A. D. 1672-3. Other bills brought in. resign all his places. Lord Clifford lost his white staff;* many of the papists their civil employments, and several officers their commissions; in consequence of which that party was much weakened and discouraged. The test act was, not only at that time but afterwards, looked upon as one of the strongest bulwarks against popery, and as the peculiar object of the dislike and jealousy of the papists. This was evident when the Duke of York came to the crown: for he endeavoured very early to get it repealed; and, upon the parliament's refusing to do so, he dissolved the house, and assumed to himself a power of dispensing with the act; a circumstance which contributed in no small degree to the revolution. For a farther security against popery, a bill was brought in to educate the children of the royal family in the protestant religion: another Bishop Burnet attributes Lord Clifford's removal to the speech which he had made in the house of lords for the declaration, by which the commons were so much incensed, that the king told the duke, Lord Clifford could serve him no longer. It is certain, how ever, that he was removed by the test; for he continued in the treasury two months after the sessions in which the act was passed, and did not resign his staff till the 19th of June 1673, on which day Sir Thomas Osborne succeeded him. A. D. 1672-3. was prepared to prevent intermarriages between protestants and papists; and a third to grant indulgence to protestant dissenters: but before these could be perfected, the king, on the 29th of March, sent a writing under his hand that A.D. 1673. the house should be adjourned to the 20th of The house October; and thus this memorable session ended. Lord Shaftesbury showed, not only by his own conduct, but by the advice he gave to others, that he kept the welfare of his country always in his view. He thought that a king's interest ought never to be considered in a distinct and separate light from that of his people; and that the best service which could be performed for an English monarch by his ministers, was the securing the properties and strengthening the liberties of his subjects. 96 This appeared in his speeches to Sir Thomas Osborne and Serjeant Thurland at their taking the oaths before him in the court of chancery: the first upon receiving the staff of lord treasurer, in the room of Lord Clifford; and the other upon being made a baron of the exchequer. In his speech to the lord treasurer was the fol 96 Now created Earl of Danby, and afterwards Duke of Leeds. adjourned. Lord Shaftes bury's ad vice to Sir Thomas Osborne. A.D. 1673. lowing remarkable passage: "Kings are as Gods, and bestow honour, riches, and power where they please; but in this they are as men, that they can only choose, not make a person adequate to their employment: for if their choice be merely favour, not fitness, their omnipotency is quickly seen through. There is no more to be asked of you in this condition but that you know your own interest, and that will secure you to the king's and the nation's. I repeat them thus together, because none but mountebanks in state matters can think of them asunder. And let me say to your lordship that, however happy you have been in arriving to this high station, yet parta tueri non minor est virtus. Many great men have proved unfortunate in not observing that the address and means to attain great things are oftentimes very different from those that are necessary to maintain and establish a sure and long possession of them." The new treasurer thanked the lord chancellor in public; but the next day, when he had considered the turn of the speech, he sent to revoke his thanks, and from this time conceived a strong resentment against him, which broke out afterwards upon many occasions. In Lord Shaftesbury's speech to Baron Thur jeant Thur land, the following expressions contained a lively A.D. 1673. incensed. The spirit that had been worked up in parlia- The papists ment by Lord Shaftesbury, alarmed the junto; and the army, which was encamped at Blackheath, was no less dreaded by the people. The papists were so incensed, so numerous, and so strongly supported, that daily insults were apprehended from them; and Lord Shaftesbury, knowing how obnoxious he was to them, in consequence of the frequent interruptions he had given to the advancement of their cause, kept his family well armed, and a constant guard in it all the summer. By his address he fomented a breach VOL. II. F 1 Lord A.D. 1673. between the parties of jesuits and the jansenists, which, for a time, disconcerted all their measures. foments a The former asserted the absolute supremacy of Shaftesbury breach be tween the jesuit and jansenist parties. the pope, and were for an immediate change of religion by the most violent methods. The jansenists, who were apprehensive of the growing power of the jesuits, were for proceeding in a slower way, and for introducing popery by a gradual reconciliation of the church of England with the church of Rome. Of the first of these parties, were the Duke of York, Lord Clifford, Earl of Norwich, (afterwards Duke of Norfolk,) Lord Arundel of Wardour, Lord Stafford, and others. Of the latter, were the Earl of Berkshire, Lord Carlingford, Lord Petre, and Lord Viscount Mountacute, who were assisted by Lord Arlington. The jansenists had frequent consultations, in which Sir Ellis Leighton acted as secretary, and drew up their results; which were afterwards communicated to those of their party who did not appear amongst them. Mr. Bennet, a friend of Lord Shaftesbury, by means of a mistress of Sir Ellis, got copies of the papers, and delivered them, from time to time, to Lord Shaftesbury; who, by this means, was enabled to work up the |
