Page:History of the Nonjurors.djvu/44

26 seems to be fully established, it is evident that the Prince acted with considerable craft.

The previous facts moreover are supported from James's own memoirs. Before he went to Ireland, the King wrote to the Emperor. But the Emperor reminded his Majesty, that had he listened to his ambassador, "instead of hearkening to the fraudulent suggestions of France, he would have been in a different position." James, commenting on the severity of the Emperor's answer, says: "Yet that was the treatment his Majesty experienced from the Courts of Vienna and Madrid, who, forgetting the oppressed Prince, made haste to compliment the Usurper, and entered into a stricter league with him than before." The state of Europe, therefore, was favourable to William's enterprise. Hatred to France, and the desire of William's alliance, led the Emperor, the King of Spain, and the Pope himself, to countenance the Prince's attempt. The writer of the Life of Bolingbroke admits that the alliance with France was the ruin of James. "This suggested the scheme of the Revolution, promoted the execution, and secured the success of it. The Pope, the Emperor, the King of Spain, and several princes of Germany, lent their assistance willingly, and lent it to a Prince the most capable of managing such a design with that secresy and address, which could alone hinder it from proving abortive."

The question of the Prince's views on entering upon this expedition, I shall discuss presently: but the previous extracts shew, that the dethronement of King James was contemplated as a probable thing.