History of the Early Part of the Reign of James the Second | Page 9

by the name of the Cabal seems to have consisted
of characters so unprincipled, as justly to deserve the severity with
which they have been treated by all writers who have mentioned them;
but if it is probable that they were ready to betray their king, as well as
their country, it is certain that the king betrayed them, keeping from
them the real state of his connexion with France, and from some of
them, at least, the secret of what he was pleased to call his religion.
Whether this concealment on his part arose from his habitual treachery,
and from the incapacity which men of that character feel of being open
and honest, even when they know it is their interest to be so, or from an
apprehension that they might demand for themselves some share of the
French money, which he was unwilling to give them, cannot now be
determined. But to the want of genuine and reciprocal confidence
between him and those ministers is to be attributed, in a great measure,
the escape which the nation at that time experienced--an escape,

however, which proved to be only a reprieve from that servitude to
which they were afterwards reduced in the latter years of the reign.
The first Dutch war had been undertaken against all maxims of policy
as well as of justice; but the superior infamy of the second, aggravated
by the disappointment of all the hopes entertained by good men from
the triple alliance, and by the treacherous attempt at piracy with which
it was commenced, seems to have effaced the impression of it, not only
from the minds of men living at the time, but from most of the writers
who have treated of this reign. The principle, however, of both was the
same, and arbitrary power at home was the object of both. The second
Dutch war rendered the king's system and views so apparent to all who
were not determined to shut their eyes against conviction, that it is
difficult to conceive how persons who had any real care or regard either
for the liberty or honour of the country, could trust him afterwards. And
yet even Sir William Temple, who appears to have been one of the
most honest, as well as of the most enlightened, statesmen of his time,
could not believe his treachery to be quite so deep as it was in fact, and
seems occasionally to have hoped that he was in earnest in his
professed intentions of following the wise and just system that was
recommended to him. Great instances of credulity and blindness in
wise men are often liable to the suspicion of being pretended, for the
purpose of justifying the continuing in situations of power and
employment longer than strict honour would allow. But to Temple's
sincerity his subsequent conduct gives abundant testimony. When he
had reason to think that his services could no longer be useful to his
country he withdrew wholly from public business, and resolutely
adhered to the preference of philosophical retirement, which, in his
circumstances, was just, in spite of every temptation which occurred to
bring him back to the more active scene. The remainder of his life he
seems to have employed in the most noble contemplations and the most
elegant amusements; every enjoyment heightened, no doubt, by
reflecting on the honourable part he had acted in public affairs, and
without any regret on his own account (whatever he might feel for his
country) at having been driven from them.
Besides the important consequences produced by this second Dutch

war in England, it gave birth to two great events in Holland; the one as
favourable as the other was disastrous to the cause of general liberty.
The catastrophe of De Witt, the wisest, best, and most truly patriotic
minister that ever appeared upon the public stage, as it was an act of the
most crying injustice and ingratitude, so, likewise, is it the most
completely discouraging example that history affords to the lovers of
liberty. If Aristides was banished, he was also recalled; if Dion was
repaid for his services to the Syracusans by ingratitude, that ingratitude
was more than once repented of; if Sidney and Russell died upon the
scaffold, they had not the cruel mortification of falling by the hands of
the people; ample justice was done to their memory, and the very sound
of their names is still animating to every Englishman attached to their
glorious cause. But with De Witt fell also his cause and his party; and
although a name so respected by all who revere virtue and wisdom,
when employed in their noblest sphere, the political service of the
public, must undoubtedly be doubly dear to his countrymen, yet I do
not know that, even to this