions, forming a long line out at sea, and the transports driving before the breeze nearer in land. The day was fine, the wind steady from the south-west; and as the eventful squadron passed the sandy downs of Scheveling, the inhabitants of the Hague crowded them in thousands, and raised accumulations of anticipated success. But the scene rapidly changed. By ten o'clock at night a furious tempest was again raging, which dispersed the fleet, sunk one ship, damaged many others, compelled them to throw overboard great quantities of stores, and destroyed a thousand horses through being closed down under hatches. The fleet managed to regain Helvoetslnys, which William himself reached on the 21st. He refused to go on shore, but sent to the states for fresh supplies, and busied himself in pushing on his repairs.

The news of this disaster reached England with many aggravations, so that it was imagined that the expedition would be given up for that season; and James declared with much satisfaction that it was what he expected, the host having been exposed for several days. He seized, however, the time afforded by this delay to assemble an extraordinary body, the members of the privy council, the peers who were in or near London, the judges, the law officers of the crown, the lord mayor and Aldermen, the queen-dowager, and two-and-twenty women—some ladies about the queen, some menials. The princess Anne was summoned, but excused herself on account of indisposition. "I have called you together,"' said James, "upon a very extraordinary occasion; but extraordinary diseases must have extraordinary remedies. The malicious endeavours of my enemies have so poisoned the minds of many of my subjects, that, by the reports I have from all hands, I have reason to believe that many do think this son which God has pleased to bless me with be none of mine, but a suppostitious child." The witnesses were all examined on oath except the queen-dowager, and presented such a mass of evidence as was undoubtedly complete, and it was enrolled in chancery and published. But such was the intense prejudice of the age that it failed to convince the public at large. As Anne was not present, the council waited on her with a copy of the evidence, on which she observed, "My lords. this was not necessary; the king's word is more to me than all these depositions." Yet her uncle. Clarendon, assures us that she never mentioned the child but with ridicule, and only once was heard to call it the prince of Wales, and that was when she thought it was dying. Anne, in fact, was devoted to the cause of the prince of Orange; and Biuillon says that she avoided every opportunity of convincing herself of what she did not wish to believe.

This singular act of verification of the child's identity was the last act of the ministry of Sunderland His treason had not escaped observation. A letter of his wife's had been intercepted and shown to him by the king, in which she was found in close correspondence with Sidney. He strictly denied all knowledge of it, and did not hesitate to advert to his wife's liaison with Sidney as sufficiently exculpatory of himself. For a time he lulled James's suspicions, but they again revived; and, on the very evening of this extraordinary council, James sent Middleton and demanded the seals. To the last Sunderland acted the part of injured innocence; but was not long in getting away to the Hague, not, however, in time to join William before his second embarkation. His office of secretary to the southern department was given to Middleton, and of secretary to the northern department to lord Preston, both protestants. Petre was dismissed from the council, but retained his post as clerk of the closet at Whitehall. But all this did not alter the tone of public feeling. The very day before the assembling of the extraordinary council, the London mob demolished a new catholic chapel; and on the 11th of October, the king's birthday, there had been no sign of rejoicing, not even the firing of the Tower guns; but the people reminded one another that it was the anniversary of the landing of William the Conqueror. Their thoughts were running on the landing of another William.

On the 1st of November the prince of Orange again set sail, and this time with a favourable though strong gale from the east. Besides the English noblemen and gentlemen whom we have mentioned, including also Fletcher of Saltoun, William had with him marshal Schomberg, an able and experienced general, who was appointed second in command; Bentinck, Overkirk, and counts Solmes and Stourm. Herbert was the chief admiral, much to the chagrin of the Dutch admirals, but very wisely so determined by William, who well knew the hereditary jealousy of the Dutch fleet, and the remembered boast and besom of Van Tromp in England. He resolved that, if they came to conflict with lord Dartmouth, it should be English commander against English, or his cause might receive great prejudice. For twelve hours William drove before the breeze towards the coasts of Yorkshire, as if intending to land there; then, suddenly tacking, he stood down the Channel before the gale. Dartmouth attempted to issue from the mouth of the Thames to intercept him, but the violent wind which favoured William perfectly disabled him. His vessels as they came out to sea were driven back with much damage, compelled to strike yards and top-masts, and to lie abreast the Longsand; whilst William, leading the way in the Brill, sailed rapidly past with his whole fleet and a crowd of other vessels that had gathered in his rear, to the amount of nearly seven hundred. It was twenty-four hours before Dartmouth could give chase, and on the 5th of