Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/56

42 for augmenting the navy, and building some new men-of-war, "it would be a very necessary care for that time, both for the honour and safety of the nation."

William III. in an open boat off the coast of Holland.

The commons thought so much the same that they voted an additional five hundred thousand pounds expressly for building new ships of war. But they felt, too, that they must not only have good ships, but good commanders; and they therefore determined on bringing lord Torrington to trial for his conduct at Beachy Head. Torrington had been sent to the Tower directly after the battle, and a bill was now brought into the upper house to remove the cause from the peers to a court-martial. 'When this bill was before the commons, Torrington prayed to be heard at the bar of the house in his own defence; and he there endeavoured, in the style of our own times, to throw the blame anywhere from himself. He laid it on the court of admiralty, on the secretary of state, but especially on the Dutch, who had notoriously done the real fighting of the day. His defence did not mend his case, and he was sent down to be tried by court-martial on board ship at Sheerness. There the court admitted the fatal mistake of permitting the Dutch rear-admiral and officers to appear as his chief accusers; and his friends, who were on the alert to seize on every circumstance which might turn opinion in his favour, immediately raised the cry that the whole thing was a conspiracy to sacrifice our own brave countryman to the spite of the jealous Dutch. The effect was certain on the then temper of the nation; Torrington was acquitted, and even praised by some of his abettors for his caution in saving the fleet from damage!—as if that was the chief glory of an English admiral. William, however, was not to be so duped. He dismissed so very cautious an admiral from his service, and never would employ him again. Torrington, notwithstanding, had the assurance to sail up the Thames in his barge in a kind of triumph, and took his seat in the house of lords; but the peers looked coolly on him. He next presented himself at court, but was not admitted to the royal presence.

The last proceeding which marked this session was the discovery of a fresh Jacobite plot. The tory minister Caermarthen had long been the object of the particular enmity of the whigs, and they were doing everything possible to undermine his influence. Their efforts appeared to be growing palpably perceptible. The king had introduced into the ministry one after another men to whom Caermarthen had a particular aversion, or who were particularly hostile to his power. Godolphin was made first lord of the treasury; Marlborough was rising fast in the military department; and Sidney was sent for by William from Ireland without consulting Caermarthen, and appointed secretary of state. His enemies were eagerly watching for the favourable moment to come down on the declining minister and complete his ruin, when he suddenly, at the very close of the year and the session, laid before William all the particulars of a desperate plot of the Jacobites, which showed that a