Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/69

 1922 COUNCIL AND CABINET, 1679-88 61 State ; and for matters of consequence to mention them to none but himself, My Lord Sunderland, or Father Petre. . . . 1 In 1688, however, when Sunderland's influence waned as that of Petre grew stronger, he tried to redress the balance by proposing the union of the cabinet and the catholic clique and to leave to this body the domestic administration of England, Scotland, and Ireland, but to reserve foreign affairs and those requiring the greatest secrecy to a smaller number of confidential advisers. 2 So far as can be discovered the march of events was too rapid to allow time for this interesting experiment to be tried. Apart from these valuable general accounts little else can be discovered about the cabinet under James. Beaufort, however, states that the instruction to examine the political sentiments of the deputy lieutenants and justices of the peace in his lieu- tenancy ' was deliver'd me by his Majesty with his owne hand on Wensday the 26th. of October 1687 at his Cabinet Council in Lord Sunderland's office, Lord Chancellor, Lord President, Lord Middleton, Lord Dartmouth, and Lord Godolphin sitting with him, and Mr. Bridgeman one of the Clerkes standing by '. 3 It is probable that Tyrconnel 4 was also a member, and, perhaps, Huntingdon. 5 Information as to the subjects under discussion is rather scanty, but there are notices or rumours of debates on the suspension of the bishop of London, on Ireland, on the best way to secure a favourable parliament and whether it shall be summoned, and on the measures to be adopted against the threatened expedition of William of Orange. It is doubtful whether the cabinet exercised much real influence. James was too autocratic, and at the same time too liable to fall under the sway of a chief minister, to permit any recognized group of ministers to wield much power. Yet he clearly realized that a cabinet was necessary, since in that curious paper of ' advice to his son ', which is dated 1692, he defines its correct composition : Commissioner of Treasury, and two others.' 6 In conclusion it may be said that the history of the years 1679-88 proves that any attempt to restore the former greatness of the privy council was futile. Since its creation in its modern 1 Life of James, ii. 99-100. of Adda supply the only information on this point. 3 Hist. MSS. Comm., Beaufort MSS., p. 91. 5 Hatton Correspondence, ii. 88, 21 July 1688. Cf. ibid. p. 106, November 1688. The king, when setting out to take command of his army, ' appointed the Councell to meet often and directed five to be of the quorum, viz. Lord Chancellor, Lord Privy Seal, Lord Preston, Lord Bellasis, Lord Godolphin, and nothing to be resolved without the concurrence of three of them neither without the approbation of the queen '.
 * Two Secretarys of State, Secretary of War, of Admiralty, first
 * Mackintosh, History of the Revolution (ed. 1834), i. 371 ; ii, app. The dispatches
 * Ellis Correspondence, i. 296, 14 December 1686.
 * Life of James, ii. 642.