as nothing worse than a fine highspirited young woman, who could now and then be cross and arbitrary, but whose flaws of temper might well be pardoned in consideration of her charms. It is a common observation that differences of taste, understanding, and disposition, are no impediments to friendship, and that the closest intimacies often exist between minds. each of which supplies what is wanting to the other. Lady Churchill was loved and even worshipped by Anne. The Princess could not live apart from the object of her romantic fondness. She married, and was a faithful and even an affectionate wife. But Prince George, a dull man whose chief pleasures were derived from his dinner and his bottle, acquired over her no influence comparable to that exercised by her female friend, and soon gave himself up with stupid patience to the dominion of the vehement and commanding spirit by which his wife was governed. Children were born to the royal pair; and Anne was by no means without the feelings of a mother. But the tenderness which she felt for her offspring was languid when compared with her devotion to the companion of her early years. At length the Princess became impatient of the restraint which etiquette imposed on her. She could not bear to hear the words Madam and Royal Highness from the lips of one who was more to her than a sister. Such words were indeed necessary in the gallery or the drawingroom: but they were disused in the closet. Anne was Mrs. Morley: Lady Churchill was Mrs. Freeman; and under these childish names was carried on during twenty years a correspondence on which at last the fate of administrations and dynasties depended. But as yet Anne had no political power and little patronage. Her friend attended her as first Lady of the Bedchamber, with a salary of only four hundred pounds a year. There is reason, however, to believe that, even at this time, Churchill was able to gratify his ruling passion by means of his wife's influence. The Princess, though her income was large and her tastes simple, contracted debts which her father, not without some murmurs, discharged; and it was rumoured that her embarrassments had been caused by her prodigal bounty to her favourite.* At length the time had arrived when this singular friend It would be endless to recount all the books from which I have formed my estimate of the duchess's character. Her own letters, her own Vindication, CHAP. VII. VII. Dykvelt returns to with letters from many eminent English CHAP. ship was to exercise a great influence on public affairs What part Anne would take in the contest which distracted England was matter of deep anxiety. Filial duty was or one side; and the interests of the religion to which she was sincerely attached, were on the other. A less inert nature might well have remained long in suspense when drawn in opposite directions by motives so strong and so respectable. But the influence of the Churchills decided the question and their patroness became an important member of that extensive league of which the Prince of Orange was the head. In June 1687 Dykvelt returned to the Hague. He prethe Hague sented to the States General a royal epistle filled with eulogies of his conduct during his residence in London. These eulogies however were merely formal. James, in private communications written with his own hand, bitterly complained that the Envoy had lived in close intimacy with the most factious men in the realm, and had encouraged them in all their evil purposes. Dykvelt carried with him also a packet of letters from the most eminent of those with whom he had conferred during his stay in England. The writers generally expressed unbounded reverence and affection for William, and referred him to the bearer for fuller information as to their views. Halifax discussed the state and prospects of the country with his usual subtlety and vivacity, but took care not to pledge himself to any perilous line of conduct. Danby wrote in a bolder and more determined tone, and could not refrain from slily sneering at the fears and scruples of his accomplished rival. But the most remarkable letter was from Churchill. It was written with that natural eloquence which, illiterate as he was, he never wanted on great occasions, and with that air of magnanimity which, perfidious as he was, he could with singular dexterity assume. The Princess Anne, he said, had commanded him to assure her illustrious relatives at the Hague that she was fully resolved by God's help rather to lose her life than to be guilty of apostasy. As for himself, his places and the royal favour were as nothing to him in comparison with his religion. He concluded by declaring in lofty language that, though he could not pretend to have lived the life of a saint, he should be found ready, on occasion, to die the death of a martyr.* men. The formal epistle which Dykvelt carried back to the States is in the Archives at the Hague. The other letters mentioned in this paragraph are given by Dalrymple; Appendix to Book V. VII. mission. Dykvelt's mission had succeeded so well that a pretence was CHAP. soon found for sending another agent to continue the work which had been so auspiciously commenced. The new Envoy, Zulestein's afterwards the founder of a noble English house which became extinct in our own time, was an illegitimate cousin german of William; and bore a title taken from the lordship of Zulestein. Zulestein's relationship to the House of Orange gave him importance in the public eye. His bearing was that of a gallant soldier. He was indeed in diplomatic talents and knowledge far inferior to Dykvelt: but even this inferiority had its advantages. A military man, who had never appeared to trouble himself about political affairs, could, without exciting any suspicion, hold with the English aristocracy an intercourse which, if he had been a noted master of statecraft, would have been jealously watched. Zulestein, after a short absence, returned to his country charged with letters and verbal messages not less important than those which had been entrusted to his predecessor. A regular correspondence was from this time established between the Prince and the opposition. Agents of various ranks passed and repassed between the Thames and the Hague. Among these a Scotchman, of some parts and great activity, named Johnstone, was the most useful. He was cousin to Burnet, and son of an eminent Covenanter who had, soon after the Restoration, been put to death for treason, and who was honoured by his party as a martyr. between William. The estrangement between the King of England and the Growing Prince of Orange became daily more complete. A serious enmity dispute had arisen concerning the six British regiments which James and were in the pay of the United Provinces. The King wished to put these regiments under the command of Roman Catholic officers. The Prince resolutely opposed this design. The King had recourse to his favourite commonplaces about toleration. The Prince replied that he only followed His Majesty's example. It was notorious that loyal and able men had been turned out of office in England merely for being Protestants. It was then surely competent to the Stadtholder and the States General to withhold high public trusts from Papists. This answer provoked James to such a degree that, in his rage, he lost sight of veracity and common sense. It was false, he vehemently said, that he had ever turned out any body on religious grounds. And if he had, СНАР. what was that to the Prince or to the States? Were they hi masters? Were they to sit in judgment on the conduct o foreign sovereigns? From that time he became desirous t recall his subjects who were in the Dutch service. By bring ing them over to England he should, he conceived, at onc strengthen himself, and weaken his worst enemies. Bu there were financial difficulties which it was impossible fo him to overlook. The number of troops already in his pa was as great as his revenue, though large beyond all prece dent, and though parsimoniously administered, would sup port. If the battalions now in Holland were added to th existing establishment, the Treasury would be bankrupt Perhaps Lewis might be induced to take them into his ser vice. They would in that case be removed from a country where they were exposed to the corrupting influence of a republican government and a Calvinistic worship, and would be placed in a country where none ventured to dispute the mandates of the sovereign or the doctrines of the true Church The soldiers would soon unlearn every political and religious heresy. Their native prince might always, at short notice, command their help, and would, on any emergency, be able to rely on their fidelity. A negotiation on this subject was opened between White hall and Versailles. Lewis had as many soldiers as he wanted; and, had it been otherwise, he would not have bee. disposed to take Englishmen into his service; for the pay of England, low as it must seem to r generation, was much higher than the pay of France. At the same time, it was a great object to deprive William of so fine a brigade. After some weeks of correspondence, Barillon was authorised to promise that, if James would recall the British troops from Holland, Lewis would bear the charge of supporting two thousand of them in England. This offer was accepted by James with warm expressions of gratitude. Having made these arrangements, he requested the States General to send back the six regiments. The States General, completely go verned by William, answered that such a demand, in such circumstances, was not authorised by the existing treaties, and positively refused to comply. It is remarkable that Amster dam, which had voted for keeping these troops in Holland when James needed their help against the Western insur gents, now contended vehemently that his request ought to be VII. granted. On both occasions, the sole object of those who CHAP. ruled that great city was to cross the Prince of Orange.* of the The Dutch arms, however, were scarcely so formidable to Influence James as the Dutch presses. English books and pamphlets Dutch against his government were daily printed at the Hague; nor Press. could any vigilance prevent copies from being smuggled, by tens of thousands, into the counties bordering on the German Ocean. Among these publications, one was distinguished by its importance, and by the immense effect which it produced. The opinion which the Prince and Princess of Orange held respecting the Indulgence was well known to all who were conversant with public affairs. But, as no official announcement of that opinion had appeared, many persons who had not access to good private sources of information were deceived or perplexed by the confidence with which the partisans of the Court asserted that their Highnesses approved of the King's late acts. To contradict those assertions publicly would have been a simple and obvious course, if the sole object of William had been to strengthen his interest in England. But he considered England chiefly as an instrument necessary to the execution of his great European design. Towards that design he hoped to obtain the cooperation of both branches of the House of Austria, of the Italian princes, and even of the Sovereign Pontiff. There was reason to fear that -ny declaration which was satisfactory to British Protestants would excite alarm and disgust at Madrid, Vienna, Turin, and Rome. For this reason the Prince long abstained from formally expressing his sentiments. At length it was represented to him that his continued silence had excited much un...siness and distrust among his wellwishers, and that it was time to speak out. He therefore determined to explain himself. A Scotch Whig, named James Stewart, had fled some years before to Holland, in order to avoid the boot and the gallows, Correand had become intimate with the Grand Pensionary Fagel, of Stewart spondence who enjoyed a large share of the Stadtholder's confidence and vour. By Stewart had been drawn up the violent and acriTonious manifesto of Argyle. When the Indulgence appeared, Stewart conceived that he had an opportunity of obtaining, and Fagel. |