1694-1695 A NOBLE MONUMENT 663 Charles II. had queen died, but she left a memorial behind her. begun to build a magnificent palace at Greenwich. When the news of the Battle of La Hogue reached England, Mary announced her intention of completing the palace as a place of refuge for sailors disabled in the service of their country. Greenwich Hospital is the lasting monument of the gentle queen. 1. The Liberty of the Press. 1695. Ever since the Restoration, except for a short interval, there had been a series of licensing acts, authorising the Crown to appoint a licenser, without whose leave no book or newspaper could be published. In 1695 the House of Commons refused to renew the Act, and the press suddenly became free. The House does not seem to have had any idea of the importance of this step, and established the liberty of the press simply because the licensers had given a good deal of annoyance. Yet what they did would hardly have been done twenty years before. The Toleration Act, allowing men to worship as they pleased, and to preach as they pleased, had brought about a state of mind which was certain, before long, to lead to the permission to men to print what they pleased. 2. The Surrender of Namur. 1695. The campaign of 1695, in the Netherlands, was marked by William's first success. His financial resources were now far greater than those of Louis, and he took Namur, though a French army was in the field to relieve it. The French had never lost a battle or a fortified town during fifty-two years, but at last their career of victory was checked. 3. The Restoration of the Currency and the Treason-Trials Act. 1696. At home Charles Montague, with the assistance of Sir Isaac Newton, the great mathematician and astronomer, succeeded in restoring the currency. Coins, up to that time, had been usually struck with smooth edges, and rogues had been in the habit of clipping off thin flakes of gold or silver as they passed through their hands. The result was that sixpences or shillings were seldom worth their full value. There were constant quarrels over every payment. New coins were now issued with milled edges, so that it would be impossible for anyone to clip them without being detected. The act authorising the re-coinage was followed by another, allowing persons accused of treason to have lawyers to plead for them in court; a permission which, up to this time, had been refused. 4. Ministerial Corruption. 1695-1696.-In spite of the success of William's government, there were in existence grave causes of dissatisfaction with the state of affairs. Corruption reigned amongst those whose influence was worth selling. In 1695 the Duke of Leeds-better known by his earlier title of Danby-was found guilty of taking a bribe, and it was well known that even ministers who did not take bribes became wealthy by means of gifts received for their services, as, indeed, ministers had done in former reigns. What was worse still, English ministers had, almost from the beginning of William's reign, endeavoured to make their position sure in the event of a counter-revolution, by professing allegiance to James whilst they remained in the service of William. At one time Marlborough had been guilty of even greater baseness, having sent to James information of an English expedition against Brest, in consequence of which the expedition was driven off with heavy loss, and its commander, Talmash, slain. No wonder William trusted his Dutch servants as he trusted no English ones, and that he sought to reward them by grants which, according to precedents set by earlier Kings, he held himself entitled to make out of the property of the Crown. Bentinck, to whom he was especially attached, he had made Earl of Portland; but when, in 1696, he proposed to give him a large estate in Wales, the Commons remonstrated, and Portland declined the gift. 5. The Assassination Plot. 1696. From the unpopularity which attached itself to William in consequence of these pro 1696 AN ASSASSINATION PLOT 665 ceedings the Jacobites conceived new hopes. Louis offered to send soldiers to their help if they would first rise in insurrection. Front of Hampton Court Palace; built by Sir Christopher Wren for William III. They, on the other hand, offered to rise if Louis would first send soldiers. About forty Jacobites agreed in thinking that the shortest way out of the difficulty was to murder William. They knew that, III. XX when he went out hunting from Hampton Court, he returned by a narrow lane, and that he usually had with him only twenty-five guards. They thought it would be easy work to spring into the lane and shoot him. The plot was, however, betrayed, and some Part of Hampton Court; built for William III. by Sir Christopher Wren. of the plotters were executed. The discovery of this design to assassinate William made him once more popular. In imitation of what had been done when Elizabeth's life was in danger (see p. 456), the greater part of the Lords and Commons bound themselves by an association to defend William's government, |