Chapter V: William (3)

He took it for granted that as the Dutch were a trading people, whose commerce had greatly suffered in the war, they could not be averse to a pacification; and he instructed his emissaries to tamper with the malcontents of the republic, especially with the remains of the Louvestein faction, which had always opposed the schemes of the stadtholder. Callieres met with a favourable reception from the states, which began to treat with him about the preliminaries, though not without the consent and concurrence of king William and the rest of the allies. Louis, with a view to quicken the effect of this negotiation, pursued offensive measures in Catalonia, where his general the duke de Vendome attacked and worsted the Spaniards in their camp near Ostalrick, though the action was not decisive; for that general was obliged to retreat after having made vigorous efforts against their intrenchments. On the twentieth day of June, mareschal de Lorges passed the Rhine at Philips-burg and encamped within a league of Eppingen, where the Imperial troops were obliged to intrench themselves, under the command of the prince of Baden, as they were not yet joined by the auxiliary forces. The French general after having faced him about a month, thought proper to repass the river. Then he detached a body of horse to Flanders, and cantoned the rest of his troops at Spires, Franckendahl, Worms, and Ostofen. On the last day of August the prince of Baden retaliated the insult, by passing the Rhine at Mentz and Cocsheim. On the tenth he was joined by general Thungen, who commanded a separate body, together with the militia of Suabia and Franconia, and advanced to the camp of the enemy, who had reassembled; but they were posted in such a manner that he would not hazard an attack. Having therefore cannonaded them for some days, scoured the adjacent country by detached parties, and taken the little castle of Wiezengen, he repassed the river at Worms on the seventh day of October: the French likewise crossed at Philipsburgh in hopes of surprising general Thungen, who had taken post in the neighbourhood of Strasbourg; but he retired to Eppingen before their arrival, and in a little time both armies were distributed in winter quarters. Peter, the czar of Muscovy, carried on the siege of Azoph with such vigour, that the garrison was obliged to capitulate after the Russians had defeated a great convoy sent to its relief. The court of Vienna forthwith engaged in an alliance with the Muscovite emperor; but they did not exert themselves in taking advantage of the disaster which the Turks had undergone. The Imperial army, commanded by the elector of Saxony, continued inactive on the river Marosch till the nineteenth day of July, then they made a feint of attacking Temiswaer; but they inarched towards Betzkerch, in their route to Belgrade, on receiving advice that the grand seignor intended to besiege Titul. On the twenty-first day of August, the two armies were in sight of each other. The Turkish horse attacked the Imperialists in a plain near the river Begue, but were repulsed. The Germans next day made a show of retreating, in hopes of drawing the enemy from their intrenchments. The stratagem succeeded. On the twenty-sixth the Turkish army was in motion. A detachment of the Imperialists attacked them in flank as they marched through a wood. A very desperate action ensued, in which the generals Heusler and Poland, with many other gallant officers, lost their lives. At length the Ottoman horse were routed; but the Germans were so roughly handled, that on the second day after the engagement they retreated at midnight, and the Turks remained quiet in their intrenchments.

In Piedmont the face of affairs underwent a strange alteration. The duke of Savoy, who had for some time been engaged in a secret negotiation with France, at length embraced the offers of that crown, and privately signed a separate treaty of peace at Loretto, to which place he repaired on a pretended pilgrimage. The French king engaged to present him with four millions of livres by way of reparation for the damage he had sustained, to assist him with a certain number of auxiliaries against all his enemies, and to effect a marriage between the duke of Burgundy and the princess of Piedmont, as soon as the parties should be marriageable. The treaty was guaranteed by the pope and the Venetians, who were extremely desirous of seeing the Germans driven out of Italy. King William being apprized of this negotiation, communicated the intelligence to the earl of Galway, his ambassador at Turin, who expostulated with the duke upon this defection; but he persisted in denying any such correspondence, until the advance of the French army enabled him to avow it without fearing the resentment of the allies whom he had abandoned. Catinat marched into the plains of Turin at the head of fifty thousand men, an army greatly superior to that of the confederates. Then the duke imparted to the ministers of the allies the proposals which France had made; represented the superior strength of her army; the danger to which he was exposed; and, finally, his inclination to embrace her offers. On the twelfth of July a truce was concluded for a month, and afterwards prolonged till the fifteenth of September. He wrote to all the powers engaged in the confederacy, except King William, expatiating on the same topics, and soliciting their consent. Though each in particular refused to concur, he on the twenty-third day of August signed the treaty in public which he had before concluded in private. The emperor was no sooner informed of his design, than he took every step which he thought could divert him from his purpose. He sent the count Mansfeldt to Turin with proposals for a match between the king of the Romans and the princess of Savoy, as well as with offers to augment his forces and his subsidy; but the duke had already settled his terms with France, from which he would not recede. Prince Eugene, though his kinsman, expressed great indignation at his conduct. The young prince de Commercy was so provoked at his defection that he challenged him to single combat, and the duke accepted of his challenge; but the quarrel was compromised by the intervention of friends, and they parted in an amicable manner. He had concealed the treaty until he should receive the remaining part of the subsidies due to him from the confederates. A considerable sum had been remitted from England to Genoa for his use; but lord Galway no sooner received intimation of his new engagement, than he put a stop to the payment of this money, which he employed in the Milanese for the subsistence of those troops that were in the British service. King William was encamped at Gemblours when the duke’s envoy notified the separate peace which his master had concluded with the king of France. Though he was extremely chagrined at the information, he dissembled his anger and listened to the minister without the least emotion. One of the conditions of this treaty was, that within a limited time the allies should evacuate the duke’s dominions, otherwise they should be expelled by the joint forces of France and Savoy. A neutrality was offered to the confederates; and this being rejected, the contracting powers resolved to attack the Milanese. Accordingly when the truce expired, the duke, as generalissimo of the French king, entered that duchy and undertook the siege of Valentia; so that in one campaign he commanded two contending armies. The garrison of Valentia, consisting of seven thousand men, Germans, Spaniards, and French protestants, made an obstinate defence; and the duke of Savoy prosecuted the siege with uncommon impetuosity. But after the trenches had been open for thirteen days, a courier arrived from Madrid with an account of his catholic majesty’s having agreed to the neutrality for Italy. This agreement imported that there should be a suspension of arms until a general peace could be effected; and that the Imperial and French troops should return to their respective countries. Christendom had well nigh been embroiled anew by the death of John Sobieski, king of Poland, who died at the age of seventy in the course of this summer, after having survived his faculties and reputation. As the crown was elective, a competition arose for the succession. The kingdom was divided by factions; and the different powers of Europe interested themselves warmly in the contention.

NAVAL TRANSACTIONS.

Nothing of consequence had been lately achieved by the naval force of England. When the conspiracy was first discovered, sir George Rooke had received orders to return from Cadiz, and he arrived in the latter end of April. While he took his place at the board of admiralty, lord Berkeley succeeded to the command of the fleet, and in the month of June set sail towards Ushant in order to insult the coast of France. He pillaged and burned the villages on the islands Grouais, Houat, and Hey die; made prize of about twenty vessels; bombarded St. Martin’s on the isle of Ehé, and the town of Olonne, which was set on fire in fifteen different places with the shells and carcasses. Though these appear to have been enterprises of small import, they certainly kept the whole coast of France in perpetual alarm. The ministry of that kingdom were so much afraid of invasion, that between Brest and Goulet they ordered above one hundred batteries to be erected, and above sixty thousand men were continually in arms for the defence of the maritime places. In the month of May rear-admiral Benbow sailed with a small squadron in order to block up Du Bart in the harbour of Dunkirk; but that famous adventurer found means to escape in a fog, and steering to the eastward attacked the Dutch fleet in the Baltic under a convoy of five frigates. These last he took, together with half the number of the trading ships; but falling in with the outward bound fleet convoyed by thirteen ships of the line, he was obliged to burn four of the frigates, turn the fifth adrift, and part with all his prizes except fifteen, which he carried into Dunkirk.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE PARLIAMENTS OF SCOTLAND AND IRELAND.

The parliament of Scotland met on the eighth day of September, and lord Murray, secretary of state, now earl of Tullibardine, presided as king’s commissioner. Though that kingdom was exhausted by the war and two successive bad harvests, which had driven a great number of the inhabitants into Ireland, there was no opposition to the court measures. The members of parliament signed an association like that of England. They granted a supply of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds for maintaining their forces by sea and land. They passed an act for securing their religion, lives, and properties, in case his majesty should come to an untimely death. By another they obliged all persons in public trust to sign the association, and then the parliament was adjourned to the eighth day of December. The disturbances of Ireland seemed now to be entirely appeased. Lord Capel dying in May, the council, by virtue of an act passed in the reign of Henry VIII., elected the chancellor, sir Charles Porter, to be lord justice and chief governor of that kingdom, until his majesty’s pleasure should be known. The parliament met in June: the commons expelled Mr. Sanderson, the only member of that house who had refused to sign the association, and adjourned to the fourth day of August. By that time sir Charles Porter and the earls of Montrath and Drogheda were appointed lords justices, and signified the king’s pleasure that they should adjourn. In the beginning of December the chancellor died of an apoplexy.

ZEAL OF THE ENGLISH COMMONS IN THEIR AFFECTION TO THE KING.

King William being tired of an inactive campaign, left the army under the command of the elector of Bavaria, and about the latter end of August repaired to his palace at Loo, where he enjoyed his favourite exercise of stag-hunting. He visited the court of Brandenburgh at Cleves; conferred with the states of Holland at the Hague; and, embarking for England, landed at Margate on the sixth day of October. The domestic economy of the nation was extremely perplexed at this juncture from the sinking of public credit, and the stagnation that necessarily attended a recoinage. These grievances were with difficulty removed by the clear apprehension, the enterprising genius, the unshaken fortitude of Mr. Montague, chancellor of the exchequer, operating upon a national spirit of adventure, which the monied interest had produced. The king opened the session of parliament on the twentieth day of October, with a speech importing that overtures had been made for a negotiation, but that the best way of treating with France would be sword in hand. He therefore desired they would be expeditious in raising the supplies for the service of the ensuing year, as well as for making good the funds already granted. He declared that the civil list could not be supported without their assistance. He recommended the miserable condition of the French protestants to their compassion. He desired they would contrive the best expedients for the recovery of the national credit. He observed that unanimity and despatch were now more than ever necessary, for the honour, safety, and advantage of England. The commons having taken this speech into consideration, resolved that they would support his majesty and his government, and assist him in the prosecution of the war; that the standard of gold and silver should not be altered; and that they would make good all parliamentary funds. Then they presented an address in a very spirited strain, declaring, that notwithstanding the blood and treasure of which the nation had been drained, the commons of England would not be diverted from their firm resolutions of obtaining by war a safe and honourable peace. They therefore renewed their assurances that they would support his majesty against all his enemies at home and abroad. The house of lords delivered another to the same purpose, declaring that they would never be wanting or backward on their parts in what might be necessary to his majesty’s honour, the good of his kingdoms, and the quiet of Christendom. The commons, in the first transports of their zeal, ordered two seditious pamphlets to be burned by the hands of the common hangman. They deliberated upon the estimates, and granted above six millions for the service of the ensuing-year. They resolved that a supply should be granted for making good the deficiency of parliamentary funds, and appropriated several duties for this purpose.

RESOLUTIONS TOUCHING THE COIN, &c.

With respect to the coin they brought in a bill repealing an act for taking off the obligation and encouragement of coining guineas for a certain time, and for importing and coining guineas and half guineas, as the extravagant price of those coins which occasioned this act was now fallen. They passed a second bill for remedying the ill state of the coin; and a third, explaining an act in the preceding session for laying duties on low wines and spirits of the first extraction. In order to raise the supplies of the year, they resolved to tax all persons according to the true value of their real and personal estates, their stock upon land and in trade, their income by offices, pensions, and professions. A duty of one penny per week for one year was laid upon all persons not receiving alms. A further imposition of one farthing in the pound per week was fixed upon all servants receiving four pounds per annum as wages, and upwards to eight pounds a-year inclusive. Those who received from eight to sixteen pounds were taxed at one halfpenny per pound. An aid of three shillings in the pound for one year was laid upon all lands, tenements, and hereditaments, according to their true value. Without specifying the particulars of those impositions, we shall only observe that, in the general charge, the commons did not exempt one member of the commonwealth that could be supposed able to bear any part of the burden. Provision was made that hammered money should be received in payment of these duties at the rate of five shillings and eightpence per ounce. All the deficiencies on annuities and monies borrowed on the credit of the exchequer, were transferred to this aid. The treasury was enabled to borrow a million and a half at eight per cent, and to circulate exchequer bills to the amount of as much more. To cancel these debts the surplus of all the supplies, except the three-shilling-aid, was appropriated. The commons voted one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds for making good the deficiency in recoining the hammered money, and the recompence for bringing in plate to the mint. This sum was raised by a tax or duty upon wrought plate, paper, pasteboard, vellum, and parchment, made or imported. Taking into consideration the services and the present languishing state of the bank, whose notes were at twenty per cent, discount, they resolved that it should be enlarged by new subscriptions, made by four-fifths in tallies struck on parliamentary funds, and one-fifth in bank-bills or notes; that effectual provision should be made by parliament for paying the principal of all such tallies as should be subscribed into the bank, out of the funds agreed to be continued; that an interest of eight per cent, should be allowed on all such tallies; and that the continuance of the bank should be prolonged to the first day of August, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ten. That all assignments of orders or tallies subscribed into the bank should be registered in the exchequer; that before the day should be fixed for the beginning of the new subscriptions, the old should be made one hundred per cent., and what might exceed that value should be divided among the old members; that all the interest due on those tallies which might be subscribed into the bank-stock, at that time appointed for subscriptions, to the end of the last preceding quarter on each tally, should be allowed as principal; that liberty should be given by parliament to enlarge the number of bank-bills to the value of the sum that should be so subscribed over and above the twelve hundred thousand pounds, provided they should be obliged to answer such bills on demand, and in default thereof be answered by the exchequer out of the first money due to them; that no other bank should be erected or allowed by act of parliament during the continuance of the bank of England; that this should be exempted from all tax or imposition; that no act of the corporation should forfeit the particular interest of any person concerned therein; that provision should be made to prevent the officers of the exchequer, and all other officers and receivers of the revenue, from diverting, delaying, or obstructing the course of payments to the bank; that care should be taken to prevent the altering, counterfeiting, or forging any bank bills or notes; that the estates and interest of each member in the stock of the corporation should be made a personal estate; that no contract made for any bank stock to be bought or sold, should be valid in law or equity unless actually registered in the bank books within seven days, and actually transferred within fourteen days after the contract should be made. A bill upon these resolutions was brought in under the direction of the chancellor of the exchequer: it related to the continuation of tonnage and poundage upon wine, vinegar, and tobacco, and comprehended a clause for laying an additional duty upon salt for two years and three quarters. All the several branches constituted a general fund, since known by the name of the general mortgage, without prejudice to their former appropriations. The bill also provided that the tallies should bear eight per cent, interest; that from the tenth of June for five years they should bear no more than six per cent, interest; and that no premium or discount upon them should be taken. In case of the general funds proving insufficient to pay the whole interest, it was provided that every proprietor should receive his proportion of the product, and the deficiency be made good from the next aid; but should the fund produce more than the interest, the surplus was destined to operate as a sinking fund for the discharge of the principal. In order to make up a deficiency of above eight hundred thousand pounds occasioned by the failure of the land-bank, additional duties were laid upon leather; the time was enlarged for persons to come in and purchase the annuities payable by several former acts, and to obtain more certain interest in such annuities.

Never were more vigorous measures taken to support the credit of the government; and never was the government served by such a set of enterprising undertakers. The commons having received a message from the king touching the condition of the civil list, resolved that a sum not exceeding five hundred and fifteen thousand pounds should be granted for the support of the civil list for the ensuing year, to be raised by a malt tax and additional duties upon mum sweets, cyder, and perry. They likewise resolved that an additional aid of one shilling in the pound should be laid upon land, as an equivalent for the duty of ten per cent, upon mixed goods. Provision was made for raising one million four hundred thousand pounds by a lottery. The treasury was empowered to issue an additional number of exchequer bills to the amount of twelve hundred thousand pounds, every hundred pounds bearing interest at the rate of fivepence a-day, and ten per cent, for circulation; finally, in order to liquidate the transport-debt, which the funds established for that purpose had not been sufficient to defray, a money-bill was brought in to oblige pedlars and hawkers to take out licenses, and pay for them at certain stated prices. One cannot without astonishment reflect upon the prodigious efforts that were made upon this occasion, or consider without indignation the enormous fortunes that were raised up by usurers and extortioners from the distresses of their country. The nation did not seem to know its own strength, until it was put to this extraordinary trial; and the experiment of mortgaging funds succeeded so well, that later ministers have proceeded in the same system, imposing burden upon burden, as if they thought the sinews of the nation could never be overstrained.

{WILLIAM, 1688--1701.}

SIR JOHN FENWICK IS APPREHENDED, CONDEMNED, AND BEHEADED.

The public credit being thus bolstered up by the singular address of Mr. Montague, and the bills passed for the supplies of the ensuing year, the attention of the commons was transferred to the case of sir John Fen-wick, who had been apprehended in the month of June at New Romney, in his way to France. He had when taken written a letter to his lady by one Webber, who accompanied him; but this man being seized, the letter was found, containing such a confession as plainly evinced him guilty. He then entered into a treaty with the court for turning evidence, and delivered a long information in writing, which was sent abroad to his majesty. He made no discoveries that could injure any of the Jacobites, who, by his account, and other concurring testimonies, appeared to be divided into two parties, known by the names of compounders and non-com-pounders. The first, headed by the earl of Middleton, insisted upon receiving security from king James that the religion and liberties of England should be preserved; whereas the other party, at the head of which was the earl of Melfort, resolved to bring him in without conditions, relying upon his own honour and generosity. King William having sent over an order for bringing Fenwick to trial, unless he should make more material discoveries, the prisoner, with a view to amuse the ministry until he could take other measures for his own safety, accused the earls of Shrewsbury, Marlborough, and Bath, the lord Godolphin, and admiral Russel, of having made their peace with king James, and engaged to act for his interest. Meanwhile his lady and relations tampered with the two witnesses, Porter and Goodman. The first of these discovered those practices to the government; and one Clancey, who acted as agent for lady Fenwick, was tried, convicted of subornation, fined, and set in the pillory; but they had succeeded better in their attempts upon Goodman, who disappeared; so that one witness only remained, and Fenwick began to think his life was out of danger. Admiral Russel acquainted the house of commons that he and several persons of quality had been reflected upon in some informations of sir John Fenwick; he therefore desired that he might have an opportunity to justify his own character. Mr. secretary Trumball produced the papers, which having been read, the commons ordered that sir John Fenwick should be brought to the bar of the house. There he was exhorted by the speaker to make an ample discovery; which, however, he declined, except with the proviso that he should first receive some security that what he might say should not prejudice himself. He was ordered to withdraw until they should have deliberated on his request. Then he was called in again, and the speaker told him that he might deserve the favour of the house by making a full discovery. He desired he might be indulged with a little time to recollect himself, and promised to obey the command of the house. This favour being denied, he again insisted upon having security; which they refusing to grant, he chose to be silent, and was dismissed from the bar. The house voted that his informations reflecting upon the fidelity of several noblemen, members of the house, and others, upon hearsay, were false and scandalous, contrived to undermine the government, and create jealousies between the king and his subjects in order to stifle the conspiracy.

A motion being made for leave to bring in a bill to attaint him of high treason, a warm debate ensued, and the question being put, was carried in the affirmative by a great majority. He was furnished with a copy of the bill, and allowed the use of pen, ink, paper, and counsel. When he presented a petition praying that his counsel might be heard against passing the bill, they made an order that his counsel should be allowed to make his defence at the bar of the house; so that he was surprised into an irregular trial, instead of being indulged with an opportunity of offering objections to their passing the bill of attainder. He was accordingly brought to the bar of the house; and the bill being read in his hearing, the speaker called upon the king’s counsel to open the evidence. The prisoner’s counsel objected to their proceeding to trial, alleging that their client had not received the least notice of their purpose, and therefore could not be prepared for his defence; but that they came to offer their reasons against the bill. The house, after a long debate, resolved, that he should be allowed further time to produce witnesses in his defence; that the counsel for the king should likewise be allowed to produce evidence to prove the treasons of which he stood indicted; and an order was made for his being brought to the bar again in three days. In pursuance of this order he appeared, when the indictment which had been found against him by the grand jury was produced; and Porter was examined as an evidence. Then the record of Clancey’s conviction was read; and one Roe testified that Deighton, the prisoner’s solicitor, had offered him an annuity of one hundred pounds to discredit the testimony of Goodman. The king’s counsel moved, that Goodman’s examination, as taken by Mr. Vernon, clerk of the council, might be read. Sir J. Powis and sir Bartholomew Shower, the prisoner’s counsel, warmly opposed this proposal; they affirmed that a deposition taken when the party affected by it was not present to cross-examine the deposer, could not be admitted in a case of five shillings value; that though the house was not bound by the rules of inferior courts, it was nevertheless bound by the eternal and unalterable rules of justice; that no evidence, according to the rules of law, could be admitted in such a case but that of living witnesses; and that the examination of a person who is absent was never read to supply his testimony. The dispute between the lawyers on this subject gave rise to a very violent debate among the members of the house. Sir Edward Seymour, sir Richard Temple, Mr. Harley, Mr. Harcourt, Mr. Manly, sir Christopher Musgrave, and all the leaders of the tory party, argued against the hardship and injustice of admitting this information as an evidence. They demonstrated that it would be a step contrary to the practice of all courts of judicature, repugnant to the common notions of justice and humanity, diametrically opposite to the last act for regulating trials in cases of high treason, and of dangerous consequences to the lives and liberties of the people. On the other hand, lord Cutts, sir Thomas Lyttleton, Mr. Montague, Mr. Smith of the treasury, and Trevor the attorney-general, affirmed that the house was not bound by any form of law whatsoever; that this was an extraordinary case in which the safety of the government was deeply concerned; that though the common law might require two evidences in cases of treason, the house had a power of deviating from those rules in extraordinary cases; that there was no reason to doubt of sir John Fenwick’s being concerned in the conspiracy; that he or his friends had tampered with Porter; and that there were strong presumptions to believe the same practices had induced Goodman to abscond. In a word, the tories, either from party or patriotism, strenuously asserted the cause of liberty and humanity by those very arguments which had been used against them in the former reigns; while the wings, with equal violence and more success, espoused the dictates of arbitrary power and oppression, in the face of their former principles, with which they were now upbraided. At length the question was put, whether or not the information of Goodman should be read? and was carried in the affirmative by a majority of seventy-three voices. Then two of the grand jury who had found the indictment, recited the evidence which had been given to them by Porter and Goodman; lastly, the king’s counsel insisted upon producing the record of Cooke’s conviction, as he had been tried for the same conspiracy. The prisoner’s counsel objected, that if such evidence was admitted, the trial of one person in the same company would be the trial of all; and it could not be expected that they who came to defend sir John Fenwick only, should be prepared to answer the charge against Cooke. This article produced another vehement debate among the members; and the whigs obtained a second victory. The record was read, and the king’s counsel proceeded to call some of the jury who served on Cooke’s trial to affirm that he had been convicted on Goodman’s evidence. Sir Bartholomew Shower said he would submit it to the consideration of the house, whether it was just that the evidence against one person should conclude against another standing at a different bar, in defence of his life? The parties were again ordered to withdraw; and from this point arose a third debate, which ended as the two former to the disadvantage of the prisoner. The jury being examined, Mr. Sergeant Gould moved, that Mr. Vernon might be desired to produce the intercepted letter from sir John Fenwick to his lady. The prisoner’s counsel warmly opposed this motion, insisting upon their proving it to be his hand writing before it could be used against him; and no further stress was laid on this evidence. When they were called upon to enter on his defence, they pleaded incapacity to deliver matters of such importance after they had been fatigued with twelve hours’ attendance. The house resolved to hear such evidence as the prisoner had to produce that night. His counsel declared that they had nothing then to produce but the copy of a record; and the second resolution was, that he should be brought up again next day at noon. He accordingly appeared at the bar, and sir J. Powis proceeded on his defence. He observed that the bill under consideration affected the lives of the subjects; and such precedents were dangerous; that sir John Fenwick was forthcoming in order to be tried by the ordinary methods of justice; that he was actually under process, had pleaded, and was ready to stand trial; that if there was sufficient clear evidence against him, as the king’s sergeant had declared, there was no reason for his being deprived of the benefit of such a trial as was the birthright of every British subject; and if there was a deficiency of legal evidence, he thought this was a very odd reason for the bill. He took notice that even the regicides had the benefit of such a trial; that the last act for regulating trials in cases of treason proved the great tenderness of the laws which affected the life of the subject; and he expressed his surprise that the very parliament which had passed that law should enact another for putting a person to death without any trial at all. He admitted that there had been many bills of attainder, but they were generally levelled at outlaws and fugitives; and some of them had been reversed in the sequel as arbitrary and unjust. He urged that this bill of attainder did not allege or say that sir John Fenwick was guilty of the treason for which he had been indicted; a circumstance which prevented him from producing witnesses to that and several matters upon which the king’s counsel had expatiated. He said they had introduced evidence to prove circumstances not alleged in the bill, and defective evidence of those that were; that Porter was not examined upon oath; that nothing could be more severe than to pass sentence of death upon a man, corrupt his blood, and confiscate his estate, upon parole evidence; especially of such a wretch who, by his own confession, had been engaged in a crime of the blackest nature, not a convert to the dictates of conscience, but a coward, shrinking from the danger by which he had been environed, and even now drudging for a pardon. He invalidated the evidence of Goodman’s examination. He observed that the indictment mentioned a conspiracy to call in a foreign power; but as this conspiracy had not been put in practice, such an agreement was not a sufficient overt-act of treason, according to the opinion of Hawles the solicitor-general, concerned in this very prosecution. So saying, he produced a book of remarks which that lawyer had published on the cases of lord Russel, colonel Sidney, and others, who had suffered death in the reign of Charles II. This author, said he, takes notice, that a conspiracy or agreement to levy war is not treason without actually levying war; a sentiment in which he concurred with lord Coke, and lord chief-justice Hales. He concluded with saying, “We know at present on what ground we stand; by the statute of Edward III. we know what treason is; by the two statutes of Edward VI. and the late act, we know what is proof; by the Magna Charta we know we are to be tried _per legem terræ el per judicium parium_, by the law of the land and the judgment of our peers; but if bills of attainder come into fashion, we shall neither know what is treason, what is evidence, nor how nor where we are to be tried.” He was seconded by sir Bartholomew Shower, who spoke with equal energy and elocution; and their arguments were answered by the king’s counsel. The arguments in favour of the bill imported that the parliament would not interpose except in extraordinary cases; that here the evidence necessary in inferior courts being defective, the parliament, which was not tied down by legal evidence, had a right to exert their extraordinary power in punishing an offender, who would otherwise escape with impunity; that as the law stood, he was but a sorry politician that could not ruin the government, and yet elude the statute of treason; that if a plot, after being discovered, should not be thoroughly prosecuted, it would strengthen and grow upon the administration, and probably at length subvert the government; that it was notorious that parties were forming for king James; persons were plotting in every part of the kingdom, and an open invasion was threatened; therefore this was a proper time for the parliament to exert their extraordinary power; that the English differed from all other nations in bringing the witnesses and the prisoner face to face, and requiring two witnesses in cases of treason; nor did the English law itself require the same proof in some cases as in others, for one witness was sufficient in felony, as well as for the treason of coining; that Fenwick was notoriously guilty, and deserved to feel the resentment of the nation; that he would have been brought to exemplary punishment in the ordinary course of justice, had he not eluded it by corrupting evidence and withdrawing a witness. If this reasoning be just, the house of commons has a right to act in diametrical opposition to the laws in being; and is vested with a despotic power over the lives and fortunes of their constituents, for whose protection they are constituted. Let us therefore reflect upon the possibility of a parliament debauched by the arts of corruption into servile compliance with the designs of an arbitrary prince, and tremble for the consequence. The debate being finished, the prisoner was, at the desire of admiral Russel, questioned with regard to the imputations he had fixed upon that gentleman and others from hearsay; but he desired to be excused on account of the risk he ran while under a double prosecution, if any thing which should escape him might be turned to his prejudice.

After he was removed from the bar, Mr. Vernon, at the desire of the house, recapitulated the arts and practices of sir John Fenwick and his friends to procrastinate the trial. The bill was read a second time; and the speaker asking, If the question should be put for its being committed? the house was immediately kindled into a new flame of contention. Hawles, the solicitor-general, affirmed that the house in the present case should act both as judge and jury. Mr. Harcourt said he knew of no trial for treason but what was confirmed by _Magna Charta_, by a jury, the birthright and darling privilege of an Englishman, or _per legem terræ_, which includes impeachments in parliament; that it was a strange trial where the person accused had a chance to be hanged, but none to be saved; that he never heard of a juryman who was not on his oath, nor of a judge who had not power to examine witnesses upon oath, and who was not empowered to save the innocent as well as to condemn the guilty. Sir Thomas Lyttleton was of opinion that the parliament ought not to stand upon little niceties and forms of other courts when the government was at stake. Mr. Howe asserted that to do a thing of this nature, because the parliament had power to do it, was a strange way of reasoning; that what was justice and equity at Westminster-hall, was justice and equity every where; that one bad precedent in parliament was of worse consequence than an hundred in Westminster-hall, because personal or private injuries did not foreclose the claims of original right; whereas the parliament could ruin the nation beyond redemption, because it could establish tyranny by law. Sir Richard Temple, in arguing against the bill, observed that the power of parliament is to make any law, but the jurisdiction of parliament is to govern itself by the law; to make a law, therefore, against all the laws in England was the _ultimum remedium et pessimum_, never to be used but in case of absolute necessity. He affirmed that by this precedent the house overthrew all the laws of England; first, in condemning a man upon one witness; secondly, in passing an act without any trial. The commons never did nor can assume a jurisdiction of trying any person: they may for their own information hear what can be offered; but it is not a trial where witnesses are not upon oath. All bills of attainder have passed against persons that were dead or fled, or without the compass of the law: some have been brought in after trials in Westminster-hall; but none of those have been called trials, and they were generally reversed. He denied that the parliament had power to declare anything treason which was not treason before. When inferior courts were dubious, the case might be brought before parliament to judge whether it be treason or felony; but then they must judge by the laws in being, and this judgment was not in the parliament by bill but only in the house of lords. Lord Digby, Mr. Harley, and colonel Granville, spoke to the same purpose. But their arguments and remonstrances had no effect upon the majority, by whom the prisoner was devoted to destruction. The bill was committed, passed, and sent up to the house of lords, where it produced the longest and warmest debates which had been known since the Restoration. Bishop Burnet signalized his zeal for the government by a long speech in favour of the bill, contradicting some of the fundamental maxims which he had formerly avowed in behalf of the liberties of the people. At length it was carried by a majority of seven voices; and one-and-forty lords, including eight prelates, entered a protest couched in the strongest terms against the decision.

When the bill received the royal assent, another act of the like nature passed against Barclay, Holmes, and nine other conspirators who had fled from justice, in case they should not surrender themselves on or before the twenty-fifth day of March next ensuing. Sir John Fenwick solicited the mediation of the lords in his behalf, while his friends implored the royal mercy. The peers gave him to understand that the success of his suit would depend upon the fulness of his discoveries. He would have previously stipulated for a pardon, and they insisted upon his depending on their favour. He hesitated some time between the fears of infamy and the terrors of death, which last he at length chose to undergo rather than incur the disgraceful character of an informer. He was complimented with the axe in consideration of his rank and alliance with the house of Howard, and suffered on Tower-hill with great composure. In the paper which he delivered to the sheriff, he took God to witness that he knew not of the intended invasion until it was the common subject of discourse, nor was he engaged in any shape for the service of king James. He thanked those noble and worthy persons who had opposed his attainder in parliament; protested before God that the information he gave to the ministry he had received in letters and messages from France; and observed that he might have expected mercy from the prince of Orange, as he had been instrumental in saving his life by preventing the execution of a design which had been formed against it--a circumstance which in all probability induced the late conspirators to conceal their purpose of assassination from his knowledge. He professed his loyalty to king James, and prayed heaven for his speedy restoration.

EARL OF MONMOUTH SENT TO THE TOWER.

While Fenwick’s affair was in agitation, the earl of Monmouth had set on foot some practices against the duke of Shrewsbury. One Matthew Smith, nephew to sir William Perkins, had been entertained as a spy by this nobleman, who finding his intelligence of very little use or importance, dismissed him as a troublesome dependent. Then he had recourse to the earl of Monmouth, into whom he infused unfavourable sentiments of the duke, insinuating that he had made great discoveries which from sinister motives were suppressed. Monmouth communicated those impressions to the earl of Portland, who enlisted Smith as one of his intelligencers. Copies of the letters he had sent to the duke of Shrewsbury were delivered to secretary Trumball sealed up for the perusal of his majesty at his return from Flanders. When Fenwick mentioned the duke of Shrewsbury in his discoveries, the earl of Monmouth resolved to seize the opportunity of ruining that nobleman. He, by the channel of the duchess of Norfolk, exhorted lady Fenwick to prevail upon her husband to persist in his accusation, and even dictated a paper of directions. Fenwick rejected the proposal with disdain, as a scandalous contrivance; and Monmouth was so incensed at his refusal that when the bill of attainder appeared in the house of lords, he spoke in favour of it with peculiar vehemence. Lady Fenwick, provoked at this cruel outrage, prevailed upon her nephew the earl of Carlisle to move the house that sir John might be examined touching any advices that had been sent to him with relation to his discoveries. Fenwick being interrogated accordingly, gave an account of all the particulars of Monmouth’s scheme, which was calculated to ruin the duke of Shrewsbury by bringing Smith’s letters on the carpet. The duchess of Norfolk and a confidant were examined and confirmed the detection. The house called for Smith’s letters, which were produced by sir William Trumball. The earl of Monmouth was committed to the Tower and dismissed from all his employments. He was released however at the end of the session, and the court made up all his losses in private lest he should be tempted to join the opposition.

INQUIRY INTO MISCARRIAGES BY SEA.

The whigs, before they were glutted with the sacrifice of Fenwick, had determined to let loose their vengeance upon sir George Rooke, who was a leader in the opposite interest. Sir Cloudesley Shovel had been sent with a squadron to look into Brest, where, according to the intelligence which the government had received, the French were employed in preparing for a descent upon England; but this information was false. They were busy in equipping an armament for the West Indies, under the command of M. Pointis, who actually sailed to the coast of New Spain and took the city of Carfehagena. Rooke had been ordered to intercept the Toulon squadron in its way to Brest; but his endeavours miscarried. The commons in a committee of the whole house resolved to inquire why this fleet was not intercepted; Rooke underwent a long examination, and was obliged to produce his journal, orders, and letters. Shovel and Mitchel were likewise examined; but nothing appearing to the prejudice of the admiral, the house thought proper to desist from their prosecution. After they had determined on the fate of Fenwick, they proceeded to enact several laws for regulating the domestic economy of the nation; among others they passed an act for the more effectual relief of creditors in cases of escape, and for preventing abuses in prisons and pretended privileged places. Ever since the reformation certain places in and about the city of London, which had been sanctuaries during the prevalence of the popish religion, afforded asylum to debtors, and were become receptacles of desperate persons who presumed to set the law at defiance. One of these places called White-friars was filled with a crew of ruffians, who every day committed acts of violence and outrage; but this law was so vigorously put in execution that they were obliged to abandon the district, which was soon filled with more creditable inhabitants. On the sixteenth day of April the king closed the session with a short speech, thanking the parliament for the great supplies they had so cheerfully granted, and expressed his satisfaction at the measures they had taken for retrieving the public credit. Before he quitted the kingdom he ventured to produce upon the scene the earl of Sunderland, who had hitherto promoted his councils behind the curtain. That politician was now sworn of the privy council, and gratified with the office of lord-chamberlain, which had been resigned by the earl of Dorset, a nobleman of elegant talents and invincible indolence, severe and poignant in his writings and remarks upon mankind in general, but humane, good-natured, and generous to excess, in his commerce with individuals.

NEGOTIATIONS AT RYSWICK.

William having made some promotions * and appointed a regency, embarked on the twenty-sixth day of April for Holland, that he might be at hand to manage the negotiation for a general peace.

* Somers was created a baron, and appointed lord-chancellor
of England; admiral Russel was dignified with the title of
earl of Orford. In February the earl of Aylesbury, who had
been committed on account of the conspiracy, was released
upon bail; but this privilege was denied to lord Montgomery,
who had been imprisoned in Newgate on the same account.