The History of England from the Accession of James II, vol 2 | Page 4

English Colony-- Course which James ought
to have followed--His Errors--Clarendon arrives in Ireland as Lord
Lieutenant--His Mortifications; Panic among the Colonists--Arrival of
Tyrconnel at Dublin as General; his Partiality and Violence--He is bent
on the Repeal of the Act of Settlement; he returns to England--The
King displeased with Clarendon--Rochester attacked by the Jesuitical
Cabal--Attempts of James to convert Rochester--Dismission of
Rochester-- Dismission of Clarendon; Tyrconnel Lord Deputy--Dismay
of the English Colonists in Ireland--Effect of the Fall of the Hydes

JAMES was now at the height of power and prosperity. Both in
England and in Scotland he had vanquished his enemies, and had
punished them with a severity which had indeed excited their bitterest
hatred, but had, at the same time, effectually quelled their courage. The
Whig party seemed extinct. The name of Whig was never used except
as a term of reproach. The Parliament was devoted to the King; and it
was in his power to keep that Parliament to the end of his reign. The
Church was louder than ever in professions of attachment to him, and
had, during the late insurrection, acted up to those professions. The
Judges were his tools; and if they ceased to be so, it was in his power to
remove them. The corporations were filled with his creatures. His
revenues far exceeded those of his predecessors. His pride rose high.
He was not the same man who, a few months before, in doubt whether
his throne might not be overturned in a hour, had implored foreign help
with unkingly supplications, and had accepted it with tears of gratitude.
Visions of dominion and glory rose before him. He already saw himself,
in imagination, the umpire of Europe, the champion of many states
oppressed by one too powerful monarchy. So early as the month of
June he had assured the United Provinces that, as soon as the affairs of
England were settled, he would show the world how little he feared
France. In conformity with these assurances, he, within a month after
the battle of Sedgemoor, concluded with the States General a defensive
treaty, framed in the very spirit of the Triple League. It was regarded,
both at the Hague and at Versailles, as a most significant circumstance
that Halifax, who was the constant and mortal enemy of French
ascendency, and who had scarcely ever before been consulted on any
grave affair since the beginning of the reign, took the lead on this
occasion, and seemed to have the royal ear. It was a circumstance not
less significant that no previous communication was made to Barillon.
Both he and his master were taken by surprise. Lewis was much
troubled, and expressed great, and not unreasonable, anxiety as to the
ulterior designs of the prince who had lately been his pensioner and
vassal. There were strong rumours that William of Orange was busied
in organizing a great confederacy, which was to include both branches
of the House of Austria, the United Provinces, the kingdom of Sweden,
and the electorate of Brandenburg. It now seemed that this confederacy
would have at its head the King and Parliament of England.

In fact, negotiations tending to such a result were actually opened.
Spain proposed to form a close alliance with James; and he listened to
the proposition with favour, though it was evident that such an alliance
would be little less than a declaration of war against France. But he
postponed his final decision till after the Parliament should have
reassembled. The fate of Christendom depended on the temper in which
he might then find the Commons. If they were disposed to acquiesce in
his plans of domestic government, there would be nothing to prevent
him from interfering with vigour and authority in the great dispute
which must soon be brought to an issue on the Continent. If they were
refractory, he must relinquish all thought of arbitrating between
contending nations, must again implore French assistance, must again
submit to French dictation, must sink into a potentate of the third or
fourth class, and must indemnify himself for the contempt with which
he would be regarded abroad by triumphs over law and public opinion
at home.1
It seemed, indeed, that it would not be easy for him to demand more
than the Commons were disposed to give. Already they had abundantly
proved that they were desirous to maintain his prerogatives unimpaired,
and that they were by no means extreme to mark his encroachments on
the rights of the people. Indeed, eleven twelfths of the members were
either dependents of the court, or zealous Cavaliers from the country.
There were few things which such an assembly could pertinaciously
refuse to the Sovereign; and, happily for the nation, those few things
were the very things on which James had set his heart.
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