secrets of his affairs a man so much opposed to the interests of royalty as my Lord Halifax. The Lady Portsmouth has the same design, and my Lord Sunderland could not desire any thing more eagerly. They both think they can succeed in a little time.

The Duke of York confidently told me that the King his brother had determined to send him, next spring, to Scotland on a journey of three weeks in order to convene the parliament there, without which the estates of those who are declared rebels cannot be confiscated; that his journey will last nearly as long as the court remains at New-market, that meanwhile he thought he ought to givę me early information thereof, well knowing that his enemies would endeavour to give this journey an air of disgrace, though at the bottom, it is a new mark of the confidence and friendship the King his brother has for him. The Marquis of Huntley, chief of the house of Gordon, has been made a Duke, and the Marquis of Queensberry likewise; This latter is of the house of Douglas, and great treasurer of Scotland. It is not a matter of little consequence that the Marquis of Huntley who is a Catholic has been made a Duke.

THE KING TO M. BARILLON.

Versailles, December 13, 1684.

The reasonings of Lord Halifax, on the manner of governing New-England, little deserve the confidence which the King of England places in him, and I am not surprized to hear that the Duke of York called the King his brother's attention to the consequences thereof. I am also induced to think, that what that prince is to do in Scotland, will not change at all the situation of affairs in England,

and I am glad to know that it is rather a mark of the confidence which the King his brother has in him, than a design to remove him from his councils.

London, 21st December, 1684.

* Barillon says, the Dutches of Portsmouth tells him the King waited till Halifax gave him some further pretext, for dismissing him, but that he represented to them the danger of delay. They had no apprehensions of Halifax's altering his conduct, and regaining the King's confidence.

M. BARILLON TO THE KING.

25th December, 1684, at London.

The King of England seems to me to be as ill pleased as he ever was with the Prince of Orange's conduct. M. Zitters handed the former a letter from the latter, by which he assures him in general terms, that he considers himself as very unhappy for having lost his favour, well knowing that he had done nothing that ought to displease him. M. Zitters added thereto, that the Prince of Orange was very much grieved that his enemies had been able to prepossess his Britannic Majesty's mind to such a degree against him, though his conscience does not upbraid him with having done any thing that could be against his wishes or intentions. The King of England gave me to understand, his answer to M. Zitters was, that the Prince of Orange made a fool of him as well as M. Zitters, by charging him to say things which he knows to have no foundation at all; that the Prince of Orange had no enemies at his court who could take an interest in injuring him, but that he had himself done every thing in his power to effect it, since he

* This is printed from a note in Mr. Fox's hand writing.

had conducted himself in a manner quite opposite to what he ought to have done both with respect to general affairs, and with regard to the Duke of Monmouth and other ringleaders. M. Zitters tried to excuse what the Prince of Orange had done with respect to the Duke of Monmouth: His Britannic Majesty spurned it and told him that the Prince of Orange was more skilful than any body else, since he could use so gently, a man whose designs could aim at nothing less than establishing a republic in England, or maintaining chimerical pretensions which could not succeed without ruining the Prince of Orange himself. The King of England's intention was, according to my judgment, to cut still shorter his conversation with M. Zitters; but this is not congenial to his humour. The Duke of York spoke to M. Zitters in a very decisive manner, and gave him no room to defend the Prince of Orange's conduct. M. Zitters told my Lord Sunderland, the Prince of Orange would do every thing in his power to regain the good graces of the King of England and of the Duke of York. That it required only to be made known to him what he ought to do for that purpose; My Lord Sunderland answered, that it was not from hence he ought to wait for instructions, and that he knew well enough what part of his conduct might have displeased the King of England, in order to change it, if he was disposed to do so.

I have been informed by the Duke of York, that my Lord Sunderland, when speaking of these matters with the King of England and his most confidential ministers, had said that his Britannic Majesty's dignity and interest requires him to suffer the prince of Orange to take of himself the resolution which he shall think proper, without prescribing any thing to him, nay, even without shewing

him that any thing is expected of him, that after having for three years past, done every thing in his power against the interests and designs of the King of England, he ought not to think that what he has done was to be atoned for by compliments; that at present it is impossible to point out wherein he could show his good will and zeal; that much time, perhaps, is requisite to find fit opportunities for doing so, and that all he can hope for is, that the King of England will please to consider what will henceforth be his behaviour; that meanwhile M. Zitters ought to be spoken to on such subjects in as short and decisive a way as possible. This advice was approved of by his Britannic Majesty, and it was resolved, that M. Zitters should not even be listened to, if he should speak any more about it.

There has been these two days a great talk here about the sedition that took place at Brussels, and the manner in which it was suppressed by the Marquis of Grave, that is, by granting every thing to the people. The king of England spoke of it as an example of a very pernicious tendency, and which would unquestionably induce the other cities in the Netherlands to do the same thing, seeing that at Brussels, it remains unpunished and rewarded.

M. BARILLON'S DISPATCH TO THE KING.

It is merely to give your Majesty an account of the most important events that took place on the death of the late King of England, that I do myself the honour to address the present letter to your Majesty. His sickness which began on Monday morning the 12th of February, underwent divers changes during the following days; sometimes he was thought to be out of danger, and then some accident happened which induced a belief his illness was mor

tal; at length on Thursday the fifteenth of February, about noon, I was informed from a creditable quarter, there was no longer any hope, and that the physicians believed he could not survive the night; immediately afterwards I went to Whitehall; the Duke of York had given orders to the officers who guarded the door of the antichamber to let me pass at any hour; he was always in the King his brother's room, and left it now and then to give his orders concerning every thing that happened in the city; a report was spread more than once during the day, that the King was dead: as soon as I had arrived, the Duke of York told me "The physicians believed the King to be very dangerously ill; I beseech you to assure your master that he shall always have in me a faithful and grateful servant."

I was till five o'clock in the King of England's antichamber; the Duke of York called me several times into the room, and spoke to me of what was going on without doors, and of the assurances which were given him from all sides, that all was very quiet in the city, and that he would be proclaimed King there as soon as the King his brother should be dead. I went out for some time and repaired to the Lady Portsmouth's apartment; I found her in extreme grief; the physicians had bereft her of every kind of hope, yet instead of talking to me of her grief and of the loss she was about to sustain, she went into a little closet and said to me "Ambassador, I am going to tell you the greatest secret in the world, and my head would be forfeited if it was known: the King of England is at the bottom of his heart a Catholic, but he is surrounded with the protestant bishops, and nobody either tells him in what condition he is, or speaks to him of God. Decency forbids me from entering his chamber, besides the Queen is al