114

HISTOIIY OF ESfGlAITD.

CHAP.

XVI.

1690 .

had sent to solicit the help of an invading army from Francehad been arrested hy the agents of the vigilant and energeticLord President, and that documentary evidence, which mightaffect the lives of some great men, was in the possession of thegovernment. The Jacobites were terrorstricken: the clamourof the Whigs against Caermarthen was suddenly hushed; andthe Session ended in perfect harmony. On the fifth of Januarythe King thanked the Houses for their support, and assuredthem that he would not grant away any forfeited property inIreland till they should reassemble. He alluded to the plotwhich had just been discovered, and expressed a hope that thefriends of England would not, at such a moment, be less activeor less firmly united than her enemies. He then signified hispleasure that the Parliament should adjourn. On the followingday he set out, attended by a splendid train of nobles, for theCongress at the Hague.*

* Lords’ and Commons’ Journals, Jan. 5. 1695; London Gazette,Jan. 8.