which he thanked them for the repeated instances they had exhibited of their affection to his person and government. He told them it was high time for him to embark for Holland; recommended unanimity; and assured them of his particular favour and protection. Then lord chief-baron Atkins signified his majesty's pleasure, that the two houses should adjourn themselves to the 31st day of March."

§ XLV. William, having settled the affairs of the nation, set out for Margate on the sixth day of January; but the ship in which he proposed to embark being detained by an easterly wind and hard frost, he returned to Kensington. On the 16th, however, he embarked at Gravesend with a numerous retinue, and set sail for Holland, under convoy of twelve ships of war, commanded by admiral Rooke. Next day, being informed by a fisherman that he was within a league and a half of Goree, he quitted the yacht, and went into an open boat, attended by the duke of Ormond, the earls of Devonshire, Dorset, Portland, and Monmouth, with Auverquerque, and Zuylestein. Instead of landing immediately, they lost sight of the fleet, and, night coming on, were exposed in very severe weather to the danger of the enemy and the sea, which ran very high for eighteen hours, during which the king and all his attendants were drenched with sea water. When the sailors expressed their apprehensions of perishing, the king asked if they were afraid to die in his company? At daybreak, he landed on the isle of Goree, where he took some refreshment in a fisherman's hut; then he committed himself to the boat again, and was conveyed to the shore in the neighbourhood of Maeslandsluys. A deputation of the states received him at Hounslardyke: about six in the evening he arrived at the Hague, where he was immediately complimented by the states

In this year the English planters repossessed themselves of part of the island of St. Christopher's, from which they had been driven by the French.

general, the states of Holland, the council of state, the other colleges, and the foreign ministers. He afterward, at the request of the magistrates, made his public entry with surprising magnificence; and the Dutch celebrated his arrival with bonfires, illuminations, and other marks of tumultuous joy. He assisted at their different assemblies; informed them of his successes in England and Ireland; and assured them of his constant zeal and affection for his native country.

§ XLVI. At a solemn congress of the confederate princes, he represented, in a set speech, the dangers to which they were exposed from the power and ambition of France; and the necessity of acting with vigour and dispatch. He declared he would spare neither his credit, forces, nor person, in concurring with their measures; and that in the spring he would come at the head of his troops to fulfil his engagements. They forthwith resolved to employ two hundred and twentytwo thousand men against France in the ensuing campaign. The proportions of the different princes and states were regulated; and the king of England agreed to furnish twenty thousand. He supplied the duke of Savoy so liberally, that his affairs soon assumed a more promising aspect. The plan of operations was settled, and they transacted their affairs with such harmony, that no dispute interrupted their deliberations. In the beginning of March, immediately after the congress broke up, the siege of Mons was undertaken by the French king in person, accompanied by the dauphin, the dukes of Orleans and Chartres. The garrison consisted of about six thousand men, commanded by the prince of Bergue: but the besiegers carried on their works with such rapidity as they could not withstand. King William no sooner understood that the place was invested, than he ordered prince Waldeck to assemble the army, determined to march against the enemy in person.

Fifty thousand men were soon collected at

Halle, near Brussels; but when he went thither, he found the Spaniards had neglected to provide carriages, and other necessaries for the expedition. Meanwhile, the burghers of Mons, seeing their town in danger of being utterly destroyed by the bombs and cannon of the enemy, pressed the governor to capitulate, and even threatened to introduce the besiegers: so that he was forced to comply, and obtained very honourable conditions. William, being apprized of this event, returned to the Hague, embarked for England, and arrived at Whitehall on the 13th day of April."

CHAP. III.

§ I. Conspiracy against the government by lord Preston and others -§ II. The king fills up the vacant bishopricks--§ III. Affairs of Scotland-§ IV. Campaign in Flanders-§ V. Progress of the French in Piedmont-§ VI. Election of a new pope-§ VII. The emperor's success against the Turks-§ VIII. Affairs of Ireland§ IX. General Ginckel reduces Athlone-§ X. Defeats the Irish at Aghrim—§ XI. Undertakes the siege of Limerick-§ XII. The French and Irish obtain an honourable capitulation-§ XIII. Twelve thousand Irish Catholics are transported to France§ XIV. Meeting of the English parliament-§ XV. Discontent of the nation-§ XVI. Transactions in parliament-§ XVII. Disputes concerning the bill for regulating trials in cases of hightreason—§ XVIII. The English and Dutch fleets worsted by the French in an engagement off Beachy-head-§ XIX. The king disobliges the Presbyterians of Scotland-§ XX. The earl of Breadalbane undertakes for the submission of the Highlanders-§ XXI. Massacre of Glencoe-§ XXII. Preparations for a descent upon England-§ XXIII. Declaration of king James-§ XXIV. Efforts of his friends in England-§ XXV. Precautions taken by the queen for the defence of the nation-§ XXVI. Admiral Russel puts to sea-§ XXVII. He obtains a complete victory over the French fleet off La Hogue-§ XXVIII. Troops embarked at St. Helen's for a descent upon France-§ XXIX. The design laid aside. The troops landed at Ostend-§ XXX. The French king takes Namur in sight of king William-§ XXXI. The allies are

a A few days before his arrival, great part of the palace of Whitehall was consumed by fire, through the negligence of a female servant.

defeated at Steenkirk -§ XXXII. Extravagant rejoicings in France on account of this victory-§ XXXIII. Conspiracy against the life of king William, hatched by the French ministry§ XXXIV. Miscarriage of a design upon Dunkirk—§ XXXV. The campaign is inactive on the Rhine and in Hungary§ XXXVI. The duke of Savoy invades Dauphiné-XXXVII. The duke of Hanover created an elector of the empire.

I. A CONSPIRACY against the government had been lately discovered. In the latter end of December, the master of a vessel who lived at Barking, in Essex, informed the marquis of Caermarthen, that his wife had let out one of his boats to carry over some persons to France; and that they would embark on the 13th day of the month. This intelligence being communicated to the king and council, an order was sent to captain Billop, to watch the motion of the vessel, and secure the passengers. He accordingly boarded her at Gravesend, and found in the hold lord Preston, Mr. Ashton, a servant of the late queen, and one Elliot. He likewise seized a bundle of papers, some of which were scarce intelligible; among the rest, two letters, supposed to be written by Turner, bishop of Ely, to king James and his queen, under fictitious names. The whole amounted to an invitation to the French king to assist king James in reascending the throne, upon certain conditions, while William should be absent from the kingdom: but the scheme was ill laid, and countenanced but by a very few persons of consideration, among whom the chiefs were the earl of Clarendon, the bishop of Ely, lord Preston, his brother, Mr. Graham, and Penn the famous Quaker. Notwithstanding the outcries which had been made against the severities of the late government, Preston, and his accomplice Ashton, were tried at the Old Bailey for compassing the death of their majesties king William and queen Mary; and their trials were hurried on, without any regard to their petitions for delay. Lord Preston alleged, in his defence, that the treasons charged upon him were not committed in

He owned his

the county of Middlesex, as laid in the indictment; that none of the witnesses declared he had any concern in hiring the vessel; that the papers were not found upon him; that there ought to be two credible witnesses to every fact, whereas, the whole proof against him rested on similitude of hands, and mere supposition. He was, nevertheless, found guilty. Ashton behaved with great intrepidity and composure. He owned his purpose of going to France, in pursuance of a promise he had made to general Worden, who, on his deathbed, conjured him to go thither, and finish some affairs of consequence which he had left there depending; as well as with a view to recover a considerable sum of money due to himself. He denied that he was privy to the contents of the papers found upon him: he complained of his having been denied time to prepare for his trial; and called several persons to prove him a Protestant of exemplary piety and irreproachable morals. These circumstances had no weight with the court. He was

brow-beaten by the bench, and found guilty by the jury, as he had the papers in his custody; yet there was no privity proved; and the whig party themselves had often expressly declared, that of all sorts of evidence, that of finding papers in a person's possession is the weakest, because no man can secure himself from such danger. Ashton suffered with equal courage and decorum. In a paper which he delivered to the sheriff, he owned his attachment to king James; he witnessed to the birth of the prince of Wales; denied his knowledge of the contents of the papers that were committed to his charge; complained of the hard measure he had met with from the judges and the jury, but forgave them in the sight of Heaven." This man was celebrated by the nonjurors as a martyr to loyalty; and they boldly affirmed, that his chief crime in the eyes of the government, was his having among his baggage an account of such evidence

b Burnet. State Tracts, Burchet. Tindal. Ralph.