Tendencies to Absolutism-Revocation of the Edict of Nantes-Meeting of Parliament-James announces his appointments of Romish Officers-Address of the Commons-Dissatisfaction of the Peers-Parliament prorogued-Trials for treason-Repeated prorogations, and final dissolution of the Parliament-Preponderance of the Jesuit party in the governmentEmbassy to Rome-Dispensing power of the king-Court of King's Bench affirms the royal power to dispense with the Test Laws-Roman Catholics appointed to beneficesThe Ecclesiastical Commission-The bishop of London suspended from spiritual functions -Monastic bodies settle in London-Mass at Oxford-Trial of the Rev. Samuel JohnsonMassey, a Romanist, Dean of Christchurch-Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge deprivedFellows of Magdalen College, Oxford, ejected.

WHEN the failure of Monmouth's expedition seemed almost inevitable, Louis the Fourteenth wrote to his ambassador in England, "there is every appearance that he will soon meet with the same fate as the earl of Argyle; and that his attempt will have served to render the king of England much more absolute in his kingdom than any of his predecessors." Louis made this incontrovertible deduction from the whole course of history. Tyranny never learns moderation from the resistance which is made to it. The resistance must be strong enough to crush the tyranny, or the second state of the enslaved people will be far worse than the first. The attempt of Monmouth was premature. The nation had vague fears of the disposition of the government, but those fears were not sufficient to justify insurrection. The system of James was not at that time fully developed. The man who undertook to attack that system in its infant strength had not the confidence of the best part of the nation. Yet his rallying cry of "The Protestant Religion " might have convinced any ruler less blind and obstinate than James, that the principle which was sufficient suddenly to raise the industrious people of the western counties into an army of cloth-workers and miners, to make the train-bands throw away their uniforms, and to leave it doubtful whether the militia would fight,-would, if provoked beyond a certain point, convert the whole nation into the opponents of the king. Fortunate was it for the future destinies of England that James the Second, who would have been the most dangerous of rulers a century earlier, was the weakest of

402

REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES.

[1685.

despots, in his utter ignorance of the new elements of society which had been called into real vitality during the struggles of his father. He was not wanting in ability and in decision of character; he was capable of serious application to business; ne was not utterly prostrated by idleness and luxury as his brother was. But his personal merits were as the fuel to nourish the fire of his intense egoism. Every action of his life had reference to his personality. James, the king, was the one power in the State, that was to counterbalance every other power. If James, the king, could retain an Established Church, to proclaim his divine right to dispense with laws, and to share its honours and riches with the Romanists, till it should be wholly recovered to Rome, it were well. If James, the king, could maintain a large standing army, by the voluntary contributions of the people, it were well. But if Parliament should refuse supplies; if the Church should preach of the supremacy of the law over the will of the sovereign; if the people should murmur under a hated military domination,-then, Parliament should be dismissed; a High Commission should again purge the Church of all disloyalty; the soldiers should familiarise burgess and yeoman with the benefits of free quarters. James was not a man to accomplish such designs. He ran straightforward, snapping as the mad-dog runs and snaps, and of course had the same mad-dog ending, as a public enemy.

The Parliament was to meet on the 9th of November. Its meeting had been preceded by the dismissal of Halifax from his office of President of the Council. The king could not induce the ablest man of his time to fall into his own views as to the removal of the Test Act. The schemes of James were maturing; and he desired to be surrounded by ministers who would have no scruples in seconding them. The removal of the barriers which opposed the admission of Roman Catholics to office; the repeal of the Habeas Corpus Act; and the establishment of a large Standing Army, were the objects to which the king devoted himself without reserve. The Jesuits urged on the king, persuading him that "the present juncture is the most favourable one that can be hoped for," to strengthen his authority. "But the opulent and settled Catholics are alarmed for the future, and apprehend a change which may ruin them." So wrote Barillon, the French ambassador. This juncture was not altogether the most favourable. That persecution of the Protestants in France which was carried into effect by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, took place in October. Under this Edict the Protestants had lived undisturbed in the exercise of their religion. The Edict had been originally declared to be a perpetual and irrevocable law. The most peaceful and industrious communities had flourished under this toleration; and now the law was suddenly abrogated at the will of a despotic king, to whom the people were no more than the beasts of the field. Louis had long carried on a petty warfare against the Calvinists-interfering with education, seizing upon property, closing places of worship. But now, the Protestant religion was to be extirpated in France at one blow. The ministers of the reformed faith were suddenly banished or imprisoned; children were taken away from their parents; women were driven into nunneries; dragoons were let. loose upon the people, to pillage and to destroy. Burnet has described the horrible scenes of what he terms "one of the most violent persecutions that is to be found in history." He says, "I went over the greatest part of France while