The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 1, Thomas Babington Macaulay [ebook pc reader txt] 📗

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