ENGLISH CONSPIRACY AND DISSENT, 1660-1674, II. WITH the outbreak of hostilities between England and Holland in the spring of 1664 the hopes of the revolutionary party opposed to the English government, so rudely dashed by the collapse of their plot of the preceding year, began to revive. Even those shrewd and experienced exiles whose lack of faith in miracles had kept them from any active share in the previous designs against Charles and his ministers, now began to take an interest in the possibility of overthrowing their rivals in England by means of foreign interference or aid.1 The summer of 1664 which was spent by England and Holland in warlike preparations was a time of earnest negotiation between the conspirators, the exiles and the Dutch. In Holland the disaffected English saw what they had previously lacked, a source of money, arms and supplies, a base of operations, and a possible ally. In them the Dutch saw a rich recruiting ground and a possible means of diversion within England itself. Many English soldiers and sailors driven by poverty or persecution had taken service in Holland. The prospect of war drew many more to that country. Ludlow was approached with the offer of a commission, and two of his companions, Colonels Say and Biscoe, went to Holland to enter Dutch service. Thither came Algernon Sidney, and it was presently said that 160 old officers were gathered there, many of them in Dutch pay. Meanwhile the English revolutionaries, despite their recent reverses, were equally active at home. Those who had escaped were reported mad for revenge, and plotting to that end.5 The administration, meanwhile, in the face of these activities, had taken steps to protect itself on the assembling of Parliament. A commission was appointed to look after the fortifications of the Tower, and disbanded officers and soldiers ordered by proclamation 1 Clarendon, Life, Continuation, par. 524 ff.; Ludlow, Memoirs, ed. Firth, II. 341, etc.; Cal. St. P. Dom., 1663-1664, pp. 562, 566; cf. also ibid., pp. 279, 426, 434, 610, 615, etc.; id., 1664-1665, pp. 6-89 passim. 4 2 Somers Tracts, VIII. 439 ff.; Cal. St. P. Dom., 1664-1665, p. 191. 3 Ibid., p. 140; Ludlow, II. 381-389. Ludlow, and Somers Tracts, ut supra; Ludlow, II. 345. Cal. St. P. Dom., 1663-1664, pp. 554-597 passim. Williams, History of English Journalism, p. 186, note, declares there was an organized campaign of seditious journalism", for participation in which a printer, John Twyn, was hanged in this year. to absent themselves from London and Westminster from March 30 to September 30, and meanwhile not to carry any weapons. Among various causes of uneasiness, 'prentice riots in London, the machinations of one Evan Price in the north, and rumors of plots everywhere, the administration was at once relieved and alarmed to discover what they had long suspected, that contributions were systematically collected to aid the agitators. One John Knowles of Pershore, it appeared, had for some years handled the funds thus collected for the "Protestants of Piedmont" and the "Polonian exiles", to be used, it was believed, for the relief of those opposed to the government, at home as well as abroad.8 Examinations were continued probing the recent plot, and at least one of its contrivers was released in hope of gaining more evidence. Among the more interesting developments it was found that arms had been brought into England under guise of use by the Royal African Company, which threw some light on the obscure incident of the two Whites, who were connected with it.10 The Dutch were said to be encouraging the rising resistance to the Conventicle Act by distributing the heads of that measure in England under title of "An Act for suppressing the worship of God", and while the more moderate sects had determined to keep within its provisions and increase their numbers quietly, the more desperate planned to rise with Dutch aid.". One of the leaders of the late plot, Mason, escaped from York Castle, and no further information being obtainable from its chief promoter, Atkinson, he was duly hanged.12 This summer of 1664 was not without more exciting incidents. The discovery of a "desperado plot" to seize the Tower and Whitehall led to arrests which checked the design.13 The enforcement of the Conventicle Act revealed the great strength of the sectaries in London,11 and at York, at Exeter, at Barnstaple and Plymouth it was considered necessary to keep forces on foot against sedition.15 Finally, in August, that devoted servant of the administration, Major Riordan, wrote that he had been so far successful in his patriotic designs against the Cal. St. P. Dom., 1663-1664, pp. 520, 530; Pepys, Diary, passim. Id.. 1663-1664, pp. 556-664 passim. 10 Ibid., p. 586. "Ibid., pp. 587, 621, also passim, pp. 606-650. 12 Ibid., pp. 635, 638, 664, 676; id., 1664, p. 5. 13 Id., 1663-1664, p. 671; id., 1664, pp. 6-35 passim; cf. also, for other meas ures, ibid., pp. 615-667 passim. "Id., 1663-1664, pp. 71, 603-678 passim; id., 1664, pp. 44-82 passim. 15 Id., 1663-1664, p. 654; Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, XV. 7, p. 97. refugees in Switzerland as to have compassed the assassination of the ex-chancellor, Lisle.16 The meeting of Parliament in November was preceded by royal orders to the Mayor and Aldermen of London to search in person every Sunday for conventicles. This was accompanied by the usual proclamation against old officers and soldiers remaining in the City.17 The main concern of the session was the impending war which was formally declared in February, 1665. It was not begun without a last attempt to conciliate the Dissenters. Anglesey and Ashley presented to the Lords a proposal to sell indulgence in the form of licenses to Nonconformists. But the joint opposition of Clarendon, the Duke of York, and the bishops, with their respective followers, was too great and to the King's chagrin the proposition was defeated. In his closing speech he confined his remarks to the bills offered, but warned the members against the republicans and the Dutch.18 That warning, at least, was sincere and better founded than perhaps even the King or his ministers knew. For at this very time Say was writing Ludlow that there was certain to be a rising in England in connection with a Dutch attack, and that 30,000 men, a third of whom were land soldiers under old officers, with a fleet and money were at their service to restore the Commonwealth.19 That English troops and especially officers were being enlisted by the Dutch was beyond question. It was further reported that there were definite designs for a combined rising of the sectaries and a Dutch attack, involving the seizure of Bristol, a Dutch descent on the east coast, and the release of Lambert, but that this would not take place before the Dutch put to sea in May.20 De Witt was indeed slow to yield to the pleadings of Sidney and his friends for the encouragement of insurrection. His own position was too vulnerable, and he had no desire to alienate the English government more than was absolutely necessary.21 None the less the design. proceeded. A Frenchman, Marchant, was seized and sent to the Tower under strong suspicion of plotting Lambert's release, and additional measures were taken to secure that dangerous prisoner.2 A design of the "desperadoes ", Blood, Lockyer, Jones, Wise, Carew 10 Cal. St. P. Dom., August, 1663-1664; also Ludlow, as above. 17 Cal. St. P. Dom., 1664-1665, pp. 7, 79. 22 18 Secret History, pp. 127 ff.; Clarendon, Life, Cont., par. 583-595; Parliamentary History, IV. 296-317. 19 Ludlow, II. 376 ff. 20 Cal. St. P. Dom., 1664, pp. 140, 207, 216, for the plan, pp. 126-191 pissim. also pp. 197-219; cf. also pp. 234-235, and Burnet, I. 414 (ed. 1833). 21 Burnet as above; Camb. Mod. Hist., V., ch. vII. 22 Cal. St. P. Dom., 1664-1665, p. 198. and Lee was unearthed. Their plan was to take houses near the Tower and Whitehall, and surprise those points as the prelude to a general rising.23 Prompt action averted the danger, but the principals escaped, and the local officials everywhere were warned that the project was still on foot and were ordered to use all means to suppress it. The capture of John Atkinson, "the stockinger" of Askrigg, much wanted for his share in the late plot, brought little result beyond the seizure of some revolutionary literature, nor was the capture of the collector-general of the sectaries, Knowles, of more value than in checking his own activities.25 Hardly were these small successes achieved when warnings arrived from Scotland that Colonel Carr was recruiting there under a Dutch commission, and that Major-Generals Hepburn and Munro, General Leslie (Lord Newark) and others should be secured.26 These, with other alarms, led to the disarming of suspected persons in western Scotland, the arrest of seamen thought to be corresponding with the Dutch, the issue of orders to local authorities to levy militia assessments and keep forces on foot, and the despatch of additional spies to Holland.27 The issue depended, however, not on these disjointed designs of discontented sectaries but on the success of the fleet. The defeat of the Dutch in the battle of Lowestoft, on June 3, 1665, brought to an end for the time the hopes of those who had counted on an English naval disaster.28 The administration was correspondingly elated, but their rejoicing was short-lived. On the heels of victory came the plague which by June had produced a reign. of terror in London. The court and most of the clergy fled before it. In consequence Nonconformist ministers emerged from their hiding places, and resumed their sacred office. Conventicles increased and conspiracy again raised its head. Early in the summer the authorities unearthed a design, known from the name 23 Cal. St. P. Dom., 1664-1665, pp. 259-263, 271; Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, XII. 7, pp. 34-35; cf. also Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, Heathcote, pp. 146, 182; id., Various, II. 121, 235, 246; also Cal. St. P. Dom., 1664-1665, pp. 169, 172. 24 Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, XII. 7, pp. 34-37; id., Various, II. 379; also id., XIII. 4, p. 464; XIV. 4, p. 75; also Cal. St. P. Dom., 1664-1665, pp. 286–287. Ibid., pp. 259-372 passim, for Atkinson. For Knowles, ibid., pp. 330, 442, 466, 497; cf. also id., 1663-1664, p. 292, and id., 1661, p. 87. 139. 23 "Id., 1664-1665, pp. 344-431 passim; cf. also Willcock, A Scots Earl, pp. 138– Cal. St. P. Dom., 1664-1665, pp. 363-392 passim, also pp. 314, 348; Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, Heathcote, p. 191. "Clarendon, Life, Cont., par. 638 ff.; Pepys, June 13, etc.; Cal. St. P. Dom., 1664-1665, pp. 407, 412, 437, 442. Ibid., pp. 431-518 passim; Calamy, Nonconformist Memorials, ed. Palmer, I. 57; Cal. St. P. Dom., August, 1665, passim. of its chief victim, as the Rathbone Plot, an old plan in a new, and, under the circumstances, a more dangerous form. It contemplated the capture of the Tower by men crossing the moat in boats and surprising the undefended walls. Governor Robinson and General Browne were to be killed, and, strange precursor of the later catastrophe, the City was to be fired. The date set for the attempt was the sacred day of the Cromwellians, September 3. The seizure of the Tower was to be accompanied by risings throughout the country, especially in the west, and in Scotland.30 The steps taken by Albemarle indicate how serious he considered the danger. As early as June 28 all old soldiers were ordered from the City. Officials of the northern counties were warned to be on their guard and seize suspicious persons. Long lists of warrants were issued and hundreds of arrests made. In one month fifty-five prisoners were sent to Lincoln Castle alone. Troops were ordered up to assist the local authorities if necessary. The Duke of York, on his way to Hull to inspect the fortifications, requested blank commissions for use in an emergency, and secured the promise of Lord Fairfax to aid the King in case of disturbance. In Scotland many arrests were made, including the generals Hepburn, Munro and Montgomery. Portsmouth was secured against surprise, and in London Albemarle took extraordinary precautions. Conventicles were vigorously suppressed, forces were recruited, and a steady stream of prisoners passed before the duke for examination on their way to the Tower. Special pains were taken to guard that stronghold, and its officers were ordered, among other things, to have three ships' lading of arms and ammunition ready for instant use against the King's warning. The danger passed, though not without further alarms among which the seizure of twenty barrels of powder being carried to Malmesbury gave substance to the darkest suspicions. The design was sifted, the guilty determined and held, and the others released.31 With this Parliament came together at Oxford, fearful of the plague in London. It is not surprising that, in the midst of war, disturbed by such recent alarms, meeting in a strange place and under protection of troops, the few members who had ventured to come together followed the Chancellor's lead in urging reac 30 Macpherson, Life of James II., Docts., 1665; Pepys, September 1, 1665; Clarendon, Life, Cont., par. 596; Ludlow, II. 489. 31 Cal. St. P. Dom., 1664-1665, pp. 451-582 passim; id., 1665-1666, pp. 2-550 passim; Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, Var., II. 120. Willcock, A Scots Earl, p. 139, adds Colonel Robert Halket and William Rolston to those arrested at this time. |