132

HISTORY OP ENGLAND.

chap, this subject continued to be discussed by the fiercest and most-- - extravagant Papists about the Court; and candidates for theregal office were actually named.* *

scheme It is not probable however that James ever meant to takea course so insane. He must have known that England wouldconnei never bear for a single day the yoke of an usurper who wasventing” also a Papist, and that any attempt to set aside the Lady Maryces/of"” would have been withstood to the death, both by all those whoorange bad supported the Exclusion Bill, and by all those who hadmicceea- opposed it. There is however no doubt that the King was anbing^nT accomplice in a plot less absurd, but not less unjustifiable,of ire- against the rights of his children. Tyrconnel had, with hisland ' master’s approbation, made arrangements for separating Ire-land from the empire, and for placing her under the protectionof Lewis, as soon as the crown should devolve on a Protestantsovereign. Bonrepaux had been consulted, had impartedthe design to his court, and had been instructed to assureTyrconnel that France would lend effectual aid to the accom-plishment of this great project.** These transactions, which,though perhaps not in all parts accurately known at thellague,were strongly suspected there, must not be left out of theaccount if we would pass a just judgment on the course takena few months later by the Princess of Orange. Those whopronounce her guilty of a breach of filial duty must admit thather fault was at least greatly extenuated by her wrongs. If,to serve the cause of her religion, she broke through the most

et qu’on ne ddsespere pas avee le temps de trouver des moyens pourfaire passer la couronne sur la tfite d'un hdrilier Catholique.”

* Bonrepaux, July H. 1687.

** Bonrepaux to Seignelay, ^“* t ~ j 1687. I will quote a few words fromthis most remarkable despatch: “Je sgay bien certainement quel'inlention du Boy d’Anglelerre est de faire perdre ce royaume (Ireland)h son successeur, et de le fortifier en sorte que tous ses sujets Calko-liques y puissent avoir un asile assurd. Son projet est de mettre leschoses en cel eslat dans le cours de cinq anndes.” In the Secret Consultsof the Romish Party in Ireland, printed in 1690, there is a passage whichshows that this negotiation had not been kept strictly secret. “Thoughthe King kept it private from most of his council, yet certain it is thathe had promised the French King the disposal of that government andkingdom when things had attained to that growth as to be fit to bear it.”

e V 1 #: