40 '

HISTORY OP ENGLAND.

CTIAP.

XVIII.

James’s

Deciara*

tion.

land, none but members of the Church of Rome were thoughtworthy of any mark of royal favour. Powis indeed was aneminent member of the English aristocracy; and his countrymendisliked him as little as they disliked any conspicuous Papist.But Melfort was not even an Englishman: he had never heldoffice in England: he had never sate in the EnglishParliament;and he had therefore no pretensions to a dignity peculiarlyEnglish. He was moreover hated by all the contending fac-tions of all the three kingdoms. Royal letters countersignedby him had been sent both to the Convention at Westminsterand to tire Convention at Edinburgh; and, both at West-minster and at Edinburgh, the sight of his odious name andhandwriting had made the most zealous friends of hereditaryright hang down their heads in shame. It seems strange thateven James should have chosen, at such a conjuncture, toproclaim to the world that the men whom his people most ab-horred were the men whom he most delighted to honour.

Still more injurious to his interests was the Declaration inwhich he announced his intentions to his subjects. Of all theState papers which W'ere put forth even by him it was the mostelaborately and ostentatiously injudicious. When it had dis-gusted and exasperated all good Englishmen of all parties, thePapists at Saint Germains pretended that it had been drawn upby a stanch Protestant, Edward Herbert, who had been ChiefJustice of the Common Pleas before the Revolution, and whonow bore the empty title of Chancellor.* But it is certain thatHerbert was never consulted about any matter of importance,and that the Declaration w r as the work of Melfort and of Melfortalone.** In truth, those qualities of head and heart which hadmade Melfort the favourite of his master shone forth in every

* Life of James, ii. 488.

** James told Sheridan that the Declaration was written by Melfort.Sheridan MS.