The bishops also drew a form for the clergy, according to that signed by the house of lords, with some small variation, which was so universally signed, that not above an hundred all England over refused it.

Soon after this, a bill was brought into the house of commons, declaring all men incapable of public trust, or to serve in parliament, who did not sign the association. This passed with no considerable opposition; for those who had signed it of their own accord, were not unwilling to have it made general; and such as had refused it when it was voluntary, were resolved to sign it as soon as the law should be made for it. And at the same time, an order passed in council, for reviewing all the commissions in England, and for turning out of them all those who had not signed the association, while it was voluntary; since this seemed to be such a declaration of their principles and affections, that it was not thought reasonable that such persons should be any longer either justices of peace, or deputy lieutenants.

The session of parliament was soon brought to a conclusion. They created one fund, upon which two millions and a half were to be raised, which the best judges did apprehend was neither just nor prudent. A new bank was proposed, called the Land Bank, because the securities were to be upon land: this was the main difference between it and the Bank of England; and by reason of this, it was pretended, that it was not contrary to a clause in the act for that bank, that no other bank should be set up in opposition to it. There was a set of undertakers, who engaged that it should prove effectual, for the money for which it was given. This was chiefly managed by Foley, Harley, and the tories: it was much laboured by the earl of Sunderland; and the king was prevailed on to consent to it, or rather to desire it, though he was then told by many, of what ill consequence it would prove to his affairs. The earl of Sunderland's excuse for himself, when the error appeared afterwards but too evidently, was, that he thought it would engage the tories in interest to support the government*.

After most of the conspirators were taken, and all examinations were over, some of them were brought to their trials. Charnock, King, and Keys, were begun with: the design was fully proved against them. Charnock showed great presence of mind, with temper, and good judgment, and made as good a defence as the matter could bear; but the proof was so full, that they were all found guilty. Endeavours were used to persuade Charnock to confess all he knew, for he had been in all their plots from the beginning. His brother was employed to deal with him, and he seemed to be once in suspense; but the next time that his brother came to him, he told him, he could not save his own life without doing that which would take away the lives of so many, that he did not think his own life worth it. This showed a greatness of mind that had been very valuable, if it had been better directed. Thus this matter was understood at the time; but many years after this, the lord Somers gave me a different account of it. Charnock, as he told me, sent an offer to the king, of a full discovery of all their consultations and designs; and desired no pardon, but only that he might live in some easy prison; and if he was found to prevaricate, in any part of his discovery, he would look for the execution of the sentence. But the king apprehended, that so many persons would be found concerned, and thereby be rendered desperate, that he was afraid to have such a scene opened, and would not accept of this offer. At his death, Charnock delivered a paper, in which he confessed he was engaged in a design to attack the prince of Orange's guards: but he thought himself bound to clear king James from having given any commission to assassinate him. King's paper, who suffered with him, was to the same purpose; and they both took pains to clear all those of their religion from any acces sion to it. King expressed a sense of the unlawfulness of the undertaking, but Charnock seemed fully satisfied with the lawfulness of it. Keys was a poor ignorant trumpeter, who had his dependence on Porter, and now suffered

The scheme of a Land Bank was suggested by Dr. Hugh Chamberlain, and was patronised by the tories, or landed interest, because they thought it would embarrass the whigs, and their monied supporters, the bank of England, &c. The new bank proposed to advance 2,000,000l. for the service of government, for which seven

chiefly upon his evidence, for which he was per cent. was to be paid, and the privilege granted them of lending a certain sum annually on landed securities. It was sanctioned by an act of parliament, but when the day of payment came, the projectors failed to fulfil their engagements, and the scheme proved entirely abortive.Shrewsbury Correspondence.

SS

much reflected on. It was said that servants had often been witnesses against their masters, but that a master's witnessing against his servant was somewhat new and extraordinary.

The way that Charnock and King took to vindicate king James did rather fasten the imputation more upon him: they did not deny that he had sent over a commission to attack the prince of Orange, which, as Porter deposed, Charnock told him he had seen. If this had been denied by a dying man his last words would have been of some weight; but instead of denying that which was sworn, he only denied that king James had given a commission for assassination; and it seems great weight was laid on this word, for all the conspirators agreed in it, and denied that king James had given a commission to assassinate the prince of Orange. This was an odious word, and perhaps no person was ever so wicked as to order such a thing in so crude a manner; but the sending a commission to attack the king's person was the same thing upon the matter, and was all that the witnesses had deposed; therefore their not denying this, in the terms in which the witnesses swore it, did plainly imply a confession that it was true. But some who had a mind to deceive themselves or others, laid hold on this and made great use of it, that dying men had acquitted king James of the assassination. Such slight colours will serve, when people are engaged beforehand to believe as their affections lead them.

Sir John Friend and sir William Perkins were tried next. The first of these had risen from mean beginnings to great credit and much wealth: he was employed by king James, and had all this while stuck firm to his interests: his purse was more considered than his head, and was open on all occasions, as the party applied to him. While Parker was formerly in the Tower, upon information of an assassination of the king designed by him, he furnished the money that corrupted his keepers, and helped him to make his escape out of the Tower: he knew of the assassination, though he was not to be an actor in it; but he had a commission for raising a regiment for king James, and he had entertained and paid the officers who were to serve under him: he had also joined with those who had sent over Charnock, in May 1695, with the message to king James mentioned in the account of the former year; it appearing now, that they had then desired an invasion with eight thousand foot and one thousand horse, and had promised to join these with two thousand horse upon their landing. In this the earl of Aylesbury, the lord Montgomery, son to the marquis of Powys, and sir John Fenwick, were also concerned. Upon all this evidence Friend was condemned, and the earl of Aylesbury was committed prisoner to the Tower. Perkins was a gentleman of estate, who had gone violently into the passions and interests of the court in king Charles's time he was one of the six clerks in chancery, and took all oaths to the government rather than lose his place. He did not only consent to the design of assassination, but undertook to bring five men who should assist in it, and he had brought up horses for that service from the country, but had not named the persons, so this lay yet in his own breast. He himself was not to have acted in it, for he likewise had a commission for a regiment; and therefore was to reserve himself for that service: he had also provided a stock of arms which were hid under ground, and were now discovered: upon this evidence he was condemned. Great endeavours were used both with Friend and him to confess all they knew. Friend was more sullen, as he knew less; for he was only applied to and trusted, when they needed his money. Perkins fluctuated more; he confessed the whole thing for which he was condemned, but would not name the five persons whom he was to have sent in to assist in the assassination. He said he had engaged them in it, so he could not think of saving his own life by destroying theirs. He confessed he had seen king James's commission; the words differed a little from those which Porter had told, but Porter did not swear that he saw it himself, he only related what Charnock had told him concerning it, yet Perkins said they were to the same effect: he believed it was all written with king James's own hand; he had seen his writing often, and was confident it was written by him: he owned that he had raised and maintained a regiment, but he thought he could not swear against his officers, since he himself had drawn them into the service; and he affirmed that he knew nothing of the other regiments. He sent for the bishop of Ely, to whom he repeated all these particulars, as the bishop himself told me: he seemed much troubled with a sense of his former life, which had been very irregular. The

house of commons sent some to examine him, but he gave them so little satisfaction that they left him to the course of the law. His tenderness in not accusing those whom he had drawn in, was so generous, that this alone served to create some regard for a man who had been long under a very bad character. In the beginning of April, Friend and he were executed together.

A very unusual instance of the boldness of the jacobites appeared upon that occasion: these two had not changed their religion, but still called themselves protestants; so three of the nonjuring clergymen waited on them to Tyburn, two of them had been often with Friend, and one of them with Perkins: and all the three at the place of execution joined to give them public absolution, with an imposition of hands, in the view of all the people; a strain of impudence that was as new as it was wicked, since these persons died owning the ill designs they had been engaged in, and expressing no sort of repentance for them. So these clergymen, in this solemn absolution, made an open declaration of their allowing and justifying these persons in all they had been concerned in: two of these were taken, and consured for this in the king's bench, the third made his escape.

Three other conspirators, Rookwood, Lowick, and Cranborn, were tried next. By this time the new act for trials in such cases began to take place, so these held long, for their counsel stuck upon every thing: but the evidence was now more copious, for three other witnesses came in, the government being so gentle as to pardon even the conspirators wl:o confessed their guilt, and were willing to be witnesses against others. The first two were papists, they expressed their dislike of the design, but insisted on this, that as military men they were bound to obey all military orders; and they thought that the king, who knew the laws of war, ought to have a regard to this, and to forgive them. Cranborn called himself a protestant, but was more sullen than the other two; to such a degree of fury and perverseness had the jacobites wrought up their party. Knightly was tried next: he confessed all, and upon that, though he was condemned, he had a reprieve and was afterwards pardoned. These were all the trials and executions that even this black conspiracy drew from the government; for the king's inclinations were so merciful, that he seemed uneasy even under these acts of necessary justice. Cook was brought next upon his trial on account of the intended invasion, for he was not charged with the assassination: his trial was considered as introductory to the earl of Aylesbury's, for the evidence was the same as to both. Porter and Goodman were two witnesses against him: they had been with him at a meeting, in a tavern in Leadenhall-street. where Charnock received instructions to go to France with the message formerly mentioned. All that was brought against this was, that the master of the tavern and two of his servants swore, that they remembered well when that company was at the tavern, for they were often coming into the room where they sat, both at dinner time and after it, and that they saw not Goodman there; nay, they were positive that he was not there. On the other hand, Porter deposed that Goodman was not with them at dinner, but that he came to that house after dinner, and sent him in a note, upon which he, with the consent of the company, went out and brought him in; and then it was certain that the servants of the house were not in that constant attendance, nor could they be believed in a negative against positive evidence to the contrary. Their credit was not such but that it might be well supposed, that, for the interest of their house, they might be induced to make stretches. The evidence was believed, and Cook was found guilty, and condemned: he obtained many short reprieves upon assurances that he would tell all he knew; but it was visible he did not deal sincerely; his punishment ended in banishment. Sir John Fenwick was taken not long after, going over to France, and was ordered to prepare for his trial, upon which he seemed willing to discover all he knew; and in this he went off and on, for he had no mind to die, and hoped to save himself by some practice or other. Several days were set for his trial, and he procured new delays by making some new discoveries. At last, when he saw that slight and general ones would not serve his turn, he sent for the duke of Devonshire, and wrote a paper as a liscovery, which he gave him to be sent to the king; and that duke affirming to the lords justices that it was not fit that paper should be seen by any before the king saw it, the matter was suffered to rest for this time *.

• The chief of these prosecutions are in the State Trials."

The summer went over, both in Flanders and on the Rhine, without any action. All the funds given for this year's service proved defective, but that of the Land bank failed totally, and the credit of the bank of England was much shaken. About five millions of clipt money was brought into the exchequer; and the loss that the nation suffered by the recoining of the money, amounted to two millions and two hundred thousand pounds. The coinage was carried on with all possible haste; about eighty thousand pounds was coined every week; yet still this was slow, and the new money was generally kept up, so that for several months little of it appeared. This stop in the free circulation of money put the nation into great disorder. Those who, according to the act of parliament, were to have the first payments in milled money, for the loans they had made, kept their specie up, and would not let it go but at an unreasonable advantage. The king had no money to pay his army, so they were in great distress, which they bore with wonderful patience. By this means the king could undertake nothing, and was forced to lie on the defensive; nor were the French strong enough to make an impression in any place. The king had a mighty army, and was much superior to the enemy, yet he could do nothing; and it passed for a happy campaign because the French were not able to take any advantage from those ill accidents that our want of specie brought us under, which indeed were such, that nothing but the sense all had of the late conspiracy, kept us quiet and free from tumults. It now appeared what a strange error the king was led into, when he accepted of so great a sum to be raised by a Land bank. It was scarcely honourable, and not very safe at any time; but it might have proved fatal at a time in which money was likely to be much wanted, which want would have been less felt if paper credit had been kept up: but one bank working against another, and the goldsmiths against both, put us to great straits; yet the bank supplied the king in this extremity, and thereby convinced him that they were his friends in affection as well as interest

The secret practices in Italy were now ready to break out. The pope and the Venetians had a mind to send the Germans out of Italy, and to take the duke of Savoy out of the necessity of depending on those they called heretics. The management in the business of Casal looked so dark, that the lord Galway, who was the king's general and envoy there, did apprehend there was something mysterious under it. One step more remained, to settle the peace there; for the duke of Savoy would not own that he was in any negotiation, till he should have received the advances of money that were promised him from England and Holland, for he was much set on the heaping of treasure, even during the war, to which end he had debased his coin so, that it was not above a sixth part in intrinsic value of what it passed for. He was always beset with his priests, who were perpetually complaining of the progress that heresy was like to make in his dominions. He had indeed granted a very full edict in favour of the Vaudois, restoring their former liberties and privileges to them, which the lord Galway took care to have put in the most emphatical words, and passed with all the formalities of law, to make it as effectual as laws and promises can be; yet every step that was made in that affair went against the grain, and was extorted from hin by the intercession of the king and the States, and by the lord Galway's zeal.

The following contemporary song was published in "Poems on Affairs of State," vol. ii.-ed. 1703.

1.

Good people, what will you of all be bereft ?
Will you never learn wit while a penny is left?
You are all, like the dog in the fable, betray'd
To let go the substance and snatch at the shade;
Your specious pretences, and foreign expenses,
We war with religion, and waste all our chink,
'Tis nipt and 'tis clipt, 'tis lent and 'tis spent,
Till 'tis gone, till 'tis gone to the devil I think.

2.

We pay for our new-born, we pay for our dead,
We pay if we're single, we pay if we're wed;

a

To show that our merciful senate don't fail
To begin at the head, and tax down to the tail.
We pay through the nose by subjecting foes,
Yet for all our expenses get nothing but blows;
At home we are cheated, abroad we're defeated,
But the end on't, the end on't, the Lord above knowa.
3.

We parted with all our old money, to shew
We foolishly hoped for a plenty of new;
But might have remember'd, when we came to the push,
That a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
We now, like poor wretches, are kept under hatches,
At rack, and at manger, like beasts in the ark,
Since our burgesses and knights make us pay for our lights,
Why should we, why should we be kept in the dark i

Alluding to the window tax.

In conclusion, the French were grown so weary of that war, and found the charge of it so heavy, that they offered not only to restore all that had been taken, but to demolish Pignerol, and to pay the duke some millions of crowns; and to complete the whole, that the duke of Burgundy should marry his daughter. To this he consented; but to cover this defection from his allies, it was further agreed that Catinat should draw his army together before the duke could bring his to make head against him; and that he should be ordered to attempt the bombardment of Turin, that so the duke might seem to be forced by the extremity of his affairs to take such conditions as were offered him. He had a mind to have cast the blame on his allies, but they had assisted him more effectually at this time than on other occasions. A truce was first made, and that, after a few months, was turned into an entire peace; one article whereof was, that the Milanese should have a neutrality granted them in case the German forces were sent out of Italy. All the Italian princes and states concurred in this, to get rid of the Germans as soon as was possible; so the duke of Savoy promised to join with the French to drive them out. Valence was the first place that the duke of Savoy attacked; there was a good garrison in it, and it was better provided than the places of the Spaniards generally were. It was not much pressed, and the siege held some weeks, many dying in it. At last the courts of Vienna and Madrid accepted of the neutrality, and engaged to draw the Germans out of these parts upon an advance of money, which the princes of Italy were glad to pay to be delivered of such troublesome guests.

Thus ended the war in Piedmont, after it had lasted six years. Pignerol was demolished; but the French, by the treaty, might build another fort at Fenestrella, which is in the middle of the hills; and so it will not be so important as Pignerol was, though it may prove an uneasy neighbour to the duke of Savoy. His daughter was received in France as duchess of Burgundy, though not yet of the age of consent, for she was but ten years old.

Nothing of consequence passed in Catalonia: the French went no further than Gironne, and the Spaniards gave them no disturbance. Both the king and queen of Spain were at this time so ill, that, as is usual upon such occasions, it was suspected they were both poisoned. The king of Spain relapsed often, and at last remained in that low state of health, in which he seemed to be always rather dying than living. The court of France were glad of his recovery; for they were not then in a condition to undertake such a war as the dauphin's pretensions must have engaged them in.

In Hungary the Turks advanced again towards Transylvania, where the duke of Saxony commanded the imperial army. The Turks did attack them, and they defended themselves so well, that though they were beat, yet it cost the Turks so dear, that the grand seignior could undertake nothing afterwards. The imperialists lost about five thousand men ; but the Turks lost above twice that number, and the grand seignior went back with an empty triumph as he did the former year. But another action happened, in a very remote place, which may come to be of a very great consequence to him. The Muscovites, after they had been for some years under the divided monarchy of two brothers, or rather of a sister, who governed all in their name, by the death of one of these came now under one czar: he entered into an alliance with the emperor against the Turks; and Azuph, which was reckoned a strong place, that commanded the mouth of the Tanais, or Don, where it falls into the Meotis-palus, after a long siege was taken by his army. This opened the Euxine sea to him, so that if he be furnished with men skilled in the building and sailing of ships,

this may have consequences that may very much distress Constantinople, and be in the end

fatal to that empire. The king of Denmark's health was now on a decline, upon which the duke of Holstein was taking advantage, and new disputes were like to arise there.

Our affairs at sea went well with relation to trade: all our merchant fleets came happily home; we made no considerable losses; on the contrary, we took many of the French privateers; they now gained little in that way of war, which in some of the former years had been very advantageous to them. Upon the breaking out of the conspiracy, orders were sent to Cadiz for bringing home our fleet; the Spaniards murmured at this, though it was reasonable for us to take care of ourselves in the first place. Upon that the French fleet