Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/43

A.D. 1690.] James on the adherents of Monmouth, we may award the praise of a fine humanity to William and Mary, who refused not only to avenge any injuries to themselves, but tied up the hands of those who would have exacted retribution for the wrongs done them or their kindred under James. Indeed, if we look back to any former reign, there is not one, not even the commonwealth itself, which so completely exemplified the genuine temper of a truly Christian government.

From the benefit of this act of grace, pardoning all past offences, were it is true, excepted thirty names, prominent amongst whom were the marquis of Powis, the lords Sunderland, Huntingdon, Dover, Melfort, and Castlemaine; the bishops of Durham and St. Davids; the judges Herbert, Jenner, Withers, and Holloway; Roger Lestrange; Lundy, the traitor governor of Londonderry; father Petre; and judge Jeffreys. This last monster of infamy was already deceased in the Tower, and it was well understood that if the others named only kept themselves at peace, and did not thrust themselves on the attention of the government by some fresh acts of annoyance, they would never be inquired after. Neither party, however, thanked William for the constrained peace. The whigs were disappointed of the vengeance they burned to enjoy; the tories, and even those who had the most narrowly escaped the intended mischief, ungenerously said that if William had really anything to avenge, he would not have pardoned it. But they only made the more conspicuous their own base nature: the grand magnanimity of William came in time to be felt and acknowledged by the nation. The day after the passing of this important act he prorogued parliament. The convocation which had been summoned, and met in Henry VII.'s chapel—St. Paul's, its usual meeting-place, having been burnt down in the great fire, was not yet rebuilt—had been prorogued some time before. Its great topic had been the scheme of comprehension, which was warmly advocated by Burnet and the more liberal members, but the High Church was as high and immovable as ever. Nothing could be accomplished, and from this time the nonconformists gave up all hope of any reunion with the church.

William now made active preparations for the Irish campaign. It was time, for Schomberg had, from causes which we partly detailed, effected very little, and the English fleet had done worse than nothing at sea. It was not only in Ireland that the danger of William lay, or whence came his troubles. He had to maintain the contest on the continent against Louis XIV., against James in Ireland, against corruption and imbecility in his fleet, against the most wholesale mismanagement and peculation in every department of the English government, and against the feuds and disaffection of his own courtiers and servants. Whilst the contests which we have just related were agitating parliament, William was vigorously at work exploring the depths of malversation in the government departments all around him. Shales, the commissary-general, was dismissed, and a new spirit was introduced into the commissariat under the vigilant eye of William himself. He soon effected a wonderful change in the government business of supplying the army. Instead of the vile poisons and putrid and abominable meats, excellent provisions were supplied to the army. These villaniesvillanies [sic], by which the poor soldiers had been robbed of their proper clothing, and bedding, and tents, vanished, and they were soon well clothed, well lodged, and well equipped. The road to Chester swarmed with wagons conveying wholesome supplies for the army, and a fleet lay there ready to convey the king over, with additional troops and stores. Before he set out himself, the army in Ireland amounted to thirty thousand effective men.

But the affairs of the channel fleet were in the worst possible condition. William there committed the error of continuing Torrington, better known as admiral Herbert—who had been suspected of a leaning towards James, and who had been already beaten at Bantry Bay—in the chief command, when he removed him from his post of first lord of the admiralty. Herbert was a debauched, effeminate fellow, who had sunk whatever talent or honour he might have had in the company of loose women and in the bottle, he took troops of bad women on board with him, and he staid for months together in London, indulging in all sorts of license and luxury, whilst his sailors were suffering the most atrocious treatment. They had such meat served out to them, that neither they nor even dogs could touch. They were ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-paid; the contractors and the officers were enriching themselves at their expense; and what was worse, they were compelled to bear the disgrace of having our commerce interrupted in all directions by the French cruisers. Whilst they lay inactive in Portsmouth, the French scoured our coasts, and captured trading vessels with their cargoes, to the value of six hundred thousand pounds.

On the continent affairs in general were prosperous though the Dutch complained that William inclined to favour the English too much, and the English were jealous of his leaning towards the Dutch, everywhere the arms of the allies had been successful against the general enemy, Louis of France. In Flanders prince Waldeck, under whom served Marlborough and general Talmache, beat the French general Humiéres at Walcourt; the duke of Lorraine drove them from the desolated palatinate; the duke of Baden repeatedly routed the Turks beyond the Danube, who were in the pay of France to invade Austria: and the Spaniards repelled the attempts of invasion by the troops of Louis. There was, towards the close of the year 1689, an occurrence which occasioned some anxiety to the allies. The pope Innocent XI., died, and was succeeded by cardinal Ottobuoni, under the name of Alexander VIII., to whom Louis made instant court, and who seemed for the moment to listen to him. But the interests of the popedom, as well as of protestant Europe, too clearly required the repression of the ambition of Louis: the pope stood firm, and the danger passed away.

William had, however, difficulties at home to surmount before he could depart for Ireland. Just as he was prepared to set out, the discovery of an extensive traitorous correspondence was made betwixt a number of concealed Jacobites and the court of St. Germains. Some of his own ministers and courtiers were deep in it. Two messengers had been dispatched from James's queen from St. Germains, with letters to the conspiring Jacobites. One of these, of the name of Fuller, was induced by some means to betray