UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND.

263

private men. Almost all the military and naval resources of chap.

the kingdom had been at the disposal of those who resisted-

Charles the First. All the military and naval resources of thekingdom were at the disposal of Charles the Second. TheHouse of Commons had been supported by at least half thenation against Charles the First. But those who were disposedto levy war against Charles the Second were certainly a mi-nority. It could not reasonably be doubted, therefore, that,if they attempted arising, they would fail. Still less could ithe doubted that their failure would aggravate every evil ofwhich they complained. The true policy of the Whigs wasto submit with patience to adversity which was tlie naturalconsequence and the just punishment of their errors, to waitpatiently for that turn of public feeling which must inevitablycome, to observe the law, and to avail themselves of the pro-tection, imperfect indeed, but by no means nugatory, whichthe law afforded to innocence. Unhappily they took a verydifferent course. Unscrupulous and hot-headed chiefs of theparty formed and discussed schemes of resistance, and wereheard, if not with approbation, yet with the show of acquies-cence, by much better men than themselves. It was proposedthat there should be simultaneous insurrections in London,in Cheshire, at Bristol, and at Newcastle. Communicationswere opened with the discontented Presbyterians of Scotland,who were suffering under a tyranny such as England, in theworst times, had never known. While the leaders of theopposition thus revolved plans of open rebellion, but werestill restrained by fears or scruples from taking any decisivestep, a design of a very different kind was meditated by someof their accomplices. To fierce spirits, unrestrained by prin-ciple, or maddened by fanaticism, it seemed that to waylayand murder the King and his brother was the shortest andsurest way of vindicating the Protestant religion and theliberties of England. A place and a time were named; and