The History of England from the Accession of James II, vol 2 | Page 8

most eminent Roman Catholics of that
age, and among them the Supreme Pontiff, were of opinion that the
interest of their Church in our island would be most effectually
promoted by a moderate and constitutional policy. But such reasoning
had no effect on the slow understanding and imperious temper of James.
In his eagerness to remove the disabilities under which the professors
of his religion lay, he took a course which convinced the most
enlightened and tolerant Protestants of his time that those disabilities
were essential to the safety of the state. To his policy the English
Roman Catholics owed three years of lawless and insolent triumph, and
a hundred and forty years of subjection and degradation.
Many members of his Church held commissions in the newly raised
regiments. This breach of the law for a time passed uncensured: for

men were not disposed to note every irregularity which was committed
by a King suddenly called upon to defend his crown and his life against
rebels. But the danger was now over. The insurgents had been
vanquished and punished. Their unsuccessful attempt had strengthened
the government which they had hoped to overthrow. Yet still James
continued to grant commissions to unqualified persons; and speedily it
was announced that he was determined to be no longer bound by the
Test Act, that he hoped to induce the Parliament to repeal that Act, but
that, if the Parliament proved refractory, he would not the less have his
own way.
As soon as this was known, a deep murmur, the forerunner of a tempest,
gave him warning that the spirit before which his grandfather, his father,
and his brother had been compelled to recede, though dormant, was not
extinct. Opposition appeared first in the cabinet. Halifax did not
attempt to conceal his disgust and alarm. At the Council board he
courageously gave utterance to those feelings which, as it soon
appeared, pervaded the whole nation. None of his colleagues seconded
him; and the subject dropped. He was summoned to the royal closet,
and had two long conferences with his master. James tried the effect of
compliments and blandishments, but to no purpose. Halifax positively
refused to promise that he would give his vote in the House of Lords
for the repeal either of the Test Act or of the Habeas Corpus Act.
Some of those who were about the King advised him not, on the eve of
the meeting of Parliament, to drive the most eloquent and accomplished
statesman of the age into opposition. They represented that Halifax
loved the dignity and emoluments of office, that, while he continued to
be Lord President, it would be hardly possible for him to put forth his
whole strength against the government, and that to dismiss him from
his high post was to emancipate him from all restraint. The King was
peremptory. Halifax was informed that his services were no longer
needed; and his name was struck out of the Council-Book.9
His dismission produced a great sensation not only in England, but also
at Paris, at Vienna, and at the Hague: for it was well known, that he had
always laboured to counteract the influence exercised by the court of

Versailles on English affairs. Lewis expressed great pleasure at the
news. The ministers of the United Provinces and of the House of
Austria, on the other hand, extolled the wisdom and virtue of the
discarded statesman in a manner which gave great offence at Whitehall.
James was particularly angry with the secretary of the imperial legation,
who did not scruple to say that the eminent service which Halifax had
performed in the debate on the Exclusion Bill had been requited with
gross ingratitude.10
It soon became clear that Halifax would have many followers. A
portion of the Tories, with their old leader, Danby, at their head, began
to hold Whiggish language. Even the prelates hinted that there was a
point at which the loyalty due to the prince must yield to higher
considerations. The discontent of the chiefs of the army was still more
extraordinary and still more formidable. Already began to appear the
first symptoms of that feeling which, three years later, impelled so
many officers of high rank to desert the royal standard. Men who had
never before had a scruple had on a sudden become strangely
scrupulous. Churchill gently whispered that the King was going too far.
Kirke, just returned from his western butchery, swore to stand by the
Protestant religion. Even if he abjured the faith in which he had been
bred, he would never, he said, become a Papist. He was already
bespoken. If ever he did apostatize, he was bound by a solemn promise
to the Emperor of Morocco to turn Mussulman.11
While the nation, agitated by many strong emotions, looked anxiously