the Purles of his Subjects at command for him to be obliged to use Intreaties to his People who ought to receive his Dictates without Controul But Necessity has no Law the Constitution of this Government being such that English Kings are but a sort of Royal Beggars I must try if my Parliament will let me have Money now that I am disappointed as to my Hopes of seizing the Dutch Smyrna and Spanish Plate Fleets and that my Supplies from France come but slowly in I know that they are jealous of their Privileges have an envious Eye at my Prerogative and are particularly startled at the Dispensing Power therefore I must sweeten them by my Speech and indeavour to possess them with an Opinion that my Design therein was only to secure my self from Tumults and Insurrections at home while I was engaged in a War abroad which cannot be thought an unreasonable Fear by any thinking Man considering the Troubles which the Puritanical Party gave to my Father And as to their Objection that more Favour has been shewn to Papists than Dissenters I can easily answer it that the latter are abundantly more Loyal than the former and have been fast Friends both to my Father and my self and yet they were only allowed their Worship in private whereas the other Party had theirs in publick but as for dispensing with the Executive Part of the Law I am resolv'd to hold it as long as I can Their Fears that I shall make use of the Forces which I raise to subvert their Liberty and Property I must endeavour to dispel by fair Promises and the Interest of my Clergy and Pensioners and at the same time possess them with a Necessity of my raising more Forces for the Honour and Defence of the Nation that we may not be insulted over by the ungrateful Dutch whom my Predecessor Queen Elizabeth did raise from the Dust I have cull'd out the Earl of Shaftsbury for Lord Chancellor who may do me very great Service because a Popular Man so that I shall make use of his Influence and Eloquence both to palliate my having shut up the Exchequer and to demonstrate the Necessity of a War with the Dutch and at the same time of granting an Indulgence to the Papists I perceive that the bad Influences of my Stars are not yet exhausted for though I lay my Designs with all imaginable Policy they do often miscarry Who would have thought that so many fair Promises back'd with the Earl of Shaftsbury's Eloquence and the Interest and Influence of my Pensioners should have miscarried in Parliament and yet to my great Regret I do find that it has so that nothing will serve but a renouncing of my Dispensing Power and fresh Assurances that never any thing of that Nature shall be attempted again which rather than want Money I am resolv'd to comply with for if I could but once get a Standing Army on foot I should soon be able to retrieve it And in the mean time I shall take care to have all this Clamour against the Dispensing Power and Standing Army imputed to the Jealousies and envious Surmises of the Phanaticks and Republicans And from this Obligation laid upon me to recal my Act of Indulgence I shall at least reap this Advantage that it will heighten the Animosities betwixt the Dissenters and Church-men for I can easily bring it about to have the Refusal of it wholly imputed to the latter And though I have no reason to be well satisfy'd at the Check which is hereby put upon my Prerogative yet it hath thus much of a Cordial in it that I perceive the Episcopal Party wholly irreconcileable to the Presbyterians which at some time or other will very much forward my grand Design and at present it has had so much Influence as to procure me a considerable Sum though to avoid the Reproaches of the Phanatical Party the Parliament won't own that it is for carrying on the War against the Dutch but to supply my extraordinary Occasions If it were not that I question the Being of a Deity I should be apt to conclude that God fights for the Hollanders who have obtain'd some fresh Advantages against me at Sea and though they labour under the greatest of Pressures that can be they do also make good their Cause against the Power of France by Land And those pernicious Hereticks being sensible of the Apprehensions which my Parliament have that the Consequences of this War may be fatal to the Protestant Interest they have taken the most effectual Method that can be to possess that Heretical Divan that the French King and my self aim at nothing less than the Subversion of their Religion and the Liberties of their State with that of the Spanish Netherlands Nor have I any other way to save my self from the Influences of this Accusation than by insisting on the necessity of destroying those States to preserve our own Trade and to prevent the Incouragement which they give to those who are Enemies to the establish'd Discipline of our Church There is but too much Truth in the common Proverb That after one Mischief comes another for so I find it by sad Experience Though the Dutch and the Phanatical Party be both of them hated by the Church of England yet they have Influence enough to foment Jealousies in the Parliament that their Religion and Liberty are both in danger And hence comes the Address of the Commons against my Brother's Match with the Dutchess of Modena because a Catholick Princess and proposed by the French King 'T is true that this may indeed seem inconsistent with my reiterated Protestations of taking all imaginable Care to secure the Protestant Religion and the Peoples Liberties but amongst so many Concessions I may certainly venture on one Dram of Prerogative and tell them that the Marriage is concluded by my Authority that in Honour I cannot be worse than my Word and if this will not satisfy them I 'll cool them by a Prorogation What ill Fate is this that attends all my Measures I did reasonably hope that this Prorogation would have diverted the Commons from insisting on their Address against my Brother's Match but it seems that the Jealousy which they have conceiv'd has taken deeper Root than to be pull'd up so soon and therefore I find my self under a necessity to prorogue them again seeing they press me so hard to dissolve the Match because hitherto only concluded by Proxy They are become very sagacious and discern that this Marriage will engage me in new Alliances which may be dangerous to the Protestant Religion and that the Princess having so many Relations in the Court of Rome the Secrets of my Court must needs be open to them and therefore they are about to render Catholicks uncapable of sitting in either House of Parliament but this is too much for me to concede and if granted would ruine my Design intirely and therefore I must find out some Method to
against those who shall declare me a Papist or that I have a Design to introduce Popery And though those who are sharp-sighted may laugh at such a Provision as rather giving than taking away Cause of Suspicion yet when it dare not be openly talk'd of amongst the Vulgar it will not obtain a common Belief And the Church of England whom I support against the Phanaticks will certainly support me against their Censures And thus when I have made one Party of Protestants to bait the other sufficiently if the Church of England prove refractory afterwards to my Designs then I shall endeavour by remitting the Rigour of the Law to ingage the Dissenters on my side to favour an universal Toleration by which my Friends the Papists may have ease if the Episcopal Party begin to grudg at my Favours towards them or to fear that at last they may dispossess themselves CHAP. XXXI On his Majesty's selling of Dunkirk to the French King for 500000 l. THis I know will be censured as an impolitick Action and the shutting my self out of the Continent whereunto this Town opened a Door by which I might have invaded France and the Netherlands when I pleased It 's true that it was a Monument of England's Glory but such an one as being erected under the Conduct of an Usurper is not for the Credit of me nor my Family and therefore lest it should be an Allurement to re-intice my People to a Commonwealth I will make it a Sacrifice to my Cousin the French King Not that I owe so much to his Kindness but that he may supply my present Necessities with his Money And to testify my farther Resentments of that impious Rebellion the Citadels which Oliver built shall be raz'd throughout my Dominions and the Towns which held out against my Father dismantled and if it were not that the Consequence would be fatal to my self every one of them should be sowed with Salt their Inhabitants made to pass under Saws of Iron and have their Flesh torn with the Briars and Thorns of the Wilderness But I must pretend other Causes to the People lest they should be enraged as that I won't keep up Garisons amongst them when there is no need to disturb their Commerce nor leave it in the Power of other Kings to do it when the Places which are capable of being garison'd are dismantled though in reality it is to prevent the Rebels from nestling there or having recourse to them to favour their Rebellion the best way to be rid of the Harpies being to destroy their Nests And that I may free my self at once as much as is possible from that viperous Brood as I have already disbanded the Army under pretence that I would not keep up one in time of Peace but in reality because I would not have such a Body of well-disciplin'd Troops of their Principles together lest at any time they should make head against me as against their former Masters the Parliament Richard c. So now I 'll forbid their old Officers to stay within 20 Miles of London and the Remainders of the Troops I 'll send to fight against the Spaniards in my Wife's Quarrel and if they never return as I hope few of them will I can very well bear the Loss CHAP. XXXII On the Parliament's beginning to grow sensible of the Incouragement given to the Catholick Religion by his Majesty's Declaration Decemb 1662. Their Petition on that head and his Majesty's publishing a Proclamation against Papists thereupon IT 's a mischievous thing for a Soveraign to be limited and to be obliged to act the King only by halves How happy is my Brother of France who is not troubled with such Fetters but his Will does pass for an uncontroulable Law I abhor those Parliaments for they are nothing else but Spies upon Kings and dive into their most reserved and hidden Intrigues I find they begin to suspect my Religion and grudg at the Favours which I show to the Papists and therefore I must proceed slowly and surely Their Zeal to my Prerogative is regulated by their own Interest which makes them oppose my Dispensing Power So that I find I am only absolute against Phanaticks and Republicans but when I come to meddle with the Church of England my Power is limited and the Parliament must then be Sharers of the Soveraignty Their Petitions against my Administration may issue in Remonstrances against my Government as it happened in my Father's time and therefore it is my Interest to flatter them a little and by a Proclamation against the Papists to create an Opinion of my Firmness to the Protestant Religion in the Publick draw Money from the Purses of the Commons and so to recoil to give the stronger and heavier Blow CHAP. XXXIII On the News of some more Plots by the Phanaticks against his Majesty both in England Scotland and Ireland The Execution of the Earl of Argyle Lord Wariston c. in Scotland and some of those concerned in the Plots in England and Ireland I Find that I shall bring my Designs about by Degrees and under the Notion of Plotters execute Vengeance upon mine Enemies without incurring the Censure of being bloody or cruel It 's true that it may seem hard that I should take the Earl of Argyle's Head who was the Person that set the Crown upon my own But during this Extacy of Loyalty in which the Nations are at present the Method of such Proceedings will be the less taken notice of and it 's absolutely necessary for my purpose that the Earl of Argyle should be taken out of the way the Greatness of his Power and his Zeal for his Religion may otherwise prove great Impediments to my Designs I have Pretences enough against him because of his Activity in the Parliament's Rebellion and his Death will be acceptable to the Church of England because he was Head of the Presbyterians and the Friends of the late Marquiss of Montrosse and all the Cavaliers will concur with my Design against him and though there is no doubt but that he will profess his Innocence on the Scaffold yet the Authority of a publick Sentence will be of greater Weight or at least restrain the People from open Murmurings By his Death I shall have also this farther Advantage that the Power of his Clan will be thereby reduced and neither be formidable to my self nor Successors it being the Interest of all Crowns to guard against too potent Subjects As to Sir Archibald Johnston of Wariston though he be not so great in Power yet he is nothing inferiour to the other in Policy but indeed far above him and as the Trojans ow'd their Destruction more to Vlysses's Counsels than Achilles's Arms it 's my Interest to rid my self of a Politician who is my Enemy as soon as of one who is greater in Power and Quality And though it be reckon'd no great Policy for a Monarch newly re-establish'd to cement his Throne with
though I have hitherto gain'd nothing by this Rupture with Holland but that Fortune hath favoured them as well as me in small Rencounters yet I am resolv'd to push it on as far as I can and let that proud Monarch know that he is not the sole Inheritor of Henry the IV's Glory and Grandeur On the Victory The Poets are in the right when they represent Justice blindfold for in good earnest it seems that she determines Causes by chance and that the good things of this World are made for those who can catch them and if there be any such thing as a Deity it sees not as Men see nor does it act according to those Rules which are in vogue amongst us Mortals The Dutch pretend to have that which they call Religion and Justice on their side and in truth if that which is esteemed the Rule of both be true their Pretensions are not ill founded and yet the Victory hath fallen to me Then seeing we are not certain what be the Rules and Decrees of the higher Powers it 's rational for Men to follow their own Inclinations and gratify their natural Appetites as much as they can The contrary Principle seems very unreasonable that we who look upon our selves as a happy Race of Creatures should yet labour under a severer Restraint and that we should be denied the pleasing of what 's visible for the pretended Safety of some I do not know what invisible Substance But from this Victory I shall be sure of these following Fruits In the first place that it will give Credit to my Arms which have not hitherto been reckoned successful and in the next it will magnify my Brother's Conduct which will still contribute to render me the more formidable It will also create Disorders in Holland which may be improved to my great Advantage and it will secure me from the Murmurs of the Rabble at home who always measure the Justice of a Cause by its Success and it will be a prevailing Argument with the Parliament to go chearfully on with their promised Supplies But my Joys are neither long-liv'd nor unmix'd for though I be Conqueror by the Sword I 'm consum'd by the Plague which rages in the Bowels of my Capital City No doubt the Phanaticks will say that it is for the Sins of me and my Family as Israel was plagu'd for David's numbring of the People but as my Subjects are not so well deserving as his I am not obliged to be so much concern'd as he was nor am I indeed any further than that it weakens and renders me less able to carry on the War and will be esteem'd by my Enemies as the Hand of God against me But for the Reflection of the Phanaticks I can easily turn it upon themselves that it 's a just Punishment upon the Nation for their unnatural Rebellion and the horrid Murder of their King and my Father and if this be once given out at Court I am sure it will be eccho'd again from the Pulpit and as that will justify the utmost of my Severity in Scotland by free Quarter c. on the Presbyterians there it will also defend my Proceedings against their Brethren in England to keep them in Prisons at London c. till they die of the Contagion here And as for my self and my Court we can remove to a Place of better Air. And though the Bills of Mortality do increase to a prodigy it 's a just Vengeance on the rebellious City and if it come to the worst that I should want Men to carry on the War I can quickly make up a Peace abroad and when my Subjects are diminished I am the less in hazard by a Rebellion at home CHAP. XXXVII On the meeting of the Parliament at Oxford because of the Plague at London The King's Speech to them about the Dutch War and Supplies The Chancellor's Enlargement on it The Act for banishing Nonconformists five Miles from Corporations AS this City afforded a safe Retreat to my Father from his rebellious Subjects at London it furnishes me with the like during the Pestilence which hath seiz'd upon that City for their Rebellion And as the Londoners had Influence upon the then Parliament to increase their Obstinacy I doubt not but the University will have Influence upon this to heighten their Loyalty My Business is now to applaud the Parliament for their advising me to a War with Holland which hath hitherto been so successful And as it will convince them that I am willing to make them Sharers of my Glory it will render them the more willing to make me a Sharer of their Purses But lest those amongst them who are firm Protestants should perceive my Design and blame my Conduct for leaguing with Popish Princes to procure the Destruction of the Dutch I must hide my Designs under a pretence of repaying them in their own Coin and that my stirring up the Bishop of Munster against them is only because they have given an ill Character of me to Foreign Protestant Princes And considering that it was necessary for the Nation 's Glory that those stubborn Republicans who had broke the Power of Spain should be humbled by England the Parliament have no reason to be angry at my supplying the Bishop of Munster with Money And at the same time I will pretend that I am willing to come to a Peace upon reasonable Propositions and give my Lord Chancellor Order to insist and enlarge upon those Heads and to declare the Affronts which the Dutch put upon the Royal Family before my Restoration which as it will incense the Cavaliers in the House it will silence those who are fanatically inclin'd And the better to colour my Demands of Money I must take care to have the ill Condition that my Magazines for Arms and Naval Stores were in represented to the full and the Pains and Charges which I have been at magnified to the life The Parliament I find have answered my Expectations and not only ordered me sufficient store of Money to carry on the War but have given a Gratuity to my Brother the Duke notwithstanding of its having been represented by some that his Cowardice under pretence of want of Repose gave the Dutch an Opportunity to escape better than they would have done otherwise And that nothing may be left unattempted which may tend to the Ruine of the Protestant Interest he and I have not only delivered up Monsieur Rohan who came to acquaint me with the French King's Designs to ruine his Protestant Subjects and to propose Measures which might have prevented it and advanc'd my own Glory as he imagin'd but by my Sollicitation I have also got the strictest of my own Protestant Subjects declar'd uncapable of Trust except they comply with that which is contrary to their Consciences and their Preachers to be banish'd five Miles from Corporations which is a thing of mighty Consequence to the carrying on of my Design for by this
by tricking some silly Fifth-Monarchy-men into a Plot yet if I give it only a little finer turn and alledg that it 's the Vengeance of Heaven upon this City for their being so instrumental in the late Ruine both of Church and State and not preventing my Father's Murder the Pretext will be plausible and taking with the Church for their great Patrons such as Heylin and others have oftentimes declared their Dislike of the Bulk and Populousness of the City and hate it because inclinable to the Puritanical Side so that these things being prudently insisted upon and the Clergy's Dislike of the City encouraged its Desolation and Ruines will be the less regarded and the Odium wear off from the Papists by degrees though at the same time they have wisely destroyed that which was look'd upon as the great Bulwark of the Protestant Religion And I have also reason to be very well satisfied that hereby they have exhausted the great Treasure of Rebellion But the main Danger is lest the Committee of Parliament appointed to dive into the Causes of the Fire should trace it as far as St. James's and Whitehall and then it will lie upon me and my Brother but if this should be the case I know of a Remedy viz. to call it a Forgery of the Dissenters to bring a Calumny upon the Royal Family and the Church of England who are their Adherents then to be sure though the Matter be as clear as Sunshine the Bishops and their Clergy who know they must stand and fall with me will maintain my Credit for their own Interest lest they should be utterly overthrown as in my Father's time And the better to cover my Design I must renew all my former Protestations of Zeal for the Protestant Religion and advise the Citizens in the first place to rebuild their Churches where they may worship God and mourn for their Sins which have brought on such desolating Judgments and this together with contributing something towards the Re-edification of the City and bewailing their Losses on all publick Occasions will conciliate their Respect and beget a good Opinion of me which will be sufficient to obviate all the Misrepresentations which the greatest of my Enemies can make of me and thus shall the Protestant Interest languish as by a Consumption in the Vitals while I smite it secretly under the fifth Rib. I know that the censorious Phanaticks will say that this Fire was carried on by the same Hand that manages the War against the Dutch and that the City is justly punish'd thereby for not opposing but rather concurring with me and that I have repaid them as I have done all my other Friends the Dutch the Spaniards and the English and Scots Presbyterians so that for their assisting me with their Treasure to carry on the War against the Dutch I and my Party have consumed their Substance But having taken care to have that Faction look'd upon as my Enemies whatever they say against me will be reckoned Spite and therefore though it be true it won't be much credited And for any Improvement which the Dutch may make of it as that I am punish'd by Fire in my own Capital City for endeavouring to bring Fire and Sword upon them I can easily hear them and laugh at their Folly for ascribing that to Providence which is my own Action and looking upon that as my Punishment which I esteem my Advantage and so far from being their Gain that it is their irreparable Loss for the Puritanical Citizens were their true Friends It 's indeed no small Cause of Triumph to the Roman Catholicks that instead of the Fall of Babylon as the Hereticks call Rome which they expected in 1666. the greatest City of the Reformation should lie in Ashes with 89 of their Churches which were polluted with Heresy 13200 of their Houses 150000 l's Worth of their Books and in the whole to the Value of betwixt nine and ten Millions of their Goods so that for once the Catholicks have put the Writ de Haeretico comburendo very effectually in execution upon their Houses the Fire or Plague of God having not long before consum'd above a Million of their Persons And if there be any such thing as a Deity the Catholicks might very well say now as in their Letter to my Lord Mounteagle which discovered the Powder-plot in my Grandfather's time that God and Man had agreed to punish this Heretical Generation CHAP. XLI On the Parliament's meeting at Westminster after the Fire His Majesty's Demand of more Money Their Address against Papists His Majesty's Proclamation on that Head The Prosecution of Protestant Dissenters Declaration of War against Denmark The Insurrection in Scotland in 1666. The burning of his Majesty's Ships at Chattam by the Dutch c. THough the Catholicks have not been able to blow up the Houses of Parliament with all the Lords and Commons yet they have consum'd the City which was both the Fountain of the Hereticks Treasure and Strength And to disable the Party further I have conveen'd the Parliament who I doubt not will dive to the bottom of their Purses and supply me with Money to ruine their Brethren the Heretical Dutch Though the Parliament hath been liberal enough in parting with their Money yet I find they are alarm'd at the Increase and Growth of Popery and accordingly have importun'd me with an Address It is not time for me yet to pull off my Vizard and therefore I must grant a Proclamation to please them but the Priests and Jesuits shall still have Protection as Attendants belonging to my Consort the Queen Their Brethren the Dissenters shall pay for this Animosity of theirs against the Papists and I will take care that the Laws shall be put in execution against them Let them remind me of my Declaration from Breda promising Ease to tender Consciences as much as they please I am at liberty to change my Measures according to my Interest The Presbyterians of Scotland have been condignly punish'd by Fines Free-quarter and Military Execution which hath happily procur'd an Insurrection according to my Desire So that now the greatest of my Rigour will be justified and when they pretend to be Sufferes for Religion I can accuse them of Rebellion This furnishes me with a justifiable Pretence to cut off some of their Ringleaders at present and endeavour the Extirpation of the rest by degrees And this I am sure to have approved by the Church of England because the Presbyterians obliged themselves to the Extirpation of Prelacy by their Covenant This will also serve to heighten the Resentments of the Episcopal Party against the Dutch when I represent how the Phanaticks act in concert with them and do manifestly favour their Designs by beginning an intestine War when I am engaged with them abroad Whence they will easily be perswaded of the necessity of complying with my Measures against both especially when I insinuate the Danger that there is to the Church