The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 1 by Thomas Babington Macaulay (diy ebook reader .txt) π
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easily foreseen, excited only a languid
interest in London.
But, a week before the final dispersion of Argyle's army England
was agitated by the news that a more formidable invader had
landed on her own shores. It had been agreed among the refugees
that Monmouth should sail from Holland six days after the
departure of the Scots. He had deferred his expedition a short
time, probably in the hope that most of the troops in the south
of the island would be moved to the north as soon as war broke
out in the Highlands, and that he should find no force ready to
oppose him. When at length he was desirous to proceed, the wind
had become adverse and violent.
While his small fleet lay tossing in the Texel, a contest was
going on among the Dutch authorities. The States General and the
Prince of Orange were on one side, the Town Council and Admiralty
of Amsterdam on the other.
Skelton had delivered to the States General a list of the
refugees whose residence in the United Provinces caused
uneasiness to his master. The States General, anxious to grant
every reasonable request which James could make, sent copies of
the list to the provincial authorities. The provincial
authorities sent copies to the municipal authorities. The
magistrates of all the towns were directed to take such measures
as might prevent the proscribed Whigs from molesting the English
government. In general those directions were obeyed. At Rotterdam
in particular, where the influence of William was all powerful,
such activity was shown as called forth warm acknowledgments from
James. But Amsterdam was the chief seat of the emigrants; and the
governing body of Amsterdam would see nothing, hear nothing, know
of nothing. The High Bailiff of the city, who was himself in
daily communication with Ferguson, reported to the Hague that he
did not know where to find a single one of the refugees; and with
this excuse the federal government was forced to be content. The
truth was that the English exiles were as well known at
Amsterdam, and as much stared at in the streets, as if they had
been Chinese.355
A few days later, Skelton received orders from his Court to
request that, in consequence of the dangers which threatened his
master's throne, the three Scotch regiments in the service of the
United Provinces might be sent to Great Britain without delay. He
applied to the Prince of Orange; and the prince undertook to
manage the matter, but predicted that Amsterdam would raise some
difficulty. The prediction proved correct. The deputies of
Amsterdam refused to consent, and succeeded in causing some
delay. But the question was not one of those on which, by the
constitution of the republic, a single city could prevent the
wish of the majority from being carried into effect. The
influence of William prevailed; and the troops were embarked with
great expedition.356
Skelton was at the same time exerting himself, not indeed very
judiciously or temperately, to stop the ships which the English
refugees had fitted out. He expostulated in warm terms with the
Admiralty of Amsterdam. The negligence of that board, he said,
had already enabled one band of rebels to invade Britain. For a
second error of the same kind there could be no excuse. He
peremptorily demanded that a large vessel, named the
Helderenbergh, might be detained. It was pretended that this
vessel was bound for the Canaries. But in truth, she had been
freighted by Monmouth, carried twenty-six guns, and was loaded
with arms and ammunition. The Admiralty of Amsterdam replied that
the liberty of trade and navigation was not to be restrained for
light reasons, and that the Helderenbergh could not be stopped
without an order from the States General. Skelton, whose uniform
practice seems to have been to begin at the wrong end, now had
recourse to the States General. The States General gave the
necessary orders. Then the Admiralty of Amsterdam pretended that
there was not a sufficient naval force in the Texel to seize so
large a ship as the Helderenbergh, and suffered Monmouth to sail
unmolested.357
The weather was bad: the voyage was long; and several English
men-of-war were cruising in the channel. But Monmouth escaped
both the sea and the enemy. As he passed by the cliffs of
Dorsetshire, it was thought desirable to send a boat to the beach
with one of the refugees named Thomas Dare. This man, though of
low mind and manners, had great influence at Taunton. He was
directed to hasten thither across the country, and to apprise his
friends that Monmouth would soon be on English ground.358
On the morning of the eleventh of June the Helderenbergh,
accompanied by two smaller vessels, appeared off the port of
Lyme. That town is a small knot of steep and narrow alleys, lying
on a coast wild, rocky, and beaten by a stormy sea. The place was
then chiefly remarkable for a pier which, in the days of the
Plantagenets, had been constructed of stones, unhewn and
uncemented. This ancient work, known by the name of the Cob,
enclosed the only haven where, in a space of many miles, the
fishermen could take refuge from the tempests of the Channel.
The appearance of the three ships, foreign built and without
colours, perplexed the inhabitants of Lyme; and the uneasiness
increased when it was found that the Customhouse officers, who
had gone on board according to usage, did not return. The town's
people repaired to the cliffs, and gazed long and anxiously, but
could find no solution of the mystery. At length seven boats put
off from the largest of the strange vessels, and rowed to the
shore. From these boats landed about eighty men, well armed and
appointed. Among them were Monmouth, Grey, Fletcher, Ferguson,
Wade, and Anthony Buyse, an officer who had been in the service
of the Elector of Brandenburg.359
Monmouth commanded silence, kneeled down on the shore, thanked
God for having preserved the friends of liberty and pure religion
from the perils of the sea, and implored the divine blessing on
what was yet to be done by land. He then drew his sword, and led
his men over the cliffs into the town.
As soon as it was known under what leader and for what purpose
the expedition came, the enthusiasm of the populace burst through
all restraints. The little town was in an uproar with men running
to and fro, and shouting "A Monmouth! a Monmouth! the Protestant
religion!" Meanwhile the ensign of the adventurers, a blue flag,
was set up in the marketplace. The military stores were deposited
in the town hall; and a Declaration setting forth the objects of
the expedition was read from the Cross.360
This Declaration, the masterpiece of Ferguson's genius, was not a
grave manifesto such as ought to be put forth by a leader drawing
the sword for a great public cause, but a libel of the lowest
class, both in sentiment and language.361 It contained
undoubtedly many just charges against the government. But these
charges were set forth in the prolix and inflated style of a bad
pamphlet; and the paper contained other charges of which the
whole disgrace falls on those who made them. The Duke of York, it
was positively affirmed, had burned down London, had strangled
Godfrey, had cut the throat of Essex, and had poisoned the late
King. On account of those villanous and unnatural crimes, but
chiefly of that execrable fact, the late horrible and barbarous
parricide,-such was the copiousness and such the felicity of
Ferguson's diction,-James was declared a mortal and bloody
enemy, a tyrant, a murderer, and an usurper. No treaty should be
made with him. The sword should not be sheathed till he had been
brought to condign punishment as a traitor. The government should
be settled on principles favourable to liberty. All Protestant
sects should be tolerated. The forfeited charters should be
restored. Parliament should be held annually, and should no
longer be prorogued or dissolved by royal caprice. The only
standing force should be the militia: the militia should be
commanded by the Sheriffs; and the Sheriffs should be chosen by
the freeholders. Finally Monmouth declared that he could prove
himself to have been born in lawful wedlock, and to be, by right
of blood, King of England, but that, for the present, he waived
his claims, that he would leave them to the judgment of a free
Parliament, and that, in the meantime, he desired to be
considered only as the Captain General of the English
Protestants, who were in arms against tyranny and Popery.
Disgraceful as this manifesto was to those who put it forth, it
was not unskilfully framed for the purpose of stimulating the
passions of the vulgar. In the West the effect was great. The
gentry and clergy of that part of England were indeed, with few
exceptions, Tories. But the yeomen, the traders of the towns, the
peasants, and the artisans were generally animated by the old
Roundhead spirit. Many of them were Dissenters, and had been
goaded by petty persecution into a temper fit for desperate
enterprise. The great mass of the population abhorred Popery and
adored Monmouth. He was no stranger to them. His progress through
Somersetshire and Devonshire in the. summer of 1680 was still
fresh in the memory of all men.
He was on that occasion sumptuously entertained by Thomas Thynne
at Longleat Hall, then, and perhaps still, the most magnificent
country house in England. From Longleat to Exeter the hedges were
lined with shouting spectators. The roads were strewn with boughs
and flowers. The multitude, in their eagerness to see and touch
their favourite, broke down the palings of parks, and besieged
the mansions where he was feasted. When he reached Chard his
escort consisted of five thousand horsemen. At Exeter all
Devonshire had been gathered together to welcome him. One
striking part of the show was a company of nine hundred young men
who, clad in a white uniform, marched before him into the
city.362 The turn of fortune which had alienated the gentry from
his cause had produced no effect on the common people. To them he
was still the good Duke, the Protestant Duke, the rightful heir
whom a vile conspiracy kept out of his own. They came to his
standard in crowds. All the clerks whom he could employ were too
few to take down the names of the recruits. Before he had been
twenty-four hours on English ground he was at the head of fifteen
hundred men. Dare arrived from Taunton with forty horsemen of no
very martial appearance, and brought encouraging intelligence as
to the state of public feeling in Somersetshire. As Yet all
seemed to promise well.363
But a force was collecting at Bridport
interest in London.
But, a week before the final dispersion of Argyle's army England
was agitated by the news that a more formidable invader had
landed on her own shores. It had been agreed among the refugees
that Monmouth should sail from Holland six days after the
departure of the Scots. He had deferred his expedition a short
time, probably in the hope that most of the troops in the south
of the island would be moved to the north as soon as war broke
out in the Highlands, and that he should find no force ready to
oppose him. When at length he was desirous to proceed, the wind
had become adverse and violent.
While his small fleet lay tossing in the Texel, a contest was
going on among the Dutch authorities. The States General and the
Prince of Orange were on one side, the Town Council and Admiralty
of Amsterdam on the other.
Skelton had delivered to the States General a list of the
refugees whose residence in the United Provinces caused
uneasiness to his master. The States General, anxious to grant
every reasonable request which James could make, sent copies of
the list to the provincial authorities. The provincial
authorities sent copies to the municipal authorities. The
magistrates of all the towns were directed to take such measures
as might prevent the proscribed Whigs from molesting the English
government. In general those directions were obeyed. At Rotterdam
in particular, where the influence of William was all powerful,
such activity was shown as called forth warm acknowledgments from
James. But Amsterdam was the chief seat of the emigrants; and the
governing body of Amsterdam would see nothing, hear nothing, know
of nothing. The High Bailiff of the city, who was himself in
daily communication with Ferguson, reported to the Hague that he
did not know where to find a single one of the refugees; and with
this excuse the federal government was forced to be content. The
truth was that the English exiles were as well known at
Amsterdam, and as much stared at in the streets, as if they had
been Chinese.355
A few days later, Skelton received orders from his Court to
request that, in consequence of the dangers which threatened his
master's throne, the three Scotch regiments in the service of the
United Provinces might be sent to Great Britain without delay. He
applied to the Prince of Orange; and the prince undertook to
manage the matter, but predicted that Amsterdam would raise some
difficulty. The prediction proved correct. The deputies of
Amsterdam refused to consent, and succeeded in causing some
delay. But the question was not one of those on which, by the
constitution of the republic, a single city could prevent the
wish of the majority from being carried into effect. The
influence of William prevailed; and the troops were embarked with
great expedition.356
Skelton was at the same time exerting himself, not indeed very
judiciously or temperately, to stop the ships which the English
refugees had fitted out. He expostulated in warm terms with the
Admiralty of Amsterdam. The negligence of that board, he said,
had already enabled one band of rebels to invade Britain. For a
second error of the same kind there could be no excuse. He
peremptorily demanded that a large vessel, named the
Helderenbergh, might be detained. It was pretended that this
vessel was bound for the Canaries. But in truth, she had been
freighted by Monmouth, carried twenty-six guns, and was loaded
with arms and ammunition. The Admiralty of Amsterdam replied that
the liberty of trade and navigation was not to be restrained for
light reasons, and that the Helderenbergh could not be stopped
without an order from the States General. Skelton, whose uniform
practice seems to have been to begin at the wrong end, now had
recourse to the States General. The States General gave the
necessary orders. Then the Admiralty of Amsterdam pretended that
there was not a sufficient naval force in the Texel to seize so
large a ship as the Helderenbergh, and suffered Monmouth to sail
unmolested.357
The weather was bad: the voyage was long; and several English
men-of-war were cruising in the channel. But Monmouth escaped
both the sea and the enemy. As he passed by the cliffs of
Dorsetshire, it was thought desirable to send a boat to the beach
with one of the refugees named Thomas Dare. This man, though of
low mind and manners, had great influence at Taunton. He was
directed to hasten thither across the country, and to apprise his
friends that Monmouth would soon be on English ground.358
On the morning of the eleventh of June the Helderenbergh,
accompanied by two smaller vessels, appeared off the port of
Lyme. That town is a small knot of steep and narrow alleys, lying
on a coast wild, rocky, and beaten by a stormy sea. The place was
then chiefly remarkable for a pier which, in the days of the
Plantagenets, had been constructed of stones, unhewn and
uncemented. This ancient work, known by the name of the Cob,
enclosed the only haven where, in a space of many miles, the
fishermen could take refuge from the tempests of the Channel.
The appearance of the three ships, foreign built and without
colours, perplexed the inhabitants of Lyme; and the uneasiness
increased when it was found that the Customhouse officers, who
had gone on board according to usage, did not return. The town's
people repaired to the cliffs, and gazed long and anxiously, but
could find no solution of the mystery. At length seven boats put
off from the largest of the strange vessels, and rowed to the
shore. From these boats landed about eighty men, well armed and
appointed. Among them were Monmouth, Grey, Fletcher, Ferguson,
Wade, and Anthony Buyse, an officer who had been in the service
of the Elector of Brandenburg.359
Monmouth commanded silence, kneeled down on the shore, thanked
God for having preserved the friends of liberty and pure religion
from the perils of the sea, and implored the divine blessing on
what was yet to be done by land. He then drew his sword, and led
his men over the cliffs into the town.
As soon as it was known under what leader and for what purpose
the expedition came, the enthusiasm of the populace burst through
all restraints. The little town was in an uproar with men running
to and fro, and shouting "A Monmouth! a Monmouth! the Protestant
religion!" Meanwhile the ensign of the adventurers, a blue flag,
was set up in the marketplace. The military stores were deposited
in the town hall; and a Declaration setting forth the objects of
the expedition was read from the Cross.360
This Declaration, the masterpiece of Ferguson's genius, was not a
grave manifesto such as ought to be put forth by a leader drawing
the sword for a great public cause, but a libel of the lowest
class, both in sentiment and language.361 It contained
undoubtedly many just charges against the government. But these
charges were set forth in the prolix and inflated style of a bad
pamphlet; and the paper contained other charges of which the
whole disgrace falls on those who made them. The Duke of York, it
was positively affirmed, had burned down London, had strangled
Godfrey, had cut the throat of Essex, and had poisoned the late
King. On account of those villanous and unnatural crimes, but
chiefly of that execrable fact, the late horrible and barbarous
parricide,-such was the copiousness and such the felicity of
Ferguson's diction,-James was declared a mortal and bloody
enemy, a tyrant, a murderer, and an usurper. No treaty should be
made with him. The sword should not be sheathed till he had been
brought to condign punishment as a traitor. The government should
be settled on principles favourable to liberty. All Protestant
sects should be tolerated. The forfeited charters should be
restored. Parliament should be held annually, and should no
longer be prorogued or dissolved by royal caprice. The only
standing force should be the militia: the militia should be
commanded by the Sheriffs; and the Sheriffs should be chosen by
the freeholders. Finally Monmouth declared that he could prove
himself to have been born in lawful wedlock, and to be, by right
of blood, King of England, but that, for the present, he waived
his claims, that he would leave them to the judgment of a free
Parliament, and that, in the meantime, he desired to be
considered only as the Captain General of the English
Protestants, who were in arms against tyranny and Popery.
Disgraceful as this manifesto was to those who put it forth, it
was not unskilfully framed for the purpose of stimulating the
passions of the vulgar. In the West the effect was great. The
gentry and clergy of that part of England were indeed, with few
exceptions, Tories. But the yeomen, the traders of the towns, the
peasants, and the artisans were generally animated by the old
Roundhead spirit. Many of them were Dissenters, and had been
goaded by petty persecution into a temper fit for desperate
enterprise. The great mass of the population abhorred Popery and
adored Monmouth. He was no stranger to them. His progress through
Somersetshire and Devonshire in the. summer of 1680 was still
fresh in the memory of all men.
He was on that occasion sumptuously entertained by Thomas Thynne
at Longleat Hall, then, and perhaps still, the most magnificent
country house in England. From Longleat to Exeter the hedges were
lined with shouting spectators. The roads were strewn with boughs
and flowers. The multitude, in their eagerness to see and touch
their favourite, broke down the palings of parks, and besieged
the mansions where he was feasted. When he reached Chard his
escort consisted of five thousand horsemen. At Exeter all
Devonshire had been gathered together to welcome him. One
striking part of the show was a company of nine hundred young men
who, clad in a white uniform, marched before him into the
city.362 The turn of fortune which had alienated the gentry from
his cause had produced no effect on the common people. To them he
was still the good Duke, the Protestant Duke, the rightful heir
whom a vile conspiracy kept out of his own. They came to his
standard in crowds. All the clerks whom he could employ were too
few to take down the names of the recruits. Before he had been
twenty-four hours on English ground he was at the head of fifteen
hundred men. Dare arrived from Taunton with forty horsemen of no
very martial appearance, and brought encouraging intelligence as
to the state of public feeling in Somersetshire. As Yet all
seemed to promise well.363
But a force was collecting at Bridport
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