while the purchase of votes, an art at which Caermarthen was an adept, and which for many years to come was constantly employed by the Government, was intrusted to Sir John Trevor, who became Speaker. William had hitherto tried to act without bribery; he had found his efforts futile, and his influence in Parliament neutralized by the passion of faction. He now, against his own feelings, allowed Caermarthen to have his way. The strange venality of Parliament at this time, and for many years afterwards, may probably be traced to the fact that the secrecy with which debates in Parliament were shrouded prevented the exercise of any wholesome popular opinion upon the vote of the representatives, while the Crown had lost that power of coercing the Opposition which it had enjoyed in the time of the Tudors. It became necessary to purchase what could not be procured by violence, while there was no pressure from without to restrain the cupidity of unprincipled members. With his new Parliament William found himself more free to act.
The revenue settled.
Its first duty was the settlement of the revenue. This had hitherto been chiefly collected under Acts passed for short terms only. It was now put on a permanent basis. The hereditary revenues, consisting of the rents of royal domains, fees and fines, post office and ecclesiastical dues, together with that portion of the excise which had been paid to Charles II. as the price for the abolition of feudal services, were given to William and Mary. These revenues amounted to about £400,000 or £500,000 a year. The King had hoped to obtain a grant for life of the other excise and custom duties which had been granted to James, and had amounted to £900,000 a year; but the Tory majority felt as distinctly as their opponents that an income which set the Crown free from the necessity of consulting Parliament might prove a source of evils similar to those of the last reign. They therefore gave William for life only £300,000 a year from the excise, the remaining £600,000, which arose from customs, they granted for four years only.
On other points the Parliament now acted more in accordance with the King's wishes, although the Whigs produced several embarrassing measures, and attempted to compel all place-holders to take an oath abjuring King James. But William was determined to check the course of vengeance; the known wish of the King enabled the Tories to throw out the obnoxious measure, and the revenge of the Whigs Act of Grace, May 20. was finally balked by an Act of Grace from the Crown, which took the place of the unfinished Bill of Indemnity. This declared a perfect oblivion for all political offences up to that moment, excepting from the benefits of the Act only such of the regicides as were still alive, and about thirty others; of whom some were either dead or in safety abroad, while the rest, though in England, were suffered to live unharmed. It is a noble addition to the glory of William that, through his firmness and generosity, no blood was shed at the Great Revolution.
Preparation for war.
Meanwhile the King had been hastening preparations for his war. The number of the troops in Ireland had been raised to 30,000, at length well armed and well provisioned; a fleet, with still more provisions and equipments, was ready to receive the King at Chester. But at that moment it became very difficult for him to leave the Jacobite plot discovered. country, for the Jacobites had determined to seize the opportunity of his absence for a great effort. Clarendon the Queen's uncle, Dartmouth commander of the fleet which should have opposed William's landing, and Preston James's last Secretary of State, were the leaders of the scheme. Fortunately their secrets were intrusted to a man named Fuller, who at once determined to turn traitor. He gave over to the Privy Council the despatches from the Queen in France, which had been sewn into his buttons. His fellow-messenger was apprehended; when convicted and condemned to death, he too confessed, and the chiefs of the conspiracy were in the hands of the Government. Nevertheless it was a terrible time to be absent from home. An insurrection might break out at any moment, and an invasion was threatened from France.
William was determined that, come what would, he would put an end to the disgraceful state of affairs in Ireland. He placed the Government in the hands of the Queen, assisted by a Council of nine, with Danby William goes to Ireland. for her chief minister, Admiral Russell to advise her on naval, and Marlborough on military affairs, and then crossed to Belfast. Fortunately the two objects of the Jacobites proved incompatible; the threatened invasion so roused the national spirit, that domestic insurrection became impossible. While William advanced southward, Threatened invasion and insurrection. and the Irish army, reinforced by a considerable number of French under Lauzun, fell back behind the Boyne, a great French fleet under Tourville appeared off the Needles. Torrington, the English commander, had been reinforced by a Dutch squadron, yet shrunk from the encounter, and retreated towards the Straits of Dover. The Queen and her Council sent peremptory orders to fight. Jealous of Russell, afraid of risking a great battle with superior numbers, Torrington unwillingly obeyed. Battle of Beachy Head. With shameful policy, he sent the Dutch squadron forward to bear the brunt of the danger, and left it almost unsupported, till, after exhibiting their usual stubborn bravery, the Dutch were compelled to fall back with their shattered ships, and Tourville swept the Channel unopposed. Almost at the same time as the news of this disgraceful defeat reached London, tidings arrived that the allies, under the Prince of Waldeck, had been beaten by Luxemburg at the battle of Spirited behaviour of England. Fleurus. But the very misfortunes which seemed falling upon the nation roused its spirit. The Lord Mayor offered the Queen at once £100,000, 10,000 Londoners, well armed for immediate purposes, and six regiments of foot and two regiments of horse, to be raised at once, without cost to the Crown. The same temper was visible throughout England, and suddenly, after three days of depression, hope was again raised in the national mind by the news of the battle of the Boyne.
James had determined to make a stand behind that river, which separates the counties of Louth and Meath, falling into the Battle of the Boyne. July 1, 1690. sea at Drogheda. The position was a fairly strong one; the ground rose immediately from the river, and some of William's generals scarcely liked to venture upon an attack. But he felt that some great blow was necessary to retrieve the disasters of the last year, and he gave orders for crossing the river at once. Early in the morning of the 1st of July the English began to advance. Young Schomberg was sent some miles up the river, to cross at the bridge of Slane, and thus turn the left flank of the Irish army. His success in this movement alarmed Lauzun. There was a narrow passage at Duleek, four miles south of the Boyne, where two carriages could scarcely pass between impassable bogs. If Schomberg could secure this pass the Irish would be enclosed in a trap. It was necessary at any price to avoid this danger; Lauzun therefore marched to oppose him, taking with him all the French troops, leaving the Irish alone to hold the river. William commanded the left wing, formed entirely of horse. He fought his way across the river not far above Drogheda. In the centre Schomberg led the main body of the infantry across the fords of Old Bridge. The Irish infantry which should have opposed him, thoroughly demoralized by a year spent under lax discipline and in habits of plunder, fled at the first onset. The cavalry, who had been more carefully drilled under command of the traitor Richard Hamilton, strove in vain to restore the day. For half an hour the struggle in the bed of the river was fierce. The leader of the Protestant refugees was killed, and Schomberg himself, while rallying these troops, and calling out to them, "Come on, gentlemen, there are your persecutors," also fell. But William, having crossed with the left wing, now came up on the flank of the Irish, and the passage was secured. The Irish cavalry were left entirely unsupported by the infantry. Fighting bravely, and with considerable loss, they were slowly driven from the ground. Their leader Richard Hamilton was taken prisoner. James, whose personal courage it had been usual to praise, turned early from the fight and fled towards Dublin. The rout of fugitives hurried through the pass of Duleek, covered by the French infantry, who had been resisting young Schomberg's flank attack all the day. William is said to have been slack in the pursuit; Schomberg's death, and his own exhaustion, after having been thirty-five hours out of the last forty on horseback, may have been the cause of this. On neither side was the loss very great. Of the English about 500 are said to have been killed, of the Irish 1500; but they were chiefly cavalry, the only trustworthy Irish troops.
James's final flight.
James, having reached Dublin, summoned the Lord Mayor and principal Catholic citizens to the castle. Forgetful of his own speedy flight, he upbraided the Irish for cowardice, and vowed he would never more