The History of England from the Accession of James II, vol 3 | Page 9

his retreat for public life,
there was no Englishman who had proved himself capable of
conducting an important negotiation with foreign powers to a
successful and honourable issue. Many years had elapsed since
England had interfered with weight and dignity in the affairs of the
great commonwealth of nations. The attention of the ablest English
politicians had long been almost exclusively occupied by disputes
concerning the civil and ecclesiastical constitution of their own country.
The contests about the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Bill, the Habeas
Corpus Act and the Test Act, had produced an abundance, it might
almost be said a glut, of those talents which raise men to eminence in
societies torn by internal factions. All the Continent could not show
such skilful and wary leaders of parties, such dexterous parliamentary
tacticians, such ready and eloquent debaters, as were assembled at
Westminister. But a very different training was necessary to form a
great minister for foreign affairs; and the Revolution had on a sudden
placed England in a situation in which the services of a great minister
for foreign affairs were indispensable to her.
William was admirably qualified to supply that in which the most
accomplished statesmen of his kingdom were deficient. He had long
been preeminently distinguished as a negotiator. He was the author and
the soul of the European coalition against the French ascendency. The
clue, without which it was perilous to enter the vast and intricate maze
of Continental politics, was in his hands. His English counsellors,
therefore, however able and active, seldom, during his reign, ventured
to meddle with that part of the public business which he had taken as
his peculiar province.11
The internal government of England could be carried on only by the
advice and agency of English ministers. Those ministers William

selected in such a manner as showed that he was determined not to
proscribe any set of men who were willing to support his throne. On the
day after the crown had been presented to him in the Banqueting House,
the Privy Council was sworn in. Most of the Councillors were Whigs;
but the names of several eminent Tories appeared in the list.12 The four
highest offices in the state were assigned to four noblemen, the
representatives of four classes of politicians.
In practical ability and official experience Danby had no superior
among his contemporaries. To the gratitude of the new Sovereigns he
had a strong claim; for it was by his dexterity that their marriage had
been brought about in spite of difficulties which had seemed
insuperable. The enmity which he had always borne to France was a
scarcely less powerful recommendation. He had signed the invitation of
the thirtieth of June, had excited and directed the northern insurrection,
and had, in the Convention, exerted all his influence and eloquence in
opposition to the scheme of Regency. Yet the Whigs regarded him with
unconquerable distrust and aversion. They could not forget that he had,
in evil days, been the first minister of the state, the head of the
Cavaliers, the champion of prerogative, the persecutor of dissenters.
Even in becoming a rebel, he had not ceased to be a Tory. If he had
drawn the sword against the Crown, he had drawn it only in defence of
the Church. If he had, in the Convention, done good by opposing the
scheme of Regency, he had done harm by obstinately maintaining that
the throne was not vacant, and that the Estates had no right to
determine who should fill it. The Whigs were therefore of opinion that
he ought to think himself amply rewarded for his recent merits by being
suffered to escape the punishment of those offences for which he had
been impeached ten years before. He, on the other hand, estimated his
own abilities and services, which were doubtless considerable, at their
full value, and thought himself entitled to the great place of Lord High
Treasurer, which he had formerly held. But he was disappointed.
William, on principle, thought it desirable to divide the power and
patronage of the Treasury among several Commissioners. He was the
first English King who never, from the beginning to the end of his reign,
trusted the white staff in the hands of a single subject. Danby was
offered his choice between the Presidency of the Council and a

Secretaryship of State. He sullenly accepted the Presidency, and, while
the Whigs murmured at seeing him placed so high, hardly attempted to
conceal his anger at not having been placed higher.13
Halifax, the most illustrious man of that small party which boasted that
it kept the balance even between Whigs and Tories, took charge of the
Privy Seal, and continued to be Speaker of the House of Lords.14 He
had been foremost in strictly legal opposition