THE FRENCH KING HAS RECOURSE TO THE MEDIATION OF DENMARK.

But if the English were discontented, the French were miserable in spite of all their victories. That kingdom laboured under a dreadful famine, occasioned partly from unfavourable seasons, and partly from the war, which had not left hands sufficient to cultivate the ground. Notwithstanding all the diligence and providence of their ministry in bringing supplies of corn from Sweden and Denmark, their care in regulating the price and furnishing the markets, their liberal contributions for the relief of the indigent, multitudes perished of want, and the whole kingdom was reduced to poverty and distress. Louis pined in the midst of his success. He saw his subjects exhausted by a ruinous war, in which they had been involved by his ambition. He tampered with the allies apart, in hopes of dividing and detaching them from the grand confederacy; he solicited the northern crowns to engage as mediators for a general peace. A memorial was actually presented by the Danish minister to king William, by which it appears that the French king would have been contented to purchase a peace with some considerable concessions; but the terms were rejected by the king of England, whose ambition and revenge were not yet gratified, and whose subjects, though heavily laden, could still bear additional burdens.

The Jacobites had been very attentive to the progress of dissatisfaction in England, which they fomented with their usual assiduity. The late declaration of king James had been couched in such imperious terms as gave offence even to some of those who favoured his interest. The earl of Middleton therefore, in the beginning of the year, repaired to St. Germain’s and obtained another, which contained the promise of a general pardon without exception, and every other concession that a British subject could demand of his sovereign. About the latter end of May, two men named Canning and Dormer were apprehended for dispersing copies of this paper, tried at the Old Bailey, found guilty of not only dispersing but also of composing a false and seditious libel, sentenced to pay five hundred marks a-piece, to stand three times in the pillory, and find sureties for their good behaviour. But no circumstance reflected more disgrace on this reign than the fate of Anderton, the supposed printer of some tracts against the government. He was brought to trial for high treason; he made a vigorous defence in spite of the insults and discouragement he sustained from a partial bench. As nothing but presumptions appeared against him, the jury scrupled to bring in a verdict that would affect his life, until they were reviled and reprimanded by judge Treby, then they found him guilty. In vain recourse was had to the queen’s mercy; he suffered death at Tyburn, and left a paper protesting solemnly against the proceedings of the court, which he affirmed was appointed not to try but to convict him, and petitioning heaven to forgive his penitent jury. The severity of the government was likewise exemplified in the case of some adventurers, who having equipped privateers to cruise upon the English, under joint commissions from the late king James and Louis XIV., happened to be taken by the English ships of war. Dr. Oldys, the king’s advocate, being commanded to proceed against them as guilty of treason and piracy, refused to commence the prosecution; and gave his opinion in writing that they were neither traitors nor pirates. He supported his opinion by arguments before the council; these were answered by Dr. Littleton, who succeeded him in the office from which he was dismissed; and the prisoners were executed as traitors. The Jacobites did not fail to retort those arts upon the government which their adversaries had so successfully practised in the late reign. They inveighed against the vindictive spirit of the administration, and taxed it with encouraging informers and false witnesses—a charge for which there was too much foundation.

The friends of James in Scotland still continued to concert designs in his favour; but their correspondence was detected, and their aims defeated, by the vigilance of the ministry in that kingdom. Secretary Johnston not only kept a watchful eye over all their transactions, but by a dexterous management of court liberality and favour, appeased the discontents of the presbyterians so effectually, that the king ran no risk in assembling the parliament. Some offices were bestowed upon the leaders of the kirk party, and the duke of Hamilton, being reconciled to the government, was appointed commissioner. On the eighteenth day of April the session was opened, and the king’s letter, replete with the most cajoling expressions, being read, the parliament proceeded to exhibit undeniable specimens of their good humour. They drew up a very affectionate answer to his majesty’s letter; they voted an addition of six new regiments to the standing forces of the kingdom; they granted a supply of above one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling to his majesty; they enacted a law for levying men to serve on board the royal navy; they fined all absentees, whether lords or commons, and vacated the seats of all those commissioners who refused to take the oath of assurance, which was equivalent to an abjuration of king James; they set on foot an inquiry about an intended invasion; they published some intercepted letters supposed to be written to king James by Nevil Payne, whom they committed to prison and threatened with a trial for high treason; but he eluded the danger by threatening in his turn to impeach those who had made their peace with the government; they passed an act for the comprehension of such of the episcopal clergy as should condescend to take the oaths by the tenth day of July. All that the general assembly required of them was, an offer to subscribe the confession of faith, and to acknowledge presbytery as the only government of the Scottish church; but they neither submitted to these terms, nor took the oaths within the limited time, so that they forfeited all legal right to their benefices. Nevertheless they continued in possession, and even received private assurances of the king’s protection. It was one of William’s political maxims to court his domestic enemies; but it was never attended with any good effect. This indulgence gave offence to the presbyterians, and former distractions began to revive.