A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James the Second; with an Introductory Chapter. By the Right. Hon. Charles James Fox. To which is added, an Appendix. With a Portrait. pp. 488. Demy 4to. £1. 16s. Royal, £2. 12s. 6d. Elephant, £5. 5s. Miller, Loudon, 1808. miliating spectacle can the world, amid all tish monarch addressing his people in lanits vicissitudes, present, than that of a BriSuage repugnant to his heart, and athe knows are inconsistent with truth, and tempting to delude them by words, which which they regard as derogatory to his honour and to their own? There are several periods of British con-history that justify these observations. When John agreed to hold his crown of the Pope, his people were offended, and abandoned him; when the eighth Henry expelled the Pope and popery from his dominions, that spirit of independence, which animates the people of this island, participated in the measure, whatever was their opinion on the disposition in which that measure originated. When Elizabeth supported the King of France by troops and succours, her subjects applauded her policy and promoted her undertakings; when her successor was swayed by Spanish councils, he was led to actions entirely subversive of his character as the British Solomon, and unquestionably adapted to increase opinions among his people, which could not fail of producing the most calamitous effects, when at their height. Charles the first was enthralled by French intrigue: this, united with his own duplicity, cost him his life, and the British constitution its establishment. have shaken off the toils which surrounded him, have adopted the frankness that became his station, and have vindicated his words and his actions by veracity, posterity might have looked back to results very different from those which now stain while they dignify our national annals. Cromwell interfered on the continent, but did not suffer the continent to interfere with him his government therefore was firm. Yet in spite of the lessons which events, it might have been supposed, must have taught them, the unwise sons of the unfortunate Charles, suffered themselves to be domineered over by a foreign lord, and professed to be sovereigns of a free people, while in truth they were the slaves of a continental tyrant. WHEN Nature, by some dreadful vulsion, disjoined Butain from the contitinent, she had other purposes in view than that of producing a streight and an island as distinctions of geography: her intent was to appropriate a space for the establishment of a great nation, which should possess within itself the necessaries and comforts of life; a nation, which should feel its independence on the world, and justify a conscious sense of its security and self-sufficiency. British history deBritish history demonstrates this truth with the united testimony of induction and fact. Whenever our sovereigns have rested themselves on the affections of their people, and have firmly felt their own dignity, convinced that no earthly power could increase their happiness, or augment their real splendour, they have enjoyed whatever of majesty is consistent with the lot of humanity: But such of them as have been weak enough to look abroad for connexions, for support, for additional honour, for auxiliary strength, have seen that establishment in the hearts of their people, which would have been their felicity and their glory, gradually melt away. When the sovereign of England was in the habit of bestowing favours on the continent, affairs went well at home and abroad when he condescended to receive favours, from any power whatever, he became, in spite of his utmost caution, first the subject of suspicion, then of execration and aversion among his own subjects. Never could secrecy be so profound as that some hints of his transactions should not transpire, be observed, reported, and magnified in the report: never could hypocrisy be so completely decep tive, as that some should not discover the mask, and find a gratification in removing it. Of what avail are the most earnest professions of purity of intention, when those to whom they are addressed shut their eats against explanation or remonstrance, and harden their hearts against conviction ? And what more huVOL. IV. [Lit. Pan. July, 1908.] : Could' he' Extremely instructive is the picture which this period of our history presents; and when it shall be composed by some unbiassed hand who may set in that strong light which is due to its importance, the effect of moral causes as well as of political, 2 A he will do himself honour, and his country benefit. Charles the first was ruined by his disregard of truth. Charles the second was impoverished by his profligacy, and passed his days in anguish arising from the mingled sense of shame and dependance, of avaricious craving, and of licentious extravagance at once a beggar receiving alris, and a king exacting tribute the despot of his own council, which he did not dare to trust, and obedient to the commands of a monarch whom he did not dare to offend. To his own subjects professedly a protestant, and enacting laws which punished those who deemed him otherwise, yet averring to his master not merely his own adoption of the Catholic tenes, but his earnest desire to establish that persuasion throughout his dominions. Bound by no treaties where British interests were concerned, yet where his hopes anticipated the reception of foreign bribes, making verbal treaties, lest written ones should be discovered Willing to be bought, he offered himself to sale, anxious to be corrupted, he watched the appearance of corruption; insensible to shame, he met ignominy with hardened front, and callous to every im try as the Revolution by King William, H "We describe them as "matters of con sequence," for unhappy indeed is the fate of a statesman, who, called to his station, by the voice of his king and country, and intent on, serving them who have thus honoured him by their invitation, is to be judged solely by the evidence which his opponents bring against him. It may be in their power to blacken his pression of honour, of British honour, ter, to decry his merits, to load charac James the second was less a hypocrite, but he was less a politician. He had some sense of honour, and a considerable share of piety. Happily for this country, his abilities were not equal to the execution of his plans, and though formerly he had been esteemed both courageous and skilful, yet when courage and skill were most needed, he failed in these indispensable requisites for great atchievements: with he lived tormented by suspicion, jealousy, apparent guilt, on those very points contempt, obloquy and imposition; he where his actions were directed by fle died an instance of the weakness of hy-purest patriotism, were most analogous pocrisy mingled with the hardness of into the spirit of the constitution, were fidelity.. most upright and judicions in their intention, and most happy and permanent in their result. He may have warded of evils of the greatest magnitude, evils, which, had they happened, would have wrung from every compatriot exclamation clamour and complaint; but, because they did not happen, scarcely an individual can be persuaded of their existence. He may have laid the plans for benefity. of which remote ages may participate He fled, and with him fled the shades of night.in their full strength in his own day, the the prosperity, yet if they do not appear The transactions of these days of dou- merit shall be transferred to his successors, ble dealing were suspected, at the time and they shall plume themselves on Wis when they were in progress, but they were dom and talents not their own, It is Bat not proved: nor could they be while justice then, it is but equity, that docuthe secrets of cabinets were confidedments capable of illustrating the only to faithful agents. When times had of courts, should be open to both sides, changed, the curiosity natural to our air at all, and that posterity should be ture, and the interest felt by every Brit enabled to judge completely on the actions in events of such moment to his coon-of-thi Francestors, nor be misled by the Compare Panorama, Vol. 4.9p. 485, 721, kus on privacies partial exposures, and dexterous conceal ments, of writers who have purposes to The guardian angels of kingdoms and states, watching over the affairs of men, may be able, by their perfect knowledge of causes and events, to judge with discrimination and accuracy, without fur ther assistance; but the humbler sons of men must acquire their information gradually, must be guided by what evidence they can obtain; and after weighing the reasons, and arguments, the deductions, and confirmations, must in many cases be decided by probabilities, and must soffer that scale of even-handed justice to preponderate, into which the greatest weight appears to be cast, on the whole Nor let it be considered as of little moment that the disclosure of former secre cies becomes a warning to exalted characters in future ages. Mr. Fox in the work before us has not thought proper to take into his account the opposition between the principles of popery, and those of protestantism embraced by this nation. He has not adverted to the morals of the people, a great part of which, even in the lewd days of Charles the second, was most scrutinizingly adverse to the profligacies of the court, and the court party. There were many, very many, who could not hoodwink themselves, when duty, in spite of their reluctance, dragged them to the palace. He seems not to have admitted the possibility that Britain should again detect the latent principles of popery, sheltered behind the throne, and discover in the crown that love of arbitrary power which ever attends the profession of that religion. It would The oldest sin the newest kind of ways, have been an instructive lesson bequeathed or be swayed to patronize superstitions by this great statesman to posterity, which his countrymen have agreed to bad he shewn, that not even the ex- reject, or to think lightly of those mocellencies of the character of Charles the rals on which all respect for station and first, the moral part of which is studded dignity is primarily founded, then will with many gems of the purest water, the moralists of those ages regret, that could secure him from the dangerous in- so favourable an opportunity of deveferences deduced from that single pro loping the effects of immorality and byposition his queen was a Catholic. Un-pocrisy, as is presented in Charles the happily, his queen was a Catholic, and his queen had great influence over him this gave his opponents an advantage of which they availed themselves with wonderful effect it discoloured through their representations every action of his life: it became a dead weight on the exertions of his friends: the queen was Catholic, and the king expired on extended to great advantage. Germany and Sweden (why not also Portugal ?) were likely to have watched the causes and progress of events with great solicitude at this period and though they might not, be fully informed of all that was passing, disposition would have been suspected of influencing his pen a man of his independent spirit, of his knowledge of the world, his observation, his acquaintance with the human heart, would have been supposed, and justly, to have spoken the dictates of honest truth, and when shew-yet they would really be acquainted with ing the indefeasable connection between vice and misery, to have treated the subject on the broad principles of nature and philosophy, philosophy combined with patriotism, with loyalty, with zeal for the welfare of his country, and for the honour of his prince. What might not such a writer have accomplished, had he happily directed his efforts to this honourable purpose! What benefits might he not have conferred on posterity, in evincing, beyond all contradiction, by undeniable examples, that in spite of the denial of reprobates and the prejudices of half thinkers, VICE and IMBECILITY are convertible terms! many things, and would form very probable suspicions and conjectures, as to others. Lord Holland explains Mr. Fox's ideas of style in writing, as different from that proper to speaking: and authenticates the work and its integrity, by stating the mode of its composition, &c. &c. and A posthumous performance, confessedly. unfinished, is entitled to many allowances in its favour. Those who are versed in literary composition know, that the sense intended to be conveyed is, often, a distinct consideration from the construction. of the sentence that is to convey it that arrangement of words, partakes of the nature of afterthought, and not seldom is the result of continued reflection and study., It is therefore, likely, that as Mr. Fox had advanced in his work, he would have revised and improved the earlier parts of it, and would have added some of those graces of style, which in a work of `extent and consequence, are not to be despised. He has studied simplicity: we commend him; but with simplicity he would have com bined, for his own satisfaction, a style artfully varied, though without the appear. ance of art. The volume before us, opens with a preface by lord Holland, in which he narrates the pains taken by his late uncle, to procure authentic materials for the history he contemplated; his journey to Paris, in 1802, and the information he received relative to the destruction of those MSS. of King James II, which had formerly belonged to the Scotch college at Paris. They comprised memoirs in that king's own hand-writing, beginning from the sixteenth year of his age: these made four volumes in folio, and six in quarto: The introductory chapter, after glancing also, letters from Charles II. and from at earlier periods of British history, from that king's ministers, to James, while Henry VII, treats, in a succinct manner, Duke of York. These were in thin quartoon, the conduct and character of Charles I, volumes. These MSS. it appears, were the government of Cromwell, the resto sent from Paris to St. Omers, where the ration of Charles II, noticing especially, increasing severities of the French revo- that miserable blunder of the public lution, induced the depositary to destroy leaders, in making no stipulations for them, lest they should prove his ruin. themselves, nor for general liberty, with Mr. Fox also procured access to the Dépôt the returning king., Mr. Fox treats the des Affaires Etrangères; where he revised Popish Plot as a fable; yet acknowledges many of those letters which Dalrymple that it was believed by men of all ranks published; and copied others of equal and all parties. He exposes the tyranny interest; a part of which are given in of the king, which increased as his reign an appendix to the present volume. Mr. advanced, and strongly observes on the Fox endeavoured to procure assistance inefficacy of good laws, while those who of the same kind from Spain, but in are to give them activity have interests this he failed; though lord Holland bought opposed to their execution. The lawless for him the letters of the Spanish ambas-measures pursued in Scotland, with the sador to England, written in the years im- general gloom of good men, in both parts mediately subsequent to the revolution. of the island, are narrated; and this chapWe venture to suggest that this inquiry ter closes with an account of the King's among foreign powers might be further death, and reflections on the probable consequences of his reign. This chapter ( Mr. Fox's appendix confirms them, so far as we perceive, in all points. is finished, and Mr. Fox's remarks on the transactions he reviews, differ little from those which a mind alive to the finer feel ings of humanity must make on the sub jects narrated. The second chapter includes the accession of James II. the line of politics he intended to adopt, his money transactions with France, his arbitrary proceedings in Scotland and England, with the state of partiesas divided into Whigs and Tories. The third chapter describes the atterupts of Argyle and Monmonth; with their results. Mr. F. has taken peculiar pains to state correctly the events contained in this chapter, and he has given a more or derly, and satisfactory account of them than other writers. That minuteness of research, to which his nephew alludes in the preface, here stands the writer in good stead, and we observe with a pleasure mine gled with regret, that the work becomes more interesting as it approaches that close to which the labours of the author were restricted. Had he completed his plan, it is probable that the performance would have been a lasting memorial of his ability, and a valuable present to posterity. As it is, we discover in it defects which we rather wonder sat in a politician of Mr. Fi's penetration, together with omissions, against which we have thought, it our duty to protest. A small fraginent of no consequence is added, and the French originals of Louis XIV's letters and orders to his ambassador, Barillon, with Barillon's dispatches to his master, informing him of events as they rose, and communicating his speculations (some of which are ex tremely curious, and well merit attention), are formed into an Appendix, and conclude the volume.: Having thus stated the general purport of this work, we shall submit a few extracts, as specimens of its execution, Mr. F.'s reflections on the reign of Charles II. are given in the following terms, The reign of Charles the second forms one of the most singular, as well as of the most important periods of history. It is the era lion of the court of wards, the repeal of the of good laws and bad government. The abo writ De Heretico Comburendo, the triennial parliament bill, the establishment of the rights of the House of Commons in regard to im peachment, the expiration of the license act, and above all, the glorious statute of Habeas Corpus, have therefore induced a modern wri ter of great eminence to fix the year 1679 as the period at which our constitution had ar rived at its greatest theoretical perfection, but, luded to, that the times immediately following owns, in a short note upon the passage alwere times of great practical oppression What a field for meditation does this short b servation, from such a man, furnish! What reflections does it not suggest to, a thinking mind, upon the inefficacy of human laws, and the imperfection of human constitutions! We are called from the contemplation of the progress of our constitution, and our attention he shixed with the most minute accuracy to a parucular point, when it is said to have risen the best moment of the best constitution that to its utmost perfection. Here we are then at ever human wisdom framed. What follows? A time of oppression and misery, not arising from external or accidental causes, such as war, pestilence, or famine, nor even from any such alteration of the laws as might be supposed to impair this boasted perfection, but from a corrupt and wicked administration, which all these much admired checks of the vain then, how idle, how presumptuous is constitution were not able to prevent. How the opinion, that laws can do every thing! and how weak and pernicious the maxiin founded upon it, that measures, not inei, are to be attended to! It will not escape the notice of the reader of this work, that Mr. Fox has treated Hume with great indulgence, and The harsh and unwarrantable measures Macpherson with great asperity: yet pursued in Scotland, deserve to be better without taking part with Macpherson, we known among us, and more distinctly premay add, that Mr. Fox has not convicted sented by our historians, than they comhim of seriously misleading his reader by monly are. Events in the conduct of the false facts, or of any thing beyond a petty struggle between the crown and the compiece of author craft, in describing as the mons might have convinced James, that originals, an abstract and copy, which there existed a correspondence, and symnow holds the place of the originals, and pathy, between the considerate part of which we should be happy to see laid the population in both kingdoms, to before the public, under its proper charac- which a wise politician would think it his fer. As to Dalrymple's Memoirs, one of duty to pay the greatest attention. Scarce the most interesting books in our history,ly is it possible for any event, much less |