The parliament, which had adjourned in the spring of 1673, met again in October. Hitherto they had re sisted the king in some material points, but their oppo sition, and even impeachment of ministers, was not conducted with that indignation at the Dutch war, which it is certain was felt throughout the nation. In the ses sion which commenced in October, a more decided spirit appeared. They remonstrated with anger at the proposed marriage, which was now negotiating between the duke of York and a princess of Modena. They voted the standing army a grievance, and declared that they would grant no more supplies, unless it appeared that the Dutch were unreasonable in their terms. To cut short these disagreeable altercations, the king re solved to prorogue the parliament, and with that inten tion went unexpectedly to the House of Peers, from whence he sent the usher of the black rod for the com mons to attend. It happened that the usher and the speaker met nearly at the door of the house, but the speaker being within, some of the members suddenly shut the door, and cried, to the chair ; on which the fol lowing motions were tumultuously made : that the al liance with France was a grievance, that the evil coun sellors of the king were a grievance, that the earl of Lauderdale was a grievance ; but as the usher knocked violently at the door, and the speaker leapt from the chair, the house rose in great confusion.
Parliament had been prorogued to give the duke of York time to finish his marriage, but the king's neces sities obliged him to call them again. By their unalter ed sentiments, the king saw that he had no more hopes of supplies for so odious a war. He therefore affected to be guided by the wishes of his parliament, and by their advice concluded a peace with the Dutch. All possessions were restored to the same condition as be fore the war ; the honour of the flag was ceded by the states, who agreed also to pay nearly 300,0001. to the king. A body of English troops still remained in the employment of France, which Charles said he was pre vented by treaty from recalling ; but he secretly pro mised the Dutch that they should not he recruited, a promise which he was not honest enough to keep The interval from the separate peace between Eng land and the United Provinces, to the peace of Nime guen, was chiefly employed by Charles in attempts to obtain money from France ; in which he was sometimes more, sometimes less successful, and in various false Professions, promises, and other devices to deceive his parliament and his people, in which he uniformly failed Though neither the nature and extent of his connection with France, nor his design of introducing popery into England, were known at that time, as they now arc, yet there were not wanting many indications cf the king's disposition, and of the general tendency of his designs Reasonable persons apprehended, that the supplies ask ed were intended to be used, not for maintaining the balance of Europe, but for subduing the parliament and people who should give them ; and the great antipathy of the bulk of the nation to popery, caused many to be more clear-sighted in discovering, and more resolute in resisting, the designs of the court, than they probably would have shown themselves if civil liberty alone had been concerned.
In the interval already mentioned, the commons twice addressed the king against the marriage of the duke of York with the duchess of Modena, although it was already celebrated by proxy. They drew up votes and addresses against standing armies. Nor were the ef forts of parliament confined to the army alone; they addressed against national grievances, against the king's ministers, they examined Buckingham and Arlington at their bar, they complained repeatedly against Lau derdale, they prepared to impeach Danby, and supplies were refused almost as often as they were asked. The king, on the other hand, endeavoured to oppose the sen timents of liberty, by setting on foot a bill in the House of Lords, for imposing the oath of non-resistance on members of parliament, and on all in public stations. But after it was carried through the lords, Charles found he could not venture it in the commons.
In vain Charles hoped, by giving his brother's daugh ter in marriage to the Prince of Orange, to recover the popularity which he and his brother had lost. While the minds of men were agitated by the obvious designs of Charles, by abhorrence at the bigotry of the duke, and by a general consternation for the safety of the Protestant religion, the rumour of a Popish plot, for the universal massacre of the Protestants, gained a ready and too facile belief. The reporters of this design were obscure persons. Kirby, a chemist ; Tong, a weak credulous clergyman ; and Titus Oates, likewise a clergyman, but one of the most abandoned of mis creants, deposed to an account of a plot formed among the Papists, for burning London, putting the Protes tants to death, and assassinating the king and his brother. By making the king an object of the pretend ed assassination, the suspicion was prevented of its having been forged by the contrivance of the disaffect ed. The alarm spread instantly over the nation ; ac cident after accident, arising in a manner unparalleled in history, concurred to maintain the delusion ; letters were seized, which discovered the duke of York's cor respondence with Franco, against the religion and in terests of his country ; Danby's correspondence was also detected, which involved Charles in similar disgrace. Above all, the murder of Godfrey, who, in his office of magistrate, had made public the plot, made every Pro testant imagine he felt the dagger at his throat.